BlackBerry loss at $1 b

BlackBerry Ltd reported a nearly $1 billion quarterly loss on Friday, days after accepting its largest shareholder's tentative $4.7 billion bid to take it out of the public eye.

BlackBerry, which had warned of the results on Sept. 20, said its net loss for the second quarter ended on Aug. 31 was $965 million, or $1.84 a share, while revenue fell 45 percent to $1.6 billion from a year earlier.

The loss included a pretax noncash charge of about $934 million against inventory and supply commitments for its new Z10 phone.

The company, which is also planning to shed 4,500 jobs, or more than one-third of its workforce, as it shrinks to focus on corporate and government customers, said it would not host the typical post-results call for investors after signing a tentative $9-a-share agreement to be acquired by Fairfax Financial, its largest shareholder, on Monday.