Despite two consecutive profitable quarters followed by an acquisition in the security sector, BlackBerry has announced it is once again laying off unspecified numbers of its staff.
The Canadian Press reports that the Waterloo, ON-based company is cutting jobs in hardware, software and app-development areas of its phones. This most recently includes the BlackBerry Leap, an affordable mid-range device aimed at younger professionals which has garnered mixed reviews overall.
As recently as March, BlackBerry beat analysts’ expectations by posting a small fourth-quarter profit for the second time in a row, this time of US$28 million.
Just last month, the company purchased WatchDox Ltd., an Israel-based file-sharing security company to bolster its enterprise mobile management capabilities. Reports at the time estimated the deal to was worth US$150 million.
“As the company moves into its next stage of the turnaround, our intention is to re-allocate resources in ways that will best enable us to capitalize on growth opportunities while driving toward sustainable profitability across all facets of our business,” the company said in an emailed to the Canadian Press.
As of September 2014, BlackBerry had about 7,000 global employees, CP reports.
