>> blackberry ceo john chen abc fromg the software maker the verge of death to $5.8 billion powerhouse. say isking on what some an impossible job, leading the blackberry come back. can you prove them wrong? how did he become the tech industry fixer? my guest today is a blackberry ceo john chen.

you technically live here. >> my family lives here. i live all around. >> how much time do you spend here versus waterloo? week ay to spend one month and waterloo. we still have thousands in canada. we are building a unit so i spend about a week or so a month here also. the rest of the time i go around the world seeing customers, meeting with analysts, investors, partners, distributors, and so forth. >> part of the reason you are opening the office is -- >> it is so we can get much closer to all that is happening. there are a lot of great ideas in silicon valley. 90% do not go anywhere. 10% become the googles of the

world. you have to pay attention to what is happening in our industry so we are not so insular and focused on our own thing. >> you were born and raised in hong kong? tell me about your upbringing. >> i came from a relatively poor beginning because my parents, although my father is quiet educated -- they were refugees from china. they were postwar, when the communists were taking over before the curtain got drawn. they escaped from shanghai. >> you lived in a one-bedroom apartment? >> yes, for a long time. we did not even have a dining table. we put two suitcases on top of each other and a piece of cloth

over it. that was our dining table. >> what kind of kid were you? what did you want to be? >> i never thought about what i wanted to be. i just thought that -- everybody at the time, because of the war and because of what happened historically to china and so forth -- everybody wants the kids to be scientists. that is the hong kong way. everybody becomes an engineer or mathematician, doctors, just professionals, so you can have a good life. i started off doing a lot of math. i liked math. i started studying engineering. >> you went on to boarding school in massachusetts. how did that happen? >> by the time i was thinking of my education, the higher

education, my family is already in a middle income. my father studied english at night and started to accumulate wealth. he asked me what i wanted to study. i told him engineering. i wanted to go to the ivy league. it enhances your chances. i went to prep school. >> it must've been quiet a transition. >> we went from no snow to a lot of snow. it was quiet a transition. it was the best thing that ever happened to me. >> when did you learn how to code? >> i learned it in high school. this is one of those things that a lot of americans do not

understand, the resources this country offers are dramatic as compared to every other country around the world. when i was in hong kong, we've were never -- we might have heard about it computer, but we had never seen one. we had never touched one. that was the first time i learned how to code-- my first year of high school, my first year in the united states. i started my career as a manufacturing engineer. i started on the ground floor. i went to caltech for my masters degree. i started working with this mainframe company. my first job was to fix things. >> you started your career learning how to fix things. how did you do it? what did it take? >> i liked fixing things. it's both a challenge and an opportunity to learn stuff. old-school, loyal, stick-with-it

type of person. when we were growing up, we never thought about it that way. you had to create opportunity yourself. i tried to go and learn different areas. my first job is in fixing manufacturing hardware. then i went into software. helping run factories. i had done a lot of different things throughout my career. >> you took sybase from on-the-verge-of-failure to $5.8 billion. how did you do it? >> first of all, you have to have a good team of people. i spent a lot of time recruiting, building a culture. you focus on something you do well. you focus on those things that add to the market. you stick with those for the

long haul. you build it a step at a time. we came back. >> you were on mobile before mobile was big. >> it's funny, i have people calling me, investors calling me, telling me that the money that you have, company money, belongs to them. for me to invest in areas like mobile, i may as well -- thank god we did it. we were stuck at a value of $2 billion. mobile took us to $6 billion. >> what was the hardest thing you had to do there? >> the initial rounds of letting people go, refocusing the company, and being able to convince the remaining employees and the people you try to recruit that there is a future. >> you eventually sold? that there is a future. >> and you eventually sold to s.a.p

>> long time. 13 years later? >> people are telling you blackberry is already dead. why did you take this job? ♪

