On 2/6/07 Lucent (LU) merged with Alcatel to become Alcatel-Lucent (ALU). I received new ALU stock in exchange for my LU stock that came from the Lucent spinoff (10/14/06). I sold the ALU stock on 12/11/07.
The "acquired" date for the ALU stock and the sold date make it seem like it is short term, but since I didn't actually purchase any new stock, it seems to me that a company merger shouldn't change my long term stock into short term.
If I am correct that this is really long term, then how do I show that on Sched D when the dates indicate short term? Do I use the acquired date of the Lucent stock even though the stock that I sold didn't even exist until 2/6/07 ?
BTW I have the same problem with Agere (AGR) merging with LSI Logic Corp (LSI) on 4/2/07. Other long time holders of AT&T stock who sold off the small oddball spinoffs in 2007 may have the same issues.