By Euan Rocha
TORONTO (Reuters)-Facebook Inc. stunning $ 19 billion offer for fast growing mobile messaging startup that WhatsApp BlackBerry Ltd shares sent soaring after the closing bell Wednesday, as investors were cheered by the noble valuation for the messaging platform.
The deal sent stocks into mora as much as 9 percent in trading after the Bell because he put a rough valuation metrics around the BlackBerry smartphone messaging service.
BlackBerry Messaging or BBM as is more commonly known, was a pioneering mobile messaging service, but its userbase has failed to keep pace with that of WhatsApp, partly because BlackBerry has long refused to open the service to users on other platforms.
WhatsApp, with a user base of approximately 450 million, has grown rapidly. The service works on Apple's iOS platform Inc., market-dominating the Android operating system from Google Inc., along with devices powered by Windows operating systems is the BlackBerry.
BBM remains popular, though BlackBerry devices have declined in popularity. Late last year, the manufacturer of smartphones based on Waterloo, Ontario has finally opened the messaging platform for users of iPhone and Android devices, and currently has more than 80 million active users.
However, investors have little value attributed to the assets within the company. Tuesday, Raymond James analyst Steven Li, in a note to clients, an evaluation of sum-of-parts of society and pegged the value of BBM to only $ 240 million, or $ 3 per user.
Assessing WhatsApp Facebook translates into about $ 42 for each user, and that could bring investors and analysts to rethink their assessment of the asset within the BlackBerry.
BlackBerry did not give any indication that is eager to sell well. While there has been some speculation that BlackBerry can seek to carve out the unit, or even sell it, new CEO John Chen of the company has so far said that BBM remains a fundamental asset for the company.
After soaring as high as $9,82 in after-market trading on NASDAQ soon after WhatsApp deal was announced, shares in arrears settled at about $9,54, almost 6 percent above their closing price of $9,01 a share.
(Reporting by Euan Rocha; Edited by Ken wills)
& ElectronicsHandheld & technology connected DevicesWhatsAppBlackBerryFacebook Inc.
TORONTO (Reuters)-Facebook Inc. stunning $ 19 billion offer for fast growing mobile messaging startup that WhatsApp BlackBerry Ltd shares sent soaring after the closing bell Wednesday, as investors were cheered by the noble valuation for the messaging platform.
The deal sent stocks into mora as much as 9 percent in trading after the Bell because he put a rough valuation metrics around the BlackBerry smartphone messaging service.
BlackBerry Messaging or BBM as is more commonly known, was a pioneering mobile messaging service, but its userbase has failed to keep pace with that of WhatsApp, partly because BlackBerry has long refused to open the service to users on other platforms.
WhatsApp, with a user base of approximately 450 million, has grown rapidly. The service works on Apple's iOS platform Inc., market-dominating the Android operating system from Google Inc., along with devices powered by Windows operating systems is the BlackBerry.
BBM remains popular, though BlackBerry devices have declined in popularity. Late last year, the manufacturer of smartphones based on Waterloo, Ontario has finally opened the messaging platform for users of iPhone and Android devices, and currently has more than 80 million active users.
However, investors have little value attributed to the assets within the company. Tuesday, Raymond James analyst Steven Li, in a note to clients, an evaluation of sum-of-parts of society and pegged the value of BBM to only $ 240 million, or $ 3 per user.
Assessing WhatsApp Facebook translates into about $ 42 for each user, and that could bring investors and analysts to rethink their assessment of the asset within the BlackBerry.
BlackBerry did not give any indication that is eager to sell well. While there has been some speculation that BlackBerry can seek to carve out the unit, or even sell it, new CEO John Chen of the company has so far said that BBM remains a fundamental asset for the company.
After soaring as high as $9,82 in after-market trading on NASDAQ soon after WhatsApp deal was announced, shares in arrears settled at about $9,54, almost 6 percent above their closing price of $9,01 a share.
(Reporting by Euan Rocha; Edited by Ken wills)
& ElectronicsHandheld & technology connected DevicesWhatsAppBlackBerryFacebook Inc.
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