Safra Catz and John Stankey are veteran U.S. business executives associated with Oracle and AT&T. They are not known to be related or personal business partners, but their companies have a substantial, documented technology relationship involving Oracle cloud systems, databases, enterprise software, IoT connectivity, and AT&T network services.
One important update is easy to miss. Catz is no longer Oracle’s CEO. She moved to Executive Vice Chair of Oracle’s board in September 2025, while Stankey remains AT&T’s Chairman, CEO and President as of September 2026.
Safra Catz and John Stankey at a Glance
| Detail | Safra Catz | John Stankey |
|---|---|---|
| Main company | Oracle | AT&T |
| Current position | Executive Vice Chair of Oracle’s board | Chairman, CEO and President of AT&T |
| Joined company | 1999 | 1985 |
| CEO tenure | Oracle CEO, 2014 to September 2025 | AT&T CEO since July 2020 |
| Earlier background | Investment banking, finance, corporate operations | Telecom technology, operations, strategy and media |
| Major technology focus | Enterprise software, cloud infrastructure, databases, AI | Wireless, fiber, 5G and advanced connectivity |
| Direct relationship | No established personal or family relationship | No established personal or family relationship |
| Corporate connection | Oracle supplies technology to AT&T and works with AT&T connectivity services | AT&T uses Oracle technology and supplies connectivity for Oracle products |
Oracle and AT&T’s official biographies confirm the two executives followed very different routes into senior leadership. Their connection is best understood through their companies rather than through a documented personal partnership.
What Connects Safra Catz and John Stankey?
The strongest verified connection between Safra Catz and John Stankey is Oracle’s long-running commercial relationship with AT&T. Oracle says AT&T has been an Oracle customer since 2000, has moved thousands of databases to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, and has adopted Oracle software for areas including finance and field-service operations.
The relationship goes beyond AT&T simply buying software. Oracle and AT&T have announced strategic cloud, networking and IoT initiatives in which technology from both companies is combined to serve either AT&T itself or customers using Oracle platforms.
That does not, however, establish that Catz and Stankey personally negotiated those arrangements or operate as business partners. The major public announcements generally identify other Oracle and AT&T executives as the operational leaders or spokespeople for the projects.
The 2017 Oracle and AT&T cloud agreement
In May 2017, Oracle announced what it called a strategic agreement with AT&T. AT&T planned to migrate thousands of large internal Oracle databases, containing petabytes of data, and associated application workloads to Oracle’s cloud services. AT&T also agreed to implement Oracle Field Service Cloud for its large field-technician workforce.
Catz was Oracle’s CEO at the time. Stankey, however, had not yet become AT&T CEO. AT&T’s official biography shows that during this period he was coming from leadership of the AT&T Entertainment Group before moving into other senior positions. He did not become AT&T’s CEO until July 2020.
The 2017 announcement itself quoted then-Oracle CEO Mark Hurd and AT&T executive John Donovan rather than Catz and Stankey. That distinction matters when determining whether the pair had a direct role in a particular transaction.
AT&T became part of Oracle’s communications ecosystem
The corporate relationship later expanded in another direction. Instead of Oracle only providing technology to AT&T, AT&T connectivity also became part of services offered through Oracle.
In August 2024, Oracle announced that AT&T IoT connectivity and network APIs were being incorporated into the Oracle Enterprise Communications Platform, or ECP. The arrangement allows Oracle industry-cloud customers to connect and manage IoT devices using AT&T’s network. FirstNet, the public-safety network built with AT&T, also became part of the connectivity foundation for Oracle’s Public Safety applications.
Both Catz and Stankey were CEOs of their respective companies when this announcement was made. Even so, the public announcement quoted Oracle Communications executive Andrew Morawski and AT&T Partner Solutions executive Sarita Rao, rather than Catz or Stankey.
The relationship remains technically relevant in 2026. Oracle’s June 2026 documentation for Enterprise Communications Platform release 26.2 lists both AT&T and AT&T FirstNet among its supported mobile connectivity providers.
Who Is Safra Catz?
Safra Catz built her career at the intersection of finance and enterprise technology. Before Oracle, she worked at investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, where she became a managing director. She joined Oracle in 1999 and later served in positions including president, chief financial officer and CEO.
Catz’s education also reflects her finance and legal background. University of Pennsylvania records identify her as a 1983 Wharton graduate and a 1986 Penn Law graduate.
Oracle appointed Catz CEO in September 2014 alongside Mark Hurd after Larry Ellison became Executive Chairman and Chief Technology Officer. Oracle’s board announcement at the time placed finance, manufacturing and legal functions under Catz.
She remained CEO until September 22, 2025. Oracle then promoted Clay Magouyrk and Mike Sicilia to CEO roles and appointed Catz Executive Vice Chair of the board. Oracle described the move as a leadership transition while keeping her involved in the company’s strategic direction.
As of September 2026, Oracle still lists Catz as Executive Vice Chair. Her other current roles include serving on the In-Q-Tel Board of Trustees and the Paramount Skydance board, while she also lectures at Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Who Is John Stankey?
John Stankey’s career has been much more concentrated within one corporate group. He joined AT&T in 1985 and has spent more than four decades working across its technology, operations, communications and media businesses.
His previous roles include Chief Information Officer, Chief Technology Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, CEO of AT&T Business Solutions, CEO of AT&T Entertainment Group, Chief Operating Officer and CEO of WarnerMedia. Stankey led WarnerMedia from June 2018 through April 2020, shortly before taking over AT&T itself.
