AT&T Appoints Schleyer Head of Broadband who is a director of board of Arris
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AT&T on Tuesday named cable industry veteran William Schleyer as head of AT&T Broadband, succeeding Dan Somers, who is retiring from the company. Somers previously served as AT&T's chief financial officer and became head of the cable unit in December 1999.
The appointment of Schleyer, a principal with venture capital firm Pilot House Ventures LLC, ``neither delays nor supersedes'' the company's discussions with potential suitors, AT&T Chairman C. Michael Armstrong said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
``We will proceed with the direction the board gave us ... to review the interest expressed by a number of companies. We're in the process to accomplish that, we hope, by year-end,'' Armstrong said.
Schleyer previously served as president and chief operating officer at MediaOne Group and Continental Cablevision -- businesses that were eventually absorbed by AT&T through its $100 billion acquisitions of MediaOne Group Inc. and Tele-Communications Inc.
Schleyer brings with him former colleagues from MediaOne and Continental Cablevision to serve as AT&T Broadband's chief operating officer and chief technology officer.
The new AT&T Broadband management team is closely aligned with AT&T board member Amos Hostetter, who helped engineer AT&T's successful bid for MediaOne in 1999 over rival bidder Comcast. Hostetter's combat with Comcast continued this year, as he was a strident opponent of Comcast's offer in July for AT&T Broadband, sources said.
Schleyer worked for Hostetter at Continental Cablevision and MediaOne. Pilot House Ventures, where Schleyer was a principal, was backed by Hostetter and based at his Boston offices, sources noted.
The management change did not provide much insight into what direction AT&T might take with the broadband unit. The new executives might have been brought in to ensure that the business runs smoothly either during a lengthy takeover transition or as an independent company, analysts said.
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