https://chiefexecutive.net/randall-stephenson-took-att-future-digital/
11 replies (most recent on top)
Randall is the man!
Yes the date. There were deal fees for all involved running into the millions. Cant risk saying anything bad about that . I guess the cat is outta the bag now.
Look at the date on the article: July 12, 2016. That was pre-TW and just after the DTV acquisition. No one outside of AT&T had a clue how badly the DTV integration was going. TW was just Rat and Stank's wet dream. It's fun to read this stuff. PR puff pieces are impossible now that everyone knows the outcome. The brilliant plan of our executive mediocrities is unmistakably off the rails and the acquisitions are being unloaded in a series of fire sales.
Don't look for any more articles extolling the brilliance of the executive team.
Just another fictional PR effort promoting Randall's 'brand'. The executive class at AT&T are so completely fake.
The reality is that Randall 'The Rat' Stevenson was an incompetent, narcissistic mediocrity. He did major damage to the value of AT&T buying up small, dynamic companies that the AT&T culture was in no way compatible with for a premium price. Then, after AT&T (mis)management had destroyed everything good about those companies, they were sold for a fraction of the purchase price.
No one did more to build competitor T-Mobile than Randall with his botched merger deal and subsequent $5 billion gift. Which T-Mobile then used to take market share from AT&T. For that blunder alone Randall should have been fired from his position.
Randall Stephenson was never a 'leadership legend' as a farcical publication called him, he was an absolute, unmitigated disaster.
The Stank, Chow, Randy, etc. all have PR people that work for them, Direct Reports, who are solely responsible for pumping these articles out, hiring authors to speak about how wonderful T is, and basically covering for all mistakes. Must be nice to make 200k+, sitting on your couches zooming. These minions literally spend hundreds of thousands $ to build their boss' brand, no matter how worthless they are. Each has their own personal cheerleader to tell them how important they are, regardless of how many Billions they lose, layoff, re-org...disgusting!
Rethink possible! Absolute worst CEO ever. Still not sure if T will survive the boneheaded decisions over the past 10 years. Stephenson and Stankey = Losers.
This trash is catered for executives, don't waste your life reading it, there are way better hobbies in life.
A reminder from 5 years ago of Randall's vision: AT&T will be Google. AT&T will be Amazon. AT&T will make movies!
A better strategy would have have been to stick to what you know and excel at it instead of trying to break into businesses already dominated by others.
Yes, the last few years have been a textbook case in boards not earning their pay.
Text book worst CEO ever. One strategic failure after another. Billions and Billions lost!!! Unfortunately for T, his chief strategist, John Stanley, while Stephenson was CEO, is now the CEO! WTF is the AT&T Board thinking? Can't make this stuff up.
He took AT&T somewhere alright . . . right over the cliff.