Lucent regional cutbacks hit HK marketing count

<p>HONG KONG: Ailing telecoms firm Lucent Technologies has cut its </p><p>Hong Kong head count by 60, which includes advertising and marketing </p><p>personnel. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>There is speculation a second round of redundancies will take place in </p><p>September. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>A spokesman for the company confirmed Lucent's brand and advertising </p><p>director and three PR staff had been let go. The company, which employed </p><p>7,400 staff in the region prior to the cuts, had announced plans to </p><p>reduce its workforce by up to 23 per cent at the end of last month. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The move is part of Lucent's target to reduce its global pay roll by </p><p>about half to meet its goal of breaking even in 2002 and returning to </p><p>profitability by 2003. The company expects to reduce staff numbers to </p><p>about 62,000 next year through the sale of assets, spin-off of units, </p><p>early retirements and other cutbacks. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>