GM Share Buyback Reminds Analyst Of BlackBerry In The 2000s; Elon Musk Nods In Agreement

New Street Research analyst Pierre Ferragu on Wednesday noted that the buybacks announced by automakers recently are reminiscent of the now-obsolete Canadian smartphone maker Blackberry.

What Happened: “All these car manufacturers buying back shares… this will end in tears. Reminds me of BlackBerry buying back in the late 2000's…” Ferragu, who heads the Global Technology Infrastructure research team at New Street Research, wrote. The analyst’s take comes on the heel of Detroit-based automaker General Motors Co (NYSE:GM) announcing a $10 billion share buyback.

Blackberry, once highly popular, later fell obsolete as it failed to adapt to changing consumer preferences and competitors including Apple Inc flooded the industry with touchscreen phones as opposed to Blackberry’s qwerty keypad ones.

By the late 2000s, Blackberry started losing its customer base to Apple’s iPhone.

Musk Responds: Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk responded to Ferragu’s take with a short but cryptic, ‘Yes.’

Interestingly, Tesla itself has been called the "Blackberry of the EV industry" before by another analyst; Tesla bear and GLJ Research analyst Gordon Johnson. In June, Johnson said that Tesla’s valuation could implode as competition intensifies and it becomes clear to investors that it is a struggling car company.

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