New York, November 27, 2025:
Telecom giant Verizon has unveiled one of its largest workforce reductions to date, announcing plans to eliminate more than 13,000 positions, or nearly 20% of its management staff, as part of a sweeping restructuring strategy. The move, disclosed in an SEC filing at 2:45 PM EST on November 26, comes as the company grapples with slower-than-expected 5G growth and surging AI infrastructure expenses.
The layoffs primarily impact middle-management and legacy operational departments. Verizon confirmed that affected employees will receive severance packages of up to 18 months’ pay, along with reskilling programs and outplacement support. CEO Hans Vestberg defended the restructuring, citing “evolving market dynamics” and the necessity of reinvesting heavily—over $10 billion annually—in fiber optics, edge computing, and next-generation network capabilities to stay competitive against AT&T and T-Mobile.
The decision has sparked fierce backlash from unions, especially the Communications Workers of America (CWA), which denounced the cuts as “corporate greed,” pointing to Verizon’s $30 billion in stock buybacks since 2023. Labor representatives argue that frontline workers have endured stagnant wages and increasing workloads while executives prioritize shareholder returns.
Analysts from Bloomberg Intelligence anticipate short-term stock volatility but predict long-term operational gains, projecting a 5–7% EBITDA increase by 2027 as a result of streamlined costs. However, the layoffs are expected to hit tech-centric cities like New York and Dallas particularly hard, potentially worsening unemployment levels in a post-pandemic economy still coping with inflation aftershocks.
Internal memos reportedly leaked to Reuters describe an atmosphere of “shock and betrayal,” with employee morale plunging across multiple divisions. The move aligns with a broader 2025 trend of Big Tech downsizing—Meta, for instance, cut over 5,000 jobs earlier this month—as companies accelerate automation and restructure around AI-driven efficiencies.
Verizon has pledged renewed efforts toward diversity hiring in emerging fields such as cybersecurity and cloud engineering. Critics, however, are demanding transparency on which demographic groups are most affected by the cuts, warning that restructuring must not come at the cost of equitable employment practices.
