RIM Not Worth Buying or Splitting Up, Says Analyst

Although RIM impressed investors by not losing quite as much money this past quarter as was predicted, the company is still hemorrhaging its U.S. smartphone market share to Apple and Google and losing...
RIM Not Worth Buying or Splitting Up, Says Analyst
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  • Although RIM impressed investors by not losing quite as much money this past quarter as was predicted, the company is still hemorrhaging its U.S. smartphone market share to Apple and Google and losing money. The company is banking its fortunes on its upcoming BlackBerry 10 OS, but the software and accompanying phones won’t hit store shelves until next year, well after the holiday shopping season. RIM has resorted to desperate measures to string developers along until then.

    Today, All Things D is quoting a Credit Suisse analyst as saying RIM isn’t even in good enough shape to be bought or to spin off its divisions. The All Things D report quotes Kulbinder Garcha:

    “Any deal for [the] company is highly complex in our view, requiring simultaneous management of a declining business, as well significant restructuring, and as such an acquirer maybe be best advised to wait for [the company] to shrink meaningfully before making any potential move,” Garcha theorized, adding that he’s not sure there’s anyone out there who could turn RIM into a winning play.

    Garcha followed up by saying a sell-off of RIM’s various assets might not go well either. He questions the quality of RIM’s patent portfolio and states that RIM’s network operations center would be costly to convert for other operating systems. Garcha estimates RIM’s global smartphone share will decline to 2.5% next year.

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