It initially appeared as though things were beginning to stabilize for troubled handset maker BlackBerry but given today's news, that may not be the case. That's because two high-level executives are planning to leave the company in the near future according to people familiar with the matter as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Sources say executive vice president in charge of global sales Rick Costanzo will depart sometime in early 2013 while Chris Wormald, the man in charge of BlackBerry's mergers and acquisitions strategy, will no longer be with the company as of the end of this month.

BlackBerry declined to comment on the matter and neither man could be reached for comment, the publication said.

It's been a changing of the guard of sorts for the Canadian handset maker in recent months. If you recall, CEO Thorsten Heins stepped down in early November when it was revealed the planned $4.7 billion acquisition offer from Fairfax Financial Holdings was off the table. He was replaced by interim CEO John Chen who also now serves as an executive chair on the company's board.

If that weren't enough, the company's chief marketing officer, chief operating officer and chief financial officer have also split in recent weeks.

BlackBerry is expected to announce third quarter earnings this coming Friday and as you can imagine, the outlook is grim. As the WSJ points out, most analysts expect virtually every financial metric to be down.