Andre Yoskowitz
11 Apr 2012 17:49
The rumor lived and died last year, but it has resurfaced today; Microsoft is looking into buying a stake of Research in Motion.
Today's rumor comes via Benzinga, who suggests Microsoft would be willing to pay up to $3.5 billion to buy a large stake in the struggling BlackBerry maker.
The rumor comes weeks after new RIM CEO Thorsten Heins announced that the company is "exploring partnerships and other strategic opportunities."
Earlier in the week, it was rumored that Samsung was interested in buying a $1.5 billion stake in RIM, although neither RIM, Microsoft or Samsung have commented on the stories.
The investments make sense, because even though RIM's market share has dwindled in the last four years, the company has an extensive collection of patents, the popular BlackBerry Messenger platform and numerous enterprise contracts around the world.