Tag Archives: Jim Balsillie

Jim Balsillie sells his 5.1 percent stake in BlackBerry

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BlackBerry's Jim Balsillie

Jim Balsillie, the former co-CEO of Research in Motion (now known as BlackBerry), has been until recently the third-largest shareholder in the company with 5.1 percent ownership. According to Financial Post, however, he's cut his stake in BlackBerry altogether, now reporting a grand total of zero shares. Balsillie stepped down as co-CEO in January and resigned from the board in March; this next big move away from the company will likely lead to speculation that his interest or faith in BlackBerry's future is waning, though his successor certainly would beg to differ.

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Source: Financial Post

Reuters: RIM could open up BlackBerry network to others, join up with Ballmer

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The Q1 earnings news from RIM of layoffs and a delay in its next generation of handsets has unsurprisingly led to some rumors from the usual "people familiar with the situation," according to Reuters. The options reportedly being considered by the board probably also won't shock you, like the possibility of following former co-CEO Jim Balsillie's plan to open up its network to others and / or or sell it outright. An alternative path comes from Microsoft and Steve Ballmer, who has reportedly been putting a full court press on the folks in Waterloo to pull a Nokia and bring their arms to the Windows OS camp. That choice is reportedly less attractive because it would mean giving up technology independence, but we'll see how long that feeling lasts if future earnings projections remain similarly dismal.

Reuters: RIM could open up BlackBerry network to others, join up with Ballmer originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jun 2012 02:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Former RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie’s very different rescue plan revealed

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Sources close to former RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie have revealed his plans to save the company before he was shown the door, a plan that didn't involve handsets. He'd entered into talks with AT&T, Verizon and several European carriers to offer them use of the company's BlackBerry-exclusive network to provide limited data plans to featurephone users that included social networking and BBM -- with the aim of reducing the cellphone operators data burden and coaxing users to upgrade to smartphones. The company was working on Mobile Fusion; software that allowed enterprise and government users on iOS and Android devices to join RIM's system, which reportedly earns the company $1 billion per quarter. However, while talks progressed, company execs grew nervous and ousted him in favor of Thorsten Heins with a mandate to focus on BB10 and new devices rather than turning RIM into a service company. However, given that it's still losing money on its handset business, Heins has reopened the door to Balsillie's plan. It's just a shame Balsillie himself is keeping quiet, as we'd love to hear his thoughts in an executive-level edition of How Would you Change.

Former RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie's very different rescue plan revealed originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Apr 2012 09:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIM misses Earning Targets and Restructures

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RIM, maker of the BlackBerry, continues to struggle, reporting a net loss of $125 million on a revenue of $4.2 billion (down 19% from last quarter). The new CEO has his work cut out and he knows it....