John Stankey | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1962 (age 62–63) |
| Education | Loyola Marymount University (BBA) University of California, Los Angeles (MBA) |
| Occupation(s) | Chairman and CEO of AT&T |
John T. Stankey (born 1962) is an American businessman who is the chairman and CEO of AT&T. He previously was AT&T's president and COO and before that CEO of WarnerMedia. [1] [2] [3] He assumed the CEO role of AT&T in July 2020, succeeding Randall L. Stephenson. [4]
Stankey was raised in Los Angeles, the youngest of three children. [5] His father was an insurance underwriter and his mother a housewife. [5]
Stankey received a Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in finance from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles in 1985. [6] [7] He received a Master of Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1991. [5] [4]
In 1985, Stankey took an entry-level position with Pacific Bell, [2] [5] [8] which was acquired by SBC Communications in 1996. [9] Stankey went on to serve as the executive vice president of industry markets beginning in 1998, and became the executive president of industry markets in 2000. [8] In 2001 Stankey became the president and CEO of SBC Southwest. [8]
Stankey served as CIO of the "new AT&T" after the merger of SBC with AT&T Corporation finalized in 2005. [10] He was the senior executive vice president and CTO for AT&T from 2008 to 2012. In January 2012, he became the CSO and group president of AT&T. [8]
Stankey served on the board of directors for UPS from 2014 until 2020. [11]
In 2018, [12] Stankey was named CEO of WarnerMedia, [13] which owns various media and film corporations, including Warner Bros., HBO, Turner Broadcasting System, and CNN. [14] On October 1, 2019, Stankey became the COO of AT&T while continuing to serve as the CEO of WarnerMedia. [15] Stankey received US$22.5 million in compensation during the 2019 fiscal year, and $21 million during the following year. [16]
On April 1, 2020, AT&T announced that Stankey would be stepping down as CEO of WarnerMedia. Former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar assumed the role effective May 1, 2020, reporting to Stankey. [17]
On July 1, 2020, Stankey replaced Randall L. Stephenson as CEO of AT&T Inc., [2] [18] [19] [20] then was elected chairman in February 2025, [21] while retaining the role of CEO. [22]
In February 2021, Stankey oversaw the sale of a third of AT&T's stake in DirecTV to TPG Capital for $16.25 billion. [23] AT&T had paid 48 billion ($67 billion including debt) to purchase DirecTV in 2015 [24] under Stephenson. [20] Stankey also oversaw WarnerMedia's sale to Discovery Inc. in May 2021, for $43 billion in cash, plus an estimated $59 billion in Discovery, Inc. stock. [25] AT&T had paid $85 billion for WarnerMedia in 2018 under Stephenson. [26]
On April 30, 2021, AT&T announced that a nonbinding shareholder vote had rejected AT&T's executive compensation proposal by a slight majority, [27] which came after reports that AT&T had "lost $5.4 billion and cut thousands of jobs". [16] In 2023, Stankey's total compensation from AT&T was $25.7 million, representing a CEO-to-median worker pay ratio of 193-to-1. [28] After the US government ceased funding the Affordable Connectivity Program, in April 2024 Stankey announced that AT&T would direct $3 billion to address the "digital divide" of high-speed-internet access in the United States. [29]
After he was named chief operating officer and president in October, the hedge fund noted with disapproval that Mr. Stankey "would now also be responsible for an additional $145 billion of revenue as the president and C.O.O. of the entire company."
He will join AT&T's board in June.
In his 20 months at the WarnerMedia helm, Mr. Stankey refashioned the division to focus on streaming and dissolved the borders between the conglomerate's separate units.
AT&T, the media conglomerate, lost $5.4 billion and cut thousands of jobs throughout the year. John Stankey, the chief executive, received $21 million for his work in 2020, down from $22.5 million in 2019.Note, this quote presents in its entirety, the content of this article with regard to Mr. Stankey.
AT&T, the telecommunications giant that has moved into media and entertainment, announced a changing of the guard on Friday. John Stankey, a veteran of the company, will become its new chief executive starting July 1. He will take the reins from Randall L. Stephenson, who has led AT&T since 2007.
AT&T in February agreed to sell about a third of its stake in DirecTV to TPG Capital in a deal that valued the business at $16.25 billion, well below the $68 billion AT&T had paid for the asset less than six years ago.
AT&T CEO John Stankey admitted, "We certainly didn't expect this" in 2015 when the telco giant acquired DirecTV for $48 billion (or $67 billion including debt).
Based on Discovery's stock price on May 14, the day before the transaction was disclosed, those shares would be worth $59 billion. AT&T will get $43 billion in cash, securities and WarnerMedia's agreement to retain $1.5 billion of its debt.
Time Warner is changing its name to WarnerMedia now that its $85 billion deal with AT&T has closed.
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