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AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson's total compensation was more than $32 million in 2019, giving him a 10 percent raise while he slashed tens of thousands of jobs and reduced spending on network upgrades. Stephenson's total compensation was $28.72 million in 2017, $29.12 million in 2018, and $32.03 million in 2019, an AT&T filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission said. His pay raise was driven by stock performance.
[...]But Stephenson's 2019 compensation rose "after a headline-grabbing hedge fund battle ended up boosting the telecom and media giant’s share price," The Wall Street Journal reported today. The 10 percent increase came "almost entirely on the strength of AT&T’s stock appreciation," as AT&T shares rose about 37 percent during 2019, the Journal article said.
[...]AT&T has been trying to reduce its debt load, which was $163.1 billion total and $151.3 billion in long-term debt at the end of 2019. Stephenson might not get another pay increase this year given the turmoil in stock markets that has sent AT&T tumbling in recent days. Stephenson is nearing retirement, but AT&T has said he will remain in the top role through all of 2020.
20,000 jobs cut assuming, $50,000 per year, is $1 billion dollars saved per year. Even if the CEO wanted to give all of his income to the workers, he would have saved about 3.2%, or 640, jobs this year. Sounds better if you just blame him for the 20,000 job cuts, though.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 12 2020, @11:18PM (5 children)
I think someone on here said it best, something like stuff like this is just a glitch in captialism. And he was right. We need serious reforms in how business is conducted. These are primal beasts that we are using to advance our burden, and the way the system has evelved has been outstripped by the speed and innovation of the private sector. To allow blatantly bad decisions to be incredibly rewarded is bad for us all. It's not the people that are broken, it's the outdated way we handle the systems we create that is, imho there is hope but the dynamic of how most people interact with the systems that rule society needs to change. #takethepowerback #bustthetrusts #teachcriticalthinking
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @02:26AM (1 child)
It's not a glitch, it's a foundational principle.
When the owners slough off a bunch of workers, their costs go down and they calculate the productivity of the remaining workers goes up. It's a pure calculation.
According to this ideal, the worker offers his labor at the market rate. The reality is that productivity is a sensitive function of morale. You know the difference between hanging out with your friends and hanging out with co-workers - that's what a difference in morale feels like.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @12:24PM
It's not a foundational principle, it's a problem. In fact, one well-known enough to have it's own name, the principle-agent problem.
You might also want to check into how much of cooperate structure is legally or regulatorily mandated.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @11:43AM
> We need serious reforms in how business is conducted.
Systems don't reform. They collapse.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday March 13 2020, @05:38PM (1 child)
Glitch, or inevitable emergent behavior?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @08:34PM
Glitch, because in a proactive world this would be accounted for and the accounting factors enforced, so something isn't working right.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by captain normal on Thursday March 12 2020, @11:26PM (1 child)
Dos that mean he has to give back near 10%? That ATT stock lost in just the last 24 hours?
And was that $161 billion in debt because of swallowing all the baby Bells in the last few years?
Also wonder how much ATT spent for lobbying in the last 20 years?
Hell wonder how much ATT spent just on the party at Pebble Beach since taking it over from the Crosby estate?
"It is easier to fool someone than it is to convince them that they have been fooled" Mark Twain
(Score: 3, Insightful) by NateMich on Friday March 13 2020, @02:15AM
If he's being paid in ATT stock, which seems likely, then he just got a massive pay cut.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Snotnose on Friday March 13 2020, @12:07AM (1 child)
Much like our drone strikes in Brownskinistan create more terrorists than they kill, shit like this breeds Bernie supporters.
I honestly don't know what the answer is, but IMHO the disconnect from the Cxx suite and the worker bees is getting to a breaking point.
When you can threaten 20,000 people with loss of home, health insurance, food, education, and security; only to buy another yacht, you really need to start looking at the pitchfork and torch futures on NYSE and planning accordingly.
I came. I saw. I forgot why I came.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @02:52AM
Sabotage is a nice and easy first step. One mistype at the right place can
changeexpose the client db to the world.(Score: 4, Interesting) by sjames on Friday March 13 2020, @12:16AM
While the CEO's pay couldn't save but a few of the jobs, the fact that he is getting a raise while so many are fired and I'm guessing the rest are not to expect a raise is telling.
It reminds me of Jim and Tammy Bakker urging their viewers (most of whom were on a fixed income) to tighten their belts and give 'till it hurts while Tammy, with no apparent sense of shame, stood there dripping with diamonds.
The rest of the executive suite saw some nice bumps as well.
