黑莓命运堪忧 加拿大财团47亿美元收归私有

BlackBerry has agreed to be bought by a consortium of Canadian investment companies for $4.7bn in cash and taken private, in a last-ditch move to ensure the survival of one of the pioneers of the global smartphone industry.

黑莓(BlackBerry)同意以47亿美元的现金价格被加拿大投资企业组成的一家财团收归私有。这一孤注一掷之举旨在保证这家全球智能手机行业的先驱得以生存。

BlackBerry, whose handheld devices were nicknamed “CrackBerrys” because of their ubiquity in the suit pockets of the world’s business and political elite, has seen its market value plummet from a peak of $83bn in 2008 to just $4.2bn ahead of the announcement yesterday.

黑莓手持设备有“瘾莓”(CrackBerry)的昵称，因为在全球商界和政界精英的西装口袋中，黑莓的身影无所不在。在昨日宣布上述消息之前，其市值已经从2008年巅峰时的830亿美元跌至区区42亿美元。

The bid comes in the wake of BlackBerry’s admission on Friday that its turnround strategy – based on the launch of a new operating system and handsets – had failed and that it would abandon the consumer market with the loss of 4,500 jobs and report a $1bn operating loss in the latest quarter.

这家财团出价购买之前，上周五黑莓承认，其基于新版操作系统和手机的扭转战略失败了，该公司将放弃消费者市场，裁减4500个职位，并报告上季度运营损失达10亿美元。

The consortium is led by Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial Holdings, which holds a 10 per cent stake in the Ontario-based company. Mr Watsa, an investor who has been described as Canada’s Warren Buffett, resigned from BlackBerry’s board last month when the company announced that it had set up a special committee to investigate its strategic options.

这家财团由普雷姆•沃察(Prem Watsa)的Fairfax Financial Holdings牵头。该公司持有总部位于加拿大安大略省的黑莓公司10%的股份。沃察是一名投资人，有加拿大的沃伦•巴菲特(Warren Buffett)之称。他在上月辞去黑莓董事会职位，当时黑莓宣布已经组建了一个特别委员会来调查其战略选择。

His move was widely interpreted at the time as indicating that he would try to pull together a consortium including some of Canada’s leading pension funds to buy out the struggling company, once the adornment of the Canadian technology sector.

沃察当时的举动被普遍解读为，他将尝试整合一家包括加拿大领先的养老金基金的财团，收购陷入困境的黑莓。黑莓曾是加拿大科技行业的象征。

BlackBerry’s shares, which fell a further 5 per cent in trading yesterday after dropping 17 per cent on Friday when the company pre-announced its quarterly results, were suspended at $8.26 ahead of the announcement that the company had signed a Letter of Intent with a consortium led by Fairfax.

上周五黑莓预告了其季度业绩以后，股价下跌17%，昨日盘中再跌5%。在宣布公司已经与Fairfax牵头的财团签订了一项意向书之前，黑莓股票停盘，停盘价8.26美元。