Canadian technology firm BlackBerry (BB) said it earned $900 million U.S. from selling patents tied to its former smartphone business.
The wireless and mobile phone patents were purchased by privately held Malikie Innovations.
BlackBerry sold 32,000 patents related to mobile devices, messaging, and wireless networking, all of which are not part of the company’s core business today.
The Waterloo, Ontario-based company said it will receive $170 million U.S. in cash upfront from Malikie and another $30 million U.S. over the next three years, as well as a structured annual royalty payment capped at $700 million U.S.
The deal bolsters BlackBerry’s balance sheet at a time when the company reported having only $449 million U.S. in cash on hand during its latest quarter, down from a high of $2.3 billion U.S. in late 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Malikie is a subsidiary of Key Patent Innovations, an Irish intellectual property monetization company. Key Patent Innovations also owns patents and intellectual property tied to the OLED business, as well as data centres and network analytics.
The patent sale doesn’t include about 2,000 patents that BlackBerry considers essential to its current and future operations.
The company is now primarily focused on Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and making software for self-driving vehicles.
BlackBerry’s stock has declined 45% over the last year to trade at $5.19 per share.
