VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Struggling smartphone maker BlackBerry Ltd. has hired Ron Louks as head of its loss-making devices business. Louks had served as chief executive officer at OpenNMS Group and as head of technology at Sony Ericsson.

Blackberry Ltd has said in a statement on January 2 that it will be parting ways with its global creative director, musician and celebrity Alicia Keys.

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.

Sources told the Wall Street Journal that BlackBerry's executive vice president of global sales and official in charge of its mergers and acquisitions strategy will be departing the struggling smartphone maker in weeks.

BlackBerry rejected proposals to break-up and sell all or parts of the Canadian company.

Investors from US, Canada and Qatar backed up a USD1 billion debt sale deal to boost BlackBerry's cash position.

Blackberry agreed to enter into a USD billion convertible debenture sale, which would saw its top executives including cheif executive officer Thorsten Heins leaving the company

Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd had until November 4 to negotiate a definitive agreement to buy out Blackberry Ltd.

A report from Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail said that John Sculley, a former Apple CEO, was mulling a possible bid for BlackBerry.

The Investment Canada Act would be a major hurdle for foreign companies like Lenovo who wish to acquire Blackberry as a whole or in parts.

According to a securities filing, BlackBerry Ltd co-founders Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin were said to have an interest in putting up an alternative bid for the smartphone maker.

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.

In a released statement, Blackberry Ltd said that it would be cancelling its quarterly earnings call and webcast scheduled for Friday this week.

Financing for the Blackberry Ltd buyout by Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. would be largely dependent on the smartphone maker's debt-free assets, said financial analysts.

According to sources who told Reuters, interest in buying BlackBerry Ltd was lukewarm that the company would have to break its business up to exit.