The life of luxury is over at Research in Motion. According to a Bloomberg report, a company insider had indicated that the company plans to sell off one of its two luxury jets as part of a plan to save $1 Billion in operating costs by the end of fiscal 2013. If true, RIM will only have one luxury company jet at its disposal, forcing at least some of their executives to fly…first class. In a statement released by RIM, the company had the following to say about their travel plans:
“We’re looking at options with both our aircraft costs and finding ways to reduce our travel while still making sure we keep in close contact with our partners around the world. It’s all part of the effort to find ways to reduce costs and drive efficiencies that [CEO] Thorsten Heins has talked about.” – Research in Motion
The sale of the Dassault Aviation SA F50EX (estimated to fetch about $6 to $7 million) will not make that large of a dent in the $1 Billion total figure for the year, but every little bit helps, and that’s fewer people they have to let go after they’ve shed over a third of their workforce in recent layoffs. The company faces continued struggles as it’s delayed its BlackBerry 10 platform and sits on over a billion dollars in unsold inventory of BlackBerry devices.
[via Bloomberg]