Verizon’s new CEO Dan Schulman is preparing the largest layoffs in company history—cutting 15,000 U.S. jobs—as part of a sweeping restructuring aimed at countering subscriber losses and intensifying competition.
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| Verizon’s largest layoff ever signals a major strategic reset as Schulman pushes for a leaner structure amid subscriber stagnation and costly 5G and acquisition spending. Image: CH |
New York, USA — November 14, 2025:
Verizon is poised to lay off roughly 15,000 employees in the United States—its largest workforce reduction ever—as new CEO Dan Schulman launches an aggressive restructuring aimed at restoring competitiveness in a wireless market that has become more cutthroat than ever. The cuts, which represent about 15% of Verizon’s U.S. workforce, could begin as early as next week, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The sweeping restructuring reflects years of mounting pressure on Verizon. Once a dominant force in U.S. wireless, the company has seen its subscriber growth stall while AT&T and T-Mobile have surged ahead through aggressive promotions, deep discounts, and trade-in incentives, especially around new iPhone cycles. In the third quarter, Verizon managed to add just 44,000 monthly bill-paying customers—far behind AT&T and nowhere near T-Mobile’s more than 1 million additions.
Schulman, who took over in early October after a transformative tenure at PayPal, faces a telecom landscape in flux. Cable operators such as Comcast and Charter have upended the market with cheaper mobile-and-internet bundles, cutting into Verizon’s premium pricing strategy. Schulman has openly criticized the company’s reliance on price hikes to drive financial growth, warning that such a strategy cannot be sustained without adding more customers.
The restructuring will hit non-union management ranks particularly hard, reducing those positions by more than 20%, according to the source. Verizon also plans to convert around 180 of its corporate-owned retail stores into franchised locations, signaling a retreat from higher-cost operations in favor of more flexible, outsourced models.
These layoffs follow years of job reductions and financial belt-tightening. Verizon ended 2024 with about 100,000 U.S. employees—already down nearly 20,000 from three years prior. A voluntary exit program last year cut 4,800 employees at a cost of nearly $2 billion, and another voluntary initiative in 2018 led to more than 10,000 workers leaving the company. The current layoffs, however, represent a far more forceful and unprecedented restructuring step.
Investors initially reacted positively, with Verizon shares rising roughly 1.5% after news of the planned cuts. Still, the stock has significantly underperformed over the past three years, rising only 8% while the S&P 500 gained nearly 70%. Analysts say Schulman’s decisive action reflects a urgent need to free up capital to stop customer losses and fuel more competitive offers. Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson noted that retaining subscribers could require subsidizing costly handsets for millions of users—a move that demands substantial funding. “The obvious question was how Verizon planned to pay for that. Now we know,” he said, though he added that it remains uncertain whether the cost cuts will fully cover rising retention expenses.
Verizon’s recent financial decisions have also drawn scrutiny. The company spent $52 billion in 2021 to acquire crucial midband spectrum for its 5G network, a purchase some analysts say was excessively priced. The carrier has also taken on major acquisitions, including a $20 billion deal for Frontier Communications and a $6 billion purchase of TracFone Wireless. These moves have added pressure to improve financial performance even as the wireless market grows more competitive and saturated.
Schulman has signaled that more changes are coming, calling for a “simpler, leaner and scrappier” Verizon during recent comments. The looming layoffs mark only the latest—and possibly the most dramatic—step in what is shaping up to be a broad overhaul of the company’s cost structure, retail strategy, and competitive approach.
As the wireless industry continues to evolve, Verizon’s future will likely depend on whether Schulman’s sweeping cuts and strategic reset can reignite growth in a company facing fierce competition, rising capital needs, and an increasingly fragmented marketplace.