RIM (RIMM) Management Shakeup Expected...and Then What?
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The following could be interpreted in two different ways. We're going to take a slightly bearish view on the news, though seeing it as a positive is not at all crazy.
According to reports Tuesday, Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) may succumb to investor pressure and make a major shake-up atop the ranks. Sources have said that co-CEO and co-Chairmen Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie will relinquish their current titles and take on new roles of "Assistant Deputy Security Officer, Third Shift" and "Junior Product Tester - Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) Specialist, Siberia-based."
No, just kidding. They'll probably simply each take a role, or move to head a different department. The Financial Post notes that lead candidate to assume the role of Chairman is Board member Barbara Stymiest, after a group of RIMs independent directors studied "the company's board structure, including the merits of having an independent chair rather than a lead director and the "business necessity" for Messrs. Lazaridis and Balsillie...to hold significant Board titles."
The independent director report is scheduled to be unveiled at the end of January 2012.
Stymiest joined RIMs Board in 2007, watching the company move from the top of its game, to the bottom of the heap. And that's the problem right there.
Whether Balsillie and Lazaridis continue in their current roles is one issue, but more has to be done; RIMs corporate structure must also be changed, including a mass exodus of directors (RIM has had a lead director since 2007, no surprise there). The Financial Post makes a solid point: "At the same time, RIM's seven independent directors had been staunchly supportive of Messrs. Lazaridis and Balsillie and continue to be despite successive quarterly earnings declines, RIM’s evaporating share of the smartphone market, product delays and a precipitous drop in the company’s share price."
That's not to say RIMs independent directors are incompetent in any way; many are well-respected members of the technology business world. But some new blood needs to enter RIMs figurative veins, and pump it with fresh ideas and new motivation.
Frankly, RIM could also do with a little less structure in order to speed up the process of bringing new devices and services to market. The best thing they have right now appears to be the email client, and even that experienced some hiccups in the second-half of 2011.
Of course, like was said at the beginning of the report, the move would be a positive for many, possibly introducing an almost immediate 5 percent to 10 percent pop in a stock, which has seen its better days long since passed.
Shares of RIM are up 6.4 percent Tuesday.
According to reports Tuesday, Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) may succumb to investor pressure and make a major shake-up atop the ranks. Sources have said that co-CEO and co-Chairmen Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie will relinquish their current titles and take on new roles of "Assistant Deputy Security Officer, Third Shift" and "Junior Product Tester - Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) Specialist, Siberia-based."
No, just kidding. They'll probably simply each take a role, or move to head a different department. The Financial Post notes that lead candidate to assume the role of Chairman is Board member Barbara Stymiest, after a group of RIMs independent directors studied "the company's board structure, including the merits of having an independent chair rather than a lead director and the "business necessity" for Messrs. Lazaridis and Balsillie...to hold significant Board titles."
The independent director report is scheduled to be unveiled at the end of January 2012.
Stymiest joined RIMs Board in 2007, watching the company move from the top of its game, to the bottom of the heap. And that's the problem right there.
Whether Balsillie and Lazaridis continue in their current roles is one issue, but more has to be done; RIMs corporate structure must also be changed, including a mass exodus of directors (RIM has had a lead director since 2007, no surprise there). The Financial Post makes a solid point: "At the same time, RIM's seven independent directors had been staunchly supportive of Messrs. Lazaridis and Balsillie and continue to be despite successive quarterly earnings declines, RIM’s evaporating share of the smartphone market, product delays and a precipitous drop in the company’s share price."
That's not to say RIMs independent directors are incompetent in any way; many are well-respected members of the technology business world. But some new blood needs to enter RIMs figurative veins, and pump it with fresh ideas and new motivation.
Frankly, RIM could also do with a little less structure in order to speed up the process of bringing new devices and services to market. The best thing they have right now appears to be the email client, and even that experienced some hiccups in the second-half of 2011.
Of course, like was said at the beginning of the report, the move would be a positive for many, possibly introducing an almost immediate 5 percent to 10 percent pop in a stock, which has seen its better days long since passed.
Shares of RIM are up 6.4 percent Tuesday.
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