BlackBerry Ltd: John Chen A ‘Turnaround CEO’

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BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) CEO John Chen has been referred to as the “turn around CEO” by Damian Wojcichowsky of Jacob securities, in an interview. Wojcichowsky talked about Chen, whom he called a former SAP AG, as well as Ex Sybase executive. Damian is positive on the survivability of the company.

BlackBerry CEO and turnaround

Sybase, the database company in Canada, has undergone similar growth phase as BlackBerry. The company saw its 95% of market capitalization diminishing and was on the verge of extinction. Chen was hired, he did his job well by reviving the company and then selling it off to SAP at around double its prior high valuation and took a job at SAP. He said that John Chen is a “turnaround CEO” and it is his “bread and better.”

According to the Damian, Chen is a bit bold who calls a spade a ‘spade.’ After his arrival, at BlackBerry he out rightly hinted that a full turnaround is the only option left with the company. In the following days, Chen took steps to pull down the focus from consumer hardware part and turned it towards enterprise segment. He is working towards finding new applications for the enterprise customers.

QNX hold big potential

BlackBerry has always been a lawyer and accountants preferred brand and chunk of its revenue came from the enterprise segment. There was a time when the company was one of the top three handset makers. After the fall, the Canadian smartphone maker is returning back to enterprise customers.

BlackBerry has sieved many benefits from its R&D efforts, but has been an example “blindingly innovative company,” according to Damian Wojcichowsky. The company has been a pioneer in offering products like Smart Phone, email over the airwaves and so on. According to Wojcichowsky, there are few things that will work in favor of the company, in the long term.

Bearish investors are pulling out their money from the stock on the back of depressing hardware sales. However, focusing only on the hardware and deciding the fate of the stock can be misguiding. Recent development, where Ford Motors announced to Scrap Microsoft and replace it with QNX automobiles is reflecting the stronghold that the company has on the market through its software segment. Following the announcement, Blackberry through QNX will account for 70% of the market, which “are good numbers,” according to Damian.

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