“BlackBerry wasted little time in embarking on the layoffs it announced last month,” John Paczkowski reports for AllThingsD.
“On Monday, the company began handing out termination notices to 300 employees at its Waterloo, Ontario, headquarters,” Paczkowski reports. “Part of a broader restructuring plan intended to reduce expenditures by 50 percent by 2015, this week’s layoffs are the first phase of a purge that will see the struggling company sack some 4,500 employees.”
Paczkowski reports, “An ugly week for BlackBerry, with more of the same to come, as the foundering company struggles to optimize its resources in the hope that it will be taken private by Fairfax Financial in a $9-per-share deal or acquired by another interested buyer — should one emerge.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: This is what happens when the world whips right past you and all you can do is lie to yourselves and to your customers while gaping in wide wonder at the miracle that is Steve Jobs’ Apple Inc.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Justin Powell” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Beleaguered BlackBerry hit with shareholder class action lawsuit for misrepresenting state of company – October 5, 2013
Beleaguered Blackberry reports $965 million second quarter loss – September 27, 2013
T-Mobile USA stops stocking beleaguered BlackBerry’s phones – September 26, 2013
Amateur hour is over: Beleaguered BlackBerry sold to Fairfax Financial-led consortium – September 23, 2013
Beleaguered BlackBerry’s CEO calls Apple’s iPhone old news – March 18, 2013
I was really glad when I swapped my work Blackberry for an iPhone.
Nevertheless, I feel sorry for those folks on the receiving end of the layoffs. I was with a company that was bought out and had it happen to me. Nothing like walking in your house with a box of all your work possessions and your ten year old asking if you got fired.
Thanks for the rare show of empathy on this MDN board. I also love my iPhone, but being let go and wondering how you’re going to support your family is a horrible feeling.
Yes exactly. Spew all the venom possible at the management of Blackberry for making all the wrong decisions but do have a good thought for all the folks being laid off.
I hope the Canadian tech industry can absorb these folks. I doubt many would want to emigrate to the US in it’s current state of angst.
Two very telling articles last week – the one from the former Apple engineer who was involved in the creation of the original iPhone, and the one about the slow death spiral of Blackberry after the introduction of the iPhone, including their REAL reaction to seeing the iPhone for the first time. Never has there been such an appopriate juxtaposition.
Oh please. Hundreds of millions of people have upgraded without missing a beat. Other than some small changes in some icons, I don’t see any issues — other than a few bugs that must be expected with a brand new OS.
Are you really THAT upset that a few icons have changed?
You work for an ad agency staffed with 8th graders.
Right!
*sigh*
DCW…
Pretty sure my title for RIM: “Research In Standstill” prompted MDN to begin to call RIM “Dead Company Walking”
So proud of my influence here. Please provide me 5 stars if you are too.
Nobody wants to see that many people loose their jobs. It is sad. I love all my Apple products and I have many, but I do not enjoy hearing people suffer because the company they work for didn’t innovate. Sad days ahead for many. May they all find jobs at Apple as they continue to grow.
Hi Lou,
Ah, a common mistake, It is lose, not loose. Think lose as in lost, losing, each have one letter o. Loose is when something is not tight.
Hope that helps.
Using the word, axing, be careful. Some here will “ax” what are they axing; translation what are they asking?
I wish Blackberry/RIM had been up to the task of competing with Apple. I still see many people enjoying their Blackberrys and getting work done. But Apple ran rings around them. Such is competition.