OCTOBER 16, 2009 -- Ciena Corp. has won court approval to start bidding on Nortel Networks' optical and Ethernet division. Ciena's initial offer includes $390 million in cash and 10 million shares of Ciena stock.
Bankruptcy court judges in Delaware and Ontario were initially unhappy with the amount Ciena would be paid if its plan to buy the Nortel unit was unsuccessful but gave the bid process the green light on Thursday, October 15.
The Optical Networking business includes some of its most prized businesses units, intellectual properties, and employees.
Ciena has agreed to offer jobs to at least 2,000 employees, nearly doubling the size of the Maryland-based company's global work force.
The Toronto-based Nortel has been selling off its global operations piece by piece after seeking court protection from creditors in January 2009.
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