Nortel Unveils $2.4B Lawsuit Settlement Plan
Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski's work to clean the decks has moved to the legal world on news the company has reached a settlement in principle to settle two major lawsuits filed in the Southern District Court of New York. The deal will be part of a global settlement involving all the class-action lawsuits launched against Nortel in the wake of an accounting scandal in which a dozen senior executives, including ex-CEO Frank Dunn, allegedly cooked the books to trigger a lucrative bonus plan. So what's it going to cost to make these lawsuits go away? A cool $2.4 billion. This will consist of $575 million in cash and the issuance of 628.6 million common shares, which represents 14.5% of current equity. Nortel will also contribute one-half of any recovery in the existing litigation by Nortel against Dunn, ex-CFO Douglas Beatty and ex-controller Michael Gollogly, who were terminated for cause in April, 2004.
February 9th, 2006 at 2:19 am
We must applaud the lawyers on both sides for s stellar performance in expediency.
It boiled down to either folding the company where everyone loses all or minimizing the plaintiffs losses through a negotiated settlement.
Who is to say if they could have at least negotiated 1/2 of the 10 billion sought without delay and further costs, or if at all. Perhaps the plaintiffs felt a bird in the hand is better than 2 in the bush and settled early. Who knows what hypothetical threats were tossed back and forth behind closed doors. One thing is for certain, this uncertainty alleviates some of S&P and Moody's concerns about undefined liabilities albeit they must still address repairing internal controls, which have been extended under safe harbour.
They sure did a number on the equities markets and investors lives though so I would take the exitement out of the term “fair” in fair settlement expressed by Chairman Pearce .
Settling the lawsuits with a leaner company bracing for the worst might benefit them in renewed customer confidence, this remains to be seen. In the meantime, lest we forget our Nortel casualties, I'd like to reiterate “Nortel 101 for the Retention Challenged” when assing further hurdles in their proverbial struggle.
1-Admitted fraud cost them $2.5B 2-financing unreliable & declining numbers required freezing cash is a poor excuse for a loan 3-Lost global orders and gambles 4-hypes measly orders 5-$6.6B debt 6-$2.4B cash 7-diluted 100M shares/yr 8-losing marketshare 9-declining margins 10-rated S&P “B-” 11-Moodys SGL-3 speculative grade rated with “negative outlook” 12-sold manufacturing 13-sold headquarters 14-slashed most R&D facilities 15-internal controls is years to repair now, not 18 months as they said a year ago. 16-Flextronics not paying as NT announced 17-Stalled for almost a year in silence and a thousand accountants when they suddenly changed 18-dissatisfied” and still unreliable numbers in just 2 weeks 19-OSC forced bad news from their silence 20-board members resigned in plea bargain 21-board approved and received cash bonuses 22-board denied obvious red flags after 80 heated meetings 23-board granted 3 yrs. to repay bonus 24-fired 7 Sr. financial people only months after CEO/CFO on formal police criminal probe 25-stalled to last minute under delisting threat 26-vast majority of frauds “difficult to find” are still there “remaining silent under their councel's advice” 27-must settle to avoid court/exposure 28-growth/profit contradicted 29-”optimistic” Q404 was poor 30-hyped Q205 hid the bad news 31-declining since 2003 fraud 32-2004 lowest sales since mid 1990's 33-2005 lower earnings than 2004 34-once stoic SEC now inhibits their forecasts 35-no credibility 36-RCMP/OSC/SEC/DOJ/FBI regulatory/criminalinvestigations 37-government & SEC fines 38-fixed votes at AGM to keep bonuses 39-operating under “safe harbour” 40-top people suddenly depart 41-even chief legal officer/bonus recipient retires before NT's largest lawsuit 42-slandered Gary left pessimsitic 43-Owens even suddenly gone in CEO turnstile 44-new first time CEO arrives with his own fraud 45-shareholder & employeeS suing them 46-$9B in fraud damage 47-unreliably moved $3.1B 48-always overvalued/disappoints 49-lost BT $19-$24B tender who used everyone but NT 50-Even Canadian companies like Sprint,HBC, and BMO won't buy from NT 51-almost went bankrupt (most do thereafter) 52-high costs 53-high severences 54-closed campuses 55-failed gambles 56-analysts “hated” PEC deal 57-institutions require several successful quarters and SEC approval 58-fraud adds teeth to older bubble lawsuit 59-worse off now than at 45 cents 60-peers grow 61-Too many suffered for their lies 62-arrogance 63-Cubb recinds ins. coverage 64-Telecom increasingly profitless 65-Corporations hoarding cash at 1959 record levels 66-BSNL below cost 67-Neptune dead 68-ongoing lower prices 69-Asian competition 70-LU/CISCO eating their pie 71-customers merger 72-No more big orders 73-financing to zero 74-fraud effects business 75-Shrinking staff demotivated 76-bad news ongoing 77-bloated share due to those holding from fraud rally 78-accounting costs 79-legal fees 80-premium paid for CEO with poor communications 81-ads/slogans target general public to sell shares than product 82-industry consolidating, NT shrinking & losing gambles 83-bad reputation 84-negative cash flow 85-exports jobs for losing orders 86-20% of workforce gone 87-EDC welfare 88-Putian uses Noika now 89-ambiguity in disclosure 90-Vorizon dead 91-BSNL losses into 2006 92-restructuring losing in linear death spiral 93-Worst to come 94-declining share price 95-endless surprises 96-wireless their largest area is decling 97-ruins economy/markets 98-endless contradictions 99-a penny stock with no refunds 100-nightmare trend/outlook 101-also see “risks and uncertainties” at bottom of each press release
March 17th, 2006 at 10:47 am
I am a Nortel stock holder. How do I know that I am included in the class action against Nortel. If I am included, how do I submit my claims.
November 13th, 2006 at 4:49 pm
I purchased Nortel com stock on July 27 2000 and again on March 6th 2001. These dates are outside the agreed dates for settlement with Nortel in their latest class action suit..
QUESTION—Has anyone started a class action suit on behalf of the thousands of Nortel investors that do not qualify for the latest class action settlement.
If you are an investor in Nortel stock who qualifies for another class action suit, please reply to this message.
Thank you.