How To Lose $76 Billion in Value

Technology waits for no one. Markets don’t have a feelings. When a company starts to lose its footing, the drop can be swift and relentless. A few years ago, Blackberry was one of the most important smartphone companies on the planet. It also was one of the biggest.

To see Blackberry’s dominance and then its fall, look at the percentages below. They show how much of the total smartphone market Blackberry controlled each year. At one point, it was 20%. A few years later, it was 1%:

2009 - 20%
2010 - 19%
2011 - 15%
2012 - 8%
2013 - 4%
2014 - 3%
2015 - 2%
2016 - 1%

Over that same time, Blackberry’s market cap crashed hard. It went from about $80 billion in 2009 to barely $4 billion in 2016. That’s $76 billion in value wiped away:

In six quick years, Blackberry lost roughly 95% of its peak value. Studying the history of Blackberry shows how fleeting the market can be. Or even how quickly new market leaders rise and fall. It’s something you always have to keep in the back of your mind no matter how dominant or strong a company is at any given moment. Because, as they say, risk happens fast.

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