BlackBerry rubbishes talk of Samsung acquisition

BlackBerry has denied reports it's in discussions with Samsung over a possible acquisition for $7.5 billion.

John Chen, BlackBerry CEO, was rumoured to have met with Samsung representatives last week, during CES 2015.

Shares in BlackBerry briefly jumped by 30 per cent when the story broke, but dropped down after a strong denial was issued.

"BlackBerry has not engaged in discussions with Samsung with respect to any possible offer to purchase BlackBerry. BlackBerry's policy is not to comment on rumors or speculation, and accordingly it does not intend to comment further," the smartphone maker said in a statement.

Sources close to the company claim multiple takeover offers have been rejected as the board is happy with its turnaround strategy, which is focused on enterprise and public sector customers.

"This is not a company for sale," a source told Canadian newspaper, The Globe and Mail.

Samsung is the world's largest smartphone maker but due to increased competition, its profits dropped by 60 per in the last quarter (2.5 billion).

Acquiring BlackBerry would make sense for Samsung, which is looking to establish itself as an enterprise player and also reduce its reliance on the Android operating system. BlackBerry also has over 44,000 patents.

Lenovo was previously touted as a potential buyer of BlackBerry, but questions were raised over whether the Canadian government would have authorised the sale to a Chinese firm. The world's largest PC maker went on to acquire Motorola from Google instead.