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Verizon Communications

Company Profile Analysis

Ticker: VZ

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Verizon Communications - ICT showcase

Year Founded & Workforce

1983

89,900 Employees

Industry

ICT
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Verizon Communications Overview

Verizon is the incumbent premium-network operator of the United States telecommunications market and, by wireless retail connections, its largest. It is a holding company whose economics rest on three assets: a nationwide licensed spectrum portfolio spanning 700 MHz, cellular, PCS, AWS, C-Band and millimetre wave; approximately 147 million wireless retail connections and, following the January 2026 acquisition of Frontier Communications, a fibre footprint reaching more than 30 million homes and businesses across 31 states and Washington D.C.; and one of the world's largest global enterprise fibre networks, serving business customers in more than 180 countries. For most of the past decade Verizon monetised network superiority through price, accepting subscriber attrition in exchange for average-revenue-per-account growth. That model reached its limit in 2025, when the company lost postpaid phone customers in three of four quarters. Under Dan Schulman, appointed chief executive in October 2025, Verizon has pivoted to a volume-and-simplification strategy — flat-rate pricing, a converged fibre-plus-mobility bundle, an industry-first loyalty programme, roughly 13,000 job reductions and a $5 billion operating-expense reduction target — while opening a genuinely new revenue vector by selling dark and lit fibre capacity to hyperscale artificial-intelligence infrastructure operators. The investment question is no longer whether Verizon can defend margin; it is whether it can defend margin and grow units simultaneously.

The FY2021 figure (approximately 118,400, of which roughly 89% were US-based) and the FY2025 figure (approximately 89,900) are taken directly from the respective Forms 10-K. The trajectory is unambiguous regardless of rounding: Verizon has removed roughly 28,500 positions — about 24% of its workforce — over four years, and the FY2025 figure predates the bulk of the workforce reduction announced on 20 November 2025.


The company's own characterisation

In the FY2025 Form 10-K, Verizon describes itself as a holding company that, acting through its subsidiaries, is one of the world's leading providers of communications, technology, information and streaming products and services to consumers, businesses and government entities. It states that it has a presence around the world and offers data, video and voice services and solutions on its networks and platforms, designed to meet customer demand for mobility, reliable network connectivity and security. It operates and manages two reportable segments as strategic business units: Verizon Consumer Group and Verizon Business Group.

Independent characterisation

Verizon is fundamentally a capital-intensive subscription utility wrapped around a spectrum and fibre asset base, with a declining hardware-resale business attached to it and an emergent infrastructure-wholesale business bolted on top.

Revenue model composition. For FY2025, of $138,191 million of total operating revenues, $112,721 million (81.6%) came from service and other revenues and $25,470 million (18.4%) from wireless equipment sales (FY2025 Form 10-K income statement). The service component is overwhelmingly recurring monthly subscription revenue — postpaid and prepaid wireless access, fixed wireless access broadband, Fios internet, video and voice, enterprise connectivity contracts, and wholesale network access sold to mobile virtual network operators. The equipment component is a low-margin device pass-through: in FY2025 the cost of wireless equipment was $28,976 million against $25,470 million of wireless equipment revenue, meaning Verizon sold handsets at an aggregate gross loss of approximately $3.5 billion. This is the structural signature of a subsidised acquisition model, and it is precisely the line item that new management is deliberately shrinking. In 2Q26, equipment revenue fell nearly 20%, or more than $1.2 billion year over year, which management attributed to lower upgrade volumes as device holding periods lengthen and to a strategic decision to reduce device subsidy spending (2Q26 earnings release, 24 July 2026).

There is essentially no licensing revenue and no software-product revenue of consequence. Verizon's intellectual property is held largely for defensive and cross-licensing purposes rather than monetised as a revenue line.

Value chain position. Verizon sits at the network layer. It buys spectrum licences from the FCC and secondary-market sellers; buys radio access network, transport and core equipment from Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, Ciena, Corning and others; buys handsets from Apple, Samsung and Google for resale; builds and operates the physical network; and sells connectivity directly to end customers and wholesale to resellers. It does not own significant content (having exited media in 2021), does not manufacture devices, and does not operate a hyperscale cloud. Its recent strategic moves — the Frontier acquisition, the Eaton Fiber wholesale arrangement, the AI Connect dark-fibre business — all deepen rather than diversify this position: they are bets that owning physical transport and access assets becomes more valuable, not less, in an AI-driven compute cycle.

Customer types. (i) Individual consumers and households, served postpaid under the Verizon brand and prepaid under Verizon Value brands; (ii) small and medium businesses; (iii) large enterprises and multinational corporations; (iv) US federal, state and local government agencies and educational institutions, plus more than 40,000 public safety agencies (per a January 2026 US House Homeland Security Committee letter); (v) wholesale counterparties, including cable operators reselling Verizon's network as MVNOs — most importantly Comcast and Charter, whose long-term MVNO agreement Verizon amended and extended in January 2026; and (vi), newly, hyperscale data-centre operators buying fibre capacity.

End markets. Consumer mobility and home broadband; enterprise and public-sector connectivity, managed networking and security; wholesale carrier transport; IoT and connected fleet; and AI infrastructure connectivity.

Distribution. Verizon uses direct channels (company-operated stores, sales and service centres, business direct sales teams, digital and omni-channel), indirect channels (exclusive agents, national retailers, convenience-store chains for prepaid), and, for Business, resellers, distributors and systems integrators. In November 2025 the company announced it would convert 179 corporate-owned retail stores to franchised operations and close one — a deliberate shift of fixed retail cost off balance sheet.

Financial Narrative

All figures USD millions unless the row label states otherwise. Source: consolidated financial statements from Forms 10-K for fiscal years 2021 through 2025.

Income statement

Consolidated EBITDA is calculated as consolidated net income plus provision for income taxes, interest expense and depreciation and amortisation. The FY2025 result of $47,715 million ties exactly to the figure reported by the company, validating the method for prior years. Basic EPS approximates diluted EPS in every period given Verizon's minimal dilution.

Margin structure (%)

Revenue compound annual growth rate FY2021 to FY2025: 0.85%. Over the same period, consolidated net income declined at a compound rate of 6.1% per year and net income attributable to Verizon at 6.1% per year. This is the single most important fact in the financial history of the period: Verizon added $4.6 billion of revenue over four years while losing $5.0 billion of net income.

Income statement commentary

Revenue. The five-year revenue line is almost flat, but the composition of that flatness is instructive. Service revenues and other grew from $110,449 million to $112,721 million — 2.1% cumulative over four years, or roughly 0.5% annually, well below US nominal GDP and below inflation for most of the period. Wireless equipment revenue oscillated on the device replacement cycle, peaking at $27,210 million in FY2022 and troughing at $23,217 million in FY2024. The FY2025 revenue acceleration to +2.5% was driven by the Consumer segment (+3.8%) and, within it, by pricing actions and equipment volume rather than by unit growth — Verizon lost postpaid phone subscribers in the first three quarters of FY2025 before recovering sharply in the fourth.

Cost structure and the SG&A problem. Cost of services declined steadily from $31,234 million to $27,789 million, evidence of genuine network and operating efficiency. Cost of wireless equipment tracked equipment revenue and, in every year of the period, exceeded it — the aggregate five-year equipment gross loss is approximately $12.1 billion. But the dominant negative trend is selling, general and administrative expense, which rose from $28,658 million (21.4% of revenue) in FY2021 to a peak of $34,113 million (25.3% of revenue) in FY2024 — a $5.5 billion, 390-basis-point deterioration. FY2025 marked the first reduction, to $33,818 million, but that reduction was achieved despite absorbing $1,715 million of severance and $583 million of asset rationalisation charges in the fourth quarter, meaning the underlying improvement was closer to $2.6 billion. This SG&A line is the direct target of the $5 billion 2026 operating-expense reduction programme.

