BLACKBERRY GOES PRIVATE FOR $4.7 BILLION

BlackBerry goes private as they agree to sell for $4.7 BILLION after announcing massive losses and 4,500 layoffs

• Smartphone giant being bought by their biggest shareholder and will payout shares at $9-a-piece 
• Announcement comes days after Blackberry reported losses of nearly $1billion and a plan to fire 40 per cent of their workforce to cut costs

BlackBerry has agreed to sell itself for $4.7billion, marking the end of the smartphone giant following years of devastating losses.

BlackBerry said Monday that a letter of intent has been signed with its largest shareholder, a Canadian group called Fairfax.

As part of the deal, each of the company's shares will be paid $9 in cash for each of their holdings.

Going private: In spite of Research in Motion CEO Thorsten Heins' efforts to relaunch the smartphone company, they reported losses over $1billion and now have decided to sell to one of their largest shareholders.

Massive drop: The company stock (seen here from 2006 to present day) has declined dramatically, most notably after 2007 when the iPhone was first released and came in as major competition to BlackBerry smartphones.

New leadership: Prem Watsa (pictured), who heads a Canadian investment group called Fairfax, is a former board member who owns 10 per cent of BlackBerry and now he is buying the company.

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Fairfax head Prem Watsa is a former board member who owns 10 per cent of BlackBerry.

Watsa stepped down when BlackBerry announced it was considering a sale last month. The billionaire is one of Canada's best-known value investors.

‘We can deliver immediate value to shareholders, while we continue the execution of a long-term strategy in a private company with a focus on delivering superior and secure enterprise solutions to BlackBerry customers around the world,’ Watsa said in a statement.

Trading of the company's stock was halted ahead of the news.

BlackBerry shares plunged after the company announced Friday a loss of nearly $1billion and layoffs of 4,500 workers or 40 per cent of its global workforce, as it tries to slash costs by 50 per cent and shift its focus back to competing mainly for the business customers most loyal to its brand.

Blackberry phones, which first hit the tech scene in 1999, were once so addictive it inspired the nickname 'CrackBerry'.

President Barack Obama confessed to being among the millions of devotees who couldn't bear to stop tapping feverishly away on its tiny keyboard and Madonna once said she slept with hers under her pillow.

Then came the iPhone.

This year's launch of BlackBerry 10, its revamped operating system, and fancier new devices - the touchscreen Z10 and Q10 for keyboard loyalists - was supposed to rejuvenate the brand and lure customers.

But the much-delayed phones have failed to turn the company around.

At their peak in the fall of 2009, BlackBerry's smartphones enjoyed global market share of over 20 per cent, says Mike Walkley, an analyst with Canaccord Genuity.

Their piece of the pie has since evaporated to just 1.5 per cent.