AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson Retires As The Company Navigates A Pandemic And Streaming Wars

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson is stepping down as the company’s chief and giving the reigns to COO John Stankey, who will take over the position in July.

Stankey is taking over at a strange time as the company navigates around a growing pandemic and deals with a budding live stream war. AT&T is also dealing with new competition after Sprint and T-Mobile merged on April 1 after a lengthy merger process.

AT&T is working to change with the market as consumers spend more time streaming content as lockdowns take hold. The company is partnering with HBO to launch a subscription based service while analysts believe customers will reconsider subscription services.

“Leadership succession is one of the Board’s most important responsibilities,” AT&T board director Beth Mooney said in a press statement addressing the decision to select Stankey. “After an extensive evaluation, it was clear that John Stankey was the right person to lead AT&T into the future.”

Stankey was named president and COO of AT&T in October 2019. His promotion was considered a harbinger of things to come, namely that he was first in line to one day take over for Stephenson. AT&T said Friday that Stephenson will remain executive chairman until January 2021 “to ensure a smooth leadership transition.”