BlackBerry Ltd (BBRY) Execs Collect Severance Of Nearly $7 Million

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BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) continues to send workers packing. This time it’s three of the company’s top executives, and they’re raking in a collective $6.8 million in severance payments and benefits.

COO, CMO, CFO next to leave BlackBerry

The company said in a press release on Monday that Chief Operating Officer Kristian Tear, Chief Financial Officer Brian Bidulka and Chief Marketing Officer Frank Boulben will be leaving. Bidulka, however, will stay on in an advisory capacity through the end of the year. According to Maureen Farrell and Liz Hoffman of The Wall Street Journal, his severance package is the largest of the three—$3 million. That covers two years of his $1.2 million salary, plus retirement savings and stock options. He has been with BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) since 2005.

Boulben receives $2.3 million, while Tear receives about $1.5 million, which is based on the current value of shares of BlackBerry and regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Tear and Boulben have only been with BlackBerry for about 18 months, arriving in May 2012. Tear came from Sony Mobile Communications, while Boulben came from LightSquared, a company which provided wireless satellite services and filed for bankruptcy protection last year.

The massive exit packages for these three executives were approved by BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB)’s board of directors. The company wouldn’t provide any comments beyond what was in the regulatory filings. However, Farrell and Hoffman say these executives would have received much more if the go-private deal with Fairfax Financial had been successful.

Other updates from BlackBerry

Meanwhile BlackBerry’s future continues to remain uncertain. The struggling Canadian handset maker replaced CEO Thorsten Heins recently when it announced that the deal with Fairfax Financial was a bust. It seems pretty natural that the company’s other top executives would be replaced also as new CEO John Chen attempts to orchestrate what could be the turnaround of the century—if he can get it done, and that’s a big IF.

Cash burn will continue to be a concern in spite of the debentures placed by the company this month, especially in light of the hefty severance packages BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) is handing out to top executives.

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