BlackBerry CEO's Big Raspberry to Investors

So what did Blackberry (NASDAQ:BBRY) investors get in exchange for the whopping $55.6 million compensation package given to its placeholder chief executive?

The bad performance of CEO Thorsten Heins is staggering. Here’s what is key: The market is telling BlackBerry that the company is worth half of what the company itself is reporting as its book value on its balance sheet, the value of its patents, equipment, and buildings.

The book value is $16.06 a share, double the current share price, notes FOX Business senior editor Charles Brady. BlackBerry's market cap has been sliced in half on Heins’ watch.

You may have seen the news that, months before Fairfax Financial Holdings bid $4.7-billion for BlackBerry, the chief executive of Fairfax, Prem Watsa, helped sign off on a nearly $55.6 million golden parachute for Heins, based on company filings. This while an estimated 4,500 workers could lose their jobs.

Watsa has been on BlackBerry’s board since January 2012.

BlackBerry's market cap was $8.77 billion on January 22, 2012, when chief operating officer Heins was named CEO. As of yesterday's close BlackBerry had a market value of $4.17 billion, a decline of 52%.

Heins has been with the company since 2007, helping run its handheld unit and other operations. The company was worth a whopping $81.6 billion in June 2008. Heins compensation could get hit, because a chunk of his compensation is in stock, which is down by more than a third since March.

But we won’t know for sure until we see future government filings.