Tellabs announces Prabhu departure, stock buyback

Tellabs said it has accepted the resignation of its widely-respected CEO, telecom industry veteran Krish Prabhu, who plans to leave the company in March 2008. Though Tellabs recently reported a 93% drop in third-quarter profit and, like many other network equipment vendors, has continued to struggle against unpredictable and generally lower carrier spending, this is still a somewhat surprising development. Prabhu's reasons for leaving aren't entirely clear--his statement spoke only of Tellabs having some new service provider successes, and this being "the right time" for a management change.

In the midst on carrier and vendor consolidation, Tellabs has been variously and often mentioned as both an acquisition target and a potential buyer, but no deals have developed. Meanwhile, tellabs also said it was authorizing a $600 million stock re-purchasing program.

For more:
- Light Reading has this story

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