Alcatel-Lucent top bosses resign

The French media claims the bosses have been clashing for two years

The architects of the transatlantic merger that created telecoms giant Alcatel-Lucent have resigned 20 months after the merger.

Chief executive Patricia Russo and chairman Serge Tchuruk will both leave the company by the end of the year.

A clash of cultures between the French and US sides has been blamed for its poor performance.

It reported three-month losses of 1.1bn euros ($1.7bn; �866m) and warned sales would not improve in this quarter.

'Cultural divide'

The telecoms networks company has suffered six successive quarterly losses since the merger.

"We hope that a new CEO will be able to bridge the cultural divide between the Americans and the French and get all sides pulling together," said Richard Windsor from Nomura.

Mr Tchuruk said the departure of the top bosses would give the company the chance to make a fresh start.

"The merger phase is now behind us," he said.

"The time has come for this company to acquire an identity of its own, independent from those of the two original companies."

The French media has been reporting skirmishes between Ms Russo and Mr Tchuruk for the past two years but Alcatel-Lucent has always denied them.

A company spokeswoman also denied that Mr Tchuruk had anything to do with Ms Russo's departure.

"This was a decision that Serge and Pat made together and to speculate otherwise is totally inaccurate," she said.

Alcatel-Lucent shares rose 1.4% in early trading in Paris.

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