1996 Lucent Stock Certificate (what's it worth?)

[HadEnuff]

My 26 year old step-son's Dad passed away couple of years ago. Dad had some stuff put aside for him in a container. Step-mom refused to allow the young man access to what his father had left for him. His half-sister finally snuck it out the door.

Among the sentimental artifacts is a stock certificate, dated 1996, for 4(four) shares of Lucent.

How do we go about finding out what, if anything it's worth?

If it is worth something, how would the value be redeemed?

thanks

 

[sengsational]

Investor Relations North America:
Lucentir@alcatel-lucent.com
US Office: +1-908-582-6173

 

[Sunset]

Good news is according to internet, they never went bankrupt.

In theory you follow the stock from 1996 (maybe it split) so you follow the action to today (when it merged with Alcatel in 2006 would be a big stock effect).
Then in 2015 Nokia bought 79% of it.

Hopefully there is a web site you can input into and it will follow the trail, which you should verify.

Thing you would be looking for is the number of stock splits done.

Here is a site giving some split history:
Lucent Stock Basis

My quick following of the stock suggests you have 3.1 shares of Acatel-Lucent and currently its 3.46 Dollars per share, so not worth the trading fee.
Could sell it on Ebay as a collector item.

However I could be wrong, so check it out yourself.

(see post above ... our postings crossed, as it took time to look and follow).

 

[cranberryjoe]

Since Lucent spun off a couple of companies (Avaya and Agere) the certificate also represents stock in those. Avaya went private and all shares were bought up by the private equity owners. Don't know how that works if you have a certificate that was not cashed in, but I suspect it was forfeited. Agere was subsequently bought by LSI, which was later bought by Avago, which then bought Broadcom and assumed the Broadcom name. I think there was another spin-off of part of Alcatel-Lucent too before Nokia acquired them. Wow, what a complex chain of events.

I used to own stock in Lucent and therefore some of these companies. I recall Agere made an offer to buy out anybody who had small share amounts without a transaction fee so I jumped on it (I had something like $5 of Agere shares). I dumped my final remaining Alcatel-Lucent shares at some point when I decided it was worth a ~$20 transaction fee to get those ~$50 in shares off my books. Life is so much simpler now after selling all my individual stocks.

I would suggest the ebay route, or perhaps the shredder or fireplace.

 

[HadEnuff]

thanks, everyone.

 

[ducky911]

Make it into a dart board and sell it on ebay. Many (me included) lost a big time on Lucent.

 

[Texas Proud]

Since Lucent spun off a couple of companies (Avaya and Agere) the certificate also represents stock in those. Avaya went private and all shares were bought up by the private equity owners. Don't know how that works if you have a certificate that was not cashed in, but I suspect it was forfeited. Agere was subsequently bought by LSI, which was later bought by Avago, which then bought Broadcom and assumed the Broadcom name. I think there was another spin-off of part of Alcatel-Lucent too before Nokia acquired them. Wow, what a complex chain of events.

I used to own stock in Lucent and therefore some of these companies. I recall Agere made an offer to buy out anybody who had small share amounts without a transaction fee so I jumped on it (I had something like $5 of Agere shares). I dumped my final remaining Alcatel-Lucent shares at some point when I decided it was worth a ~$20 transaction fee to get those ~$50 in shares off my books. Life is so much simpler now after selling all my individual stocks.

I would suggest the ebay route, or perhaps the shredder or fireplace.

Just an FYI, it can never be forfeited.... (in the sense you will never be paid).... they have to 'pay' for the shares even if not sent in... at some time the state will want that money and you can go collect from the state... probably without any transaction fees...

 

[target2019]

F-i-l just received $2.6765 per share for 132 shares of ALU. Did not go with Nokia conversion.
4 shares of original lucent are not worth much.

http://historicalstockinfo.com/lucent.html

 

[bingybear]

That share of LU is worth much less than it was in 1996 as others noted. I watched people put in all their retirement money and it dropped to 50 cents in the tech crash. I'm really surprised it was worth a couple bucks. There seem to be a few other Ex-Lucent employees on this board.

Frame the shares as a warning for investors who fall in love with their stocks.

 

[fritz]

My BIL worked for Western Electric-Lucent all of his career, until they went under. He continues to work (+70) because he ignored my warning to take their early retirement offer when they were in trouble. I told him at that time, that the next time they approached him, the retirement offer might not be so nice. He also had most all of his retirement funds in their stock.

 

[target2019]

Here is a link to someone trying to sell a certificate.

Lucent Technologies Inc 1996 New York Old Stock Certificate Share | eBay

If I had an old certificate like this, I'd probably frame it and hang it in office as a reminder of how things can go...

 

[LARS]

The short answer is not much. Alcatel Lucent recently merged with Nokia so it no longer trades.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[jetpack]

Just because you have the certificate, doesn't mean you have the stock. The state probably took over the shares after the father's passing, or they could still be sitting there in the father's name.

 

[HadEnuff]

I did some follow up, and was referred to JP Morgan , as the "agent"...when I contacted them they said they couldn't give me any information, but gave me the contact information to give to my step-son. I told him not to get his hopes up. I don't know if he'll even follow through.

thanks again, everyone.

 

[MRG]

I did some follow up, and was referred to JP Morgan , as the "agent"...when I contacted them they said they couldn't give me any information, but gave me the contact information to give to my step-son. I told him not to get his hopes up. I don't know if he'll even follow through.

thanks again, everyone.

Good luck.

The "agent" is probably the transfer agent i.e. the system of record.

The transfer agent would be the one that has a record of the certs, each has an id number. The certs could have been replaced, reported stolen, became uncertifacated, or any number of other methods that I don't remember. Before you worry about splits and other acquisitions the only thing that matters is what the transfer agency has for records.

 

[dtbach]

The good thing is, he only bought 4 shares. . . . .

 

[powerplay]

I also lost a good chunk of money on Lucent. Sold it in 2015 and will be carrying some of the loss over to next year. Sure wish I would have sold it long ago.

 

[RunningBum]

Wow, waking up a 4 year old thread with a very vague and undirected question. Good luck with that.

 

[BigMoneyJim]

Wow, waking up a 4 year old thread with a very vague and undirected question. Good luck with that.

I'm guessing something got deleted because it looks like you bumped the thread. (I guess I'm next.)

I'm mainly posting to add: now that I've read this, I really want closure to this anecdote.

 

[RunningBum]

I'm guessing something got deleted because it looks like you bumped the thread. (I guess I'm next.)

I'm mainly posting to add: now that I've read this, I really want closure to this anecdote.

Yeah, something got deleted. 1st post by someone, asked something about having something like this (whatever "this" was) happen to them, that they couldn't get a stock certificate on their phone to work. It was about that clear, meaning, not at all.

 

[XAVP]

Lucent Technogies Stock Cerificate

My 26 year old step-son's Dad passed away couple of years ago. Dad had some stuff put aside for him in a container. Step-mom refused to allow the young man access to what his father had left for him. His half-sister finally snuck it out the door.

Among the sentimental artifacts is a stock certificate, dated 1996, for 4(four) shares of Lucent.

How do we go about finding out what, if anything it's worth?

If it is worth something, how would the value be redeemed?

thanks

HadEnuff;
Did you ever receive a reply to this question? I also have a Lucent Technolgies Stock Certificate for 7 shares dated 1996 and would like to redeem it. I've had no luck speaking with a human being.
Thank you