Prabhu Did Not Want A Move To Paris
Senior Executive Based in North Texas to leave Alcatel in August
RELATED SYMBOLS: (ALA)
Jul 27, 2001 (The Dallas Morning News - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via
COMTEX) -- Krish Prabhu, one of the most senior telecommunications executives
based in North Texas, said Thursday he would step down as chief operating
officer of Alcatel SA to spend more time with his family.
The news came on the same day that Alcatel posted a loss of $2.7 billion or
$2.40 a share for the second quarter on revenue of $5.9 billion, in line with
analysts expectations. Alcatel's American depositary receipts closed up 82 cents
to $15.82.
Mr. Prabhu will join the French company's board of directors when he resigns
from his management role at the end of August. He plans to advise and shepherd
several Dallas-area telecommunications start-ups.
Mr. Prabhu, 46, was widely expected to succeed Alcatel's chairman and chief
executive Serge Tchuruk. His departure comes as the company and industry cope
with a dramatic downturn and less than two months after a planned Alcatel-Lucent
Technologies Inc. merger fell apart.
The executives have discussed succession, but Mr. Prabhu said he was not ready
to move his family to France.
"I think it's unrealistic to think one could lead this company without moving to
Paris," Mr. Prabhu said. "You have to be based in Paris. That's the biggest
problem. I had never looked at it as any other problem."
"For years, Krish has been instrumental in driving the transition of Alcatel
from a conglomerate into a leading global telecom networking company," Mr.
Tchuruk said in a written statement. "We certainly respect and support his
decision."
Mr. Prabhu said in the last six years, on average, he has been spending more
than half of each month on the road, mostly for long trips to Europe, Asia and
Latin America. He has a daughter in college and two teenage sons at home.
"It gives me a lot of time to be with my kids and not travel a lot as I have
been," Mr. Prabhu said.
Mr. Prabhu came to Alcatel in 1991 when it bought Rockwell International's
network transmission division. The native of India had previously worked at AT&T
Corp.'s prestigious Bell Laboratories, where he was a senior member of the
technical staff. He has had a series of promotions since he joined Alcatel.
Mr. Prabhu's departure is one of several high-profile resignations at
telecommunications companies in the last year. Both Nortel Networks Corp. and
Lucent are looking for chief executives.
Nortel president and chief executive John Roth plans to retire in April and his
heir apparent, chief operating officer Clarence Chandran, resigned in May
because of health problems.
Lucent chief executive Henry Schacht was appointed to his post in October after
the company ousted Rich McGinn. Mr. Schacht, who headed Lucent before Mr.
McGinn, has said he is searching for a permanent replacement.
Analysts and industry officials had said Mr. Prabhu would be a worthy candidate
for either job.
"I have always felt that those kind of opportunities are interesting, but there
is always a time for it," Mr. Prabhu said. "At this point in time, my priorities
are my personal commitments to my family."
Alcatel finds itself in a better position than Nortel or Lucent, because Mr.
Tchuruk, 63, is not expected to retire soon, said Syed Haider, an analyst at
Frost Securities in Dallas. "There are definitely vacuums there" at Nortel and
Lucent.
Mr. Prabhu hopes to spend the next six to nine months working with several area
start-ups, helping them raise money and develop products.
"I kind of look at this as grandparenting and not parenting," Mr. Prabhu said.
He plans to decide in six to nine months if he'll continue working with the
start-ups or pursue other avenues. In either case, Mr. Prabhu sees himself
staying in the Dallas area.
"I have been in this area for 17 years, except two years," he said. "I have got
fairly deep roots."
The region's concentration of telecommunications workers has made it a fertile
ground for entrepreneurs, and Mr. Prabhu says he is eager to lend his support.
"There is a lot of money out there, and there are people with a lot of ideas,
and there are people that are out of jobs right now," he said.
Alcatel said Thursday that by the end of the year it will have cut 14,000
full-time jobs and 4,000 contract workers. Another 2,000 people will be
transferred in outsourcing arrangements. About 1,400 North Texas employees have
been cut this year.
Mr. Prabhu is already involved with fund-raising activities at the University of
Texas at Dallas and entrepreneurs groups.
"He has tremendous experience," said Hasan Pirkul, dean of UTD's management
school. "I think he will be wonderful in that role."
By Vikas Bajaj
To see more of The Dallas Morning News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to dallasnews.com
(c) 2001, The Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
-0-
(Public Company & Wall Street & Business)
A service of the Financial Data Cast Network (FDCN) and
Window On WallStreet Inc. |
