Rumour du jour

A number of names have been on the short-list, but one that keeps cropping up is Mike Quigley, who this week is named in multiple reports citing French satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaine (translated it means "chained-up duck", which makes a lot more sense when you realise that "canard" is slang for newspaper).

Reports say that the British-born Quigley, who was Alcatel's last chief operating officer before the mega-merger, was overlooked in favour of then-Lucent chief Pat Russo when the time came to pick a CEO for Alcatel-Lucent. He stayed on on the post of "president of science, technology and strategy" before leaving the company last year.

Alcatel-Lucent has said it is looking for a leader who could provide the "fresh and independent perspective", who will take the merger to the next stage, acquiring "a personality of its own, independent from its two predecessors". Apparently a former employee could fit the bill.

Speculation and satire aside, in an interview with French daily newspaper Le Figaro, outgoing chairman Tchuruk said that the new leadership of Alcatel-Lucent would be announced shortly.

Alcatel-Lucent's investors are keen to see the leadership contest resolved, judging by the fact that stock climbed last week as rumours multiplied.

UPDATE 1/9/08: The French press is all over this story. A new report in Les Echos today suggests that Ben Verwaayen is not out of the running yet. Meanwhile, La Tribune says that Quigley is still favourite to take over from Russo, and Frenchman Philippe Camus, who is best known as the leader of the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) in the early 2000s, is tipped to replace Tchuruk as non-executive chairman. Now, my french is a bit rudimentary, but if I'm reading this correctly, the article also says the the new leadership could be announced this week.