Red Green

Nortel Takes MEN Off the Block

The action is probably the right thing to do. But it sure doesn't make Mike Z. look like a decisive and shrewd leader. Nor the board of directors. In this case, no decision would have been better than the decision made. It clearly looked like desperation at the time. Now it looks like incompetence.

Replacing Nortel's CEO: Is It Possible?

Ian Craig or Des Hudson--both good managers and honest and knowledgeable. Also, both knew the company when it was a great company and knew the culture that made it good. Mike Z. should get a Jack in the Box franchise and supervise the cooking of the french fries, maybe using UMTS technology.

Replacing Nortel's CEO: Is It Possible?

The Three Stooges are gone, so we can't get one or all of them. The bigger question is the board of directors. These people have stood by and watched a fine company go down--why would we think that they have the intelligence or courage to pick a decent CEO? Better to get a new CEO if it is possible but who, except a former Nortel person or someone with existing wealth who is not looking to make a buck out of the effort. The whole effort is a bit like locking the barn door after the horse has been stolen. Corporate America and Corporate Canada have not done much lately to inspire confidence--and both governments are even worse. My vote is for Jack Welch or someone like him.

Tech: And You Think Q4's Going to Be Bad? - Barron's

LilBob is exactly right. Not just tech but all products and services. How many people would like an automobile that is priced economically and get good mileage. No GPS, no side airbags, (in fact, make airbags optional for those who want them)--a heater, A/C, steering wheel and gas pedal. I'd take it over the expensive status symbol cars of today. This economic collapse is going to change the way a lot of people think and look at the world--or course, there are going to be some who will demand government step in and take more from those who earn it and give it to the deadbeats. Behold what is about to come.

Nortel News: Rethinking Bay Networks Acquisition, Delisting Threat

John Roth, in hindsight, was a disaster for Nortel. He began to think that Nortel's good times and initial success in fiber optics was due to his brilliance and he went on a buying spree. Don't forget that Frank Dunn was his hand-picked finance guy (with a reputation for arrogance and no people skills). I was with Nortel at the time and even I saw the coming problem with fiber overcapacity and what it could do to the company if not handled right. Nortel does have some very good people and technology. I hope it can survive and come back. If so, Roth and Dunn should be case studies of what not to do.

Nortel Is a Billion Dollar Company

It's also easy to forget that Nortel used to be a $6 billion dollar company and even bigger than that for a period of time. With that large size and profitability came an arrogance that the management were all geniuses and deserved their bonuses and praise heaped on them. They just happened to be at the right place at the right time and made some good moves to capitalize on their good fortune. Then they started to make stupid decisions and started to buy all their own corporate psychobabble doubletalk--"thinking outside the box", "paradigm shift", etc. etc. They went on retreats and spent money doing goofy things like role playing exercises in the Pacific Northwest walking ropes and nonsense like that. Many Nortel employees could see the problems coming--why couldn't management? We saw the tremendous overcapacity in fiber optics yet Nortel management kept expanding the operations and making blunder after blunder. Mr. Z is replacing all the people he brought in while the company continues to flounder. Why should any Nortel employee, stockholder or former employee take comfort in the fact that it is still a billion dollar company. Just wait--in a year they won't be a billion dollar company. Then what do you write? I would love to see Nortel come back and be the company it once was. It is possible but it will take someone other than who they have now--and a new board of directors who have two things the present board doesn't have--spines and brains.

Nortel's Upside Potential

I once worked for a bank that took over another with tax losses and debt and the same argument you make. For a brief time it was good but the bank that was taken over is no more and was completely obliterated. The one that took over the other is in trouble today--one of the very largest in the U.S. I would love to see Nortel work out in a way that stockholders and employees are not hurt--but that is not likely and tax gimmicks work for a few--not the many.


