Blackberry plans on laying off 4,500 employees, which comprise 40 percent of its work force, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The cellphone giant has suffered a heavy loss in revenue: it revealed its $1 billion second-quarter loss in an unexpected early release of earnings results. The company's shares tanked as soon as the news was made public, the stock dropped 19 percent to $8.50 after reopening for trading. The trading of shares had been halted after the news.

BlackBerry has been struggling to combat the aggressive competition from Apple's iPhone and Android for a while now. The layoff will cut across all departments of the organization.

In response to a query from CNN, BlackBerry spokeswoman Lisette Kwong said that the company "cannot comment on rumors and speculation."

But she did reveal that the company was in the second phase of its "transformation plan" and that "organizational moves will continue to occur to ensure" that they have the right people in the right roles.

Last month, the company had suggested that it would look into strategic alternatives to secure its future, which could also involve a possible sale, joint ventures, partnerships, and other options. In early August, the shares of the company even rose by 5%.

Earlier this year in January, the company finally released its delayed Blackberry 10 operating system but the sales of the first phones were very disappointing. BlackBerry shipped just 2.7 million phones running its new operating system during the quarter that ended June 1, and the company also logged a surprise loss.

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