After filing for bankruptcy, voices around Toronto are calling for Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski to take a pay cut and dump his perks. In 2007, Zafirovski made a base salary of $1.2 million, plus stock and options, despite the fact the company lost nearly $1 billion for the year, and the stock price fell nearly 55 percent.
During Zafirovski`s tenure, Nortel has lost nearly $7 billion, despite a restructuring and reorganization that has resulted in thousands of job cuts. Compounding matters, Nortel paid millions to get Zafirovski to come to the company and another $11.5 million to settle a lawsuit with former employer Motorola.
In 2007 - we`re waiting on 2008 - Zafirovski`s comp package was valued at more than $10 million, a 22 percent increase over 2006. Somehow, he made money on stock and option awards during the period, even though Nortel shares had fallen nearly 55 percent in the same time frame.
Others think Zafirovski is going to get a severance package, and Nortel will be broken up and sold off; one professor at McMaster University`s DeGroote School of Business thinks the Nortel brand will "disappear in the next six months."
