Investors' ultimatum for BlackBerry chief

THE NEW leader at Research In Motion said yesterday that seismic change was not needed at the BlackBerry maker, a declaration seized on by impatient investors who say Thorsten Heins has only 12 to 18 months to turn RIM around.

Takeover talk, swirling around RIM for months, picked up steam as Heins took the helm at a once-dominant company that now struggles to compete. RIM’s shares tumbled more than 6 per cent as investors wondered whether Mr Heins could reverse RIM’s decline.

RIM’s co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie finally bowed to investor pressure and resigned on Saturday. The looming presence of the two men who engineered RIM’s rise has been seen as a big obstacle to a possible sale.

Even so, Mr Heins said that option was not under consideration for now, and there was no need for drastic changes at the company, but rather a sharper focus on effective execution.

“If Thorsten really believes that there are no changes to be made, he will be gone within 15 to 18 months. He will be a transitional CEO and this will be a transitional board,” said Jaguar chief executive Vic Alboini, who leads an informal group of 16 RIM shareholders, with just under 10 per cent of RIM stock, who want a radical restructuring. – (Reuters)

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