收购黑莓有什么好处？

    除了BBM之外，黑莓还可以给三大平台提供一些他们都缺乏同时又非常需要的东西——一个真正的安全数据网络。这可能也是黑莓最强的优势了。对于那些想保障通讯安全的企业来说，通过黑莓数据网络收发邮件是一个更安全的选择。目前黑莓的客户包括所有的大型华尔街银行，甚至还包括美国国防部（the Department of Defense）。这些客户的服务器与它们的IT基础架构直接连接到封闭的黑莓网络，使员工们可以安全地收发电子邮件和收据。这项技术背后有数千项专利的保护，其中光是某些专利的估值就高达10亿美元。

    除了技术之外，收购黑莓还可以给战略收购者带来某些重大的税务优势。谷歌、苹果和微软都在海外存有大量现金，差不多都在银行里存得发霉了。这些现金都是通过数不清的海外子公司销售产品和服务赚来的，金额高得惊人——根据美国公共利益研究集团（PIRG）的数据，其中谷歌有330亿美元海外资金，微软有610亿美元，苹果有830亿美元。正常来说，一家公司会把这些现金重新分配给投资者，而不是坐在钱堆上面什么也不干。但由于这些现金是在海外赚来的，因此它们尚未被美国政府课税。

    这些公司唯一能利用这些现金的方法就是把它投资到海外的事业上。但是由于这三家公司的资本项目很少，这些现金只能越码越高。不过他们并不需要拿这些钱盖房圈地，而是可以利用这些钱收购点什么。黑莓是一家加拿大公司，因此可以通过海外资金来收购。

    这样做并非没有先例。比如强生集团（Johnson and Johnson）去年夏天就在高盛（Goldman）和摩根大通（JPMorgan）等投行的协助下设计了一套方案，使它利用部分海外资金收购了瑞士医疗设备制造商Synthes，收购价将近200亿美元。

    2011年，微软斥资85亿海外现金收购了卢森堡的Skype公司。显然微软并不怕花大价钱收购其它公司，而且也愿意利用没被课税的海外资金来搞收购。这几年来，微软一直努力在智能手机市场实现突破，收购黑莓可以为它在企业市场赢得优势。美国差不多所有的大型企都在用微软的Microsoft Exchange服务器发电子邮件，因此如果微软收购了黑莓，将有助于继续巩固它在美国企业IT基础架构领域的领头羊地位。

    In addition to BBM, BlackBerry offers the Big Three something none of them have but could really use – a truly secure data network. This is probably BlackBerry's strongest advantage. Sending and receiving emails through the BlackBerry data network provides a much safer conduit for businesses that want to keep their communications private. BlackBerry customers include all the large Wall Street banks as well as the Department of Defense. These clients have servers hardwired into their IT infrastructure that allow them to access the closed BlackBerry network and provide a safe and relatively secure way for their employees to send and receive emails and data. The technology behind the network is protected by thousands of patents, which some have estimated to be worth as much as $1 billion just on their own.

    In addition to the technology, Blackberry also offers a buyer some significant tax advantages. Google, Apple and Microsoft have billions of dollars of cash parked offshore gathering virtual dust in foreign banks. The Big Three accumulated these cash piles by selling their products and services through their numerous foreign operating subsidiaries. The amount of cash we are talking about here is simply staggering. At last count Google had $33 billion; Microsoft had $61 billion; and Apple had $83 billion, according to U.S. PIRG, a federation of public interest research groups. Normally a company would redistribute that cash to its shareholders, not just sit on it. But since the cash was made abroad, it hasn't been taxed by U.S. authorities.

    The only thing these companies can really do with their cash hoards would be to somehow reinvest it abroad in some sort of foreign venture. With few capital projects on their plate, the money has just be piling up. But they don't have to build something – they can also acquire something. Blackberry is a Canadian company and could be acquired using funds from the foreign reserves.

    This is not an unprecedented move. For example, Johnson and Johnson, aided by its bankers at Goldman and JPMorgan, devised a scheme that allowed it to use part of its foreign cash pile to acquire Swiss medical device maker Synthes last summer for nearly $20 billion.

    Microsoft used $8.5 billion of its foreign cash hoard to acquire Luxembourg-based Skype in 2011. Clearly it isn't shy about making big acquisitions and seems comfortable tapping its untaxed foreign cash hoard to make it happen. Microsoft has been struggling to break into the smartphone market for years now and acquiring Blackberry could allow it to gain an edge within the corporate arena. Pretty much every major business in the U.S. uses Microsoft Exchange servers for their email, so acquiring Blackberry would have the added benefit of securing its leading position inside U.S. corporate IT infrastructure.