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	Leading AT&T as CEO; overseeing WarnerMedia restructuring and subsequent divestiture
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-long AT&T executive who joined the company's predecessor entities in the 1980s, Stankey rose through a succession of senior leadership roles spanning technology, operations, and media before being named CEO in July 2020, succeeding Randall L. Stephenson. His tenure has been defined by a strategic pivot: after overseeing AT&T's expansion into entertainment and media through the acquisition of Time Warner and the creation of WarnerMedia, Stankey later led the company's decision to divest those assets and refocus on its core telecommunications business, including an aggressive expansion into fiber-optic broadband infrastructure. Before becoming CEO, Stankey served as AT&T's president and chief operating officer and, prior to that, as the first CEO of WarnerMedia following AT&T's $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner in 2018.

Early Life

John T. Stankey was born in 1962 in the United States. Limited public information is available regarding his early family life and upbringing. He grew up in the Los Angeles area, where he would later attend university.

Education

Stankey earned a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He later obtained a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Anderson School of Management.

Career

Stankey's career has been spent almost entirely within AT&T and its predecessor companies, spanning more than three decades of service in an industry that underwent dramatic consolidation and technological transformation during that period.

Early Career at Pacific Bell and SBC Communications

Stankey began his telecommunications career in the 1980s at Pacific Bell, one of the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) created by the breakup of the Bell System in 1984. He held a series of progressively senior positions within the company and its successors. Pacific Bell was a subsidiary of Pacific Telesis, which in 1997 merged with SBC Communications in a deal valued at approximately $17 billion, consolidating two of the former Baby Bells into a single entity. Stankey continued to advance within SBC Communications, gaining experience in technology strategy and operations across the company's expanding footprint.

In 2005, SBC Communications completed its acquisition of AT&T Corp., the direct descendant of the original American Telephone & Telegraph Company, and adopted the AT&T name. Stankey transitioned into the newly constituted AT&T Inc., where he would continue his ascent through the executive ranks.

Senior Leadership Roles at AT&T

Over the years at AT&T, Stankey held a number of major leadership positions. He served as chief technology officer and oversaw the company's technology and network operations. He also led AT&T's business solutions unit and its strategy and business development operations. In 2007, AT&T announced organizational changes that placed Stankey in charge of significant operational areas. These roles gave him broad exposure to virtually every aspect of AT&T's business, from network infrastructure and enterprise services to strategic planning and corporate development.

By the mid-2010s, Stankey was widely seen within the company as one of the most experienced and capable executives in the senior leadership team, with deep institutional knowledge of both the legacy telephone business and the emerging opportunities in broadband, wireless, and digital services.

CEO of WarnerMedia

AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner — which closed in June 2018 after a protracted legal battle with the United States Department of Justice — represented the company's most ambitious strategic move, bringing together one of the nation's largest telecommunications providers with a major entertainment and media conglomerate encompassing HBO, Warner Bros., Turner Broadcasting, and other properties. Following the completion of the deal, AT&T reorganized the acquired assets under a new entity called WarnerMedia, and Stankey was named its CEO.

Stankey's appointment to lead WarnerMedia signaled AT&T's intention to closely integrate its media properties with its distribution networks. In this capacity, Stankey oversaw significant organizational changes at WarnerMedia. In early 2019, he implemented a major restructuring of the unit, reshaping its leadership and organizational structure. The restructuring led to notable executive departures, including that of longtime HBO chief Richard Plepler, whose exit was widely covered in the media and seen as indicative of a cultural shift at the storied premium cable network under its new corporate parent.

As early as 2017, even before the Time Warner acquisition closed, Stankey had been involved in evaluating how AT&T would integrate the media company's operations and culture. A Los Angeles Times profile at the time examined how AT&T, as a large telecommunications company, would navigate the cultural differences involved in managing creative entertainment businesses.

In April 2020, Stankey appointed Jason Kilar, the former CEO of Hulu, to serve as the new CEO of WarnerMedia, as Stankey prepared to assume the top leadership role at AT&T's parent company.

CEO of AT&T

On April 24, 2020, AT&T announced that Stephenson would retire as CEO effective July 1, 2020, and that Stankey would succeed him. The transition occurred during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was affecting businesses across all sectors. Stankey also became chairman of the AT&T board of directors.

Upon assuming the role, Stankey inherited a company carrying substantial debt from its acquisitions of both DirecTV (completed in 2015) and Time Warner. In the months that followed, he initiated a strategic reorientation that represented a significant departure from the diversification strategy pursued under Stephenson. Rather than continuing to build AT&T into a vertically integrated telecommunications-and-media conglomerate, Stankey moved to divest the media and entertainment assets and refocus the company on its core connectivity businesses.

