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Chairman Tchuruk, CEO Russo To Step Down From Alcatel-Lucent

By Leila Abboud and Jethro Mullen

Word Count: 702 | Companies Featured in This Article: Alcatel-Lucent, Verizon Communications, Telefonica, Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson

PARIS -- The architects of the trans-Atlantic merger that created Alcatel-Lucent two years ago are stepping aside, leaving a telecommunications-equipment firm still struggling to figure out how to survive in an industry plagued by increasingly brutal competition and eroding profits.

Chief Executive Patricia Russo will leave the company by year-end as she helps look for a successor, Alcatel-Lucent said in a statement Tuesday after reporting a net loss for the quarter ended June 30 of €1.1 billion ($1.73 billion) compared to a net loss of €586 million a year earlier. Chairman Serge Tchuruk will step down on Oct.1.

"Our strategy ...