>> you came out looking like a hero. great ceo's, great executives, there is often a myth about them that is boiled down intelligent. what is the myth about john chen, and what is the reality? >> i think i am a straightforward kind of guy. i like working with people. i like focusing on objectives and results. most people say, why are you doing this? a company is already dead. to me, i am just kind to take one step at a time and do better every day. eventually, we will break through. i am more relaxed than most

people think. >> people are telling you blackberry is already dead. why did you take this job? >> that is a great question. i think i flunked retirement. >> [laughter] >> there is a bunch of reasons. i could give you a reason about it being iconic in the industry, and a great company that has technology, with a lot of potential. all of that is true. but that does not automatically answer the question, why am i doing it? i started asking the chairman of the company. i was going to find the management team and formulate a strategy. i thought i was a little too old to run around the world and play cowboy. once i got into it, i i and it is hard to just guide. we really do not have a lot of time to just find a team and then a person, and think about the strategy. we just kind of have to get it done.

right, wrong, in different, i decided to become the ceo. >> you are not crazy? >> i think there is a lot of good potential here. we made a lot of progress. >> is this part of your personality? you like to feel needed, to fix things? >> that is probably the negative part of my personality. i am a little paranoid of not being needed or wanted. what i do every day, i know that it means something to people. >> history has been cruel to phone makers. , motorola, palm. what makes you think you can change history? >> by not falling in the same place. we are trying to broaden ourselves be on the device. i do not sit here and think, i could make another great phone, and somehow everything would do well. >> but you did vow to keep

making phones. >> this is part of our strategy of end and mobile computing for the enterprise. you can say, i am so committed, that even though i lost my shirt, i will do this. it does not make sense. but i thought i could make money on the phone. i hope that by now the industry realizes what i'm talking about. we have some great phones coming out, very cool. it is our first point of entry, or one point of our big strategy of everything secure. that is our big strategy. the phone is part of it. i mean our phones are the most , secure phone because of the way we make it, in the software we have. both hardware and software. i would like to continue to do that, but if i can be successful in it, i'm ok to work with somebody else to do it. >> blackberry's global market share peaked in 2009 at 21%. it is less than 1% now. idc predicts blackberry market share will fall to .3% by 2018.

are you going to change the direction of that? >> i hope so. can i change it immediately? no. in many, many markets around the world, blackberry phones are still the preferred phone. i will admit that in north america, with the banks, some of the hospitals, and the that wents, outside of , don't do well. i see people in the professional world still using our devices. it is my job to recapture it, that interest in that loyalty. i think we have a shot at it. >> in a future where chips are embedded everywhere, in our clothes, walls, do smartphones matter? do these numbers matter? >> smartphones will not matter in the long term. i think smartphones well -- i think devices will matter, how things talk to each other. the whole internet of things is really real. and the question is how and who will make money out of it. it is not clear whether it is the traditional handset people.

>> you sold sybase to s.a.p. are you going to sell blackberry? >> there is a standard answer for non-company officers. >> give me the nonstandard. >> i would prefer to do something before i contemplate that. >> as the ceo, you are beholding to shareholders to consider offers. >> it is not only fair. it's not shareholders, it's the employees. one thing i am proud of about sybase is that the people who slaved away with me for so long, although selling to s.a.p. was not my desired outcome, i was hoping to build a big company. it was the right thing. they were -- they gave us an offer that was very hard to refuse. >> if you got a good enough offer? you would sell? >> if i got a good enough offer, i would. >> what kind of offers have come across your desk? >> i don't have any offers. >> no. >> people like to talk. talk is not an offer. >> would you sell to a chinese company? >> the answer is i would

probably be unable to do that. one of our biggest bases is the government. in countries where government shares intelligence. i think there will be a lot of regulatory issues and concerns. i appreciate that. >> what do you think of the current state of u.s.-china relations, given the new regime in china? >> i try to become a very constructive bridge between the two if i can. i think the current status -- like every -- u.s.-china relations are always full of challenges and opportunities. >> when it comes to security and cyber security and the privacy of american citizens, who is more of a threat, china or the united states? to our own security. >> i think everybody is spying on everybody. i would think it is equally a big threat inside our country as outside our country. >> what the nsa has been doing, as far as we know, fair or unfair? >> if the intentions are truly

for national security. i think it is fair. because we don't want another setback. this is only a personal view. this is not a blackberry view. >> if the nsa wanted a backdoor to blackberry, would you open it? >> we don't have backdoors, but we would not do that. from time to time, the government wanted information from us, ok? first of all, we don't keep it around. that is number one. you need to know that. if we do it, it has to be under court order. >> have you ever had a moment where you thought what did i get myself into? >> twice. yes, i have. ♪

