Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

Elliott Management not demanding Stankey's head. They did their analysis and saw it was a lost cause, got their money back and walked away fast.

Too many old workers.

In order
T-mo acquisition
Directv
Digital Life
and trying to come up with our own " streaming " content and model - failure

Instead of stating the biggest failure, how about stating the successful ventures?
Okay, there were non, I mean none. It's failure after failure. Many have already been mentioned, but we should add these:
AT&T built new headquarters bldg in NYC (the Chippendale building). Didn't even move in, now owned and occupied by SONY.

Ameritech build a new multi-million dollar complex in IL called Hoffman Estates. Have since sold and vacated.

Ameritech built a new Tranship Warehouse in SB IN. Sold and vacated after 16 Mos.

AT&T sold off most all company owned buildings and other assets.

Way too many more to name.

Deciding that having the best customer service experience in the industry cost too much. Focused on becoming mediocre like the rest of them but went too far.

Hiring Randall Stephenson

Jun 24, 1998 — AT&T said today that it has agreed to acquire Tele-Communications Incorporated in an all-stock deal worth an estimated $48 billion.

Jun 16, 2000 — AT&T; Corp. completed its purchase of MediaOne Group Inc. for about $44 billion, becoming the largest US cable television provider

Dec 20, 2001 -- AT&T Broadband to merge with Comcast in $72B deal

No foresight by Leg-T. Should have kept it

Rebadging & outsourcing ranks right up there. Not sure which company is worse, Tech M or Accenture.

“Some” good things came out of the TW debacle. We got to see what a complete, narcissistic, tool bag Stank really was in his dealing with those people. Google “operating cadence and style Stankey”. Woof. What a smarmy DB. We also got to see him fancy himself a celebrity for a minute, and see pics of him on red carpets trying to look like a human being. That was fun.

RTO is worse than all the id--tic mergers. The M&A decisions at least had some arguable possibility of profitability at the time.

Lack of leadership and vision.

Stankey taking over was the biggest mistake and it started with his ridiculous ideas about a media company going as far as telling them he knows more than they do.

He can’t focus on more than one thing and fails at that one thing in the biggest way.

1. Went all in on content and destroyed Warner Media and sold at a loss.
2. Went all in on mobility and plummeted us as the 3rd carrier in the US. How does one fail that hard?
3. Now is all in on Fiber and based on his track record, we all know how that’s going to end.

This is not even taking into account the Direct TV mess.

Sorry, my mistake, AT&T Wireless was sold to Cingular/SouthWest Bell (SBC), not CellularOne.

There are 4 huge mistakes AT&T made and they all occurred around the 90’s.

1. AT&T bought NCR (National Cash Register). What is a telecom thinking when buying a computer company. Yes AT&T did develop the 3B2 and Unix O/S, but come on AT&T selling computers.

2. AT&T bought Comcast (via new CEO C. Michael Armstrong) and then was sold back in 5 years.

3. AT&T sells AT&T Wireless to CellularOne/SouthWest Bell(SBC). This was obviously the beginning of the end for AT&T as it was known.

4. AT&T is bought by SouthWest Bell (SBC). Now AT&T the true networking giant begins a slow and painful death.

Good night everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!

Appointing the Stink!

The board for not firing Stephenson after the failed T-Mobile merger. Not because it failed but because Stephenson allowed AT&T to get fleeced with the breakup fee. With a new CEO there might not have been the DTV and Warner acquisitions.

Bad decisions are a symptom. The folks that made those bad decisions are the cause so the worst decision was putting those folks in charge of making decisions.

"I hate my life and am at a dead end. It’s easier to blame others for my situation"

So, your thesis is that Stankey and Stephenson made no mistakes, it's just that whiny, disgruntled employees don't recognize their brilliance.
That's pretty funny Mrs. Stankey.

What is the worst mistake T leadership made?

Are you writing a book?
or do you have short term memory loss?
or do you just enjoy recounting the failures of AT&T leadership?
'gather around boys and girls, i have a story to tell you.
once there was an evil man named Stephenson.'

Biggest Mistakes:
All the failed acquisitions, etc...and destruction of shareholder value (Randall, Stankey, etc,
Keeping Stankey
Going woke several years ago....caring more about "wokeness" than customers and profits (Randall, Anee Chow, and many others..

To me, there were (3) in rapid succession:

T-MobUS attempted acquisition. So the Obama Administration was not very fond of big mergers reducing choices in the marketplace. I would have thought researching and getting signals from the Gov't at the time to see if this had a good chance of getting approved BEFORE committing would have been wise. Now, at the time, T-Mob was reeling, but after the basically $10B infusion from the break-up fee from at&t, they came roaring back.

Then the DirecTV purchase was at its all-time high valuation, right at cord-cutting was going mainstream (I had completely cut off TV in 2010), then watch it crater.

And, of course, Time Warner. Perhaps there was a chance to have that work, but it's a totally different industry and of course, at&t wanted to go in there and take over and enforce all their management rules and demand regular hit shows, etc., in something they know knowing about, besides being a huge distraction from the core business.

In rapid order, becoming the most indebted company on the planet at the time all told, I think it was $160B...

Burning all their employees and sacrificing all this knowledge just to cut costs and put the work on everyone who is left

There are so many from “leadership”.

You want us to choose one ?

allowing WFH

Probably hiring you, the OP

I hate my life and am at a dead end. It’s easier to blame others for my situation