Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

https://seekingalpha.com/amp/article/4277817-stellar-job-and-t

First place I saw mention of "168,000 subscribers lost associated with the company's Over-the-Top operations."

But but but ... I thought streaming was supposed to save the day?!?!

Huge mistake to buy DTV. Randall had a vision but it was about 10 years too late. If they were going to buy they should have bought in 2008 / 09.

https://www.barrons.com/articles/at-t-stock-falls-earnings-directv-subscriber-losses-51563971520

There did seem to be a lack of due diligence from the executives with this purchase. If they are telling the truth about the number of 2 year low cost promotions then it looks like the subscription numbers were inflated in preparation for a sale.

The level of incompetence by ATT upper management to completely destroy DTV Within a few years is mind boggling. They should of left it alone as a separate entity and just collected the $$ until it paid it self off.These dudes went nuclear on DTV and all they have to show for it is a couple billion in debt..

And now those contracts are starting to come to an end ......

I'll take that challenge as I have work for DirecTV since they were still Ironwood.

You're absolutely right about everything you've pointed out.

We have been systematically deconstructed since AT&T bought us.

Orphaned children that they never wanted, they just wanted our Mom who held the rebroadcast contracts.

To everyone hating on DirecTV, how many of you actually work on the DTV side and have the first clue what you're talking about? Outsourced customer service, losing locals, horrible phone support, and not giving two sh–s about retaining customers ... recipe for disaster no matter what sector you're talking about.

Awesome!

Third quarter with nothing on HBO worth watching and CBS blacked out - we should have no problem exceeding a cool 1 Million net subscriber losses.

Fourth quarters have never been nice to us so add an equal number and we could looking at upwards of 3 Million gone by the end of the year.

Growth industry or what!

So what do we buy next - pager companies?

@xkm said that before on this forum but was called stupid and that it was a horrible idea. lol

Imagine if we spent all those billions on building out an all fiber network instead of going into debt to buy DirecTV and TW? We’d be the number one wireless & Broadband provider in the country gaining customers not losing. Who cares what content runs over it, let Netflix fight that battle.

The ship is sinking fast! Randall and his stupid minions didn’t think this through! Happy I’m out of this sh– hole.

AT&T needs to do something about DTV and very quickly. First fire Stankey for acquiring DTV immediately - then may be sell DTV to Dish if they agree to buy it.
Honestly, the BOD and leadership at AT&T should all be fired and like Enron, they should be investigated for financial crimes.

I'm the dope, that bought at $30, and told everyone on this board to buy at $30. Who cares what it was 10 years ago? I only care about the short and intermediate term, and in an environment of low interest rates, dividend stocks are a way to create income. Vanguard and Blackrock entered in at $32. They're also chasing income.

Wireless is doing OK, and the wildcard, Time Warner is doing OK. That was the $64K question, would Time Warner be yet another acquisition that would go sour. DirectTV, landline - already priced into the stock.

The number one reason to have this stock is because of what the central banks are doing. There is about $12 trillion of bonds with negative interest rates out there primarily in Europe and Japan. Between the Federal Reserve and overseas money chasing yield in our markets, it depresses bond yields. That's what is turning dividend paying stocks into the new "bond".

With any stock, put a stop on it, in case it crashes and diversify your holdings. I'm looking for more Ts.

Who is the dope that said wow look at the stock? Down 26% last year, up this year, but still way down from 10 years ago. HALF the SP500 stocks pay dividends and stocks like MSFT grow 500% in 5 years AND pay a dividend.... BUY MSFT. SELL T. MSFT is a much safer bet and will continue to GROW for the next few years. Why - because they have leadership that understands todays technology and take actions to capitalize on it. MSFT has a CEO that techies WANT to work for!!!

" “We’re halfway through the year and on track to deliver on all our 2019 priorities,” said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO. “We continue to pay down debt and are more confident than ever that we’ll meet our year end deleveraging goal, and we’ll take a look at buying back stock. "

This is what central bank manipulation of the debt markets brings us. With the mountain of debt AT&T has, they normally wouldn't think about buying back stock, but with Federal Reserve manipulation of interest rates, paying back the debt isn't a priority, since the servicing costs stay low. I see the Fed resuming the money printing (quantitative easing) in order to keep interest rates low. Absent from these central banks - the exit strategy.

Continued growth in fttp based broadband. Call me crazy but it seems if we had spent the amount of money to build out fiber across our footprint rather then buying the already sinking dtv ship we would be in a different place. Customers are overall very happy with our fttp offerings and many are itching at the opportunity to sign up once we lay fiber in their area.

I'll give you wow - look at the stock. I kept my fingers crossed and held, up near $33 now. Wireless and Time Warner did ok. DirectTV did its usual, but that already accounts for the decline from $42 to $32. Debt repayment targets are on schedule.

The Fed is expected to cut interest rates ¼% later this month, good for dividend paying stocks.

2nd Q employees: 257,790
1st Q employees: 262,290

I’m in Tech Dev, still waiting for the axe to fall, so no one has more to lose....that said, in fairness, todays quarterly Report shows that T is expecting to have their (original $181b) debt paid down to approximately $150b by End of Year.

Losses to the Cord Cutters don’t seem to be an issue and when I see how the top brass have played their game of "Chess" (as one poster said it) while we played Checkers....many of us were hoping for T to Surplus our way to a six month severance and perhaps even unemployment....in essence, saying ‘King Me.’ They pulled an IBM Check Mate, making both those points mute.

Can’t wait to see what they pull from their bag of tricks next, but as far as the ‘ship sinking’,’ I highly doubt it.

Randy and the Johns must be happy because they are getting rid of the customers they don’t want. I wonder how many pebble beach customers we gained.

They still made billions of dollars, ship isn't sinking too fast. Subscriber losses are just part of a competitive business. Mobility is still the big winner as it has since it's inception in 1988.

it's gonna be alright. Keep your cones out, your deer vest on, and a fresh battery in your FVD. Don't forget you got mad skills, man.

That number is inclusive of UVerse losses as well. Not good for sure.