John Stankey Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

If there was one thing that the turbulent week at Warner Bros. Discovery displayed, it’s just how quickly conventional wisdom can change from one regime to the next, when each is trying to gin up the stock price for Wall Street.

The guest list for tomight’s White House State Dinner for Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and partner Jodie Haydon includes a number of names from entertainment and media.

Warner Bros Discovery and Amazon have struck a new distribution deal for HBO Max, returning the streaming service to Prime Video Channels.

AT&T reported solid results for its final quarter of full ownership of WarnerMedia, but its stock plunged after the company lowered its outlook for full-year free cash flow.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorAfter a topsy-turvy week, the thought occurred to me during AT&T’s investor call on Thursday: What if John Stankey wound up on the winning side of the streaming wars?Netflix took a nosedive on Tuesday with an earnings report that proved that it could not suspend the law of gravity forever. The steady upward climb of Netflix subscriber gains had to stop sometime, and that sometime was Q1 2022.The jolt that the news of six-figure losses in Q1 and a projected seven-figure loss for Q2 packed a wallop on Netflix stock price.

AT&T CEO John Stankey said managing passwords is a key to long-term sustainability in the streaming business and something he and his team had in mind well before HBO Max launched. He made the comments on a call with analysts following AT&T’s latest earnings and two days after Netflix revealed that 100 million viewers use its service for free by sharing passwords.

inning off WarnerMedia in a $55 billion merger deal with Discovery that was completed earlier this month. It also marked a stark contrast to Netflix’s surprising loss of 200,000 subscribers worldwide in the same quarter — a setback that led to a 35% nosedive in the streaming giant’s stock price on Wednesday.

Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav and other top execs are meeting with employees in a town hall this morning on the Warner lot in Burbank. It’s the first large-scale staff meeting since last Friday’s close of the $43 billion merger.

according to CNN.Discovery stakeholders had approved the deal in mid-March.The merger will place AT&T’s Warner Bros., CNN, Turner and Discovery’s stable of nonfiction networks squarely under one roof — as well as two currently competing streaming services, Discovery+ and HBO Max, possibly giving the combined entity a fighting chance of moving into competition with Netflix and Disney+ among the leading streaming services.The deal also combines WarnerMedia’s U.S. sports rights like the NBA, MLB and March Madness with Discovery international sports giant Eurosport.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaAs Discovery closes its deal for WarnerMedia, John Stankey, the AT&T chief who oversaw the telecom company’s abandoned foray into the media world, bid farewell to his soon-to-be former colleagues. Stankey led AT&T’s acquisition of DirecTV and Time Warner in 2015 and 2018, before replacing Randall Stephenson as CEO role of AT&T in July 2020.“My respect and appreciation for those I have worked closely with is enduring, and I will miss continuing to learn and problem solve with you,” Stankey wrote.

AT&T CEO John Stankey, who decided last spring to spin off WarnerMedia into a $43 billion merged entity with Discovery, has sent a bouquet to WarnerMedia staff as the deal gets set to close.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterWarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar announced Tuesday he is stepping down ahead of the completion of Discovery’s acquisition of the company, which is expected to occur April 11.“With the pending transaction with Discovery nearing close, now is the right time to share with each of you that I will be departing this amazing company,” Kilar said in a memo sent to WarnerMedia staff. “There are many feelings one could have in a moment like this, but for me there are none bigger, or more lasting, than the feelings of gratitude and love that I have for this team, this company, and this mission. I’ve never been more fulfilled professionally.

AT&T’s chief executive John Stankey had a $24.8 million salary in 2021, as compared to his $21 million pay the year prior and $22.5 million earnings in 2019, per the telecommunications giant’s Securities and Exchange Commission filing made available Tuesday. While the CEO made a base salary of $2.4 million in 2021 (slightly higher than his $2.05 million in 2020), he received stock awards valued at $13.42 million. However, Stankey’s non-equity incentive plan more than doubled from $3.25 million to $6.88 million from 2020 to 2021.According to the filing, CFO Pascal Desroches received $11.7 million overall compensation in 2021, his first year in the position.

AT&T chief executive John Stankey’s compensation totaled $24.8 million last year, up from $21 million the year earlier. According to a proxy statement filed with the SEC, retired CEO Randall Stephenson made $16.3 million in 2021 (down from $29 million).

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterAT&T CEO John Stankey’s pay for 2021 rose 18% over the previous year to $24.8 million, per the company’s SEC filing Tuesday.His base salary for the year was $2.4 million, with a non-equity incentive plan compensation of $6.88 million.

Former PricewaterhouseCoopers CEO Samuel Di Piazza Jr. has been named chairman of the board of Warner Bros. Discovery.

John Stankey, who played a central role in AT&T’s push into entertainment before shedding of those money-losing assets as CEO, signaled a new day in his opening remarks at the company’s investor day.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorOn the cusp of spinning off WarnerMedia — ending AT&T’s ill-fated foray into the entertainment biz — telco chief CEO John Stankey touted the company as getting into fighting shape to succeed in its core wireless and broadband sectors.AT&T released updated financial guidance on Friday ahead of its investor day presentation, fleshing out its post-WarnerMedia strategic priorities. Separately, Discovery shareholders also Friday are set to vote on whether to approve the WarnerMedia deal.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterWarnerMedia has been owned by telco giant AT&T for less than four years and it will soon have a new parent company — likely by the end of next month.Discovery’s shareholder vote on the acquisition of WarnerMedia is set for today during a special meeting of stockholders set for 10 a.m. ET. The deal is expected to get an easy thumbs-up given the approval already bestowed by Discovery’s oldest and most influential holders, investor John Malone and Advance/Newhouse Co.

