RIM Executive In Tell-All Open Letter: 'I Have Lost Confidence'
An individual identified only as a senior executive at Research In Motion (RIM) reportedly wrote a tell-all open letter to senior management as the company's woes continue, and it's surfaced online.
BGR says it has confirmed the letter's authenticity and posted it in its entirety here. The letter is directed to Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, the co-CEOs at the Blackberry maker.
The letter wastes no time getting into the tough times at RIM, beginning with these four words: "I have lost confidence."
It goes on to say, "my passion has been sapped" and that the letter "reflects the feeling across a huge percentage of your employee base." It adds that there are many smart employees at RIM with great ideas, but the culture at RIM doesn't allow for such employees to speak openly without worrying about career impact.
Another excerpt from the letter from BGR:
We are in the middle of major “transition” and things have never been more chaotic. Almost every project is falling further and further behind schedule at a time when we absolutely must deliver great, solid products on time. We urge you to make bold decisions about our organisational structure, about our culture and most importantly our products.
It then goes onto concrete ideas to streamline the company and start moving in the right direction.
RIM's stock took a hit in March after RIM revenue expectations fell short. Its earnings and sales forecasts were slashed in late April. A string of bad news has enveloped the company since.
RIM has not yet publicly responded to the letter, according to BGR.
Click over to BGR for the full letter.
UPDATE: RIM has responded to the open letter on blackberry.com:
An “Open Letter” to RIM’s senior management was published anonymously on the web today and it was attributed to an unnamed person described as a “high level employee”. It is obviously difficult to address anonymous commentary and it is particularly difficult to believe that a “high level employee” in good standing with the company would choose to anonymously publish a letter on the web rather than engage their fellow executives in a constructive manner, but regardless of whether the letter is real, fake, exaggerated or written with ulterior motivations, it is fair to say that the senior management team at RIM is nonetheless fully aware of and aggressively addressing both the company’s challenges and its opportunities.RIM recently confirmed that it is nearing the end of a major business and technology transition. Although this transition has taken longer than anticipated, there is much excitement and optimism within the company about the new products that are lined up for the coming months. There is a fundamental business reality however that following an extended period of hyper growth (during which RIM nearly quadrupled in size over the past 5 years alone), it has become necessary for the company to streamline its operations in order to allow it to grow its business profitably while pursuing newer strategic opportunities. Again, RIM’s management team takes these challenges seriously and is actively addressing the situation. The company is thankfully in a solid business and financial position to tackle the opportunities ahead with a solid balance sheet (nearly $3 billion in cash and no debt), strong profitability (RIM’s net income last quarter was $695 million) and substantial international growth (international revenue in Q1 grew 67% over the same quarter last year). In fact, while growth has slowed in the US, RIM still shipped 13.2 million BlackBerry smartphones last quarter (which is about 100 smartphones per minute, 24 hours per day) and RIM is more committed than ever to serving its loyal customers and partners around the world.
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The Huffington Post Craig Kanalley First Posted: 06/30/11 03:09 PM ET Updated: 08/30/11 06:12 AM ET