Z Score,T Score, Percential Rank and Box Plot Graph
Math in the News: Issue 79
1. Math in the News
Issue 79
The End of an Era?
In this issue we look at the financial troubles at Blackberry.
2. In a previous issue of Math in the News (see
issue 52) we explored the financial troubles that
were emerging at Research in Motion, maker of
the Blackberry.
3. The rise of the iPhone, as well as Android devices,
cut deeply into RIM’s profitability.
4. Since then, RIM, now called simply Blackberry, has
signaled it may cease being a publically held
company.
Source: NY
Times.
5. Its stock price over the last six month tells a grim
story of decline.
Source:
Blackberry.com
7. The best way to diagnose a company is to look
at its Annual Reports or other financial
documents it has to publish.
8. As of 2011, Blackberry was still showing steady
increases in Revenue, and bringing in a sizable
amount of it.
9. But Revenue is only half the story. A company
needs to spend money in order to generate
revenue. The difference between Revenue and
Cost of Sales is called the Gross Margin. When
divided by the Revenue, Gross Margin is
expressed as a percent.
Gross Margin =
Revenue − Cost of Sales
Revenue
10. From its Financial Statement we see that from
2009 to 2011, its Gross Margin kept going
down. This meant that it was becoming more
expensive for Blackberry to sell its products.
2011 2010 2009
Gross Margin
11. But 2012 brought even worse news for
Blackberry. Revenue was down over $1 billion
and the Gross Margin had plunged to 36%.
Loss of over $1
billion.
Gross Margin of
36%.
Blackberry: 2012
12. Finally, 2013 brought catastrophic news.
Blackberry reported that midway into its fiscal
year it posted a $1 billion loss in revenue.
13. By late September 2013, Blackberry had agreed
to be purchased in a private sale, allowing the
company to become privately owned. And with
that ends an era of a once-dominant company.
