I actually liked the guy personally. But he seemed to be on a mental decline and could not fight against the tidal wave of stupidity in the C-Suite. That said, anyone currently under Donovan - and that's a lot of people - might have it a lot worse. Is McFresh going to take over? Arroyo? Both terrible, soulless, lackluster managers but the bean counters like them. Will they look to the outside?
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Something big happened here. At that level, he had to f up pretty badly. I suspect cooked books or fudging numbers. Either could badly hurt the stock price.
2020 is fast approaching so he's getting out or being let go before being held accountable for those pipe dreams that never had a chance of being accomplished by then yet were repeatedly talked about in his town hall meetings. Pivot AT&T to a software company by having thousands of employees take some online courses for example. He even claimed that other large software companies like Google were starting to look at us as one. Now this so called software company is outsourcing thousands of its developers to IBM. Good riddance.
I suspect that John is not in agreement with how things are shaping out especially with all the vendor outsourcing and has opted to go. Relief for Jeff who wants to do as he pleases to get his fat bonus after showing a corporate cost cut but not truly project cost cut in TD!!! And the biggest wrong doer Randall stays? That is consciously arrogant!!!
I posted a comment here wondering if a certain flight log might have anything to do with his sudden departure. Somehow that comment got deleted. Very strange but then there are no coincidences.
If Stankey takes over, he will cut heads big time. On another idea, how did he survive the T-Mobile debacle.
Lori Lee will take over that position to continue the “look how woke we are! We hired a woman” culture the company has been traveling since John and Randall took over the helm. We used to care about our customers and employees. Now everything is expendable. My guess is we are about to find out just how corrupt things have been. We saw Randall’s apology for giving bribes for access to DC. That I am sure That was just the tip of it. I only say that because we have known for years things are not right but nothing changes. We have complained about cost of services and Terrible customer service issues for years to no avail! Now we are seeing crazy reorganization and layoffs like crazy. Why? It doesn’t make sense not to fix those basic issues. Something is rotten in Denmark
I hear after T-Mobile' s merger John Legere is looking..... just sayin.... he's walking through your door, sitting down at your kitchen table, and sharing crock pot recipes... amazing how you can turn a company around with only $5Billion and a nationwide AWS spectrum gift. Wall street banksters say you need offer tv to be relevant? Give em Netflix for free.
How much does it cost T to offer your customers Tee Vee? Do they really want it?
Would have been better off offering a crock pot cook book, more attractive rate plans ,live employed in US customer service operators, not a cheesy cloud based robot blocking the door to a live operator, or encouraging the customer to help themselves online.
Hey welcome to my house for dinner. Glad you could come. Theres raw steak in the fridge, some lemonade is available, fresh lemons are on the tree outside. I encourage you to help yourself rather than waiting inline for the next available host. Insulting isn't it?
Cheapo corner cutting looks great on powerpoint, until the customers vote with their wallets...
No internal candidate is going to make a difference, they are all cut from the same old wool, not a one with any real new ideas beyond catchphrases. What we need is nerds, Silicon Valley nerds that are right now thinking about the next big thing unfortunately the culture at T is the complete opposite of what would attract someone like Musk instead the T leadership is stuck in the past insisting on trying to buy its way to the top while at the same time demoralizing the people that work for them with quarter after quarter of layoffs and offshoring. Who wants to volunteer to that?
I nominate Carly Fiorina.
Signed , Your competition.. lol.
I suspect he was told he wasn’t next in line for the CEO chair. When that happens you leave.
From the article. The more things change, the more they stay the same...
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In this article
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AT&T INC
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John Donovan’s surprise decision to step down as head of AT&T Inc.’s communications business clears the way for a woman to take the role and become the highest-ranking female executive in the company’s 134-year history.
In an informal survey of analysts and former AT&T executives, two women emerged as the most likely candidates to replace Donovan. Lori Lee, chief executive officer Latin America for AT&T and the company’s global marketing officer, was most often mentioned. Susan Johnson, executive vice president of global connections and supply chain, was second.
Respondents also mentioned John Stankey, an AT&T lifer who now leads the WarnerMedia entertainment division, and Thaddeus Arroyo, CEO of AT&T Business, as possible candidates.
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Whoever gets the job will take over AT&T’s largest business – and take on big challenges, including the costly rollout of a new generation of wireless known as 5G. The technology promises faster speeds, richer videos and ultimately new services like self-driving vehicles.
As the No. 2 to Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson, the winning candidate will also hold a key role in a financially constrained AT&T, following its $85 billion takeover of Time Warner. That deal helped boost total debt to more than $194 billion, though the company has made progress whittling the total down in recent quarters.
Stalled Growth
Donovan, 58, said Monday he plans to retire Oct. 1 after serving two years as Stephenson’s top deputy.
He oversaw a division – including phone, broadband service and pay TV – that generated 77% of AT&T’s revenue last quarter and 84% of its profit. But growth has all but evaporated for the hugely profitable wireless business, and the TV division lost a record 2.3 million video customers in the past year.
The company said Monday it will name Donovan’s replacement soon. It didn’t disclose a list of candidates.
"AT&T has a long tradition of elevating internal candidates to executive positions, rather than going outside"
AT&T’s High-Level Departure Opens Door for Woman in No. 2 Spot
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-26/at-t-s-high-level-departure-opens-door-for-woman-in-no-2-spot
No one leaves from that level with a mere 5 or 6 week notice unless one of two things has happened -
- Diagnosed with a serious, immediate and possibly life-threatening health crisis.
- You screwed up at the same time someone needed a head-on-the-block to rally the troops and you inadvertently volunteered yourself - also known as the sacrificial goat.
I suspect the latter.
Not sure it matters at this point. Unless there is some kind of growth from innovation similar to the iPhone, I don't see the communications unit being a juggernaut ever again. The products are just too old and the markets saturated. Arroyo appears to be next in line for the job in my opinion.
I heard too many bad things about John Donovan. Fortunately i dont work there any longer. I left in September 2015. Getting rid of Donovan is the best thing ever to happen at AT&T.
Yes. Very intelligent! He’s leaving isn’t he? He knows when it’s the right time. He is going to leave it to some other captain to go down with the T ship.
A couple more johns to go
I understand you wouldn't know it from reading all of the stuff here....but Donovan is truly a VERY intelligent individual. Makes me wonder what's really going down.