BlackBerry Shares Fall 16% Today – Now Takeover and CEO Out

Lots of things going on at BlackBerry right now. For starters Fairfax, which controls 10% of BlackBerry’s shares, will not be buying the rest of the company for $4.7 billion. The company declined to say why it didn’t accept any offers, but it’s possible that potential suitors either couldn’t come up with the funding or were no longer interested after taking a look at BlackBerry’s books. BlackBerry also announced Monday that CEO Thorsten Heins will be leaving the company and step down from the board. John Chen, former CEO of Sybase, will serve as Interim Chief Executive Officer pending completion of a search for a new Chief Executive Officer. Shares of Blackberry plunged more than 16 percent today on this news.

The good news is that Fairfax and other institutional investors have invested in BlackBerry through a U.S. $1 billion private placement of convertible debentures. As a result, BlackBerry said it will no longer be seeking “strategic alternatives.” Will a cash injection of $1 billion dollars be enough to turn the company around?