Blackberry News

According to a statement on Monday, BlackBerry said it's considering putting itself up for sale due to eroding sales and affected stock prices owing to competition. A special board committee will be considering options that can enhance BlackBerry's value and scale, including joint ventures, partnerships or a sale of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co will serve as its financial adviser.

BlackBerry will lay off 4,500 employees, or 40% of its global workforce, as it reports a nearly $1 billion second-quarter loss in a surprise early release of earnings results. The stock dropped 19% to $8.50 after reopening for trading. Being hammered by competition from the iPhone and Android-based rivals, the company said it would refocus its efforts on the enterprise.

According to reports, BlackBerry has discontinued the rollout of its popular messenger BBM, citing technical issues. The freebie app was to be available on Android-devices beginning 4.30p.m. on September 21 and on iPhones from September 22. According to BlackBerry, the rollout was abandoned when users downloaded an unreleased version of the app, posted online, causing unexpected glitches in the system.

BlackBerry, in line with last week's warning, reported a loss of $965-million for the second-quarter ended August, bringing down the company's revenue by 45% to $1.6-million. The adjusted loss was $248-million or $0.47/share this quarter, far below the loss of $0.16/share projected by FactSet. Reportedly, Fairfax Financial proposed buying BlackBerry for $9/share, almost a dollar more than its current value.

BlackBerry on Tuesday said its instant messaging service BBM got over 20 million new users in the first week of launch for Android-based handsets and iPhones. The company said during its first week, BBM, which now has 80 million active users globally, was the top free application in 35 countries in Google Play and in 107 countries in App StoreSM.

Abandoning the proposal to sell itself, BlackBerry has planned to raise $1 billion from institutional investors, including its largest shareholder, with a private placement of convertible debentures. Moreover, John S. Chen will replace Thorsten Heins as the new CEO. In late September, Fairfax (BlackBerry's largest shareholder) had announced a tentative $9-a-share offer for the Waterloo, Ontario-based company.

After the ouster of CEO Thorsten Heins, Chief Operating Officer Kristian Tear and Chief Marketing Officer Frank Boulben will leave Blackberry. Moreover, chief financial officer Brian Bidulka is being replaced by former senior vice president and controller, James Yersh. Bidulka will remain with the struggling smartphone maker as an adviser for the remainder of the company's fiscal year.

BlackBerry has announced that its popular messaging platform BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) will soon be coming pre-installed on LG smartphones. The company said the G Pro Lite, an Android-based smartphone, would be the first LG device to offer BBM out-of-the-box. BlackBerry has also inked deals with Indian companies like Micromax, Spice, Zen, and Celkon to pre-load BBM on their smartphones.

BlackBerry on Friday said, it was entering a handset production deal with Taiwan's Foxconn, the world's largest electronic parts manufacturer and a major partner of Apple. The stock rose as much as 17% after the company announced the 'unconventional' five-year partnership with Foxconn. The partnership will initially build low-end devices for sale in Indonesia and other emerging markets.