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Las Vegas Review-Journal Business Briefs Column

Posted on: Thursday, 6 April 2006, 12:00 CDT

By Michael Hiesiger, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Apr. 3--PARIS -- FRENCH COMPANY TO BUY LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES: Alcatel SA will acquire U.S.-based Lucent Technologies Inc. in a $13.4 billion stock swap to form a stronger player in the fiercely competitive telecom equipment market, the companies announced Sunday. About 8,800 jobs will be cut.

The combined business, to be based in Paris, will make the most of fast-growing converged offerings such as "triple-play" Internet, phone and TV packages, the companies said. It will have annual sales of $25 billion -- ahead of LM Ericsson's $19.9 billion.

The tie-up will generate $1.7 billion in savings within three years, the companies said.

The new Alcatel-Lucent -- whose new name is to be announced later -- should be better equipped to weather intense competition in the telecom equipment market.

The combined business will be led by Lucent CEO Patricia Russo, the companies said in a joint statement.

Alcatel Chairman and CEO Serge Tchuruk will become non-executive chairman.

Lucent shareholders will receive 0.1952 of an Alcatel American Depositary Share for each common share they own -- worth $3.01 at Alcatel's Friday closing price of $15.40.

WASHINGTON -- PROGRAM OFFERS HELP PROTECTING DATA: Help is on the way for small business owners who want to improve their ability to protect data.

The Council of Better Business Bureaus is teaming up with the Privacy and American Business think tank on an educational program to help small businesses lower their vulnerability to viruses and hacking.

The program, called "Security and Privacy Made Simpler," includes free, easy-to-read security and privacy tool kits, with separate kits focused on customer and employee data protection.

The customer data kit is available now, and the employee kit will be out in the fall. The educational materials are accessible online at http://www.bbb.org/securityandprivacy .

PHOENIX -- MOST MOHAVE WORKERS TO LOSE JOBS IN A YEAR: Most of the workers at the Mohave Power Station in Laughlin will be laid of within a year because of Southern California Edison's decision to abandon efforts to rapidly restart the coal-fired plant.

Eighty-two workers will lose their jobs by July 1, and most of the remaining 225 workers will be transferred or laid off within a year, an Edison spokesman said. Only a small cadre of caretakers will remain on the site.

The plant will likely be closed at now until at least 2009, the soonest Edison can complete about $1.1 billion in pollution-control and other upgrades needed to meet terms of a Clean Air Act lawsuit it settled with environmental groups in 1999.

The upgrade still is contingent on the company's coal supplier, Peabody Energy Corp. and the Navajo and Hopi Indian tribes, securing a new water supply needed to move the coal in a 273-mile slurry pipeline from the Black Mesa Mine to the plant.

Nevada Power Co. owns a 14 percent interest in the Mohave plant.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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ALA, CGE, LU, ERICY, ERIC, BTU, SRP,

Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal

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