Samsung Reportedly Approaches BlackBerry With Buyout Offer For Up To $7.5B

Samsung Wednesday approached BlackBerry with an offer of up to $7.5 billion to buy the smartphone company, according to a Reuters report.

Wednesday evening BlackBerry released a statement refuting the report of an offer from Samsung.

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

BlackBerry's stock, which had skyrocketed more than 30 percent to $12.63 on news of the report, fell 13 percent in after-hours trading after BlackBerry released its statement.

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South Korea-based Samsung did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Partners and industry analysts, meanwhile, have pointed to BlackBerry's range of security and enterprise products and patent portfolio as possible motivations for Samsung to make an offer for the Waterloo, Ontario-based company.

"Security is a very good reason for the offer. … If you pay close attention to workers in the federal government, especially those in high levels of security, they continue to use BlackBerry," said analyst Charles King with research firm Pund-IT. "BlackBerry has half a dozen or more data centers worldwide supporting security functions. That's not something that other vendors have paid attention to. So I think it's not a bad deal, in some ways."

Meanwhile, according to independent reports, BlackBerry is sitting on a patent gold mine worth between $2 and $3 billion. Just-released data from IFI Claims Patent Services, a patent-tracking firm, revealed BlackBerry was awarded 1,337 patents in 2014, ranking it No. 24 in the list of 2014 top 50 U.S. patent assignees.

BlackBerry offers a range of data storage and security solutions, including Blackberry Blend, Enterprise Identity by Blackberry, Worklife By Blackberry and BES 12.

In November, BlackBerry and South Korea-based Samsung inked a partnership to sell end-to-end security products for Samsung's Android Galaxy devices. King pointed to this move as a harbinger of the reported offer.

"When you see that high level of partnership between two companies, it's almost like a blind date to see if there's any possibility of a longer-term relationship, so I don't think this is completely surprising," he said.

Steven Kantorowitz, president of CelPro Associates, a Samsung and BlackBerry partner based in New York, agreed.

"There are a lot of reasons why Samsung would want to buy BlackBerry," said Kantorowitz. "In the corporate world, BlackBerry has a very strong name in terms of security, so there may be some good synergy there. Putting the two together could make for a very potent company. It would be tremendous for Samsung’s enterprise push. People trust BlackBerry in the enterprise world, but it just isn't as innovative as being as user-friendly with its devices. If Samsung’s security is protected by the BlackBerry system, it’s a home run."

In terms of what the potential acquisition could mean for BlackBerry, Kantorowitz believes it’s a huge opportunity.

"I think BlackBerry is in trouble and needs some new life," Kantorowitz said. "Samsung could be passing them a lifeline. If Samsung can fit BlackBerry’s security platform into their system, it’ll make them more accepted in the enterprise."

NEXT: Some Partners See Deal As A Head-Scratcher

Other solution providers, however, said the potential deal was a head-scratcher.

"BlackBerry is not relevant in the consumer or commercial market," said Ira Grossman, CTO of end user and mobile computing for MCPc, a Cleveland-based national solution provider specializing in mobile solutions with its Anyplace Workspace.

Grossman said Samsung has made gains within the enterprise with its own enterprise solutions that include its Knox trusted mobile security and management solution. "It's unclear what BlackBerry patents Samsung could be after," he said.

RAMIN EDMOND and TOM SPRING contributed to this story.

PUBLISHED JAN. 14, 2015