Verizon Slashing 13,000 Jobs as US Wireless Carrier Restructures

The company is facing stronger market competition from industry rivals AT&T and T-Mobile.

People walk past a Verizon store in Manhattan's Midtown neighborhood in New York on May 2, 2017. Bebeto Matthews/AP Photo

Verizon, the largest U.S. wireless carrier, said on Nov. 20 that it will cut more than 13,000 jobs.

In a public memo to staff, Verizon CEO Dan Schulman confirmed that the company will begin overhauling its operations.

The telecommunications provider has experienced intensifying market pressure this year from rivals AT&T and T-Mobile, which have started offering significant customer discounts and trade-in deals.

The first step is to reduce its workforce by more than 13,000 employees across the organization and decrease other labor-related expenses.

Verizon currently has about 100,000 U.S. employees.

“We deeply value their contributions and are committed to providing comprehensive resources to support our employees throughout this transition,” Schulman said.

“Every part of the company will experience some level of change, and we will have conversations with every affected employee to ensure they are treated with the utmost respect and care.”

Schulman became CEO in October after serving on Verizon’s board since 2018.

Meanwhile, for those departing, Verizon plans to invest $20 million in a Reskilling and Career Transition Fund focused on skills development, digital training, and job placement to ensure they are prepared for the new era of artificial intelligence (AI).

It will also convert 179 corporate-owned retail stores into franchised operations and shutter one location.

“The actions we’re taking are designed to make us faster and more focused, positioning our company to deliver for our customers while continuing to capture new growth opportunities,” Schulman continued.

“Being a customer-first, cost-conscious culture will be a way of life for us. And each of us is responsible for living up to that commitment.”

Despite being the nation’s largest wireless by subscriber count—146.1 million in the third quarter—Verizon added only 44,000 monthly bill-paying wireless subscribers in the previous quarter, falling behind both AT&T and T-Mobile.

In recent years, Verizon has attempted to expand operations through a series of acquisitions.

The company spent $20 billion to purchase Frontier Communications in 2024 to bolster its fiber networks and gain a competitive advantage in the broadband market.

It bought prepaid mobile phone provider TracFone Wireless for $6 billion in 2021.

In 2021, when the United States was rolling out 5G, Verizon spent nearly $53 billion in a Federal Communications Commission auction to boost networks and maintain a competitive edge.

Shares of Verizon rose about 0.3 percent following the announcement. The stock is up almost 3 percent this year.

Shares of AT&T have risen 11 percent this year, while T-Mobile has tumbled about 4 percent.

Major Layoffs in 2025

This year, scores of major tech and retail companies have announced job cuts.

On the tech front, Amazon slashed headcount by 14,000, while Microsoft eliminated 9,000 jobs. IBM reduced staffing by thousands of individuals, and Meta lowered payroll by more than 600.

Intel also cut more than 20,000 jobs, impacting mainly engineers and tech professionals.

Customers shop at a Walmart store in Chicago, Ill., on May 18, 2023. Scott Olson/Getty Images

In retail, Target fired 1,000 workers, Starbucks cut 900 jobs last month, and Walmart eliminated around 1,500 in-store and corporate workers.

Year-to-date, U.S.-based employers have announced nearly 1.1 million planned layoffs, representing a 65 percent increase from the first 10 months of last year, according to global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas.

October alone saw 153,074 job cuts—the highest total for the month since 2003.

Technology has led all private-sector job cuts so far in 2025 amid corporate restructuring, AI integration, and weaker demand.

Warehousing and retailers have announced approximately 89,000 and 90,000 job cuts, respectively, this year.

“Some industries are correcting after the hiring boom of the pandemic, but this comes as AI adoption, softening consumer and corporate spending, and rising costs drive belt-tightening and hiring freezes,” Andy Challenger, the firm’s chief revenue officer, said in this month’s report.

For months, economic observers have described the current environment as “low fire, low hire.”

Businesses’ hiring intentions have cooled, with U.S. employers announcing more than 488,000 planned hires through October, down 35 percent from the same span a year ago.

New government economic data point to a possible bounce back in the labor market.

In the first nonfarm payrolls report since August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said the U.S. economy added 119,000 new jobs in September, with health care and social assistance accounting for a sizable share of the gains.

But a chorus of experts, including Gina Bolvin, president of Bolvin Wealth Management Group, still sees softness in the labor market.

“Today’s delayed jobs report showed a labor market losing momentum,” Bolvin said in a note emailed to The Epoch Times, adding that it will likely give the Federal Reserve more justification to lower interest rates next month.

However, according to the CME FedWatch Tool, the futures market is betting on a 60 percent chance that the central bank will leave rates unchanged in the current target range of 3.75 percent to 4 percent at the December Federal Open Market Committee policy meeting.

Reuters contributed to this story.