Channel investors, Content

BlackBerry CEO John Chen Bets On Cylance-Spark

Share

BlackBerry delivered stronger-than-expected Q4 fiscal 2019 earnings today, and predicted continued profitable revenue growth in fiscal 2020 as the company begins to benefit from the recent Cylance acquisition.

BlackBerry CEO John Chen
BlackBerry CEO John Chen

In a prepared statement, BlackBerry CEO John Chen said:

"We delivered on all of our fiscal 2019 financial commitments and created a solid foundation for continued profitable revenue growth in fiscal 2020. I am pleased to note that BlackBerry is recognized as a $1 billion plus revenue company in security software.  The combination of BlackBerry Cylance's lightweight AI and machine learning cybersecurity capabilities with BlackBerry Spark, our secure communications platform, will make our endpoint management and embedded software products stronger and more essential for enterprises to generate value from the Internet of Things."

For its three months ended February 28, 2019:

  • Revenue was $255 million, up from $233 million in the corresponding quarter last year.
  • Net income was $51 million, a big improvement from a $10 million loss in the corresponding quarter last year.

BlackBerry Acquires Cylance: Recent Deal

BlackBerry's $1.4 billion Cylance buyout closed in late February 2019, which means the current results don't yet fully reflect Cylance's momentum in the AI and endpoint security market.

The BlackBerry Cylance business unit's focus includes a heavy emphasis on MSP and MSSP partners.

We'll share more details and analysis of the earnings soon.

Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.