Jim Balsillie And Mike Lazaridis Out...

[Coddfish]

Yes, it's old news now, but this is still incredible.

From The Globe & Mail:

Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis out, Thorsten Heins in as CEO of RIM
iain marlow AND tara perkins
WATERLOO, ONT.— From Monday's Globe and Mail
Published Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012 9:19PM EST
Last updated Monday, Jan. 23, 2012 10:49AM EST

Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM-T15.18-0.49-3.13%) leaders Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis are stepping down as executives and co-chairmen of the board in the biggest shakeup in the history of the Waterloo, Ont.-based startup turned global smartphone giant.

The sudden move follows a year of decline in which RIM lost three-quarters of its market value, botched the launch of its PlayBook tablet and watched rivals eat into the BlackBerry's market share. (Mobile readers can click here to follow our live reaction Monday morning.)

In the most dramatic change since the company was founded 27 years ago, the new chief executive will be Thorsten Heins. Recruited by Mr. Balsillie and Mr. Lazaridis five years ago, he came to be a trusted adviser and their hand-picked successor. Barbara Stymiest replaces Mr. Balsillie and Mr. Lazaridis as chair of the board of directors

Calls for radical change at the company have been mounting in recent months. Its BlackBerry device blazed the trail for smartphones and has 75 million active subscribers around the world, but RIM has struggled of late with dwindling market share and fierce competition from Apple Inc.’s iPhone and an array of devices running Google Inc.’s Android operating system.

The catalyst for change appears to have been the entry of a new personality: reserved but revered investor Prem Watsa, CEO of Fairfax Financial. Mr. Watsa, who has been called Canada’s Warren Buffett for his business acumen, has been quietly buying RIM stock for some time. Fairfax is now one of RIM’s largest shareholders, and Mr. Watsa is being appointed to the company’s board of directors after playing a role in key discussions in recent weeks.

Critics of the company’s performance may not be immediately impressed by a management shakeup that involves so little fresh blood. Mr. Heins, a former executive at Siemens, is simply moving up the ranks, while Ms. Stymiest, who once headed stock market operator TSX Group, has been a director since 2007. But RIM’s new leadership – including Mr. Watsa, Mr. Heins and Ms. Stymiest – suggested in interviews with The Globe and Mail on Sunday that they are content with the company’s strategic direction and products.

“There’s no need for me to shake this company up or turn it upside down,” Mr. Heins said at RIM’s Waterloo headquarters. “We are not at a point where we try to define a strategy. That’s done.”

Mr. Balsillie and Mr. Lazaridis have been grooming Mr. Heins as a successor for some time and say they decided to act as the company enters a new phase. RIM’s newest BlackBerry 7 devices are now out in the market, its PlayBook tablet is receiving a software revamp in February and its next-generation operating system – BlackBerry 10, which is meant to save the company – is launching later this year.

“Jim and I approached the board and we told them that the time is now,” Mr. Lazaridis said.

The board agreed, both with that decision and the suggestion from Mr. Balsillie and Mr. Lazaridis that Mr. Heins was the best candidate for the role of CEO. In addition, the directors decided to try to recruit Mr. Watsa, a prominent and respected outsider, at a time when the company was under fire for a co-CEO, co-chair governance structure that critics felt was contributing to RIM’s growing problems.

Mr. Lazaridis and Mr. Watsa were introduced in 2009 by David Johnston, who is now Canada’s Governor-General but at the time was the long-standing president of the University of Waterloo.

Link:
Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis out, Thorsten Heins in as CEO of RIM - The Globe and Mail

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

And they get closer and closer to the center of the drain.