BlackBerry fires its U.S. sales chief, with more layoffs coming soon

When the guy in charge of sales isn’t helping you sell, maybe it’s time to fire him.

That’s what BlackBerry did, anyway. Last month the company fired U.S sales and marketing vice president Richard Piasentin, sources tell the Wall Street Journal. Piasentin’s LinkedIn profile hasn’t been updated, so it’s not clear where he’s working now.

Piasentin probably shouldn’t have been particularly surprised by his canning. While BlackBerry has made a big deal of its name change and BlackBerry 10 launch, neither actually helped the company turn a profit last quarter. Instead, the company lost $8.4 million.

Losses like that naturally start another discussion: layoffs. Sources told the Journal that BlackBerry plans to cut more middle management and support jobs, which will join the 5,000 cuts the company announced last year.

The layoff rumors come shortly after BlackBerry’s annual shareholder meeting, where BlackBerry CEO Thorstein Heins, again, asked shareholders to be patient with BlackBerry’s recovery, which he says is just getting started.

Somehow I can’t help but feel they’ve been patient enough already.