AT&T CEO Gets Pay Cut After AT&T-T-Mobile Merger Fails

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AT&T didn’t just waste their time trying to acquire T-Mobile. The deal included a $3.9 billion “breakup fee” that AT&T had to pay to T-Mobile if the acquisition didn’t go through for any reason. As you may know, AT&T dropped the merger after it appeared that the FCC had planned to block the deal, and AT&T had to pay the ten-figure sum to T-Mobile. But now, AT&T’s CEO Randall Stephenson has to give up some of his own money because of the deal’s failure.

In a filing that AT&T’s board of directors filed with the SEC, it was announced that Stephenson’s compensation has been cut by $2 million because of AT&T’s inability to buy T-Mobile. Don’t weep for Randall, though. According to the Wall Street Journal, the CEO made $22 million in 2011 and $27 million in 2010.

In previous media interviews, Stephenson had said that he had wanted to pull off a “big deal”, or big merger for AT&T. His predecessor at the top spot at AT&T, Ed Whitacre, oversaw some “big deals”, like AT&T acquiring the likes of Cingular, Bell South and Ameritech. It seems likely that Stephenson wanted to make his own impact by merging AT&T with T-Mobile.

AT&T tried to promote the deal to the public, Congress and the regulatory agencies by saying that it would increase rural broadband access. The theory being that letting AT&T build out their 4G network faster would spread fast internet to the far corners of the United States.

In addition to Stephenson’s pay cut, Wayne Watts, AT&T’s general counsel and Ralph de la Vega, President of AT&T Mobility, both saw their compensation slashed. Mr. Watts and de la Vega both saw their salaries go down about $1 million.