BlackBerry confirmed to the WSJ that more job cuts have been set for an undisclosed number of employees. The devices and software applications division is said to be affected in this new round of layoffs.
“Our intention is to reallocate resources in ways that will best enable us to capitalize on growth opportunities while driving toward sustainable profitability across all facets of our business, BlackBerry said in a statement announcing the planned layoffs.”
Needless to say, John Chen has repeatedly said he will continue with the device business and we can fully expect new BlackBerry devices in the future. In the last earnings call, John Chen also mentioned that he will be looking for acquisitions in order to grow as a company and whilst John Chen has stuck to his word, I suppose there’s more fat to be trimmed than expected. Job cuts are never nice and we wish the affected employees the best of luck for the future.
Source: WSJ
Update: Despite the recent layoffs, BlackBerry is still hiring across the world including North America (69), Canada (46), USA (31), Waterloo, ON (31) and Europe (23). A total of 200 jobs are vacant with the majority of vacancies available for R&D and Technical Sales Support. 