On Nov 17 08:49 AM User 299670 wrote:

> this is a no branier. Tax forwarding losses and a large chunk of
> debt owned by the canadian government..yep... betcha diddn't know
> that..this will never fail but will be blended into a company that
> is making money like cisco/avaya/siemans and they would not have
> to pay tax for a very very long time..stock is worth zero but worth
> 5.00 per share if structured correctly on a merge or referse take
> over.

Nortel's Upside Potential

"Dramatic uptick"? "Rally"? What are you smoking? Did you happen to notice that the price of this company is 56 cents a share? I couldn't buy a candy bar for that. Maybe the upticks will level off and just be steady--steady and sure, that's the ticket. Many more of these "dramatic upticks" and I will be an emotional wreck. Nortel is like the tortoise and the hare--with Nortel being the tortoise. It may keep upticking and get back to where it once was--if I was a tortoise maybe I would live long enough to see it. But for the short term, I think I am consigned to watching a bunch of empty suits stumbling around in the dark.

Nortel Networks: 5 Big, Unanswered Questions

Answers to your questions:
1. I would be looking for another job and all the Nortel people are doing the same.
2. No, they are not going to replace them. Probably combine several positions into one and hire someone cheap who will then fail.
3. The board is doing lunch and pontificating about nothing important.
4. Mike Z's future is bleak. What has he done to merit a future?
5. Soon. Neither Mike Z, the board or anyone else presently there knows what to do. So it will happen by default.

Nortel News: John Roese's Legacy, A Way Out?

The smartest and best executive Nortel ever had was Des Hudson. Find him and bring him back. The morons since John Roth (and including him) have ruined the company and done nothing except line their pockets and live well at Nortel's expense. Time to go back to common sense approaches to the business and get rid of the "strategic" thinkers and those who talk about "paradigm shifts" and "thinking outside the box."

Death Knell for Nortel?

What Frank Dunn and his financial guys did to Nortel is a tragedy. A bank robber who steals $100,000 from a bank gets 40 years or so. Dunn and crew have done far worse to a company, its employees and stockholders and ruined the financial security of thousands of people. Yet, my bet is that the Canadian authorities will go slow on prosecuting Dunn. A guy who goes into a bank with a gun is a real chump. Get smart--get a degree and suit and ruin a company while giving yourself and your cronies huge bonuses.

Nortel's Stock Price Is Irrelevant

Maybe the stock price is irrelevant to you but not to the thousands of stockholders (including employees and former employees) to whom it is very relevant. Relevant to their financial well-being and relevant for what it says about the company management--past and present. The people who destroyed this once great company are criminals and incompetents. Read Dilbert and you will be reading about Nortel's management from John Roth going forward. The fact that I paid 40 times what the stock is worth today is not irrelevant to me. Mr. Z and his team are very relevant right now. I hope they soon become irrelevant.

Nortel's Pension Deficit Wildcard

More evidence that Mr. Z and the board of directors are stumbling around in the dark. Things go from bad to worse.

Has Nortel Become a Takeover Target?

Serraphin is right. Something needs to be done at Nortel and immediately. Mr. Z is obviously not the right guy for the job. Coming from Motorola was probably not smart--their culture is totally different from Nortel's needs. The board of directors has failed miserably in doing their job and should be replaced. Probably their major decision each meeting is where to eat lunch. Do these people realize that they are supposed to be working for the stockholders and protecting their interests? I realize it is not politically correct in some circles to say that but protecting the whales and rain forests has little to do with economic progress and technological advancement. Bring back some of the old hands and throw out the B-school wonders and leeches and save a once great company. Time is running out.

Has Nortel Become a Takeover Target?

Usually when people do an outstanding job, the stock price reflects it. Mr. Z has made little difference and, in fact, may have made things worse. The market judges performance and it seems to be saying it is something less than stellar. I wish it was an outstanding job, because then maybe my stock would be worth more than a dollar and a few cents. And maybe it wouldn't have suffered a reverse split. Sad when over 2,000 shares becomes 200 and those 200 are worth enough to buy 5 print cartridges.