 While teaching, Kim assembled a group of investors to purchase Cibernet, a provider of cellular billing exchange services, and served as Chairman from March 2003 until July 2005.In 2005, he rejoined Lucent (which later became Alcatel-Lucent after its merger with the French telecom giant, Alcatel; Alcatel-Lucent has since been acquired by Nokia) to serve as president of its Bell Labs division.He was the institution's 11th president – and the first recruited from outside the Labs in its 80-year history.