Samsung denies interest in buying RIM

South Korean electronic giant Samsung Electronics Co today refuted a tech blog report that it would buy ailing Research In Motion (RIM) or license its operating system.

Tech blog Boy Genius Report website yesterday reported without identifying its sources that Samsung may be interested in buying RIM, but the maker of BlackBerry smart phones is asking too much.

The report sent RIM's stock soaring over 8 per cent or $1.30 to close yesterday at $17.47 at the New York Stock Exchange.

RIM has a market capitalisation of around $9.2 billion, while Samsung market capitalisation is $133 billion. Acquisition of RIM whose stock has fallen 75 per cent last year would not dent Samsung's balance sheet as it had around $19 billion in cash and equivalents as of 30 September.

The acquisition of RIM, which is facing stiff competition from Apple and Samsung, would give the Seoul-based company RIM's patents and crucially its operating system, which is different from Google's Android software that it is currently in use in nearly all its lines of handsets.

Samsung also uses Microsoft Corp's Windows Phone operating system and its own Bada software on some of its handsets.

Samsung, which has emerged as the world's largest smart phone manufacturer, yesterday said that it has no interest in buying RIM or licensing its operating system.

Samsung has ''never'' considered buying RIM, and there has been no contact between the two companies, Bloomberg yesterday reported quoting James Chung, a Seoul-based spokesman for Samsung.