Unfortunately it’s started. According to several reports RIM has started to hand employees their pink slip. It’s still unknown exactly how many jobs have been cut – earlier rumours are estimating between 2,000 and 6,000 – but the one-day total is estimated to be in the “hundreds.” The first round of layoff has hit those in sales and manufacturing.
Tenille Kennedy, RIM’s spokesperson, reportedly confirmed to the Waterloo Record that layoffs started today and they “may continue to do so as the company methodically works through a review of the business. “RIM has committed to achieving significant efficiencies and operating cost reductions over the course of this fiscal year. Our financial target is to drive at least $1 billion in savings by the end of fiscal 2013… Head count reductions are part of this initiative,”
RIM will announce additional details on their business strategy during their Annual Meeting of Shareholders on July 10th. This is where we’ll possibly hear from both JP Morgan and RBC on how they plan to leverage “the BlackBerry platform.” In addition, RIM is still on pace to deliver their next generation of BlackBerry devices, which run BlackBerry 10, sometime in the “latter part of 2012.”
Certainly not the best news, especially since RIM is a respected Canadian company and adds so much value to our economy.
Source: Waterloo Record
Via: Twitter
