RIM To Pay $12 Million To Mike Lazaridis And Jim Balsillie

Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, the co-founders of Research In Motion creator of BlackBerry, will be receiving $12 million for stepping aside as co-chief executive officers, according to a company document filed on Thursday.

The document noted Mr. Lazaridis and Mr. Balsillie “revolutionized the worldwide wireless industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry and forever changed how the world communicates,” the company said in a management circular that it had entered into transition agreements with the two executives.

Jim Balsillie who stepped down to an ordinary director during the management shakeup and later completely left the company will receive an entitlement of $7.9 million. Mike Lazaridis remains as the vice-chair of the board with responsibilities for innovation and still has the use of a dedicated office, as well as a company car with a driver. Lazaridis will receive a compensation of $3.9 million.

Additionally, the filing notes Thorsten Heins financial arrangements with RIM. Mr. Heins, who joined RIM several years ago after a long stint in senior roles at the top of the German conglomerate Siemens AG, received about $1.9-million in total compensation in fiscal 2011. His compensation increased with the promotion to about $10.2-million in fiscal 2012.

RIM’s Jim Balsillie And Mike Lazaridis Step Down, Names Thorsten Heins New CEO

Board Acts on Recommendation of Co-CEOs to Implement Succession Plan - Mike Lazaridis Named Vice Chair of the Board - Jim Balsillie Remains a Director - Barbara Stymiest Named Independent Board Chair - Prem Watsa Named Independent Director

WATERLOO, ONTARIO, Jan 22, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- The Board of Directors of BlackBerry(R) maker Research In Motion (RIM) /quotes/zigman/18534/quotes/nls/rimm RIMM +0.53% /quotes/zigman/18555 CA:RIM -3.09% today announced that, acting on the recommendation of its Co-Chief Executive Officers to implement the succession plan they previously submitted to the Board, it has unanimously named Thorsten Heins as President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Heins was also appointed to RIM's Board. The Board acted after conducting its own due diligence. Both appointments are effective immediately.

Mike Lazaridis, former Co-Chair and Co-CEO, has become Vice Chair of RIM's Board and Chair of the Board's new Innovation Committee. As Vice Chair, he will work closely with Mr. Heins to offer strategic counsel, provide a smooth transition and continue to promote the BlackBerry brand worldwide.

Mr. Heins said he looks forward to continuing to work with Mr. Lazaridis, globally recognized as a technology pioneer. He said, "Mike created a whole new way of communicating and I look forward to continuing our close collaboration."

RIM Board Looking To Replace co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis And Jim Balsillie As Chairman

The Financial Post is reporting that the RIM board may soon be looking to replace co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie as chairman. According to the report, RIM is facing constant pressure from the shareholders and is looking to replace the current co-chairman roles with Barbara Stymiest, an independent director who joined RIM's board back in 2007. A committee of independent directors have been examining the structure of RIM's board, and while Lazaridis and Balsille would remain co-CEOs, a single chairman would take their place on the board of directors.

What are your thoughts? Would this be a good move for RIM? Sound off in the comments!

Source: Financial Post

RIM lied about BlackBerry 10 delay claims pessimistic insider

RIM coCEO Mike Lazaridis lied about the cause of the BlackBerry 10 smartphone delay, an insider at the Canadian firm has alleged, with neither hardware nor software ready for public view. ”RIM is simply pushing this out as long as they can for one reason, they don’t have a working product yet” the high-level source told BGR, suggesting that Lazarisis’ hint that RIM was waiting on a new 4G LTE chipset was misleading.

BlackBerry 10, the OS previously expected to be called BBX, is supposedly little different to the current state of the QNX-based PlayBook 2.0 OS. “Email and PIM is a better on an 8700 than it is on BlackBerry 10″ the exec claims, suggesting RIM is still having serious problems getting its new platform to work correctly with its existing infrastructure.

In fact, BlackBerry 10 is seen internally as not competitive even with iOS 1.0 or Android 2.0, and “there’s no room for a fourth ecosystem” the unnamed executive suggests.

RIM’s financial performance has struggled over the past few quarters, with disappointing results earlier this month and claims that the company has been the topic of takeover discussions by Microsoft, Nokia and others. Meanwhile reports have suggested that RIM attempted to shop BlackBerry 10 around rival firms for potential licensing deals, with Samsung and HTC both named as targets, but that the Canadians were rebuffed.

RIM CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis reduce their salaries to $1 per year

Early on in the Third Quarter 2012 Earnings Call today, Jim Balsillie took the reigns as we anxiously awaited news on the results. He prefaced the third quarter results by stating that both he and Mike Lazaridis will be lowering their salaries to just $1 per year. Woah. A pretty amazing move by the CEOs here, but we'll have to see how it pans out long term and if it will hold any benefit to the financial situation. Balsillie and Lazaridis have already lost their millionaire status and the shareholders are still looking to split the CEO and chairman roles.