AT&T plans to “hit the ground running” should it receive final approval to acquire Time Warner, as the US operator squashed reports its CEO Randall Stephenson could take on a new role as part of a restructure resulting from the deal.
Speaking on the company’s Q2 earnings call, CFO John Stephens said: “Randall Stephenson is still the chairman and CEO of AT&T, and I expect him to do that for a long time. I don’t expect any changes there, before or after the Time Warner merger.”
Stephens was seemingly referring to a Bloomberg story earlier this month that said Stephenson would move to a new role of executive chairman above two divisional CEOs, should the Time Warner deal be approved.
He said that often, such reports are “premature”, but added that both Stephenson and Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes were currently working out the process on how to structure the organisation.
AT&T’s proposed $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner is currently going through a lengthy approval process with the US Department of Justice, but Stephens said the company expected the deal to close by the year-end.
He revealed AT&T’s merger integration team had also nearly completed plans to leverage opportunities in advertising and bundling through the deal.
“Our goal is to hit the ground running once we receive final approval and build our leadership in telecoms, media and technology space,” he added.
In a statement, Stephenson himself added that closing the Time Warner deal will “further transform the company”.
Subscribers surprise
The company was however buoyed by the addition of 2.3 million wireless net additions in the US, largely driven by connected devices such as tablets, connected cars as well as contribution from prepaid and post paid segments.
Including Mexico, the figure was up to 2.8 million, with 476,000 net additions in the country.
Breaking the figure down in the US, the company added 127,000 lucrative post paid customers, down from the 257,000 it added in the same quarter last year.
Rival T-Mobile US said last week it added 786,000 subscribers in the same segment.
Prepaid net additions for AT&T amounted for 267,000, while it added 156,000 tablet customers.
In total, the company had a churn in its postpaid segment of 0.79 per cent, “its lowest ever”, with a loss of 89,000 customers. The same period last year saw the US second largest operator lose 180,000 customers.
The company also lost 199,000 video customers this quarter, including its satellite and U-Verse customers, while its DirecTV Now service added 152,000 customers.
Net income attributable to the company totalled $3.9 billion, up slightly from $3.4 billion, on consolidated revenue of $39.8 billion, down slightly from $40.5 billion.
