Recently, Blackberry has fallen into a slump after releasing their new touch-screen cell phone model the Z10. The failure of this phone has cost the company nearly $1 billion. The colossal failure of this phone nearly cost the company all of it’s quarterly revenue of $1.6 billion. Given the statistics, there is no way Blackberry provided sufficient time and funding into doing a forecast for the market.
Due to this oversight, Blackberry is now facing class-action lawsuits from shareholders claiming that they were misled by the company regarding it’s future. In addition to facing lawsuits, the company also had to lay off nearly 40% of the workforce; totalling roughly 4,500 people. After revealing the losses and labour cuts, Blackberry’s share price nosedived by 25%.
Although the current situation looks grim, Blackberry has high hopes for saving the company as it proposes to become privately-held. Tech-companies from Asia, and multiple private-equity companies from Canada and the US have considered bids for the waning company, but it is currently unclear if they are currently interested. Could this be the end of Blackberry as they are known? Or will being privately-held provide Blackberry with some breathing room for innovation? Only time will tell the future for this company, a precious commodity which they do not have.
Sources:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303759604579093342883899478.html
http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/27/blackberry-loses-a-billion-dollars-on-z10-charge/