AT&T Gives John Stankey an 18% Raise to $24.8 Million

<byline>By Daniel Frankel<byline>

The chief executive who helped turn two pricey media mergers into desperate spinoffs will now be making around $12,000 an hour

AT&T CEO John Stankey enjoyed total compensation of just over $24.8 million in 2021, an 18% increase over his 2020 cumulative paycheck, according to an AT&T proxy statement filing made to the SEC Tuesday.

Stankey had a base salary of $2.4 million and earned an additional $6.88 million through non-equity incentive plan compensation. Stock compensation tallied $13.42 million, while benefits described only as “other” totaled $643,669.

AT&T stock is down more than 20% from when Stankey took over from Randall Stephens 19 months ago. And both media company acquisitions overseen by Stankey in the run-up to his ascendency to CEO, the $49 billion purchase of DirecTV and the $85 billion Time Warner Inc. buy, have been spun off under valuations far below their acquisition price.

As salaries go for top technology, media and telecom executives, Stankey’s is hardly conspicuous. David Zaslav, who will lead spin-off Warner Bros. Discovery, took home $246.6 million in 2021, for example.

<fineprint>(Image credit: AT&T)<fineprint>