AfterDawn: News

RIM to lay off 2000 employees?

Struggling smartphone maker RIM is said to be planning a restructuring that will cause 2000 employees to be laid off.

The company has only 16,500 employees around the globe so the layoffs will be significant, says the report from Globe and Mail.



If accurate, the layoffs "will sweep across departments, ranging from senior positions in RIM's legal division to human resources, finance, sales, and marketing" and hit before June 1st.

RIM reported horrible earnings in the first quarter, including an 80 percent drop in BlackBerry device shipments. Rival operating systems like Android and iOS have seen extremely strong year-over-year growth, adding to RIM's woes. Perhaps worst of all, RIM's upcoming BlackBerry 10 devices are expected to be completely outdated compared to its rivals, even with over a year of preparation.

Over the past 6 months, the company has seen its former co-CEO Jim Balsillie resign, its CTO David Yach leave and COO of Global Operations Jim Rowan resign, as well.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 27 May 2012 20:50

• Previous article

• Top Indian mobile carrier adds millions of more users

• Next article

• Report: Facebook hiring former Apple engineers in hopes of releasing smartphone in 2013

• 5 comments

• LordRuss

  And once again stomp on the little guys instead of the top tier tightening their belts for a little while longer. Then lets not change our misguided ways - let's keep doing the same OCD behavior & catering to a fringe crowd instead of a broader base.
  
  I get it, you have a cocaine habit that takes precedence over humanity & damn those that stand in your way. You came up with one brilliant idea that got the company rolling & change is bad. So why would you want to risk it all on a bad decision when deciding to do nothing will ruin everything just nicely?
  
  Of course, the proclaimed economists will start correcting me - however, I know the economy is in the tank... RIM is for the most part pointed nose first for it's terminal shot for a swirly of death down the tubes.
  
  If RIM knows they're going down, why not keep as many on the payroll until the last minute? It just seems humane. If they 'make it back', they're going to have to spend a huge sum just to get everything back on line to meet demand, which undermines the layoffs/mass firing to begin with.
  
  Either way, it's elitist "I'm in control", "my money", "my ass is pampered" approach to business & it doesn't even make a good band-aid to the problem. It never did.
  

  http://onlyinrussellsworld.blogspot.com

  29.5.2012 10:16 #1

• SmaryJerry (unverified)

  Originally posted by LordRuss: And once again stomp on the little guys instead of the top tier tightening their belts for a little while longer. Then lets not change our misguided ways - let's keep doing the same OCD behavior & catering to a fringe crowd instead of a broader base.
  
  I get it, you have a cocaine habit that takes precedence over humanity & damn those that stand in your way. You came up with one brilliant idea that got the company rolling & change is bad. So why would you want to risk it all on a bad decision when deciding to do nothing will ruin everything just nicely?
  
  Of course, the proclaimed economists will start correcting me - however, I know the economy is in the tank... RIM is for the most part pointed nose first for it's terminal shot for a swirly of death down the tubes.
  
  If RIM knows they're going down, why not keep as many on the payroll until the last minute? It just seems humane. If they 'make it back', they're going to have to spend a huge sum just to get everything back on line to meet demand, which undermines the layoffs/mass firing to begin with.
  
  Either way, it's elitist "I'm in control", "my money", "my ass is pampered" approach to business & it doesn't even make a good band-aid to the problem. It never did. Not sure what you are rambling about. The company is failing and shrinking they already removed a lot of the top tier of employees you say are greedy or something? Your plan is to keep everyone until the company goes bankrupt? How about the other 14,000 still keep there jobs if RIM can make a come back.

  29.5.2012 13:15 #2

• LordRuss

  Originally posted by SmaryJerry: Not sure what you are rambling about. The company is failing and shrinking they already removed a lot of the top tier of employees you say are greedy or something? Your plan is to keep everyone until the company goes bankrupt? How about the other 14,000 still keep there jobs if RIM can make a come back. Keep everyone till they go bankrupt... to perpetuate stupidity in hopes to get a rise is childish... But for the rest of your analogy, I suppose I could agree with you.
  
  The top tier that still have their (not there) jobs are the individuals that need replacing. I.e., the coke heads with ADD that don't want to change.
  
  Then, what your comment is relating to about the remaining 14K employees is now lost on me. In my opinion, of course they would keep their jobs. They're (not there or their) the bread & butter behind getting the product designed, engineered, promoted & out the door for the RIM elitists after they take their collective thumbs out of their asses.
  

  http://onlyinrussellsworld.blogspot.com

  29.5.2012 15:06 #3

• SmaryJerry (unverified)

  Originally posted by LordRuss: Originally posted by SmaryJerry: Not sure what you are rambling about. The company is failing and shrinking they already removed a lot of the top tier of employees you say are greedy or something? Your plan is to keep everyone until the company goes bankrupt? How about the other 14,000 still keep there jobs if RIM can make a come back. Keep everyone till they go bankrupt... to perpetuate stupidity in hopes to get a rise is childish... But for the rest of your analogy, I suppose I could agree with you.
  
  The top tier that still have their (not there) jobs are the individuals that need replacing. I.e., the coke heads with ADD that don't want to change.
  
  Then, what your comment is relating to about the remaining 14K employees is now lost on me. In my opinion, of course they would keep their jobs. They're (not there or their) the bread & butter behind getting the product designed, engineered, promoted & out the door for the RIM elitists after they take their collective thumbs out of their asses. That is exactly the stupidity I was pointing out in his post.. He said "If RIM knows they're going down, why not keep as many on the payroll until the last minute? "

  29.5.2012 19:20 #4

• LordRuss

  Originally posted by SmaryJerry: That is exactly the stupidity I was pointing out in his post.. He said "If RIM knows they're going down, why not keep as many on the payroll until the last minute? " And again your stupidity is lost on my point... corporations aren't human. I was simply trying to state that they could hold onto their employees for a while until one or the other proposed inevitabilities concluded.
  
  Nothing stupid about that. That would be humane & treating people with some dignity. And who the hell is "his/he"? We're the only 2 that seem to care about this article.
  

  http://onlyinrussellsworld.blogspot.com

  30.5.2012 10:32 #5