Operational Excellence (OPEX) Daily Briefing – Thursday, November 20, 2025: Verizon Cuts 13% of Its Workforce: A Signal of Major Operational Restructuring.
Điểm Tin Operational Excellence (OPEX) Mỗi Ngày – Thứ Năm, Ngày 20/11/2025: Verizon Cắt Giảm 13% Nhân Sự: Tín Hiệu Một Cuộc Đại Tái Cấu Trúc Vận Hành.
Welcome to my unique weekday article for the paid subscriber-only edition.
Operational Excellence (OPEX) Daily Briefing – issued on weekdays (Monday to Friday).
Điểm tin Operational Excellence (OPEX) hằng ngày (phát hành các ngày thứ Hai đến thứ Sáu).
This is the bilingual post in English and Vietnamese. Vietnamese is below.
Đây là bài viết song ngữ Anh-Việt. Tiếng Việt ở bên dưới.
English
PART 1 – OFFICIAL INFORMATION
On November 20, 2025, U.S. telecommunications giant Verizon Communications Inc. announced a development that shocked the labor market: the company will lay off more than 13,000 employees in the largest restructuring wave seen in many years. This move was confirmed by official reports from Reuters.
According to Reuters data, Verizon had approximately 100,000 employees in the United States as of the end of 2024. Therefore, cutting 13,000 people represents roughly 13% of the total workforce, a very large proportion for a national telecommunications infrastructure corporation. This number illustrates the severity of the operational and cost pressures Verizon is currently facing.
1. Why Verizon must execute a large-scale workforce reduction
New CEO Dan Schulman, who recently took office, emphasized that Verizon’s current cost structure is excessively cumbersome, preventing the company from investing aggressively in strategic priorities and enhancing customer value. He stressed that the previous operating model had become too complex, insufficiently flexible, and no longer suitable for today’s highly competitive market.
According to the Reuters report, Verizon’s leadership believes that restructuring will help the company:
• Simplify operational processes
• Reduce personnel costs and layers of middle management
• Increase investment capacity in network infrastructure, value-added services, and customer care
• Strengthen competitiveness against rivals such as AT&T and T-Mobile
This reflects a broader global telecommunications trend: transforming operations to adapt to surging data demand, price competition, and increasingly expensive 5G infrastructure deployment.
2. Departments most affected
Reuters notes that this layoff round primarily targets operational units with cumbersome structures or overlapping functions. Verizon also announced that it will:
• Convert 179 company-owned retail stores into franchise operations
• Permanently close one store
The decision to shift the retail network toward franchising indicates Verizon’s intention to reduce retail operating costs while transferring the burden of asset management and staffing to franchise partners. This strategy has become popular among major corporations seeking to lower fixed expenses and focus resources on core activities.
3. Financial context leading to the restructuring
Amid slow growth in wireless service revenue, rising network maintenance costs, and a telecommunications market marked by fierce price competition, Verizon must find ways to optimize costs in order to maintain margins.
In addition, substantial investments in 5G networks, cloud, and AI for network operations have created pressure that forces the company to reallocate resources. If the old organizational model were maintained, operational costs would continue rising and reduce Verizon’s competitive strength.
4. The significance of this event for the U.S. telecommunications industry
Verizon’s decision to cut 13,000 employees is not merely an internal change; it is also a meaningful signal for the entire U.S. telecom sector:
• Operational pressures are rising faster than revenue growth
• Large corporations must simplify their organizational structures to accelerate digital transformation
• Automation, AI, and cost optimization are becoming urgent strategic priorities
When a major corporation like Verizon reduces 13% of its workforce, it may create a domino effect, prompting other telecom companies to reevaluate their operating models and cost structures.