AT&T says it will keep Time Warner managers

Los Angeles Times

When a media company buys another, the acquired firm’s regime is usually shoved out the door. But AT&T’s top executive says he plans to keep in place much of Time Warner’s management team.

AT&T announced its $84.5 billion acquisition of Time Warner over the weekend, and the heads of both companies — Randall Stephenson of AT&T and Jeffrey Bewkes of Time Warner—said maintainingthe executive ranks of the media company would be a priority.

“I made it clear to Jeff that the talent that he assembled was a really important part of this deal,” Mr. Stephenson said. “And it was going to be really critical that we have continuity in the team that he has built.”

Senior Time Warner executives — including Warner Bros. chairman Kevin Tsujihara in Burbank, Calif., HBO chairman Richard Plepler in New York, and Turner chairman John Martin in New York — should breathe easier.

“We have both been really focused on keeping all of the Time Warner executives — the business executives and the creative executives,” Mr. Bewkes said.

The two companies expect it to take more than a year for Washington regulators to review the benefits and shortcomings of the deal before approving or rejecting it. On Sunday, AT&T’s proposed purchase of Time Warner was facing skepticism from all sides in the presidential race.

That means AT&T is not expected to take control of Time Warner until sometime in 2018.

Mr. Bewkes, who is 64, said he agreed to step down after a transition period.

That’s a departure from other recent deals.

When Comcast acquired NBCUniversal in 2011, it swiftly installed new managers. Comcast executive Steve Burke replaced Jeff Zucker as chief executive of NBCUniversal.