According to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence, BlackBerry (BB 1.94%) stock was quite the outperformer over the past five trading days, with a more than 18% gain. Investors cheered the closing of an asset sale by the veteran Canadian tech company, in a deal that was announced toward the end of 2024.
Cylance is golden
After market hours on Monday, BlackBerry divulged that the sale of the endpoint security assets of its Cylance cybersecurity unit was complete. The new owner is a company that focuses exclusively on cybersecurity, U.S.-based Arctic Wolf.
Last December, the two companies -- which are business partners -- signed a definitive agreement for Arctic Wolf to buy Cylance in a cash-and-stock transaction. BlackBerry is to receive $160 million in cash up front, subject to certain adjustments it did not specify, and roughly 5.5 million shares of Arctic Wolf (which is not publicly traded).
The contract stipulated that BlackBerry was to receive around $80 million on the deal's closing, and $40 million one year after that date.
Continued involvement
In its press release on the news, BlackBerry quoted its CEO John Giamatteo as saying that the sale was "pivotal."
He added that he and his team "look forward to continuing our relationship with Arctic Wolf as a customer, as a reseller of the portfolio to our large government customers, and as a shareholder of this dynamic, growing company."
BlackBerry acquired Cylance, which harnesses artificial intelligence (AI) to help power its security offerings, in 2019. That deal saw it pay $1.4 billion in cash, in addition to unvested employee incentive awards.
