In our recent look back at 2009, I mentioned that Nortel tried to hang on, but ended up filing for bankruptcy protection in January. This week, the Canadian Press has an interview with one of the former directors of the company, where he says that the company had hope, right until the end.
He says the sales were just gone by December 2008. The company had put in a lot of effort to dig itself out of its accounting scandal and class-action lawsuits, during a time when its competitors were looking to the future and getting stronger. Things were starting to look up when the economy went south.
Most of Nortel has been sold off at this point, though a small bit remains.
A number of Nortel employees that survived the rounds of layoffs have also survived the acquisitions and are now at new companies. Avaya last month completed its acquisition of Nortel’s Enterprise Solutions group, saving 6,000 Nortel jobs. Ericsson in November completed its acquisition of Nortel’s wireless assets, and gained 2,500 former Nortel employees.
Ciena has gotten regulatory approval in Canada for its proposed acquisition of Nortel’s Metro Ethernet Networks business and expects to close the deal within three months.
The Canadian Press reports that what’s left of Nortel still owns certain valuable patents and a stake in the LG-Nortel joint venture. It’s possible that this bit that’s left could turn into a new business, one that licenses out technology.
