RIM Rises on Speculation of a New Chairman

By Hugo Miller - Jan 4, 2012 5:25 AM GMT+0700

Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM), maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, surged the most in almost two weeks after a report said the company may name an independent chairman to appease investors wanting to see a leadership change.

Former Royal Bank of Canada Chief Operating Officer Barbara Stymiest, a RIM director, may be the leading candidate for the job, the National Post reported today, citing unidentified sources familiar with the situation.

A committee of independent directors is reviewing the company’s leadership structure. The panel will report findings by Jan. 31, RIM spokeswoman Marisa Conway said today by e-mail, reiterating a previously stated deadline. RIM’s board will then respond publicly to any recommendations, she said, declining to address the Post’s report.

RIM is facing demands from investors led by Northwest & Ethical Investments LP (0041880D) to name an independent chairman, a role currently shared by co-Chief Executive Officers Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, to inject fresh thinking. RIM is losing market shares as BlackBerry models introduced in 2011 failed to stem customer defections to Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone and devices built on Google Inc.’s Android platform.

RIM, based in Waterloo, Ontario, rose 7 percent to $15.51 at the close in New York, the biggest gain since Dec. 21. The stock dropped 75 percent last year.

The company’s share of mobile-phone subscribers in the U.S, where sales declines have been steepest, dropped to 6.5 percent in the three months through November, from 7.1 percent in the previous quarter, according to research firm ComScore Inc. (SCOR)

Northwest & Ethical, which was promised a role in studying leadership changes in exchange for withdrawing a proposal to split the chairman and CEO roles in June, had yet to have any substantial discussions about the review as of late November, Robert Walker, Northwest’s vice-president of ethical funds, said in an interview at the time.

If a report isn’t done by Jan. 31, Northwest will again push for an investor vote on splitting the roles, he said then.

To contact the reporter on this story: Hugo Miller in Toronto at hugomiller@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net