CSG Systems International Inc. closed its acquisition of Lucent Technologies'
billing and customer-care assets, trimming about 200 employees along the
way.
The new owner cut 188 of the 1,300 Lucent billing employees worldwide,
retaining management employees Kurt Silverman, Darren Walsh and John Rainger, as
well as a significant number of senior project managers.
The remainder of the layoffs were among CSG employees whose positions
overlapped functions of the Lucent division.
Neal Hansen, chairman and CEO of CSG, said his company spent $260 million in
cash on the acquisition. Despite that outlay, CSG has still budgeted $90 million
this year -- about 12 percent of its gross revenues -- for new product
development to stay abreast of cable innovations such as interactive TV and home
networking.
Ultimately, CSG's business plan calls for less reliance on the cable and
satellite business as its customer base. Those segments currently make up more
than 90 percent of CSG's customers.
As the company expands further into the wireless world, support of
video-delivery services will be about 60 percent of CSG's revenues, according to
Hansen.
