BlackBerry would consider being sliced apart

It’s never a good thing to consider, especially when the future looked so bright for the company half a decade ago, but BlackBerry is becoming more open to the concept of breaking up the company and selling itself off in parts rather than as a whole.

BlackBerry Ltd. is more open to a breakup of the company amid concerns that Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. may be unable to line up funding or partners for a $4.7 billion buyout, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

Companies such as SAP AG, Cisco Systems Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., which were approached last week by BlackBerry advisers, have indicated they’re only interested in parts of the company, people familiar with the discussions said. A breakup would let parties bid for BlackBerry’s most valuable pieces, such as its patents or enterprise network, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private.