Lucent Technologies loses $8.8 billion

By Justin Baer
Bloomberg News

MURRAY HILL, N.J. — Lucent Technologies Inc. yesterday reported a fiscal fourth-quarter loss of $8.8 billion, more than its losses in the past five quarters combined and among the biggest in U.S. corporate history.

The top U.S. maker of phone gear said the bulk of the fourth-quarter loss came from $8 billion in expenses generated when Lucent moved to trim businesses and 15,000 to 20,000 jobs.

Sales in the three months ended Sept. 30 slid 28 percent to $5.2 billion. Revenue will fall in the fiscal first quarter from the fourth, then rise in the second period, the company said.

Chief Executive Henry Schacht is slashing $4 billion in annual expenses after demand fell for gear that moves information across phone and data networks. Lucent said it plans to be profitable at some point this year.

Lucent's fourth-quarter loss widened to $2.59 a share from $484 million, or 14 cents, in the year-ago period.

The recent quarter's loss is almost three times the size of the $3.02 billion raised in Lucent's initial public offering in April 1996 and ranks among the biggest in U.S. corporate history, analysts said.

JDS Uniphase Corp., which supplies Lucent with fiber-optic components, had a loss of $41.8 billion in the quarter that ended in March, surpassing the more than $21 billion loss General Motors Corp. had in the 1992 first quarter. Lucent rival Nortel Networks Corp. had a $19.4 billion loss in the quarter ended in June.

Lucent predicted industrywide spending on telecommunications equipment will fall 15 percent to 20 percent in 2002, while Lucent's targeted customers — larger phone companies — will curtail spending by 10 percent or more.