The FY2023 inflection. FY2023 is the pivot year. Operating income fell 24.9% to $22,877 million, driven by the $5,841 million Verizon Business Group goodwill impairment; net income attributable to Verizon fell 45.4% to $11,614 million. Excluding the impairment, FY2023 operating income would have been $28,718 million — still 5.7% below FY2022, and the underlying deterioration was real. Simultaneously, interest expense jumped 52.9% from $3,613 million to $5,524 million as the fixed-rate debt stack raised for the C-Band purchase began repricing into a materially higher rate environment. Interest expense has since risen further, to $6,694 million in FY2025 — an 92% increase over FY2021. Roughly $3.2 billion of annual pre-tax earnings has been transferred from equity holders to debt holders over four years purely through the interest line.

Other income volatility. Other income (expense), net swung from +$1,373 million in FY2022 to -$313 million in FY2023 to +$995 million in FY2024 to +$107 million in FY2025, driven principally by pension and benefit remeasurement adjustments and net debt extinguishment gains and losses. FY2021 included a $3,541 million debt extinguishment loss and FY2022 a $1,077 million loss — the cost of liability management during the C-Band financing. From FY2023 onward Verizon has recorded modest extinguishment gains ($308 million, $385 million and $368 million). Other components of net periodic benefit income swung from +$3,785 million in FY2021 to -$827 million in FY2025, a $4.6 billion adverse swing that is non-cash and non-operating but has depressed reported pre-tax income.

Effective tax rate. 23.1% (FY2021), 23.1% (FY2022), 28.8% (FY2023, distorted by the non-deductible goodwill impairment), 21.9% (FY2024), 22.3% (FY2025). A normalised rate of 22–23% is the appropriate forward assumption.

Balance sheet

FY2021 and FY2025 total-equity figures, FY2021, FY2024 and FY2025 current liabilities, and FY2025 retained earnings are drawn directly from filing-based commentary; intermediate-year equity and current-liability values are derived from standardised balance-sheet data and working-capital disclosures and should be treated as accurate to within rounding. Total assets, all asset-side line items, and the intangible composition are taken directly from the Forms 10-K.

Debt and leverage

Values shown as 0 indicate the ratio was not disclosed for that period. FY2025, 1Q26 and 2Q26 figures are from the 4Q25 and 2Q26 earnings release reconciliations.

Verizon's own leverage metric — net unsecured debt to consolidated adjusted EBITDA — improved from 2.6x at the end of 1Q26 to 2.5x at 30 June 2026, having stood at 2.2x at 31 December 2025 before the Frontier debt assumption. Management's stated target is 2.0–2.25x, to be achieved during 2027. Verizon paid down approximately half of the assumed Frontier debt in the first quarter following the close and expects to repay substantially all of it by the end of 2026. LTM consolidated adjusted EBITDA at 30 June 2026 was $51,753 million, against $49,997 million for FY2025.

Cash flow

Free cash flow is defined by Verizon as net cash provided by operating activities less capital expenditures including capitalised software; the calculated series above ties to the company's reported FCF of $19.3 billion, $14.1 billion, $18.7 billion, $19.8 billion and $20.1 billion respectively.

Cash flow commentary

Operating cash flow is the most stable line in Verizon's financial statements, oscillating in a narrow $36.9–39.5 billion band across five years despite a 45% swing in net income. This stability is the product of a large, growing depreciation and amortisation add-back ($16.2 billion rising to $18.3 billion), a consistent credit-loss provision ($789 million rising to $2,349 million — itself a signal of gradual credit-quality drift in the subscriber base), and deferred tax add-backs. It is the reason Verizon's dividend has never come under genuine threat despite the earnings decline.

The dominant cash-flow story of the period is the capital intensity unwind. Capex peaked at $23,087 million in FY2022 (16.9% of revenue) during the C-Band deployment and has since fallen to $17,011 million (12.3%). Combined with the collapse in spectrum spending — from $47,596 million in FY2021 to $450 million in FY2025 — total investing outflow fell 75% over four years. Free cash flow accordingly rose from a trough of $14,054 million in FY2022 to $20,126 million in FY2025, a 43% recovery achieved with essentially no revenue growth. FY2026 guidance takes capex lower again to $16.0–16.5 billion.

FY2025 financing activity was anomalous and deserves comment: Verizon raised $18,268 million of long-term borrowings, well above the $2–7 billion typical of FY2022–FY2024, and ended the year with $19,048 million of cash. This was pre-funding for the Frontier close on 20 January 2026, which required approximately $9.9 billion of cash purchase consideration plus assumption of approximately $12.9 billion of Frontier debt at fair value. Cash was drawn down to $8,366 million by 31 March 2026 and $1,752 million by 30 June 2026.

Verizon executed zero share repurchases in every year from FY2021 through FY2025 — a five-year period in which the entire discretionary shareholder return was the dividend. Repurchases resumed in 1Q26 with $2.5 billion (including an accelerated share repurchase of 50.76 million shares at an average price of $49.25), followed by $1.0 billion in 2Q26, with the full-year target raised to up to $4.5 billion.

Ratio analysis

Return on invested capital is computed as operating income multiplied by (1 minus the effective tax rate), divided by total debt plus total equity less cash. Users requiring it should build it from the accounts payable and accrued liabilities detail in the 10-K balance sheet.

Interpretation. The ratio set tells a coherent story of a business that de-levered its capital intensity while re-levering its interest burden. Interest coverage more than halved, from 9.3x to 4.4x, and has not recovered — that is a structural, not cyclical, change reflecting the maturity wall of low-coupon 2020–2021 issuance rolling into a higher-rate market. Return on invested capital fell from 10.8% to a 9.3% plateau; against a weighted average cost of capital plausibly in the 6.5–7.5% range for a Baa1/BBB+ credit with a 0.23 equity beta, Verizon is still creating economic value, but the spread has compressed by roughly 150 basis points. Asset turnover has drifted down every year, which is the arithmetic consequence of adding $37.7 billion of assets against $4.6 billion of revenue. The current ratio recovery in FY2025 to 0.91x is an artefact of Frontier pre-funding cash and will normalise back below 0.7x. The FY2023 payout ratio of 95.8% on GAAP EPS — a direct consequence of the goodwill impairment — was the moment the market began pricing dividend risk; on free cash flow, cover never fell below 1.30x and has been stable at approximately 1.75x since.


7. SEGMENTAL AND GEOGRAPHIC REVENUE MAPPING

Verizon does not disclose a geographic revenue split in its financial statements. This is a material limitation for any regional analysis and should be stated plainly rather than worked around. The FY2025 Form 10-K contains no revenue-by-geography table; the only geographic disaggregation in the filing is for income tax purposes, splitting pre-tax income between Ireland and foreign jurisdictions excluding Ireland. Country-level revenue is not publicly disclosed.

What can be established from disclosure:

Fastest-growing and declining areas. In the absence of geographic disclosure, the meaningful growth/decline analysis is by segment and customer group rather than region:

The drivers are well identified in the filings and management commentary. Consumer growth is priced-led and, from 4Q25, increasingly volume-led. Enterprise and Public Sector decline reflects secular migration off legacy voice and TDM circuits, federal budget pressure, and competitive substitution by systems integrators, SD-WAN vendors and cloud-native networking. Wholesale decline reflects consolidation among the small number of large carrier counterparties, most of which compete with Verizon directly. The international enterprise business is being exited via joint venture precisely because it lacked the scale to compete against Orange Business, Tata Communications, NTT and Telefónica Global Solutions.

