Nortel’s Cupboards Almost Bare of Assets Now

By Mark Evans | Published: April 21, 2010

I had intended not to spend too much time on AAN with my consulting business rocking and rolling but I’ll take a hall pass with Ericsson’s plans to spend US$242-million to buy Nortel’s 50% + 1 stake in LG-Nortel Co., Nortel’s joint venture with LG Electronics – one of ex-Nortel CEO Bill Owens’ few successes.

“Today’s announcement is a positive step forward in securing a sound future for the LG-Nortel business and its valued customers,” Paul House, Chairman and General Manager, LG-Nortel, said in a press release. “Credit is due to the employees of LG-Nortel who have built this Joint Venture into a world class, profitable business.”

Earlier, Ericsson purchased Nortel’s CDMA and LTE R&D unit for $1.13 billion, and the assets of Nortel’s North American GSM business for $70 million.

With the sale of the LG-Nortel stake, the only major asset left on the table are the 3,000 patents – including the much-wanted LTE patents.

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  • wasthere

    Being on a conference call with Joel was not the most pleasant thing !!! But yeah, being the CEO's pal, was his best card I guess !

  • whopperscan

    5 months ago this site reported some consultants called “Global IP” were engaged to do prelim market analysis on Nortel patents.
    http://www.allaboutnortel.com/2009/10/31/nortel…
    Anyone have any idea what they've been up to?
    Surely they've delivered the 1st phase by now…? It was a mere .35 million fee (“+ expenses”, LOL) for that 1st prelim phase… I'm wondering, surely they've either finished that by now, or, have secretly extended.
    It's hard to believe Nortel would have not kept a clue about values and markets for any genuinely valuable patents

  • bankrupt_bob

    <<It's hard to believe Nortel would have not kept a clue about values and markets for any genuinely valuable patents>>

    Given the events of recent, methinks Nortel is/was clueless. ;>)

  • exnt2

    making money thats what.

  • wasthere

    Nortel's problem was always to protect buddies instead of shareholders. In the past they had many opportunities to sell businesses at a good price but chose to protect every buddies chapel before they finally got in bankruptcy and have to sell everything at highly discount price. This is the way ……… this was and still his Nortel !!!

  • bankrupt_bob

    <<Nortel CVAS Adds Real-Time Business Collaboration Application to Hosted IP Offer>>

    “Oh, The Irony!” Chapter umpteen.

  • NortelEngineer

    Any update about MSS ?

  • wasthere

    Still part of Nortel's carcass on which some parasites are getting a very good living ………………..and bonuses !

  • scalppeeler

    Hoping or waiting to be sold.
    Word is something to happen between now and fall.
    Lots of speculation what this business will go for and whom may buy it.
    I predict between 50 and 100 million but the longer the delay
    the more the price depreciates.
    The buyer possibly huaweii, alcatel, eric or some low flying small player?
    MSS is a legacy business specializing in ATM. Pure and Simple.
    I am sure the survivors are hoping for the best.
    It does however seem that all businesses sold off by nortel has resulted
    in good news for employees in more than 70 percent of the cases.
    At the end of the day that is all that matters. A job.

  • closeshave

    Old Mother Hubbard
    Went to the cupboard,
    To throw her poor dogs a bone:
    When she came there,
    The cupboard had some hairy, pulsating, translucent, calcified #% crust in it
    And thats all the poor dog got.

    She went to the baker's
    To invest all his bread;
    When she came back
    The dog was dead.

    She went to the undertaker's
    To buy him a coffin;
    When she came back
    Gave herself a biggole hairy retention bonus.

    This wonderful dog
    Was Dame Hubbard's delight,
    He could read, he could dance,
    He could sing, he could write;
    He gave her rich dainties
    Whenever he bled,
    She erected a monument to herself
    When he was dead.

  • scalppeeler

    Definitely.
    The privileged few with friends in high places knowing full well
    they are being overpaid and underworked.

  • wasthere

    The plain truth !

  • bankrupt_bob

    Peter Piper purchased a peck of pinkslip papers,
    A peck of pinkslip papers Peter Piper purchased;
    If Peter Piper purchased a peck of pinkslip papers,
    Where's the peck of pinkslip papers Peter Piper purchased?

  • bankrupt_bob

    This would be a really, really bad day… IF, I had any money left in the market… BUT, nortel took care of that….

  • bankrupt_bob

    <<Speedy resolution unlikely on disposal of Nortel patents>>

    <<Nortel has disclosed that Global IP did complete the report, which carried a $350,000 bill and another $80,000 for additional work in January.

    But an actual sale seems some time away.>>

    http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Speedy+resolution+…

  • wasthere

    Here's a patent licensing company that's doing pretty good. Could Nortel follow that path ?? Yes but they would probably find ''The way'' to be non-profitable !

    http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/share+price+s…

  • exNorteler_In_Richardson

    Mark,
    This is my first time commenting here. I have been reading this blog since before the bankruptcy. This was the source of news for me and the team I was part of. Your blog was discussed in team meetings!! A bunch of us were laid off in September of 09 from CVAS. Although we have all gone our separate ways, There is something about Nortel that will stay with all of us. It was, sad to say, a once proud company. The people made it good and it is the personal relationship that makes it tough to let go.
    It is heart breaking that so many good people have to live with the bonehead decisions of executives who did not care about nothing but the almighty bonus.
    Families have been impacted, lives have been affected, but the fateful decision makers are all gone into their mansions and we are left to pick up the pieces.
    Please keep blogging about any tidbit you have, You have very avid readers still.
    For the regular commenters, thanks as well, You have been a source of information to many of us quiet readers.
    Thank you.

