The two top managers behind the creation of French-US telecom equipment giant Alcatel-Lucent are resigning, the group said Tuesday after it announced a huge 1.1 billion euro quarterly loss.
  
Chief executive Patricia Russo from the Lucent part of the global group will leave by the end of the year, and non-executive chairman Serge Tchuruk who was the head of Alcatel will stand down on October 1.
  
The announcement came as Alcatel-Lucent, formed in December 2006, announced a net loss in the second quarter of 1.1 billion euros (1.7 billion dollars) compared with a net loss of 586 million euros in the same quarter of last year.
  
Sales fell by 5.2 percent to 4.101 billion euros.
  
Russo "will continue to direct the group to ensure the transition", the statement said.
  
The board "will immediately begin the search for a new non-executive chairman and a new chief executive," and will also change its composition to reduce the number of its members," it said.
  
Both companies as separate entities hit rough times during the unwinding of the Internet and high-tech bubble, but the merged entity had struggled to make headway.
  
Before the tie-up, each company was a top name in its national business and stock market environment.
  
Russo was a high-profile executive in the United States, partly because of the company she ran and partly because she was a highly successful woman in business.