Blackberry 2016 Annual Report Download - page 15

Table of Contents
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• Completed the Cost Optimization and Resource Efficiency program in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015.
Director and Executive Officer Appointments
• Appointed Mike Daniels, a leading expert in cyber security with extensive experience in the U.S. government and the
private sector, to the Board; and
• Appointed Dr. Sandeep Chennakeshu as President of the Business Technology Solutions (“BTS”) unit, Marty Beard
as Chief Operating Officer; Nita White-Ivy as Executive Vice President, Human Resources and Billy Ho as Executive
Vice President, Enterprise Products and Value Added Solutions.
Fiscal 2014:
Strategic Review Process, Debenture Financing, Business Transition and Organizational Changes
• Announced on August 12, 2013, the formation of a Special Committee by the Board to explore strategic alternatives to
enhance value and increase scale to accelerate BlackBerry 10 deployment;
• Announced on September 23, 2013, that the Company had signed a letter of intent (the “LOI”) with Fairfax Financial
Holdings Limited (“Fairfax”), a Canadian company founded by V. Prem Watsa, under which a consortium to be led by
Fairfax proposed to acquire the Company;
• Announced on November 4, 2013, that in lieu of the transaction contemplated by the LOI, the Company had entered into
an agreement pursuant to which Fairfax and other institutional investors would subscribe for $1 billion aggregate principal
amount of 6% unsecured subordinated convertible debentures due 2020, with an option to purchase an additional $250
million principal amount of debentures (collectively, the “Debentures”). The announcement of this financing marked
the conclusion of the strategic review process previously announced by the Board. The initial $1 billion investment of
Debentures was completed on November 13, 2013, and the option to purchase the additional $250 million of Debentures
was completed on January 16, 2014 (collectively, the “Debenture Financing”);
• The Debenture Financing resulted in the following changes to the Board and management team:
• appointment of John Chen as Executive Chair of the Board and Interim Chief Executive Officer,
• appointment of V. Prem Watsa as Lead Director of the Board and Chair of the Compensation, Nomination and
Governance Committee, and
• resignations of Thorsten Heins as Chief Executive Officer and a director, and David Kerr as a director;
• Announced the Company’s plan to transition the business to focus on four areas: the Devices business, Enterprise Services,
the QNX Embedded business (now part of the BTS unit) and Messaging; and
• Announced further management and Board changes as part of the reorganization of BlackBerry including:
• appointment of James Yersh as Chief Financial Officer (replacing Brian Bidulka),
• appointment of Eric Johnson as President, Global Sales,
• appointment of Ron Louks as President, Devices and Emerging Solutions,
• appointment of James S. Mackey as Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategic Planning,
• appointment of John Sims as President, Global Enterprise Services,
• resignations of Kristian Tear as Chief Operating Officer and Frank Boulben as Chief Marketing Officer, and
• resignation of Roger Martin from the Board.
Joint Ventures, Partnerships and Other Agreements
• Announced a joint device development and manufacturing agreement with Foxconn Technology Group (“Foxconn”).
Products, Services and Approvals
• Announced a new BES pricing and licensing structure (Silver and Gold) and a new EZ pass program that enabled customers
to move from BES and competitors’ MDM programs to BES10 or BES12 at the Silver level of service for free (the
program ceased at the end of December 2014);
• Launched updates to BES10 (versions 10.1 and 10.2) and launched software updates for BlackBerry 10 smartphones
(versions 10.1, 10.2 and 10.2.1);
• Delivered four BlackBerry 10 smartphones, including the Q10, Q5, Z30 and the Porsche Design P’9982, as well as the
9720 to support the BlackBerry 7 market;
• Launched BlackBerry Messenger (“BBM”) and BBM Voice for Android and iOS smartphones;
• Launched BBM Channels for the BlackBerry 10 platform, and subsequently for Android and iOS;
• Announced that DISA had given BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 smartphones with BES10 the Authority to Operate (“ATO”)
on DoD networks, being the first MDM provider to obtain an ATO and announced that BlackBerry had become the first
mobility solution to receive Full Operational Capability (“FOC”) to run on DoD networks; and
• Launched Secure Work Space for iOS and Android.