Bill Owens Wants His Nortel Dough

While Owens may be “due” his severance by contract, ethically he is a scoundrel and should be ashamed of himself since there are far more needful “severed” employees out there.

Also don't forget that z-man had to go through (yet another) restatement after Owens left: in other words, the Admiral did not clean up the financial mess started by Dunn! It doesn't matter since the incompetent BoD and other executives have “entitlement entitlement – pay me $M's” tatooed on their ass.

Owen's is just another disgusting “executive”.

Kind of nice that Bill is also a director for WiPro, helping them to screw North American telco engineers for their jobs while he collects millions on a “pension” for a 1.5 year gig at Nortel that he messed up. That's a fine service to your country as an ex Admiral.

http://www.wipro.com/aboutus/boardofdirectors.htm

While a respected something or another, Zafirovski lacked the telecom experience and vision that Nortel desperately needed. The decision to hire him ranks among the board’s most puzzling and expensive decision.

The Garies left when the *board* vetoed their plan.

Seems trickier to find a good decision by the board.

Perhaps if the good admiral had not signed off on that BSNL deal a few years back, there might be several extra hundreds of millions of dollars laying around to compensate him for his outstanding leadership!

In Nortel's long and sordid history, was there ever a more horrible deal?

C'mon…you folks should be able to cobble together a list of all-time NT money losers.

Owens was a board member before CEO, an insider like their past CFOs. I think he was the best figurehead for the time. He stabled the stock amid their endless delays and turmoil that resulted in the largest fraud settlement in Canada. I thought of him as an untouchable icon. . Who would dare question a US president or one of the highest ranking military officials to buffer mega fraud fallout is my take on it. Owens, to the accreditation of many degrees and not just a BSc in math, walked on water and presented himself as honest and moral as any.

It was a hard to fill role (hard to fill with few outsiders like Binning who arrived for bankruptcy ) . Perhaps what Owens lacked in killer instinct was over weighed by his working smart than hard unlike green Mikey who made personal visits to NY to handhold customers than travel abroad and develop new ones, albeit both CEOs lacked telecom experience. In hindsight but what about slandered ethical Gary.

I question who made the decision to hire Mikey that provided the ulimatum settlement. He maintained stating how he loved being the CEO like his predecessor and who wouldn't with such exorbitant pay practices.

Mike has a fraction of the credentials to Owens but yet they paid a premium to safe face based solely on Mike's axe-cutting track record. This was subject to the risk of being at the right place and time, like a lousy salesman in a golden territory for all they knew, and proved to be an expensive gamble, (Or, was <ike hired to alleviate Owens any further burden of embarrassment in my wild theory here).

From day one Mikey made the headlines about violating contracts while joining a company struggling to regain credibility, bad enough they paid a premium for him. I also question just how valuable it was for them to recruit Motorola people too.

What about the new ethics officer who later walked. What did she think about these contracts or promoting than firing his pal to the employees horror. (Like a lawyer trying to do at the right thing at the OSC only to ruin its career I fear dare she speak =) (that's another story, yet perhaps the most pressing point here! Recently the SEC fined RIM around 1.5M and OSC fined them 75M, and fines/costs were vice versa for crumbling Nortel)

Mike was too traditionally hopeful, and perhaps loyal to pals more than companies who passed him by, exposed as green to brunt fallout and contradictions to who knows what the crazy levels were feeding their CEO's I suspect in all fairness.

Owens too was fed a lot to relay in masterful ambiguity like for cause they invented, “in the not too distant future” “more colorful financials” yet honestly admitted many from the crime scene were “still there hard to find”. He did however attend the Kangaroo AGM encouraging the sheeple to approve keeping the fraud bonuses, as they later printed paper to pay the fallout. They were also later reluctant to chase past officers and spent a cool mill defending a handful of them that raised my brows.

