Alcatel-Lucent: Happy dicing

Until recently, «knives out» at Alcatel-Lucent referred to a destructive management feud. Four months into the job, chief executive Ben Verwaayen is slicing and dicing in a healthier direction. The telecoms equipment maker is taking an E3.9bn writedown. That’s an acknowledgement of the damage wrought by the 2006 merger which created a company with fading technologies and feuding management. Alcatel now has reason to be cautiously optimistic. The huge write-down wasn’t the only surprise in Alcat...