Verizon’s business growth strategy under CEO Dan Schulman centers on improving customer experience, simplifying operations and increasing subscriber growth. Since taking leadership in October 2025, Schulman has overseen workforce reductions, changes to management priorities and adjustments to customer acquisition spending. Third-quarter 2026 results indicate progress in subscriber additions and promotional cost efficiency, although the company’s broader turnaround remains underway.
Key Takeaways
- Dan Schulman became Verizon’s CEO in October 2025 after previously leading PayPal
- His three-year turnaround strategy emphasizes customer experience, organizational efficiency and subscriber growth
- Verizon announced workforce reductions affecting more than 13,000 employees in November 2025
- The company added 406,000 postpaid phone lines in the third quarter of 2026, compared with approximately 44,000 during the same quarter in 2025
- Promotional customer acquisition costs declined 41% year over year in the third quarter of 2026
Verizon Appoints Dan Schulman to Lead Corporate Transformation
Dan Schulman became Verizon’s chief executive officer on October 4, 2025, assuming responsibility for a telecommunications company facing strong competition in wireless services and customer retention. His appointment followed his previous tenure as PayPal’s CEO, where he oversaw the company’s digital payments operations.
Before accepting the Verizon position, Schulman had retired from PayPal and served on Verizon’s board of directors. His appointment also reflected a broader pattern of retired CEOs returning to leadership at companies addressing organizational and operational challenges. His board experience provided familiarity with Verizon’s business before he assumed executive responsibilities.
Schulman’s leadership agenda emphasizes customer relationships, operational efficiency and improvements to the company’s competitive position. Rather than focusing exclusively on network performance, the strategy gives greater attention to how Verizon attracts subscribers, retains customers and allocates resources.
Verizon subsequently extended Schulman’s employment agreement through December 31, 2028, in July 2026. The extension provides a defined leadership period for implementing the company’s three-year turnaround strategy and assessing its operational results.
The appointment established a new direction for Verizon’s management, with customer growth and organizational simplification becoming central priorities.
New Leadership Strategy Prioritizes Customer Experience and Efficiency
Customer experience is a central component of Schulman’s strategy. Verizon is placing greater emphasis on attracting and retaining subscribers while managing the promotional expenses associated with customer acquisition.
The company’s shift toward customer growth priorities places customer relationships and service quality alongside network reliability. This approach reflects management’s efforts to improve retention and compete through service offerings rather than relying primarily on promotional incentives.
Schulman has also emphasized simplifying Verizon’s internal operations. Reducing management complexity is intended to shorten decision-making processes, clarify responsibilities and allow teams to respond more efficiently to business requirements.
The company’s third-quarter 2026 results provide an early measure of its revised customer acquisition approach. Verizon recorded a 41% year-over-year reduction in promotional acquisition costs, indicating lower spending on incentives used to attract new customers.
That reduction is significant when considered alongside subscriber growth. However, lower promotional costs alone do not establish improved profitability or long-term customer retention. Those outcomes depend on service revenue, customer behavior and continued operating performance.
For Verizon, the leadership strategy combines changes to customer-facing services with internal efficiency measures intended to support the company’s commercial objectives.
Organizational Restructuring Changes Verizon’s Decision-Making Process
Verizon’s organizational restructuring includes substantial workforce reductions and changes to internal management processes. In November 2025, the company announced plans to eliminate more than 13,000 positions while reducing spending on outsourced labor.
The reductions were part of a broader effort to lower costs and align company resources with business priorities. Most affected employees left the company by the end of December 2025, making the workforce changes a significant component of Schulman’s first months as chief executive.
Management also identified organizational complexity as an area requiring attention. Verizon’s restructuring seeks to establish clearer accountability, reduce unnecessary approval processes and improve coordination across business functions.
These adjustments are intended to help the company make operational decisions more efficiently while maintaining focus on customer service and subscriber acquisition.
Verizon also established a $20 million Reskilling and Career Transition Fund to support departing employees through training and employment assistance. The initiative accompanied the company’s wider workforce transition.
