Just when investors in Canada’s Research in Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) were enjoying some good news, the maker of the BlackBerry smartphone and PlayBook tablet triggered a new round of sell orders on Wall Street with news of a $485 million charge related to a markdown of its huge inventory of unsold PlayBook tablets.
RIM also said BlackBerry shipments are slipping and lowered its sales and earnings projections for the year. This news was more troubling to some than the PlayBook charge because the BlackBerry is the core of RIMM’s business.
Earlier this week, RIM announced upcoming beta testing for BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, a platform that will allow corporate IT managers to manage BlackBerry, Android and Apple iOS smartphones and tablets with a single system. Analysts applauded the move, saying it gives the company a new product for its biggest customer base, corporate buyers.
RIM says the $485 million dollar pretax charge will primarily be a non-cash charge taken in the current quarter (third quarter of fiscal 2012). The after tax charge will be $360 million. At the end of its second quarter, RIM had $851 million of cash on its balance sheet, down from $1.7 billion at the end of its first quarter.
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