Instant View: Blackberry to cut 4,500 jobs, warns of huge second quarter loss

Struggling smartphone maker Blackberry Ltd unveiled a restructuring plan on Friday that involves culling 4,500 jobs and streamlining its smartphone portfolio, saying it expects second-quarter results to miss Wall Street's expectations by a wide margin.

Commentary:

COLIN GILLIS, ANALYST, BGC PARTNERS

"The company has sailed off a cliff. What do you expect when you announce you're up for sale. Who wants to commit to a platform that could possibly be shut down?

BlackBerry's 3.7 million unit shipments were roughly half what he said he expected. But their plan to restructure the company and narrow its focus is "reasonable."

"It has to be done."

(Reporting by Solarina Ho and Alastair Sharp in Toronto, Sinead Carew in New York, and Malathi Nayak in San Francisco)