It’s Been Good Knowing You, Mike Z.

By Mark Evans | Published: April 1, 2008

Mikez-8
This doesn’t come as much of a shock: Mike Zafirovski has decided to walk away from Nortel to become Motorola’s new CEO.

The only surprising part is it happened so soon after Greg Brown was promoted to the position. But it does make some sense given Brown was given the dirty job of splitting Motorola into two parts – a task that wouldn’t have made for a great first impression if Mike Z. had been forced to implement this move.

An interesting part of Zafirovski’s departure is Motorola’s willingness to compensate Nortel to secure Mike Z.’s services. All the details aren’t known yet but it looks like every Nortel employee will receive their choice of a RAZR or a ROKR phone from Motorola. This pales in comparison to the $16-million that Nortel had to fork out to Motorola after Mike Z. was hired in 2005 but it’s better than nothing, I guess.

Although it hasn’t been confirmed, Zafirovski will apparently grant me an exclusive one-on-one interview this week. In terms of Mike Z.’s replacement, there is speculation that Gary Daichendt, whose original plans to resuscitate Nortel were rejected when was COO in 2005, could receive strong consideration for the position.

By the way, it’s April Fool’s Day, don’t ya know!

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  • Nortel watcher
    Good one Mark! You almost had me until I got to the part of Nortel employees receiving a RAZR or ROKR phone.

    But then again, you never know....
  • ex-nt
    for a moment I almost leaped up in joy.
  • joe
    i was so excited MZ and his GE cronies would finally go away...what a shame
  • happily remaried
    You know what, if this was actually true i wouldn't be surprised.
    When Owens visited all major NT campuses and told us repeatedly that he is not a temporary CEO people called me a cynic because i didn't believe him.
    You don't expect a talented young man like Mike Z to stick around forever do you? I think if he isn't successful at selling the place in the next couple of years he will have to move on either way.
  • Disappointed April Fool
    awww it was all a joke? how disappointing!! I thought this posting had something to do with NT rising 9% today ;)
  • Not An Accountant
    People are way too tense......Plenty of hints there.....He even resurrected Daichendt for Christ's sake.....Go fishing and relax.
  • BeenThereDunnThat
    Very well Dunn!
  • Un-Concerned
    ...and judging from the activity, one of the business days for buzzboard in recent memory...
  • Un-Concerned
    Touché. This is what a good April Fool's joke should be!
  • Concerned
    Mark-

    Thanks for the addition of the last line. NOW this is funny as heck.

    The problem is that the whole story (and the comments from Bo - who I hear is looking into a Sunglass Hut franchise in Topeka, KS) never made it to my Google alert. PANIC - RED ALERT! You get the picture. I do have a great funnybone, but there are a lot of hard working tense people out there that were caught off guard. Some will say this is the making of a good April Fool's joke, and I agree. As I stated earlier, the last line now makes this hillarious and appropriate.

    Fool me once, shame on me!
  • Hey Mark - I heard you have some news to talk about regarding a move of your own:

    http://blogs.nortel.com/buzzboard
  • many
    I looked at the stock price up 7%, and thought perhaps it was plausable. :)

    In retrospect, a more beliveable story would have been if Zafirofski had been run over by an irate shareholder.
  • Un-Concerned
    Oh grow a funny bone, Concerned.

    Motorola is going to buy back Mike Z using its warehouses of unsold RAZR and ROKR phones as currency? They are almost as worthless as Nortel stock...
  • Concerned
    Poor taste my friend. A final line of "Happy April 1st" would have made this approprite. Not everyone reading is in tough with the 'clues' you dropped in there proving this was a joke.
  • Fair enough but I thought the ROKR and RAZR compensation would be enough.
  • Ah Mark, always stirring up trouble.

    For the record, Mike Z is 100% dedicated to Nortel's transformation, and isn't going to Motorola or anywhere else.

    I can also confirm that Gary Daichendt isn't returning to Nortel, and that there are definitely no plans to grant you an exclusive one-on-one interview with Mike Z :)
  • Bo,

    Thanks for the clarification. If you can't write something like this on April 1, when can you do it!
  • mark
    good one ;-> had this been March 1st, I would of bitten
  • Roger
    This is April 1st anything can happen
  • CiscoFan
    "Nortel employees will receive their choice of a RAZR or a ROKR phone from Motorola." Sounds accurate. Nortel is always the fist-ee instead of being the fist-er.
  • Nortel_will_survive
    Your buddies in the Death To Nortel gang will love you for this post. Funny though. I guess that Frank Dunn will come back as CFO too ;-)
  • I hear Bill Owens has time on his hands as well. :)
  • April Fool
    Nice one! Almost had me...
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