Home Former BlackBerry CEO Jim Balsillie Has Dumped All His Shares

Former BlackBerry CEO Jim Balsillie Has Dumped All His Shares

Former BlackBerry co-CEO Jim Balsillie has entered his own vote of no confidence in the company he helped run into the ground back when it was known as Research in Motion.

In an SEC filing today, Balsillie revealed that he sold off every single BlackBerry share he owned last year. He used to hold 26.8 million shares, which at the end of last year would have been worth $318.1 million. As of Dec. 31, 2012, though, he owned zero shares — worth, of course, zero dollars.

Financially, that’s already been a bad move. BlackBerry shares closed at $11.87 on Dec. 31. Today, they’re trading around $14.80 — up almost six percent since news of Balsillie’s sale hit. Which of course could just be coincidence.

Balsillie had already become something of an unperson around BlackBerry following his departure as BlackBerry co-CEO. He resigned from BlackBerry’s board of directors almost a year ago, wasn’t introduced during the keynote launch of BlackBerry 10 in New York City in January (although Mike Lazaridis, who also gave up the co-CEO reins more than a year ago, was), and has mostly remained silent since stepping down in early 2012.

Now he’s not even a shareholder. Lazaridis, by the way, remains vice chair of the board and still held 29.9 million BlackBerry shares as of Dec. 31, currently worth $442.5 million.

Since Balsillie’s sell-off, of course, the company has reinvented its core product with the BlackBerry 10 operating system and announced two new smartphones, the Z10 and Q10. It’s hard to see Balsillie’s move as exhibiting much faith in BlackBerry’s new direction.

Top photo courtesy Wikipedia Commons

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