NEW YORK CITY, New York: Verizon is preparing to lay off around 15,000 employees, about 15 percent of its workforce, as part of an aggressive turnaround plan under newly appointed CEO Dan Schulman, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The sweeping job cuts, the largest in the U.S. telecom giant's history, are expected to begin as early as next week. They come amid intense industry competition, subscriber stagnation, and pressure to rein in costs as rivals AT&T and T-Mobile continue to grow with aggressive pricing and promotional offers.

The layoffs will affect more than 20 percent of Verizon's non-union management ranks, the source said. Additionally, the company will convert about 180 corporate-owned retail stores into franchises, further shrinking its corporate footprint.

Verizon declined to comment on the restructuring.

Schulman, who joined Verizon as CEO in October after leading PayPal, had already signaled bold cost-cutting moves were coming. "We will be a simpler, leaner and scrappier business," he said last month, calling for "cost transformation" and a "fundamental restructuring of our expense base."

The cuts follow years of job reductions at Verizon, which had about 100,000 U.S. employees at the end of 2024. That number has already declined by nearly 20,000 over three years. In 2023, the company offered a voluntary exit program that led to 4,800 employees departing, resulting in a US$2 billion charge. In 2018, a similar program led to the exit of over 10,000 employees.

Despite the prior cuts, Verizon has struggled to keep pace with competitors. In the third quarter of this year, it added just 44,000 monthly wireless subscribers, trailing AT&T and well behind T-Mobile, which added over 1 million.

Meanwhile, cable providers like Comcast and Charter are also disrupting the wireless market by bundling mobile plans with home internet, pulling away more potential customers.

Analysts say the layoffs may be an attempt to free up cash for subscriber retention efforts.

Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson noted that Schulman's top priority is stopping subscriber losses, which could involve costly phone subsidies. "The obvious question was how Verizon planned to pay for that. Now we know," Moffett said. "What we don't know is whether these cost reductions will actually help to offset the higher planned costs of retention."

In recent years, Verizon has made hefty investments to strengthen its position in wireless. It spent $52 billion in 2021 to acquire midband spectrum for 5G, and another $6 billion to acquire prepaid provider TracFone Wireless. In 2024, it also closed a $20 billion deal to acquire Frontier Communications.

Schulman, a Verizon board member for seven years, has said he does not want to raise prices, which are already the highest in the industry. "Our financial growth has relied too heavily on price increases," he said last month. "A strategic approach that relies too much on price without subscriber growth is not a sustainable strategy."

Verizon shares rose 1.5 percent on news of the restructuring, but the stock has underperformed over the past three years, rising just 8 percent compared to the S&P 500's nearly 70 percent gain.