Topline
Verizon has begun cutting jobs for more than 13,000 employees Thursday in its biggest ever round of layoffs, the WSJ reports–as new CEO Dan Schulman looks to cut costs in a competitive market.
OCEANSIDE, NEW YORK – AUGUST 23: A general view of a Verizon store on August 23, 2024 in Oceanside, New York. Long Island is the home for a plethora of local and national business concerns. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
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Key Facts
The U.S. telecommunications giant will start notifying employees affected by the layoffs, according to an email from company CEO Dan Schulman, the WSJ reported.
Verizon is reportedly also looking to reduce the size of its outsourced labor force, and franchise close to 200 stores.
The company appointed Schulman last month after it reported two consecutive quarters of subscriber losses and was losing market share to competitors like T-mobile under former CEO Hans Vestberg.
What To Watch For
Job cuts have accelerated this year while job creation in the U.S. has significantly slowed. The record-long government shutdown has slowed the release of key economic data the Federal Reserve needs to make decisions on interest rates. The Labor Department Thursday released September’s jobs report, which showed a slight uptick in unemployment and continued hiring. The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point in October, the second time in two months. President Donald Trump has called for more aggressive rate cuts since he took office in January, and criticized Fed Chair Jerome Powell for keeping interest rates stable earlier in the year. Employers are waiting to see whether the Fed will cut interest rates in its next meeting in December, as lower rates encourage more money-flow in the economy and could motivate companies to expand their workforce.
