"As businesses, Alcatel and Lucent might be a commercial match made in
heaven. But their respective pension plans are worlds apart.
For starters, Lucent, based in Murray Hill, N.J., has $34 billion in
defined benefit assets centrally run by its wholly owned subsidiary
Lucent Asset Management. As of Sept. 30, the company's combined three
pension plans - one covering management employees, the second for
other U.S.-based employees, and a third for non-U.S. employees - had a
$2.69 billion surplus. The overflow allowed Lucent to declare $973
million in pension benefit credits toward the company's net operating
profits totaling $1.18 billion, according to the company's 2005 annual
report."
The 2006 report had similiar "adjustments" to boost profits...JG
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