Just when you thought things at Nortel were about to get "normal" again, CEO Bill Owens suddenly walks away. It is a strange and somewhat unexpected move because the 65-year-old  had given every indication he was enjoying his status as a Fortune 500 CEO after struggling to find his way in the private sector for the past 10 years upon leaving the U.S. Navy. It makes you wonder what really went down with ex-president and COO Gary Daichendt, who apparently quit in June because he wanted to be CEO but Owens and/or the board showed no sign it was going to happen any time soon. In a nutshell, Owens' departure retirement - was he fired, pushed or did he resign? - is another one step forward, two steps back move for Nortel, which has now had three CEOs in the past 18 months (Anyone remember bean-counter Frank Dunn, who allegedly cooked the books to trigger a lucrative bonus structure?). The positive in Owens' departure is his successor is Mike Zafirovski, who was president and COO with Motorola until he resigned last January. Ironically, Owens was finally supposed to get together with the Canadian media later this week at corporate headquarters just outside Toronto. I suspect this isn't happening but I wonder if Zafirovski will be talking instead? So far today, Nortel shares have climbed 7%, which makes you think that investors are applauding Zafirovski's appointment or cheering Owens' departure, or a combination of both. CIBC World Markets analyst Steve Kamman sees the hiring of "Mike Z" as "tremendously positive news" and believes he has "the guts/drive/stamina to clean house and actually implement it".