CEO fired, financial reporting postponed

Wednesday, April 28, 2004 | 9:07 a.m.

NEW YORK -- Nortel Networks Corp. fired its CEO, Frank Dunn, and two other top executives today and said it would delay reporting its first quarter earnings.

The telecom equipment maker also said its audit committee was reviewing its previously reported financial results for the past three years. The company said it would restate 2003 earnings, reducing the year's profit by about 50 percent.

Nortel, based in Brampton, Ontario, also terminated its chief financial officer, Douglas Beatty, and controller, Michael Gollogly, both of whom had been put on paid leave of absence March 15.

The company said it put another four senior financial executives on paid leaves of absence Wednesday "pending further progress of the independent review."

Shares of Nortel fell $1.59, or more than 28 percent, to $4.05 in early morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

William Owens has been appointed president and chief executive officer of the company.

Both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Ontario Securities Commission have launched formal probes of Nortel's accounting, the company disclosed early this month.

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