The acquisition of Good is aligned with BlackBerry’s strategy to offer customers the a complete, end-to-end solution that secures the entire mobile enterprise, across all platforms. Enhanced by Good, BlackBerry will expand its ability to offer a unified, secure mobility platform with applications for any mobile device on any operating system.
“By acquiring Good, BlackBerry will better solve one of the biggest struggles for CIOs today, especially those in regulated industries: securely managing devices across any platform. By providing even stronger cross-platform capabilities our customers will not have to compromise on their choice of operating systems, deployment models or any level of privacy and security,” said John Chen, BlackBerry Executive Chairman and CEO. “Like BlackBerry, Good has a very strong presence in enterprises and governments around the world and, with this transaction, BlackBerry will enhance its sales and distribution capabilities and further grow its enterprise software revenue stream.”
“Enterprise customers today demand stringent security and the most flexible platform across all mobility strategies,” said Christy Wyatt, Good Chairman and CEO. “We are excited to join BlackBerry, where together we will be the most comprehensive mobile platform in the market. Good has worked hard to deliver the highest levels of security across operating systems and applications. Our trusted Good solutions will also help BlackBerry to accelerate its Internet of Things platform for managing endpoints beyond mobile devices.”
With Good, BlackBerry will expand its presence with global enterprise and government customers. Good serves more than 6,200 organizations, including more than half of the Fortune 100, all of the Fortune 100 commercial banks, aerospace and defense firms, and leaders across healthcare, manufacturing and retail. BlackBerry is the trusted mobility partner of all G7 governments, 16 of the G20 governments, 10 out of 10 of the largest global banks and law firms, and the top five largest managed healthcare, investment services, and oil and gas companies.
SOTI’s CEO Carl Rodrigues commented “This merger, while exciting for the two companies involved, is not ground breaking. On their own, both companies have been struggling – one financially, and the other in staying relevant in a world that demands cross-platform support. It’s notable that this announcement comes in the same week as Ovum’s forecast that the EMM market will quadruple by 2019, with mobile business transformation – not secure BYOD - leading the charge. While this deal strengthens BlackBerry’s position in secure communications, it doesn’t address the needs beyond the mature BYOD segment of the EMM market. It’s clear their immediate focus will be on integrating technologies and cultures, which is not BlackBerry’s strong suit in EMM as evidenced with its acquisition of Ubitexx in 2011. The market won’t wait for them to catch up. And with security increasingly being built right into the OS, their future market relevance and viability come into question. In my opinion, it may be too little, too late for these two struggling companies.”
BlackBerry expects the transaction to be completed toward the end of the company’s 2016 fiscal third quarter and is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. The company anticipates the acquisition to be accretive to earnings and cash flow within the first year after closing. BlackBerry also expects to realize approximately $160 million in GAAP revenue from Good in the first year, including the impact of an expected write-down of certain deferred revenue of Good.