BlackBerry Posts Another Quarterly Loss as Revenue Slides

BlackBerry posted another loss and a 47.3 percent fall in third-quarter revenue on Tuesday as the software growth it is relying on failed to make up for shrinking handset sales and lost service fees.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company said it had a net loss of $117 million (roughly Rs 796 crores), or 22 cents a share, on revenue of $289 million. A year ago, it reported a net loss of $89 million, or 17 cents a share, on revenue of $548 million.

Excluding one-time items, the company said it earned 2 cents a share.

(Also see: BlackBerry-Branded Mobile Devices to Be Made by China's TCL)

Earlier this week, BlackBerry said it plans to invest CAD 100 million ($75 million) in a new autonomous vehicle testing hub over several years, the company's chief executive said on Monday, as the fallen smartphone pioneer looks elsewhere for growth.

Most of the money will go to engineering jobs, possibly hundreds in coming years, John Chen told reporters at the Ottawa-area headquarters of its BlackBerry QNX subsidiary, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at his side.

The company, which is racing to increase software sales as its handset unit and related legacy service access fees shrink, hopes to make itself indispensable in the automotive industry's looming self-driving arms race.

"One could make the argument that QNX is the strongest asset in their portfolio right now, so it's refreshing to see this investment," said IDC's consumer mobility analyst Brian Haven.

But he said scaling the business and dealing with rivals with more money to throw at autonomous driving initiatives would be challenges for the company.

© Thomson Reuters 2016