Whether a “drastic change” is needed or there is already “a lot of change”, former RIM CEO Mike Lazaridis (the same one who flipped out on the BBC during an interview) still believes in the BlackBerry.
Forget the fact that the company’s balance sheet is half they were at the beginning of 2011, and never mind the fact that the stock dropped 8 percent on the first day after new CEO Thorsten Heins started. Lazaridis still thinks an out-of-pocket $50 million investment in RIM stock is well worth it.
In an interview with The Record, Lazaridis said “I absolutely know he will take this company to new heights,” referencing Heins. Heins replaced Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie as CEO last week after shareholders became fed up with poor stock performance in the past year.
Despite the fact that shareholders have been grumbling, Lazaridis claims that the decision to put Heins in charge has been in the works for over four years, calling the alternative of choosing leadership outside of RIM “a guess.” For now, Lazaridis will be an investor in the company, and the head of a newly formed “innovation committee” at RIM.
Mr. Lazaridis is known in the global wireless community as a visionary, innovator, and engineer of extraordinary talent. He traces his passion for his work to his hometown of Windsor, Ontario where his love of science and fascination with electronics were nurtured in supportive family and school environments. As President and Co-CEO of Research In Motion (RIM), a company Mr. Lazaridis founded while a student at UW, he is responsible for product strategy, research and development, product development, and manufacturing....
BlackBerry (formerly Research in Motion) is a Canadian designer, manufacturer and marketer of wireless devices and solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market. The company is best known as the developer of the BlackBerry smart phone. Blackberry technology also enables a broad array of third party developers and manufacturers to enhance their products and services with wireless connectivity to data. Blackberry was founded in 1984. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, the company has offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific....
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