BlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion reported an unexpected loss and yet another delay in its long-awaited BlackBerry 10 operating system on Thursday, creating a new low point in the company’s flounder. The company announced cost-cutting efforts that will include a “workforce reduction” of about 5,000 employees. In May, recently appointed CEO Thorsten Heins warned that “lower volumes and highly competitive pricing dynamics in the marketplace” would likely result in an operating loss for the quarter, and that the company’s financial performance would continue to face challenges for the next few quarters.
Company shares dropped 17 percent to 7.6 percent on Friday in premarket trading. BlackBerry’s first-quarter loss was reported at $518 million, or 99 cents a share. Overall sales at the Waterloo, Ontario-based company came in at $2.8 billion, down 43 percent from $4.9 billion in the same quarter a year ago and significantly lower than analysts’ expected.