Mikey followed with a greater degree of inexperience and less ambiguities to his detriment, above the tough challenges with his own flavor of Nortellese with rocky roads and mountains and perishing plants, as he also downplayed revisions and bankruptcy while calling buying opportunities for being there longer perhaps while Nortel's credibility continued to slide into the abyss of no return.

Owens departed with dignity, unscathed, and a few bucks he deserved albeit dunno about earned =). Some one also screwed up with BSNL to follow in their steps of their Murphy's Law acquisitions but I question who would have been better, Owens or Mikey, or even the Garys for that matter.

Interesting history after the plea bargained board who denied obvious red flags for cash than options they approved and received… to no further inquiries into further years' revisions delayed repair until the also lenient SEC stepped in, etc., to more options for cash and bonuses to this day.

I see money as the common denominator or carrot here. Competent or not, A for effort and bonus for you, never mind results like trying to diffuse a bomb =)

I figure it's the big money to excuse big costs everyone has got so use to for so long they can not exist under a different culture … besides it just wouldn't be Nortel any smaller …so why not buy BSNL losing revenues, buy PECs losing revenues too… and bonuses all around as they sold assets and printed billions in paper.

Do they care? You bet. When there is this much money involved, you didn't really expect to be told everything did you? =) They want to restructure and we can fill pages of astounding conduct to date that only gets worse. They care.

Most importantly, who has allowed them to operate like this like a canary in the coal mine =)

no.
Their employees are also required to file as unsecured creditors
Nortel owes him

One might sympathize with the masses for wanting their pound of flesh, however, exorbitance is not illegal (although you might have a hard time convincing a Chicago kangaroo court in light of Conrad Black). =)

I get very irritated when I read the severance agreement with Nortel and all the payments Owens got long before bankruptcy. Lump sums over $700k in june, 2006 and so on.

I get that it is standard procedure to have relocation assistance, outplacement services, etc for so called execs but this is the same guy who cut expenses to the bone (since exceeded by Z) for the masses up to and including coffee at carling.

Given how much damage he did (second only to Z) it is galling to see a claim for so much from someone who has scooped so much out of nortel even after he left.

Amazing! I want my miniscule dough too!!! ( just a pocket change
comparing to what this guy is claiming ). My 30 years service allowance pay!!!

I think, all the severed employees, and former employees, and pensioners
should do and file the same claim!!! Same reasoning as what Mr. Owens
stated in his claim form, ” SEVERANCE PAYMENTS!”

Just where can we get that form? And hand it directly over to the court too !!!
Do only Nortel executives have access to that form?

There should be at least over 3,200 or more of this form filled up and be
presented in front of the bankruptcy court! Will the Monitor allow this?

..|.. ..|.. That's me flipping him the double bird. Hopefully if *any* unsecured creditor payments are made it's first come first served.

Sour grapes. Owens is another Yank who didn't understand (the) culture. And the US military? Vietnam, anyone? Grenada? Iraq? Iran? AfghanMcstan?

Nah. Call it typical Yank greed always looking out for number one, but it appears Owens merely wants to secure what was promised him on Nortel stationery, as the Nortel masses should, too. “track record” be damned. Cuz if thats the meter, Mike Z sucks supreme. Getting paid is why Z filed Ch 11.

I think the unpaid masses getting all over Mike Z – all and any the Mike Z out there – like flies on stink, 24/7, is rather satisfyng to watch. BuzZ, buzZ.

run along and play with your toy boats in the bathtub, Admiral

Is Bill a 10th Degree Six Sigma Black Belt Ninja too??

A little known fact about the $2B bonds at over 10% they printed to pay 4% creditors:
The listed their largest pension shortfall as a mere footnote, a loophole closed almost immediately thereafter.

As for transparency, they would rather not let employees speak to the media any more than shareholders by canceling their AGM, or analysts to discuss their financials, anymore than their endless Flextronics amendments…etc.. Masters of deceit and delay, even their eluding plan of all things is the basis for an extension under bankruptcy protection they downplayed with half the cash locked up stashed off shore to be used there.