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Financial Detail

Income Statement and Per-Share Data

MetricFY2021FY2022FY2023FY2024FY2025

Service revenues and other (USD Mn)

110,449109,625109,652111,571112,721

Wireless equipment revenues (USD Mn)

23,16427,21024,32223,21725,470

Total operating revenues (USD Mn)

133,613136,835133,974134,788138,191

Cost of services (USD Mn)

31,23428,63728,10027,99727,789

Cost of wireless equipment (USD Mn)

25,06730,49626,78726,10028,976

Gross profit (USD Mn)

77,31277,70279,08780,69181,426

Selling, general and administrative expense (USD Mn)

28,65830,13632,74534,11333,818

Depreciation and amortisation (USD Mn)

16,20617,09917,62417,89218,349

Verizon Business Group goodwill impairment (USD Mn)

005,84100

Operating income (USD Mn)

32,44830,46722,87728,68629,259

Consolidated EBITDA (USD Mn)

49,11148,98340,13547,52047,715

Interest expense (USD Mn)

3,4853,6135,5246,6496,694

Other income (expense), net (USD Mn)

3121,373-313995107

Income before provision for income taxes (USD Mn)

29,42028,27116,98722,97922,672

Provision for income taxes (USD Mn)

6,8026,5234,8925,0305,064

Consolidated net income (USD Mn)

22,61821,74812,09517,94917,608

Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests (USD Mn)

553492481443434

Net income attributable to Verizon (USD Mn)

22,06521,25611,61417,50617,174

Diluted EPS (USD)

5.325.062.754.144.06

Adjusted EPS excluding special items (USD)

5.395.184.714.594.71

Dividends declared per share (USD)

2.53502.58502.63502.68502.7350

Margin Analysis (%)

MetricFY2021FY2022FY2023FY2024FY2025

Gross margin (%)

57.956.859.059.958.9

Operating margin (%)

24.322.317.121.321.2

EBITDA margin (%)

36.835.830.035.334.5

Net income margin, consolidated (%)

16.915.99.013.312.7

SG&A as percent of revenue (%)

21.422.024.425.324.5

Balance Sheet

MetricFY2021FY2022FY2023FY2024FY2025

Cash and cash equivalents (USD Mn)

2,9212,6052,0654,19419,048

Accounts receivable, net (USD Mn)

23,84624,50625,08526,10927,097

Inventories (USD Mn)

3,0552,3882,0572,2472,441

Total current assets (USD Mn)

36,72837,85736,81440,52356,922

Plant, property and equipment, net (USD Mn)

99,696107,434108,310108,522109,467

Wireless licences (USD Mn)

147,619149,796155,667156,613157,039

Goodwill (USD Mn)

28,60328,67122,84322,84122,841

Other intangible assets, net (USD Mn)

11,67711,46111,05711,12910,458

Wireless licences, goodwill and other intangibles (USD Mn)

187,899189,928189,567190,583190,338

Operating lease right-of-use assets (USD Mn)

27,88326,13024,72624,47223,498

Total non-current assets (USD Mn)

329,868341,823343,441344,188347,336

Total assets (USD Mn)

366,596379,680380,255384,711404,258

Total current liabilities (USD Mn)

47,16050,16753,22464,77162,370

Working capital (USD Mn)

-10,432-12,310-16,410-24,248-5,448

Total liabilities (USD Mn)

283,396287,218286,459284,131298,517

Total equity including noncontrolling interests (USD Mn)

83,20092,46293,796100,580105,741

Equity attributable to Verizon (USD Mn)

81,79091,14492,43099,240104,461

Retained earnings (USD Mn)

71,99378,09178,62485,02994,744

Balance Sheet and Financial Ratios (x)

MetricFY2024FY20251Q262Q26

Debt maturing within one year (USD Mn)

22,63318,61828,22921,783

Long-term debt (USD Mn)

121,362139,532144,231143,448

Total debt (USD Mn)

143,995158,150172,460165,231

Secured debt (USD Mn)

26,09527,06729,96228,760

Unsecured debt (USD Mn)

117,900131,083142,498136,471

Equity credit for junior subordinated notes (USD Mn)

01,9824,0796,037

Cash and cash equivalents (USD Mn)

4,19419,0488,3661,752

Net unsecured debt (USD Mn)

113,700110,053130,053128,682

Unsecured debt to consolidated net income, LTM (x)

07.408.2

Net unsecured debt to consolidated adjusted EBITDA (x)

02.202.5

Balance Sheet and Margin Analysis (%)

MetricFY2021FY2022FY2023FY2024FY2025

Net cash provided by operating activities (USD Mn)

39,53937,14137,47536,91237,137

Capital expenditures including capitalised software (USD Mn)

20,28623,08718,76717,09017,011

Free cash flow (USD Mn)

19,25314,05418,70819,82220,126

Acquisitions of wireless licences (USD Mn)

47,5963,6535,796900450

Cash paid for acquisitions of businesses, net (USD Mn)

4,065-2483000

Net cash used in investing activities (USD Mn)

67,15328,66223,43218,67416,660

Proceeds from long-term borrowings (USD Mn)

33,0347,0742,0183,14618,268

Proceeds from asset-backed long-term borrowings (USD Mn)

8,38310,7326,59412,4229,338

Repayments of long-term borrowings and finance leases (USD Mn)

14,0638,6166,18111,85411,352

Repayments of asset-backed long-term borrowings (USD Mn)

4,8004,9484,4438,4908,437

Dividends paid (USD Mn)

10,44510,80511,02511,24911,481

Share repurchases (USD Mn)

00000

Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities (USD Mn)

8,277-8,529-14,657-17,100-5,613

Capex as percent of revenue (%)

15.216.914.012.712.3

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Returns & Leverage Ratios (%) and Financial Ratios (x)

RatioFY2021FY2022FY2023FY2024FY2025

Return on equity, consolidated net income on ending total equity (%)

27.223.512.917.816.7

Return on assets, consolidated net income on ending total assets (%)

6.25.73.24.74.4

Return on invested capital, analyst-computed (%)

10.89.76.79.39.3

Current ratio (x)

0.780.750.690.630.91

Total debt to total equity (x)

1.811.631.611.431.50

Interest coverage, operating income on interest expense (x)

9.38.44.14.34.4

Total asset turnover (x)

0.360.360.350.350.34

Days sales outstanding (days)

65.165.468.370.771.6

Days inventory outstanding (days)

19.814.713.715.215.7

Dividend payout on diluted EPS (%)

47.751.195.864.967.4

Free cash flow dividend cover (x)

1.841.301.701.761.75

Attribute Details

AttributeDetail

Predominant revenue geography

United States. Both reportable segments are described as serving customers "across the U.S."; only the Business segment provides "a subset of these products and services to customers around the world."

International presence

Verizon owns and operates one of the largest global fibre-optic networks in the world, providing connectivity to Business customers in more than 180 countries (FY2025 Form 10-K).

Scale of international enterprise wireline

The BT joint venture announcement (29 June 2026) states that the combined entity — BT International plus Verizon's international enterprise wireline arm — will serve more than 3,000 customers across more than 180 countries with approximately $4 billion in combined annual revenue. Verizon agreed to pay BT a $625 million equalisation payment, implying that Verizon's contributed business is somewhat smaller in value than BT's. This bounds Verizon's international enterprise wireline revenue at materially less than $4 billion — under 3% of consolidated revenue.

Accounting treatment

In 2Q26 the international wireline connectivity and managed network services business was classified as held for sale and moved out of the Business segment into Corporate and other, generating a $746 million pre-tax loss on disposition of business.

