Nortel: Mike Z. Says He Deserves $12.2M From Company

Let’s say you’re the ex-CEO of one of telecom’s once-most venerable companies. But your inept and misguided leadership pushed what was left of said company into bankruptcy. You resigned – far too late, if pensioners’ and employees’ opinions mean anything – and did so with no guarantee of a severance or pension package. Yes, that stinks but wouldn’t you feel like a tool if you thought you deserved money before all your hard-working current staff and retirees got theirs?

Apparently, Mike Zafirovski has no such qualms.

The now-former CEO of Nortel Networks Corp. has decided he deserves $12.2 million in compensation from the equipment maker. Where and how he expects to get this money – he’s another in a very long line of creditors – is a mystery.

As Mark Evans at All About Nortel discovered, Zafirovski recently told a U.S. bankruptcy court he wants:

Zafirovski also calls for another, unknown chunk of money for being named in a class-action lawsuit.

We are at a loss for words over Zafirovski’s claim except to say that this is truly tool-like behavior.