Alca-Lu CEO puts a damper on takeover rumors

Alcatel-Lucent CEO Ben Verwaayen said that the rumors of a possible takeover of Alcatel-Lucent by a Chinese vendor (either Huawei or ZTE) have been overplayed. Verwaayen added that the infrastructure vendor is happy with its position in China.

Verwaayen's comments come after reports that both Huawei and ZTE expressed interest in buying the firm. However, Huawei subsequently has said that it wasn't in talks with Alcatel-Lucent about forming an alliance, and ZTE has said that it is not interested in purchasing a stake in Alca-Lu.

Alcatel-Lucent has faced intense market pressure from Huawei and ZTE, which have both nearly doubled their market share during the past year, according to Dell'Oro. In the second quarter, Alcatel-Lucent reported a quarterly profit for the first time since the company was formed in 2006, largely based on asset sales. The company had a net profit of $19.6 million in the quarter, compared with a net loss of $1.54 billion in the year-ago quarter.

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