Roundup: the latest sad tales about Research in Motion (and more sale rumours)
Research in Motion hasn’t been the topic of happy headlines in a while, but the past few days have been especially bad for the BlackBerry maker (probably even worse than this week). A summary of the most recent reasons to pity RIM:
• Oodles of BlackBerrys and PlayBook tablets sit unsold in its warehouses, not counting the inventory buildup at retailers and carriers. The stockpiles increase the chances RIM will have to write-down the value of the inventory.
• RIM will likely have to fire between 2,000 and 6,500 employees (out of 16,500 total) in the next couple of weeks as part of its restructuring .
• CEO Thorsten Heins admitted yesterday afternoon that the company is predicting an operating loss for the first quarter (it’s first in nine years), which analysts called “disastrous” for the company.
• The share price has plunged to just above $10, the lowest it’s been since 2003.
• RIM just hired J.P. Morgan and RBC Capital Markets to help them out with an ongoing strategic review, which again has pundits wondering whether the company is up for sale.
• But some analysts say nobody will want to buy RIM now that the company appears to be straight-up failing, rather than just going through a difficult transition.
• RIM’s Surging Inventory Raises Prospect of Writedown [Bloomberg]
• RIM prepares for radical measures with global restructuring [Globe and Mail]
• BlackBerry-maker RIM’s playbook: warn of operating loss, hire banks to look at options. Ouch! [Toronto Star]
• Prospects Dim for BlackBerry Maker [Wall Street Journal]
• RIM hires JPMorgan, RBC for strategic review, expects first Q1 loss in 9 years [Financial Post]
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TOLife, your tone in covering RIM’s difficulties is at best tabloid-esque, at worst, gloating and snide. Whether the company is simply in a rough patch (bigger firms have been through worse and emerged in tact) or outright failing, do you really need to dance on the grave of a Canadian innovator and world leader, before it’s even dug? Do you take masochistic pleasure at the prospect of Ontario job losses if it gives rise to a witless 200-word byline?
I appreciate Toronto Life telling it like it is. I happen to know how RIM operates. There is a consequence for employees who accept a culture of arrogance and lack of care.
To me this reads like a simple summary of the latest news written by tabloids like Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal. The number of strategic missteps the company has taken is unfortunate and will have local and national implications, but don’t take it out on the messenger.