Dj Verizon's Mass Layoffs Were 'Inevitable,' Ceo Says. What The Telecom Wants To Do In 2026. - Barrons.Com

Karishma Vanjani

Verizon announced its largest-ever round of layoffs, cutting thousands of jobs last month. Now the telecom's new CEO is explaining the cuts — and laying out the path forward for remaining workers.

Chief Executive Daniel Schulman hosted a live all-hands employee webcast on Friday, the company's first since announcing it's shedding more than 13,000 jobs. Holding a cup and wearing a dark shirt while standing in front of the red Verizon logo, Schulman was blunt. A video of the webcast seen by Barron's.

"We've lost like 500 to 700 basis points of market share in the last five years," Schulman said. "And by the way, that puts pressure on a lot of things. It puts pressure on our revenue. It means we have to compete harder. We start raising rates and when we start raising rates, you start irritating customers big time. They start churning. Like our churn is up like 20, 25 basis points since we started raising rates."

Customer satisfaction scores are also not great, according to Schulman. "They are worse than our competitors," he said, adding that the fault is partly Verizon's. The telecommunications giant didn't offer employees the "financial flexibility" to get things done, he said.

"A lot of it is self-inflicted wounds. A lot of it," Schulman said.

The decision on mass layoffs was "inevitable," according to Schulman, "because if we don't have enough money to put back into our value proposition to customers, we are going to continue to shrink." Making small cuts would have meant doing something quite large later on, he added.

Schulman said he presented the company's 2026 turnaround plan during his first board meeting as CEO this past week, and has plans to detail it the next time he talks to the Street, a likely reference to analysts who cover the company. Schulman will probably share more during Verizon's fourth-quarter earnings call on Jan. 27.

Verizon didn't immediately respond to Barron's request for comment on the plan or the layoffs.

Investors, however, can put together some clues. In late October, Schulman said he intends to use "AI as a key tool to simplify offers."

That same month, Schulman said in a call with employees, according to a transcript reviewed by Barron's, that "a lot of the friction occurs because we're so complex. Like we have so many different promotions out there."

Verizon will also likely make customer service a focal point in the new year. Schulman, who called himself an overachiever and an upfront man in Friday's webcast, shared a story of a terminally ill cancer patient who he personally contacted after the man reached out trying to disconnect his Verizon plan.

"Everybody gets terrible customer service across every industry, it's so bad right now out there. And what if we empowered our reps to do the right thing," Schulman said.

Verizon has its work cut out for itself. Having a good network connection is no longer a differentiator — and that is forcing the telecom to try to find another way to standout amid a competitive landscape. Shares have taken a beating: Under former CEO Hans Vestberg, who will now serve as a special advisor until October 2026, Verizon stock fell 15%. Shares have dropped 6% over the past three months.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or Ebitda, largely remained stable under Vestberg, who took the reins in mid 2018. Ebitda in 2024 was $48.8 billion, up from $47.2 billion in 2019.

The latest Thanksgiving was strong, Schulman said during the webcast. Separately, he said he sees an opportunity in helping hyperscalers — large cloud service providers — connect to data centers.

Schulman wished his employees happy holidays at the end of the webcast. "Don't forget about finishing the fourth quarter strong," he said.

Write to Karishma Vanjani at karishma.vanjani@dowjones.com

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