BlackBerry calls off sale, spurring doubts and stock plunge

After a two-month review of strategic options and talks with potential buyers that included Facebook, Lenovo and private equity firms such as Cerberus Capital Management LP, BlackBerry said it will abandon a sale. Instead, it will raise $1 billion by issuing convertible notes to a group of long-term investors including its largest shareholder, Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO).
The only formal offer to buy BlackBerry - a tentative one - had come from Fairfax, which wanted to take the company private for $4.7 billion. But sources said Fairfax boss Prem Watsa had trouble financing the deal. Fairfax will now end up with $250 million of the debt offering.
"BlackBerry is hemorrhaging employees, it is hemorrhaging customers. The only thing that's growing is doubt," said John Stephenson, a senior vice president at First Asset Investment Management and one of BlackBerry's disgruntled investors.