BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) has seen the exit of two more senior executives. Sources familiar with the matter told Will Connors of the Wall Street Journal that Rick Costanzo, executive vice-president of global sales, and Chris Wormald, mergers & acquisitions head, are leaving BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB). Their departure comes just a few weeks after CEO John Chen ousted BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB)’s COO Kristian Tear, CFO Brian Bidulka and CMO Frank Boulben.
BlackBerry may take further inventory charges
BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) has stated that it’s no longer for sale after the deal with Fairfax Holdings fell apart. Now investors and analysts are focused on the Canadian company’s Q3 earnings on Friday. Most of the analysts expect almost every metric of BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) to deteriorate. The Waterloo-based ailing smartphone maker is expected to run out of cash by the end of 2014. Service revenues are expected to decline, and poor sales of its BB10 smartphones are likely to result into further inventory write-offs. BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) has already written off $934 million on unsold Z10 and Q10 devices.
The newly appointed chief executive John Chen has so far failed to entice investors. He hasn’t provided much in the way of details regarding his turnaround strategy. Mr. Chen sent a letter to BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB)’s corporate clients, saying that the Canadian company will “go back to its roots” to focus on enterprise business. BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) shares have declined about 21% since he was named the chief executive on November 4th.
BlackBerry can’t even shut itself down
Recently, Citigroup analyst Ehud Gelblum said in a research note to investors that even if BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) decides to shut down its entire business, it will cost more than the company has on its balance sheet. BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) currently has $2.6 billion in cash, plus another $1 billion it raised through convertible bonds. Ehud Gelblum says the cost of winding down its business would be close to $4 billion.
Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley said that weak demand of all its smartphones would force BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) to announce further write-downs. Its latest smartphone Z30 is sold in the U.S. only on one carrier, Verizon Wireless. Customers can’t purchase the Z30 in store as the device is available only online.
BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) shares spiked 0.66% to $6.12 in pre-market trading Monday.
