AT&T just gave thousands of employees a $1000 bonus in celebration of tax reform

AT&T announced Wednesday that it was making a $1 billion investment in U.S. operations as well as giving $1,000 bonuses to over 200,000 workers in response to the passage of the Republican tax bill. "This tax reform will drive economic growth and create good-paying jobs," AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said in a statement Wednesday. "In fact, we will increase our U.S. investment and pay a special bonus to our U.S. employees."

But it didn't take long before reporters noticed a peculiar detail: The telecommunications company had planned on making some of those investments even before both chambers of Congress passed the GOP tax bill Wednesday. In fact, AT&T outlined a similar initiative last week:

AT&T's announcement today for $1,000 bonuses for 200,000 employees follows an announcement last week to pay 20,000 employees $1,000 bonuses as mandated by a union agreement https://t.co/6YUqORzDaC … https://t.co/Bw7lgQqatd pic.twitter.com/3LCYJuYNcS

— Mike Rosenberg (@ByRosenberg) December 20, 2017

An AT&T spokesman told Reuters' David Shepardson that the bonuses announced Wednesday are "unrelated" to the union agreement publicized last week. But the company had already announced its $1 billion investment plan, too — back in November, pending the tax bill's passage.

President Trump gleefully touted AT&T's decision, saying Wednesday, "That's because of what we did." Bloomberg's Scott Moritz pointed out that AT&T is currently embroiled in a dispute with Trump's Justice Department over a planned merger with Time Warner, who owns Trump's least favorite news network, CNN. Boeing, Comcast, Fifth Third Bancorp, and Wells Fargo also announced worker bonuses or domestic investments in response to the tax bill's passage — but a few of those companies may have reasons aside from generosity to celebrate Trump's tax victory, as The Boston Globe's Astead Wesley noted.

Like AT&T, there's additional context here. Wells Fargo is also currently hoping to avoid additional fines and penalties from CFPB fraud investigation https://t.co/vwNUtx4nZI

— Astead (@AsteadWesley) December 20, 2017