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".
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Nice Knowing You, Bill Owens
by
Mark Evans
on Mon 17 Oct 2005 08:42 AM EDT | Permanent Link
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