AT&T dividend cut in WarnerMedia-Discovery deal is a debacle for shareholders

AT&T’s directors, by my read of public filings, earned base fees of $140,000 in cash and $170,000 in stock in 2018 — and, as the Time Warner debacle became increasingly apparent, gave themselves a raise to $140,000 in cash and $220,000 a year of stock for 2019 and 2020. That’s $1.03 million each (not counting various extra fees directors get for serving on committees.) So if the directors, who were responsible for approving the deal, gave up half their basic fees, as I think they should if there’s a 50 percent dividend cut, it would cost them about $500,000 each.