BlackBerry (BB) – Get BlackBerry Limited Report shares moved lower Monday after the tech group sold rights to the legacy patents that powered its eponymous mobile phone handset that once rivalled Apple’s (AAPL) – Get Apple Inc. Report iPhone.
The deal, worth around $600 million, marks the close of a decade-long slide in relevance for the Blackberry, which at one time held a commanding 43% share of the global handset market and was used as a verb — as well as a noun — by celebrities, business leaders and politicians alike.
The global expansions of Apple’s iPhone, however, as well as touch-screen rivals from Samsung and others, decimated the public perception of the BlackBerry, prompting the group to switch focus away from handset production under CEO John Chen.
Canada-based BlackBerry, which now focuses on cybersecurity software, closed out its service of the Blackberry handset earlier this year.
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“Patents that are essential to BlackBerry’s current core business operations are excluded from the transaction,” the company said Monday. “BlackBerry will receive a license back to the patents being sold, which relate primarily to mobile devices, messaging and wireless networking. This transaction will not impact customers’ use of any of BlackBerry’s products, solutions or services.”
BlackBerry shares were marked 5.5% lower in pre-market trading Monday to indicate an opening bell price of $7.45 each.
BlackBerry swung into profit over its fiscal third quarter with a bottom line of $74 million on sales of $184 million.
Looking into the final months of its financial year, which ends in February, BlackBerry said it sees revenue in the region of $125 million and $135 million, modestly south of Street forecasts, as it looks to improved demand for its QNX software, which is used by some of the world’s biggest carmakers, once global supply chains begin to improve.
