BlackBerry has been on a roller coaster ride for the past couple years. In an attempt to gain back valuable market share they decided to completely revamp its operating system and create a ‘new mobile computing platform’ called BlackBerry 10. While CEO Thorsten Heins declared the best 1st day sales in its history back in February, interest in BlackBerry devices – Z10, Q10, Q5 – have remained flat and so have profits.
The last number of months have also been riddled with job cuts. The first round was 250 in July, then another 100 in August. At the time a company spokesperson stated that “we are in the second phase of our transformation plan… Our evolution as a company is ongoing and is in no way easy.” New reports today have suggested that BlackBerry has once again given termination letters to employees, this time to those in sales – both consumer and enterprise. There’s no specific number – WSJ says several dozen – and the the job cuts impacted those in Waterloo, United States and expected to hit the U.K. in the next few days. A BlackBerry rep stated “I can confirm a small number of employees were laid off today.”
BlackBerry is currently seeking a buyer, or possibly splitting the company up into parts. Apparently the company has narrowed its list of potential bidders and is aiming for a November sale.
Update: BlackBerry just sent us this statement the recent news:
we are moving a small number of US-focused sales roles that were based in Canada to the US
“I noticed that you referenced the Cantech Letter regarding BlackBerry’s salesforce and thought I’d clarify that we are moving a small number of US-focused sales roles that were based in Canada to the US to be more closely aligned with our customers. As previously stated, we are in the second phase of our transformation plan. As part of this transformation, BlackBerry will continually evaluate its organization – from top to bottom – to ensure we have the right people, with the right skills in the right locations to drive new opportunities in mobile computing.”
Source: CantechLetter
Via: WSJ
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