BlackBerry Confirms 4,500 Job Cuts, Warns of $950 Million Loss

An anonymous reader writes "Today BlackBerry announced that it expects its quarterly net operating losses to be somewhere between $950 million and $995 million. It also confirmed earlier reports that it would be cutting 4,500 jobs, roughly 40% of its total workforce. 'The loss is mainly the result of a write-off of unsold BlackBerry phones, as well as $72 million in restructuring charges. The company said that it would discontinue two of the six phones it currently offers.' According to the press release, BlackBerry is going to 'refocus on enterprise and prosumer market.' 'The failure of the BlackBerry 10 line of phones quickly led to speculation that the company, like Palm before it, would be broken apart and perhaps gradually disappear, at best lingering as little more than a brand name.'"

Comments

It's just a flesh wound!

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't worry guys! Amatuer hour is over!

-RIM

They will always be RIM to me.

[Capt.DrumkenBum]

So the headline makes reference to a loss of 4500 RIM jobs, and that is a tragedy.

Re:They will always be RIM to me.

[Anonymous Coward]

There is a chance of course that a small minority of those 4500 people will indeed find themselves providing RIM jobs in the not so distant future.

Re:Putting 'For Sale' sign on company was dumb mov

[noh8rz10]

Second, by announcing to the world that they're for sale they instantly froze the decision process of every corporation that was considering an upgrade to BB10. Why would any customer consider committing themselves to Blackberry for the next 2-5 years when they're not even sure Blackberry would last in (its current form at least) till the end of the year?

I think this concern is overblown.

--sent from my Palm Pixel