BlackBerry maker RIM begins cutting jobs to save $1 billion
Research in Motion said it has begun cutting jobs as part of an effort to save $1 billion this year.
RIM, which is based in Canada, said last month that it would be conducting “significant layoffs” this year.
The company, the maker of BlackBerry phones, said Wednesday that it has “reduced some positions as part of its program and may continue to do so as the company methodically works through a review of the business,” according to the Associated Press.
The company did not go into further details regarding the cuts it was beginning to make but said it would at its upcoming quarterly report June 28.
Jefferies analyst Peter Misek, who spoke with the AP, said RIM could lay off as many as 6,000 people associated with its older software and manufacturing platforms.
The company had 16,500 employees as recently as last month, even after cutting 2,000 jobs last summer.
RIM’s BlackBerry was once considered the top line of phones in the market, but it has fallen far behind in recent years, being surpassed by Apple’s iPhone and phones running on Google’s Android operating system.
But RIM isn’t the only phone maker that is showing signs that it’s past its prime. Nokia, which has also been a victim of Apple and Google’s rise in the phone market, announced that it would be making 10,000 job cuts over the next year and a half.
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