AT&T CEO to Separate Telecom, Media Businesses After Time Warner Merger

AT&T plans to separate its telecom operations from its media assets after clinching a takeover of Time Warner, putting veteran AT&T executive John Stankey in charge of the Time Warner business, according to people familiar with the matter. The reorganization would separate AT&T’s wireless business and its DirecTV satellite television business from the newly acquired Time Warner assets, including HBO, Warner Bros., and the Turner cable unit that houses CNN. The new structure would keep AT&T Chairman and Chief Executive Randall Stephenson atop the company with two top lieutenants, in an organization that would resemble Comcast Brian Roberts, Comcast’s chairman and chief executive, has two segment chiefs: one in charge of the cable business and the other heading NBCUniversal. Under the new structure, DirecTV would be combined with the company’s telecom operations, which are run out of AT&T’s Dallas headquarters and include both the wireless and landline business, the people familiar with the matter said. That segment would be run by John Donovan, another AT&T veteran who is currently chief strategy officer.