Md. Firm's Workers Grin and Bear It
By Mark Leibovich
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 15, 1998; Page C01
Their new BMWs and aging pickup trucks lined Route 176 yesterday like
a lunchtime funeral procession. They were coming to mark the Death of a
Deal.
Most of Ciena Corp.'s 1,500 employees convened at a Glen Burnie
function hall at 1 p.m. for an all-hands meeting where chief executive
Patrick H. Nettles formally told them the company's planned merger with
Tellabs Inc. of Illinois was off. His words sparked a combination of
sadness and relief that what they had long expected had finally come true.
When the deal was first announced on June 3, Tellabs agreed to pay $7
billion for Ciena, and many of the Linthicum firm's employee-owners stood
to reap large portions of stock market wealth in the deal. But in recent
weeks, as their company's stock price went into powered descent, they've
learned the lesson that fortunes are lost as well as made in the new
technology industry.
On June 3, Matt Rouiller's stake in the company was worth about
$65,000, and the 25-year-old electronics technician was talking about
putting the money toward buying his first house. Now, with the deal off and
Ciena trading at just over $13, Rouiller's stock is worth about $10,000, he
said.
Like many of his fellow Ciena workers, he said he's "thrilled" that the
acquisition was finally terminated. Ciena is a place where people often feel
loyalty and personal engagement. For one thing, the company has a stock
ownership program for all employees.
Barbara Dulin, a 55-year-old technician in Ciena's customer service
division, came to the meeting in her white lab coat and spoke with a
reporter about the family atmosphere at the company.
She said she was upset that the Ciena name would have ceased to exist if
the merger had gone through and applauded when Nettles announced it
was off. "If we couldn't get a great price, we might as well still be Ciena,"
Dulin said. "Now we will be."
Until last month, Ciena was hailed as a trophy of the Washington area's
technology boom. The four-year-old Linthicum firm makes advanced
equipment that helps phone companies increase the capacity of their
networks. Long-distance giants WorldCom Inc. and Sprint Corp. raved
about its products.
After the June 3 merger announcement, some Ciena people spoke of
cashing in their fattened stock options, buying new cars, taking dream
vacations, maybe retiring early.
But as fast as the company soared, the deal fell apart, as AT&T Corp.
announced that it wouldn't buy the company's equipment and competition
heated up.
At the workplace, distractions mounted, frustration set in, purchases were
postponed. Drops in the company's stock price led Tellabs to insist on
marking the price it would pay down to about $4 billion. "It's been hard to
concentrate recently," said Wayne Stanley, a technician in Ciena's
engineering division.
Mixed in with the sadness and relief yesterday was some anger, directed
mostly at AT&T, which Ciena officials say rejected their equipment on the
day Ciena and Tellabs shareholders were to vote on the merger. Most
Ciena employees believe that killed the deal.
When Nettles mentioned "our friends at AT&T," the ballroom erupted into
boos and hisses. Throughout his half-hour presentation, Nettles rallied the
ranks by invoking this common enemy. "We're going to get mad and get
even," he said of AT&T. "We're going to supply the features they didn't
want to their competition."
A group of employees seated under a gold chandelier broke into war
whoops.
"We can live without them," Nettles continued. "There are many businesses
who have done very well without a single nickel of revenue from AT&T."
Afterward, in an upstairs lounge, a group of Ciena employees were
flaunting their anti-AT&T credentials. Stanley proudly told of how he had
canceled his AT&T long-distance service last week. Kelly Prosise did,
too.
Cheryl Sheckells, who works in the company's manufacturing office in
Savage, said she returned her AT&T phone to the store.
"They are just idiots," Rouiller said about the timing of AT&T's notification
that it wasn't interested in Ciena equipment. "What they did to us was
totally uncalled for."
Outside, another engineer said he looked forward to a return to business
as usual. "All the talk of deal-making and stock prices and getting rich
never seemed real," said the engineer, who asked not to be identified
because his boss had warned him not to speak to the press.
"In the end, this is my job and I try to do my best. The other stuff can drive
you crazy if you let it."
(John - gotta answer you're question later. Gotta run for now.) |
