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RIM Posts $125M Loss, Key Executives Departing

By TechTaffy Desk

[Techtaffy Newsdesk]

Research In Motion reported fourth quarter results for the three months and fiscal year ended March 3, 2012. The company reported massive losses in the fourth quarter, and the departure of several key executives.

The Company’s net loss for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 was $125 million, or $0.24 per share diluted, compared with net income of $265 million, or $0.51 per share diluted, in the prior quarter and net income of $934 million, or $1.78 per share diluted, in the same quarter of fiscal 2011.

Revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 was $4.2 billion, down 19% from $5.2 billion in the previous quarter and down 25% from $5.6 billion in the same quarter of fiscal 2011. The revenue breakdown for the quarter was approximately 68% for hardware, 27% for service and 5% for software and other revenue. During the quarter, RIM shipped approximately 11.1 million BlackBerry smartphones and over 500,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets.

Jim Balsillie, former co-CEO of the Company, has resigned as a director on the RIM Board. In addition, David Yach will be retiring from his role as CTO, Software after 13 years with RIM, 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 quit as well. RIM says it is currently undertaking a search to hire a single COO with responsibilities to run the Company’s operations.

Thorsten Heins (President & CEO, Research In Motion): 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.

[Image Courtesy: RIM]

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