Randall Stephenson: The Overnight Media Mogul

The most interesting dealmaker of 2016 wasn't quite who you'd expect. An Oklahoma native who has spent his career in the telephone business, he doesn't look the part of a soon-to-be media mogul -- a bit stiff for Hollywood, you might even say. But Randall Stephenson, with a largely unforeseen megamerger that topped the M&A charts this year, has managed to stir up both the entertainment and telecommunications industries. It's perhaps a testament to the peculiarity of 2016, if not businesses' desperation to find new ways to grow.

Back in July, 13 weeks before the AT&T Inc. chairman and CEO would wind up in the deal spotlight, his company reported some unremarkable quarterly figures. AT&T's U-verse was (and still is) losing television customers faster than subscribers are being added at its new DirecTV division, which AT&T acquired in 2015 for some $67 billion.