1. si001's Avatar
    05-23-15 04:44 PM
  2. si001's Avatar
    TORONTO - BlackBerry says it's laying off an unspecified number of employees across its global operations as it makes changes to the operations responsible for making its smartphones.
    The Waterloo, Ont.-based company said the job cuts will affect people who made the hardware, software and applications for its phones, which include devices like the BlackBerry Bold, Classic and Passport.
    BlackBerry (TSX:BB) refused to say how many jobs were being cut, but said it's looking to reduce the size of its device operations and make it profitable again.


    "As the company moves into its next stage of the turnaround, our intention is to re-allocate resources in ways that will best enable us to capitalize on growth opportunities while driving toward sustainable profitability across all facets of our business," the company said in an emailed statement.
    BlackBerry had about 7,000 global employees as of September 2014. About half worked in Canada, with most of them in the Waterloo region.
    BlackBerry said it plans to boost sales and marketing activity in the coming months, as well as secure strategic partnerships with other businesses and hire more employees focused both on sales and "high growth" areas of its business.
    The latest round of job cuts comes after chief executive John Chen said last August that BlackBerry had come to the end of three years of layoffs.
    Chen has been focused on shifting BlackBerry's priorities since he joined the company in November 2013. However, he has faced an onslaught of competition from other phone manufacturers including Apple, which first wanted a slice of the consumer market but is now aggressively pursuing large corporate clients.
    Instead of making smartphones a priority, Chen has pivoted BlackBerry's strategy towards mobile software services that emphasize higher security levels and are aimed squarely at the business community and government.
    BlackBerry began to turn a small profit last year, but the overall revenues of its phones and software services continue to decline.
    Last month, the company said it was in negotiations to close its offices in Sweden, which employed about 100 people, but at the time said it needed to work out details with a local union. The company declined to say whether the latest cuts included those offices.
    At the peak of its success, the company had about 20,000 employees around the world before making dramatic cuts in recent years.


    05-23-15 04:46 PM
  3. bap3221's Avatar
    Its normal for a turnaround. Apple when steve jobs came back had 3 waves of cuts from its 75000 employees I believe. You cant simply cut everyone at once. Plus you have to evaluate who to keep and let go.

    Hopefully this is the last wave but its part of the turnaround.

    Posted via CB10
    IndianTiwari and Ghyss8888 like this.
    05-23-15 04:52 PM
  4. rai187's Avatar
    Mostly in the hardware area.. kind of scary; was hoping they'd make a conscious effort to make premium devices. I want to upgrade

    Posted via CB10
    05-23-15 05:09 PM
  5. TgeekB's Avatar
    Its normal for a turnaround. Apple when steve jobs came back had 3 waves of cuts from its 75000 employees I believe. You cant simply cut everyone at once. Plus you have to evaluate who to keep and let go.

    Hopefully this is the last wave but its part of the turnaround.

    Posted via CB10
    The last wave was supposed to be last year. This is a new wave.

    Z30something
    05-23-15 05:20 PM
  6. IndianTiwari's Avatar
    This is normal. BlackBerry is now shifting gears to put more focus on sales and marketing activities which has been hitherto missing. Goodluck to Chen and team !

    Posted via BlackBerry Passport
    05-23-15 05:29 PM
  7. Petertek's Avatar
    May have to do with the move from inhouse design they use to have, to the newer agreements with 3rd party suppliers.
    05-23-15 05:37 PM
  8. ljfong's Avatar
    Its normal for a turnaround. Apple when steve jobs came back had 3 waves of cuts from its 75000 employees I believe. You cant simply cut everyone at once. Plus you have to evaluate who to keep and let go.

    Hopefully this is the last wave but its part of the turnaround.

    Posted via CB10
    We have been hoping that the last layoff were the last wave just prior to Chen took over. This will hardly be the last until the hardware division stops losing money and starts generating profit.

    Posted via CB10
    05-23-15 05:38 PM
  9. KNEBB's Avatar
    It seems to follow John Chen's focus on the software part of the business. That falls in line with the non- traditional form factor of the latest BlackBerry model.

    I feel for the employees.

    Without further explanation it will lead to speculation by everyone from BlackBerry Lovers hoping to purchase a traditional BlackBerry device to business partners like T-Mobile and AT&T, you want to convince to continue to stock your phones. Not to mention the new customers you like to entice to buy your new models.

    I'm hoping it's a symptom of growing pains.


    Posted via CB10
    05-23-15 05:40 PM
  10. johnny_bravo72's Avatar
    This is normal. BlackBerry is now shifting gears to put more focus on sales and marketing activities which has been hitherto missing. Goodluck to Chen and team !

    Posted via BlackBerry Passport
    Job cuts has been the norm for BlackBerry since last year.

    Posted via C5303
    05-23-15 05:44 PM
  11. mikepraba's Avatar
    Hey Folks,
    there are few things happening here;
    1) this is normal if there is a new company taking over because they don't to take over the company and lay off people. so generally the buyer would ask the seller to trip the work force or shutdown some operations before the take over.
    2) looking at the slider phone, looks like samsung is designing the hardware for blackberry and they do not need the huge hardware workforce.
    3) since chen is buying back shares,,,, he wants to make sure the next earning call blows away the entire market!!!
    4) chen is not stupid! whatever he did so far Great!!!. if there was someone else in his place Blackberry would have been a bad history.
    05-23-15 05:48 PM
  12. carlosmpt's Avatar
    Posted via CB10
    05-23-15 05:55 PM
  13. DaedalusIcarusHelios's Avatar
    The hardware part likely means more reliance on external help (Samsung). I'm concerned about the software and apps part though - they have next to no one left as it is. I'm not liking where this is headed.

    Posted via CB10
    THBW likes this.
    05-23-15 06:08 PM
  14. si001's Avatar
    Mostly in the hardware area.. kind of scary; was hoping they'd make a conscious effort to make premium devices. I want to upgrade

    Posted via CB10
    I agree.

    Hope nothing about this will reflect on the devices quality.
    05-23-15 06:27 PM
  15. howarmat's Avatar
    05-23-15 06:32 PM

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