In a move that makes it even more apparent that BlackBerry has moved beyond making phones, today the company announced it has entered into a patent sale agreement, netting the company $600 million.

WATERLOO, ON, Jan. 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- BlackBerry Limited (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB), announced today that it has entered into a patent sale agreement with Catapult IP Innovations Inc., a Delaware company, pursuant to which BlackBerry has agreed to sell substantially all of its non-core patent assets to Catapult for total consideration of $600 million.

Patents that are essential to BlackBerry's current core business operations are excluded from the transaction. BlackBerry will receive a license back to the patents being sold, which relate primarily to mobile devices, messaging and wireless networking. This transaction will not impact customers' use of any of BlackBerry's products, solutions or services.

Catapult is a special purpose vehicle formed to acquire the BlackBerry patent assets. Catapult's principal funding for the acquisition will be a $450 million senior secured term loan, for which it has received $400 million of conditional commitments from a lending syndicate led by Toronto-based Third Eye Capital that includes a Canadian pension fund.

At closing, BlackBerry will receive $450 million in cash and a promissory note in the principal amount of $150 million. The promissory note will be secured by a second lien on the assets of the purchaser and will be subordinated to the rights of the senior lending syndicate. The promissory note will be payable in five equal annual installments of $30 million in cash commencing on the third anniversary of the closing date, provided that the senior loan is not in default.

Completion of the transaction is conditional upon, among other things, satisfaction of all regulatory conditions under the Hart–Scott–Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act in the United States and the Investment Canada Act. This process could take up to 210 days.

BlackBerry has filed a Current Report on Form 8-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with its entry into the patent sale agreement, which contains further information including a description of the financing conditions relating to the transaction.

For a deal like this to take place I can only assume $600 million was music to BlackBerry CEO John Chen's ears. Given that BlackBerry is out of the business of making phones, it seems like a smart move for BlackBerry. $600 million is a proper wad of cash and they will receive a license back to the patents being sold so it doesn't impact their existing products, services and customers.

What's less clear is if and how this could impact any company who wants to license the BlackBerry brand to make a smartphone (ie. Onward Mobility). My assumption would be that previous BlackBerry licensees like TCL automatically had the right to utilize BlackBerry patents as part of their BlackBerry licensing deals. Third parties in the future looking to make a BlackBerry Smartphone now may have to get two deals done - one with BlackBerry for the brand, and one with Catapult IP Innovations, for patent licenses as needed.

Regardless, it will be interesting to see what BlackBerry does with their $600 million windfall and what Catapult Innovations will do with their newly-acquired patent portfolio to make their investment back.

BlackBerry has now reported their Q2 Fiscal Year 2022 results. As part of the announcement, BlackBerry CEO John Chen noted revenue for all businesses beat expectations this quarter, specifically Cyber Security and IoT.

• Total company revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2022 was $175 million.
• Total company non-GAAP gross margin was 65% and GAAP gross margin was 64%.
• IoT revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2022 was $40 million, with gross margin of 83% and ARR of $89 million.
• Cyber Security revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2022 was $120 million, with gross margin of 59% and ARR of $364 million.
• Licensing and Other revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2022 was $15 million as negotiations for the sale of a portion of the patent portfolio continue. Gross margin was 60%.
• Non-GAAP operating loss was $30 million. GAAP operating loss was $141 million, primarily due to a non-cash accounting adjustment to the fair value of the convertible debentures, resulting from market and trading conditions, of $67 million.
• Non-GAAP loss per share was $0.06 (basic and diluted). GAAP loss per share was $0.25 (basic and diluted).
• Total cash, cash equivalents, short-term and long-term investments were $772 million.
• Net cash generated from operating activities was $12 million.

"Revenue for all businesses beat expectations this quarter. The Cyber Security business unit delivered robust sequential billings and revenue growth and the IoT business unit performed well in the face of global chip shortage pressures," said John Chen, Executive Chairman & CEO, BlackBerry. "We are already seeing benefits from establishing the two key business units and are delighted to appoint John Giamatteo as President of Cyber Security. Giamatteo, who was previously President and Chief Revenue Officer at McAfee, adds leading industry expertise.

In IoT, design activity for our QNX products remains very strong, demonstrating both our industry leadership position and secular trends, such as ECU consolidation. In Cyber Security we received strong third-party validation of the effectiveness of our AI-driven, prevention-first suite of products, illustrating progress made with recent product launches."

