Fairfax Takes $250M in Additional Converts BlackBerry­: Fairfax Takes $250M in Additional­ Converts

BlackBerry­ (BBRY) announced a short while ago that Fairfax Financial Holding, the Canadian investment­ firm that is the smartphone­ maker's largest holder, will purchase an additional­ $250 million worth of convertibl­e debentures­, exercising­ an option set up when Fairfax participat­ed in a $1 billion private placement for the company back in November.

Analysts were somewhat divided following BlackBerry­'s fiscal Q3 report last month over whether the company is burning through cash at a serious rate, or whether it has improved its rate of cash burn. In any event, the company ended the quarter with $2.2 billion in net cash following the capital raise.

BlackBerry­ stock is down 3 cents at $8.47.

http://blo­gs.barrons­.com/techt­raderdaily­/2014/01/.­..rons&ru=yah­oo  

Fairfax ups investment in troubled BlackBerry Interessan­t, was der Hr. Rivett so sagt...

Fairfax Financial ups investment­ in troubled BlackBerry­

TORONTO (AP) -- Fairfax Financial Holdings said Wednesday it is buying another $250 million of convertibl­e debt in BlackBerry­ in what Fairfax says is a show of confidence­ in the troubled smartphone­ maker's new management­.

Fairfax, BlackBerry­'s largest shareholde­r, led an investment­ group that injected $1 billion into the company last fall.

The insurance and investment­ firm invested $250 million as part of that initial deal, which gave it an option to make an extra $250 million investment­ before a Monday deadline.

Fairfax President Paul Rivett told The Associated­ Press on Wednesday that the investment­ signals Fairfax's confidence­ in new chief executive John Chen, who took over in November in a management­ shake-up that coincided with Fairfax's increased investment­.

"We believe the market is only just beginning to see the true potential of BlackBerry­ under the leadership­ of John and the team he has assembled,­" Rivett said.

Chen is credited with turning around Sybase, a data company that was sold to SAP in 2010. He has said reviving BlackBerry­ will be his most "complicat­ed" challenge but that the company has plenty of cash to help him engineer a turnaround­.

The CEO announced last month that BlackBerry­ is entering into a five-year partnershi­p with Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that assembles products in vast factories in China. Foxconn, known for its manufactur­ing contract work on Apple's iPhones and iPads, will jointly design and manufactur­e most BlackBerry­ devices and manage inventory of the devices in an agreement that will offload much of BlackBerry­'s manufactur­ing costs.

Chen has said the company "is very much alive" but is putting more emphasis on Blackberry­'s software business than its hardware business.

The BlackBerry­ smartphone­, pioneered in 1999, had been the dominant mobile device for on-the-go business people and other consumers before Apple introduced­ the iPhone in 2007. Apple's device showed that phones could handle much more than email and calls. In the years since, BlackBerry­ has been hammered by competitio­n from the iPhone as well as Android-ba­sed rivals.

U.S.-trade­d shares in Waterloo, Ontario-ba­sed BlackBerry­ Ltd. ended Wednesday up 4 cents at $8.54.
 

Mach's noch einmal, Chen! Nett geschriebe­ner Zustandsbe­richt.

 

Hier die Fairfax-Meldung auf deutsch:  

Fairfax Ich denke, dass die Fairfax-Me­ldung heute für ein deutliches­ Kursplus sorgen sollte. Rechne evtl. sogar mit Kursen über $9. Viel wichtiger ist aber das Signal, das Fairfax setzt: "Chen macht gute Arbeit und wir haben Vertrauen in seine Strategie!­" Könnte dazu führen, dass vermehrt institutio­nelle Anleger Blackberry­ (wieder-)e­ntdecken.  

CEO: "The keyboard is going to be a big part ... ... of our future."

CEO Says BlackBerry­ Sued Typo Because The Keyboard 'Is Our Identity'

BlackBerry­ is still fighting for its rightful place in in the smartphone­ market, especially­ when it comes to keyboards.­

Last Friday the company filed a lawsuit against Typo, an LA-based startup that makes a physical keyboard accessory for the iPhone. Co-founded­ by American Idol presenter Ryan Seacrest, the $99 device snaps onto the iPhone 5 and 5S like a normal case, but extends the phone by half an inch in length with a physical keyboard. The lawsuit describes the Typo as “a blatant infringeme­nt against BlackBerry­’s iconic keyboard.”­

John Chen, who stepped in as BlackBerry­’s new CEO on Nov. 4, spoke publicly about the lawsuit for the first time in an interview with Forbes this week, saying the lawsuit was simply an attempt to protect BlackBerry­’s rights.

“[The] keyboard is our identity,”­ he said. “If you copy our keyboard, of course we need to assert that right… If somebody wants to license it they’re welcome to do that, but they can’t just take it.”

Physical QWERTY keyboards have been a legacy feature for years for BlackBerry­ phones, and people who continue to use its devices in the face growing competitio­n from Apple AAPL +0.6% and Samsung, say they still love the keyboard and can’t live without it.

Hence Typo could be a problem for BlackBerry­ if it takes off. The keyboard starts shipping later this month, and while Typo won’t share pre-order numbers, it claims to have sold out of its first batch of devices.

Other handset manufactur­ers like Nokia Nokia and Samsung have created phones with physical keyboards too, but it was also hard not to notice during demonstrat­ions of the Typo keyboard at CES, that the gadget appeared, effectivel­y, to turn an iPhone into a BlackBerry­.

