John Stankey


John T. Stankey is an American businessman who is the former CEO of WarnerMedia ; currently served as the CEO of the former's parent company, AT&T after previously serving as the president and COO. Stankey led AT&T's acquisition of DirecTV and Time Warner in 2015 and 2018, respectively. He assumed the CEO role of AT&T effective July 1, 2020, succeeding Randall L. Stephenson.

Early life and education

Stankey was raised in Los Angeles, the youngest of three children. His father was an insurance underwriter and his mother a housewife. In the 1980s, he graduated with a B.A. in finance from Loyola Marymount University. In 1985, he took an entry-level position with Pacific Bell. In 1991, he earned an M.B.A. from UCLA.

Career

In 1995, after Southwestern Bell Corporation became SBC Communications, Stankey served as the Executive Vice President of Industry Markets beginning in 1998 becoming the Executive President of Industry Markets in 2000. In 2001 Stankey became the President and CEO for SBC Southwest.
Stankey served as CIO of the "new AT&T" after the merger of SBC with AT&T Corporation finalized in 2005, becoming the senior executive vice president and CTO for AT&T from 2008 to 2012, Stankey held various senior executive positions within the company and in January 2012, Stankey became the CSO and group president of AT&T Inc.
In 2015, Stankey became the CEO of AT&T Entertainment Group and during the merger of Time Warner with AT&T, Stankey served as the senior executive vice president of AT&T/Time Warner merger integration planning.
Stankey sits on the Board of UPS.
Since June 2018, Stankey has been the CEO of WarnerMedia which owns various media and film corporations, including Warner Bros., HBO, Turner Broadcasting System, and CNN.
On October 1, 2019, Stankey became the COO of AT&T while continuing to serve as the CEO of WarnerMedia.
On April 1, 2020, Stankey announced that he would be stepping down as CEO of WarnerMedia, and that former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar would be assuming that role effective May 1, reporting to Stankey who will continue as COO of AT&T. On April 24, 2020, AT&T announced that effective July 1, 2020, Stankey will replace Randall L. Stephenson as CEO of AT&T.