Wanted: New Alcatel-Lucent leaders to fix merger debacle

Alcatel-Lucent said chairman Serge Tchuruk and CEO Patricia Russo--the architects of the 2006 merger that formed the company--are out.

The Alcatel-Lucent merger hasn't gone so hot and both Tchuruk and Russo get the blame. The networking company, which was bulked up when Alcatel and Lucent merged, couldn't compete with Cisco.

Tchuruk will step down Oct. 1 and Russo may hang around until the end of the year until the company finds a new CEO. The board has started a search so if you're a CEO type who thinks you can bridge a U.S.-France cultural divide, manage a multinational and can catch Cisco go for it.

Oh yeah and turning up this stock chart would be a help too.

Despite this rather ugly stock chart, Tchuruk said in a statement:

"The merger phase is now behind us. I am proud that Alcatel-Lucent has become a world leader in a technology which is transforming our society. It is now time that the company acquires a personality of its own, independent from its two predecessors."

Russo said the company is "demonstrating good operational progress." Specifically, Lucent's second quarter revenue (statement) fell 5.2 percent to 4.1 billion euro and a net loss of 1.1 million euro. Adjusted income, excluding a goodwill charge, was 93 million euro. In the second quarter, a key customer in North America cut back on capital spending.

The company noted:

During the second quarter of 2008, the CDMA activity declined at a higher pace than the company had planned. This was due, to a large extent, to a strong reduction in the capital expenditure of a key customer in North America. Although there are new opportunities in other geographic areas, the uncertainty regarding spending in North America has led the company to take more cautious mid-term assumptions in this activity.