UPDATE 1-Nortel chief strategy officer Anil Khatod resigns
(Adds background, other resignations, stock price update)
By Ian Karleff
TORONTO, July 13 (Reuters) - Nortel Networks Corp.'s
recently appointed chief marketing and strategy officer
Anil Khatod resigned on Friday in a new top-level departure at
the world's No. 1 telecommunications equipment manufacturer.
Khatod, promoted to the position in late April, had been
viewed by some analysts as a possible successor to Nortel Chief
Executive John Roth, who announced earlier this year he would
leave in April 2002. Khatod previously headed Nortel's Global
Internet Solutions unit.
"Losing someone of his (Khatod) caliber with a fantastic
understanding of the optical market is certainly a blow to
Nortel," said Mark Quigley, research director at telecom
consultancy, Yankee Group in Canada.
Khatod was responsible for charting Nortel's optical
technology and marketing strategies and was seen as a key
player in Nortel's optical division, an area that along with
wireless is viewed as a high growth area for the company.
Nortel executives are finding little incentive to stay at
the beleaguered company now that their stock options are mostly
under water, said Quigley. In June, Nortel said it would
re-price nearly 11 million employee stock options, although
officers and directors cannot participate in the program.
Other key executives have resigned or signaled their
intention to quit in recent months as Nortel wrestles with
shrinking demand for its optical equipment that moves and
manages data traffic over communications networks.
The company is now searching for Roth's successor, and
although Roth told Reuters in a recent interview that there are
internal and external candidates, analysts believe Nortel must
hire from outside to get someone with the necessary level of
experience.
Clarence Chandran, who was pegged as Roth's most likely
successor, resigned in May due to medical reasons.
Other officers who have left in recent months include
Khatod's predecessor William Connor, who took the chief
executive post at Nortel spin-off Entrust Technologies Inc.
Bill Hawe, Nortel's chief technology officer resigned in
February. And Don Smith, who headed Nortel's Optical Internet
Solutions unit before Khatod, quit in June to head Mitel
Networks.
Nortel said in mid-June that it plans to take a $17.5
billion charge in its second-quarter to account for inventory
and bad debts, as well as the writing down acquisitions
that were purchased at inflated prices.
Shares of Nortel were up 59 Canadian cents at C$13.25 on
the Toronto Stock Exchange on Friday, and in New York the
shares rose 1 percent or 41 cents to $8.63 in a good day for
technology stocks with the Nasdaq up more than 1.4 percent at
2104.80.
Nortel's shares, now trading at about one-tenth of their
September 2000 high of C$124.5O, have underperformed their
peers, with Lucent Technologies Inc. down 83 percent and
Cisco Systems Inc. off 72 percent in the same period.
A Nortel spokesman said Khatod, who will be replaced
"shortly", will announce his plans later.
($1=$1.54 Canadian)
REUTERS
Rtr 14:26 07-13-01 |