I'm not so sure pointing out that the pay increases at the top came from the stock doing so well makes the situation seem any better!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @12:24AM
...line_disconnect_error
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @12:36AM (2 children)
So those 20k employees never did anything or else that one billion saved line doesn't make sense. Other people are going to have to pick up that work which means they won't be as productive at whatever they're currently doing nor as productive at their new tasks. Thus the amount of value they get out of each dollar they pay the still employed employees just decreased.
I wonder if anyone has data mined how much a company's hiring increases after they perform job cuts. Afterall with all that savings they now have new funds to grow with...
(Score: 5, Insightful) by NateMich on Friday March 13 2020, @02:19AM
The summary even mentioned that they cancelled network upgrades, so those jobs are probably related.
Basically they gave him a pay raise for short changing their future prospects in exchange for near term gains.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Friday March 13 2020, @09:21PM
The people who didn't get fired will be expected to pick up the "slack", effectively taking a pay cut (more work for same pay). The management at the top fully believed that if they do that long enough, all of the actual work can be accomplished by one janitor (for regular janitor's pay) while they soak up the profits.
They probably know the cuts aren't sustainable but they intend to deploy their golden parachutes before the guano impacts the air handling device.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Snotnose on Friday March 13 2020, @12:54AM (12 children)
Although that is a problem....
No, the problem is that $32 mil is his fucking bonus. They guy fucks over 20,000 people and gets more money than my father, mother, sisters, friend's families, and I will ever see in a lifetime for doing it. As a bonus, not his regular salary.
I completely understand why my grandkids support Bernie.
I came. I saw. I forgot why I came.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday March 13 2020, @02:10AM (9 children)
If you had a lick of sense, you would too. The GOP wants to kill you. This is not an exaggeration. And Biden is a senile old corporatist puppet, which is to say, he's a figurehead being used by the same corporations who also want to kill you, albeit not quite so personally. Every single Republican and most of the Dems are going to burn like cheap, streaky bacon.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @03:21AM (8 children)
So Biden is *worse* than Trump, then?
And we should make sure Trump is re-elected so he can continue "helping" us?
Is that your position?
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @05:15AM
Of course not, the choice is clear... Which is why I will be voting for Hillary!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @06:23AM (1 child)
The thing with Biden is that he sucks the air out of the debate. Yes Trump's a douche but Biden's supposed to be my guy. Not my guy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @06:27AM
So a Biden presidency would be *worse* than a second Trump term?
Is that your position?
(Score: 4, Funny) by sjames on Friday March 13 2020, @07:23AM (3 children)
Worse, hardly. Choosing Biden is like choosing to be kicked squarely in the nuts. Trump is like being kicked squarely in the nuts until they fall off.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday March 13 2020, @03:09PM (2 children)
So, your best defense for Biden is that he will be less worse in your opinion than Trump? I'm sure that'll convince a lot of people to vote Biden. The truth of the matter is, more people know who Trump is than Biden. Trump's celebrity status probably still wins him a number of votes, just because he was that real-estate show guy or whatever.
Better the devil you know, than the devil you don't.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday March 13 2020, @05:41PM
All humans are bad to varying degrees.
It will always be the case that one person will be less bad than another.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Friday March 13 2020, @08:15PM
Even more people know who Alfred E. Neuman is, but that doesn't mean he's going to win the election. I will admit to the occasional temptation to write him in.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday March 14 2020, @12:19AM
At this point, frankly, my position is "I don't know yet who to vote for, but more and more it's looking like I should do the selfish thing and vote whatever way is most likely to give me just that little bit more time necessary to GTFO across the northern border and watch this shithole of a nation implode." So maybe I *will* end up flipping the lever for Biden, who knows? If I do, it will be for entirely selfish reasons, though.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @01:27PM
The fact that people buy communist rhetoric in this day and age while actually believing it will do as stated is just as sad IMHO as the gutting of our future through decisions like in the article.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday March 13 2020, @03:06PM
What is hard to comprehend about this statement? The $32 Million dollars in 2019 was his total compensation. I.E. that's how much he made from AT&T. His "raises" year over year were due to the increase in value of AT&T Stock. So, if you had stock in AT&T, you earned more as well.
What is interesting to me is that while saving $1 Billion dollars a year on salaries might help their bottom line. The fact is that they have over $163 Billion dollars worth of debt. That is a whole truck load of debt. Maybe they make plenty to pay that off in 10 years, I have no idea.
Here's hoping Starlink kicks AT&T, Verizon, T-Mo/Sprint, and Cable Co., et al. where it hurts.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @11:36AM (1 child)
At some point (the FU money point), paying a person more should not be expected to make him more attentive to the job.
There is a problem with corporate America being so focused on Wall Street that they loose sight of what is necessary to make the company, and hence investors do well.
T seems an example of this. Perhaps the pay issue is part of the problem?
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday March 16 2020, @03:40PM
No, but paying someone more, might compel them to stay.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"