Although the restructuring changes Verizon’s operating structure and cost base, its long-term effectiveness will depend on whether the company can maintain service quality, manage expenses and execute its commercial priorities.
The workforce reductions therefore represent one part of the turnaround rather than a complete measure of its success.
Verizon Business Growth Strategy Shows Improved Subscriber Results
Verizon’s third-quarter 2026 results provide measurable evidence of improvement in subscriber acquisition during Schulman’s leadership.
The company added 406,000 postpaid phone lines during the quarter, compared with approximately 44,000 in the third quarter of 2025. This represented a year-over-year increase of more than 820%, indicating a substantial improvement in net phone additions.
Verizon also recorded 137,000 postpaid net account additions during the quarter. The distinction matters because phone line additions measure net changes in active lines, while account additions provide another indicator of customer growth.
The subscriber gains occurred alongside lower promotional acquisition spending. Verizon reduced promotional customer acquisition costs by 41% compared with the same quarter a year earlier, suggesting a change in how the company balances incentives and subscriber growth.
Customer retention also improved modestly. Overall postpaid phone churn declined by four basis points year over year to 0.94%, while consumer postpaid phone churn decreased to 0.87%.
These figures offer several measures of commercial performance:
- Postpaid phone additions: 406,000 net additions in the third quarter of 2026
- Postpaid account additions: 137,000 net new accounts
- Promotional acquisition costs: 41% lower year over year
- Overall postpaid phone churn: 0.94%, down four basis points
The combination of higher net additions and reduced promotional costs aligns with Verizon’s stated customer acquisition priorities. Still, quarterly results cannot establish whether the company will sustain these improvements throughout its turnaround.
For Schulman, maintaining subscriber growth while managing acquisition expenses remains an important measure of the strategy’s effectiveness.
Three-Year Turnaround Plan Guides Verizon’s Next Phase
Schulman’s three-year turnaround plan connects organizational restructuring with customer growth and financial discipline. The strategy addresses how Verizon manages employees, allocates resources and competes for subscribers.
The workforce reductions announced in November 2025 form one component of that plan. Changes to management processes and customer acquisition spending are intended to support a more efficient operating structure.
Verizon’s third-quarter 2026 results suggest progress in selected areas. Higher postpaid phone additions, improved churn and reduced promotional acquisition costs provide measurable indicators for evaluating management’s initiatives.
The company also raised its full-year 2026 guidance for postpaid phone net additions to between 1.1 million and 1.2 million, reflecting its expectations following the third-quarter performance.
Schulman’s employment agreement, extending through December 2028, provides continuity as Verizon continues implementing organizational and commercial changes.
The next stages of the turnaround will require management to maintain customer acquisition performance while evaluating operating expenses, retention and service revenue.
Verizon’s subscriber growth, customer retention and cost management will remain important indicators of whether its restructuring and leadership changes produce sustained improvements.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who Is Dan Schulman, Verizon’s CEO?
Dan Schulman is Verizon’s chairman and chief executive officer. He became CEO in October 2025 after previously leading PayPal. Before accepting the position, he also served on Verizon’s board of directors.
When Did Dan Schulman Become CEO of Verizon?
Schulman became Verizon’s CEO on October 4, 2025. His appointment began a period of organizational restructuring and changes to the company’s customer growth strategy.
What Is Verizon’s Three-Year Turnaround Strategy?
The strategy focuses on improving customer experience, simplifying organizational processes, managing operating expenses and increasing subscriber growth. It includes workforce restructuring and adjustments to promotional customer acquisition spending.
How Many Postpaid Phone Lines Did Verizon Add in Q3 2026?
Verizon recorded 406,000 postpaid phone net additions in the third quarter of 2026, compared with approximately 44,000 during the corresponding quarter of 2025. The company also added 137,000 postpaid net accounts.
What Organizational Changes Has Dan Schulman Introduced at Verizon?
Schulman’s restructuring includes workforce reductions, changes to internal decision-making and efforts to simplify management processes. Verizon announced reductions affecting more than 13,000 employees in November 2025 as part of its broader organizational changes.
