Given Juniper Networks‘s struggles and a management shakeup, does a merger between Nortel and Juniper makes sense? It might make some sense given Juniper’s strength in the router market and Nortel’s strength in the optical and wireless sectors – meaning there would be little overlap between the two companies. Of course, mega-mergers are often disasters because of culture differences but the telecom equipment market badly needs some consolidation so perhaps it could work, and maybe freshly-minted Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski has the appetite and energy to do something really dramatic. A Juniper-Nortel deal would have to be a merger because Nortel can’t afford to pay $12-billion for Juniper, and Juniper can’t pay $13-billion for Nortel. TheStreet.com’s Scott Moritz has story today on Juniper’s issues and challenges.
If Juniper is going to be gobbled it would most likely be by the likes of a Motorola, but even that is a stretch if you look at published research over opinions or rumors. Motorola needs to come up with an answer for Cisco’s buyout of Scientific-Atlanta, although the billions of $$$ it would take to buy Juniper may make some Motorola shareholders balk. So you have a dilemma: Motorola needs a new growth avenue other than phones and it needs to stave off Cisco as a new threat, BUT just how much can they spend to do it? They really SHOULD go after Juniper and bite the bullet with the strong leadership like Zander has proven. Will they? There are rumors that they are meeting this month, but most research reports refute it. If you get any dirt or scuttlebutt please do pass it along. -JON OGG; News Contrast, Inc.; CHICAGO, IL USA
http://nortel.wordpress.com/ nortel
jon,
i guess a question that needs to be asked if whether juniper should or can stay independent. if it’s in play, who would be interested other than MOT?
Nortel-Juniper Marriage?
Given Juniper Networks‘s struggles and a management shakeup, does a merger between Nortel and Juniper makes sense? It might make some sense given Juniper’s strength in the router market and Nortel’s strength in the optical and wireless sectors – meaning there would be little overlap between the two companies. Of course, mega-mergers are often disasters because of culture differences but the telecom equipment market badly needs some consolidation so perhaps it could work, and maybe freshly-minted Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski has the appetite and energy to do something really dramatic. A Juniper-Nortel deal would have to be a merger because Nortel can’t afford to pay $12-billion for Juniper, and Juniper can’t pay $13-billion for Nortel. TheStreet.com’s Scott Moritz has story today on Juniper’s issues and challenges.