Lucent, Alcatel Agree to Disagree

After weeks of speculation and several days of intense negotiations, Lucent Technologies Inc. of Murray Hill, N.J., called off merger talks with Alcatel SA.

Shareholder value and corporate management issues were reportedly among the stumbling blocks. Media reports indicated that Lucent's Agere Systems Inc. spin-off was not part of the deal, which Lucent had hoped would be a merger of equals rather than an acquisition by the French company.

Analysts had predicted that a combined Alcatel-Lucent would have to cut as many as 20,000 jobs, most of them in the US. The combined company would have had to make difficult decisions about eliminating competing product lines. Analysts also predicted that the companies would face vigorous antitrust scrutiny.