 "BlackBerry to cut jobs worldwide, impact on India unlikely")
Canadian technology firm Blackberry is cutting jobs globally as it plans to consolidates its various business verticals -- device software, hardware and applications.
"We have made the decision to consolidate our device software, hardware and applications business, impacting a number of employees around the world. We know that our employees have worked hard on behalf of our company and we are grateful for their commitment and contributions," Blackberry said in a statement.
However, the process is unlikely to impact jobs in India, an industry source told PTI.
The Blackberry spokesperson did not offer any comment on the query related to a job cut in India.
The loss-making company has been running cost optimisation programme to reduce its operational expenses and turn profitable.
The company in 2012 announced to reduce headcount by 5,000 globally, equivalent to about 30 per cent of its total international workforce at that time.
On September 20, 2013, the company announced further reduction in the workforce by approximately 4,500 positions to bring the total strength to around 7,000 full-time global employees.
As of February 28, 2015, Blackberry had 6,225 full-time employees.
In 2013, Blackberry opened its Enterprise Solution centres in Mumbai and Gurgaon to focus on sales of its product to business organisations here.
"As the Company moves into its next stage of the turnaround, our intention is to reallocate resources in ways that will best enable us to capitalise on growth opportunities while driving toward sustainable profitability across all facets of our business," BlackBerry said.
In the third quarter ended November 29, 2014, the company narrowed its loss to $148 million, from $4.4 billion it posted in the same period a year ago.
"One of our priorities is making our device business profitable. At the same time, we must grow software and licensing revenues. You will see in the coming months a significant ramping up in our customer-facing activities in sales and marketing," the statement said.
During the third quarter, approximately 1.9 million BlackBerry smartphones were sold globally.
"We have made the decision to consolidate our device software, hardware and applications business, impacting a number of employees around the world. We know that our employees have worked hard on behalf of our company and we are grateful for their commitment and contributions," Blackberry said in a statement.
However, the process is unlikely to impact jobs in India, an industry source told PTI.
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In India, the company employs less than 50 people and thus the job cut announcement is unlikely to impact headcount here.
The Blackberry spokesperson did not offer any comment on the query related to a job cut in India.
The loss-making company has been running cost optimisation programme to reduce its operational expenses and turn profitable.
The company in 2012 announced to reduce headcount by 5,000 globally, equivalent to about 30 per cent of its total international workforce at that time.
On September 20, 2013, the company announced further reduction in the workforce by approximately 4,500 positions to bring the total strength to around 7,000 full-time global employees.
As of February 28, 2015, Blackberry had 6,225 full-time employees.
In 2013, Blackberry opened its Enterprise Solution centres in Mumbai and Gurgaon to focus on sales of its product to business organisations here.
"As the Company moves into its next stage of the turnaround, our intention is to reallocate resources in ways that will best enable us to capitalise on growth opportunities while driving toward sustainable profitability across all facets of our business," BlackBerry said.
In the third quarter ended November 29, 2014, the company narrowed its loss to $148 million, from $4.4 billion it posted in the same period a year ago.
"One of our priorities is making our device business profitable. At the same time, we must grow software and licensing revenues. You will see in the coming months a significant ramping up in our customer-facing activities in sales and marketing," the statement said.
During the third quarter, approximately 1.9 million BlackBerry smartphones were sold globally.