BlackBerry has concluded three years of restructuring by slashing 60 percent of its workforce.
BlackBerry, Canada-based smartphone company, is starting a new journey to transform its ailing image. CEO John Chen, in an internal memo to employees Friday, said that the lengthy restructuring process had finally come to an end. Blackberry has laid off roughly 60 percent of its workforce over the past three years.
The internal memo was obtained by Reuters to confirm the new shift in the company's management. According to Reuters, the workforce has been trimmed from 17,500 in 2011 to a mere 7,000.
"We have completed the restructuring notification process, and the workforce reduction that began three years ago is now behind us," read the memo sent out to BlackBerry employees on Friday, according to Reuters. "More importantly, barring any unexpected downturns in the market, we will be adding headcount in certain areas such as product development, sales and customer service, beginning in modest numbers."
The Canadian smartphone giant will begin hiring new staff for various departments such as product development, sales and customer service in a bid to survive the competitive waves from tech giants like Apple and Samsung.
Chen has dedicated himself completely to BlackBerry from the time he took the reins of the ailing company eight months ago. Under his watch, BlackBerry has witnessed some major shifts such as the sale of non-core assets, new partnerships with manufacturing companies and sale of BlackBerry's extensive real estate holdings in Ontario to raise much-needed funds.
Besides his continuous drive to establish BlackBerry as a strong smartphone brand, Chen is confident that his company will reach its goal of generating profits by the end of the current fiscal year. Chen also remains optimistic about the company's future growth, which includes strategic acquisitions to steer BlackBerry back on its long-lost track.
Last week, BlackBerry acquired mobile security firm Secusmart, which reiterates Chen's beliefs of building on core strengths of mobile data security to remain a strong smartphone brand amid the competition stiff competition.
