Will CEOs' resignation be enough to turn RIM around?

Investors in Research in Motion have been calling for change at the BlackBerry maker since profits started falling in 2011, and on Sunday they got their wish.

Jim Balsillie, right, and Mike Lazaridis, who have shared the CEO and chair titles at Research In Motion, resigned Sunday. Will that turn the company around? (Mike Cassese/Reuters)Co-chief executives Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie announced they have resigned as the heads of the Waterloo, Ont.-based company.

Former chief operating officer Thorsten Heins will take over as CEO, while Lazaridis and Balsillie will remain on the company's board of directors.

RIM's slide in the last few years has been remarkable. In 2008, it was Canada's most valuable company, with a stock share price of $148. On Friday, shares closed at $17.24.

Its share of the smartphone market has dwindled as competitors Apple and Google surged ahead with their respective iPhone and Android devices. The BlackBerry Playbook, RIM's answer to Apple's iPad tablet, sold poorly, and the company was forced to sell it at a deep discount.

RIM investors have been pressing for change in the company's management structure. Some have been calling for the company to be sold, or for the consumer product division to be broken apart from the enterprise business.

Will the resignation of RIM's CEOs be enough to turn the company around? Why or why not? Does more need to be done to regain investor confidence? Let us know in the comments below.



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