THE COSTLIEST PATENT SALE
A former tech highflier in the 1990s, Nortel at its peak had more than 95,000 employees and a market capitalization of nearly $300 billion.
Nortel grew too quickly and overpaid for acquisitions. Nortel filed for bankruptcy protection in January 2009 and started the sale of its assets.
Nortel’s patent portfolio was auctioned in 2011. The final cash price was surprisingly high $4.5 billion, for around 6000 patents and patent applications.
Nortel described the package as:
“… more than 6,000 patents and patent applications [covering] wireless, wireless 4G, data networking, optical, voice, Internet, service provider, semiconductors and other patents.”
