Verizon confirms 13,000 layoffs, as year-end tech layoffs continue
Updated November 20, 2025: Verizon will cut 13,000 jobs in a year-end push to restructure the company and reduce spending, the telecommunications giant confirmed, sealing the fate of workers just days before the holiday season kicks off.
The restructuring and layoffs coincide with the recent appointment of former PayPal president and CEO Dan Schulman at the end of October.
The final number is about 2,000 less than the 15,000 pink slips sources initially revealed to Reuters last week, making the cuts equal to about 13% of the carrier's workforce.
The insiders had also told the media outlet the cuts would primarily target non-union management ranks and that Verizon was also planning to transition roughly 180 corporate-owned retail stores into franchised operations, affecting more than 20% of that workforce.
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The final number of Verizon-owned stores to be transitioned will stand at 179, with one store completely shuttering.
"This is an opportunity for Verizon to reset, restructure, and realign our priorities on ways that will help us regain our leadership as a communications provider," a Verizon spokesperson told media on Wednesday, echoing a note already sent to employees by Schulman earlier in the day.
Attempting to make the layoffs more palatable, Schulman’s note also told employees that Verizon would establish a “$20 million career transition fund” for laid-off workers to expand their "opportunities and necessary skill sets as we enter the age of AI."
Verizon stressed the job cuts – the largest number of single layoffs at one time throughout the company’s history – were not triggered by the use of AI.
Rumors circulating online for weeks
One Reddit thread dedicated to the topic previously mentioned 11/20 as the official date when workers could expect the layoffs to begin, causing distress among Verizon employees who have been wondering if they would lose their jobs just before the holidays.
“I’ve seen a couple of people here mention that 11/20 is the date for the mass layoffs. It's so crazy to me that the whole company is aware of the layoffs but unaware of where specifically. It's causing panic in almost all employees. I’ve only been here a year and it's driving me crazy,” one Redditor/Verizon worker wrote.
Others on the thread, including more supposed Verizon employees, started mentioning the layoffs roughly seven days ago, posting that “internal leaks” showed the wireless carrier was also planning to close entire Verizon stores, without specifying any numbers.
Layoffs and store closures
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Schulman hinted at the layoffs during the company’s Q3 earnings, stating Verizon would be “aggressively” reducing its “cost base,” Fierce Network reported.
“We will be a simpler, leaner, and scrappier business. This work is overdue and will be multi-year and an ongoing way of life for us,” Schulman said at the time.
Ranked third on Fortune's list of the World's Greatest Leaders during the Covid-19 Pandemic, Shulman has also held leadership roles at American Express, Sprint/Nextel, Priceline, and AT&T.
Tech workers prepare for tight holidays
Earlier this month, IBM announced plans to cut thousands of jobs in Q4 2025 to shift its focus towards the technology company’s “high-margin software segment,” aka its AI-cloud computing platform, in response to surging demand.
IBM, which has approximately 270,000 employees worldwide, stated that its US workforce will remain largely unchanged.
And on October 28th, Amazon laid off about 14,000 of its workers, who, according to the e-commerce giant’s CEO, Andy Jassy, were “simply not a cultural fit,” denying the cuts were for financial reasons or the increased use of AI automation.
Other technolgy and telecom companies that have made significant job cuts (1,000+) in 2025 include Meta, Microsoft, Intel, HPE, US Cellular, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and Charter, according to a roundup by Fierce.
Verizon shares rose about 1.7% on Thursday after the news broke, several hours before the NYSE closing bell.
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