Wireline service footprint (domestic)

31 US states and Washington D.C. following the Frontier close, per the FY2025 Form 10-K as of filing date.

Revenue Lines

Revenue lineFY2023FY2024FY2025Direction

Consumer (USD Mn)

101,626102,904106,800

Growing; +3.8% in FY2025

Business — Business Markets and Other (USD Mn)

12,69713,08113,600

Growing; small and medium business and FWA-led

Business — Enterprise and Public Sector (USD Mn)

15,07614,21813,500

Declining; -10.5% over two years

Business — Wholesale (USD Mn)

2,3132,1962,000

Declining; -13.5% over two years

Valuation Snapshot

MetricValue

Share price (mid-August 2026)

Approximately $47–48

52-week range

$38.39 (low, 23 October 2025) to $51.68 (high, 24 March 2026)

Market capitalisation

Approximately $200–201 billion

Shares outstanding

Approximately 4.15 billion

Beta

0.23–0.24

P/E (trailing twelve months)

Approximately 12.6x

Forward P/E (next twelve months)

Approximately 9.5x

Price to sales

Approximately 1.46–1.52x

Price to book

Approximately 1.9x

Revenue (trailing twelve months)

$138.9 billion

Adjusted EBITDA (LTM to 30 June 2026)

$51.753 billion

Return on equity (trailing twelve months)

Approximately 15.6%

Consensus rating

"Buy" per 26 analysts polled by S&P Global; "Moderate Buy" per MarketBeat's 20-analyst sample

Average 12-month price target

$51.21 to $51.56

Target range

$44.00 low to $71.00 high (S&P Global sample); $40.00 to $56.00 (MarketBeat sample)

Implied upside on average target

Approximately 6% to 10%

FY2026 consensus EPS

Approximately $4.69 to $4.94 depending on sample and date; company guidance $4.99–$5.04

FY2027 consensus EPS

Approximately $5.26

Per-Share Data and Dividends & Capital Returns

MetricFY2021FY2022FY2023FY2024FY2025

Dividends declared per share (USD)

2.53502.58502.63502.68502.7350

Dividends paid, total (USD Mn)

10,44510,80511,02511,24911,481

Dividend growth year over year (%)

2.02.01.91.91.9

Payout ratio on diluted EPS (%)

47.751.195.864.967.4

Free cash flow cover (x)

1.841.301.701.761.75

Capital Programmes

ProgrammeDetail

Authorisation

Up to $25 billion, authorised 30 January 2026, no fixed expiration; runs until exhausted or superseded

2026 target

Originally at least $3 billion; raised to up to $4.5 billion on 24 July 2026

Executed 1Q26

$2.5 billion, including an accelerated share repurchase of 50.76 million shares at an average price of $49.25

Executed 2Q26

$1.0 billion; year-to-date $3.5 billion

Total capital return framework

Approximately $55 billion through the end of 2028 via dividends and repurchases; $9.4 billion returned in 1H26

Prior history

Zero repurchases in each of FY2021, FY2022, FY2023, FY2024 and FY2025

Credit Ratings

AgencyLong-term ratingShort-termOutlookLast action

Moody's Ratings

Baa1 (issuer and senior unsecured); (P)Baa1 shelf and MTN

Prime-2

Stable

Affirmed 7 August 2025

S&P Global Ratings

BBB+

A-2

Stable

—

Fitch Ratings

A-

F2

Stable

—

Margin Analysis (%) (Original guidance (30 Jan 2026)–Current guidance (24 Jul 2026))

MetricOriginal guidance (30 Jan 2026)Raised guidance (27 Apr 2026)Current guidance (24 Jul 2026)

Mobility and broadband service revenue growth (%)

2.0 to 3.0

2.0 to 3.0

2.5 to 3.0

Adjusted EPS (USD)

4.90 to 4.95

4.95 to 4.99

4.99 to 5.04

Adjusted EPS growth (%)

4.0 to 5.0

5.0 to 6.0

6.0 to 7.0

Cash flow from operations (USD Bn)

37.5 to 38.0

37.5 to 38.0

37.94 to 38.64

Free cash flow (USD Bn)

21.5 or more

21.5 or more

21.94 to 22.14

Free cash flow growth (%)

7.0 or more

6.8

9.0 to 10.0

Capital expenditures (USD Bn)

16.0 to 16.5

16.0 to 16.5

16.0 to 16.5

Monitorable Details

MonitorableWhy it mattersTiming

Further AI Connect contract announcements

Management guided to multiple additional deals worth multiple billions before year-end 2026. Non-delivery would undermine the central new element of the equity story.

Before 31 December 2026

4Q26 mobility and broadband service revenue growth reaching approximately 4.0%

The specific number management guided to. It is the test of whether volume growth translates to revenue growth.

4Q26 results, approximately late January 2027

Postpaid phone net adds landing in the upper half of 750,000–1,000,000

Requires roughly 510,000–760,000 in 2H26 against 239,000 in 1H26 — a seasonally plausible but demanding step-up.

3Q26 and 4Q26

Simplicity, Verizon One and Loyalty attach rates and churn effect

Management asserted accretion to revenue and EBITDA and continued churn reduction. Verizon has not disclosed take-up.

3Q26 onward

$5 billion 2026 opex reduction delivery

Progress reported as on track in 1Q26 with savings in advertising, network operating costs and workforce.

Quarterly

Frontier integration and synergy realisation toward $1 billion run-rate by 2028

Largest integration since Alltel. Frontier debt repayment substantially complete by end-2026 is the near-term marker.

Continuous

Deleveraging to 2.0–2.25x

Governs buyback capacity and rating stability. 2.5x at 30 June 2026.

During 2027

Buyback execution against the raised $4.5 billion target

$3.5 billion completed in 1H26; the raise signals confidence but 2H26 delivery is the proof.

3Q26 and 4Q26

FCC outage proceeding PS Docket No. 26-21

Possible enforcement action; the Supreme Court has now confirmed the FCC's forfeiture authority.

Open

SpaceX direct-to-device commercial launch and the three-carrier JV definitive agreements

The JV remains an agreement in principle only. Failure to convert it would leave the carriers individually exposed.

Ongoing

BT joint venture regulatory clearance

Expected to complete in 2027; a delay extends the held-for-sale accounting drag.

2,027

Vestberg's departure as special advisor, 4 October 2026

Completes the leadership transition.

4 October 2026

Q3 2026 results

Estimated 20 October 2026.

October 2026

Executive Leadership

Executive Leadership Team

NameTitleNotes

Dan Schulman

Chief Executive Officer

Appointed effective 4 October 2025. Verizon director since 2018; lead independent director from December 2024. Former chief executive of PayPal Holdings 2015–2023, where Verizon states revenue tripled from $8 billion to $30 billion and EPS grew fivefold. Prior senior roles at AT&T, Priceline, Virgin Mobile and American Express. Age reported as 67–68 at appointment.

Anthony (Tony) Skiadas

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

CFO since April 2023; long-tenured Verizon finance executive. Age reported as 57.

Kyle Malady

Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer, Verizon Business Group

Former Verizon chief technology officer; leads the enterprise, public sector and wholesale business.

Alfonso Villanueva

Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer, Verizon Consumer Group

Succeeded Sowmyanarayan Sampath, who stepped down 4 February 2026 and separated from the company 27 March 2026.

Joe Russo

Executive Vice President and President, Global Networks and Technology

Retained in role through the December 2025 network reorganisation.

Leslie Berland

Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer

Joined January 2024; previously CMO at Twitter and American Express. Age reported as 48.

Vandana Venkatesh

Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer

In role since October 2022. Age reported as 54.

Franz Paasche

Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs

Joined from PayPal, where he was chief corporate affairs officer.

Donna Epps

Senior Vice President and Chief Responsible Business Officer

Leads ESG, sustainability and responsible business.

Mary-Lee Stillwell

Senior Vice President and Controller

Principal accounting officer since April 2023. Age reported as 52.

Scott Krohn

Senior Vice President and Treasurer

In role since 2015.

William L. Horton, Jr.

Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary

Signatory on Verizon's 2026 Forms 8-K.

Hans Vestberg

Special Advisor

Chief executive 2018–2025 and board chair 2019–2025. Serving as special advisor through 4 October 2026, focused on the Frontier integration.

Board of Directors

DirectorPrincipal occupationRole

Mark T. Bertolini

Chief Executive Officer, Oscar Health, Inc.

Chair of the Board (independent), elected October 2025. Verizon director since 2014. Age reported as 69.

Dan Schulman

Chief Executive Officer, Verizon

Executive director

Shellye L. Archambeau

Former Chief Executive Officer, MetricStream, Inc.

