BlackBerry Reports $1.6B In Revenue And A $965M Loss In Q2 2014

Things have been looking awfully bleak for BlackBerry lately, and today the company revealed just how rough things have gotten in its newest earnings release. In fiscal Q2 2014, BlackBerry raked in a measly $1.6 billion in revenue (down from $2.9 billion in the year-ago quarter) and reported an adjusted loss of $248 million, which works out to $0.47 per share diluted.

The company also reported that it had sold 5.9 million BlackBerry smartphones to end users over the past three or so months, though BlackBerry only recorded revenue on 3.7 million of them (most of which were older BlackBerry 7-powered devices).

To put that in perspective, Yahoo’s analyst consensus was that the company would report a loss of $0.49 per share on revenues of $1.62 billion, so the company actually pulled ahead of revised EPS expectations and only barely missed revenue estimates. In the preceding quarter (in which the company also missed expectations) BlackBerry reported $3.1 billion in revenue and an adjusted net loss of $67 million. Still, that’s likely little consolation considering what else the company revealed.

The folks in Waterloo have already attempted to soften the blow of an especially dark quarter by announcing that it expected to post an operating loss of between $950 and $995 million last week. In this release, the company has finally put a firm number on that wound — the total GAAP loss from continuing operations came in at $965 million, right in the middle of the company’s forecasted range. The big culprit? A hefty writedown (think around $934 million) incurred thanks in large part to a glut of unsold BlackBerry Z10s.

That one-time flagship smartphone is now being repositioned as a entry-level device for the masses — BlackBerry hopes that by slashing prices, the Z10 will finally find its footing among a jaded population of smartphone owners and increase its chances of success in developing markets where the company has been traditionally strong.

It’s far from a concrete connection, but it’s still curious to see that the all-touch Z10 is the device that seems to be taking a drubbing while more traditionally designed handsets like the Q10 and Q5 don’t warrant specific mentions. Of course, that doesn’t mean that BlackBerry is going to turn tail and retreat from the all-touch battlefield — it recently revealed the larger BlackBerry Z30, which will soon take the BB10 hardware flagship crown.

“We are very disappointed with our operational and financial results this quarter and have announced a series of major changes to address the competitive hardware environment and our cost structure,” said Heins in a prepared statement. He went on to note the importance of BlackBerry’s strong enterprise presence to the company’s future, as well confirming that there’s still roughly $2.6 billion in cash in BlackBerry vault.

Sadly, those hoping for additional off-the-cuff insight from Thorsten will have to do without this time around — the company officially cancelled its quarterly earnings call because of its pending buyout deal with Fairfax Financial, which offered the ailing smartphone maker $9 per share.