Although Amazon sought advice from the investment bank this summer, it did not make a formal offer, a source told Reuters.
It is not clear whether informal discussions between Amazon and RIM ever led
to specific price talk, or who else had approached RIM about a takeover.
RIM's board wants co-chief executives Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie to
focus on trying to turn around the business through the launch of new
phones, better use of assets such as BlackBerry Messaging and restructuring,
two sources said.
While RIM could strike technology licensing deals and other kinds of
commercial partnerships to boost revenue, an outright sale or joint venture
is not on the cards for now, they said.
"They have had approaches from folks who have wanted to have discussions,"
said one head of technology investment banking at a Wall Street bank. "The
issue is it is hard to find a value that makes sense with a falling knife."
RIM's market value has plunged 77pc in the last 12 months to about $6.8bn
(£4.34bn) following a series of disappointing quarterly reports, delayed
phone launches, weak sales of the PlayBook tablet and a major fault in
October that caused millions of BlackBerry users to lose service.
The shares tumbled last week on weaker-than-expected quarterly results and the
announcement of a delay in the launch of the new BlackBerry 10 phones.
Amazon and RIM are still discussing ways to expand their commercial ties,
which currently include a service launched last year to make Amazon's music
catalog available to some BlackBerry users, according to the sources.
RIM and Amazon declined to comment.
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