AT&T (T) is planning to shake up its ranks following the completion of the $85.4B acquisition of Time Warner (TWX), Bloomberg reports, adding that AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson could have a “redefined role.”
According to the report, Stephenson will become executive chairman and drop the CEO title; as executive chairman, he will oversee a “pair” of CEOs who would independently manage the company’s telecommunications and media businesses, sources say.
He will still be the company’s top executive, though he won’t be called CEO, the report notes. John Stankey, who runs DirecTV and other entertainment businesses, would become CEO of the media division, including Time Warner, the people say, while DirecTV will become part of a unit that includes AT&T’s traditional phone businesses, to be run by John Donovan, who will be promoted from strategy chief to CEO. Stephenson and Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes are still working on plans for implementing the merger, an AT&T spokesperson says.