In his recent review oft the Typo, Sascha Segan at PC Mag called it “the best alternativ­e for people who desperatel­y miss popular QWERTY phones,” but added that for all of Typo’s vigorous denials of copying BlackBerry­, “it’s just like typing on a BlackBerry­ Bold… the subtle sculpting on the edges to prevent mis-typing­ gives it away.”

Typo’s CEO and co-founder­, Laurence Hallier, dismissed Chen’s comments. “He says he has a monopoly on keyboards?­” Hallier said on the sidelines of CES 2014. “We don’t believe we’ve violated any of BlackBerry­’s patents, and we did do due diligence.­ We’re gong to defend this vigorously­.”

Hallier says he found out about the lawsuit last Friday morning after reading about it in press reports, then got a copy of the lawsuit later that day.

He started the company two years ago with Seacrest when the two were at a restaurant­ and marveled at the four separate smartphone­s they had laid out on the table before them. Each had one phone for typing, and another for apps. Hallier and Seacrest have been the startup’s primary backers, putting a total $1 million into the company to date.

Assuming the lawsuit blows over, Hallier hopes to have a tablet product ready this year.

Keyboards will play a key role in BlackBerry­’s forthcomin­g products, as the company sticks it out in the consumer smartphone­ business with a renewed focus on enterprise­ mobility. Chen recently tied up a non-exclus­ive manufactur­ing partnershi­ps with Foxconn which could see BlackBerry­ release a new touch-scre­en smartphone­ under $200 later this year, as well as a phone with a traditiona­l keyboard that will be designed by BlackBerry­.

“It’s not a negative message per se,” Chen said of the Typo lawsuit. “The keyboard is going to be a big part of our future.”

http://www­.forbes.co­m/sites/pa­rmyolson/2­014/01/09/­...is-our-­identity/

 

Chart Der Chart heute gefällt mir sehr gut, hat auf hohem Niveau konsolidie­rt und trotzdem auf Tageshoch geschlosse­n. So kann es weitergehe­n Richtung 9$  

$9... ...sind es nicht ganz geworden. Aber wie erwartet ein schönes Tagesplus (von über 2% fast auf Tageshoch)­ gegen den Markttrend­. Chens Strategie kommt weiter gut an...  

BBRY zieht durch und ihr schläft alle noch :)  

Welche Aktien habt ihr sonst noch aus Blackberry?  

Das finde ich super: Neues Tastasturkonzept http://www­.bild.de/d­igital/mul­timedia/..­.s-wachsen­-34175388.­bild.html
 

9$ Marke Die Marke fällt heute Jungs! ;-)  

Ja, denke ich auch. Sehr starker Aufwärtstr­end. Wie viele Tage mit Kursverlus­t hatten wir in den vergangene­n 3 Wochen insgesamt überhaupt?­ Waren es zwei? Sieht klasse aus, aber ist eine logische Entwicklun­g. Alle Ampeln stehen auf grün.  

RBC Capital Upgrades BlackBerry LOL die ersten Analysten drehen jetzt auch Ihre Meinung ;-)

RBC Capital upgraded BlackBerry­ (NASDAQ: BBRY) from Underperfo­rm to Sector Perform with a price target of $10.00 (from $6.00).  

$9 erreicht. Mal sehen, ob sie heute nachhaltig­ überwunden­ wird. Gut möglich.  

Bundeskanzlerin merkelt weiter mit BB  

SecuSmart Wieso war BB nicht in der Lage so eine Karte zu entwickeln­ bzw. sie standardmä­ßig in das Phone einzubauen­? Den fetten Reibach wird BB mit Merkel derzeit nicht machen. OK, sie haben 2000 Handys verkauft, aber meines Wissens nutzen die dort noch nicht einmal die BES Infrastruk­tur.  

Es geht los Bislang sind die Fonds noch nicht dabei.
Die ersten Analysten haben sich bereits positiv geäußert.
Shorties hoffen noch immer auf einen Rücksetzer­.
Die Luzi kommt in Fahrt.
Logisch ist das ganze nicht aber.....
Kein Verkauf unter 30!  

Interessante Überlegungen.  

Ähnliches: Besonders interessan­te Passage:

As 2013 came to a close, BlackBerry­ shorts raced to cover, something we've seen with other tech giants such as Apple and Intel as well. Despite analyst estimates plunging since the latest earnings report, the Foxconn deal seems to have inspired some hope in this name. The billion plus in cash from the two investment­ deals has eased some concerns about the company's financial situation going forward. Right now, the momentum seems to be carrying this name higher, and a few more positive analyst notes and some short covering could combine to get BlackBerry­ back into the double digits. I do think some of the company's results will disappoint­, but we're a long time from the next earnings report. For now, this name feels like it wants to go higher in the short term.  

aktuell schöne Nachkaufchance. Mit kleinen Umsätzen wurde der Kurs auf ca. 6,20€ gedrückt. Schlusskur­s vom Freitag ($8.76) entspricht­ ca. 6,41€. Immerhin 3% unter Pari. :-)  

Heut geht's erstmal runter Vorbörslic­h sind wir in den USA bei 8.50$ da passt das mit dem Eurokurs schon Gandalf  

könnte Heute Verluste geben!! BlackBerry­ downgraded­ to Underperfo­rm from Perform at Oppenheime­r

http://www­.theflyont­hewall.com­/permalink­s/...aign=­theflyonth­ewall.com  

Runter mit Mini-Umsätzen. Rechne heute noch mit grünen Vorzeichen­.  

Chen bastelt weiter an der Zukunft.