Smartphone maker, Blackberry will acquire Good Technology, a rival firm with specialization in mobile systems security, in a deal worth $425 million (₦84.575 billion).
BlackBerry says the deal will help them expand their mobile security platform for its enterprise business and boost the company’s ability to help corporate clients manage smartphones running on different operating systems.
According to Chief Executive John Chen, the deal, which is expected to close near the end of BlackBerry’s third quarter in fiscal year 2016, has the potential of generating about $160 million (approximately ₦31.84 billion) in revenue from acquisition in the first year after it closes.
BlackBerry and Good had long been at loggerheads. The companies settled a series of patent lawsuits in 2004, but as recently as January 2015, BlackBerry critiqued one of Good’s product announcements in a blog post, annotating the rival company’s press release in red ink.
“There is a very long history here. We are in an incredibly competitive market and speak to many of the same customers,” said Good Chief Executive Christy Wyatt in an interview posted on BlackBerry’s news site.