Struggling Canadian phone maker BlackBerry said on Monday it has agreed in principal to be acquired by Fairfax Financial, a Canadian insurance company, for $9 per share, in a deal that would total $4.7 billion.
Shares of BlackBerry were halted prior to the announcement, and the company said the stock would resume trading at 2:00pm EST. Prior to the announcement shares in the troubled smartphone maker company were down more than 5 percent for the day.
Last week, BlackBerry said it was laying off 40 percent of its workforce and expected to post a second-quarter loss of almost $1 billion.
Fairfax Financia, is a holding company whose primary business is in insurance. It is led by press-shy Prem Watsa, a chemical engineer by training who has run the firm since the mid-1980s.
