Verizon To Slash 15 Percent Of Workforce Amid Wireless Subscriber Losses: Report

The reported layoffs would mark the largest round of job cuts for the telecom giant.

Carrier giant Verizon is preparing to cut 15,000 jobs, or about 15 percent of its workforce, as part of reported restructuring efforts.

The layoffs would mark the largest round of job cuts for the telecom giant, according to a report published Thursday by The Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the matter.

The cuts follow Verizon’s move to bring on former PayPal CEO Dan Schulman as its new CEO in October, replacing Hans Vestberg, the company’s leader for the last eight years. Schulman, for his part, promised big changes during the carrier’s Q3 2025 earnings call last month.

“We will aggressively transform our culture, our cost structure, and the financial profile of Verizon in order to put our customers first, compete effectively, and deliver sustainable returns for our shareholders,” Schulman said in a statement issued at the time of the carrier’s Q3 2025 earnings.

Verizon did not respond to CRN’s request for comment on the matter prior to publication.

The job cuts come at a time when the Basking Ridge, N.J.-based telecom giant is facing subscriber growth challenges and pressure from its main wireless competitors, Dallas-based AT&T and Bellevue, Wash.-based T-Mobile. Verizon said it lost 7,000 wireless postpaid phone business and consumer subscribers during its most recent fiscal quarter due to intensified competition.

The cuts would include non-union management ranks and will affect more than 20 percent of that workforce. Verizon also plans to transition around 180 corporate-owned retail stores into franchised operations, according to the report.

Verizon had approximately 99,600 employees at the end of 2024, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing this past February.