Advertisement
U.S. markets closed
  • S&P 500

    5,254.35
    +5.86 (+0.11%)
     
  • Dow 30

    39,807.40
    +47.29 (+0.12%)
     
  • Nasdaq

    16,379.46
    -20.06 (-0.12%)
     
  • Russell 2000

    2,124.55
    +10.20 (+0.48%)
     
  • Crude Oil

    83.11
    -0.06 (-0.07%)
     
  • Gold

    2,254.80
    +16.40 (+0.73%)
     
  • Silver

    25.10
    +0.18 (+0.74%)
     
  • EUR/USD

    1.0800
    +0.0007 (+0.06%)
     
  • 10-Yr Bond

    4.2060
    +0.0100 (+0.24%)
     
  • GBP/USD

    1.2642
    +0.0020 (+0.16%)
     
  • USD/JPY

    151.2320
    -0.1400 (-0.09%)
     
  • Bitcoin USD

    70,477.45
    -433.15 (-0.61%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • FTSE 100

    7,952.62
    +20.64 (+0.26%)
     
  • Nikkei 225

    40,369.44
    +201.37 (+0.50%)
     

BlackBerry calls off sale, will replace CEO

A Blackberry logo is seen through a cracked box in this photo illustration taken in the central Bosnian town of Zenica, September 24, 2013. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

(Reuters) - BlackBerry Ltd is abandoning a plan to sell itself and instead will replace its chief executive officer and raise about $1 billion from institutional investors, including its largest shareholder, the smartphone maker said on Monday.

Shares of BlackBerry dropped 16.3 percent to $6.50 in premarket trading. The company said it would raise the money with a private placement of convertible debentures.

John Chen will be appointed executive chairman and will be interim CEO while the company looks for a new leader. He is the former CEO of Sybase, a database software company that SAP AG acquired in 2010.

Chen joined private equity group Silver Lake as senior adviser last year.

BlackBerry grew from a small technology startup into a multibillion-dollar company by pioneering on-the-go email, but it has lost much of its market share to Apple Inc's iPhone and devices that run Google Inc's Android software.

BlackBerry's largest shareholder, Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd, will buy $250 million of the debentures. BlackBerry said the subordinated debentures would be convertible into common shares at $10 and have a seven-year term.

Fairfax announced a tentative $9-a-share offer for Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry in late September. But Reuters said on Friday that Fairfax was struggling to finance the $4.7 billion bid.

(Reporting by Allison Martell and Euan Rocha; Editing by Janet Guttsman, Gerald E. McCormick and Lisa Von Ahn)

Advertisement