Blackberry CEO John Chen says he is on the hunt for acquisitions to help the company expand its distribution channel, but he’s not interested in paying the current sky-high valuations for many tech companies. 

“I’m cheap, I don’t think that’s right for our shareholders,” Chen told BNN in an interview. “You are going to have to be extremely strategic for that to happen for us.”

There has been growing speculation about potential acquisitions by the Waterloo-based company.  Blackberry’s cash reserves now stand at US$2.6-billion. The company’s coffers have been bolstered by the recent US$814-million windfall it was awarded to end a dispute with Qualcomm Inc. over royalty payments.

Chen says he wants to spend some of that cash to help Blackberry boost its market reach, but that doesn’t mean paying top dollar for takeover targets. “I am patient. We will build organically while we wait and when the valuation expectation starts getting back to earth, I will pull the trigger,” he said.  “I hope that we could pull some triggers this year, sooner rather than later.”

BlackBerry TSX-listed shares dropped $1.80, or 12.28 per cent, on Friday to close at $12.86 after the company reported a profit of US$671 million in its latest quarter, but saw revenue fall short of expectations. Before today’s drop, the company’s shares had been up nearly 40 per cent over the past twelve months. 

Chen warns that valuations for tech companies could soon face a correction, although he would not speculate when. “The valuations have been crazy,” he told BNN. “People are making a lot of paper profit right now. There is going to be a time when they are going to want to take that profit off the table.”