Freedom Fries and Telecom: Au revoir Madame Russo et Monsieur Tchuruk

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

This week Alcatel-Lucent announced that its CEO, Patricia Russo and Chairman, Serge Tchuruk are moving on.



As the Wall Street Journal reports, the relationship between the two engineers of the 2006 merger had deteriorated to the point that both acknowledged to the Board they could no longer work with the other. Something about him sticking his nose where it didn’t belong and she being incompetent. Another reminder you never outgrow high school. So they both get canned. And the Journal reports that the new CEO will need to “ease cultural tensions after two years of tumult.” Talk about a culture clash – Paris and New Jersey. It boggles the mind.

As a side note, I came across this editorial in NJBiz. I don’t think Ms. Russo’s publicist is real thrilled with the association. This just wasn’t your week, Pat.