$12 Million USD Golden Parachute For RIM ex-CEOs

By Nida

Research In Motion (RIM) pioneered the smartphone field but it’s been no secret that their stock and market share have been declining in recent years. While most BlackBerry enthusiasts are definitely excited about the new BlackBerry 10, and see it as a potential bounce back for RIM, there is probably some dissatisfaction to know that the former CEOs of this company will be receiving huge payouts despite their arguably awful mishandling of RIM in recent years.

Payouts For Ex-CEOs

Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, both co-CEOs of RIM will be receiving a combined $12 million USD. This information comes from a document filed with security regulators by RIM. This document was filed ahead of RIM’s annual meeting. For stepping down from their roles, their compensation will be a combination of salary and other assorted perks. This news was not greeted favorably by the market, coinciding with a drop in RIM’s stock of 4.3 percent. Jim Balsillie’s payout is nearly eight million dollars, as well as other compensations after his January departure. Mike Lazaridis will remain on the RIM board and will receive a four million dollar salary as well as being retained on a consulting role for the company. Mike Lazaridis will still have an office, a car and driver, and an executive assistant, all totaling up to nearly another $800,000 dollars in value.

Bringing in The New Leaders

Replacing Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis will be Thorsten Heins who previously was part of the Siemens team. Among these filings, other news include the fact that Timothy Dattels, a senior Goldman Sachs high-level executive, would be joining the RIM board of directors. Formerly the head of the Asian Bank for Goldman Sachs, Timothy Dattels will be replacing Anthony Vianna-Baptista, who has held a place in the RIM board for the past three years.

RIM’s annual meeting will be held on July 10th. There, analysts expect that the company will report its first quarterly loss in many years. In fact, the last time a loss of this magnitude was reported, it was nine years ago. It seems that the main reasons why RIM is in such a tough spot is the fact that Apple and Android smartphones are quickly encroaching in its territory. While the BlackBerry 10 will probably do quite a bit to turn around RIM’s situation, a definite restructuring of the company will definitely be needed. We’ve seen many disheartening RIM news in the past months, including layoffs and the fact that RIM has effectively been put in the hands of investment bank strategists. Hopefully, under new leadership, RIM can regain its place in the market.