Research In Motion Soars on Takeover Talk

Shares of Research In Motion, the maker of BlackBerry handheld devices, soared to a 52-week high Friday on rumors of a takeover by H-P. The stock closed up $3.20, or 13.3%, to $27.28.

The takeover rumor was reported in Reuters on Friday afternoon. The notion struck some as reasonable, though not everyone had heard the chatter.

"Once a quarter or so, there are some sort of rumors about some company buying or taking over RIM," says Kevin Burden, a mobile device analyst for IDC. "RIM has a lot of IP, a lot of patents. With that much technological know-how, I expect they'd be a prime candidate for a buyout or hostile takeover." ...