Still in a jam

ITS turnaround playbook turned out to be just as disappointing as its PlayBook tablet computer, which was supposed to rival Apple’s iPad but never caught on. Having failed to reverse its fortunes as a public company, BlackBerry announced on September 23rd that it had struck a preliminary deal with a group of investors who want to take it private, at a value of $4.7 billion. This is only slightly above its market value just before the bid, and a massive comedown from the $83 billion the company was worth in its heyday in 2008.