[LINK] "BlackBerry lays off 200 employees in Waterloo, Ont., and Sunrise, Fla."

[rfmcdonald]

CBC notes the continued decline of BlackBerry.

BlackBerry has confirmed it is laying off 200 employees, in Waterloo, Ont., where the company is headquartered, and at a manufacturing facility in Sunrise, Fla.

The company filed a worker adjustment and retraining notification with the state of Florida on Thursday to lay off 75 manufacturing workers between Feb. 4 and Feb. 26. The other 125 jobs, part of the 200 overall, would be cut from Waterloo.

BlackBerry denied reports in the tech blog Mobile Syrup, which suggested the number of layoffs at BlackBerry's Waterloo headquarters could be as high as 1,000 people, or 35 per cent of the company's estimated workforce.

[. . .]

The company has also parted ways with Gary Klassen, creator of BlackBerry Messenger.

"We can confirm that Gary Klassen has left BlackBerry. The company is grateful for his many contributions during his tenure and we wish him the best in his future endeavours," said BlackBerry in a statement.