Nortel's bankruptcy 10 years on — what was lost

On Jan. 13, 2009, nearly a dozen board members of Nortel Networks gathered in a small office building near Toronto’s international airport. They had already deliberated for days about the wisdom of taking their next, history-altering step.
Their company, Canada’s iconic builder of telecommunications networks, was scheduled two days later to make a $107-million interest payment on its debt (all figures U.S.). Although Nortel had more than $2 billion in cash on hand, much of it was hel