AT&T CEO Pay Rose to $32 Million in 2019 after Cutting 20,000 Jobs
Freeman writes:
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson's total compensation was more than $32 million in 2019, giving him a 10 percent raise while he slashed tens of thousands of jobs and reduced spending on network upgrades. Stephenson's total compensation was $28.72 million in 2017, $29.12 million in 2018, and $32.03 million in 2019, an AT&T filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission said. His pay raise was driven by stock performance.
[...]But Stephenson's 2019 compensation rose "after a headline-grabbing hedge fund battle ended up boosting the telecom and media giant's share price," The Wall Street Journal reported today. The 10 percent increase came "almost entirely on the strength of AT&T's stock appreciation," as AT&T shares rose about 37 percent during 2019, the Journal article said.
[...]AT&T has been trying to reduce its debt load, which was$163.1 billion total and $151.3 billion in long-term debt at the end of 2019. Stephenson might not get another pay increase this year given the turmoil in stock markets that has sent AT&T tumbling in recent days. Stephenson is nearing retirement, but AT&T has said he will remain in the top role through all of 2020.
20,000 jobs cut assuming, $50,000 per year, is $1 billion dollars saved per year. Even if the CEO wanted to give all of his income to the workers, he would have saved about 3.2%, or 640, jobs this year. Sounds better if you just blame him for the 20,000 job cuts, though.
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