Nortel

Nortel Networks Corporation, formerly Northern Telecom Limited, was a Canadian multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. It was founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1895 as the Northern Electric and Manufacturing Company, or simply Northern Electric. Until an antitrust settlement in 1949, Northern Electric was owned mostly by Bell Canada and the Western Electric Company of the Bell System, producing large volumes of telecommunications equipment based on licensed Western Electric designs. At its height, Nortel accounted for more than a third of the total valuation of all companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), employing 94,500 people worldwide. In 2009, Nortel filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada and the United States, triggering a 79% decline in its corporate stock price. The bankruptcy case was the largest in Canadian history and left pensioners, shareholders, and former employees with enormous losses. By 2016, Nortel had sold billions of dollars in assets. Courts in the US and Canada approved a negotiated settlement of bankruptcy proceedings in 2017.