Divestiture of Media and Entertainment Assets

In February 2021, AT&T announced a deal to spin off its interest in DirecTV into a new standalone company in partnership with TPG, the private equity firm. Under the terms of the agreement, TPG acquired a 30% stake in the new DirecTV entity, while AT&T retained a 70% interest. The transaction valued DirecTV at approximately $16.25 billion — substantially less than the roughly $49 billion AT&T had paid for the satellite television provider in 2015. The transaction was formally completed in August 2021, with DirecTV becoming a standalone video business.

In May 2021, AT&T announced an even larger transaction: the planned merger of WarnerMedia with Discovery, Inc. to create a new standalone media company, which would eventually be named Warner Bros. Discovery. The deal represented a reversal of the media strategy that had been central to AT&T's corporate identity under Stephenson. The Washington Post analyzed the financial implications of the transaction, noting questions about the ultimate value AT&T had derived from its Time Warner acquisition.

Compensation and Governance

Stankey's compensation as CEO attracted attention during a period in which executive pay at major corporations was under increased scrutiny. In 2021, The New York Times reported on CEO compensation during the pandemic, including Stankey's pay, in the context of broader public debate about executive pay practices at large American companies. In May 2021, AT&T's executive compensation plan received a negative advisory vote from shareholders — a non-binding "say on pay" vote — alongside a similar rejection at General Electric, drawing attention from the financial press.

Stankey also stepped down from the board of directors of United Parcel Service (UPS) during this period, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

Fiber Expansion and Long-Term Strategy

With the media assets divested, Stankey articulated a strategy centered on what he described as a long-term investment in connectivity infrastructure, with a particular emphasis on fiber-to-the-home broadband expansion. In a July 2025 interview with McKinsey & Company, Stankey discussed the rationale behind AT&T's repositioning and outlined the company's plans for continued fiber buildout, which he characterized as a major long-term investment in the company's future.

Speaking at a February 2025 appearance in connection with the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament, Stankey addressed the competitive dynamics of the fiber-optics market and AT&T's growth outlook, reiterating the company's focus on expanding its fiber footprint.

In December 2025, at the UBS Global Media & Communications Conference, Stankey provided updates to shareholders and discussed a range of topics including the competitive threat from low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite operators such as SpaceX's Starlink. Stankey shared his perspective on whether satellite-based broadband posed a meaningful disruption to traditional wireless and broadband providers.

Workplace Culture and the 2025 Memo

In August 2025, Stankey attracted widespread public attention for an internal memorandum to AT&T employees that addressed topics including workplace culture, employee loyalty, and return to office policies. The memo, which was reported on extensively in the business press, was described as unusually direct in tone. Business Insider characterized it as a case study in leadership communication, reporting that Stankey's memo told employees "exactly where he stands on workplace loyalty and RTO," and that other CEOs weighed in on the implications of such candid corporate communication.

Ragan Communications included the memo in its countdown of the top communications stories of 2025, analyzing what the memo "did right" from a corporate communications standpoint.

In a December 2025 interview, Stankey reflected on the episode, stating that his mistake was not the memo itself but rather that he had been "too slow on changing the company's culture." He described the memo as part of a broader process of cultural change at AT&T.

Personal Life

Stankey has maintained a relatively private personal life. He is based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, where AT&T is headquartered. He formerly served on the board of directors of United Parcel Service (UPS) before stepping down to focus on his responsibilities at AT&T.

Legacy

Stankey's leadership of AT&T has been defined by a period of significant corporate transformation. He oversaw one of the most substantial strategic reversals in recent American corporate history: the unwinding of AT&T's media and entertainment portfolio — assets the company had spent tens of billions of dollars to acquire — in favor of a return to the company's telecommunications roots. The decision to divest WarnerMedia through its merger with Discovery, Inc. and to spin off DirecTV represented an acknowledgment that the vertically integrated telecommunications-and-media model that AT&T had pursued under Stephenson had not produced the anticipated results.

Under Stankey's leadership, AT&T has reoriented its capital allocation priorities toward fiber broadband and 5G wireless infrastructure. The company's fiber expansion strategy, which Stankey has discussed in multiple public forums including his McKinsey interview and investor conferences, represents a bet on the long-term value of high-speed fixed-line connectivity in an increasingly digital economy.

Stankey's 2025 employee memo and the public discussion it generated have also contributed to broader conversations about corporate leadership communication, workplace culture, and return-to-office policies in the post-pandemic era. His willingness to address these issues directly, and his subsequent public reflections on the episode, have been cited in business media discussions about executive communication style.

As a career-long AT&T executive who spent more than three decades rising through the company's ranks, Stankey represents a model of institutional leadership — one shaped by deep familiarity with the company's operations, culture, and history, but also tested by the need to make difficult strategic decisions that reversed the course set by his predecessors.