  • closeshave

    Nortilda told such Dreadful Lies,
    It made one Gasp and Stretch one's Eyes;
    Her plant, which, from her Earliest Youth,
    Had kept a Strict Regard for Truth,
    Attempted to Believe Nortilda:
    The effort sadly all but killed her,..

    For once, towards the Close of Day,
    Nortilda, growing tired of play,
    And finding she was left alone,
    Promptly 'bused her Telephone
    And summoned the Immediate Aid
    Of Ottawa's Noble Life-Brigade.
    Within an hour the Gallant Band
    Were pouring into every hand,
    of Hackney, money, down to Z'ro.
    With rhetoric high and Hearts a-glow,
    They galloped, roaring through the Town,
    'Nortilda's House is Burning Down!'
    Inspired by Bullish Cheers and Loud
    Proceeding from the Mikezied Crowd,
    Emptied their bladders upon ten score
    Of workers on the Lab Room Floor;
    And took Peculiar Pains to Souse
    Employees up and down the House,

    Nortilda's plant had not succeeded
    their plans and work no longer heeded;
    Yet even then they had to pay
    To get ze Men to go away!

    When finally did a Fire break out–
    You should have heard Nortilda Shout!
    You should have heard her Scream and Bawl,
    And throw the window up and call
    To People passing in the Street–
    (The rapidly increasing Heat
    Encouraging her to obtain
    Their confidence) — but all in vain!
    For every time she shouted 'Fire!'
    They only answered 'Little Liar!'
    And therefore when her plant sojourned,
    Nortilda, and all Hopes, were Burned.

  • bankrupt_bob

    Youn win! ;>)

  • protosphere

    Nortel drained empty as employees and shareholders got screwed but green incompetent management got richer, and even transferred.

    http://www.nupge.ca/content/corporate-greed-ver…

    …five senior (Nortel) company officials still have the $400 million they got paid between 1999 and 2008. Mr. Zafirovski, still has the $40 million or so he was paid… is suing the company he drove into the bankruptcy courts, for $12.2 million, including $3.6 million in bonuses he says he has ‘earned’.But there is no money at Nortel for pensions or disability plans for the employees.

    the top CEOs in Canada had received an average 22% compensation increase in 2008.

    The bonus money put aside at the Royal Bank of Canada is up by 33% this year, to an obscene $2.74 billion. That’s not a typo, that’s $2.74 billion. In bonuses, over and above regular pay. The Toronto Dominion Bank is badly lagging – they only have $1 billion set aside for bonuses, so far this year. Citigroup alone lost $27.7 billion, but paid out bonuses (for good performance?) to the tune of $5.3 billion. Of course they had to keep the highly skilled senior staff responsible for that wonderful result.

    Wall Street is in line for a record amount in bonuses this year; $140 billion dollars, to be a bit more exact. That is a hundred and forty thousand million dollars. Between 2008 and 2009, the big companies are going to have paid out, in bonuses, on top of salaries, almost as much as they received in government bailouts in the first place.

  • wasthere

    Yep ! And all these remunerations are approved and signed by different boards of directors that are supposed to be in place to protect shareholders interest !!! These are legalized robberies organized by a bunch of friends of this corrupt system(mostly ex-CEO's) that are sitting(some sleeping) on those boards.

  • yes4aapl

    Duncan explained Nortel's reports.

    How big was Nortel’s fraud, NT stock fraud?
    let me show it
    It was as big as 1 million nice houses $400k each or as big as $20 million nice cars $20 k each

    The Big Picture is
    1 million houses $400 000 EACH or in other words a town like Toronto disappearing from the map stolen by crooks, house by house!
    =====
    if someone has a problem to see that picture I can paint another one
    Q: How big was Nortel's fraud? Nortel's scam? Nortel's deception? NT stock?
    A: as big as stealing all the cars from all people in Canada!
    as stealing 20 million cars of $20k value each.

    So if one car is stolen_missing police is looking for a thief and find him/her and find the car.
    What about 20 million cars missing? What about $400 bill missing?
    Why we don't know who stole that?
    Is it more difficult to find thieves for the big robbery? the biggest ever!
    Will the public know who, what, why, when?
    I say it is possible, I say, it can happen that public will know it
    The Nortel's fraud will be studied for decades.
    Main questions can be answered soon.
    Duncan Steward said on this forum
    You cannot hide the truth from the public.
    You cannot lie to analysts all the time.
    Public perception, public knowledge of things is such, that public will know the truth sooner or later.
    When Duncan Stewart said so?
    You always can ask Duncan about that, can’t you?
    Examples of his posts here
    http://disqus.com/guest/67a33c3b4aff98d4c56f15a…
    and one here

    http://www.allaboutnortel.com/2008/11/10/guest-…
    btw
    Q:: Duncan, is Ian Stewart your father?

  • whopperscan

    Thanks BB… good find. So, as cynical old me thought, like all consultants worth their salt, pulled an extra $80 in fees out. And finished it in December, over 4 months ago.
    And the administrators have done absolutely nothing. Except, of course, continue to charge large ongoing fees for this “service”.

    IMHO that's damming evidence that all the talk of “valuable”, let alone “much-wanted” , is a fantasy. They're worth stuff-all.

  • bankrupt_bob

    …agreed, except that would be “FANTASY!”

    ;>)

  • bankrupt_bob

    One Toronto …or about ten Quebecs…. not quite 6.5 Ottawas. ;>)

  • closeshave

    As I've mentioned elsewhere – if any Nortel execs ever felt inclined to donate a couple bucks to any destitute and potentially homeless ex-underling, I'd accept every cent.

  • wasthere
  • wasthere

    How much will Nortel get from his patents ? 1 billion ?

    http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?C=0&ID=455510

  • http://www.level3securities.com investor relations

    Nortel was a really great company what Happened?

  • http://www.level3securities.com investor relations

    Nortel was a really great company what Happened?

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