Click to Skip Ad
Closing in...

RIM bosses granted six-month reprieve

Updated Dec 19th, 2018 7:21PM EST
BGR

If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.

RIM has six months to prove a real business need for its Co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie to retain their roles as Co-Chairmen of the Board, otherwise Northwest & Ethical Investments LP will take action. “We wanted to give them a chance to prove that there is an actual business necessity,” Jennifer Coulson, manager of corporate engagement at Northwest & Ethical, told Bloomberg at Tuesday’s RIM shareholder meeting. NEI threatened last month to file a motion to have RIM’s Co-CEOs removed from their roles has Board heads, but the the firm agreed not to proceed with its motion when RIM said it would assemble a committee of independent directors to investigate the matter and make recommendations. Proxy advisor Glass Lewis & Co. would later accuse RIM of using stall tactics to delay the decision, but NEI appears content with the actions RIM is taking, so says its decision to give RIM six months to plead its case. Thus far, RIM’s only real argument in favor of allowing Lazaridis and Balsillie to keep their joint roles has been that their Chairmen titles help the pair generate business overseas. Shares of RIM stock have declined in value by nearly 60% over the past 12 months.

Read

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.