BlackBerry

John Chen will not sell BlackBerry until Shareholders have good value

BlackBerry CEO John Chen has reiterated that the company is not for sale — at least for now.

In an interview on CBC’s The Exchange with Amanda Lang, Chen says,

“I don’t have any intention to sell BlackBerry,” said John Chen “Not until the BlackBerry shareholder has good value reflecting truly what we have.”

“Then, if there is a potential proper suitor that would take care of our customers… I have a fiduciary responsibility to listen. But until then, there’s no point in listening.”

BlackBerry is more of a software company today than it is a smartphone company.

Still, Chen doesn’t have any plans to exit the hardware business completely. He says his reasoning for that risky decision is both practical and emotional.

“We make the most secure handset. Everybody, all of our competitors, will give that to us. Governments around the world are still using BlackBerry handsets,” said Chen.

“The emotional reason is, BlackBerry is iconic to the industry. We started this industry arguably.”