Verizon announced on Monday that 10,400 employees – around 7% of its workforce - have accepted buyouts to leave the company. This is part of the telecom behemoth’s plan to streamline operations, especially to focus more on developing its 5G services.
The company first publicly put forward this plan in September, with a goal to save $10 billion in cash by 2021. Verizon made an employee buyout offer which included up to 60 weeks of salary, bonus and benefits (depending on tenure of service). The plan was offered to 44,000 employees across Verizon’s business segments.
"These changes are well-planned and anticipated, and they will be seamless to our customers," CEO Hans Vestberg said in a statement. "This is a moment in time, given our financial and operational strength, to begin to better serve customers with more agility, speed and flexibility."