Shares in Blackberry went up overnight following an interview with Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing printed in French newspaper Les Echos where he said the Chinese PC giant would be interested in acquiring the smartphone maker.
Yahnqing said a buyout "could possibly make sense" but that he would have to "analyse the market and understand what exactly the importance of the company is."
Blackberry has been reinventing itself over the past few months as a more consumer-friendly brand with the launch of the Z10 and Q10 handsets running the long-awaited Blackberry 10 operating system.
Lenovo’s footprint in the mobile space in Europe and US has been limited to tablets and ultraportable PCs. Buying Blackberry would represent a major acquisition covering new hardware, software and a strong brand. On the other hand, Blackberry has seen its market share shrink in the post-PC era defined by deices like the iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy range. At present Blackberry’s global market share in the smartphone space is dwarfed by iOS and Android penetration. A report issued in February by comScore gave Blackberry a 6.5% market share in the EU.
At time of writing, shares in Blackberry were trading at $14.13 on Wall Street, down from an overnight high of $15.22.
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