Verizon to Give Buyouts to 10,400 Employees in Restructuring

Scott Moritz, Bloomberg News

An employee places items into a shopping bag for a customer at a Verizon Communications Inc. store in Brea, California, U.S., on Monday, Jan. 22, 2018. Verizon is scheduled to release earnings figures on January 23. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Verizon Communications Inc. said 10,400 employees, or about 6.8 percent of its total staff, were accepted for voluntary buyouts as the company looks to trim $10 billion from costs and retool for 5G wireless technology.

The exit packages were available to as many as 44,000 Verizon employees. The amount of the payouts was capped at 60 weeks of salary and bonuses, according to the statement.

“For those who were accepted, the coming weeks and months will be a transition,” Chief Executive Officer Hans Vestberg wrote in a letter to employees. “For the entire V Team, there will be opportunities to work differently as we prepare for the great things to come at Verizon.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Moritz in New York at smoritz6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, John J. Edwards III