That is all Stankey is doing
9 replies (most recent on top)
His PIP findings are something like two years overduAlles clar, herr Komisaar
Hey Now
@OP Elliott bought roughly in Sept 2019 for about $24 a share. Sold around a year later, for about $22 a share and the stock is $24 a share 7 years later.
None of their advice is brain surgery, it's generic.
And his results haven't been any better than the market over the same period of time.
This is a dividend company that isn't growing, simply replacing copper based services for less costly fiber optic based services. Their revenue growth has more to do with their ability to raise prices and profit growth is coming from expense reductions mostly associated to a lot of bespoke corporate services, which are being eliminated with their fiber strategy.
The CEO is not innovating nor bringing new to the party. At best, the executive team is going back to the well on mergers and trying to gain monopoly type pricing power in the fiber space.
Stankey will make AT&T great again.
Here’s a clear summary of the key recommendations from Elliott Management’s activist letter to AT&T’s board of directors (sent in early September 2019 when Elliott disclosed a large stake in the company):
📈 Key Recommendations from Elliott’s Letter
Elliott’s letter outlined a strategy (often referred to as its “Activating AT&T” plan) to improve the company’s performance and unlock shareholder value. The core recommendations included:
Refocus AT&T’s Strategy
Stop pursuing large, unrelated acquisitions and focus on core, high-value businesses.
Reuters
Conduct a Full Portfolio Review
Examine the company’s business units and divest assets or segments that are not core to long-term success.
Barron's
Improve Operational Efficiency
Identify and eliminate inefficiencies; reduce costs and bureaucratic overhead to boost profitability.
Reuters
Revamp Capital Allocation
Create a formal, disciplined capital allocation framework — including significant share buybacks — to return more capital to shareholders.
Reuters
Enhance Leadership and Board Oversight
Potentially add directors with operational expertise and challenge executive leadership on strategic execution.
Reuters
Third-Party Operational Review
Hire external advisers to review AT&T’s operations and structure to help drive faster decision-making and execution.
blogs.shu.edu
🧠 Criticisms and Strategic Points Elliott Made
In addition to recommendations, the letter also criticized AT&T’s performance:
Poor execution in wireless, especially relative to competitors (e.g., slower LTE rollout).
Unsuccessful M&A, including the DirecTV acquisition and Time Warner deal, which Elliott argued hadn’t delivered expected value.
Outstanding share price underperformance and lack of clear long-term strategic focus.
If I remember correctly Elliot was a hostile investor who wanted changes made. Don’t remember if they were the ones who got rid of RS. Stankey survived and probably agreed to make changes. That’s why I don’t agree that Stankey was responsible for the old direction. Elliot is pretty ruthless and doesn’t have a problem getting rid of people. He took the blame in the WSJ interview and obviously was part of the executive team. He did say that he is the one calling the shots as Chairman and CEO so it falls on his shoulders. However he didn’t have the titles and responsibilities when most of the distratious decisions were made.
Makes sense, Stink had to be put on a PIP by outside investors, due to BoD malpractice.
Link to the Elliot letter or it didnt happen.
Huh? Who dat?