Is BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) all dead or not? The stock hit a 52 week low during today trading. While the troubled mobile phone maker Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) sold out its handset division to get rid of loss making business and realign the ‘core business’ within the remaining Nokia group; BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) is yet exploring its survival strategy, but now it has some direction.
The Canada-based troubled smartphone maker could neither auction itself during the lengthened showcase period, nor go private in a deal made by a group led by its top investor. The alleged buyout offer by Chinese phone maker Lenovo Group was hurdled by the local government. Shattered by all, BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) decided not to sell itself and took on more debt to stay in the game.
Layoff: The Key to Survival
BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) has planned to lay off some 40% of its staff by cutting 4,500 jobs over a period. As a part of the layoff plan, the company yesterday announced that it will lay off 250 employees at its headquarter in Waterloo, Ontario, raising the total number of fired people at its main office to around 850 just within a few weeks.
Alongside, the company also released a statement recognizing the hard work of local employees and difficulty of layoff news and expressed that BlackBerry would do everything possible to treat its employees with compassion.
Lay-off Affects Company’s PR
Despite the large number of layoffs, it is not much discussed that who are actually being fired from the company. But one department is really feeling the heat and it is BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY)’s Public Relations department which is understaffed and is feeling much pressure to deal with the work. Though the layoffs are planned part of the company’s cost saving measures and broader turnaround strategy, the PR department feels the heat every time it has to craft job cut statements.
The Class Action Lawsuit
Earlier this month several law firms also announced a class action lawsuit against BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ: BBRY) for the class period defined between September 27, 2012 and September 20, 2013. The lawsuit alleges Blackberry for issuing misleading or false statements concerning the company’s business and operation including the company’s announcement regarding the new BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) 10 smart phones, which were poorly received by the market. The lawsuit also alleges that the company failed to inform the investors that it was not on the road to recovery.
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