Outgoing Telstra Corp chief executive Ziggy Switkowski leaves the company in July and business pundits are already speculating whether the Asian investments which helped lose him his job will outlast his tenure.
Mr Switkowski was personally associated with two highly criticised Hong Kong investments - one in mobile operator CSL and the other in the Reach data venture with PCCW, which, at the most recent count, have cost the company about A$3 billion ($17.83 billion) since 2000 and have played a large part in the 40 per cent slide in the value of Telstra's shares.
In 2000, Telstra was broadcasting its ambitions to derive as much as 25 per cent of its A$4 billion or so annual profit from Asia and, despite early write-downs - which should have set off the alarm bells - Mr Switkowski still told the company's 2001 annual general meeting that Reach and CSL positioned Telstra 'really well' for regional growth.
At the meeting, Mr Switkowski was also bullish about a deal to 'explore business opportunities' with China's No2 mobile carrier, China Unicom - an alliance which has been quietly buried.
Now, the major focus of Telstra's international business - rather unconvincingly renamed Telstra Asia - is to piggy-back on opportunities from the company's status as official technical adviser for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Any positive spin-offs from that are likely to be years in the making and are unlikely to diminish the harsh judgments on Mr Switkowski's Asian adventure.