Alcatel-Lucent To Cut 12,500 Blames A Change Of Spending Habits Since December As Cause

From an AP article printed in Forbes.com

Last year Lucent Technologies Inc. and Alcatel SA merged and this year their cutting 12,500 jobs from a worldwide base of 79,000 in 130 countries or almost 16% of their staff.

Lucent was the equipment manufacturing arm of AT&T, and was spun off in 1996. Last year they merged with Alcatel SA, a French Corporation, and became Alcatel Lucent. The deal was not finalized until December 1, 2006 and 11 weeks later they claim that the reductions are because “competition for wireless phones and a shift in North American telecoms spending habits.” All that happened in less than 3 months.

Press release for 2006 financial results and “synergy plan”: Alcatel-Lucent reports fourth quarter and full year 2006 results
Press release sites 1,462 cuts planned for France: Alcatel-Lucent announces restructuring plan for France

Anyone care to guess where the majority of the cuts will be.