BlackBerry stock got a nearly 8 percent bump in early trading Monday as new rumors surfaced that Lenovo may acquire the Canadian smartphone maker.
According to Benzinga, which cited a source familiar with the matter, Lenovo could make a play for BlackBerry as early as this week.
Lenovo is apparently eyeing a $15 per share price for BlackBerry but the deal could go as high as $18 per share, according to Benzinga.
The news comes after Lenovo in January of this year announced that it had placed a $2.91 billion bid for Motorola. That deal instantly catapulted Lenovo to the third largest vendor of smartphones. A BlackBerry acquisition could also compliment Lenovo’s recent purchase of IBM’s low-end server business.
BlackBerry appears to have had a modest success with its new square PassPort smartphone. CEO John Chen recently said that the company had sold 200,000 units in the first few days of sales and since then reports of shortages have been reported.
Chen said BlackBerry took a very conservative approach with the phone, noting that he was glad to have inventory issues as it means people want the phone.
