Blackberry interim CEO in it 'for the long haul,' Reuters says

John Chen, BlackBerry's BBRY interim CEO is in it “for the long haul” according to the company's largest shareholder, Prem Watsa. Prem Watsa, also known as “Canada's Warren Buffet” is the chairman and CEO of Fairfax Financial Holding, a multi billion dollar fund based out of Toronto. As the largest shareholder, Watsa holds tremendous influence within BlackBerry. “John's committed for the long haul, he's an exceptional leader, he's going to do very well,” Watsa told Reuters on December 4th. Chen had already made “some very significant changes,” he added. Chen has been tapped to take over top ranks at the company on November 25. Chen replaced Thorsten Heins who himself assumed top ranks of the company since January 2012, replacing the company's founders and co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis. The company has lost its market leading title several years ago losing out valuable market share to Apple's AAPL iPhone and other smart devices. Earlier this year Watsa had hoped to take BlackBerry private in a $4.7 billion deal, but later dropped the takeout proposal. Instead Watsa opted for a lead role in partnering with other funds in offering the struggling smartphone maker a $1 billion note offering. The note offering, Watsa argued, injected the company with a new lifeline. “It's got lots of cash, it has a long runway for John to make sure that the company is successful,” Watsa told Reuters. On December 5th, shares of BlackBerry were trading within pennies of its 52 week lows of $5.98. By contrast, shares of Apple hit new 52 week highs of $577.25 on the same day.