The Last Days Of Nortel?

While news on the Nortel front has been quiet in the last few months, rumors are abound once again, spelling the nearly immediate and final death of Nortel. The Wall Street Journal reported today that Nokia Siemens has made an offer for certain segments of Nortel’s assets, most notably the carrier networks unit, as well as a “next generation” wireless R&D unit. In addition, Nortel’s enterprise technologies business unit is also up for acquisition discussion. Bloomberg News recently reported that Avaya and Siemens Enterprise Communications, fierce competitors for Nortel in the enterprise space, may be vying for a portion of Nortel’s assets. Regardless, the previously-encouraging words of Nortel’s senior management may be soon forgotten, as perhaps the best option for Nortel at this point may be to “liquidate” assets before the ship dissolves into the ocean of permanent bankruptcy. The recent news of Nortel’s restructuring plan has been highly criticized, with even key past supporters of the company voicing critical views towards the company’s future. As with this saga that continues, Nortel is simply in a final “wait and see mode”.