Former Research in Motion CEO and cofounder Jim Balsillie has sold every single share of RIM — now BBRY — stock he owns, according to an SEC filing posted this morning.
Balsillie’s 26.8 million shares of common stock amounted to a 5.1 percent stake in the company. At one point — literally in the days right after the first iPhone launched — that much stock was worth around $6 billion.
But, oh, how the mighty have fallen. In 2012, when share prices for the company formerly known as RIM dropped into the single digits, a 26 million share stake amounted to less than five percent of what it was worth a few years before.
Check out this chart we made for the visual learners among you:
For comparison, here’s how other smartphone OS makers have done, stock-price-wise, between 2007 and today:
As the fella said, you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. And the wind for BlackBerry seems to be blowing in a decidedly southerly direction.
Clearly, the company is hoping to slow this momentum (we doubt anyone seriously thinks a fortune so colossally and complete lost can ever be totally recovered) by the launch of BlackBerry 10. While our own reviewer said the units aren’t half bad, he also noted it might be way, way too late to turn the ship around.
Filed under: Mobile
