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Research in comMotion

Cardiff Garcia — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 21:34:04 +0000

What a strange week it’s been for Research in Motion.

Last Friday the company had another of its periodic power outages, and on the same day that Apple launched its new iPhone no less.

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RIM, the limbo

Joseph Cotterill — Tue, 29 May 2012 20:35:14 +0000

While we are no longer giving quantitative financial guidance…

Look, advisors! Leverage something something!, says Research in Motion:

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C-suites in Motion

Joseph Cotterill — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 21:09:04 +0000

CTO of 13 years – gone

COO, Global ops – gone

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Winner takes all…

Neil Collins — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:01:10 +0000

It’s been a gruesome week in the mobile phone market. The almost embarrassing dominance of Apple (ideas for spending $90bn of spare cash, anyone?) provided a cruel contrast to the desperate plight of the opposition. The maker of Blackberrys ditched its founders. Nokia, the one-time rubber-boot manufacturer, tried to stay positive, boasting that it had sold a million Windows-based Lumia phones in the last three months. During that time Apple shipped 37m iPhones. It has sold 315m of them worldwide.

The eclipse of Nokia is one of the wonders of the age, providing fodder for business school studies for decades to come. At the turn of the century, its position in the burgeoning mobile phone market seemed unassailable. Its combination of market dominance and mouth-watering margins meant that it could outspend and out-develop any competitor who came up with a better product. It sold its billionth phone in 2005, and in late 2007, deemed the world’s fifth most valuable brand, the business was valued at €100bn.

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BlackBerry maker shakes up board

Izabella Kaminska — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:18:49 +0000

Research In Motion’s joint chairmen and chief executives, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, have resigned as part of a long-awaited shake-up at the embattled Canadian maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, the FT reports. RIM said late on Sunday that Mr Lazaridis would continue to play an active role as vice-chairman and head of a new board committee on innovation. Mr Balsillie is leaving the company, but will remain a director. The new chief executive will be Thorsten Heins, chief operating officer for product and sales. Mr Heins, a 54 year-old German, joined RIM in 2007 from Siemens, the engineering group. RIM presented the changes as an orderly succession initiated by the two former chief executives. “There comes a time in the growth of every successful firm that the founders realise that it’s time to pass the baton,” Mr Lazaridis told the Financial Times. Barbara Stymiest, former head of the Toronto stock exchange and a senior executive at Royal Bank of Canada, was named chairman. RIM also said that it was seeking a new chief marketing officer. Prem Watsa, a prominent Canadian investor, has joined the board.

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RIM co-chiefs step down

Kate Mackenzie — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 03:40:51 +0000

Research In Motion’s joint chairmen and chief executives, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, have resigned as part of a long-awaited shake-up at the embattled Canadian maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, the FT reports. RIM said late on Sunday that Mr Lazaridis would continue to play an active role as vice-chairman and head of a new board committee on innovation. Mr Balsillie is leaving the company, but will remain a director. The new chief executive will be Thorsten Heins, chief operating officer for product and sales. Mr Heins, a 54 year-old German, joined RIM in 2007 from Siemens, the engineering group. Barbara Stymiest, former head of the Toronto stock exchange and a senior executive at Royal Bank of Canada, was named chairman. RIM also said that it was seeking a new chief marketing officer. Prem Watsa, a prominent Canadian investor, has joined the board. Reuters says the executives were keen to paint the shuffle as an orderly transition on a succession plan mapped out at least a year ago, and not a retreat in the face of a plummeting share price, shrinking US market share and criticism of their products.

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Samsung says it’s not considering buying RIM

Kate Mackenzie — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:40:05 +0000

Samsung Electronics on Wednesday denied it was interested in buying ailing Blackberry maker Research In Motion or licensing its operating system, reports Reuters, refuting a tech blog report that RIM was seeking to sell itself to the South Korean company. Shares of RIM, which has been the subject of continuous takeover speculation with its stock valuation lingering at multi-year lows, jumped more than 10 per cent on the report before falling back after Samsung’s denial. Product delays and profit warnings have eroded confidence in Canada-based RIM, once at the cutting edge of smartphone technology for business users, and its management. “We haven’t considered acquiring the firm and are not interested in (buying RIM),” Samsung spokesman James Chung said. Chung also said Samsung had not been approached by the Canadian firm for a takeover and was not interested in licensing RIM’s mobile platform.

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RIM shares rise on new chairman reports

Kate Mackenzie — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 04:21:46 +0000

Shares in Research in Motion rose 7 per cent on Tuesday, their biggest increase in two weeks, on a report that the Blackberry maker may name a new chairman, says Bloomberg. RIM is facing demands from investors led by Northwest & Ethical Investments to name an independent chairman, a role currently shared by co-chief executive officers Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, to inject fresh thinking. The National Post said on Tuesday that Barbara Stymiest, an independent director who joined RIM’s board in 2007, was believed to be the leading candidate to replace Balsillie and Lazaridis, citing sources familiar with events.

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RIM shied away from Amazon bid

Kate Mackenzie — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 05:10:53 +0000

Research In Motion turned down takeover overtures from Amazon.com and other potential buyers, preferring to concentrate on fixing its problems on its own first, says Reuters, citing people with knowledge of the situation. Amazon hired an investment bank this summer to review a potential merger with RIM, but it did not make a formal offer, said one of the sources. It is not clear whether informal discussions between Amazon and RIM ever led to specific price talk, or who else had approached RIM about a takeover. The board wants RIM co-chief executives Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie to focus on trying to turn around the business through the launch of new phones, better use of assets such as BlackBerry Messaging and restructuring. The WSJ meanwhile says Microsoft and Nokia “flirted with the idea” of making a joint bid for RIM in recent months, citing people familiar with the matter, but said the status of the talks remains unclear. RIM shares rose 11 per cent in late trading after the two reports, says Bloomberg.

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RIM co-chiefs’ salaries cut to $1 each amid crisis

Kate Mackenzie — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 03:43:40 +0000

Research in Motion, the Canadian manufacturer of the BlackBerry family of smartphones and the PlayBook tablet, responded to falling profits, product problems and investor disenchantment by cutting its co-chief executives’ salaries to $1 each next year and pledging a “comprehensive review”. The FT reports RIM also warned on Thursday that its next generation of smartphones running its new operating system, dubbed BlackBerry 10 – which it needs to compete more effectively against Apple’s iPhone and Google Android handsets – will not be available until “the later part of calendar 2012”, or six months later than expected. RIM’s weak earnings pushed its stock to new seven-year lows in after-hours trading, says the WSJ, raising fresh questions about the company’s ability to compete with the likes of Apple and Google.

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