BlackBerry sells patents for $900m
March 22, 2023
Struggling phone company BlackBerry says it has sold up to $900 million (€834m) of its exclusive cellular patents. BlackBerry’s potential sale of its business to Catapult IP Innovations has collapsed.
Malikie Innovations Ltd will buy the BlackBerry patents and pay $170 million in cash on deal closing, and another $30 million three years later. BlackBerry will also receive annual cash royalties from the profits generated from the patents, mostly relating to its messaging and wireless networking abilities.
Malikie is a newly formed business unit of intellectual property monetisation firm Key Patent Innovations Ltd.
As to the potential sale to Catapult, BlackBerry says: “Catapult was unable to secure financing that would have enabled it to complete the previously announced transaction on amended terms that were acceptable to BlackBerry,” the Canadian-based company, founded as Research in Motion, said in a statement.
BlackBerry ended its smartphone services in 2022 having suffered from competition from iPhones and Android smartphones. At its peak in 2011, there were 85 million subscribers to BlackBerry.