BlackBerry, headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, has revamped itself under Executive Chairman and CEO John Chen.
He has a long way to go: At its peak in 2011, BlackBerry sales reached almost $20 billion, 82% from hardware sales. In the current fiscal year the goal is to top $1 billion. The stock topped $146 on May 1, 2008; now it trades at around $7 a share. After years of red ink, BlackBerry is once again cash-flow positive as it invests heavily in new technology. The challenge now is to grow rapidly in its new lines of business.
a boon, since Gartner says it expects to see 20 billion internet-connected things by 2020, from vending machines and jet engines to connected cars. Cylance trains machines to identify potential bad behavior — by software as well as disgruntled employees. "Before you run a program is it going to be good or bad?" For example, an employee's access rights may be reduced if he or she is logging in from outside a company location or those rights can be completely cut off if he engages in unusual behavior. Says Permeh, Edward Snowden would not have been able to download all those secret CIA files.
Investors may not be so patient. When BlackBerry reported its first full quarter 2019 earning including Cylance in June, the numbers slightly exceeded expectations but the stock dropped 2% in the following weeks. Chen blames timing. Cybersecurity competitor, launched its IPO on June 12. The Sunnyvale, California start-up raised $630 million in its initial offering and now has a market cap of $18 billion, five times BlackBerry's.