NEW YORK CITY – According to reporting based on people familiar with the plan, Verizon intends to eliminate around 15,000 positions in the coming week, equal to roughly 15% of its about 100,000 U.S. employees. That makes this the biggest workforce reduction Verizon has ever undertaken.
The reductions are expected to fall most heavily on non-union management roles. Reuters and other outlets report that more than one-fifth of Verizon’s non-union management staff could be affected, while frontline roles in many unionized jobs are expected to be less directly targeted.
In addition to job cuts, Verizon plans to convert roughly 180–200 company-owned wireless stores into franchised locations. Employees at those stores would no longer be on Verizon’s own payroll, shifting many positions to third-party franchise operators instead.
Several reports say the layoffs could begin as soon as next week, with details of severance and transition support yet to be fully disclosed publicly.
The restructuring is one of the first major moves by Schulman, who took over as Verizon’s CEO in early October after previously leading PayPal. Analysts note that Schulman has signaled a desire to overhaul Verizon’s cost structure while avoiding another round of aggressive price hikes that risk driving customers away.
On Verizon’s October 29 third-quarter earnings call, Schulman told investors that the company needed to remake itself into a “simpler, leaner and scrappier business” and promised “bold and fiscally responsible action” to change Verizon’s trajectory.
The company has struggled to keep pace with rivals AT&T and T-Mobile in adding high-value postpaid customers, particularly in its core wireless phone business. According to recent earnings data and analyst summaries, Verizon added about 44,000 total postpaid wireless customers in the third quarter of 2025 -better than Wall Street expected, but far behind T-Mobile’s additions, which were in the hundreds of thousands or more.
Within its Consumer division, Verizon actually lost around 7,000 postpaid phone lines in the quarter, even as it grew prepaid and fixed-wireless broadband subscribers. That pattern-signs of progress but persistent weakness in core phone lines-has fueled concerns that Verizon’s earlier price increases and complex plans left it vulnerable to cheaper offers from competitors and cable-company wireless brands.
The coming cuts cap several years of headcount reductions at Verizon. By the end of 2024, the company had already trimmed nearly 20,000 jobs over a three-year period, including about 4,800 roles eliminated through a voluntary severance program announced in 2024 that resulted in a charge of nearly $2 billion.HR Grapevine+3Reuters+3Fortune+3
Verizon also used a large voluntary exit program in 2018, when roughly 10,400 employees agreed to leave. Even after those earlier programs, the company is now planning an additional cut equal to roughly one-seventh of its remaining U.S. workforce.
At the same time, Verizon has poured tens of billions of dollars into network investments and acquisitions. Livemint’s summary of the company’s recent history notes that Verizon spent about $52 billion for critical C-band wireless spectrum in 2021, struck a roughly $20 billion deal to buy Frontier Communications’ wireline assets, and paid around $6 billion for prepaid mobile provider TracFone. Those outlays, while aimed at strengthening its network and customer base, have increased pressure to find savings elsewhere.
Analysts say the new restructuring is designed to free up cash so Verizon can offer more competitive handset subsidies and service plans without further eroding margins. One telecom analyst quoted by industry outlets argues that Verizon has effectively run out of room to simply raise prices, leaving “headcount reductions” and other expense cuts as the most immediate lever to hit its financial targets.
The planned move to a heavier franchise model in retail, meanwhile, reflects a broader trend among carriers seeking to shrink fixed labor costs and real-estate exposure while preserving a national storefront presence. Shifting 180–200 stores into franchise hands would move many retail workers off Verizon’s books, though their day-to-day work selling Verizon products and services would likely continue under franchise operators.
Reports also indicate that the cuts will be concentrated in management layers and corporate functions- part of Schulman’s effort to simplify Verizon’s organizational structure and speed up decision-making.
Verizon has not yet publicly released a detailed breakdown of which locations, departments or job titles will be affected. Media reports based on internal discussions say most of the reductions will occur in the United States and will be executed quickly, with notifications beginning as early as next week.
Because the plan focuses on non-union management roles and corporate-owned stores, unionized frontline workers in traditional network and call-center roles may see less direct impact, though some could still be affected by store conversions or departmental reorganizations.
Details on severance packages and retraining support have not been fully reported, but earlier rounds of reductions, particularly the 2024 voluntary severance program, included substantial severance and health-benefit provisions, suggesting at least some form of financial cushion for those now being let go.
Investor reaction so far has been cautiously positive. Verizon’s shares rose around 1–2% following the layoff reports and the company’s recent earnings release, as markets digested the combination of modest subscriber growth and an aggressive new cost-cutting agenda under Schulman.
The Verizon restructuring adds to a growing list of large-scale job cuts across the technology and telecom sectors in 2024–2025, as companies grapple with slower growth, higher borrowing costs and intense competition. Coverage of the Verizon move often mentions recent layoffs at Amazon, IBM and other major firms, underscoring that pressure on white-collar and tech-adjacent jobs remains elevated even as headline unemployment stays relatively low.
For Verizon’s roughly 15,000 affected workers, the next week will determine whether they remain with the carrier, transition to a franchise employer, or leave the company entirely. For Schulman and Verizon’s board, the question will be whether the largest layoff in the company’s history is enough to reset the business in a market where customers have more choice, and less patience, than ever.
What we don’t know (yet)
- The exact locations of the stores to be closed, converted or where layoffs will occur. There’s no list of affected stores by region published so far.
- Whether retail store transitions or job cuts will be more heavily concentrated in certain geographies (for example, large metros like NYC vs smaller markets) or evenly spread.
- The specific timeline or how regional notification will occur for employees on Long Island or in the NYC area.
What this means for Long Island / NYC
Given that Verizon operates many stores, service centers and corporate/management functions in the New York / Long Island region, the chances that there will be some local impact are fairly high. For example:
- If a corporate-owned Verizon retail store in NYC/Long Island is selected for conversion to a franchise, the staff may be reassigned or reassured by a franchise operator, but they will no longer be direct Verizon employees.
- Management or support roles located in regional HQs or operations in the metro area might also be part of the non-union management cuts, meaning Long Island / NYC employees are not exempt simply because of geography.
- Even if your particular local store is not closed, regional ripple-effects (such as reorganizing teams, moving people, shifting tasks to other offices) may cause indirect changes (job role shifts, relocated responsibilities, etc.).
What you can do now
- If you work for Verizon in the NYC/Long Island region: check internal employee communications for notices from leadership or HR about region-specific plans.
- If you work at a corporate-owned store, you might inquire with your manager about whether the location is slated for conversion to a franchise.
- Monitor Verizon’s public filings and local labor union or retail industry news-sometimes detailed lists of store-closures surface in local business news.
- Prepare for a worst-case scenario (role changes, job loss) even while hoping for the best: review your rights, severance policy, state unemployment rules (NY & NJ) and look at whether local union representation covers you.
