Avaya CEO: ‘I Hate That Shareholders and Employees Lost Money’

Avaya CEO Alan Masarek has said it was tough to see shareholders and employees lose out through its recent bankruptcy process. 

The vendor’s financial restructuring saw lenders become shareholders in exchange for wiping our billions of dollars in debt – meaning previous shareholders’ stock became worthless. These shareholders included many Avaya employees.  

• UC Today’s Editor in Chief David Dungay spoke exclusively to Masarek at Channel Partners in Las Vegas. Watch the Full interview here 

“There have been a lot of tough decisions,” he said. “You don’t go into an in-court restructuring half measure because it has a consequence. 

“The stockholders, pre-filing, were eliminated, which is very bittersweet for me. It’s great that we were able to eliminate billions of dollar of debt, but I hate that stockholders, some of whom were employees, lost their money. 

“These types of transformations have difficult decisions embedded in them.” 

Masarek also acknowledged Avaya’s recent layoffs, explaining that the vendor did it as transparently and respectfully as possible. 

He added that the healing process is now underway, with the concept of trust central to Avaya’s future. 

“I actually think trust is at a very high level,” he said. “Even though we’ve had these fairly large cost reductions in terms of the quantity of staff, I still feel that there’s a spring in everybody’s step.” 

Masarek covered a host of subjects during the in-depth interview including: 

• Avaya’s new approach to customer experience 
• The Revamped partnership with RingCentral 
• Future acquisitions and a potential return to the stock market 

Watch the full interview here