Article: Ciena Sees Its Chance; Despite a Major Merger Failure, The No. 3 Fiber-Optics Firm Goes on a Growth Spurt

On Sept. 14, 1998, around 3 p.m., Steffen Koehler and a hundred of his colleagues at Ciena Corp. gathered in the cafeteria for what was supposed to be a raucous celebration of the fiber-optics company's $4 billion merger with Tellabs Inc.

Instead, it turned into a somber, 30-minute event, during which the company's top officials explained why the deal was aborted that morning, sending Ciena's market value on a tailspin to $1 billion from $8 billion in a matter of weeks.

"I can't believe this, what does this mean?" then-systems engineer Koehler and his colleagues asked each other in shock. They all had hoped to become wealthy on the Ciena stock options they held. Koehler, now Ciena's director ...

Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles:

 
 
Newsweek Harper's Magazine The Washington Post Chicago Tribune Crain's Chicago Business PRNewswire Pediatric News The Nation Advertising Age The Economist (US) A FREE trial gives you access to over 80 million articles! Access over 6,500 publications with a FREE trial!