BlackBerry has completed a three-year restructuring process that saw the company reduce its workforce by nearly 60 percent.
Reuters obtained an internal memo sent by CEO John Chen who said that the job cuts are done and that the company would soon begin hiring new employees for product development, sales and customer service.
Chen said the once-mighty Canadian OEM is back on track, that it should see its cash flow in black numbers again by the end of the year, and that the company’s positioned for strategic acquisitions to drive revenue growth.
Just last week BlackBerry announced one of those acquisitions when it agreed to buy Secusmart GmbH, a voice and data encryption company that also makes anti-eavesdropping solutions for government organizations, enterprises and service providers in Germany and internationally.
In June BlackBerry’s first-quarter earnings beat out estimates. Chen said the company is getting close to profiting from, or at least breaking even on, its struggling handset business.
BlackBerry has been losing share to the iPhone and Android smartphones for years now and its 2013 launch of the Z10, Q10 and BB10 OS did not provide the turnaround for which the company had hoped.