Independent

Roxanne S. Austin

President and Chief Executive Officer, Austin Investment Advisors

Independent

Vittorio Colao

Former Italian Minister for Innovation, Digital Transition and Space; former Chief Executive, Vodafone Group plc

Independent; director since 2010. Age reported as 64.

Caroline Litchfield

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Merck & Co., Inc.

Independent; joined June 2025. Age reported as 57.

Jennifer Mann

Executive Vice President and President, North America Operating Unit, The Coca-Cola Company

Independent; joined December 2025. Age reported as 53.

Laxman Narasimhan

Former Chief Executive Officer, Starbucks Corporation

Independent; director since 2021. Age reported as 58.

Carol B. Tomé

Chief Executive Officer, United Parcel Service, Inc.

Independent

Directors' Remuneration

Named executive officerSalaryStock awardsNon-equity incentivePension/NQDC changeAll other**Total**

Daniel Schulman, CEO

375,00032,774,795937,5000223,721

34,311,016

Hans Vestberg, former Chairman and CEO

1,500,00025,000,000——924,990

31,175,022

Sowmyanarayan Sampath, former EVP and Group CEO – Consumer

1,200,00015,000,000——301,130

18,900,000

Anthony Skiadas, EVP and CFO

1,100,00013,000,0671,650,0001,299256,860

16,008,226

Kyle Malady, EVP and Group CEO – Business

—————

12,760,000

Vandana Venkatesh, EVP and Chief Legal Officer

—————

7,430,000

Major Shareholders

HolderSharesPercentSource

BlackRock, Inc.

348,127,7468.3%

2026 DEF 14A beneficial ownership table

State Street Corporation

215,538,3755.2%

2026 DEF 14A beneficial ownership table

The Vanguard Group

See note

See note

13G filed 27 March 2026

Governance Timeline

DateInitiativeDetail

Jan 2025

AI Connect launched

Suite for AI workload connectivity; relaunched in importance under Schulman.

May 2025

DEI programmes ended

Undertaken in connection with FCC review of the Frontier transaction.

Oct 2025

Eaton Fiber commercial arrangement

Tillman affiliate funds, builds and operates fibre; Verizon is exclusive retail provider.

Oct 2025

CEO transition and board chair separation

Schulman CEO; Bertolini independent chair.

Nov 2025

Workforce and cost restructuring

More than 13,000 positions; 179 stores franchised; $20 million reskilling fund; $1,715 million severance charge in 4Q25.

Dec 2025

Network organisation restructure

New Core Engineering and Operations organisation; new wireless, fibre and core network leaders.

Jan 2026

Frontier and Starry acquisitions close

Fibre to 30 million-plus locations; MDU fixed wireless.

Jan 2026

Comcast and Charter MVNO agreement amended and modernised

Long-term agreement extended and enhanced.

Jan 2026

Capital return framework

$25 billion buyback authorisation; dividend +2.5%; approximately $55 billion returned through 2028; at least $3 billion of buybacks in 2026.

May 2026

Satellite direct-to-device joint venture

Agreement in principle with AT&T and T-Mobile.

Jun 2026

Simplicity, Verizon One, Verizon Loyalty

Comprehensive consumer proposition reset.

Jun 2026

BT Group joint venture

50:50 international enterprise combination; $625 million equalisation payment; close expected 2027.

Jun 2026

Liability management

Tender offers and consent solicitations for 20 series of Verizon and subsidiary notes; private exchange offers for 11 series, covering approximately $1.86 billion of subsidiary notes — simplifying the post-Frontier capital structure and tightening covenants.

Jul 2026

Google dark fibre agreement

Well in excess of $1 billion; first disclosed AI Connect anchor contract.

Jul 2026

Buyback target raised

Full-year 2026 repurchase target increased to up to $4.5 billion.

Aug 2026

Lockheed Martin collaboration

NetSense counter-unmanned-aircraft system combining 5G, commercial technology and AI, with Verizon and NVIDIA.

Targets & Commitments

TargetStatement

2026 mobility and broadband service revenue growth

2.5% to 3.0%, accelerating to approximately 3.0% in 3Q26 and approximately 4.0% in 4Q26

2026 wireless service revenue growth

Approximately flat, during transition to volume-based growth

2026 adjusted EPS

$4.99 to $5.04, growth of 6.0% to 7.0%

2026 cash flow from operations

$37.94 to $38.64 billion, growth of 2.2% to 4.0%

2026 free cash flow

$21.94 to $22.14 billion, growth of 9.0% to 10.0%

2026 capital expenditures

$16.0 to $16.5 billion

2026 retail postpaid phone net additions

Upper half of a 750,000 to 1,000,000 range

2026 fibre build

At least 2.0 million passings; more than 32 million total fibre passings by year end

2026 share repurchases

Up to $4.5 billion

Fixed wireless access subscribers

8 to 9 million by 2028; availability to 90 million households

Frontier synergies

More than $1 billion run-rate operating cost synergies by 2028

Leverage

Net unsecured debt to adjusted EBITDA of 2.0x to 2.25x during 2027

Shareholder returns

Approximately $55 billion through the end of 2028

Targets & Commitments by Target / Counterparty

Target / counterpartyTypeAnnouncedClosedValueRationale and financingStatus

Frontier Communications Parent, Inc.

Acquisition

5 Sep 2024

20 Jan 2026

$38.50 per share cash; approximately $9.6 billion equity value; approximately $20 billion enterprise value. 10-Q discloses approximately $9.92 billion purchase consideration, approximately $12.9 billion of debt assumed at fair value, $7.76 billion of goodwill and $2.90 billion of other intangibles recognised.

Fibre convergence: extends fibre to more than 30 million homes and businesses across 31 states and D.C. Cash-funded from FY2025 pre-funding issuance. FCC approval May 2025 conditioned on ending DEI programmes; California approval 15 January 2026 was the final regulatory gate.

Closed; integration underway. Approximately half of assumed Frontier debt repaid within the first quarter post-close; substantially all expected repaid by end-2026.

Starry Group Holdings, Inc.

Acquisition

Oct 2025

30 Jan 2026

—

Millimetre-wave fixed wireless in multi-dwelling units across five markets; accelerates the 8–9 million FWA target. Guggenheim Securities advised Starry.

Closed

Array Digital Infrastructure (formerly UScellular) spectrum

Asset acquisition

17 Oct 2024

1 Jun 2026

$1.0 billion

AWS, cellular and PCS licences; Verizon held lease rights pending close. Conditioned on completion of the T-Mobile purchase of UScellular's wireless operations (closed 1 August 2025) and termination of related post-closing arrangements. FCC Wireless Bureau approval 14 May 2026.

Closed

BT Group plc — international enterprise joint venture

Joint venture

28–29 Jun 2026

Expected 2027

Approximately $4 billion combined annual revenue; Verizon pays BT a $625 million equalisation payment; 50:50 equity and equal voting rights

Combines BT International with Verizon's international enterprise wireline connectivity and managed network services business into a UK-headquartered NewCo designed for cloud and AI-era multinational connectivity. Martijn Blanken appointed CEO-designate, joining BT from 1 September 2026. Relative values subject to customary post-closing cash, working capital and indebtedness adjustments.

Pending regulatory clearances and employee consultations. Verizon's contributed business classified as held for sale in 2Q26, generating a $746 million pre-tax loss on disposition.

AT&T / T-Mobile / Verizon satellite direct-to-device JV

Joint venture

14 May 2026

Not yet formed

—

Pooling of limited spectrum resources to support satellite D2D coverage, create industry specifications and provide satellite operators a unified platform. Existing individual carrier-satellite agreements remain in place.

Agreement in principle only — subject to negotiation of definitive agreements and customary closing conditions. Flagged as unconfirmed.

Eaton Fiber (Tillman Global Holdings)

Commercial arrangement / strategic partnership

Oct 2025

In effect

Not disclosed for the Verizon arrangement; Bain Capital and Tillman committed $1.5 billion to Eaton Fiber on 29 July 2026

Eaton funds, builds, maintains and operates fibre; Verizon is exclusive retail provider for residential and small business fibre, owning sales, marketing and end-user service. Extends Verizon fibre to more than one million locations outside its footprint without Verizon capital. Eaton's acquisition of Ripple Fiber expected to close before end-2026.

