Verizon Looks to Slash Expenses

The Wall Street Journal reports Verizon to Cut About 15,000 Jobs

Verizon Communications VZ is planning to cut roughly 15,000 jobs, looking to reduce costs as it contends with increased competition for both wireless service and home internet customers, according to people familiar with the matter.

The cuts, the largest ever for the carrier, are set to take place in the next week, the people said. The majority of the reduction is expected to be made through layoffs.

Verizon also plans to transition about 200 stores into franchised operations, which will shift employees off its payroll, one of the people said.

The company had about 100,000 employees as of February, according to securities filings.

In the most recent quarter, Verizon lost a net 7,000 consumer postpaid phone connections, while Wall Street analysts had forecast a gain of 19,000. AT&T and T-Mobile have both been growing postpaid subscriber counts.

Frantic Push to Reverse Decline

Also consider Inside the Frantic Push to Reverse Verizon's Decline

Verizon had reported two consecutive quarters of losses of core consumer wireless customers, and was headed for a third. T-Mobile US, strengthened by its merger with Sprint, had valuable airwaves that made its often lower-cost service increasingly robust.

Vestberg, the former chief executive officer of the telecom-equipment maker Ericsson, wanted to continue pursuing a network-first strategy focused on ensuring that Verizon could tout the strength of its service. The company had put claims about its network's muscle at the center of its marketing efforts since its "Can you hear me now?" campaign in the early 2000s.

But most of Verizon's board wanted faster customer growth, especially ahead of a potential investor presentation in the works, according to people familiar with the matter. The board decided to tap one of Verizon's directors, Daniel Schulman, to take over. Now, the new boss is promising to make major changes.