VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Troubled smartphone maker BlackBerry on Tuesday announced that John Sims will join the company as head ofmits gloabl enterprise services business. Sims is a former executive at German software firm SAP.

Shareholder Marvin Pearlstein filed a lawsuit against Blackberry Ltd and its top executives for providing false information about the company's financial position and business growth of its newest smartphone line.

Hedging against possible long term structural changes with Blackberry, Morgan Stanley has put on hold the purchase of new devices from the Canadian company amidst the turmoil the smartphone company is now facing.

There were 120,000 applications available in the BlackBerry World and 47,000 of the apps offered for download were made by a single developer.

Industry Minister James Moore stated the Canadian government has been carefully watching BlackBerry as the smartphone maker weighs its options.

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins would make USD55.6 million if he sells the corporation and is ousted from his position.

Stuart Jeffrey, Nomura Equity Research's analyst, said BlackBerry would be lucky to receive bids higher than USD12 to USD13, even from an "optimistic buyer."

Analysts said Blackberry would be broken up into pieces if a private equity firm would purchase the smartphone maker.

Iron Capital's analyst, Eric Jackson, said BlackBerry would continue to slump even with the reported strategic alternatives for the company.

BlackBerry's board members opted to go on sale after the company's market value plunged to only USD5.1 billion from USD83 billion in 2008.

As Blackberry announced its formation of a special committee to "explore strategic alternatives" like a possible sale to compete with its biggest technology rivals, conflict may arise.

Private equity executives and analysts said taking BlackBerry private would make sense but it is not a quick fix for the company’s problems.

According to analysts, valuing BlackBerry right now is impossible considering the company's struggles.

BlackBerry stocks soared by 9% to US$10.08 in trading on early Friday following reports about its possible privatization.

BlackBerry is the first mobile maker to secure the US Defense Department's device administration approval.