RIMM CEOs Step Down, New Guy Wants to Kick Ass

It would appear, at long last, that Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie have tripped into a lifeboat.

You can forget about the buyout rumors.  Now that the Co-CEOs and founders of Research In Motion ($RIMM) have stepped down, the new guy seems to want to set the tone.

Via the Globe and Mail:

COO Thorsten Heins takes over from RIM’s visionary co-CEOs, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, at the most difficult juncture in the firm’s long history, with its market share in the U.S. collapsing as the it battles well-capitalized global players and tries to maintain its huge growth in various emerging economies that are also seeing renewed smartphone competition….

He said he remains incredibly confident as he steps up as CEO at Canada’s most valuable technology company…

“It’s a fantastic growth story and it’s not coming to an end,” Mr. Heins said in an interview with The Globe and Mail. “What you will see with me is rigour and flawless execution.”

No hiring investment banks to “pursue strategic alternatives” and no “new strategic roadmaps”.  Instead, Heins is giving shareholders what gamblers call a “double down” – we’re gonna do the same thing but do it twice as hard.

But if the company was already on the right track, then why replace the founders in the captain’s char(s) in the first place?

Source:

At Research In Motion, a new CEO vows to silence the doomsayers (Globe and Mail)