BlackBerry Ltd. said on Friday it would lay off about 200 employees at its Canadian headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario, and at a satellite office in Sunrise, Fla., as the struggling smartphone maker tries to reinvent itself as a provider of mobile security and software services for enterprise customers.

BlackBerry had a total of 6,225 employees at the end of its last fiscal year in February 2015.

The company had previously gone through several rounds of painful layoffs after its attempt to compete in the consumer smartphone space fell flat. In 2014, BlackBerry Chief Executive John Chen told employees that years of layoffs had come to an end. But the company has since continued to make small, selective cuts to its workforce.

The company's handset business has shrunk as Mr. Chen outsourced device manufacturing, narrowed its device lineup and more recently turned to a rival operating system, Android, to power its newest phone. At the same time, BlackBerry has spent close to $850 million on acquisitions in little over a year as part of its investment in higher-margin software and services to manage and secure corporate and government mobile networks.

"As BlackBerry continues to execute its turnaround plan, we remain focused on driving efficiencies across our global workforce," and "as a result a small number of employees have been impacted in Waterloo and Sunrise, Fla.," the company said in a statement.

BlackBerry said it is "actively recruiting" in areas that will fuel growth, without providing specifics.

Still, the cuts may raise concerns among investors over the company's turnaround effort since they come weeks before the end of the company's latest quarter.

A BlackBerry spokeswoman declined to comment beyond the statement.

In New York, BlackBerry was recently down 3.7% at $7.13.

Write to Ben Dummett at ben.dummett@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 05, 2016 16:25 ET (21:25 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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