Essentially being the father of the smartphone, BlackBerry has amassed a war chest of patents. BlackBerry has the new BlackBerry 10 operating system, $3 Billion in cash, and 72 Million subscribers. Surely, the patents are its most prized possession.
MDB Capital Group CEO Chris Marlett told AllThingsD that a cross-licensing deal might only net BlackBerry $2 or $3 Billion, an individual sale could go even higher.
“BlackBerry still has a good enterprise and global footprint,” Martlett said, according to an Aug. 14 report. “Someone like Microsoft could justify paying $4 billion to $5 billion for the business, and $4 billion to $5 billion for the IP, which would yield an $8 billion to $10 billion purchase price.”
Markman Advisors, an investment firm focused on “patent enforcement opportunities,” have lusted over the potential of BlackBerry’s portfolio in an Aug. 15 blog post on Seeking Alpha, writing that it’s “exactly the bulldozer the company needs to clear a path towards a more profitable future or a winning sale.”
BlackBerry’s patent portfolio is valuable in two ways: “a) it makes the company more attractive as a takeover target, and b) it can be used to generate revenue. Real revenue, right away,” said Markman Advisors.
Markman Advisors added, “One can only imagine the impact on the sector should BlackBerry announce that it is adopting an offensively-oriented patent monetization strategy.”