AT&T

Overview

AT&T Inc. is a Dallas-based telecommunications company whose lineage runs back to the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, the Bell System monopoly broken up in 1984. It rebuilt itself by acquiring the Baby Bells spun off from that breakup, detoured into media with DirecTV and Time Warner, and by 2025 had exited both to refocus on wireless and fiber connectivity (AP; Network World; AT&T).

AT&T trades on the NYSE under the ticker “T” and describes its business today as 5G wireless and multi-gig fiber internet (AT&T). John Stankey has been CEO since July 1, 2020, succeeding Randall Stephenson after 13 years at the helm (AP). A durable but less visible asset is a 25-year federal franchise: since 2017 AT&T has built and operated FirstNet, the nationwide wireless broadband network reserved for first responders (U.S. Department of Commerce). In September 2022, Accountable.US ranked AT&T the lowest scorer among the top 100 Fortune 500 companies on its American Democracy Scorecard (Fast Company).

From the Bell System to the reunified AT&T

AT&T began with the telephone itself: Alexander Graham Bell invented the device in 1876, and in 1885 American Bell established the American Telephone and Telegraph Company as its long-distance subsidiary (Encyclopedia.com). It became the parent of the Bell System in 1899 and grew into a regulated monopoly — at its 1983 peak the largest corporation in the world, with $155 billion in assets (Encyclopedia.com).

The monopoly fell to antitrust law. The Justice Department sued in 1974 seeking the company’s dismemberment; a breakup settlement was announced in January 1982, and on January 1, 1984, the 22 regional operating companies were split into seven independent “Baby Bells” — with AT&T losing even the right to the Bell name (Encyclopedia.com). The scale was staggering: workforce from 1.09 million to 385,000, assets from $155 billion to $34 billion (Encyclopedia.com).

The irony is what happened next. Southwestern Bell Corp. (later SBC Communications), itself a Baby Bell, spent the 1990s and 2000s reuniting the pieces — merging with Pacific Telesis in 1997, acquiring Ameritech, then buying its former parent AT&T Corp. and adopting the AT&T name, and finalizing the BellSouth acquisition in 2006 (Network World). Within 23 years, the seven offspring had largely been reassembled under one roof: twelve major carriers were down to four — AT&T, Verizon, Sprint Nextel, and Qwest (Network World).

The $39 billion deal that enriched its rival

AT&T’s most consequential failed acquisition came in wireless. In December 2011, the company walked away from its $39 billion bid to buy T-Mobile after the Department of Justice sued to block the merger and the Federal Communications Commission moved against it (Marketplace). AT&T had lobbied hard — spending millions on ads and lobbyists and hiring former congressmen and White House officials — but regulators feared the deal would leave Verizon and AT&T controlling 85 to 90 percent of the wireless market, and rival Sprint fought the merger outright (Marketplace). In short, AT&T paid $3 billion in cash to Deutsche Telekom for a deal that never happened — enriching the very company it had tried to eliminate as a competitor (Marketplace).

The media detour — and the 2025 return to pure telecom

Under Stephenson, AT&T spent the 2010s becoming a media conglomerate. In 2015 it paid $49 billion ($67.1 billion including debt) for satellite operator DirecTV (MediaPost), and in 2018 it completed its $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner — after a federal judge ruled the merger legal despite a DOJ challenge — renaming it WarnerMedia and installing Stankey as CEO, succeeding Jeff Bewkes (Reuters; TMJ4). The portfolio included HBO, the Warner Bros. studio, and Turner — home of CNN, TNT, and TBS (TMJ4).

Both bets were unwound under Stankey. In August 2021 AT&T spun DirecTV, AT&T TV, and U-verse into a TPG-operated joint venture, keeping 70 percent and receiving $7.1 billion in cash — while the business it had bought for $67.1 billion was valued at just $16.2 billion (MediaPost). In 2022 WarnerMedia merged with Discovery in a $43 billion deal, creating Warner Bros. Discovery (Reuters). On July 2, 2025, AT&T sold its entire remaining 70 percent DirecTV stake to TPG, exiting pay-TV completely (AT&T). Then the money went back into the network: in May 2025 AT&T agreed to buy Lumen Technologies’ Mass Markets fiber business for $5.75 billion, doubling its build target to 60 million fiber locations by the end of 2030 (Fierce Network).

