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Technology Stocks : Lucent Technologies (LU) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: elmatador who wrote (20690)	8/24/2002 8:45:25 AM
From: sylvester80	Respond to of 21876

Lucent Reportedly Mulls a 10% Work-Force Reduction biz.yahoo.com Dow Jones Business News Lucent Reportedly Mulls a 10% Work-Force Reduction Friday August 23, 2:15 pm ET By Dennis K. Berman, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal NEW YORK -- Lucent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:LU - News) is likely to cut another 10% of its work force, according to a person familiar with the company's planning. ADVERTISEMENT Beset by bankruptcies and financial woes at its carrier customers, Lucent's headcount is expected to be about 40,000 sometime in 2003. The company currently employs around 50,000, and it has already announced plans to reduce 5,000 of those jobs by year-end. At the peak of the telecommunications boom in 2000, Lucent employed 155,000 people. Lucent, Murray Hill, N.J., is coming off a brutal fiscal third quarter, as orders for its equipment and services didn't hold up to already-reduced expectations. For the three months ending June 30, Lucent posted a $7.91 billion loss on revenue of $2.95 billion. Previously, the company said it could break even at around $3.5 billion in quarterly sales. But the telecom market is now entering a new phase of constriction, bringing spending levels to lows not seen since the early and mid-1990s. New capital- expenditure reductions have rippled across the industry, from such leading, and once-reliable spenders as WorldCom Inc. , Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE:Q - News) and Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - News) Inc. . Under this pressure, Lucent officials said in July that they have no choice but to reduce the break-even level closer to $3 billion. "At our earnings announcement we said we were working to further reduce our breakeven, and that might result in additional cuts," Lucent spokeswoman Kathleen Fitzgerald said. "While I can't speculate on an exact number, it will be done in a way to ensure we have the products to serve customers." The cuts are just the latest installment in what has been a two-year restructuring plan at the company. So far, however, Lucent hasn't been able to get ahead of the market, having posted nine straight unprofitable quarters. A person familiar with the company's plans says that Lucent is still trying to improve its "quote to cash" ratios, which is company slang for the efficiency with which employees "quote" rates, fill orders, and finally get "cash" in the door. The new cuts are likely to draw significantly from such back-office processing jobs. Lucent executives, meanwhile, have already shown a willingness to cut or scaleback some of the firm's most high-profile technology developments. In recent weeks, Lucent has halted development of the LambdaRouter, a high-capacity optical devices that switches telecom traffic. The company once made the LambdaRouter one of its most highly-touted products, but company officials have conceded that there is now little market for the device.

To: elmatador who wrote (20690)	8/24/2002 8:49:45 AM
From: sylvester80	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 21876

Lucent calls report of 15,000 job cuts "ludicrous." I think 10% would be more like the street.com ludicrous 25-30%. I think LU is looking for headcount between 39k-41K. JMHO. biz.yahoo.com Reuters Business Report Lucent Says Extent of Job Cuts Unknown Friday August 23, 6:29 pm ET CHICAGO (Reuters) - Lucent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:LU - News) plans to cut more jobs to reduce expenses, but it said on Friday that any layoffs would be on a smaller scale than the 15,000 job cuts reported by a financial news Web site. TheStreet.com reported that Lucent is planning another round of job cuts that could reduce the telecommunications equipment maker's work force by as much as 15,000 jobs, bringing its total employment to between 30,000 and 35,000. Lucent, which currently employs about 50,000, previously had said it aimed to reduce its work force to about 45,000 employees by the end of the calendar year. Last month, the Murray Hill, New Jersey-based company said it was developing other plans to reduce costs and additional job cuts may be necessary. It said any actions would likely be identified during the company's fourth-quarter earnings announcement in October. Lucent said it has not determined exactly how many jobs would be cut, but it called TheStreet.com's report that 15,000 jobs may be at risk "ludicrous." "Our current plans get us to about 45,000 employees by the end of the calendar year," she said. "To speculate that we're going to cut another 30 percent is ludicrous." Lucent declined further comment on the TheStreet.com report. Some analysts think Lucent's employment could fall below 40,000. The company employed 106,000 at the start of 2001. TheStreet.com, citing unnamed people close to the company, said new job cuts could result in a potential violation of Lucent's loan covenants if it took a large restructuring charge. It would likely need to restructure its loans to allow more cuts. Shares of Lucent closed at $1.50 on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of Lucent have fallen 75 percent this year as the company suffered from a sharp downturn in equipment spending by its telecommunications customers. TheStreet.com, also reported that Lucent is preparing to drop product lines. A number of prized projects and divisions are expected to feel the pinch, including parts of its fabled Bell Labs, some of its highly engineered optical efforts including its LambdaRouter switch and certain areas of data communications and network access lines. Lucent's annual sales will likely drop to between $9 billion and $11 billion, or $2.5 billion a quarter, TheStreet.com said, citing the sources. For the company's most recent quarter, it reported sales of almost $3 billion and said it was targeting a break-even level at below $3.5 billion.