RIM posts terrible fourth quarter results, loses its CTO, COO, and former co-CEO
RIM has posted its fourth quarter financial results. They’re bad.
Revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 was $4.2 billion [ … ], down 25% from $5.6 billion in the same quarter of fiscal 2011.
A quarter of RIM’s business has been wiped out in just one year. Net income (profit) is even worse (you can ignore the word “GAAP”):
The Company’s GAAP net loss for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 was $125 million [ … compared with] GAAP net income of $934 million, or $1.78 per share diluted, in the same quarter of fiscal 2011.
That’s a billion dollar swing towards the negative in just one year. It’s hard to comprehend that kind of change, especially considering that RIM hasn’t done much to stop it.
Exodus #
In a ridiculously worded sentence, RIM reported that both its CTO and COO are leaving the company:
In addition, David Yach will be retiring from his role as CTO, Software after 13 years with the Company and after 4 years with the company and following an open dialogue on the future of global operations, Jim Rowan, COO, Global Operations, has decided to pursue other interests.
There are two possibilities for these departures: either the departing people do not have faith in the new CEO, or the new CEO has no faith in them. I am hoping for the latter.
Jim Balsillie, RIM’s former co-CEO, has also resigned from the board of directors.
Acceptance #
Newly appointed CEO Thorsten Heins included a note with the results indicating that the company has finally come to terms with its perdicament:
“I did my own reality check on where the entire company really is,” he said during a conference call with analysts. “It is now very clear to me that substantial change is what RIM needs.”
I have assessed many aspects of RIM’s business during my first 10 weeks as CEO. I have confirmed that the Company has substantial strengths that can be further leveraged to improve our financial performance, including RIM’s global network infrastructure, a strong enterprise offering and a large and growing base of more than 77 million subscribers. I’m very excited about the prospects for the BlackBerry 10 platform, which is on track for the latter part of calendar 2012. Notwithstanding these strengths and opportunities, the business challenges we face over the next several quarters are significant and I am taking the necessary steps to address them.
After quarter after quarter of denial and absurd statements of grandeur, it’s nice to finally see some honest statements, even if they are shrouded in buzzwords and complex grammatical structure.
The future for RIM is not bright.
DISCLOSURE: I have positions in the following companies mentioned in this article: RIM.