RIM may be splitting in two, Facebook, Amazon touted as potential buyers

Research in Motion held its own for some time against the smartphone biggies, but with the steady rise of Apple and Android, the compnay now appears to have become a mere shadow of its former self and according to a report by CNET, who have gathered information from a British newspaper, The Sunday Times, the brand is doing all that it can to keep itself afloat and in the process may be splitting the company into two.

The report by CNET states, “Research In Motion is considering a plan to split its company in two, separating its handset division from its messaging network and selling off the struggling BlackBerry hardware business, according to The Sunday Times.” The British newspaper did not cite any sources, but they did mention Facebook and Amazon as two of the potential buyers who are interested in acquiring Research in Motion. Sticking to the topic of potential buyers, the report went on to add that Research in Motion could remain intact, if a large tech company, such as Microsoft acquired “a large stack of the brand”.

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Rough times may cause the company to split

Commenting on this situation a Research in Motion representative informed CNET stating, “RIM has hired advisers to help the company examine ways to leverage the BlackBerry platform through partnerships, licensing opportunities, and strategic business model alternatives. As [CEO] Thorsten [Heins] said on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call, ‘We believe the best way to drive value for our stakeholders is to execute on our plan to turn the company around.‘‘This remains true."

The report goes on to note that Research in Motion has been struggling to win back its share in the handset market that it lost out to the likes of Apple and Android and the company is looking to strengthen the sales of their once popular BlackBerry handsets. The CNET author, Steve Musil says, “Fourth-quarter reports show a company loss of $125 million and a 25 percent drop in revenue, and the company announced last month that it would post an operating loss for the first quarter as well. RIM recently hired J.P. Morgan and RBC Capital to advise it on its business and financial performance. The company also referred to looking at “strategic business-model alternatives,” often corporate-speak for the exploration of a potential sale.”

The report ends by stating that Research in Motion has begun quietly laying off their employees as part of a cost cutting restructuring, in order to save $1 billion by the end of the fiscal year. Research in Motion’s chief legal advisor of twelve years announced her resignation last month. This happened a week after Research in Motion’s London-based head of global sales quit.

Research in Motion is looking to regain their lost followers by this year by launching handsets running the BB 10 OS, which is expected to mark their big re-entry in the smartphone sphere.

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