John Stankey

John Stankey
Stankey in 2025
John Stankey
Born	John T. Stankey 1962
Nationality	American
Occupation	Chairman and CEO of AT&T
Known for	CEO of AT&T Inc., CEO of WarnerMedia
Education	University of California, Los Angeles (MBA) Loyola Marymount University (BBA)

John T. Stankey (born 1962) is an American business executive who serves as the chairman and chief executive officer of AT&T Inc., one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world. A career AT&T executive who joined the company's predecessor, Pacific Bell, in the 1980s, Stankey rose through a succession of leadership roles across the organization's technology, operations, and media divisions before being named CEO in July 2020, succeeding Randall L. Stephenson. Before assuming the top position, he served as AT&T's president and chief operating officer and, prior to that, as CEO of WarnerMedia, the entertainment conglomerate AT&T acquired in 2018. His tenure as CEO has been defined by a strategic repositioning of AT&T away from the media and entertainment businesses it had acquired and toward a renewed focus on telecommunications infrastructure, particularly fiber-optic broadband and 5G wireless networks.

Early Life

John T. Stankey was born in 1962 in the United States. Details about his family background and upbringing prior to his college years are limited in available public sources. He grew up during a period of significant transformation in the American telecommunications industry, which would eventually become the focus of his professional career.

Education

Stankey earned a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree from Loyola Marymount University, a private Jesuit university in Los Angeles, California. He subsequently obtained a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Both institutions are located in the greater Los Angeles area, where Stankey would begin his telecommunications career.

Career

Early Career at Pacific Bell and SBC Communications

Stankey began his career in the telecommunications industry at Pacific Bell, one of the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) that resulted from the breakup of the Bell System in 1984. He held a variety of operational and strategic positions within the company as it evolved through multiple mergers that reshaped the American telecommunications landscape. In 1997, Pacific Bell's parent company, Pacific Telesis, was acquired by SBC Communications in a deal that had been announced in April 1996 as a merger worth approximately $17 billion, consolidating two of the nation's largest regional telephone companies. Through this merger, Stankey became part of SBC Communications, where he continued to advance within the organization.

Over the course of his career at SBC and later AT&T (following SBC's acquisition of AT&T Corp. in 2005, after which SBC adopted the AT&T name), Stankey accumulated experience across multiple facets of the business. He held senior positions in technology, network operations, and corporate strategy. By the mid-2000s, he was among the company's most senior executives.

Senior Leadership at AT&T

As AT&T grew through successive acquisitions — including the purchases of BellSouth in 2006 and DirecTV in 2015 — Stankey took on increasingly prominent roles. He served in a range of executive capacities encompassing AT&T's technology and operations, business solutions, and entertainment divisions. His broad operational portfolio made him one of the most versatile executives in the company's leadership ranks.

Stankey's role expanded significantly in the context of AT&T's $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner (subsequently renamed WarnerMedia), which closed in June 2018 after a protracted legal battle with the U.S. Department of Justice. Following the completion of the deal, Stankey was placed in charge of integrating the newly acquired media properties into AT&T's broader business strategy.

CEO of WarnerMedia

In June 2018, shortly after the Time Warner acquisition closed, AT&T announced a reorganization of its media properties under Stankey's leadership. He was named to oversee what would become WarnerMedia, the division encompassing HBO, Warner Bros., Turner, and other entertainment assets.

Stankey's tenure overseeing WarnerMedia was marked by significant organizational upheaval and a cultural clash between AT&T's corporate approach and the creative traditions of the entertainment properties it had acquired. In September 2017, even before the acquisition had formally closed, a Los Angeles Times profile explored the challenges Stankey faced in bridging the gap between the telecommunications giant and the media company's distinct corporate culture.

One of the most prominent departures during this period was that of Richard Plepler, the longtime CEO of HBO, who resigned in February 2019. Plepler's departure was seen by many in the media industry as emblematic of the tensions between AT&T's data-driven, efficiency-oriented management philosophy and the premium content culture that had defined HBO under Plepler's leadership. In March 2019, AT&T undertook a broader shake-up of the WarnerMedia unit under Stankey's direction.

In April 2020, WarnerMedia announced the appointment of Jason Kilar, the former CEO of Hulu, as CEO of WarnerMedia, as Stankey prepared to transition to the top role at AT&T's parent company.

CEO of AT&T

On April 24, 2020, AT&T announced that Stankey would succeed Randall Stephenson as chief executive officer, effective July 1, 2020. Stephenson, who had led AT&T since 2007, announced he would step down as CEO and transition to the role of executive chairman before retiring from the board in January 2021. The announcement came in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was creating enormous disruptions across the economy. Stankey also subsequently became chairman of the board.

The Los Angeles Times noted that Stankey inherited a company facing a number of significant challenges, including heavy debt from the Time Warner acquisition, growing competition in wireless and broadband markets, declining pay-TV subscribers, and the economic fallout from the pandemic.

