At one time, BlackBerry was the world's ruler of smartphones with a user base addicted to sharing short, swift messages via that tiny little qwerty keyboard.  On Monday, the flailing company was sold off for US$4.7 Billion to a consortium led by Canadian firm Fairfax Financial Holdings.  Shareholders will get US$9 per share in the buyout.

Last week, Blackberry announced the firing 4,500 of its staff, about 40% of its global workforce, after saying it expected to lose nearly $1 Billion in the three months to August on disappointing sales of new phones.  Fairfax already owns 10 percent of BlackBerry. 

The BlackBerry 10 with its new operating system didn't sell anywhere near expectations, nor what was necessary to regain market share from Apple's iPhone or Google's Android units from Samsung and a jillion other makers.  If the deal goes through as planned, being privately held will allow BlackBerry to restructure without worrying about bad news affecting its share price, although there are doubts about BlackBerry recapturing turf from the Apple and Google behemoths.  There is some speculation the new company would abandon the smartphone market and become a software vendor. яндекс