Active and expanding

Vertical Bridge REIT LLC

Tower monetisation

Dec 2024

Dec 2024

Not restated here

Lease and licence of approximately 6,300 towers; follows a comparable 2015 tower monetisation transaction. Prepaid rent structure.

Closed

TracFone Wireless, Inc.

Acquisition

Sep 2020

23 Nov 2021

Approximately $6.25 billion

Established the Verizon Value prepaid portfolio and brought SafeLink Lifeline scale.

Closed; fully integrated

Verizon Media (AOL / Yahoo)

Divestiture

3 May 2021

1 Sep 2021

Approximately $5.0 billion to Apollo Global Management (approximately $4.25 billion cash plus retained interests)

Exit from content and advertising after the FY2018 Oath impairment. Generated a $1,051 million gain in FY2021.

Closed

C-Band spectrum (FCC Auction 107)

Spectrum acquisition

Feb 2021

2021–2022

$45.45 billion of licence payments plus multi-billion clearing and relocation obligations; FY2021 cash outflow for wireless licences was $47,596 million

Foundation of the 5G Ultra Wideband build. Debt-funded; drove FY2021 long-term borrowings of $33,034 million.

Completed; deployed from January 2022

Vodafone's 45% of Verizon Wireless

Acquisition

Sep 2013

21 Feb 2014

Approximately $130 billion

Consolidated 100% of the wireless business. Historic origin of the leverage profile.

Closed

“—” = not publicly disclosed.

Competitive Landscape

Key Competitors

CompetitorPrimary competitive arenaPositioning versus Verizon

AT&T Inc.

Consumer and Business wireless; consumer and business fibre; enterprise networking

The closest structural analogue. FY2025 revenue $125.6 billion, net income $23.4 billion, adjusted EBITDA $46.4 billion, FCF $16.6 billion, capex $20.8 billion, diluted EPS $3.04, adjusted EPS $2.12. More than 1.5 million postpaid phone net adds for a fifth consecutive year, versus Verizon's roughly 300–350 thousand in FY2025. AT&T's convergence lead is real: it led with roughly 30 million fibre passings before Verizon's Frontier close, is acquiring Lumen's mass-market fibre business, and reported more than 40% of fibre subscribers bundling wireless. Returned over $12 billion to shareholders in 2025 with $45 billion-plus planned for 2026–2028.

T-Mobile US, Inc.

Consumer and Business wireless; 5G home internet

The share gainer. FY2025 service revenues $71.3 billion (+8%), net income $11.0 billion, diluted EPS $9.72, core adjusted EBITDA $33.9 billion, adjusted FCF $18.0 billion, 8.0 million total net customer additions, 7.8 million postpaid net adds, 2.0 million broadband net adds, 142.4 million total customers, $14.0 billion returned to stockholders. 2026 core adjusted EBITDA guidance of $37.0–37.5 billion implies roughly 10% growth against Verizon's low-single-digit trajectory. Also absorbed UScellular's wireless operations in August 2025. Won first-ever J.D. Power highest network quality recognition in five of six regions in the 2026 study — directly attacking Verizon's core differentiator.

Comcast Corporation (Xfinity Mobile)

Consumer wireless via MVNO on Verizon's network; broadband

Structurally unusual: Comcast is simultaneously Verizon's wholesale customer and its fastest-growing consumer wireless competitor. The January 2026 MVNO amendment locks in the relationship on modernised terms.

Charter Communications, Inc. (Spectrum Mobile)

Consumer wireless via MVNO on Verizon's network; broadband

Same dual role as Comcast. Together these cable MVNOs have taken a material share of US postpaid phone net additions.

SpaceX / Starlink

Emerging: direct-to-device cellular, satellite broadband

The most consequential new entrant. FCC approval of an approximately $40 billion EchoStar spectrum transaction in May 2026 gave Starlink the licensed spectrum to compete directly in cellular. Reporting on SpaceX spectrum ambitions moved Verizon and AT&T shares on 29 July 2026. The three-carrier D2D joint venture is a direct defensive response. Note the counterview: MoffettNathanson's Craig Moffett publicly argued on 24 July 2026 that the idea of SpaceX as a threat to cable is significantly overstated.

EchoStar / Boost Mobile

Consumer wireless, value tier

Diminished as an operator following spectrum monetisation, but its spectrum divestitures reshaped the competitive map.

Lumen Technologies, Inc.

Enterprise and wholesale fibre; AI data-centre connectivity

Direct competitor for hyperscaler dark-fibre contracts — the same market Verizon's Google deal opened. Divesting mass-market fibre to AT&T to concentrate on enterprise and AI transport.

Zayo Group, Cogent Communications, Crown Castle Fiber

Metro and long-haul fibre; data-centre interconnect

Specialist competitors for AI Connect revenue.

Altice USA, Cable One, Frontier (pre-acquisition), Windstream/Uniti

Regional broadband

Fragmented regional broadband competition, now partly consolidated into Verizon.

Cisco, HPE, IBM, Accenture, Kyndryl, Orange Business, Tata Communications, NTT

Enterprise networking, managed services, systems integration

The 10-K notes that companies with a global presence increasingly compete in the Business segment, that large IT services companies are making strategic acquisitions and forging alliances, and that competition centres on cloud computing, software-defined networking and communications applications rather than on-premise equipment.

Peer Comparison FY2025

MetricVerizonAT&TT-Mobile

Total operating revenue (USD Bn)

138.2125.60

Service revenue (USD Bn)

112.7071.3

Revenue growth year over year (%)

2.508.0

Net income (USD Bn)

17.623.411.0

Net income margin on total revenue (%)

12.718.60

Adjusted EBITDA (USD Bn)

50.046.433.9

Diluted EPS (USD)

4.063.049.72

Adjusted EPS (USD)

4.712.120

Cash from operations (USD Bn)

37.140.328.0

Capital expenditures (USD Bn)

17.020.80

Free cash flow (USD Bn)

20.116.618.0

Postpaid phone net additions (millions)

01.50

Total customers / connections (millions)

147119142.4

Shareholder returns in year (USD Bn)

11.512.014.0

Recent Developments

--

Company Snapshot

$138,191M

Revenue

89,900

Employees

$232,130M

Market Cap

1983

Founded

US

Headquarters

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

  • Cash generation is genuinely resilient. Operating cash flow ranged only between $36,912 million and $39,539 million across FY2021–FY2025 (10-K cash flow statements) despite net income falling 45% in FY2023 and interest expense rising 92% over the period.
  • Free cash flow inflection is real and accelerating. FCF rose from $14,054 million in FY2022 to $20,126 million in FY2025, and 1H26 FCF of $10,209 million was 16.0% above 1H25, with 2Q26 FCF up 24.4% year over year (2Q26 earnings release).
  • Record profitability metrics under new management. 2Q26 adjusted EBITDA of $13,723 million and adjusted EBITDA margin of 40.1% are both the highest the company has ever reported, versus 37.1% a year earlier.
  • The subscriber trajectory has inflected on hard numbers, not narrative. 616,000 postpaid phone net adds in 4Q25 (best since 2019); 55,000 in 1Q26 (first positive first quarter since 2013, a 344,000 year-over-year swing); 184,000 in 2Q26 (best Consumer second quarter in five years).
  • Spectrum and fibre asset base is difficult to replicate. Wireless licences carried at $157,039 million at 31 December 2025; more than 30 million fibre locations post-Frontier across 31 states and D.C.
  • Twenty consecutive years of dividend increases with 1.75x free cash flow cover. FY2025 dividends paid of $11,481 million against FCF of $20,126 million; the 2026 increase to $0.7075 quarterly marked the twentieth consecutive year.
  • A credible new revenue vector with a named anchor customer. The Google dark-fibre agreement, disclosed 24 July 2026 at well in excess of $1 billion, is contracted, long-duration and incremental to plan.

