NEW YORK (AP) — AT&T Inc. says CEO Randall Stephenson earned $21 million in 2012, a personal record, as his pay bounced back after a less than stellar 2011.

The phone company’s board lopped $2.1 million off Stephenson’s pay in 2011 because he engineered the failed deal to buy T-Mobile USA. Opposition from regulators meant AT&T had to abandon the project and hand over $4.2 billion in cash and spectrum rights to T-Mobile.