BlackBerry Ltd (TSX:BB)(NYSE:BB) is continuing to expand its cybersecurity business as it announced that it would be acquiring Cylance Inc. for $1.4 billion, which is a software company that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help protect devices from attacks.
Cylance claims to have more than 3,500 customers and that could be a great opportunity for BlackBerry to accelerate its growth and gain more market share. In addition, it would help give BlackBerry another area where it could grow its business and add value – AI, which seems to be the most popular buzzword in tech these days. BlackBerry is also involved in developing self-driving technologies and an expertise in AI could be leveraged for that part of its business as well.
Given the breaches that we’ve seen over the past few years and concerns about privacy, cybersecurity is becoming a hot topic and demand for these types of products and services will only grow. And while BlackBerry has slowly been evolving its business and focusing on cybersecurity, it needed to make more of an effort to do so as many people still don’t associate the brand with that type of business.
Overall, this is a big move for BlackBerry and it will help give its sales a much-needed boost. The company’s results have been a bit uninspiring lately and limited growth was going to make attracting investors a big challenge.
Year to date the stock has declined 17%, which shouldn’t come as much surprise given that in three of the past four quarters BlackBerry has finished in the red and in its most recent quarter sales were down by 12% year over year.
