BlackBerry Ltd warned on Friday that it expects to report a huge quarterly operating loss next week and that it will cut more than a third of its global workforce, which means that 4,500 people will soon lose their jobs, Reuters reported.
The smart phone company said that it expected to report a net operating loss between $950 million and $995 million in the previous quarter, which ended on August 31.
Blackberry has already undergone a major round of job cuts over the last 12 months. It employed 12,700 people as of March, and once had close to 20,000 employees.
Blackberry has struggled with its competitors, including new models of Apple's iPhones and Samsung telephones.
"The company has sailed off a cliff. What do you expect when you announce you're up for sale? Who wants to commit to a platform that could possibly be shut down?", asked said BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis.
BlackBerry said its cash position as of the end of the fiscal second quarter is estimated to be about $2.6 billion, which was down from about $3.1 billion just three months earlier, Reuters also reported.
"It makes it even more difficult for somebody to step in and buy the company. If you look at what's been happening, they've burnt through approximately half a billion dollars in cash in the last three months," said Neeraj Monga, a Veritas Investment Research analyst.
