BlackBerry Posts $4.4 Billion Loss, Will Outsource To Foxconn

iONiUM writes "Today BlackBerry announced a $4.4 billion loss, and a deal with Foxconn to outsource hardware manufacturing. One interesting stat is that 75% of sales were actually older BB7 devices. That said, CEO John Chen says, 'We are very much alive, thank you.' He adds, 'Our "for sale" sign has been taken down and we are here to stay. BlackBerry recently announced it has entered into an agreement to receive a strategic investment from Fairfax Financial and other institutional investors, which represents a vote of confidence in the future of BlackBerry.'"

Our "for sale" sign has been taken down

[Overzeetop]

'Our "for sale" sign has been taken down and we are here to stay.'

This is the textbook precursor words before a "transition team" chops it up for parts and sells everything off piecemeal. It's right in the MBA manual.

Re:Our "for sale" sign has been taken down

[jellomizer]

I didn't get that Text book.
Also my MBA classes also seem to actively discourage such actions. That said, it may mean to refocus the company.

Re:As an Android Guy

[Dzimas]

Engineering is dead. Once the service economy of the U.S.A. implodes, so will these job.

American engineering is very much alive. The same can't be said for high tech manufacturing.

The real reason stock is up 15% today

[JoeyRox]

This $4.4B loss is one of those "throw everything out including the kitchen sink" financial quarters, where a struggling, money-losing public company tries to purge itself and basically write everything off at once, including expenses/charges that may not have happened yet. The purpose of this financial engineering is partly to make future earnings look better, both on a comparable basis but more importantly because so many expenses got thrown into the loss and so future revenue will have fewer expenses charged against it, giving the appearance of an earnings recovery. The stock is heavily shorted by smart money and they know this large "loss" is guaranteed result in future positive earnings "surprises" so they'd rather take their short earnings off the table and let the dumb money fight it out in the intermediate term.

Re:Move to Android

[supertrooper]

Not sure about that. BlackBerry QNX-based OS is really good. It's not like they don't have a great product, the problem is that the product came late and it was pricey. In any case, it's good to have a variety out there.

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