Jim Balsillie is the former co-CEO of BlackBerry (formerly known as Research In Motion) that sold off all of his stake in the company according to a regulatory filing. About a year ago, Balsillie was the largest shareholder in the company with 26.8 million shares. Balsillie was the co-CEO of the company with Mike Lazaridis.
Former RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie considered reinventing RIM by allowing major wireless companies in North American and Europe to provide service to non-BlackBerry devices through RIM’s proprietary network before he stepped down. This would have been a radical shift from the company’s BlackBerry-only strategy.
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RIM Co-CEO Jim Balsillie has stepped down from the board of directors after the company announced their fourth quarter earnings missed on guidance for the fifth fiscal quarter in a row. The company brought in $4.2 billion in revenue, which is $0.4 billion below its guidance. The company said that they will discontinue offering guidance going forward.
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Over the last 20 years, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis have been co-CEOs and co-chairmen at Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM). Now the company has promoted Thorsten Heins from the COO position to the President and CEO of RIM. The management shuffle happened in the midst of pressure from investors, but the company said it was not a reaction to the stock price. RIM’s investors have been disappointed with weakening sales at the company due to increased competition from Google and Apple.
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Research In Motion has lost a ton of smartphone marketshare to Android and iOS. The company is also struggling to compete against the Apple iPad in the tablet market. This is why RIM co-founders Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie may give up their titles as co-chairmen according to sources with The Financial Post. Reportedly RIM is considering hiring Barbara Stymiest. Stymiest is currently an independent director that joined RIM’s board in 2007. Lazaridis and Balsillie would still have prominent roles on the board of directors if they were to be replaced by Stymiest.
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At the recent shareholders meeting held by Research In Motion Limited (TSE:RIM), it was revealed that seven new BlackBerry devices will be arriving in the next couple months. RIM Co-CEO Jim Balsillie said that there will be several new devices launched “within rapid succession” next month. Three of the BlackBerry devices are expected to be the Bold 9900, the Touch 9680, and the Torch 9850. It is uncertain what the other four BlackBerry devices will be. [IntoMobile]
The BlackBerry Torch price dropped to $99 from $199 and this made RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie very happy. He said “That’s a dream come true… New pricing, new promo, right into the holiday season — what can I say? I couldn’t be happier,” stated Balsillie in an interview with Bloomberg. [Bloomberg]
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:CEO) Steve Jobs normally does not appear on earnings calls, but he did this past week. And he decided to go to town on his rivals. Jobs knocked on the “openness” of Google Android and RIM’s tablet computer. This sparked a debate. Below is some of the things that Jobs said and what some of the responses were.
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