AT&T — a titan in U.S. corporate history — is moving its headquarters from Dallas to Plano in one of the biggest shifts in corporate homes among North Texas hubs.
The relocation likely will begin in less than three years, delivering the suburb yet another HQ-related win. That will add to corporate names like Toyota and Ericsson that have put some of their regional hubs in the municipality.
Still, it’s not clear what will happen to the downtown Dallas site, which has about two million square feet and a campus-like feel that makes it a stand-out in the city’s core.
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AT&T’s HQ history here isn’t as long as some — with Texas Instruments and Southwest Airlines extending further back. But it’s been a dynamic one. Below is a timeline for its stay in the city and some other key dates, given its unusually long history in the U.S.
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1876: Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone, and the next year, the Bell Telephone Company was founded to commercialize the technology.
1885: The American Telephone and Telegraph Co. (AT&T) was established to build and operate the first long-distance telephone network.
1984: With an antitrust agreement, the former AT&T divests its local telephone operations, splitting into seven independent regional operating companies, known as the “Baby Bells.” One of them, Southwestern Bell Corp. (later renamed SBC Communications Inc. in 1995), began its own path of growth.
2005: After other deals, San Antonio’s SBC acquires AT&T Corp., adopts the AT&T name, and created a new AT&T Inc.
2008: AT&T relocates its headquarters from San Antonio to Dallas. The former CEO, Randall Stephenson, said at the time: “Being headquartered in Dallas will benefit our long-term growth prospects and human resource needs,” among other things. Then Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert said “we worked hard” to get it to Dallas — even as San Antonio officials were caught off-guard.
2009: Company invests in the local community with naming rights for the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts.
2013: AT&T takes naming rights of Texas Stadium to give it the title of AT&T Stadium, the home of the Dallas Cowboys, one of the region’s most prized assets.
2016: AT&T, even after speculation it might leave downtown, doubles down on the city with plans for a renovation of the downtown site and what’s to become the Discovery District.
2018: Construction under way for downtown Discovery District in a roughly $100 million effort to reshape its Dallas headquarters. The upgrades are meant to help the company attract and retain workers.
AT&T acquires Time Warner and adds a formidable list of media brands including Warner Bros., HBO, CNN and other properties.
2021: Discovery District opens amid challenges of COVID-19. Among its signature features is a 104-foot-tall video board, or “media wall,” that wraps the corner of one of the four buildings fronting the plaza. The campus also includes a sculpture, restaurants and an open walking area for visitors.
2022: AT&T had nearly 6,000 workers assigned to its downtown offices.
In April of this year, AT&T spun off its media division, including Warner Bros. and HBO, and merged it with another company to create Warner Bros. Discovery. With the move AT&T refocuses on the mobile and wired communications business.
2024: Speculation grows about potential HQ move outside of Dallas. Having scoured North Texas for office space since the start of the year, AT&T intensified its search outside of downtown Dallas by October — with a particular focus on Plano and Frisco.
Jan. 5, 2025: CEO John Stankey says company will build a new global headquarters in Plano with a Legacy Drive site on 54 acres of land. The move will “provide us the necessary room to cost effectively consolidate all Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex administrative space,” the executive said. Partial occupancy for the new headquarters could come “as early as the second half of 2028.”
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