The Wall Street Journal reports that BlackBerry Limited (formerly known as Research in Motion, or RIM) co-founder Michael Lazaridis revealed in a regulatory filing on Tuesday that he no longer plans to team up with partner co-founder Douglas Fregin to acquire the struggling company.
According to the paper, both own a stake in the company that, when combined, equals 8 percent. They revealed back in October an intent to jointly acquire the company after Blackberry was placed on the market in August. However BlackBerry took itself off the market in November, hinting to the possibility that the Lazaridis/Fregin partnership fizzled.
The Wall Street Journal says that Tuesday’s filing shows Lazaridis to own 4.99 percent of the company, and that he and co-founder Fregin are no longer pursuing an acquisition. No other comments were provided, and all three parties have declined to comment or “couldn’t be reached”.
Lazaridis and Fregin reportedly launched RIM back in 1984, using a loan provided by Lazaridis’ father and office space in a Canadian strip mall. Now the company is partnering with Foxconn, a deal which will supposedly bring smartphones to Indonesia and other fast-growing markets in early 2014.
BlackBerry recently revealed a hefty $4.4 billion GAAP-adjusted loss for fiscal 3Q 2014. The loss included a non-cash, pre-tax charge against long-lived assets of approximately $2.7 billion, a primarily non-cash, pre-tax charge against inventory and supply commitments of approximately $1.6 billion, and pre-tax restructuring, legal and financial advisory charges of approximately $266 million.
Lazaridis stepped down from his executive role back in early 2012 thanks to an eroding smartphone market share and declining BlackBerry stock values. However he stayed on the Board until May 1 of 2013.
