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Research In Motion is trying to find suitors for a cloud-services provider it bought back in October, according to a report.
According to Reuters, citing sources, RIM is trying to find buyers that would take NewBay off of its hands. NewBay, which RIM acquired back in October for a reported $100 million, offers cloud services to operators and device makers trying to deliver multimedia to handsets, PCs, tablets, and televisions. Reuters’ sources didn’t say how much RIM might be trying to fetch in a sale.
RIM’s reported NewBay move is just the latest rumor to fly about its plans for future. Last week, Jefferies analyst Peter Misek told investors in a note that he believes “RIM is attempting to revive discussions with Samsung” about licensing BlackBerry 10, its upcoming mobile operating system, to the handset maker.
Just a couple of days later, IBM was said to be considering making a move to acquire RIM’s enterprise-services unit, which includes the network that powers BlackBerry e-mail, among other software.
The NewBay acquisition was designed to play an integral role in RIM’s plans last year to boost service revenue, Reuters is reporting. However, with CEO Thorsten Heins now in charge, it appears any move is on the table for RIM.
And why not? RIM is watching its device sales plummet and its stock price decline with them. The company last quarter generated just $2.8 billion in revenue and lost $518 million. In the last same quarter last year, it posted revenue of $4.9 billion and a $695 million profit.
It’s clear that until RIM can start turning around its device sales — a long shot in its own right — the company needs to cut costs and raise some cash. Sales of divisions and other assets could help it do just that.
For its part, RIM is not saying if it might be thinking about offloading NewBay, telling CNET in an e-mailed statement today that “RIM doesn’t typically comment on speculation about potential acquisitions and divestitures.”
RIM was similarly tight-lipped about possible plans for BlackBerry 10 and its enterprise-services unit.