Weaknesses

  • Four years of no revenue growth. Total operating revenues grew from $133,613 million (FY2021) to $138,191 million (FY2025) — a compound annual rate of 0.85%, below inflation in every year of the period.
  • Earnings went backwards. Net income attributable to Verizon fell from $22,065 million (FY2021) to $17,174 million (FY2025), a 22.2% decline, and diluted EPS from $5.32 to $4.06.
  • Structural equipment losses. Cost of wireless equipment exceeded wireless equipment revenue in every year FY2021–FY2025, with a cumulative gross loss of approximately $12.1 billion.
  • SG&A bloat that took four years to address. SG&A rose from 21.4% of revenue in FY2021 to 25.3% in FY2024 — a $5,455 million increase against $1,175 million of revenue growth.
  • Interest coverage halved and has not recovered. Operating income to interest expense fell from 9.3x (FY2021) to 4.1x (FY2023) and stood at 4.4x in FY2025.
  • The Business segment has not earned its cost of capital. Business segment operating margin was 6.9% in FY2023 and 7.0% in FY2024 on approximately $30 billion of revenue, and the segment absorbed a $5,841 million goodwill impairment in FY2023.
  • Negligible insider ownership. Insiders hold approximately 0.04% to 0.24% of shares; insiders sold 218,148 shares worth approximately $10.78 million in a recent 90-day window.
  • Loss of index membership. Removal from the DJIA effective 29 June 2026, explicitly on the grounds of a persistently low share price in a price-weighted index.

Opportunities

  • AI infrastructure revenue at scale. Management expects multiple billions of dollars of revenue over several years from deals it anticipates announcing before end-2026, contributing noticeably from 2027.
  • Central office conversion to edge data centres. Verizon owns thousands of power-ready, permitted sites being freed by copper decommissioning — a genuinely scarce asset class in the inference build-out.
  • Convergence economics. Verizon One at $70 per month undercuts AT&T's OneConnect by approximately $20; convergence is the demonstrated lever for churn reduction across the industry.
  • Cost programme delivery. A $5 billion 2026 operating-expense reduction target plus more than $1 billion of Frontier run-rate synergies by 2028, against an FY2025 SG&A base of $33,818 million.
  • Deleveraging into buybacks. Net unsecured debt to adjusted EBITDA of 2.5x at 30 June 2026 against a 2.0–2.25x target during 2027; every turn of deleveraging released is capacity for the $25 billion repurchase authorisation.
  • FWA runway. 5.7 million subscribers at end-2025 against an 8–9 million target by 2028 and 90 million households of availability.
  • Capital-light fibre expansion. The Eaton Fiber structure — now backed by $1.5 billion from Bain Capital and Tillman — extends Verizon fibre retail to more than one million locations without Verizon capital.
  • Share count reduction after a five-year absence. Zero buybacks FY2021–FY2025; $3.5 billion executed in 1H26 with up to $4.5 billion targeted for the full year.

Threats

  • SpaceX direct-to-device competition backed by licensed spectrum. FCC approval of an approximately $40 billion EchoStar spectrum transaction in May 2026 materially changed the threat profile; Verizon and AT&T shares fell on SpaceX spectrum reporting on 29 July 2026.
  • T-Mobile's compounding advantage. FY2025 service revenue growth of 8% versus Verizon's 2.0% wireless service revenue growth; 2026 core adjusted EBITDA guidance implying approximately 10% growth.
  • Network reliability risk crystallised. The 14 January 2026 outage lasted at least ten hours, disrupted some 911 access, drew an open FCC docket (PS 26-21) and a congressional inquiry, and cost 80 basis points of 1Q26 wireless service revenue growth.
  • Regulatory enforcement exposure confirmed by the Supreme Court. The 4 June 2026 ruling upheld the FCC's authority to assess forfeitures without a prior jury trial, removing a constitutional defence Verizon had pursued to the highest court.
  • Legacy environmental liability. Verizon is named in Louisiana lead-sheathed cable class actions alongside AT&T, BellSouth and Lumen; the 10-K risk factors explicitly contemplate allegations regarding release of hazardous materials from network assets and resulting investigations, litigation, penalties, remediation and reputational damage.
  • Rate and refinancing risk. Total debt of $165,231 million at 30 June 2026 with interest expense running at approximately $1.99 billion per quarter and rising.
  • Execution risk on two simultaneous transformations. Verizon is integrating a $20 billion acquisition, executing the largest workforce reduction in its history, repositioning its entire consumer proposition and standing up a new infrastructure business — concurrently, under a chief executive fewer than twelve months in post.
  • Labour relations. The CWA recommended a vote against say-on-pay at the 2026 annual meeting; the 13,000 reductions were concentrated in non-union management, but union bargaining units remain, and the 10-K flags material adverse changes in labour matters as a risk factor.

