BlackBerry for sale: Smartphone. Smart move? These are stories Report on Business is following Monday, Aug. 12, 2013. BlackBerry up for sale Shares of BlackBerry Ltd. are surging in premarket action this morning after the smartphone maker succumbed to market reality and put itself up for sale. As The Globe and Mail's Omar El Akkad reports, the company formerly known as Research In Motion struck a special committee to examine "strategic alternatives," ones that could include joint ventures or a sale of the smartphone maker. Its stock climbed more than 6 per cent in the premarket hours, though only time will tell whether this is a smart move. Certainly, the Waterloo, Ont.-based company, once the giant of Canada's technology sector, had to do something. Since giving the world the smartphone and rising to the top, seemingly untouchable, the company has been on a downward spiral, under pressure from the likes of Apple Inc."s iPhone, Samsung's Galaxy, and Google Inc."s wildly popular Android operating system. The latest numbers, from International Data Corp., indicate BlackBerry is now an also-ran, despite its new BB 10 models that won generally positive reviews. According to IDC, BlackBerry is in fourth spot in the hotly competitive market, with just shy of 3 per cent, having sold some 6.8 million devices in the second quarter of the year. "BlackBerry saw its market share decline during the quarter, reaching levels not seen in the history of IDC's Mobile Phone Tracker," IDC said of the company's operating system. "However, BlackBerry has shown steady progress since the launch of its BB 10 platform, which has grown to three models, additional mobile operators, and a greater presence within its total volumes," it added in its study. It is still early days for the platform, however, and BlackBerry will need time and resources to evangelize more end users. Prem Watson of Fairfax Financial, which holds a chunk of BlackBerry stock, has resigned from the company's board given a potential conflict, which may suggest he's looking at bidding. "We don't foresee any scenarios where the value of the company will be significantly larger, but part of our recent upgrade to market perform from underperform related to risks like this to the bear case," said analyst Tim Long of BMO Nesbitt Burns. "While a change in structure could result in a higher stock price in the near term, we do not envision any changes that would help BlackBerry reverse the significant smartphone share loss or rapid decline in service revenues," he added in a report today. In a previous report, BMO cited the "potential value in the company, which is sitting on $3-billion in cash and has gobbled up patents or licenses to the tune of $3-billion, as well. It also still boasts 72 million subscribers. "Our views on the stock remain unchanged," Mr. Long said. We are maintaining our market perform rating. Our valuation puts the stock value at $8 based on fundamentals, but we could see more excitement as we learn of strategic alternatives for the company. Markets mixed Global markets are mixed so far this morning, though Tokyo was dragged down by Japan's latest economic reading, European stocks are slipping, and New York appears headed for a weaker open. "Last night's Japanese GDP figures have left Asian markets disappointed," said market analyst Alastair McCaig of IG in London. "Slowing growth hints towards a nation struggling to come to terms with the new Abenomics that have been thrust upon them, and the planned 3-per-cent increase in sales tax due in April looks considerably less likely," he added in a research note. European traders will be asking themselves if is this a result of a failed effort to weaken the yen, or the template for struggling GDP figures around the globe. Tokyo's Nikkei lost 0.7 per cent, though Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 2.1 per cent. In Europe, London's FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and the Paris CAC 40 were down by 0.3 per cent by about 8:45 a.m. Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 futures also dipped. "A subdued start to the week's trading saw European stocks trade marginally higher at the open before drifting off, as weaker than expected Japanese GDP numbers combined with the generally apathetic mood to peg stocks back," said Matt Basi of CMC Markets. Volume across all of the major bourses has all but dried up as we hit the height of the holiday season, and with no significant macro releases scheduled until later in the week, we are likely in for a quiet session. Einstein, Hawking and Cerys She's said to be brighter than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking. And one day, she thinks, she might like to be governor of the Bank of England. But Mark Carney need not look over his shoulder just yet: Cerys Cooksammy-Parnell is 11 years old. The British schoolgirl is making headlines around the world for scoring 162 on what's known as the Cattell B scale, which puts her IQ above those of Einstein and Hawking. And her lawyer dad, Dean, whose IQ is 142. The Northampton girl told The Daily Express that she just wanted to beat her father, though she didn't expect it to be by such a wide margin. "Perhaps when I am really old and past 20 years of age I will have more intellectual conversations where my IQ will assist," she said. Until then, my focus will be on fashion, fun and getting good grades. She's one of the youngest kids to take the test, which she wrote last month, and has been asked to join Mensa, the brainiac club, in Britain. "I like working with numbers so I think I would like to work for a bank or even one day become the governor of the Bank of England," she said. Her mother, Natalie, also a lawyer, said her daughter has always been smart, and was reading to her classmates at a very young age. Her interests, though, are like those of other girls her age. "Cerys would rather sit down and read a copy of Closer than read a book and loves playing Candy Crush and Angry Birds," she told the Northampton Herald and Post, referring to the celebrity magazine.