Research in Motion’s (RIMM) stock rose today over 5%, is continuing to climb, and is currently sitting at 14.19 per share, apparently for no reason. One analyst, Collin Gillis with BGC Partners spoke with Tiernan Ray of Barrons and said “that the proximate cause, as far as he can tell, is discussion that Samsung Electronics is looking to make a minority investment in the company and to develop phones based on RIM’s forthcoming “BBIO” operating system, which RIM is counting on to resuscitate the company’s phone portfolio.”
The analyst thinks it’s highly unlikely RIM will get an investment from Samsung, the South Korean electronics giant (although Ray reports that a number being “tossed around” is $1.5 billion). RIM is such an integral part of the Canadian economy, that the Canadian government has made it clear in the past they will not allow an outright buyout of the company. Any other potential sale to a foreign company such as Samsung would likely result in a review by the federal government to determine whether such a sale would have a net benefit to Canadians.
It is possible that RIM could license out BB10 to other phone manufacturer’s to generate income, but it would also directly impact RIM’s own direct revenue stream.
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