BlackBerry on Friday announced that it will cut 4,500 jobs, or about 40 percent of its workforce.
The cuts are intended to help BlackBerry realize a 50 percent reduction in operating expenditures. Once in place, BlackBerry's total workforce will stand at approximately 7,000 full-time global employees.
Despite a big push for BlackBerry 10 OS-based devices, the company has struggled to compete against phones like the Samsung Galaxy S 4, HTC One, and now, the iPhone 5s. BlackBerry said it expects a charge between $930 million and $960 million in the second quarter due primarily to lackluster sales of the Z10 smartphone. There will also be a pre-tax, $72 million restructuring charge.
"For the second quarter, the company expects to recognize hardware revenue on approximately 3.7 million BlackBerry smartphones," the company said in a statement. "Most of the units recognized are BlackBerry 7 devices, in part because certain BlackBerry 10 devices that were shipped in the quarter will not be recognized until those devices are sold through to end customers."
Going forward, BlackBerry said it will drop two devices from its lineup for a total of four phones: two high-end devices and two entry-level devices in all-touch and QWERTY models.
The recently announced BlackBerry Z30 will be the company's high-tier smartphone, while BlackBerry will "re-tier" the Z10 so that it appeals to a more entry-level audience.
That is not expected to solve all of BlackBerry's problems, though. The special committee that was put in place recently to examine strategic alternatives - including a buyout - will continue its work.
In 2011, BlackBerry took a similar, though less expensive $485 million hit over unsold BlackBerry PlayBook tablets.