Blackberry agrees €3.48bn sale

BlackBerry has agreed to sell itself for $4.7bn (€3.48bn) to a group led by its largest shareholder, Fairfax.

BlackBerry said a letter of intent has been signed and its shareholders will receive 9 dollars in cash for each share.

Fairfax head Prem Watsa is a former board member who owns 10% of BlackBerry. Mr Watsa stepped down when BlackBerry announced it was considering a sale last month.

The billionaire is one of Canada’s best-known value investors.

Trading of the company’s stock was halted ahead of the news. BlackBerry shares plunged on Friday after the company announced a loss of nearly a billion dollars and layoffs of 4,500 workers.

The BlackBerry, pioneered in 1999, was once the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people and other consumers before Apple’s iPhone debuted in 2007.