By Dana Mattioli
BlackBerry Ltd. announced Tuesday it has entered into a
definitive agreement to buy document-security firm WatchDox
Inc.
BlackBerry will pay around $70 million for WatchDox, one of the
people with knowledge of the deal told The Wall Street Journal.
BlackBerry did not disclose the terms of the transaction.
WatchDox, which is privately held, makes software that allows
companies to share and protect their files across a number of
devices.
BlackBerry has been making small, so-called tuck-in acquisitions
since the company abandoned plans to sell itself in 2013 for $4.7
billion. Instead, the Waterloo, Ontario-based smartphone maker took
a $1 billion investment from a group led by major shareholder
Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. and replaced its chief executive
with John Chen, former chief executive of enterprise software
company Sybase Inc. BlackBerry currently has a $5.3 billion market
value.
Since rebuffing the buyout offer, BlackBerry has focused on
mobile security software and smartphones, which are areas that
WatchDox would help bolster.
Write to Dana Mattioli at dana.mattioli@wsj.com
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