By Mark Evans
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

It’s a troubling sign of the times in the profit-squeezed telecom equipment maker as Nortel Networks is selling its corporate headquarters in suburban Toronto to Rogers Communications, Canada’s largest wireless carrier, for $84-million. The deal makes sense for both sides: Nortel gets rid of a facility it no longer needs and pockets some much-needed cash, while Rogers gets the space it needs to accomodate growth spurred by two large acquisitions (Microcell Telecommunications and Call-Net Enterprises) and a move into the cable telephony market. You wonder if this will move will change where new Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski will live given he said last week he planned to move to Toronto next summer – that is if Motorola and Mike Z. can work out a deal over that troublesome two-year non-compete clause he signed in January in return for a $16.8-million severance package.

We Say: Maybe Nortel can use the money to make some much-needed moves such as pumping money into R&D or a strategic acquisition. It could also help Mike Z. wiggle out of his non-compete by compensating its CEO for any cash he needs to hand back to Motorola.

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