Ex-BlackBerry Co-CEO Cuts Ties, Dumps 27 Million Shares of Stock

The former co-CEO of BlackBerry, Jim Balsillie, who has been replaced by Thorsten Heins who now leads the newly rebranded company, has sold off his entire stake in the company.


As CNET reports, Balsillie was one of the largest individual shareholders in the company, owning roughly 5.1% or 26.8 million share of stock. Now, according to a regulatory filing with the SEC today he owns zero stock in the company he helped build.

Last March, Balsillie and fellow former co-CEO Mike Lazaridis stepped down, as they were criticized over the way then Research in Motion was being run and its drop in its share price. Their place was taken by then COO Thorsten Heins who has led the development of the recently launched BlackBerry 10 mobile operating system and, as you may already know, the rebound of BlackBerry’s share price.

Balsillie had cut all ties with BlackBerry, except his stock – but, as the filing show, this one has been cut as well, and the move comes at a worse time for the struggling Canadian manufacturer. We will soon find out exactly how Heins’ work has really helped the company to rebound, as the BlackBerry Z10 is about to enter into the US market.