RIM and Lenovo issue statements clarifying Lenovo interest in purchasing RIM
After a report quoted Lenovo’s CFO Wong Waiming as saying that it was interested in acquiring Research In Motion, the Chinese PC maker has issued a statement downplaying the significance of the quote.
The company provided comment to Chinese media today, and a spokesperson sent TNW the following statement that suggests that Wong’s quote was taken out of context:
In general, we do not comment on M&A rumors or speculation.
We are aware that Lenovo’s CFO [Wong] Waiming was speaking broadly about M&A strategy in a recent interview. RIM was raised as a potential target by the journalist and Mr. Wong repeatedly answered in a manner consistent with all of our previous statements on M&A strategy: Lenovo is very focused on growing its business, both organically and through M&A.
When inorganic ideas arise, we explore them to see if there is a strategic fit.
For its part, RIM has also issued a statement regarding the report:
RIM CEO Thorsten Heins has made it very clear that we are focused on the delivery of BlackBerry 10, which we will launch with events around the world on January 30th. As he said on our most recent results conference call on December 20th, we continue to examine all available options to “create new opportunities, focusing on areas where we will be more effective partnering rather than going it alone, and ultimately maximizing value for all stakeholders.”
We do not have anything new to report on our Strategic Review at this time.
I wonder about perception of the security of BlackBerry, if it were acquired by any China company. There seems to be a trust issue right now in technology. Perception overrides fact most of the time.