He became AT&T CEO and President in July 2020. In February 2025, AT&T’s board also elected him Chairman. He therefore holds both executive management responsibility and board leadership at the company.
Stankey holds a B.B.A. in Finance from Loyola Marymount University and an M.B.A. from UCLA, according to AT&T.
How Their Leadership Paths Differ
Catz and Stankey reached the top of major technology-related companies through markedly different career paths.
Catz entered Oracle after an investment-banking career and became closely associated with finance, acquisitions, operational discipline and Oracle’s broader transition toward cloud computing. Her rise included multiple periods as CFO and president before becoming CEO.
Stankey developed largely inside AT&T, rotating through technical, strategic and operational jobs before taking responsibility for entertainment and eventually the whole company. His experience therefore spans both communications infrastructure and media, although modern AT&T has increasingly concentrated on connectivity.
Their industries also intersect in an important way. Oracle supplies the computing, database and enterprise-software layer used by companies to process and manage data. AT&T provides much of the connectivity through which data travels. The Oracle-AT&T relationship demonstrates how those two layers increasingly work together.
Oracle’s Role Inside AT&T
AT&T’s use of Oracle technology is extensive rather than experimental.
Oracle says AT&T migrated from Oracle E-Business Suite toward Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP and Enterprise Performance Management products as part of a modernization of its finance systems. The objective was to reduce duplicated legacy systems, simplify processes and give employees a more unified view of financial information.
The same Oracle case study says AT&T had previously transferred thousands of databases to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and implemented Oracle Field Service. Another Oracle case study reports that AT&T’s technology organization was managing about 11,400 Oracle databases and used Oracle Enterprise Manager to automate security-related database-management tasks.
These deployments are a more concrete connection between the two companies than any speculative claim about a personal relationship between their senior executives.
Where Oracle and AT&T Stand in 2026
Both companies are concentrating heavily on infrastructure, but in different forms.
Oracle reported first-quarter fiscal 2027 revenue of $19.3 billion, up 30% year over year, while cloud infrastructure revenue increased 121% to $7.4 billion. Oracle also reported $664 billion in remaining performance obligations, reflecting its rapid expansion in cloud and AI infrastructure contracts.
AT&T reported $31.6 billion in second-quarter 2026 revenue, along with $4.7 billion in free cash flow. It added 432,000 postpaid phone customers and 646,000 advanced-connectivity internet customers during the quarter, with its strategy centered heavily on fiber, fixed wireless and mobile connectivity.
The numbers are not directly comparable because Oracle and AT&T operate different businesses and report using different fiscal structures. They do show why cooperation between cloud-computing and network companies has become increasingly relevant.
Safra Catz and John Stankey Compensation
Public SEC filings provide reliable executive-compensation figures, but these figures should not be confused with personal net worth.
Oracle’s September 2026 proxy statement reports $10,141,063 in fiscal 2026 total compensation for Safra Catz. Her compensation changed substantially after she moved from CEO to Executive Vice Chair, including a reduction in her annual base salary from $950,000 to $650,000 at the time of the transition.
AT&T’s 2026 proxy reports $29,906,872 in 2025 total compensation for John Stankey. That figure included salary, stock awards, non-equity incentive compensation, pension-related value and other reported compensation.
Those disclosure periods differ, so the figures should not be treated as a like-for-like annual pay comparison. Online estimates of either executive’s personal net worth are also less reliable than SEC-disclosed compensation and ownership data.
Are Safra Catz and John Stankey Personally Connected?
There is no established public evidence that Safra Catz and John Stankey are relatives, longtime personal associates, co-founders or partners in a private business.
The documented connection is corporate. AT&T has used Oracle technology for more than two decades, while AT&T connectivity has also been integrated into Oracle communications products. Several of those relationships operated during periods when Catz and Stankey simultaneously led Oracle and AT&T, but that alone does not establish a personal relationship between them.
This distinction is especially important because searches combining two high-profile executive names can create the impression that a specific personal or financial relationship exists even when the available evidence only establishes links between their companies.
FAQ
Are Safra Catz and John Stankey related?
No family relationship between Safra Catz and John Stankey is documented in reliable corporate or biographical sources. Catz is primarily associated with Oracle, while Stankey has spent his career at AT&T.
Did Safra Catz and John Stankey work together?
They have not held documented positions at the same company. However, Oracle and AT&T have worked together on cloud computing, enterprise software, database migrations, IoT connectivity and communications technology.
Is Safra Catz still CEO of Oracle?
No. Catz stepped down as Oracle CEO on September 22, 2025 and became Executive Vice Chair of the board. Clay Magouyrk and Mike Sicilia became Oracle’s CEOs.
Is John Stankey still CEO of AT&T?
Yes. As of September 2026, AT&T identifies John Stankey as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President. He has been CEO and President since July 2020 and Chairman since February 2025.
Does AT&T use Oracle technology?
Yes. Oracle says AT&T has been an Oracle customer since 2000. AT&T has used Oracle databases, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Oracle Field Service, Oracle Cloud ERP and Oracle Cloud EPM among other technologies.
Does Oracle use AT&T technology?
Yes, in specific products and services. Oracle integrated AT&T IoT connectivity and network APIs into its Enterprise Communications Platform, and Oracle’s 2026 documentation continues to list AT&T and FirstNet as supported connectivity providers.
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