Things at AT&T have been rocky for a while now and it seems the company is just trying to keep up. Just weeks after an investor letter critiquing the company’s leadership went public, it seems they might be looking to shake up their leadership pool once again.
According a NBC News report, CNN President, Jeff Zucker is the internal top contender to fill the role of CEO at WarnerMedia. Zucker would get the position if current CEO John Stankey is named CEO of AT&T, which isn't all that certain at this point.
According to the report, choosing Zucker to lead WarnerMedia would be problematic for AT&T because of his past troubled tenure at NBCUniversal and his relationship Donald Trump, who has repeatedly called for him to be fired.
Zucker took over as executive producer of the Today show back in 1992 and lead the show to high ratings. In 2005, he was promoted to chief executive of the NBCUniversal Television Group, which, at the time was under General Electric. However, things took a turn when NBC’s ratings started to plummet under his leadership and he eventually stepped down from his role after NBCUniversal was acquired by Comcast.
His promotion would also be problematic not only because of his past mishaps at NBC, but because he has no direct successor at CNN.
With a fresh lawsuit in its lap, the distressing letter from Elliot Management as well as overall business troubles, it’s now more than ever crucial for AT&T to place the right people in the right positions for the sake of the company’s upward mobility.