BlackBerry Forecasts Lower Annual Revenue due to Weak Demand for Cybersecurity Services

The Blackberry logo is seen on a smarphone in front of a displayed stock graph in this illustration taken February 5, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
The Blackberry logo is seen on a smarphone in front of a displayed stock graph in this illustration taken February 5, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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BlackBerry Forecasts Lower Annual Revenue due to Weak Demand for Cybersecurity Services

The Blackberry logo is seen on a smarphone in front of a displayed stock graph in this illustration taken February 5, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
The Blackberry logo is seen on a smarphone in front of a displayed stock graph in this illustration taken February 5, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Canada's BlackBerry forecast a revenue decline in fiscal 2026 on Wednesday, as it anticipated weak spending on its cybersecurity products.

US-listed shares of the Waterloo, Ontario-based company fell 4% in premarket trading.

BlackBerry, once a dominant force in the smartphone market, has transitioned into selling software for devices and autonomous vehicles.

But enterprises are now reining their technology spending and optimizing costs, which in turn is affecting firms like BlackBerry.

The company forecast revenue to be between $504 million and $534 million for the financial year ending in February next year, lower than $534.9 million it reported in fiscal 2025, Reuters reported.

BlackBerry expects its cybersecurity unit, which provides intelligent security software to enterprises and governments, to report annual revenue between $230 million and $240 million, lower than the $272.6 million in the previous financial year.

The company posted revenue of $141.7 million for the fourth quarter, lower than $152.9 million it reported a year ago.

BlackBerry said it completed the sale of the Cylance business, which uses machine learning to preempt security breaches, to Arctic Wolf for $160 million.

The company sold the Cylance business to redirect its focus to high-growth areas, and as the unit required significant levels of investment and was facing strong competition.



Elon Musk's AI Chatbot Grok Gets an Update, Starts Sharing Antisemitic Posts

xAI and Grok logos are seen in this illustration taken, February 16, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
xAI and Grok logos are seen in this illustration taken, February 16, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
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Elon Musk's AI Chatbot Grok Gets an Update, Starts Sharing Antisemitic Posts

xAI and Grok logos are seen in this illustration taken, February 16, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
xAI and Grok logos are seen in this illustration taken, February 16, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company said Wednesday that it's taking down “inappropriate posts" made by its Grok chatbot, which appeared to include antisemitic comments that praised Adolf Hitler.

Grok was developed by Musk’s xAI and pitched as alternative to “woke AI” interactions from rival chatbots like Google’s Gemini, or OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Musk said Friday that Grok has been improved significantly, and users “should notice a difference.”

Since then, Grok has shared several antisemitic posts, including the trope that Jews run Hollywood, and denied that such a stance could be described as Nazism.

“Labeling truths as hate speech stifles discussion,” Grok said.

It also appeared to praise Hitler, according to screenshots of a post that has now apparently been deleted.

“We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts,” the Grok account posted early Wednesday, without being more specific.

"Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X. xAI is training only truth-seeking and thanks to the millions of users on X, we are able to quickly identify and update the model where training could be improved.

Also Wednesday, a court in Türkiye ordered a ban on Grok after it spread content insulting to Turkish President and others.

The pro-government A Haber news channel reported that Grok posted vulgarities against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his late mother and well-known personalities. Offensive responses were also directed toward modern Türkiye's founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, other media outlets said.

That prompted the Ankara public prosecutor to file for the imposition of restrictions under Türkiye's internet law, citing a threat to public order. A criminal court approved the request early on Wednesday, ordering the country’s telecommunications authority to enforce the ban.

It's not the first time Grok's behavior has raised questions.

Earlier this year the chatbot kept talking about South African racial politics and the subject of “white genocide” despite being asked a variety of questions, most of which had nothing to do with the country. An “unauthorized modification” was behind the problem, xAI said.