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More Deep Thoughts About Nortel

by Mark Evans on Thu 20 Oct 2005 07:10 PM EDT | Permanent Link

If you've had a chance to take a look at Motorola's lawsuit, it leaves little doubt Mike Zafirovski was more than aware he had, among other things, a two-year non-compete clause. In fact, this was clearly spelled out last January when he entered into a separation agreement in which he received $16,839,290. So why did he apparently breach the agreement to accept the job with Nortel? There are a number of theories, which include:

1. Zafirovski really, really wanted the Nortel job to prove to the world - and Motorola, which lured Ed Zander from Sun Microsystems to become CEO - he could lead a Fortune 500 company. As a result, he was willing to pay the cost, which means forking over $11,000,000 of his $16,839,290 severance package back to Motorola.

2. Nortel really, really wanted Mike Z., which meant it was aware of the risk involved given his agreements with Motorola but figured it was the price to pay to get a world-class CEO to succeed Bill Owens, who had been losing the faith of the investment community.

3. Although Mike Z realized he had a two-year non-compete agreement, his departure from Motorola really started in early 2004 when Zander was hired as CEO. While Mike Z agreed to stay on for a year, you have to believe he started to disengage. It's like the rest of us giving our two-week notice and then going out for long lunches, shopping and talking with friends on the phone. If this was the case, Mike Z may have thought he hadn't really "worked" for Motorola for the past 22 months. As a result, maybe he believed Motorola wouldn't make too much of a fuss if he took another job.

4. Maybe Mike Z and Nortel don't believe he's breaching the non-compete clause because Nortel and Motorola don't really compete. I mean, Motorola makes wireless devices while Nortel sells telecom networking equipment, right?

In any event, this lawsuit looks more like a nasty legal battle than something Motorola's lawyers dreamt up to annoy Mike Z and Nortel. I suspect Mike Z will not only have to pay back the $11M but agreed to all kinds of restrictions if he wants the Nortel job. Nortel will likely make it worth his while financially given the last thing it wants or needs is another senior executive hiring disaster on its hand.

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Re: More Deep Thoughts About Nortel

by telco_guy on Fri 21 Oct 2005 11:24 AM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

When Gary Foresee left Sprint for Bell South and then left Bell South for Sprint, the non-compete was an issue that was settled monetarily. Perhaps Motorola wants nothing more than its $11M back. For the costs of a few hours of legal assistance, why not? Nortel's Board should have had this handled BEFORE the ---- hit the fan. Another reason to doubt the longevity of the company.

Re: More Deep Thoughts About Nortel

by NortelFan on Fri 21 Oct 2005 12:07 PM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

Motorola has sued former employees before. There is a case from September, 2000 where they went after a former employee that went to AMD.

Although a competitive newspaper, you may wish to check out the Business Section of the Gobe and Mail today. An interesting article with new information. The Executive Search company has made statements that Nortel was fully informed of the isues at hand.

Re: Re: More Deep Thoughts About Nortel

by Mark Evans on Fri 21 Oct 2005 01:41 PM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

read the ROB this a.m. but you really didn't expect NT's recruiter to say anything other than NT believes that it's complying with the non-compete clause, did you?

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