Toronto: BlackBerry maker Research in Motion’s co-chief executives, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis have stepped down, the company announced here on Monday.
The RIM founders have been replaced by Thorsten Heins, a chief operating officer who joined RIM four years ago from Siemens AG.
Balsillie and Lazaridis have headed Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM together for the past two decades.
The company took a big slide in 2011, dropping behind its peers in the lightning-paced smartphone market, suffering through the worst service blackout in its history and losing tens of billions in market value.
In addition, the PlayBook tablet, RIM’s answer to the Apple iPad, failed to gain consumer support, forcing the company to give it deep discounts to move the devices off store shelves.
“There comes a time in the growth of every successful company when the founders recognise the need to pass the baton to new leadership. Jim and I went to the board and told them that we thought that time was now,” Lazaridis said in a statement.
Lazaridis will take on a new role as vice chairman of RIM’s board and chairman of the board’s new innovation committee. Balsillie remains a member of the board.
“I agree this is the right time to pass the baton to new leadership, and I have complete confidence in Thorsten, the management team and the company,” Balsillie said in the statement.
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