The merger of AT&T’s WarnerMedia and Discovery has cleared U.S. regulators, the companies announced Wed.,  in the last major hurdle for the $43-billion deal.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorNow in the home stretch of unloading WarnerMedia, AT&T chief John Stankey appears to be primarily interested in not destroying any more value for shareholders than the telco giant already has with its ill-fated M&A strategy.This week, AT&T announced that the WarnerMedia divestiture will be structured as a spinoff ahead of its combo with Discovery. That will give telco shareholders pro-rata shares in the newly created Warner Bros.

Shares in both AT&T and Discovery opened down about 5% apiece on Tuesday morning, following news that AT&T would indeed, definitely spinoff WarnerMedia in a $43 billion deal with Discovery, Inc.There was previously a chance the two companies would execute a split instead.In addition to that decision, AT&T’s board of directors has approved an annual dividend of $1.11 per AT&T share.“In evaluating the form of distribution, we were guided by one objective — executing the transaction in the most seamless manner possible to support long-term value generation,” AT&T CEO John Stankey said this morning. “We are confident the spin-off achieves that objective because it’s simple, efficient and results in AT&T shareholders owning shares of both companies, each of which will have the ability to drive better returns in a manner consistent with their respective market opportunities.“We believe that the remaining AT&T and the new WBD are two equities that the market will want to own and the markets to support those equities will develop,” Stankey continued.

AT&T shares are down in pre-market trading after the telecom giant said it will spin off WarnerMedia as part of the entertainment unit’s pending $43 billion merger with Discovery.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorAT&T announced that its board has decided to spin off the telco’s interest in WarnerMedia — rather than structure the media conglom’s divestiture as a split-off.The transaction will spin off 100% of AT&T’s interest in WarnerMedia to AT&T’s existing shareholders in a pro-rata distribution, followed by the merger of WarnerMedia with Discovery to form a new company, “Warner Bros. Discovery.” The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022; previously, AT&T had targeted “mid-2022” for the close.Last week, on AT&T’s Q4 earnings call, CEO John Stankey had left said the board was still on the fence about whether to spin off WarnerMedia (and give AT&T shareholders pro-rata shares in the new Warner Bros.

There are far weightier consequences of the Omicron variant’s holiday-season surge than New York media types having to puzzle out the fate of red-carpet events.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorJohn Stankey and Brian Roberts are wrestling with different sides of the same problems.For Big Media, the fourth-quarter earnings revelations so far have reinforced predictions that 2022 is the year the honeymoon ends for the promise of new streaming ventures. Now it’s entrenching time.

In a conference call with Wall Street analysts, AT&T CEO John Stankey defended the decision to separate HBO Max from Amazon’s channels business.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterAT&T CEO John Stankey told investors he expects HBO Max to recoup all of the subscribers lost last fall after WarnerMedia pulled HBO from the Amazon Prime Video Channels marketplace in September amid ongoing agita in the TV industry about the fees Amazon takes for facilitating sales of subscription TV services.During AT&T’s hourlong fourth-quarter earnings call with investors on Wednesday, Stankey also noted that market conditions have spurred price hikes by HBO Max rivals, which means that HBO Max is not the most expensive of the major domestic players at present. Stankey didn’t mention Netflix by name, but the inference was clear.Last October, AT&T reported that HBO and HBO Max lost about 1.8 million subscribers in the third quarter after the disengagement from Amazon in the previous month.

Yahoo Finance. On Wednesday, AT&T reported adjusted EPS of 78 cents on $41 billion in revenue.“A year and a half ago, we began simplifying our business to reposition AT&T for growth and we’re extremely pleased with how we’ve executed on that commitment,” said John Stankey, AT&T CEO.

Discovery shares, which have been in a funk for months, roared back to life today, jumping 17% on heavy trading volume after a validation from a veteran Wall Street analyst.

AT&T’s beaten-down stock has risen 4% today to reach a three-month high on strong subscriber numbers and auspicious signs for the pending WarnerMedia-Discovery deal.

A mammoth SEC filing by Discovery today offers some tidbits on its upcoming merger with WarnerMedia – like the new Nasdaq stock symbol, WBD – and pages detailing back-and- forth calls between David Zaslav and AT&T CEO John Stankey starting in February when the Discovery boss first reached out.

AT&T CEO John Stankey said the approval process for a deal to shed WarnerMedia and merge it with Discovery “is consistent with what we would have expected as we walked into it.”

Yahoo Finance. AT&T reported adjusted EPS of 87 cents on $39.9 billion in revenue.HBO and HBO Max combined for 45.2 million domestic subs and 69.4 million global subs at the end of Q3.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorAT&T CEO John Stankey said the decision to spin off WarnerMedia — and merge it with Discovery — came down to his belief that investors have undervalued the media division under the telco’s ownership.About WarnerMedia, he said, “It’s trading right now like a cable network asset,” speaking Tuesday at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference.

AT&T CEO John Stankey said the company is working closely with regulators on the WarnerMedia-Discovery deal announced in late May and so far hasn’t seen anything “that’s been particularly problematic” in the review process.