Nortel Networks Corporation, formerly known as Northern Telecom Limited, Northern Electric and sometimes known simply as Nortel, was a multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer headquartered in Mi...
See More ssissauga, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in Montreal, Quebec in 1895 as the Northern Electric and Manufacturing Company. At its height, Nortel accounted for more than a third of the total valuation of all the companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), employing 94,500 people worldwide.Nortel's 2009 bankruptcy case—the largest in Canadian history—left pensioners, shareholders and former employees with enormous losses while Nortel executives continued to draw "retention bonuses" totaling $190M US during the eight-year post-bankruptcy period. Nortel had filed for protection from its creditors in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in January 2009. In June 2009, the company announced it would cease operations and sell off all of its business units. The period of bankruptcy protection was extended to February 2, 2013. As part of the bankruptcy proceedings in the United States, Nortel Networks Inc. publishes monthly operating reports outlining cash receipts and disbursements. By 2016 Nortel had sold billions of dollars worth of assets. Courts in the U.S. and Canada approved a negotiated settlement of bankruptcy proceedings in 2017.HistoryOriginsAlexander Graham Bell conceived the technical aspects of the telephone and invented it in July 1874, while residing with his parents at their farm in Tutela Heights, on the outskirts of Brantford, Ontario. He later refined its design at Brantford after producing his first working prototype in Boston. Canada's first telephone factory, created by James Cowherd of Brantford, was a three-story brick building that soon started manufacturing telephones for the Bell System, leading to the city's style as The Telephone City.