Verizon Communications, the telecom behemoth, is reportedly planning to cut up to 15,000 jobs. The reductions would affect about 10-15% of its workforce of about 100,000 employees, reports The Wall Street Journal. The move comes as the company enters a major restructuring under its new CEO, Dan Schulman, who has stressed cost-cutting and operational efficiency as the main priorities. Along with the layoffs, the teleco giant also plans to convert around 200 company-owned retail stores into franchised locations, a shift that will move many employees off its payroll.
According to the report, the layoffs will primarily affect non-unionized employees, with unionized staff and certain retail employees likely to be protected initially. The transition of stores to franchise operations will remove many employees from Verizon’s direct payroll, though specific details regarding severance packages, employee support programs, or other assistance have not yet been disclosed.
The planned reductions are said to be part of a broader strategy to address significant challenges in Verizon’s core businesses. The company has reported losses in postpaid mobile subscribers for three consecutive quarters, indicating a decline in its traditional revenue streams. For example, in its third quarter (Q3) of 2025, Verizon reported a net loss of 7,000 wireless retail postpaid phone customers, compared with gains of 18,000 in the same quarter a year earlier. Even the company’s net debt is estimated to be around $143 billion as of mid‑2025.
At the same time, intense competition from rivals like AT&T and T‑Mobile in both wireless and home‑internet markets has put additional pressure on margins. While the timing of the layoffs announcement has not been officially confirmed, the report suggests that it could come as soon as next week.
The latest job cuts come as, in May 2025, the telecom firm announced that it would end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programmes. In a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr, Verizon stated that it would remove its ‘Diversity & Inclusion’ website, eliminate DEI‑related references from employee training, discontinue workforce diversity goals, and drop incentives in its management compensation plans tied to those diversity goals. The move, which comes amid an FCC probe into DEI policies in the telecom and media sectors, also coincided with Verizon’s efforts to obtain FCC approval for its around $20 billion acquisition of Frontier Communications Corporation.
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