See The Secret, Failed Plan For a $6 Billion Boardroom Coup At BlackBerry

Advertisement

Robin Chan

Robin Chan / Twitter

Robin Chan, who put together the secret plan for a new Android-based Blackberry.

A year ago, tech venture capital investor Robin Chan — who has funded Twitter, Square and Foursquare, among others — put together a secret plan to stage what he calls a "coup d'etat" that would have rescued BlackBerry.

Advertisement

The plan was codenamed "BBX": Chan hoped to raise $6 billion, and then approach BlackBerry with this takeover plan, outlined in a PowerPoint deck on the following pages.

BBX — which we noticed when it was mentioned on The Verge — would have replaced BlackBerry's management, and ditched the phone's operating system. In its place, Chan would have the company use an Android "fork," meaning a version of Android with some of BlackBerry's own tweaks and styling on top.

Complimentary Tech Event
Transform talent with learning that works
Capability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More

The plan didn't get enough backing and came to nothing.

Here's how Chan and his team envisioned the takeover of BlackBerry. You can download the deck in its entirety from Slideshare.

Advertisement