Blackberry Ltd is preparing to make deep cut to its workforce by the end of the year that could lead to slashing the company's headcount by up to 40%, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The layoffs will be across the board and likely occur in waves, the newspaper reported.
Blackberry, which once dominated the corporate smartphone arena, last month said it was considered an outright sale of the company as it reviews its options. It has struggled in recent years to stanch rapid market share losses to rivals like Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.
The Waterloo, Ontario-based company, which has already laid off hundreds of employees this year and previously warned that further job cuts were in the offing, declined to comment on the report or the magnitude of the reported layoffs. It employed 12,700 people as of March.
The report comes the same day the company introduced the Z30, a top-of-the-line smartphone intended to help the former industry pioneer wrestle its way back into the intensely competitive smartphone market.
But investors have grown increasingly nervous about Blackberry's future as its market position crumbles. The company has been facing persistently lackluster sales of devices that run on the BlackBerry 10 operating system.
Shares in the company slid 2.2% in Toronto to $10.64, and fell 1.5% to $10.40 U.S. on the NASDAQ Wednesday.