AT&T’s five eras

Era	Defining deals	Outcome
Bell monopoly (1885–1983)	Consolidation of the Bell System	Government-regulated telephone monopoly; world’s largest corporation by 1983 (Encyclopedia.com)
Long-distance era (1984–2006)	The 1984 divestiture into seven Baby Bells	Workforce cut from 1.09 million to 385,000; assets from $155B to $34B (Encyclopedia.com)
Reunified AT&T (1997–2011)	SBC buys Pacific Telesis, Ameritech, AT&T Corp., BellSouth	Four Baby Bells plus the original long-distance company recombined under the AT&T name (Network World)
Media conglomerate (2015–2022)	DirecTV ($67.1B), Time Warner ($85B)	HBO Max launched May 2020; both assets spun off within four to seven years (AP; Reuters)
Connectivity refocus (2022–present)	DirecTV exit (2025); Lumen fiber buy ($5.75B)	60 million fiber locations targeted by end of 2030 (Fierce Network)

Through it all runs a quieter franchise: FirstNet. In 2017 the Department of Commerce and the First Responder Network Authority selected AT&T to build the first nationwide wireless broadband network for U.S. first responders, answering a 9/11 Commission recommendation (U.S. Department of Commerce). The 25-year partnership brings AT&T 20 MHz of spectrum and $6.5 billion in payments; AT&T committed about $40 billion to build and operate the network (U.S. Department of Commerce). Unlike its media ventures, this franchise endures.

The 2022 American Democracy Scorecard

In September 2022, Accountable.US unveiled its American Democracy Scorecard, grading the top 100 Fortune 500 companies on 14 criteria — pro-democracy statements, disclosure transparency, and PAC donations tied to voting-rights and 2020-election issues (Fast Company). Two-thirds failed; AT&T was the lowest scorer, followed by Verizon, with Charter Communications and Comcast also in the worst ten — making telecommunications the lowest-ranked industry (Fast Company).

The report contrasted Stankey’s post-Georgia statement — “We believe the right to vote is sacred, and we support voting laws that make it easier for more Americans to vote in free, fair, and secure elections” — with AT&T’s Texas PAC giving $100,000 to Governor Greg Abbott on the day he called a special session to pass voting limits (Fast Company). Accountable.US president Kyle Herrig wrote directly to Stankey: “While your company is currently failing to stand up for democracy, it is not too late to get your priorities straight and begin aligning your values with the values shared by most Americans,” and the group planned a six-figure digital media campaign (Fast Company). The broader data: 33 of the 50 companies that had paused giving to election objectors resumed it, and the Fortune 100 had donated $6.2 million to state legislators backing restrictive voting laws (Fast Company). These are Accountable.US’s findings and methodology, not adjudicated facts.

Frequently asked questions

What does AT&T stand for? AT&T stands for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, established in 1885 as American Bell’s long-distance subsidiary (Encyclopedia.com). The modern company is legally AT&T Inc. — the name was adopted by SBC Communications after it acquired AT&T Corp., because the AT&T brand carried more recognition (Network World).

Why was AT&T broken up in 1984? The Department of Justice sued in 1974, charging AT&T with using its monopoly power to suppress competition, and the two sides agreed to a breakup settlement in January 1982 (Encyclopedia.com). On January 1, 1984, the Bell System was split into seven independent regional companies — the “Baby Bells” — leaving AT&T with long-distance service, equipment, and research (Encyclopedia.com).

Does AT&T still own Warner Bros. or DirecTV? No. AT&T spun off WarnerMedia, which merged with Discovery in 2022 to form Warner Bros. Discovery, and AT&T holds no stake in the combined company (Reuters). It sold its entire remaining 70 percent stake in DirecTV to TPG Capital on July 2, 2025, fully exiting the pay-TV business (AT&T).

What is FirstNet? FirstNet is the nationwide wireless broadband network reserved for U.S. police, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel, created to answer a 9/11 Commission recommendation (U.S. Department of Commerce). AT&T won a 25-year contract in 2017 to build and operate it, receiving 20 MHz of spectrum and $6.5 billion in federal payments (U.S. Department of Commerce).

What this profile does not claim

This profile does not state AT&T’s revenue, employee count, or subscriber figures — none were verified through a fully-read source. The SBC-era acquisitions are stated at year granularity, since exact closing dates were not confirmed in a fully-read source. It does not assert a reported headquarters move to a Plano, Texas campus, does not name a current board chairman, and does not claim Stankey still holds the CEO role beyond what the cited sources verify. The scorecard findings are presented as Accountable.US’s claims and methodology, not proven facts.