Latest in John Stephens

John Stephens, the outgoing CFO of WarnerMedia parent AT&T, defended the company's move to release its 2021 film slate concurrently on HBO Max and in theaters and cited Warner Bros. century-long relationship with Hollywood talent — with some disgruntled at the move and the way it was communicated. "We’ve got a long…

AT&T CFO John Stephens described the groundbreaking simultaneous release of Wonder Woman 1984 in theaters and on HBO Max as “a win-win in a difficult situation.” In an online appearance Friday at the Morgan Stanley European Media, Tech and Telecom Conference, he complimented WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar and his staff…

John Stephens will retire as CFO of AT&T next March, ending a 28-year run at the company, and will hand the reins to WarnerMedia CFO Pascal Desroches. The change is slated to take effect on April 1. It comes as AT&T continues to work to lower its debt load and steer WarnerMedia through a major restructuring effort. A…

AT&T CFO John Stephens saw Tenet in a theater, as did a large swath of the U.S. and the world over the past couple of weeks. Elaborating on the experience Wednesday at the Bank of America Securities 2020 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference, Stephens said he “couldn’t even imagine being able to see that…

AT&T CFO John Stephens said the layoffs currently affecting WarnerMedia should not be seen as a course correction after the May launch of HBO Max, but rather as a “refocusing” of the company. The executive discussed the reductions of about 600 WarnerMedia staffers and many other topics during an online appearance…

AT&T CFO John Stephens considers HBO Max, the company’s forthcoming streaming entrant, as a “real bargain” at $15 a month given its broad reach and depth of programming. The streaming service will launch May 27, joining Disney+, Peacock and Apple TV+ in a burst of billion-dollar efforts to make up ground previously…

AT&T CFO John Stephens said the promotion of John Stankey to the newly created position of COO “makes all the sense in the world” given the overall direction of the telecom and media giant. Speaking at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Communications & Entertainment Conference, Stephens explained the logic of the…

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains details of tonight's Gotham series finale. "I just think the DC Universe is so incredibly deep and vivid, and I'm a big fan of it all," says Gotham executive producer Danny Cannon of the world that spawned the inspiration for the Fox series that came to a Dark Knight conclusion…

John Stephens, Senior EVP and CFO of AT&T, said Tuesday’s legal victory over the U.S. Department of Justice in a 16-month battle will free the combined company to take full advantage of synergies. At the same time, he said the parent company is taking pains to protect WarnerMedia from “a financial bean counter from a…

Lois Lane and supervillain Lex Luthor are getting their own live-action series. Warner Bros. upcoming DC-Branded direct-to-consumer digital platform has given 13-episode straight-to-series order to Metropolis, a new drama series from Gotham executive producers John Stephens and Danny Cannon and Warner Bros. TV. It…

AT&T CFO John Stephens began his keynote session at the UBS Global Media and Communications conference with the obvious: He reiterated the telco’s optimism about its legal fight with the U.S. Department of Justice over the pending takeover of Time Warner. “We continue to feel strongly about the consumer benefits of…

Contradicting long-asserted predictions that its $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner would close by the end of the year, AT&T CFO John Stephens said the timing is “now uncertain.” The exec made the comment at the Wells Fargo Media & Telecom Conference in New York. Both companies have contended for months that a…