Three more senior executives leave BlackBerry,

Company has slashed more than 7,000 jobs in last two years

Three more senior BlackBerry Ltd. executives “are leaving, or have already left” the struggling smartphone manufacturer this month, according to a spokesperson — the latest in a string of departures, resignations and layoffs that have struck the Waterloo, Ont.-based company with increasing regularity.

As first reported by CBC News, Doug Kozak, vice-president, corporate information technology operations; Carmine Arabia, senior vicepresident of global manufacturing and supply chain; and Graeme Whittington, vice-president of service operations, will be leaving the company.

BlackBerry spokesperson Rebecca Freiburger also confirmed the departures in an email to the Financial Post.

“As previously stated, we are in the second phase of our transformation plan where we will be assessing our organization — from top to bottom — to ensure we have the right people in the right roles with the right skill sets to drive new opportunities in mobile computing,” wrote Freiburger. “We will be as transparent as possible as plans evolve.”

BlackBerry shares were down 3.33 per cent, or 33 cents, to close at $9.58 on Wednesday.

The departures come amid BlackBerry’s most recent round of layoffs, in which 250 employees at the company’s New Product Testing Facility in Waterloo were given notice late July. The facility supports BlackBerry’s manufacturing, research and development efforts.

The company has slashed more than 7,000 jobs since 2011 as it seeks to restructure itself in order to better compete with rivals Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

Another three executives also left the company in July. David J. Smith was an executive vice-president in charge of mobile computing, T.A. McCann oversaw BlackBerry Messenger and other apps as vicepresident of social networks, while Marc Gingras was credited with the development of BlackBerry 10 s new email, calendar and contacts applications.

BlackBerry’s latest phone, the lower-cost, mid-tier BlackBerry Q5, will be available in Canada next week.