Lucent’s Former Chief Gets Golden Parachute

Lucent Technologies Inc. said it will pay former Chief Executive and Chairman Richard McGinn, who was ousted last fall, a severance package that includes a $5.5-million one-time payment and assumption of bank loans.

The Murray Hill, N.J.-based company also said in its quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it will assume $4.3 million in loans that McGinn had with two banks. The three-year loan is fully backed by real estate owned by McGinn, the company said.

McGinn also will receive up to $9,000 a month for office space until Dec. 1 or until he is hired by someone else, whichever comes first, according to the filing.

McGinn is already slated to receive about $1 million a year for life under his pension plan, according to a Lucent proxy statement filed in February.

McGinn was forced out in October after the company suffered several quarters of disappointing profit, operational blunders and a plummeting stock price.