[AggreX]

BBRY down 19% pre-market.....anybody gambling?

[KoreyTM]

Thorsten's out? Well, at least now Leo Apotheker has someone to talk shop with.

[earlym]

Wow! What news! Now let's see what the direction of the company will be. Where will the focus be? Products? Marketing?

Dunno!

Go BB!

[STV0726]

Fantastic. They don't go private so they won't get chopped.
Heins doesn't get his payout and can't ruin things further and gets chopped.

Best possible outcome for people who want to see more BlackBerry products IMO.

Posted via CB10

I hope your right - trying to make sense of all this. Not fully awake yet.

-STV on Z10STL100-3/10.1.0.4780 TMO US

[yessuz]

Please bear in your mind that when you intend to lay off thousands of workers, you need to pay them compensation. Therefore, extra cash flow may be needed in this case. And it will not hurt to have more cash in the company's bank account anyway.

Let's say, hypothetical, you need to layoff 40% of 12000 employees. it will be 4800 employees. EVERYONE's got 100k USD lay-off compensation (doubtfully) - it's just 480 millions!
it's just 20% of all cash pile BBRY is "sitting on"...

[BoldPreza]

At the rate they are bleeding chips $1 billion won't keep them a float long.

Until I see the numbers I can't say. They may not be burning cash as fast as some expect. Also remember they have some big one time payouts coming up. This cash infusion helps guard against those charges.

Posted via CB10

[scribacco]

I agree that it's the best move right now. Heins might be great as a behind-the-scenes guy (I don't know), but he has zero charisma. They also seriously need a new CMO with a fresh vision.

Best move? No one wants to buy them. Those who looked at the books run the other direction. How can you spin a terrible news into a good one?

[WZFoster]

I wonder if the only reason this has occurred is because Fairfax was unable to raise the funds for the buyout.

[yessuz]

Until I see the numbers I can't say. They may not be burning cash as fast as some expect. Also remember they have some big one time payouts coming up. This cash infusion helps guard against those charges.

Posted via CB10

BS bro!
all layoff will cost less than 500 million USD. but hey, they are sitting on 2.5 b pile of cash...

[Wiki Cydia]

BS bro!
all layoff will cost less than 500 million USD. but hey, they are sitting on 2.5 b pile of cash...

They were sitting on $2.5 billion at the end of their last quarter (and that was down from the previous quarter). How much they have now is anyone's guess, yet because they remain a public company they will continue to report earnings on a quarterly basis. The whole idea of "go private and avoid media scrutiny while you fix the company" is gone.

[yessuz]

They were sitting on $2.5 billion at the end of their last quarter (and that was down from the previous quarter). How much they have now is anyone's guess, yet because they remain a public company they will continue to report earnings on a quarterly basis. The whole idea of "go private and avoid media scrutiny while you fix the company" is gone.

2.5bn USD with 12000 employees. You think it's easy to spend that amount in 3 months?

[playpen007]

I'm glad BlackBerry took this route. It has the best smartphones. The only thing it needs the best CEO and best Marketing Teams.

[melb_me]

Does Steve Jobs have any kids? Bah-ha.

[lnichols]

Chen has a Silicon Valley pedigree and has turned around a company too. BlackBerry needed someone who wasn't in the organization under Mike and Jim, and needed someone outside of the Waterloo distortion field of "BlackBerry is doing everything right, sales are great, etc.". Stymiest needs to be whacked from the board, in fact they should all be axed, too as she and they have done nothing but watch the company implode beneath them.

Hopefully Chen can use his Silicon Valley contacts to get the Silicon Valley tech companies to partner with BB better than Heins has, and hopefully assemble a management team that works for their paychecks, especially in marketing. Don't let the door hit you on the way out executive clown core!

[amazinglygraceless]

I guess Thor doesn't get that parachute now.

It may not be golden but $22 million is still a good parachute. The man could not lose no matter the outcome.

[SirJes]

Expect this thread to be attacked by a negative crew!

Posted via CB10

[Wiki Cydia]

2.5bn USD with 12000 employees. You think it's easy to spend that amount in 3 months?

I didn't claim they spent all their cash. My point was that after the $500 million drop the previous quarter and layoffs this quarter there's no telling what's left.

[bobauckland]

Expect this thread to be attacked by a negative crew!

Posted via CB10

That's a pretty negative thing to say.
Oh I get it you were announcing your arrival. Welcome!

Posted via CB10

[Cynycl]

Well something had to be done and at least this is something. Complete change of management was long overdue. Current management was too busy patting themselves on the back at every opportunity and never addressing the problems. New management doesn't have to overcome their own past so I believe this will be a good thing for the company ultimately.

Perhaps the new team will actually give a chit about their existing customer base as well as their "developing markets"

[Tim Heard]

Haven't had a chance to read and digest all of the posts, but a few things come to mind:

1. Heins stepping down means there's no "change of control" golden parachute in pay anymore.
2. The purchase of $1 Billion in new shares by Fairfax will help to protect Blackberry from potential hostile takeovers.
3. If stock prices continue to fall, it actually could make an acquisition by Fairfax a possibility in the near future. That would likely
be bad for current investors, but probably still a pretty good outcome for Blackberry as a company, when compared to others
that involve buying the company and selling it off in pieces.
4. Since Fairfax couldn't obtain funding for the total purchase, I think that means they owe BlackBerry a few million for not completing
the deal, right? That may have been rolled into the new deal though.

[OzarkaTexile]

I'm glad BlackBerry took this route. It has the best smartphones. The only thing it needs the best CEO and best Marketing Teams.

Blackberry will almost certainly exit the handset business, abandon BB10, and focus on enterprise solutions.

[Slash82]

I'm glad that Thorsten Heins is gone!
He never really heard what Blackberry fans wanted and he wasn't really in to this tech. world.
His team also failed in marketing, which was one of the biggest points!

I wish Mike Lazaridis came back, he is the head of it all!
His vision was QNX for the future of Blackberry and IMO he was right.
The only thing Mike wasn't good at was: management.
He is a bright head, but he needed someone on his side, who could push and force out that stuff to the right time!
Jim totally failed at that!

This is an interview from 2008:


Especially look between: 2:35-3:31!!!!

Look at his attitude! How can some with this attitude run a company like Blackberry?!
He thought, there is no competition! That was wrong!
Right at this time Blackberry should have started with OS10 and away from the legacy OS and everything would have been fine!
That was the wrong partner for Mike!

[bobauckland]

Disappointing that Heins still makes off like a bandit.
He sure went quiet in a hurry.
If he's smart he'll make the money last, but if other companies are smart, no one will ever hire him again, not even to do Arnold schwarzenegger impressions at parties.
Given the amount he's made from being absolutely awful at his job, I don't feel bad about wishing him a lack of success in the future at all.
He was a grade a conman.

Posted via CB10

[amazinglygraceless]

Expect this thread to be attacked by a negative crew!

Three pages in, that hasn't happened and yet here you are doing what...?

[OzarkaTexile]

4. Since Fairfax couldn't obtain funding for the total purchase, I think that means they owe BlackBerry a few million for not completing
the deal, right? That may have been rolled into the new deal though.

FF had no downside with their proposal. They could leave the deal with no penalty. Blackberry had to pay a penalty for not accepting the deal if it went through. FF couldn't get the financing, so in the end it didn't matter.