heins

Research In Motion could be in for some major shakeups.

The embattled smartphone company has hired law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP to help it come up with a restructuring plan, according to a Reuters report over the weekend. The report, citing anonymous sources, said RIM is looking for ways to boost the revenue from its BlackBerry 10 operating system, as well considering opening up its proprietary secure network.

RIM has previously done work with Milbank, Reuters reported.

With market share bleeding and growth all but gone, RIM needs some radical changes to even have a chance at … Read more

Research In Motion is reportedly prepping to hire bankers to explore strategic alternatives.

According to Bloomberg, RIM is looking for an adviser to explore options, which typically include a sale or restructuring.

Analysts have been speculating on RIM's breakup value for months, but the hang-up is often the same. RIM needs to steady its smartphone lineup and demonstrate the staying power of its next-gen operating system before buyers become interested.

For instance, Northern Securities analyst Sameet Kanade recently said in a research note that no buyer will emerge until RIM steadies the ship. In the meantime, Kanade gave RIM … Read more

commentary A few months into the gig, Research In Motion CEO Thorsten Heins has shown he's not afraid to pull the trigger.

On the heels of several high-profile departures, including that of former co-CEO Jim Balsillie, a number of other senior-level executives are also getting shown the door, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal (subscription required).

The continued shakeup is badly needed at RIM. As I previously wrote, RIM was mired in a top-heavy company that contributed to its inability to deftly respond to changing trends in the mobile-devices business. On the last quarterly conference call, … Read more

The urgency in Research In Motion CEO Thorstein Heins was palpable during the company's first quarterly conference call, suggesting he may be the right man for this job after all.

Even more so than last quarter's mea culpa from former co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, Heins was as forthright as any RIM executive has been. It was a far cry from his comments shortly after taking over as CEO, when he believed RIM was on the right track. It appears after 10 weeks on the jobs, his eyes have opened up to the real problems facing RIM. … Read more

The CEO of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion is cutting top brass as the troubled company attempts to regain its footing in the competitive smartphone market, according to a report by The Globe and Mail.

An unnamed source told the publication that executives at the senior vice president and vice president levels were told before the company released quarterly results that they no longer had jobs. Executives in the sales and marketing teams were hit hardest, the unnamed source said.

RIM has steadily been losing market share to competitors such as Apple and companies building devices using the Google Android … Read more

Former Research in Motion co-CEO Mike Lazaridis still believes a comeback is in the works for BlackBerry and is willing to put his money where his mouth is.

Lazaridis, who alongside fellow co-CEO Jim Balsillie stepped down from RIM a week ago, said in an interview posted Friday by The Record that he is confident in new CEO Thorsten Heins. In fact, Lazaridis is confident enough that he said he plans to buy $50 million worth of additional stock.

"I absolutely know he will take this company to new heights," Lazaridis said in the interview.

Lazaridis and Balsillie … Read more

Okay, now Research In Motion is all about change.

That's according to new CEO Thorsten Heins, who backtracked and clarified earlier comments that he didn't believe RIM need to make any real changes to the business. In an interview with Crackberry, Heins said that there have been plenty of ongoing changes with the move to a new software platform.

"There is a lot of change," he said in an interview published late yesterday. "There is no standstill at any moment here at RIM."

Heins said Monday during a conference call that he didn't … Read more

At BlackBerry-maker RIM, it's out with the old and in with the new--at least as CEOs go.

Last night's news of Thorsten Heins' ascent at our favorite Canadian smartphone company got us thinking long and hard about what the new leadership means for RIM, especially since Heins isn't exactly a newcomer to the company. CNET News' Roger Cheng joins the Dialed In crew.

Later in the show, Lynn shares Virgin Mobile's throttling plans, and Brian talks all about an iPhone look-alike that's more than what it seems.

It wasn't just consumers and Wall Street that had a problem with Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie; it turns out they weren't so popular with Research in Motion employees either.

That's according to a survey of more than 120 reviews from RIM employees taken by Glassdoor, a career-focused site that provides a glimpse at jobs and companies.

According to Glassdoor, Balsillie and Lazaridis received from their employees a 48 percent approval rating, and a 52 percent disapproval rating. On average, a CEO gets an approval rating of 62 percent, the site said.

RIM said late yesterday that … Read more