Alcatel-Lucent S.A. (French pronunciation: [alkatɛl lysɛnt]) was a French global telecommunications equipment company, headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt, France. As of January 2016, the company is part of Nokia.[1]
The company focused on fixed, mobile and converged networking hardware, IP technologies, software and services, with operations in more than 130 countries. It had been named Industry Group Leader for Technology Hardware & Equipment sector in the 2014 Dow Jones Sustainability Indices review[3] and listed in the 2014 Thomson Reuters Top 100 Global Innovators for the 4th consecutive year.[4] Alcatel-Lucent also owned Bell Laboratories, one of the largest research and development facilities in the communications industry, whose employees have been awarded eight Nobel Prizes and the company holds in excess of 29,000 patents.
Alcatel-Lucent's chief executive officer was Michel Combes and the non-executive chairman of the board was Philippe Camus. Camus joined the company in the third quarter of 2008, alongside Ben Verwaayen as CEO, after Alcatel-Lucent's first CEO Patricia Russo and first chairman Serge Tchuruk resigned.[5] For 2010, the company had revenues of €16 billion and a reported net loss of €334 million.[6] For 2011, revenues were €15 billion, net loss of €1.1 billion. For 2012, revenues were €14.4 billion and net loss of €1.4 billion.[7] After seven consecutive years of negative cash flows, in October 2013 the company announced plans to slash 10,000 employees, or 14% of the total current 72,000 workforce, as a part of a €1 billion cost reduction effort.[8]
In June 2013, Michel Combes announced "The Shift Plan",[9] a three-year plan including portfolio refocusing on IP networking, ultra-broadband access and cloud; 1 billion Euro in cost savings; selective asset sales intended to generate at least 1 billion Euro over the period of the plan and the restructuring of the Group's debt. On October 1, 2014, it announced that it had closed the sale of its subsidiary Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise to China Huaxin Post & Telecommunication Economy Development Center.