Let the Nortel Garage Sale Begin!

By Mark Evans | Published: August 15, 2009

If there was any hope Nortel might re-emerge from bankruptcy protection as a smaller, more focused telecom equipment supplier (e.g. optical), it evaporated yesterday when an Ontario court expanded the responsibilities of Ernst & Young to include the sale of corporate assets.

As well, Nortel’s layer, Derrick Tay, told Ontario Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Morawetz the company has “no intention of replacing the CEO”, following Mike Zafirovski’s decision earlier this week to abandon ship in the coming months.

Tay said Nortel is “knee-deep in negotiations” regarding the sale of assets, and requires someone to administer the sales process.

For more, check out Bloomberg.


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  • GoProto

    It sounds like some one is bitter to dedicate this much energy just to discredit the good prophets than give them credit, even referring to the posters themselves.
    ——————————-
    thank you happyfeets. names of individual posters should not be referred to in unbiased polls which are 180 degrees different from the one such as mr. smoke has deemed necessary to propagate on this site. It's childish and self-serving and makes the poll into a farce.
    Go smoke somewhere else.

  • GoProto

    you should be ashamed of yourself.

  • GoProto

    names of individual posters should not be referred to in unbiased polls which are 180 degrees different from the one such as you have deemed necessary and somehow beneficial to propagate on this site. It's childish and self-serving and makes the poll into a farce when a poll could really be informative. I get the feeling you are doing this to start trouble and divide people on a personal level. Hopefully, all the adults on this site realize that it's ok to have, and express different opinions.
    Go smoke somewhere else if this is your intention.

  • TongueInCheek

    So, when did you change your name from “protosphere” to “happyfeets”?

  • smokeemout

    Names of posters were not mentioned in the poll, it apears some folks-perhaps in the tiny minority, may question the motive of the poll.

    It was a chance to assess what the balance of the 'comments' were. It does not bash the AAN blog-which appears to be a central place on the web to chronical the progress of the company Nortel.

    So in a democratic fashion of one vote, per voter, we may se what the majority of the readers think about the 'commentors'.

    Of course poll is not completed, but it seems there are several 'others' who posted comments and feedback, and it does include an 'other' button.

    In all fairness, If the answers to be chosen from are not satisfactory, someone could have submitted their own.

    I would respectfully disagree that the poll is a farce or autocratic. it is a free world, you may post a poll of your own.

    thanks to those who took it seriously and offered their votes, comments and feedback. It is apparrently a hit-considering the feedback and the number of votes showing up so quickly. It is being hit, 5x faster than the previous polls….

    .Who will win the enterprise auction?
    http://www.learnmyself.com/personality.asp?p=ta…

    Who holds the most blame?
    http://www.learnmyself.com/personality.asp?p=ta…

    What is the quality of the comments on the AAN blog?
    http://www.learnmyself.com/personality.asp?p=ta…

    Perhaps a good poll should be…
    What is the quality of the articles/service provided on the blog AAN?
    so here it is…

    http://www.learnmyself.com/poll16329xc0FA4d48

    If you have issue with the polls, ignore them, but the last one written is one you may want to weigh in on.

  • smokeemout

    read above

  • smokeemout

    read the response

  • smokeemout

    GoProto,
    all due respect, but

    Reading is a fundemental skill, individual posters were not named as part of the poll. If you could read the entire poll before typing responses, you would see that plain as day.

    I see you have no problem with writing, maybe reading and listening should be part of your curriculum.

    From what I saw in the poll so far, many folks, about 50/50 are on both sides of the comments, they find entertainment and information in them. But nearly an equal amount must feel their is some over the top unfairness and bashing going on.

    To that I'd say….
    Welcome to the court of being judged by your peer bloggers and readers. Your style and comments may be vindicated at the end of the poll, maybe not. but as one comment posted says… (paraphrasing now),

    'Don't shoot the messenger.'

    (If you are mature, it should not matter one bit to you).

    The other option is pretty simple, YOU COULD excercise a little self control, and ignore the poll. It would be one less vote, not much at all considering the number voting.

    And although not scientific, it is targeted only towards readers of the comments, not the blog itself. ME articles seem to be a good central place to get info.- there is no link directly from the article. Someone may have to read comments before seeing the link.

    Nothing immature about that, perhaps a little service in itself. just as you feel your commentary is a service to your blogging brethren.

    Again, nothing personal, please control yourself and avoid the name calling and keep it in the realm of the adults.

    And if you can't keep it in the realm of adults, I have one reply:
    'Sticks and stones babe”

  • smokeemout

    happyfeet,
    all due respect, but

    Reading is a fundemental skill, individual posters were not named as part of the poll. If you could read the entire poll before typing responses, you would see that plain as day.

    I see you have no problem with writing, maybe reading and listening should be part of your curriculum.

    From what I saw in the poll so far, many folks, about 50/50 are on both sides of the comments, they find entertainment and information in them. But nearly an equal amount must feel their is some over the top unfairness and bashing going on.

    To that I'd say….
    Welcome to the court of being judged by your peer bloggers and readers. Your style and comments may be vindicated at the end of the poll, maybe not. but as one comment posted says… (paraphrasing now),

    'Don't shoot the messenger.'

    (If you are mature, it should not matter one bit to you).

    The other option is pretty simple, YOU COULD excercise a little self control, and ignore the poll. It would be one less vote, not much at all considering the number voting.

    And although not scientific, it is targeted only towards readers of the comments, not the blog itself. ME articles seem to be a good central place to get info.- there is no link directly from the article. Someone may have to read comments before seeing the link.

