Team,
Thank you for the many messages you have shared about the work we need to do to strengthen our company. I appreciate your thoughts and candor. The pride you have for the role Verizon plays in people’s lives is abundantly clear, as is your desire for us to lead the industry.
As I shared at our recent all-employee meeting, we need to change and evolve as a company to meet the needs of our customers and expand our market leadership. Our current cost structure limits our ability to make significant investments in our customer value proposition. We must reorient our entire company to serve and delight our customers.
As a customer-first culture, we must align our teams and resources to create new value for customers and build a faster, stronger and more dynamic Verizon. To do this, we need to simplify our operations to remove the complexity and friction that slow us down and frustrate our customers.
Today, we will begin reducing our workforce by more than 13,000 employees across the organization, and significantly reduce our outsourced and other external labor expenses. We deeply value their contributions and are committed to providing comprehensive resources to support our employees during this transition. Every part of the company will experience some level of change, and we will communicate with each affected employee to ensure they are treated with the utmost respect and care.
Changes in technology and the economy are affecting the workforce in all industries. We see it in our families and our communities. To help prepare our people for their future, we have established a $20 million reskilling and career transition fund for employees leaving Verizon. This fund will focus on skills development, digital training and job placement to help our people take the next step. As we enter the age of AI, Verizon is the first company to set up a fund to focus specifically on the opportunities and required skill sets. I also intend to work with other companies and the public sector to address the opportunities and challenges in a world where technology will impact us all.
Change is necessary, but it can be difficult—especially when it affects valued teammates. It is important that we direct our energies and resources to position Verizon on the path to success. The actions we are taking are designed to make us faster and more focused, enabling our company to capture new growth opportunities as well as deliver for our customers. Having 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.
In the coming weeks, your leaders will share new organizational structures and priorities that are consistent with our direction as a company. As we make these changes, we must work together to ensure that we end the year strong and get off to a great start to 2026. The fourth quarter is extremely important for us, so I applaud everyone for making it a great one even in the face of change.
Our future will be defined by how we move forward from here – with clarity, focus and a shared vision to win in the market and deliver meaningful results for our customers, shareholders and each other. Thank you to the departing colleagues for their many contributions. To those who stick with us, I appreciate your continued commitment as we build a stronger Verizon together.
gentle