BlackBerry to Cut Jobs Worldwide as It Consolidates Businesses

Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry is cutting jobs across the world, the company said on Friday, as it consolidates its software, hardware and applications business.

The company did not specify how many employees would be affected.

BlackBerry, which reported a 16.8 percent fall in quarterly revenue in March, had about 6,225 full-time employees as of February 2015, according to its website.

The company is reallocating resources to capitalise on growth opportunities and achieve profitability across all its business segments, a company spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.

Up to Friday's close, the company's Toronto-listed stock had risen more than 62 percent in the last 12 months, whereas the U.S.-listed stock had risen nearly 44 percent during the same period.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company last month said it was considering closing its offices in Sweden, a move that would result in the loss of up to 100 jobs.

"At this time, we are considering the closure of our offices in Sweden. Since this may impact approximately 100 employees, we are now initiating consultations with the employees' trade unions," a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

Also in April, BlackBerry said it is launching a new certificate service that will help bring the security level it offers on smartphones to a slew of devices from cars to smart meters. Certicom, a subsidiary of BlackBerry and an industry pioneer in elliptic curve cryptography, announced a new offering that it contends will secure millions of devices, expected to be part of the growing Internet of Things (IoT) sphere.