In September BlackBerry received a $4.7 billion buyout offer from Canadian holding company Fairfax Financial, but it's still pursuing possible deals with other companies — and Google may be among them. Reuters reports that BlackBerry has asked for "preliminary expressions of interest" from a number of tech companies, including the search giant, Intel, LG, Samsung, and Cisco. It's asking to hear from the companies by next week, though it's not clear which of the them, if any, will actually bid on BlackBerry, and if the bids will be for the company as a whole or for a particular portion of its business.

Despite its failure in the commercial smartphone space — last month BlackBerry announced it was retreating from the market entirely — BlackBerry's patents and network products have been highlighted as areas of interest for potential buyers. The move to sell isn't a surprise either. It was reported last month that BlackBerry's board was hoping to sell the company as soon as November, and with the troubled firm recently announcing 4,500 layoffs the urgency to find a buyer is likely only increasing.