Lucent CEO, Chairman Purchase More Shares

Lucent Technologies Inc. Chief Executive Patricia Russo bought shares in the telephone-equipment maker for the first time since taking the job in January, adding to her stake as the stock traded near historical lows.

Russo purchased 350,000 shares Aug. 16 for $497,000 to $500,500, at $1.42 or $1.43 a share, Lucent said, bringing her total to 713,400 shares.

Chairman Henry Schacht, who preceded Russo as CEO, bought 1 million shares that day at $1.43 each, adding to the 3,700 he already owned. It was his first stock purchase since October 2000.

Last week, Chief Operating Officer Robert Holder and Director Robert Denham also bought Lucent stock.

Holder purchased 150,000 shares on Aug. 19 at $1.44 each. He now owns 531,957 shares.

Denham, a partner in the law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson and former CEO of Salomon Inc., bought 40,000 shares on the same day at $1.47 each. Denham, who joined Lucent’s board in May, owns 65,000 of the company’s shares.

Lucent’s shares dropped to a record low of $1.31 on July 26 as sales slid and losses mounted during a slowdown in spending on telecommunications gear. Three days earlier, the biggest U.S. maker of telephone equipment said its third-quarter loss widened to $7.86 billion and sales fell 50%.

Shares of Murray Hill, N.J.-based Lucent Technologies rose 2 cents to $1.89 on the NYSE. They have fallen 63% this year.