Posted on Friday, October 10 2008 @ 23:53 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Microsoft is sitting on a lot of cash, which puts them in a nice position as many tech firms are trading at significantly lower levels than just a couple of months ago due to the financial crisis. The software giant failed to takeover search engine Yahoo earlier this year and analysts now suggest Microsoft may be aiming at RIM to get a larger foothold in the mobile market:
RIM's shares, which were worth more than $148 on the Nasdaq market just four months ago, now are trading around the $60 mark amid the U.S. financial crisis and margin pressures the company is experiencing because of expenses related to launching new smartphones.
Microsoft, meanwhile, is striving to remain competitive against Internet mammoth Google Inc, which has made recent forays into mobile phone technology, and against Apple Inc, the maker of the popular iPhone.
"RIM is a massive strategic fit" for Microsoft, said Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek. "I'm fairly certain they have a standing offer to buy them at $50 (a share)."
In that scenario, RIM would have to continue declining to at least $40, thus allowing an offer of $50 to stand as a premium bid. At current levels of $60 a share, RIM has a market value of about $34 billion. An offer of $50 a share would value the company at just over $28 billion.
More details at Reuters.
