The Carlyle Group was approached by Mike Lazaridis, one of the co-founders of BlackBerry, to seek a bid to purchase the Canadian smartphone maker. 7.5% of the Carlyle Group is owned by Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Development Company.

Lazaridis, who quit the company he helped establish last year, owns a 5.7% share in the company. He helped build BlackBerry from its beginnings in 1985 to become one of largest individual shareowners in the firm. He left the company as its co-CEO in 2012. Now, he is trying to help save the company as it is by approaching hedge fund firms such as the Blackstone Group and the Carlyle Group. The said discussions were reported in both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

According to Reuters, Lazaridis was not readily available for comment and BlackBerry for its part declined to provide a comment on the matter.

This is good news in a wake of grim ones, such as its projected huge operating loss and the reduction of its global workforce.