BlackBerry has confirmed it is laying off 200 employees, in Waterloo, Ont. and at a manufacturing facility in Sunrise, Fla.
The company filed a worker adjustment and retraining notification with the state of Florida on Thursday to lay off 75 manufacturing workers between Feb. 4 and Feb. 26.
The other 125 jobs, part of the 200 overall, would be cut from Waterloo.
BlackBerry denied media reports that BlackBerry’s Waterloo headquarters could be as high as 1,000 people, or 35 per cent of the company’s estimated workforce.
A BlackBerry representative provided the following statement
“As BlackBerry continues to execute its turnaround plan, we remain focused on driving efficiencies across our global workforce. This means finding new ways to enable us to capitalize on growth opportunities, while driving toward sustainable profitability across all parts of our business. As a result, approximately 200 employees have been impacted in Canada and Florida. It also means that BlackBerry is actively recruiting in those areas of our business that will drive growth.”
BlackBerry said it continued to hire in strategic areas, though it didn’t specify how many new workers that represented.
At its peak Blackberry employed close to 11,000 people in the Waterloo region. By 2014, the number was closer to 2,700.
The company also confirmed that they have parted ways with Gary Klassen, creator of BlackBerry Messenger.
“We can confirm that Gary Klassen has left BlackBerry. The company is grateful for his many contributions during his tenure and we wish him the best in his future endeavours,”