>> since you are the tech industry's turnaround guy, i would like to ask you about how other turnarounds are going. yahoo!? >> from what i can read, they seem to be doing well.

they look at it from the growth, revenue, and all that. if a company guided that way, that is one thing. but the question needs to focus on, if the company's fundamentals become stronger in the long term, i would focus on that. from that perspective, it feels like they are doing the right thing. >> you think russ meyer is doing a good job? >> i think it is a reasonable job. i don't know her very well. met a couple of times. yes. >> you are also a father. you have four kids. what kind of a parent are you? >> i'm close to my children, and i always enjoy time with them. because of the job, running around the world, i don't spend a lot of time with them. thankfully, they all grew up pretty good. i feel good about it. >> how do they feel about you living half here and half in canada? >> i think my wife loves it. we have been married 34 years. i think sometimes she does not want to see me every day.

it is good. if i go home early, she always says, what's wrong? you are not feeling well? i say, i just want to come home early. i am serious. i am not making any of this up. anyway they support me. , if i'm happy, they're just fine. >> what's an app you can't live without? >> e-mail. >> facebook or twitter? >> neither. >> why not? >> i tried it. i got so hooked on it. i'm spending a living moment on it. i can't do it. i need to stop. >> smart watch or no? >> no. i'm a traditionalist. >> but you won your chips and everything. >> i am still a traditionalist. by the way, i did not say i want to be tracked like that. i did not say that. i think there is a certain amount that -- and i would have my own private moment in my own private life. >> if you were not doing what you are doing now, what would you do?

what would you want to do? again,ould never happen because i am too old for it. i would love to go to law school. actually, i wanted to be a lawyer, but my father thought it was not a good profession. >> when is the last time you were nervous? >> i am very fortunate. i think if anything would happen to my family, i would be nervous. outside of that, there is nothing to be nervous about. >> what is your guilty pleasure? >> cigars. everybody -- everybody -- i love having a cigar. when i played golf with my doctor, i finish a round and pull out a cigar. he looks at me and says, being your physician, i must advise you against it. i say, i only smoke after i play golf or getting a drink with some friends. he says, does it help your golfing? i say, not really, no. he said, ok, fine. >> now that you have been doing this blackberry thing for almost a year, what would you give your own chances for success? >> if you are talking about being able to create value, i think i can do that.

>> 100%? >> i would say better than 80/20. how is that? i am comfortable where the company is today with how we manage our technology, business, margins, distribution channels, all the new product coming out, the strategy that gets into communicating in a secure manner. all that stuff over time. i think there is enough runway here for us. we scale our expenses to a level that allows us to stay back, invest money. i am comfortable with generating more value. whether it will be good enough to be iconic again, that is something i need to chew on. i don't know the answer to that question. >> being completely honest, have you ever had a moment, a single moment, where you thought, what did i get myself into? >> twice. [laughter] more than one time. yes, i had. after the first 30 days, i said

to myself, this is -- i am running against time on so many things, but then i did not dwell on it for too long. i started putting a plan together and recruited a team and said, just do one thing at a time. do not try to fix everything at a time. that was once. i could feel when i am -- my mind is not very focused. i could feel it. right now, i am quiet at ease with the plans we are working on. >> how do you want to be remembered? >> somebody who could generate results. i would like it to be remembered in the future that i did some thing that made a difference, that a lot of people benefited from my effort. if i can feel that, i'm good. i don't need to be called anything. >> john chen, thank you for so much joining us on studio 1.0. >> thank you. >> great to have you. ♪

>> i am kim fox, and this is what i am taking stock of. payroll report showed the biggest hiring surgeon almost three years. guests on bloomberg had similar reactions to the news. >> this is one of those wow reports. >> my reaction was wow. >> probably one of the best years in the 1990's -- since the 1990's in job growth. >> a bigger gap between the u.s., healing quickly, and japan and europe. >> people tell you one number does not tell you everything, but this is a really good number. quickly eym