BlackBerry shares surge on fiscal Q2 beat, names McAfee vet Giamatteo to run security | ZDNet

Mobile pioneer BlackBerry this afternoon reported fiscal Q2 revenue and profit that both topped Wall Street’s expectations. 

The company announced it appointed former McAfee chief revenue officer John Joseph Giamatteo as head of its cybersecurity products division.

The report sent BlackBerry shares up 10% in late trading. 

CEO and chairman John Chen remarked that “Revenue for all businesses beat expectations this quarter,” adding that “the Cyber Security business unit delivered robust sequential billings and revenue growth and the IoT business unit performed well in the face of global chip shortage pressures.” 

Said Chen, “We are already seeing benefits from establishing the two key business units and are delighted to appoint John Giamatteo as President of Cyber Security.  

Chen said that demand for the company’s QNX software “remains very strong, demonstrating both our industry leadership position and secular trends, such as ECU consolidation.”

“In Cyber Security we received strong third-party validation of the effectiveness of our AI-driven, prevention-first suite of products, illustrating progress made with recent product launches,” said Chen. 

Revenue in the three months ended in August rose to $175 million, yielding a net loss of 6 cents a share, excluding some costs.

Analysts had been modeling $161.9 million and a net loss of 8 cents per share.

BlackBerry’s revenue from the “Internet of Things” came in at $40 million. Annualized recurring revenue totaled $89 million.