Finally, we get an idea of if BlackBerry is going to survive. Their Q4 numbers are out [Warning: PDF]. First, the good news. BlackBerry turned a surprise profit of $98 million, or 19 cents a share, compared with a year-ago loss of $125 million, or 24 cents a share. They also shipped 1 million Z10 smartphones. But the good news ends there. They lost three million subscribers. The last time I checked they had 79 million subscribers, so losing three million isn’t minor.
Oh, then there’s this:
The Company also announced that Mike Lazaridis, having fulfilled the commitment he made to the Board in January 2012, has decided to retire as Vice Chair and a Director of the Company. Lazaridis co-founded BlackBerry nearly 30 years ago and served as a co-CEO of the company until last year when he was elected Vice Chair of the Board. Lazaridis, who last week announced the launch of his new venture, Quantum Valley Investments, will step down from the BlackBerry Board effective May 1, 2013.
So the other half of the Lazaridis/Balsillie monster is gone. At least the culture is changing. The question is, will the culture change enough to save the company? Let’s see in their next quarterly results.
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This entry was posted on March 28, 2013 at 10:22 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags BlackBerry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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BlackBerry Posts Numbers….. They Bleed Customers And Lazaridis Leaves
Finally, we get an idea of if BlackBerry is going to survive. Their Q4 numbers are out [Warning: PDF]. First, the good news. BlackBerry turned a surprise profit of $98 million, or 19 cents a share, compared with a year-ago loss of $125 million, or 24 cents a share. They also shipped 1 million Z10 smartphones. But the good news ends there. They lost three million subscribers. The last time I checked they had 79 million subscribers, so losing three million isn’t minor.
Oh, then there’s this:
The Company also announced that Mike Lazaridis, having fulfilled the commitment he made to the Board in January 2012, has decided to retire as Vice Chair and a Director of the Company. Lazaridis co-founded BlackBerry nearly 30 years ago and served as a co-CEO of the company until last year when he was elected Vice Chair of the Board. Lazaridis, who last week announced the launch of his new venture, Quantum Valley Investments, will step down from the BlackBerry Board effective May 1, 2013.
So the other half of the Lazaridis/Balsillie monster is gone. At least the culture is changing. The question is, will the culture change enough to save the company? Let’s see in their next quarterly results.
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This entry was posted on March 28, 2013 at 10:22 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags BlackBerry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.