RIM said it would lay off some employees last month after announcing disappointing Q1 sales and earnings, and it looks like judgement day is here: the company says it’s axing some 2,000 jobs around the world. That’s slightly more than analysts expected, and it’ll bring RIM’s employee count down to about 17,000 total -- something Waterloo says is a “prudent and necessary step” after having experienced an “extended period of rapid growth.” That’s the polite way of saying the company’s gotten too big to sustain itself in light of a 10 percent drop in income and disappointing PlayBook sales, we suppose.
RIM to lay off 2,000 employees, shuffle executives
is editor-in-chief of The Verge, host of the Decoder podcast, and co-host of The Vergecast.
RIM’s also announcing some semi-important executive shuffling, with the biggest news being that COO Don Morrison is retiring after going on medical leave last month. He won’t be directly replaced: in addition to (in)famously having two CEOs, RIM actually had three COOs, so Morrison’s role will be split up between Product and Sales COO Thorstein Heins and Operations COO Jim Rowan. (Yes, that’s Chief Operating Officer in charge of Operations Jim Rowan.) The other executive moves are mostly to strengthen existing roles -- let’s hope the renewed focus helps RIM get back on track and start adding jobs again sometime soon.
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