The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Lenovo has now potentially joined the fray in BlackBerry's (BB 1.82%) ongoing auction process. That would be in addition to the current $9 per-share offer from Fairfax Financial that's on the table, and previous reports also suggested that BlackBerry co-founder Mike Lazaridis was contemplating a bid. Yet, with at least three bids potentially on the table, BlackBerry is still trading at a significant discount to $9. Clearly there's some skepticism around each deal.
The Fairfax offer is highly contingent upon third-party financing, and lenders have their own due diligence process. Lazaridis is partially responsible for BlackBerry's current predicament, because his days as co-CEO did not treat the Canadian company well. Lenovo, meanwhile, could raise regulatory concerns as it is a Chinese company. Regulators may have national security concerns, as they did when they banned Chinese networking gear maker Huawei from the U.S.
In this segment of Tech Teardown, Erin Kennedy discusses BlackBerry's attempt to sell itself with Jamal Carnette and Evan Niu, CFA.
