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Author Topic: Nortel pays for (non)performance
Doug
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Babbler # 44

posted 29 February 2008 06:20 PM      Profile for Doug   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Despite unsteady performance, a new round of layoffs and a plunge in its share price, Nortel Networks Corp (NT.TO: Quote, Profile, Research)(NT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) raised the total compensation of chief executive Mike Zafirovski by about $1.8 million in 2007, regulatory filings show.

Zafirovski, who has been steering the Toronto-based telecom equipment maker through a painful turnaround, saw his total pay rise to $10.1 million from $8.3 million in 2006, according to filings the company made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this week.


http://www.reuters.com/article/hotStocksNews/idUSN2924189920080229?rpc=92

A billion-dollar loss, stock down over 70%, and they pay this guy more. I hate to think what they'd pay if they were doing well.


From: Toronto, Canada | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
Fidel
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Babbler # 5594

posted 29 February 2008 10:07 PM      Profile for Fidel     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Zafirovski should get another $10 mil, layoff more talent on the bottom end(they're only worker-drones anyway), and outsource everything that's not nailed down. At least he'll appear to be doing something more than nothing for excessive pay. It's either that or Z needs to go kiss some more American ass at club chickenhawk and NSA. They need a CEO with experience in telecom for a change.

[ 29 February 2008: Message edited by: Fidel ]


From: Viva La Revolución | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged
adam stratton
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Babbler # 14803

posted 02 March 2008 12:42 AM      Profile for adam stratton        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
They need a CEO with experience in telecom for a change. -Fidel

They need to be nationalized and start working for the public good.


From: Eastern Ontario | Registered: Dec 2007  |  IP: Logged
sanizadeh
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Babbler # 14787

posted 02 March 2008 12:14 PM      Profile for sanizadeh        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
A nationalized equipment manufacturer is a really bad idea. It might make sense for a utility service provider, but equipment maker?! How does that benefit the society?

Nortel demise is a result of market realities, that the company simply cannot compete any longer with Chinese companies like Huawei. It is time for a merger.

BTW, Mike Z. came with lots of telecom experience. He headed Motorola's cell phone division before joining Nortel.


From: Ontario | Registered: Dec 2007  |  IP: Logged
adam stratton
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posted 02 March 2008 12:32 PM      Profile for adam stratton        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
A nationalized equipment manufacturer is a really bad idea?

Care to elaborate, Sanizadeh?


From: Eastern Ontario | Registered: Dec 2007  |  IP: Logged
Cueball
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Babbler # 4790

posted 02 March 2008 12:40 PM      Profile for Cueball   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Actually Canada became a leader in international telecommunications when it was a regulated industry with heavy investement, joint private/public ventures, and even wholey crown owned corporations.

It is only since deregulation in the 80's that the industry got into trouble here.

I think today's "realities" are realities, so in the immediate sense, Sanzadeh may be right, but when considered in the long haul, one really has to look at the long historical view when considering the long view future.

[ 02 March 2008: Message edited by: Cueball ]


From: Out from under the bridge and out for a stroll | Registered: Dec 2003  |  IP: Logged
sanizadeh
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posted 02 March 2008 01:04 PM      Profile for sanizadeh        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I don't think Nortel has ever been a crown company or controlled by the government. Service providers like Bell were. Deregulations targetted service providers. I agree there might be an argument for nationalization of service providers, however Nortel is not one.

Adam, what would be the benefit of making Nortel nationalized? Would it make the company more efficient in finding the right market to invest in (which appears to be Nortel's biggest problem)? Would it help them make better technology? Any specific benefit to Canadians? Nortel does not offer a "service" that require regulation or government control.


From: Ontario | Registered: Dec 2007  |  IP: Logged
Cueball
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Babbler # 4790

posted 02 March 2008 01:32 PM      Profile for Cueball   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Well, the history of BCE one of the primary investors in Nortel, at its inception is indeed a murky one, and achieved is position in the market laregly because of government regulation, giving it the a monoploy, and then various subsidies, and support over the history of company. To much detail to go into.

But in this specific case, in fact BCE also bought Teleglobe Canada, which was a successful an profitable crown corporation. This company has essentially been destroyed over the last 20 years, and now has a head office in Hamilton Bermuda, and from what I can tell does nothing.

Teleglobe

quote:
In 2000 Teleglobe Inc. was acquired by Bell Canada Enterprises, or BCE, which had already owned 23%. In 2002, BCE terminated its relationship with Teleglobe. BCE is now defending several litigations arising out of its abandonment of the Teleglobe business.

So it would seem as part of the process of merging the telecomminications industry under BCE, they restrucutred the company creating Nortel, from Northern Electric, a company they owned prior to deregulation, so while technically speaking Nortel may not have ever been a crown corporation, but achieved its market dominance, partly because its parent company bought the competition from the government, which was then stripped down and destroyed.

This is the way it seems to me.

[ 02 March 2008: Message edited by: Cueball ]


From: Out from under the bridge and out for a stroll | Registered: Dec 2003  |  IP: Logged
Fidel
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Babbler # 5594

posted 02 March 2008 08:31 PM      Profile for Fidel     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by sanizadeh:

BTW, Mike Z. came with lots of telecom experience. He headed Motorola's cell phone division before joining Nortel.


Yes, and I think they even considered him for the position of CEO. Zafirovski was 20 some years with GE.


From: Viva La Revolución | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged

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