BlackBerry executives resign as RIM posts $125 million Q4 loss

Toronto: BlackBerry makers Research In Motion said several senior executives resigned as the BlackBerry maker posted a massive quarterly loss, stung by slipping smartphone shipments and limited deliveries of its poor-selling PlayBook tablet.

[caption id="attachment_260982" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="The company posted a Q4 loss of $125 million: Getty"][/caption]

RIM's shares dropped as much as 9 per cent on Thursday after the company said it would no longer issue financial forecasts and was reviewing "strategic opportunities" such as partnerships and joint-venture licensing, and other ways to leverage its assets. A handful of senior executives, including former co-CEO and current director Jim Balsillie, will depart.

The company reported a fiscal fourth-quarter loss of $125 million, or 24 cents a share, as it booked writedowns on its BlackBerry 7 phones and goodwill.

On an adjusted basis, net income dropped to $418 million, or 80 cents a share, on revenue of $4.19 billion in new CEO Thorsten Heins' first quarter as chief executive. A year ago it earned $934 million, or $1.78, on revenue of $5.56 billion.

More from Business

Analysts, on average, had expected RIM to earn 81 cents a share on revenue of $4.54 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company shipped 11.1 million BlackBerrys and more than 500,000 PlayBooks in the three months to 3 March.

The decline in BlackBerry shipments suggests that RIM, at best, is treading water until it releases its next-generation of BlackBerry smartphones. Most analysts consider that a do-or-die launch for the company as it falls further behind Apple Inc's iPhone and iPad and devices powered by Google's Android.