Verizon will cut about 15,000 employees next week in the largest layoff spree to hit the company since its beginning, according to several reports.
The layoffs are part of a cost-saving measure as the company moves to compete with other companies jumping into the home internet service and wireless markets, according to the Wall Street Journal and Reuters, which each cited anonymous sources.
The cuts are set to begin next week, according to the reports. With approximately 100,000 current employees, the cuts will affect approximately 15% of the company’s workforce.
The news comes one month after Verizon named Dan Schulman as its new CEO. The former CEO of PayPal who made the transition in early October has been focused on retaining costumers by cutting costs since the announcement of his first day on the job.
“We are going to maximize our value propositions, reduce our cost to serve, and optimize our capital allocation to delight our customers, and deliver sustainable long-term growth for our shareholders,” Schulman said in an October statement.
He has served on Verizon’s board of directors since 2018.
“Verizon is at a critical juncture. We have a clear opportunity to redefine our trajectory, by growing our market share across all segments of the market, while delivering meaningful growth in our key financial metrics,” Schulman said.
Schulman told the company in an October call that “cost reductions will be a way of life for us here,” and that Verizon has opportunities “to be more efficient, to be scrappier,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
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Verizon did not respond to the Washington Examiner‘s requests for comment.
The company also made news in Washington in early November when it committed to reviewing its policies surrounding subpoenas of congressional members’ phone records in the wake of the Arctic Frost investigation.
