France's Alcatel buys Lucent Technologies

PARIS, April 3 (UPI) -- France's Alcatel SA is buying Lucent Technologies Inc. in an all-stock deal that leaves a U.S. executive running the combined Paris-based entity.

Lucent Chief Executive Officer Patricia Russo, 53, will assume the same post in the Paris-based combination; Alcatel's chief executive, 68-year-old Serge Tchuruk, will become the company's chairman.

Annual revenues are estimated at $25 billion, and some 8,800 employees or about 10 percent of the companies' combined global workforce will lose jobs, the companies said in a joint statement released Monday.

The board of directors of the combined company will be composed of 14 members and will have equal representation from each company, including Tchuruk and Russo, five of Alcatel's current directors and five of Lucent's current directors. The board will also include two independent European directors to be mutually agreed upon.