If you missed out on the conference call, a replay will be available at approximately 8:30 p.m. ET by dialing +1 (800) 585-8367 and entering Conference ID #6149337. Additionally, you can view the full financial breakdowns here once uploaded by BlackBerry.

Press Release

BlackBerry Reports Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2022 Results

Revenue exceeds expectations and Company adds deep cybersecurity industry experience to drive growth

• Total company revenue of $175 million.
• IoT revenue of $40 million.
• Cyber Security revenue of $120 million.
• Licensing & Other revenue of $15 million.
• Positive operating cash flow of $12 million.
• Non-GAAP loss per basic and diluted share of $0.06; GAAP loss per basic and diluted share of $0.25. A non-cash accounting adjustment to the fair value of the convertible debentures, as a result of market and trading conditions, accounts for approximately $0.12 of GAAP loss per share.

WATERLOO, ON, Sept. 22, 2021 /CNW/ -- BlackBerry Limited (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) today reported financial results for the three months ended August 31, 2021 (all figures in U.S. dollars and U.S. GAAP, except where otherwise indicated).

"Revenue for all businesses beat expectations this quarter. The Cyber Security business unit delivered robust sequential billings and revenue growth and the IoT business unit performed well in the face of global chip shortage pressures," said John Chen, Executive Chairman & CEO, BlackBerry. "We are already seeing benefits from establishing the two key business units and are delighted to appoint John Giamatteo as President of Cyber Security. Giamatteo, who was previously President and Chief Revenue Officer at McAfee, adds leading industry expertise. In IoT, design activity for our QNX products remains very strong, demonstrating both our industry leadership position and secular trends, such as ECU consolidation. In Cyber Security we received strong third-party validation of the effectiveness of our AI-driven, prevention-first suite of products, illustrating progress made with recent product launches."

Second Quarter Fiscal 2022 Financial Highlights

• Total company revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2022 was $175 million.
• Total company non-GAAP gross margin was 65% and GAAP gross margin was 64%.
• IoT revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2022 was $40 million, with gross margin of 83% and ARR of $89 million.
• Cyber Security revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2022 was $120 million, with gross margin of 59% and ARR of $364 million.
• Licensing and Other revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2022 was $15 million as negotiations for the sale of a portion of the patent portfolio continue. Gross margin was 60%.
• Non-GAAP operating loss was $30 million. GAAP operating loss was $141 million, primarily due to a non-cash accounting adjustment to the fair value of the convertible debentures, resulting from market and trading conditions, of $67 million.
• Non-GAAP loss per share was $0.06 (basic and diluted). GAAP loss per share was $0.25 (basic and diluted).
• Total cash, cash equivalents, short-term and long-term investments were $772 million.
• Net cash generated from operating activities was $12 million.

Business Highlights & Strategic Announcements

• BlackBerry has design wins with 24 of the world's leading 25 Electric Vehicle (EV) automakers. This has increased from 23 of the top 25 last quarter following an EV win with Daimler.
• BlackBerry IVY to deliver highly secure vehicle-based payments, leveraging direct access to vehicle sensor data and edge processing to create a "digital fingerprint". Delivered through a partnership with Car IQ.
• Nobo Technologies selects BlackBerry QNX Neutrino as foundation for new Digital Cockpit Controller for Great Wall Motors' Haval G6S SUV. Great Wall Motors is China's largest producer of SUV vehicles.
• sTraffic, Korea's leading solution developer for transportation infrastructure systems, selects QNX OS for Safety as the foundation for their train traffic management system that includes unmanned train operations.
• BlackBerry launches BlackBerry Jarvis 2.0 composition analysis tool. Delivered as a more user-friendly SaaS offering, Jarvis 2.0 empowers OEMs to validate and ensure the quality of their multi-tiered software bill of materials.
• BlackBerry awarded highest AAA rating by SE Labs in breach test of BlackBerry Protect (EPP) and BlackBerry Optics (EDR). The breach test adopted a range of real-world hacker tactics and BlackBerry's AI-driven products delivered complete prevention and detection with zero false positives.
• BlackBerry UEM integrates with Microsoft 365, delivering BlackBerry's industry-leading security to Microsoft's productivity products.
• BlackBerry AtHoc critical event management platform used as foundation for autonomous flood risk and clean water monitoring solution.
• BlackBerry updates SecuSUITE capabilities to protect group phone calls and messages for governments and businesses from high risk eavesdropping.

