http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=RIMM

It's up $13.28 in after hours trading following the settlement on Friday. I think the shareholders are really feeling sore in the arse right now, honestly.

I predict (actually, I've said this in past threads, too) that RIM is now a legitimate takeover candidate.

what makes you say this, i don't really have a particular option in the matter just kind of curious. They seem to be posting great numbers and at the top of there game in most respects. why sell now

I said it exactly one year ago. It was a prediction, nothing more.

I am still surprised that RIM has not been bought. Motorola bought Good, which shows that people will buy ANYTHING.

well i understand that people will buy anything but i was ask more why would they sell. This anything theory was shown by the youtube buy, this is a company that never made one dime and is on the brink of quite a few legal battles in it future. the one good thing that i can say about that deal was if any one can buy and make something out of them its Google. But then again that might also be the death of them the youtube name that is.

I didn't say they would sell. I said I thought they were a takeover candidate. RIM is publicly traded. I haven't looked at their filings to see how much stock the insiders own (including their back dated options) but virtually any company can be bought - for a price.

Edit: a quick look at Yahoo Financials:

% of Shares Held by All Insider and 5% Owners: 12%
% of Shares Held by Institutional & Mutual Fund Owners: 75%

So it could be bought, for the right price.

ok i get what you saying

I work for a Canadian investment bank [CIBC] and we discussed this possibility at a round table the other day. First of all, RIM will be bought out only if Mike and Jim decide they don't want to play anymore. Neither one of those guys is capable of taking orders from a parent company. From what the employees at RIM tell us, these guys both prefer to do the bullying, not be one of the bullied.

Second, as far as I can tell RIM is a Canadian company with only wholly owned subsidiaries in the US and other markets. To buy RIM would likely require a foreign company outside of Canada since no Canadian company could afford to buy them. Ownership by a US or European purchaser would trigger a large number of devastating regulatory repercussions which would wreck the RIM business and operations model. Most foreign accountability or obligatory regulations that apply to the subsidiaries do not seem to currently apply to the RIM Canadian parent company so long as it remains a Canadian entity. So, there is no advantage in buying RIM, and even less to gain by selling RIM to a purchaser.

That being said, there are a number of other signs the company could be sold with very little effort. There is no pension plan for employees, and despite recent news, there is no longer a stock plan except for a few employees in senior management. The wages and benefits are very low by any standard, so severance costs would be minimal. The company seems to be seeking out lower cost areas to do business.

Hmmmmmm, for some reason i just predict that verizon wireless will buy RIM.

That's just a VERY Scary thought right there. If that happens then everyone's BB's are going to be crippled.

I predict that AT&T would buy RIM for sure.. Because AT&T want to have everythings like DSL, on and on that they own...as BUY AND SELL..

I doubt RIM will be selling itself anytime soon. Unless of course the right price is put up. But I don't see it happening anytime soon!