UPDATE 11/21/2025: As expected, Verizon announced its massive lay-off of more than 13,000 workers starting November 20. Verizon CEO Dan Schulman said in an open letter that the operator is cutting 13,000-plus workers and will "significantly reduce our outsourced and other outside labor expenses."
"Our current cost structure limits our ability to invest significantly in our customer value proposition. We must reorient our entire company around delivering for and delighting our customers," the CEO said in the letter.
Story from 11/13/2025: Verizon plans to cut 15,000 jobs soon, according to the WSJ. As part of those lay-offs, Fierce has learned that the operator will be cutting 20 to 25% of its 5G Acceleration (5GA) team, according to an anonymous source that reached out to Fierce Network via email last week.
The Tier 1's 5GA team deals with private networking and neutral host networks. The future of 5GA is unknown at this point as the entire 5GA ecosystem and partnerships team are also being let go, according to our source.
Fierce Network reached out to our contact at Verizon Business but their spokesperson declined to "comment on rumor or speculation."
Verizon’s current customers include Cummins, which installed a 5G private network and neutral host setup at its Jamestown Engine Plant in New York. Verizon has also installed multiple 5G private networks at domestic and international ports.
New CEO Dan Schulman making cuts
Fierce's source said that new Verizon CEO Dan Schulman is making cuts to the business team to help pump money into the consumer side of the Tier 1. Schulman replaced Hans Vestberg as the head of Verizon on October 6, 2025.
Schulman has already said that he wants to “delight” customers during his tenure at the top. “For years, our priority was clear: build the best and most reliable network. With that foundation firmly in place, our next chapter is about serving and delighting customers by building the industry's best overall value proposition and the best customer experience,” the new CEO said.
AvidThink principal analyst Roy Chua said that he knew that there "was pullback from private 5G" at Verizon, but hadn't heard about these specific cuts. He understood that the new leadership at Verizon needed to make big changes.
Separately, Bloomberg reported that Verizon is looking for $10 billion from a bond sale tied to its acquisition of Frontier.
The company filed a preliminary SEC filing which looks to be the preliminary funding mechanism for the purchase. Fierce Network is writing a separate article on the funding.
This is a developing story.