Nortel, Corning, and the $100B Deal That Wasn’t

Jerry Rawls, CEO of Finisar (FNSR), recounts the talks between Nortel (NT)  and Corning (GLW) to sell Nortel’s optical component business. This is a hallmark story of the bubble.

… The crazy thing is Corning, in ’99, had offered Nortel $100B in cash to buy this division. They turned it down because they thought it was not enough money. Now, in two quarters, their sales dropped from $1.4B to $23M. It was a crash that nobody could manage their way out of, all you could do was try to unload it, get rid of the division and make somebody else deal with it.

I believe Jerry mispoke - the deal was publicly discussed to be a stock swap where Corning would tender shares to Nortel, and it was in the summer of 2000. Even in the most alternative reality universe I don’t think a company could find $100B in cash to