Everything is big. A company embroiled in the largest fraud settlement in one of the largest global economies, after the greatest downfall, who employed the largest number with the largest pension deficit and most profoundly astounding events thereafter?

Can't sell assets or print paper at this stage of the saga as I anticipate them trying to hold creditors hostage in their next move by another ultimatum.

Lets hope our future business and legal grads are watching exactly what not to do as they seek bonuses into restructuring while cutting severances.

…it's endless for this laughing stock lacking credibility

Each member of the BoD (1999-present) should be sued for malice and malpractice. Is there legal basis for a class action along this premise?

Yes, the Board of Directors and the Officers of Nortel all carry liability insurance coverage. This is typically referred to as DNO coverage. A claim can be filed with the carrier or insurance company. Nortel also self insures at a set amount.

The BSNL debacle was a great opportunity for Nortel. It proved that Nortel simply is not a world class wireless vendor. (Lots of vendors are making lots of money installing millions of a lines a month in India, China and now Africa.)

Had Nortel learned from this and followed the Garies plan and spun off its wireless division into some sort of joint venture (with management with some actual wireless understanding), a) this could have been a successful-ish business b) Nortel would have saved $100s million in doomed WiMAX/LTE 'investment' c) Nortel would not have the CDMA albatross hanging around its neck.

Of course there really was no hope of Nortel executives learning from their mistakes. Too busy building their failing little empires.

No Bill was an admiral and admirals outrank Sick Sigma Black ninjas. The BOD only wanted him at Nortel for his rolodex and who he knew in government

Dont be so negative people. Bill Owings deserves every red cent; he has expenses too you know, and his job at WiPro hardly pays for toilet paper for him to wipro his arse.

Proto, thank you for pointing it out.

1-John Roth, 1999-2001 $158.5 million
2-Clarence Chandran, 1999-2000 $49.0 million
3-Mike Zafirovski, CEO 2005-2007 $37.6 million
4-Frank Dunn, 2000-2004 $27.0 million
my comments
John Roth got about $160 mill for 3 years of service.
Mike Z got about $40 mill in just first two years and still milking the company in Ch 11.
I don't know why I did not notice that earlier, that that $37mill basically landed in his bank.
I was fooled by some posts, comments that it was not all his money. That Nortel had to pay Motorola not him.
oops
It was him who fooled all of us, fooled Motorola, fooled Nortel's BoD, fooled the public.
The Motorola deal shows how crooked Mike Z was.
He signed the deal, got money, broke the deal and kept the money anyway!
On top of that got more money from new Nortel contracts for his CEO job.
So called pumpers tried to convince NT's stock critics that all of that was perfectly OK normal and ethical behavior.
If RCMP/FBI looked into that case honestly they would easily find criminal acts here in my own opinion.
Deal was a deal.
You should not break the deal and keep the money anyway.
What if all of us were doing that?
Today when many of die hard longs_shareholders and employees_the believers know from own experience what Mike Z did for them, today we should expect more respect from them for showing them all the signs on the way to NT BK. Am I right Proto? Take care bro.
Yes4
btw
Let me just say thank you to The Psychiatrist. He argued with us vigorously but after Jan 14 he admitted being wrong and fooled by Nortel.

But there is many more who have been wrong and exposed. They still try to fool readers.
example
check older posts of TiC
http://disqus.com/people/TongueInCheek/#main
He accused us of lies when he was misleading and fooling readers here.

Do you not get it.
This A** clown is indeed standing inline like everyone else and becomes an unsecured creditor.
Number of problems with Captain Bligh here.
They include————-
He does not need the money
He is fishing for alot more than the average ex nortel folk.
He is potentially taking money from an honest faithful ex employee
I hope he gets dick all but a toilet plunger, and a broken one at that.
I'll be a happy camper.

Leaving those $2,179,606 in Mikeypoo's hands benefits Mikeypoo alone.

According to my lay off package, you can go here to enter a claim:
http://chapter11.epiqsystems.com/nortel