BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) is not for sale and is viable, CEO John Chen said in an interview on Bloomberg Television.
The comment comes from the CEO after BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) reported its first quarter 2015 results on Thursday posting a smaller than expected loss. The company’s net income was $23 million, or 4 cents per share, on revenue of approximately $966 million. Its adjusted loss was reported to be $60 million, or 11 cents per share, which is smaller compared to its loss of $67 million during the same quarter last year. Analysts expected the phone maker to post an adjusted loss of 27 cents per share. BlackBerry’s quarterly revenue decreased to $966 million from $3.07 billion for the same quarter a year ago while its cash and investments increased from $2.7 billion in the previous quarter to $3.1 billion for the just-ended quarter.
In the interview, the BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) CEO said that he does not want to say anything is 100% sure but maintained that the company is “fine”. “We are a viable company,” he said. He explained that the company has strong balance sheets and lots of cash and that they are now starting to focus on growth. If he has his doubts, it’s because the market and the world could change, he noted.
Nonetheless, the CEO seemed very confident. “I want people to focus on the fact that we are comfortable about the viability of the company going forward…We are in good share now,” he told Bloomberg.
When asked about his goal to have $100 in revenue for the 2016 fiscal year, he said that the company has a good handle on its monetization plan. Regarding BBM, for example, he noted that their monetization plan has three buckets: enterprise function, mobile payments and the consumer space particularly advertising.
Asked about selling phones and whether he is going to guide the company to stop selling phones as he also steers it towards making software and offering services, Chen said that as long as BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) makes money selling phones, he would sell phones forever. He said he wants the company to be an end-to-end security provider. He noted that the company used to bleed money because of phones but now they are close to breaking even in the sector.
Chen was then questioned whether what could convince BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) to sell, the CEO said that someone has to put forth a figure that will make his shareholders cheer and make his employees feel proud. Furthermore, he noted that the offer should align with the company’s strategy and should not hurt the company’s customers. However, he noted that he will look at every proposition should one come saying that it’s his responsibility to look even though he is “not seeking” to be acquired right now.
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