AT&T plans big changes after Time Warner deal

AT&T CEO will remain as company’s leading executive, sources say.

AT&T is planning major organizational changes to follow the $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner, including a redefined role for CEO Randall Stephenson, as the telecommunications giant morphs into a media company.

Stephenson will oversee a pair of CEOs who will independently manage the company’s telecommunications and media businesses, according to people familiar with the matter. Stephenson, 57, will still be the top executive of the company, focused on charting the company’s new course as a media powerhouse, the people said.

Stephenson will remain chairman and CEO of AT&T, the company said in a statement, denying an earlier report by Bloomberg that he would relinquish the CEO title.

John Stankey, who now leads DirecTV and other entertainment businesses, will lead the media division, including Time Warner, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. DirecTV will become part of a unit that includes AT&T’s traditional phone businesses, to be run by John Donovan, the people said.

The reorganization, one of the largest at AT&T since “Ma Bell” was broken apart by the U.S. government into seven regional “Baby Bells” 33 years ago, mimics the structure of other successful mergers of disparate businesses, including Comcast Corp.’s acquisition of NBCUniversal. By naming two executives who can run their businesses at arm’s length, AT&T could also address regulators’ concerns that the company’s TV and broadband networks would favor content produced by Time Warner’s HBO or Warner Bros.

Stephenson and Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes are still working on plans for implementing the merger, said an AT&T spokesman. Decisions about organizational structure and leadership haven’t yet been finalized, the spokesman said. Bewkes has