BlackBerry cuts jobs as part of turnaround plan
Jul 21, 2015, 12:24 PM
TORONTO (AP) — BlackBerry Ltd. announced another round of job cuts Tuesday as it deals with weak smartphone sales and pushes ahead with a restructuring plan.
The Waterloo, Ontario-based company declined to disclose how many employees were affected in the latest changes, but said that some workers were shifted to different roles while others were laid off.
BlackBerry said the move is part of a plan to reallocate certain resources to help grow its operations.
BlackBerry has shed thousands of jobs since it began restructuring its operations under chief executive John Chen, who joined the company in 2013 and has focused on tightening spending and innovation.
At the peak of its success, BlackBerry had about 20,000 employees across the world, but its failure to innovate against some formidable competitors, including Apple and Samsung, left the company slashing its operations in an effort to contain costs.
In its most recent annual filings, BlackBerry said it had 6,225 full-time global employees as of Feb. 28.
Since then, the company has made further cuts to its operations.
A round of cuts happened earlier this year when BlackBerry laid off an unspecified number of employees.
The changes have meant that most of BlackBerry’s staff is now centered around the company’s headquarters in Waterloo, Ottawa, and the Toronto area.
Last month, Chen said he was “looking at every single function” within its operations in an effort to further reduce costs.
Many of those changes have been focused on outsourcing the company’s smartphone development and manufacturing.
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