Loss-making Alcatel-Lucent Dumps CEO and Chairman - Culture Shock
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CULTURE SHOCK
Russo jetted into her job in Paris filled with American corporate convictions that flew in the face of French culture.
She promised shareholders she would learn to speak French but did not have time to master the language.
Tchuruk, born in November 1937, is a former arms engineer with
Armenian parents in Marseilles who climbed the corporate ladder to
become head of oil group Total before joining Alcatel in 1996.
A tireless strategist, he engineered a restructuring of the
sprawling Alcatel empire into the core telecoms activities, a defense
branch that became part of Thales and the Alstom industrial engineering
group.
His departure is likely to reopen speculation over the future of
Alcatel's large stake in Thales, which Tchuruk had, according to
sources close to the matter, wanted to keep. Thales shares fell 3.2
percent.
The merger with Lucent was meant to crown his career as it pulled
the equipment firm back to the front line of global competition with
Nortel, Nokia Siemens Networks and Ericsson.
"It is now time that the company acquires a personality of its own,
independent from its two predecessors," Tchuruk said in statement.
Alcatel-Lucent said both Tchuruk and Russo had decided themselves to
quit. It said the board would look for a new non-executive Chairman and
CEO immediately.
(Additional reporting by Tarmo Virki in Helsinki, Jessica Mead, Julien Toyer, Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Louise Ireland)
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