    Nothing immature about that, perhaps a little service in itself. just as you feel your commentary is a service to your blogging brethren.

    Again, nothing personal, please control yourself and avoid the name calling and keep it in the realm of the adults.

    And if you can't keep it in the realm of adults, I have one reply:
    'Sticks and stones babe”

  • The psychiatrist

    The chances that the final days of Nortel and the sell off of assets by E&Y along with how bonus money was paid is suspect to say the least.Nortel has too long a history of corruption and dishonesty to think otherwise.

    How is it that Z the CEO of the company he lead for 3 years makes a statement following the Jan 14 filing that this will “restructure Nortel once and for all” and then only mere weeks later change that to seeking to sell off all business units?

    No one especially a CEO can possibly be that stupid or clueless to change the game plan so qiuckly,so what was behind this sudden change?

    It doesn't really matter what the reason for the change in supposedly restructuring Nortel once and for all is,but the fact that it was changed so soon lends high probability to the fact that when Z made the original statement,it wasn't the real ultimate intention from either himself or from someone else or others.

    You don't just come out and announce a plan without extensive discussion beforehand and then change that only weeks later,it doesn't add up.

    Bottomline is that someone has lied and mislead many with this change.

  • RedGeorge

    No more Nortel news to bash so everyone is attacking themselves. LOL

  • GoProto

    Reading is a fundemental skill, individual posters were not named as part of the poll. If you could read the entire poll before typing responses, you would see that plain as day.
    ===============
    I beg to differ, as on the “results” page, someone took the time to name 3 individual posters and predict which answers they would choose. Are you going to say it wasn't “included in the poll” because it's not on the “Voting choices” page? Semantics. And are you saying you or the author of the poll you propagate did not selectively put my name, and two others with a comment predicting our choices? I would have ignored it had it not had a direct mention of me.
    Where is the “name-calling”? I have not called you any “names”.
    Commenting on behavior traits by describing them is not name-calling. I did not say anything about you, I commented on what I see as my opinion of your behavior-in this case. There's a difference.
    As far as being judged by my peers, so be it, I just find it interesting that out of all the posters on here, only 3 were specifically mentioned. Doesn't seem quite right to me.

  • scalppeeler

    So are you a coward?

  • zeroman

    because a lot of people still have not been told with definite clarity.

  • scalppeeler

    Wrong again zero. Clueless in Canada you are. You've no idea how the majority of canadians think and feel. Most canadians are typically timid and quiet, but if you can motivate them properly true colours come out. I have fighting experience connections much more so than you can imagine. I have a lineage of relatives who did fight in both wars. They would be rolling in their graves if they knew what Canada has turned into. The typical senior just shuts up politely and takes it since they are in their twilight years.

  • thidisbogus

    There are a lot more of us like scaplpeeler out here than you think. We are not the racists you paint us to be. We are the silent majority and are just hard working traditional values people.

  • yes4aapl

    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082…
    Ontario Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Morawetz today expanded Ernst & Young’s responsibilities to include administering Nortel’s business and operations and conducting sales of company assets.
    ….
    Only Nortel’s bondholders expressed concern over the expansion of Ernst & Young’s role.
    Question is
    Is Nortel abusing BK protection laws?
    Is Nortel bankrupt or in BK protection which is designed for the company in trouble to restructure debt and business? Did Nortel try to restructure debt? Did Nortel create Plans to restructure business?
    The facts about Nortel and their protection to keep creditor at a bay are disturbing.
    I see that Nortel started new game.
    The name of the game is to make Pension Plans the secure creditors. In that case Pension Plan will be served first and probably recover 100% on a dollar.
    There won’t be much left for bondholders.
    The biggest bondholder is MatPat with about $450 mill.
    MatPat hired ex Nortel’s managers to create a restructuring Plan.
    Problem is that Nortel is ignoring bondholders and their interests.
    Do I know MatPat? Nope. Do I care what will happen? Yes, I do.
    There are specific laws to protect markets and business. Ignoring bondholders, shareholders is shortsighted.
    In the long run Canada will lose credibility as an honest partner in the world community of investors and financial institutions.
    It’s ironic that the sell off of assets continues and judge says to bondholders that if they want to participate in the process they should bid for the assets.
    http://seekingalpha.com/article/149162-matlin-p…

  • akdn2000

    Whats interesting was today at Lab10 in the Carling site, it was as if the entire chinese embassy was on location…. or as if the Lab10 facility, where the bulk of MEN is, was now an attraction for chinese tourists. They were even bused in and everything. One can only imagine…..

  • How_long

    Who is making pension plans the secure creditors? I don't see any of that happening. Please give your evidence.
    As I see it, Nortel has been trying to dump pension debt.

  • less

    Germany's asylum seeker program was flawed and eventuallyamended.Its supporters dubbed that “neo-Nazism”

  • yes4aapl
  • vvvv

    Delayering was in vogue long before Roth took command. Remember, before “bands” there were “grades” — and there was considerable delayering when bands replaced grades. Otherwise, Roth's record on bureaucracy was mixed. It was just a question of bureaucracy that he liked vs bureaucracy that he didn't. Remember market segments?

  • yes4aapl

    Sorry man
    I tried to post an answer with links but Mark's Blog did not accept it.
    Google yourself Nortel+pension+…

  • yes4aapl

    Sorry man
    I tried to post an answer with links but Mark's Blog did not accept it.
    Google yourself Nortel+pension+…

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