Verizon Set To Axe 15,000 Jobs Right Before Thanksgiving Holiday

The optics look awful for Verizon Communications if the Wall Street Journal’s report is accurate: the carrier is preparing for its largest job cuts ever just days before millions of Americans hit the road for Thanksgiving. 

WSJ says Verizon is planning to cut 15,000 jobs. If that figure is correct, Bloomberg’s latest data suggests this would be about 15% of its roughly 100,000-person workforce. WSJ notes this would be the largest workforce reduction on record for the carrier. 

Most of the job reductions will come from direct layoffs, and the carrier will shift 200 corporate stores into franchise operations, removing those employees from Verizon’s payroll. 

For three consecutive quarters, Verizon has been losing postpaid phone subscribers, putting pressure on leadership to stop the hemorrhaging.  

Earlier, Verizon chairman Mark Bertolini told CNBC’s Becky Quick on “Squawk Box” that the company needs to “do something different” as it undergoes its leadership change.

Bertolini said the carrier’s new CEO, ex-PayPal boss Dan Schulman, is working on a turnaround plan after share losses under former CEO Hans Vestberg. 

“Verizon has gone from number one in market cap, bond ratings and market share to number three. And the network isn’t as differentiated as it used to be, in large part because everybody’s been spending money to put these 5G networks in place,” Bertolini said. “So losing 30% share over the last eight years is an issue, and we have to do something different.”

Bertolini added that Schulman will reveal his plan to turn the company around “sooner rather than later.”

Schulman recently pledged to “aggressively transform our culture, our cost structure, and the financial profile of Verizon in order to put our customers first, compete effectively, and deliver sustainable returns for our shareholders.”

Shares of Verizon in New York are up only 4% year to date, after being halved since peaking around $60 a share in late 2021.

T-Mobile appears to be the winner in the ‘carrier wars’… 

Rest assured, AI will drive deeper workforce cuts in the years ahead. Everyone is starting to figure out what we’ve known for years (read here)