Backing up an earlier denial from Samsung, JK Shin, the company’s co-CEO and mobile chief, confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that the tech firm had absolutely no plans to buy BlackBerry, saying, “We want to work with BlackBerry and develop this partnership, not acquire the company.”
Reuters reported last Wednesday that it had received information on a possible acquisition from “a person familiar with the matter,” and said it had also viewed documents on the subject. Canada’s Globe and Mail also reported that the once dominant mobile firm had “shunned a handful of takeover overtures” in recent months.
However, within hours of the report hitting news sites last week, BlackBerry insisted it was “not engaged in discussions with Samsung with respect to any possible offer to purchase BlackBerry.”
Samsung followed up a few hours later with a short statement of its own, saying simply that reports on the subject were “groundless.”
But with Reuters continuing to stand by its story, Shin’s comments on Monday suggest there was still enough chatter on the subject to push the company into making a further denial in an effort to clarify its position.
What is certain is that the two companies have been working together, and it may have been meetings regarding these matters – on issues with no connection to a possible buyout – that led to the recent reports of a takeover.
Late last year, for example, the two companies announced a deal designed to help deliver an end-to-end secure Android mobility solution by integrating the new BlackBerry Enterprise Server 12 mobile management system with Samsung’s business-focused Knox platform.
According to Shin’s comments this week, it’s highly possible the two companies are collaborating on other ventures, so we should certainly expect to hear more from the pair as we move through the year – just don’t expect the companies to get too close.
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