Verizon's CEO practically told employees to worry about their jobs
Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg says that despite a small increase in headcount, job cuts will continue.
After Verizon reported its second quarter earnings a couple of days ago, it held its usual conference call with analysts to go over the results and to answer questions from Wall Street analysts and the media. During the call, Peter Supino, an analyst with a company called Wolfe Research, got Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg to say that the carrier will continue to reduce the workforce although the size of these cuts was not addressed by the executive.
Verizon CEO Vestberg says that Verizon will continue to cut its workforce
Vestberg told the analyst, ""The headcount – we have been very, very good, and it's going down all the time. So we have been very efficient in managing our resources." Data computed by Light Reading shows just how efficient Verizon has been. For example, when Verizon had a headcount of 183,000 in 2012, it generated approximately $116 billion in revenue from its telecom businesses including mobile and fixed-line. When the curtain dropped on 2024, Verizon had fewer than 100,000 employees while the top line had grown to $134.8 billion.
Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg. | Image credit-Verizon
Supino might have asked Vestberg about Verizon's hiring plans because of a slight increase in the headcount last quarter sequentially. But Vestberg's response was to indicate that Verizon is still in cost-cutting mode; even though the carrier's workforce rose from 99,400 at the end of March to 100,000 at the end of June, the headcount year-over-year was still 3.7% lower.
Analysts like Supino love to see the companies they follow cut the workforce since it quickly lower costs. One of the reasons not to expect Verizon to go on a hiring binge is the use of AI. Verizon has just started to bring AI into its workforce with the carrier telling the SEC in its last annual report that "We are using AI in our network deployment and maintenance as well as our customer and employee support services."
Verizon CFO Tony Skiadas said, "We continue to take cost out, whether it's AI, whether it's network. Whether it's IT platform consolidation or real estate, we're continuing to push cost out of the business." Current Verizon employees might be very worried about how hard the carrier is going to push.
With the $20 billion acquisition of broadband provider Frontier Communications about to close soon, Verizon has discussed synergies that it hopes will result in annual cost reductions of $500 million of more annually. The savings come from eliminating duplicate operations and jobs. Some of the jobs lost will come from the Frontier side, which is not such a shock considering that the company has laid off 5,300 people over the last four years reducing its headcount by 29% over those years.
That Verizon is more efficient now cannot be denied. In 2012, a year we discussed earlier in this article, Verizon took in $631,000 in revenue per employee. This has risen to $1.35 million in revenue generated by each Verizon employee. While many believe that AI is bringing these efficiencies to the nation's largest wireless carrier, Verizon disagrees. Verizon says that there are too many risks involved in using AI to replace human employees.
The big question that Verizon will need to answer in the face of more cuts to its workforce
In its latest annual report filed with the SEC, Verizon said that, "There are technological, regulatory, ethical and other risks involved in deploying and using AI, particularly generative AI models. There can be no assurance that the usage of AI will meaningfully enhance our products or services or be beneficial to our business, including our efficiency or profitability."
Verizon isn't the only U.S. carrier cutting its workforce. AT&T has eliminated 139,000 jobs between 2017 and 2025, while Verizon has cut 84,000 since 2012. If it isn't the use of AI allowing the carriers to hand out pink slips like never before, it must mean that companies like Verizon and AT&T have truly discovered a way to run their businesses with smaller headcounts. And based on what Verizon's CEO says, the job cuts will continue. The big question is, will the business continue to grow?
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