Canada Prefers Cash, not Elephants, Actually.

Danie Roy

As you may recall, I recently posted an article about Nortel’s sale of its patent portfolio for $4.5 billion. Or 12.5 solid gold elephants, if you prefer.

Right now it appears as though the deal will definitely go through. Apparently, Canada (Nortel’s homeland) won’t review the sale before letting it happen. Why? Apparently because the patents were valued at less than $328 million.

Now, for those of you at home keeping track of the elephants, $328 million is, roughly, a single gold elephant on the smallish side. So…what happened?

If I knew, I’d tell you. The value of the patents on the books was apparently less than $328 million. So I see four possible scenarios: 1)whoever was in charge of the books didn’t know the value of the intellectual property, 2)Nortel is a REALLY good salesman, 3)the patents were valued on a scale like cost to acquire, or 4)Canada does not recognize the solid gold elephant as legal tender.

I’m going to lean towards 3 on this one. Anyone with any wireless communication experience will tell you that Nortel’s portfolio is probably worth the price tag. Even if it is 12.5 solid gold elephants.