This just in. The Fairfax deal is no longer going through and BlackBerry is reportedly looking to replace their CEO. Thorsten Heins to no longer be the CEO of BlackBerry, looks like he will be getting his lump sum payment of $55.6 million.
First of all, I’m sort of relieved. The BlackBerry brand lives on, it received a cash injection of $1 billion US dollars and they simply don’t want to be put down by other companies who may wish to buy them just to bury them – or even go private. By reading the press release, they seem very confident which is a good sign. Obviously, the stock price does not reflect this and there is STILL a lot of work to do but this marks the start of a new journey – the strategic alternatives is not on the table now. The stock price will sort itself out once BlackBerry sorts itself out. We all know the potential BlackBerry has and what patents and assets they own. By having someone from the outside as CEO is good, maybe John Chen can do what Thorsten struggled. Thorsten Heins did what he had to do, he delivered BlackBerry 10 and now his time is up.
Let the news sink in, let the media run its mouth and let BlackBerry get back to work!
Source: Press Release