RIM’s Co-CEOs Pull A Steve Jobs, Cut Salary To $1

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Photo by ap. - http://flic.kr/p/EBuEB
Photo by ap. - http://flic.kr/p/EBuEB

As Research In Motion circles the smartphone drain, its two CEOs cut their pay to $1. The Steve Jobs-like maneuver may not be enough to save a company that lost 70 percent of its profit to Apple and Android. The only question left: Are the BlackBerry maker’s leaders even worth a buck?


“We recognize our shareholders may feel we’ve fallen short,” co-CEO Jim Balsillie told analysts. “We realize we’ve not met expectations,” co-CEO Mike Lazaridis added. But in another breath, the two blamed the BlackBerry’s once-stellar reputation becoming a joke on bad marketing and advertising. Little wonder then analysts are saying RIM is done, stick a fork in them.

The recent delay of a QNX-based update of the BlackBerry 10 software until later in 2012 “could be the final nail in RIM’s coffin,” National Bank Financial analyst Kris Thompson told Canada’s Globe and Mail. “It’s likely game over for RIM,” the analyst adds.

That’s where the $1 executive salary comes in, as a last-ditch effort to tell investors the company is serious about turning this around — which Thompson and others view as highly unlikely. When Jobs took a $1 salary it was done out of confidence in his company and with the knowledge he had billions in the bank. The move by RIM stems from weakness — and simple survival. If the two execs retained their usual salaries at a time the Waterloo, Ont. company was producing products that consumers won’t buy, the co-CEOs probably would be fired, tarred-and-feathered by investors, or both.

If economics is known as the dismal science, RIM’s balance sheet could be the prime reason. During the December quarter, when BlackBerries should be flying off shelves in record numbers, unlike the iPhone or Android-based rivals, the RIM devices are more like that fruitcake you just can’t get rid of. The company has just 9 percent of the U.S. smartphone market, a far cry from headier days when the BlackBerry was on the hip of nearly every corporate denizen. That was before the iPhone, of course.

But there is a future for RIM somewhere else – like Argentina or Mexico. RIM has seen 731 percent year-over-year growth in such emerging markets, says research Canalys. In fact, outside of North America, RIM sales are up 56 percent this quarter. That was before cheap Android smartphones arrive, of course.

What about cheap smartphones? Maybe RIM could go there, trading high-profile customers for huge numbers of less-expensive handsets aimed at budget-conscious consumers? Both execs quickly shot down that idea.

The RIM co-leaders have a better plan – more advertising and marketing spin. Ah, yes. If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with BS. Could work.

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