Dumb, Dumb, Dumb.(Alcatel, Lucent Technologies Inc.)(Brief Article)

Why did the big deal between Alcatel and Lucent go bust? Maybe because both companies have been so messed up for so long they've forgotten how to do things right.

It was billed as a romantic tale of corporate chivalry. As the French telcom giant saw things, it was riding to rescue a Lucent in distress-- and could profit, too. The American telecommunications equipmentmaker was saddled in debt and burning through cash, fast. But lo, Alcatel turns out to have big problems of its own. Witness the fact that when talks broke off last week, it issued a warning that profits would fall short of expectations, sending its already battered stock down 10 percent. Then on Friday, Alcatel said it would fire 900 of its U.S. employees. Had Lucent accepted the French offer to sell out (for stock equal to Lucent's market price), its ...