ceos

Best Buy's silver lining: Its mobile business

At least Best Buys still has its cell phone business.

On the heels of a disappointing quarterly report and today's resignation of CEO Brian Dunn, it's easy to think the entire company is doomed to follow in the steps of fallen electronic chains Circuit City and CompUSA. Yet its mobile devices business -- cell phones in particular-- has been impressively resilient during its recent troubles.

The cell phone business, which Best Buy has spent time and money building up, represents one of the rare bright spots in the company. Over time, Best Buy will likely be more heavily … Read more

Apple CEO Tim Cook to speak at D10 conference

Apple CEO Tim Cook plans to make another rare public speaking appearance at a technology conference next month.

All Things Digital today said that Cook will be a speaker at the outlet's D10 conference taking place at the end of May. Cook's predecessor, late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, attended the conference in several previous years.

The appearance will be Cook's second at a conference in recent months. In mid-February, Cook appeared at the Goldman Sachs' annual Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco to discuss everything from worker safety to the company's plans for its pile … Read more

Best Buy CEO steps down

Brian Dunn, chief executive of tech big box retailer Best Buy, resigned this morning.

"There were no disagreements between Mr. Dunn and the company on any matter relating to operations, financial controls, policies or procedures. There was mutual agreement that it was time for new leadership to address the challenges that face the company," according to the company's official statement.

Later in the day, however, the Wall Street Journal reported (subscription required), citing a company statement, that Dunn had resigned amid an investigation by the Best Buy board into his personal conduct. No other details were provided … Read more

RIM gets a much needed house cleaning

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

Larry Page: Google wants to be 'deserving of great love'

Larry Page marked his one year anniversary as Google's CEO with a sweeping review of the last year -- one that declares Google "a company that is deserving of great love."

And in a side reference to the "Do No Evil" motto that Google unveiled when it went public, Page said that Google has "always believed that it's possible to make money without being evil." At the same time, however, he acknowledged that tapping that emotional chord is harder than simply turning a slogan into a corporate goal.

In his 2012 Update from the CEO,Read more

RIM finally seems to get it

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

iCEO: Cuddle with a Steve Jobs plush

You might remember the recent saga of the Steve Jobs action figure. It was announced. Detailed pictures surfaced. Apple wasn't pleased. The action figure was canceled.

There's a new Steve Jobs toy on the block, and this one might stand a better chance of making it into your hands.

The iCEO comes courtesy of Throwboy, a pillow company known for tech-related products like Facebook-themed pillows and text messaging pillows with "OMG" and "wtf" on them.

The iCEO is unmistakeably Steve Jobs, even though his name doesn't appear anywhere on the product page. The plush features gray hair, a black turtleneck, blue jeans, and stubble. … Read more

LightSquared CEO resigns, casting shadow on 4G plans

LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja has stepped down as the company's chief executive officer.

The decision, announced this morning, does not shed much light as to exactly why Ahuja resigned, but reports have already circulating suggesting it has to do something with the Federal Communication Commission's move to block the launch of its 4G network.

In November, Ahuja spoke at the Open Mobile Summit in San Francisco, arguing that there is a disparity between demand for data and the amount of available spectrum, and that the United States is not ready to handle those problems.

Nevertheless, Ahuja will continue … Read more

Ex-RIM CEO Lazaridis to buy $50M in additional stock

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

New RIM CEO: No, really, there's 'a lot of change' here

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