It looks like Mike Zafirovski is wasting no time revamping Nortel's
management team. According to UBS Securities, the executives shown the door recently include
chief research officer Brian McFadden and Sue Spradley, president of
global services and operations. Both McFadden and Spradley were
long-time Nortel executives who had been shuffled around recently. They
were also among the group of senior executives who “voluntarily” returned
large bonuses in the wake of Nortel's accounting scandal.
So who's next on the hit list? While it would be a major surprise if
CFO Peter Currie leaves the company (Zafirovski has made some positive
public statements about Currie), you have to wonder about Steve
Slattery and Richard Lowe. In yet another corporate reorganization
unveiled in September that split the company into two product groups,
Slattery was appointed head of Nortel's corporate
and
packet networks business while Lowe was named head of
wireless and converged core networks. Niether long-time executive was
seen as a star within Nortel so you have to wonder whether Zafirovski
will keep them in such key posititions. Like a baseball manager or
football coach who wants to be surrounded by his own people, Zafirovski
will likely recruit people he knows and trusts. His settlement with
Motorola – where he spent five years before leaving in January after
losing a bid to become CEO – will keep him from poaching former
colleagues – at least for awhile. But look for him to start shuffling
Nortel's management ranks in short order as he works on this turnaround
plan.
How certain are we that this is their 4th CEO's doing after only 2 weeks on the job. Journalists are speculating that this CEO can take such great liberties with long time indisders and high bogus bonus recipients .
The more articulate journalists are very careful to restrict commentary to indicating these departures came only 2 weeks after CEO Zero started and not due to his taking action like shareholders will see a killing from the already in place cost cutting plans or something. (even more R&D cut now?)
They were as mute on Spradley and McFaden's departure as they were on Collins'.
The way they hyped tribes in malls, Chapleau, apartment building orders, Q2, anything, you can bet if they were taking affirmative action moving forwards you can bet they'd say. In the meantime we really do not know why they suddenly left, they did not say really.
For all we know they may have suddenly departed due to the ongoing investigations like the 10 fired immediately on RCMP formal probe and months after Dunn, Gollogy, and Beatty. Who knows by these ambiguous pinnicals of trasparency, honesty, and disclosure who paid a premium for another flop like anything they do. They hired a poor communications axeman fraud from day one and I doubt he'd start canning without board approval from day one. I suspect something more sinister in this saga from the boat they are in. They are not looking too good these days either.
I am amazed how a retention challenged and over opportunistic market reacts to news like this or Q205's false hype for the boat they are in with the worst yet to come.
It isn't that CEO Zero isn't doing anything, he can't. Not even in July when he starts work. =) Better people have already tried and, as I said, NT already has cost measures in place. What will he do?
I suspect the next guy to go is the marketing guy because he was hired by Owens, If its Pusey, count on something more sinister brewing.
I can't see Mike Fibberovski hot head lasting a New York minute in that lions den of heated directionless turmoil and politics at Nortel let alone by July when MOT lets him speak to their same customers/wireless people.
The great thing about blogs is that you don't need facts or corroboration to slow you down when typing an entry or a comment. It looks to me like neither Mark Evans or Jamez4all have anything to back up their assertions about people inside or outside Nortel. Its a shame that a reporter would stoop to character assassination in a blog.
Character assassination is making statements like “Niether long-time executive was seen as a star within Nortel so you have to wonder whether Zafirovski will keep them in such key posititions. ” Do you have any facts to back up this assertion that they are not stars? Perhaps you heard one comment from one Nortel or ex-Nortel employee that you forgot to mention but would the use of one source be considered good journalism? This kind of writing is acceptable for FRANK magazine, and very entertaining, but it is not OK for a journalist who writes for the National Post, even in a blog.
The difference between the current day NT critics/realists and NT pumpers is stark. There is no no-man's land or objectivity here.
“Pumpers” of this company can be seen on NT's message boards such as Yahoo. Mark's well respected posts, as well as several other news articles, are reiterated as evidence to what the critics support their facts with. It was only a matter of time before pumpers appeared here.
Mark is a highly acclaimed journalist and well respected throughout this industry for his invaluable commentary and insight. If things were different, you can bet the realists and Mark would be expressing a different view. Not pumpers though, they defend Nortel through the thick and thin as one can easily see their commentary of old posts since the tech bubble.
When these “pumpers” get their coolaid posts exposed, they turn nasty and fabricate, not unlike those who slandered Deichedt on his departure. Whether they are employees or die hard shareholders, their totalitarian rage is fueled by the exposure of Nortel's seemingly insurmountable woes that conflict with their vested interest.
I hope their influence is limited to benign means as media is only too kind by proverbially extending this benefit of the doubt for these resilient master of deceit and delay. We see what their business and creative accounting entails with unreliable numbers even after a recount of a recount, they can change last second but not duplicate. There is a reason they lack credibility.
Pumpers will fabricate or argue everything from Nortel losing margins, marketshare, top people, transparency, cash on hand, manufacturing , R&D, headquarters, etc., with a nightmare outlook awaiting criminal investigation results, desperately seeking high interst debt debt financing, endless contradictions , we now learn it will take years to fix internal controls they claimed would only take 18 months a year ago as they operate under “safe harbour”, even CFO Currie in his last C/C claimed “time will tell” or “draw your own conclusiions” and how the once stotic SEC is now monitoring their forecasting, huge legal fees too many underestimate, huge government and SEC fines, class action damages for their admitted fraud, etc…
It is endless, just endless.
If you want something really entertaining, see how these NT “pumpers” tenaciously defend NT in light of ongoing events with a vested interest that is to be seen to be believed. The insults and fabrications would make one swear they were Nortel employees as no investor would defend his love of money that long and so adamently. The profanity would surely make a hardened criminal cowar.
Pumpers can almost never bash the message so they bash the messenger as we have witnessed here. They will support the fraud before they support the victims who have been lied to, stolen from, and defrauded for their very vested interest. The same interest that got NT into this whole mess to begin with, the love of money.
If they had any influence on the stock price you can be sure it wouldn't be only be NT that would be sued or charged by the regulating authorities.
Jamez4all,
I read your long ranting postings on Yahoo. I don't know what happened between you and Nortel, but whatever it is, you need to let it go for your own sanity.