BlackBerry removes interim from CEO John Chen's title

Back on November 4th, when BlackBerry's attempt to privatize failed, the troubled manufacturer decided it was time for a change at the top. Out was Thorsten Heins as CEO, replaced by John Chen. At the time, Chen was given the title of "interim" CEO. But after more than two months, it seems that Chen has taken a liking to his new job and the "interim" qualifier has been removed from his title.

In a statement released by BlackBerry last week , the company said that Chen has agreed to stay with the company until it is on a "solid financial footing". BlackBerry has halted its search for a permanent CEO.  Chen has already made a mark on the handset manufacturer. He inked a five year pact with Foxconn for the latter to provide the design, production and warehousing of low-end phones for the emerging markets. He also axed some executives and is trying to recapture the enterprise and government business that BlackBerry has lost over the years.


Chen,who turned around Sybase, wouldn't mind duplicating his success with BlackBerry. He was able to get Sybase all prettied up so that it was attractive to software producer SAP, which bought it out. This background also pleases Wall Street analysts, who are happy with Chen's previous success in turning around a company. Still, it is way too early to judge Chen's reign at BlackBerry. After all, the company has yet to release a phone designed and produced under his leadership and there is still the huge number of BlackBerry Z10 units collecting dust in the warehouse. During the last two quarters, the company has written down about $3.6 billion of inventory that is collecting dust in the warehouse.

Chen currently is working on a contract that can earn him as much as $2 million this year, if certain goals are met. In addition, he received 13 million restricted shares of BlackBerry now valued at $113 million.

source: NewYorkTimes via PhoneScoop