Research In Motion shares took a hit on Monday after the BlackBerry maker announced it was cutting 2,000 jobs, or about 11 per cent of its workforce.
RIM stock fell $1.28 or 4.84 per cent to $25.19 per share on the TSX following the announcement.
Before Monday's announcement, RIM's stock had dropped 52 per cent on the year.
The Waterloo, Ont.-based company released a statement Monday outlining the cost-cutting measures.
"RIM intends to notify impacted employees in North America and certain other countries this week鈥� All impacted employees will receive severance packages and outplacement support," the company said in a statement.
The company said the job cuts would be "across all functions," though it's expected most will occur at its operations in southwestern Ontario.
The cuts are part of a plan to "focus on areas that offer the highest growth opportunities," RIM said.
The layoff notices are expected to go out later this week, and at the company's Waterloo headquarters, most employees did not wish to speak to media about the situation.
"I don't know why that is," RIM employee Doug Ryan told CTV Southwestern Ontario of his coworkers' silence.
But he remains upbeat.
"It's the nature of technology to change," he said.
Off-camera some RIM employees said they would be offered severance packages of at least a few months' pay.
RIM's statement added that further job cuts were coming and would occur "at a later date." It said it expected its global workforce would be reduced to approximately 17,000 workers.
RIM has faced stiff competition in the last couple of years in the smartphone market, particularly from Apple with its immensely popular iPhone and Google with its Android mobile operating system.
In a grim foreshadowing of Monday's announcement, RIM said last month its quarterly revenue could drop for the first time in nine years. It had also announced it was planning to reduce its workforce , but at that time, did not say how many jobs would be lost.
RIM also announced Monday that chief operating officer Don Morrison would retire, after taking a temporary medical leave last month.
Thorsten Heins will be taking on the expanded role of COO, Product and Sales. All product engineering functions, including both hardware and software teams, are being consolidated under Thorsten's direction.
RIM still controls about 25 per cent of the U.S. market, but that number keeps shrinking as Google's Android smartphones and Apple's iPhone have surpassed RIM's market share.
RIM, which has been accused of letting its product line age for too long, expects to deliver new phones with upgraded operating systems later this summer. As well, it plans to launch a new generation of BlackBerrys in early 2012 with the same operating system currently on the PlayBook tablet.
John Pliniussen, a business professor at Queen's University who specializes in technology and business innovation, says RIM has to reduce costs, increase revenues and change its business model all at the same time.
"RIM is focusing on the first now, has been trying to do the second, but really needs to get new senior talent in to do the third," Pliniussen told The Canadian Press.
With files from The Canadian Press