Appointment of New Cyber Security Business Unit President

BlackBerry has appointed John Giamatteo as President of the Cyber Security business unit. With this strategic hire the company adds significant industry experience. Giamatteo will join the company on October 4th and report to Executive Chairman and CEO John Chen. He will be responsible for business unit strategy, engineering, and go-to-market.

Giamatteo brings to BlackBerry over 30 years of experience with technology companies. Most recently he served as President and Chief Revenue Officer of McAfee, where he was responsible for sales, marketing, and customer success. During his time with McAfee, he delivered strong double-digit growth across its Enterprise, SMB and Consumer businesses as well as significant margin expansion across the portfolio. Prior to that he served as Chief Operating Officer at AVG Technologies, a leading provider of Internet and mobile security. Giamatteo also held leadership positions with Solera Holdings, RealNetworks, Inc. and Nortel Network Corporation.

"I'm excited to be joining BlackBerry and to be leading the Cyber Security business unit. Never has the threat of cyberattacks been higher, nor more in the minds of management," said Giamatteo. "BlackBerry's AI-driven, prevention-first technology is well placed to scale to meet the constantly evolving cybersecurity needs of companies everywhere. I'm very positive about the opportunities that we have as a company."

Tom Eacobacci, BlackBerry's President and COO, has decided to pursue other opportunities and will leave the Company on October 29th. BlackBerry thanks Tom for his hard work and contributions in his time at the Company.

Outlook

BlackBerry will provide fiscal year 2022 outlook in connection with the quarterly earnings announcement on its earnings conference call. The earnings call transcript will be made available on our website and on SEDAR.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

The tables at the end of this press release include a reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures used by the company to comparable U.S. GAAP measures and an explanation of why the company uses them.

Conference Call and Webcast

A conference call and live webcast will be held today beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET, which can be accessed by dialing +1 (877) 682-6267 or by logging on at BlackBerry.com/Investors.

A replay of the conference call will also be available at approximately 8:30 p.m. ET by dialing +1 (800) 585-8367 and entering Conference ID #6149337 and at the link above.

About BlackBerry

BlackBerry (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) provides intelligent security software and services to enterprises and governments around the world. The company secures more than 500M endpoints including more than 195M vehicles. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, the company leverages AI and machine learning to deliver innovative solutions in the areas of cybersecurity, safety and data privacy, and is a leader in the areas of endpoint security, endpoint management, encryption, and embedded systems. BlackBerry's vision is clear - to secure a connected future you can trust.

BlackBerry. Intelligent Security. Everywhere.

For more information, visit BlackBerry.com and follow @BlackBerry.

The legal battles between BackBerry and Facebook which started back in 2018 have run their course and as of yesterday, both parties have agreed to settle.

Although the terms of the deal were not announced, BlackBerry spokeswoman Karen Clyne noted "We have resolved our disputes pursuant to a confidential agreement and have no further comment".

Following the news BlackBerry stock rose as much as 26.8%, making it the second day BlackBerry stock made signifcant gains. Earlier this week, the stock rose as much as 25% following the news of the company selling smartphone patents to Huawei.

BlackBerry today revealed that earlier this week, the California federal court approved dismissing with prejudice claims that BlackBerry attempted to extort MobileIron through a patent licensing agreement.

In its complaint filed earlier this year, MobileIron claimed that BlackBerry attempted "civil extortion" by sending MobileIron notices of patent infringement. But as BlackBerry maintained throughout the suit, BlackBerry's efforts to enforce its patent rights were at all times proper, and MobileIron's claims to the contrary were both "abusive" and "meritless." The dismissal of MobileIron's claims vindicates BlackBerry's position and the propriety of BlackBerry's licensing practices.

"BlackBerry is a pioneer in mobile security and enterprise software and has always stood behind its technologies and licensing practices," said Steve Rai, Chief Financial Officer, BlackBerry. "We are gratified that these meritless claims have been definitively put to rest and will continue to vigorously defend BlackBerry's position. We appreciate the change in direction that Ivanti, MobileIron's new owner, has taken with respect to this suit and look forward to working with them to reconcile the remaining open items."

As a result of the dismissal, MobileIron will have to pay BlackBerry's costs and attorney's fees incurred defending against the claims.