Strategic Repositioning: Divesting Media Assets

One of the most consequential decisions of Stankey's tenure as CEO was the reversal of AT&T's media acquisition strategy. Rather than continuing to build out the company's entertainment empire, Stankey moved to divest the media and pay-TV assets that his predecessor had spent billions acquiring, in order to reduce debt and refocus the company on its core telecommunications business.

In February 2021, AT&T announced a deal to sell a significant stake in DirecTV to the private equity firm TPG, valuing the satellite television business at approximately $16.25 billion — far below the $49 billion AT&T had paid to acquire DirecTV in 2015. Under the terms of the agreement, DirecTV would become a standalone video business.

In May 2021, AT&T announced an even larger transaction: the spin-off of WarnerMedia, which would be combined with Discovery, Inc. to create a new standalone media company, later named Warner Bros. Discovery. The deal effectively unwound the Time Warner acquisition that had been the centerpiece of Stephenson's strategy. The Washington Post reported on the financial implications of the deal, noting the significant write-down in value from what AT&T had originally paid.

These divestitures represented a fundamental shift in AT&T's corporate strategy. Stankey framed the moves as necessary to allow AT&T to invest in its core infrastructure businesses — particularly fiber-optic broadband expansion and 5G wireless network deployment — while reducing the company's substantial debt burden.

Executive Compensation Controversy

In 2021, AT&T shareholders rejected the company's executive pay plan in a non-binding "say-on-pay" vote, joining General Electric as one of the most prominent companies to face such a rebuke. The Wall Street Journal reported on the investor dissatisfaction with CEO compensation packages at both companies, amid growing scrutiny of executive pay across corporate America. The New York Times also covered CEO compensation during the pandemic period, including Stankey's pay.

Focus on Fiber and 5G

With the media divestitures completed, Stankey has directed AT&T's strategy toward long-term investment in telecommunications infrastructure. In a July 2025 interview with McKinsey & Company, Stankey discussed his decision-making around the company's repositioning and outlined plans for continued investment in fiber-optic broadband and wireless networks. He described the strategic approach as "leaning into the long term," emphasizing capital-intensive infrastructure investment over shorter-term diversification plays.

In a February 2026 appearance on CNBC's Squawk Box at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am tournament, Stankey discussed the competitive landscape for fiber optics and AT&T's long-term growth outlook, reiterating the company's commitment to expanding its fiber footprint.

At the UBS Global Media & Communications Conference in December 2025, Stankey also addressed questions about potential competitive threats from low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite operators, sharing his perspective on whether wireless investors should be concerned about disruption from satellite-based communications services.

Workplace Culture and the 2025 Memo

In August 2025, Stankey generated considerable public attention with an internal memo to AT&T employees addressing workplace culture and the company's return to office (RTO) policies. The memo, which was described as unusually blunt in its language, laid out Stankey's expectations regarding employee commitment and loyalty. Business Insider reported that the memo quickly went viral, becoming a test case for how corporate leaders communicate about return-to-office mandates and workplace expectations in the post-pandemic era.

The memo attracted analysis from business communications professionals. Ragan Communications named the memo one of the top corporate communications stories of 2025, examining what the memo did effectively from a leadership communications standpoint.

In December 2025, at the UBS conference, Stankey reflected on the memo and the broader issue of corporate culture change. In comments reported by Business Insider, he acknowledged that he had made a mistake in how quickly he addressed company culture, stating that he was "too slow" in making changes and that the viral memo was part of an ongoing process of cultural transformation at AT&T.

Personal Life

Stankey is based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, where AT&T is headquartered. He previously served on the board of directors of United Parcel Service (UPS), stepping down from that position after assuming the CEO role at AT&T. Limited additional details about his personal life are publicly documented.

Legacy

Stankey's tenure as CEO of AT&T is primarily characterized by the strategic unwinding of the company's media ambitions and a reorientation toward telecommunications infrastructure investment. The decision to divest DirecTV and spin off WarnerMedia — reversing billions of dollars in acquisitions made under his predecessor — represented one of the most significant corporate strategy reversals in the American telecommunications industry in the early 2020s.

The DirecTV sale to TPG at a fraction of the original acquisition price and the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger both resulted in substantial reductions in the value AT&T had attributed to those properties. However, the divestitures enabled AT&T to reduce its debt load and redirect capital toward its fiber-optic broadband and 5G wireless network expansion programs.

Stankey's long-term legacy will likely be assessed based on whether the company's infrastructure-first strategy — the approach he has described as "leaning into the long term" — delivers sustained growth and competitive advantage in an evolving telecommunications landscape that increasingly includes potential competition from LEO satellite operators and other emerging technologies.

His 2025 employee memo also contributed to the broader national conversation about post-pandemic workplace norms, return-to-office mandates, and the evolving expectations between employers and employees in corporate America.