Verizon to cut about 15,000 jobs as it restructures, source says

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Verizon is planning to cut about 15,000 jobs as part of the company’s restructuring efforts,​ a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

The layoffs,‌ the largest ever for the wireless carrier and impacting about 15% of its workforce, are ‌set to take place in the next week, the person said.

Verizon shares rose about 1.7% on the news.

The cuts come after the U.S. telecommunications company named former PayPal boss Dan Schulman as its new chief executive officer in early October.

The ⁠cuts are aimed at its ‌non-union management ranks and will affect more than 20% of that workforce, the source said. Verizon also plans ‍to transition around 180 corporate-owned retail stores into franchised operations, the source added.

Verizon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Wall Street Journal reported the cuts earlier.

Schulman ​said last month that Verizon understood it needs aggressive change including “cost ‌transformation, fundamentally restructuring our expense base. … We will be a simpler, leaner and scrappier business.”

Schulman, who has served on Verizon’s board for seven years, has said he does not want to hike prices and seeks to be more customer-focused. “Our financial growth has relied ⁠too heavily on price increases, a strategic ​approach that relies too much on price without subscriber ​growth is not a sustainable strategy,” he said last month.

Verizon had about 100,000 U.S. employees at the end ‍of 2024, according ⁠to its annual report.

Verizon is battling rising competition as subscriber growth slows and cautious consumers are unwilling to buy premium wireless plans.

Verizon has faced mounting pressure ⁠from rivals AT&T and T-Mobile US as the U.S. wireless market matures.

(Reporting ‌by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru and David Shepardson in Washington; ‌Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Richard Chang)