After reporting a disappointing fiscal first quarter earnings results last month, Blackberry / Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) faced another unfavorable situation. This time the Canadian smartphone manufacturer lost two senior executives who held key roles in the company, according to Wall Street Journal citing sources familiar with the issue.
The two executives of Blackberry / Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) who resigned from their positions in the previous weeks were T.A. McCann, head of social networking and Marc Gingras, chief of apps.
McCann was responsible for developing and maintaining the Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn applications on BlackBerry. He was also the person behind BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), the popular instant messaging tool of the company.
Research In Motion Ltd (BBRY) Acquired Gist
In 2011, Blackberry / Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) acquired Gist, the contact management firm owned by McCann and Tungle.me, the social calendar company established by Gingras. The Canadian smartphone manufacturer retained both men and they were given significant roles to help enhance the features of its devices to become more competitive.
People familiar with the departures said that Gingras was responsible in improving the calendar and contact applications for the BlackBerry 10 operating system. He was also instrumental in developing the feature that allows users to check their messages in one place called the ‘hub.’
Blackberry / Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) tried to encourage McCann and Gingras to stay, according to the sources.
The Canadian smartphone manufacturer’s co-founder, Mike Lazaridis stepped down from his position as vice-chairman of the board of directors of the company last May to focus his attention on a new quantum computing investment fund, Quantum Valley investments.
Last Year’s Tale Of Departures
Several executives relinquished their positions from Blackberry / Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) last year including co-founder Jim Balsillie, who dumped his remaining stake in the company last February; former chief technology officer David Yach, and former chief operating officer Jim Rowan.
The stock price of Blackberry / Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) plummeted significantly after reporting poor financial performance last quarter. The company’s smartphone shipments were 6.8 million units, lower than the 7.3 million unit estimated by Wall Street analysts. Its revenue was $3.1 billion with -$0.13 losses per share.
Thorstein Heins, CEO of the company asked the investment community to be patient. He explained that BlackBerry has more products to launch and it needs substantial marketing investment to strengthen its competitiveness in the market.
The stock price of the company was down by 3.72 percent to $9.28 per share on Wednesday, July 10 in New York.
