Tellium gets smaller still, Redback cuts again, and a Zhone-Corona deal may be on the rocks

November 11, 2002

4 Min Read
Headcount: Shopping, Lifting, Moving On

The elections have come and gone, and Headcount thinks it may take an act of Congress to get calls back from shrinking companies. Of course, the intrigue only makes things more fun for Headcount, who takes to a mystery like Winona to an armful of fresh threads.

So here's a roundup of recent hirings and firings -- free for the taking:

  • Strange things are afoot at Corona Networks Inc., as we noted last week (see Headcount: Scary Times Continue ). Sources say the company cut its staff to about 70 people (from 115) last week. Its office lease and cash run out at the end of the month.

    Corona was close to selling itself to Zhone Technologies Inc., a deal that was suggested by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), an investor in both companies, sources say. They claim a new term sheet was making the rounds and Zhone managers were already kicking tires and deciding which Corona folks they should keep. However, Corona was also working to close a technology development deal with Alcatel SA (NYSE: ALA; Paris: CGEP:PA), similar to the one Redback Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: RBAK) nearly nabbed some time ago (see Redback, Alcatel Close to Alliance).

    Evidently, something went awry and sources say Corona asked the Zhone folks to leave, at which point Zhone pulled the plug on its offer. Now Corona has no birds in hand and none in the bush, either. Will NEA figure out a way to patch things up? Will Corona be forced to go it alone? Unfortunately, the folks from Corona and NEA are dodging calls, but neither side can hide from Headcount's sources. Stay tuned.

  • Doug Dickerson, a former entrepreneur-in-residence (EIR) at InterWest Partners and CenterPoint Venture Partners, is now VP of marketing and sales at Cyneta Networks Inc., an equipment company making content switches for wireless networks. Before his EIR job, Dickerson was VP of marketing and business development at Chorum Technologies Inc.

    Headcount wonders if Doug will miss carrying EIR business cards from two different firms, which gave him better odds at winning the weekly free lunch drawing at area delis.

  • Redback Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: RBAK) confirmed last week that it has cut staff to 585 from 711. The cuts were across the board and worldwide, the company says. Headcount notes that with the newly emptied desks, Redback's empire of unused office space continues to swell (see Real Estate Nightmare).

  • Tellium Inc. (Nasdaq: TELM) is still shedding staff at an alarming rate, we hear. The company won't call us back, but its SEC filings show that Tellium has cut staff by about 40 percent since March 2002. During its latest conference call, Tellium managers said the company employs 321, which is down 213 from its March 2002 headcount of 534.

  • Headcount sources say Cenix Inc. has cut more than 30 employees from both its Allentown, Pa., and Irvine, Calif., offices. "The Irvine office will eventually be closed and any employees remaining in the office must relocate... if they wish to keep their jobs," writes one former Cenix worker. Cenix won't return phone calls, but we wonder whether relocating to chase a job at a shrinking startup is as much fun as catching a falling knife.

  • Juniper Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: JNPR) insiders complain to Headcount that the company is chopping heads with wild abandon and no one's reporting it.

    The reality is a tad less dramatic. In July, Juniper said it would cut 10 percent of the combined Juniper/Unisphere entity. The combined company employed about 1,800 people, Juniper says.

    On its last earnings call, Juniper announced a headcount of 1,658, a figure it said would remain flat. Despite what Juniper said on its call, the company could still cut another 40 or so jobs and stay within its original guidance.

    Ah, there's a comforting bit of math for a Monday. Aspirin, anyone?

  • Bill Diamond, president and CEO, split from WaveSplitter Technologies Inc. about three weeks ago. Diamond had been at the company since June 2000, and his duties are now being handled by founder Sheau Sheng Chen. Also gone is CFO Bruce Pollock, who recently joined Avanex Corp. (Nasdaq: AVNX) (see Avanex Gets New CFO). Bob Shine, Wavesplitter's director of marketing, won't divulge Wavesplitter's headcount. "It’s certainly less that it was last year," he says.

    Following are a few more recent appointments (and disappointments) that caught our attention:

    • Oplink 'Restructures' Half Its Staff

    • NanoOpto Shuffles Board

    • Telia CEO Quits Board

    • Essient Hires Director of Engineering

    • ChipWrights Hires Finke

    • VPIsystems Appoints New Prez

    • FT's CEO to Chair Orange

    Now it's your turn. If there's a significant hiring or firing that was missing from this column, send a tip to [email protected].

    If you notice that anything else is missing, you might check Winona's closet.

    — Phil Harvey and Marguerite Reardon, Senior Editors, Light Reading
    www.lightreading.com

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