Struggling AT&T plans “tens of billions” in cost cuts, more layoffs

AT&T is planning tens of billions of dollars worth of cost cuts, said AT&T President and COO John Stankey. Stankey also discussed the future of DirecTV satellite service, saying it won't be the primary TV option AT&T pitches to most customers going forward. For the company-wide cuts, AT&T management "has looked at effectively 10 broad initiatives that we believe can generate double digits of billions over a 3-year planning cycle," Stankey said. In 2019, AT&T slashed capital expenditures by more than $1.6 billion and projects a capital-investment cut of more than $3 billion in 2020. AT&T also reduced its employee count from 268,220 to 247,800 in 2019, despite promising to use a tax cut to create new jobs. AT&T's TV business has been cratering, losing more than 4 million subscribers across its satellite, wireline, and linear streaming-TV services in 2019 alone. As AT&T shifts toward online-only services like AT&T TV, it is de-emphasizing the satellite service despite spending $48.5 billion to buy DirecTV in 2015.