Blackberry might be going private sources say

BlackBerry Ltd is close to the possibility of going private, as the smartphone maker battles to revive its fortunes, several sources familiar with the situation said.

Chief Executive Thorsten Heins and the companys board is increasingly coming around to the idea that taking BlackBerry private would give them breathing room to fix its problems out of the public eye, Reuters cited sources. “There is a change of tone on the board,” one of the sources said on Thursday.

There is no information for upcoming deal, however, and BlackBerry has not indicated any kind of a official sale process. Even if it tried, BlackBerry could find it hard to come up with a buyer and the funding to go private. With the company still posting losses and loosing subscribers, private equity firms and other buyers would not be attracted to buy. The companys shares have fallen more than 19% this year. Its market value has fallen to $4.8 billion, from $84 billion at its peak in 2008.

BlackBerrys openness to consider a deal marks a radical shift in thinking at the once high-flying smartphone maker. Until recently, BlackBerry, formerly known as Research in Motion and a pioneer in providing secured emails on handheld devices, had been betting its turnaround on its latest smartphones in order to stay independent.

In July, CEO said the company was on the right track and just needed more time to fix its problems. He said the company will unveil more devices that run on the BlackBerry 10 operating system over the next eight months. The company has also been looking at options such as licensing its BlackBerry 10 software and other partnerships.

Pressure is only increasing on the smartphone maker as BlackBerry 10 sales have come in well below some analysts expectations, raising questions about whether the company can quickly win back market share from Apple Incs iPhone as well as Samsung Electronics Co Ltds Galaxy devices and other phones powered by Google Incs Android operating system.

Some investors say the company must focus at all of its options, from a sale of the whole company to a sale of parts. Its valuable patent portfolio and high-margin services business could draw interest from several technology companies.

Blackberrys shares rose 0.22% yesterday to $9.23 per share.