Word: lucent
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...since the French Revolution have so many executive heads rolled--courtesy of falling profits and stock prices and impatient boards--leaving vacancies strewn all over the FORTUNE 500. Maytag, 3M, Lucent and Gillette are among the headless, and any one of them could rain instant millions on Nardelli or McNerney or similarly qualified executives...
Such deals aren't reserved for GE alums. When Carly Fiorina left Lucent to become Hewlett-Packard's CEO, she reportedly landed more than $50 million up front to compensate for the value of stock options she had to leave behind. (Smart move. Lucent's stock collapsed this year, contributing to CEO Rich McGinn's recent unemployment.) Alex Mandl got $20 million up front and 18% of the company when he left the No. 2 post at AT&T to run the telecom start-up Teligent. Others landing huge pay deals include Jamie Dimon at Bank One, Joseph Nacchio...
Executives at Lucent Technologies, the New Jersey telecom-equipment maker, couldn't help noticing this year that CEO Richard McGinn had morphed from an outgoing, hands-on boss who ate lunch in the cafeteria to a withdrawn figure bunkered in his office. Perhaps retreat was in order. After three otherwise successful years at the helm, McGinn had committed a series of screw-ups. Among them: missing out on optical-equipment investments that Lucent's competitors later cleaned up on and avoiding layoffs in spite of declining sales. Two weeks ago, he delivered really bad news: the current quarter's revenue...
Corner offices don't stay vacant for long; the board organizes a search committee even before the fired CEO departs with a large payout. Lucent is looking for a boss with a technical background and experience in rationalizing businesses. The pay is great, the perks are plentiful, and you get your very own jet. Just don't have the seat pillows monogrammed...
Breaking up has worked in the past. Ma Bell's dizzying array of spin-offs, including the regional Bell companies in 1984 and Lucent and others in the '90s, have mostly done well by being good businesses to start with and then being set free to raise capital, allocate resources independently and enter new markets as they liked...