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Key Developments

DateEventSignificance
22 Apr 20251Q25 results: revenue $33.5 billion, +1.5%; net income $5.0 billion; adjusted EBITDA $12.6 billion; Consumer operating income $7.4 billion; Business operating income $664 million, +66.4%Solid financially, but the quarter exposed the strategic problem: continued postpaid phone erosion despite revenue growth.
May 2025FCC approves the Frontier acquisitionApproval followed Verizon's agreement to end DEI programmes after FCC Chairman Carr identified them as a review consideration — a notable instance of regulatory conditionality on non-telecommunications policy.
Jun 2025Caroline Litchfield joins the boardMerck CFO added to Audit and Governance committees.
21 Jul 20252Q25 results: revenue $34.5 billion; net income $5.1 billion; Consumer operating margin 28.7% versus 30.5% a year earlier; 51,000 postpaid phone net losses; FWA base above 5.1 millionMargin compression became visible. Postpaid losses narrowed but did not reverse.
1 Aug 2025T-Mobile completes its acquisition of UScellular's wireless operationsRemoves the largest regional carrier from the market and consolidates spectrum among the big three.
7 Aug 2025Moody's affirms Baa1 issuer and senior unsecured ratings, (P)Baa1 shelf and MTN, Prime-2 commercial paper; outlook stableMoody's cited resilient business model, scale, improving operating momentum and a commitment to reduce leverage below 3.0x on a Moody's-adjusted basis, projecting total debt to EBITDA around 3.0x by end-2025 and 2027 pro forma for Frontier.
Sep 2025Nineteenth consecutive annual dividend increase, to $0.6900 per quarterIncome thesis maintained through the operating trough.
6 Oct 2025Dan Schulman appointed CEO; Mark Bertolini elected board chair; Vestberg to special advisorShares fell approximately 5%. The board acted without a public succession process, signalling urgency.
Oct 2025Starry acquisition agreed; Eaton Fiber commercial arrangement announcedTwo distinct broadband expansion vectors, one owned and one capital-light.
29 Oct 20253Q25 results: revenue $33.8 billion; net income $4.95–5.06 billion; 7,000 postpaid phone net losses; 306,000 broadband net adds; FWA base nearly 5.4 million; Fios internet +61,000, best in two years; unsecured debt $119.7 billionSchulman told investors Verizon was at a critical inflection point and would aggressively transform rather than make incremental changes.
20 Nov 2025More than 13,000 job cuts announced — the largest in company history; 179 stores to be franchised, one closed; $20 million reskilling fundApproximately 20% of non-union management. Roughly 80% of affected employees exited in December 2025. $1,715 million severance charge in 4Q25.
Dec 2025Network leadership restructure: Adam Koeppe to Chief Network Officer, Core; new Core Engineering and Operations organisationYago Tenorio retained as CTO; Joe Russo unchanged.
Dec 2025Jennifer Mann joins the boardCoca-Cola North America president — a consumer-marketing profile consistent with the strategic pivot.
14 Jan 2026Nationwide network outage lasting at least ten hours, caused by a software issue in the 5G standalone core during a feature update. Affected 1.5–2 million-plus customers per media estimates; more than 2.3 million outage reports cited by Congress. Handsets in SOS mode; some 911 access disrupted in New York, Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston and Washington D.C.$20 account credits offered, with up to $200 reported for some business customers.
15 Jan 2026California regulatory approval for Frontier — the final gateCleared the path to close.
16 Jan 2026House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Garbarino requests briefings from Verizon and the FCCNoted that more than 40,000 public safety agencies use Verizon's network.
20 Jan 2026Frontier acquisition closesFibre reach beyond 30 million homes and businesses; 31 states plus D.C.
28 Jan 2026FCC Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau opens PS Docket No. 26-21 seeking public information on the outage's effects; comment deadline 16 March 2026Formal regulatory proceeding, not merely monitoring.
28 Jan 2026AT&T reports FY2025: revenue $125.6 billion, net income $23.4 billion, adjusted EBITDA $46.4 billion, FCF $16.6 billion, 1.5 million-plus postpaid phone net adds for a fifth consecutive yearSets the competitive benchmark Verizon is measured against.
30 Jan 20264Q25 and FY2025 results. FY2025 revenue $138.2 billion; net income $17.6 billion; adjusted EBITDA $50.0 billion; FCF $20.1 billion; EPS $4.06, adjusted EPS $4.71. 4Q25: revenue $36.4 billion; 616,000 postpaid phone net adds, the best since 2019; more than 1 million total mobility and broadband net adds; 372,000 broadband net adds. Shares rose approximately 11.8%.The turnaround's first hard evidence. Also: Starry close; $25 billion buyback; dividend +2.5% (twentieth consecutive increase); approximately $55 billion capital return through 2028; Comcast/Charter MVNO amended.
17 Feb 2026FY2025 Form 10-K filedDiscloses approximately 89,900 employees and total debt of $158.2 billion.
4 Feb / 27 Mar 2026Sowmyanarayan Sampath steps down as Group CEO – Consumer, then separates from the companyAlfonso Villanueva succeeds.
27 Mar 2026Vanguard files a Schedule 13G stating it no longer owns more than 5% of Verizon common stock following an internal realignmentGovernance and index-flow consideration.
Apr 2026DEF 14A filed: CEO pay $34.3 million; former CEO $31.2 million; CEO pay ratio 248:1CWA recommended a vote against say-on-pay.
27 Apr 20261Q26 results. Revenue $34.44 billion, +2.9%; net income $5.146 billion, +3.3%; adjusted EBITDA $13.395 billion, a record; diluted EPS $1.20, adjusted EPS $1.28 (+7.6%, fastest since 2021); OCF $8.0 billion; FCF $3.8 billion; capex $4.2 billion; $2.5 billion of buybacks. 55,000 postpaid phone net adds — the first positive first quarter since 2013, a year-over-year improvement of more than 340,000. 341,000 broadband net adds. Guidance raised: adjusted EPS growth to 5–6%.A 13-year first. Results absorbed an 80-basis-point wireless service revenue headwind from the January outage.
May 2026Unlimited Ultimate repriced $90 to $95 (7 May); Netflix & HBO Max perk $10 to $13 (6 May)Quiet price increases weeks before the customer-friendly June repositioning.
14 May 2026FCC Wireless Bureau approves the $1 billion Array spectrum purchaseCellular, AWS-1, AWS-3 and PCS licences.
14 May 2026AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon announce an agreement in principle for a satellite direct-to-device joint ventureFollowed days after FCC approval of an approximately $40 billion EchoStar spectrum transaction that positions SpaceX to compete in cellular.
1 Jun 2026Array spectrum sale to Verizon closes for $1.0 billionArray declared an $11.00 special dividend.
4 Jun 2026Supreme Court rules 8–1 in FCC v. AT&T / Verizon v. FCC, upholding the FCC's forfeiture-order process and sustaining the approximately $47 million penalty against Verizon for location-data practicesRoberts, C.J. wrote; Thomas, J. dissented. Both carriers had already paid. The Second Circuit had upheld Verizon's penalty; the Fifth Circuit had vacated AT&T's, creating the split.
12–17 Jun 2026Tender offers, consent solicitations and private exchange offers completed for 20 series of Verizon and subsidiary notes and 11 series of exchange notes, covering approximately $1.86 billion of subsidiary notesPost-Frontier capital structure simplification with tightened covenant packages.
16 Jun 2026Simplicity, Verizon One and Verizon Loyalty launch$45 flat rate ($30 for switchers); $70 converged bundle; 3% Verizon Dollars cash back; activation and upgrade fees eliminated. Management stated the package should be accretive to revenue and EBITDA growth with no change to guidance.
23 Jun 2026S&P Dow Jones Indices announces Alphabet will replace Verizon in the DJIAVerizon represented approximately half a percentage point of the price-weighted index.
29 Jun 2026Verizon removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average; same day, BT Group joint venture announcedSymbolic and structural: the Dow exit ends 22 years of membership; the BT JV ends direct operation of international enterprise wireline.
22 Jul 2026Sell-side price target increases from JPMorgan ($47 to $49), Morgan Stanley ($47 to $48), RBC ($45 to $46)Sentiment improving but ratings largely neutral.
24 Jul 20262Q26 results. Revenue $34.253 billion, -0.7%; net income $3.949 billion, -22.9% after $1.81 billion of pre-tax special items; adjusted EBITDA $13.723 billion and adjusted EBITDA margin 40.1%, both company records; EPS $0.92, adjusted EPS $1.30 (+6.6%); 2Q OCF $10.435 billion (+16.3%), FCF $6.426 billion (+24.4%); 1H26 FCF $10.209 billion (+16.0%). 184,000 postpaid phone net adds; 348,000 broadband net adds (+12.3%); approximately 17.1 million FWA and fibre connections. Google dark fibre deal disclosed. Guidance raised for a second consecutive quarter; buyback target raised to up to $4.5 billion. Shares rose 2.82% to $45.06.The clearest evidence yet of a structural inflection: record margin, record cash generation, and a new revenue vector. Also the clearest evidence of the cost: revenue declined as equipment revenue fell more than $1.2 billion.
24 Jul 2026Form 8-K discloses Schulman employment agreement terms for calendar 2028, including a long-term incentive award with a target value of at least $25 millionDefines the turnaround mandate horizon.
29 Jul 2026Bain Capital and Tillman commit $1.5 billion to Eaton Fiber, funding the Ripple Fiber acquisitionCapital-light fibre expansion to more than one million locations outside the Verizon footprint.
29 Jul 2026AT&T and Verizon shares fall on reporting of SpaceX's spectrum ambitionsThe defining competitive overhang of 2026.
8 Aug 2026Verizon mobile service outage affecting several thousand US customers, restored the same dayMinor relative to January, but reputationally unhelpful given the earlier incident.
11 Aug 2026Verizon announces a $25,000 reward programme for information leading to arrests for fibre-cutting vandalismPhysical network security has become a material operational concern.
12 Aug 2026Lockheed Martin, with Verizon and NVIDIA, announces NetSense counter-UAS detection combining 5G, commercial technology and AIDefence adjacency for private 5G and edge AI.
13 Aug 2026Network hardening announced ahead of Tropical Storm Lala in Hawai'iRoutine resilience disclosure.

Financial Performance

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Revenue

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Income Statement: Revenue & Gross Profit: Total operating revenues rose from USD 133.6 Bn in FY2021 to USD 138.2 Bn in FY2025.
Verizon Communications — Income Statement: Revenue & Gross Profit
Series (USD Bn)FY2021FY2022FY2023FY2024FY2025
Total operating revenues133.6136.8134134.8138.2
Service revenues and other110.4109.6109.7111.6112.7
Wireless equipment revenues23.227.224.323.225.5
Cost of services31.228.628.12827.8
Cost of wireless equipment25.130.526.826.129
Gross profit77.377.779.180.781.4

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