AT&T’s chief executive John Stankey had a $24.8 million salary in 2021, as compared to his $21 million pay the year prior and $22.5 million earnings in 2019, per the telecommunications giant’s Securities and Exchange Commission filing made available Tuesday.
While the CEO made a base salary of $2.4 million in 2021 (slightly higher than his $2.05 million in 2020), he received stock awards valued at $13.42 million. However, Stankey’s non-equity incentive plan more than doubled from $3.25 million to $6.88 million from 2020 to 2021.
According to the filing, CFO Pascal Desroches received $11.7 million overall compensation in 2021, his first year in the position. AT&T’s executive chairman, Randall Stephenson, who is now retired, was given a total payout of $16.3 million in 2021, compared with $29.1 million in 2020.
AT&T, which is looking to spin off WarnerMedia in a $43 billion deal to merge its media properties with Discovery, did not disclose the last year’s overall pay package for WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar. In 2020, the year he was appointed to the post, Kilar made $52 million — $49.2 million of which was in the form of stock awards.
The merger — which will create Warner Bros. Discovery — is set to close prior to the ending of 2022’s second quarter. The deal allows AT&T to focus more on bolstering its wireless network rather than spending on content creation to compete with streamers like Netflix and Disney+.
Although AT&T’s stock fell 15% last year, it improved its financial standing. The corporation’s total 2021 revenue rose to $153.2 billion from $144.6 billion, excluding the impact of big asset deals.