By Joey Gardiner, 14 May 2001 11:42
NEWS It confirmed previous plans for CEO John Roth to step down in April 2002. More surprising was the news that COO Clarence Chandran has retired for medical reasons. Chandran was widely seen as the obvious successor to Roth, but has had serious health problems since being the victim of a stabbing attack in Singapore in 1997. Currently on leave of absence following medical advice, he said it would be unfair to leave the company in limbo any longer, and has decided to retire. In a statement, Nortel made it clear it is immediately starting a search for a CEO to succeed Roth, as Chandran's departure has scotched plans for a smooth transition. The news comes at a tough time for Nortel, which has been hit hard by the current downturn in IT spending and the telecoms market. It has already announced it will lay off 20,000 of its staff - a fifth of the company - in order to cut costs. Late last week Nortel backed out of the DSL market, just a year after the high-profile, $778m acquisition of Promatory Communications which makes DSL technology.
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