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Avaya, based in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, said that at its annual meeting it received shareholder approval to implement a 1-for-30, 1-for-40 or 1-for-50 reverse split, followed by a forward split with the same ratio.

The company has said the split could reduce the number of shareholders by as much of 85 percent, and let it cut annual mailing and other costs by at least $6.2 million.

Shareholders who receive less than one share in the reverse split -- for example, a shareholder with 20 shares -- would receive cash for their holdings. Other shareholders would not be affected, it said.

In a proxy filing, Avaya said it had about 2.99 million shareholders as of October 1. Of these, about 2.27 million held fewer than 30 shares, 2.44 million fewer than 40, and 2.55 million fewer than 50, it said.

Many Avaya shareholders got their shares when Lucent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:LU - News) spun Avaya off in 2000.

Last week, Lucent and another of its spinoffs, Agere Systems Inc. (NYSE:AGRa - News), authorized those companies' boards to conduct reverse stock splits.