John T. Stankey (born 1962) is an American businessman currently serving as CEO of AT&T Inc.[4] and as a member of AT&T Inc.’s board of directors.[5] He previously served as AT&T’s president and COO and was former CEO of WarnerMedia.[6][7][8] Stankey led AT&T's acquisition of DirecTV and Time Warner in 2015 and 2018, respectively.[1][9] He assumed the CEO role of AT&T effective July 1, 2020, succeeding Randall L. Stephenson.
The current iteration of ATT Inc. began its existence as Southwestern Bell Corporation, one of seven Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOC's) created in 1983 in the divestiture of parent companyAmerican Telephone and Telegraph Company (founded 1885, later ATT Corp.) due to the United States v. ATT antitrust lawsuit. Southwestern Bell changed its name to SBC Communications Inc. in 1995. In 2005, SBC purchased former parent ATT Corp. and took on its branding, with the merged entity naming itself ATT Inc. and using the iconic ATT Corp. logo and stock-trading symbol.
The current ATT reconstitutes much of the former Bell System and includes ten of the original 22 Bell Operating Companies, along with one it partially owned (Southern New England Telephone), and the original long distance division.[11]
