Nortel posts $2.14B loss in Q4

Nortel Networks, as it continues to wade through bankruptcy protection, posted a $2.14 billion loss in the fourth quarter and a $5.8 billion loss for all of 2008.

The Canadian telecommunications equipment vendor, which filed for bankruptcy in mid-January, had revenues in the quarter of $2.72 billion, down 15 percent from the year-ago period. For the full year, revenues were $10.42 billion, down 5 percent from 2007.

The company did not hold a conference call with investors, and said it could not have projections for the rest of 2009 "due to limited industry visibility, continued global economic uncertainty and work taking place on a comprehensive restructuring plan under Nortel's creditor protection filings."

Nortel also said that CFO Pavi Binning was named chief restructuring officer. The company has until May 1 to reorganize its debt and restructure, and has been cutting costs. The company said last week that it would lay off an additional 3,200 more workers.

The company is also in talks with the Delaware federal bankruptcy court handling Nortel's case to authorize $45 million in "incentive pay" to 92 executives and 880 employees in an effort to retain them. It is not know whether CEO Mike Zafirovski is among them. The court must approve that spending, and a hearing is scheduled for March 5. 

For more:
- see this article [1]
- see this release [2]
- see this article [3] on executive retention bonuses

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