Research In Motion (RIM) has seen its share of trials and tribulations over the past year, but a report published by BoyGeniusReport.com citing “trusted sources” who said that the company was leaning towards an outright sale to Samsung is being refuted.
A Samsung spokesman told Reuters last night that the company has no interest in an acquisition of RIM.
Specifically, the article posted on BoyGeniousReport.com stated that RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie is actively meeting with a number of possible suitors, while also considering licensing the BlackBerry software to other vendors. The report claimed that Balsillie was particularly interested in Samsung as a possible buyer.
RIM stock spiked on the news that Samsung might be interested in the BlackBerry maker. Shares were up 8.5 percent to $17.50 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
RIM declined to comment on rumors and speculation.
RIM has been under the gun with investors recently as it struggles to make the transition to the next generation of its BlackBerry 10 operating system. The company’s PlayBook tablet flopped and is now seeing deep discounts, as users await the release of PlayBook 2.0 software, which will allow the device to run some Android applications.
