- The carrier’s postpaid phone losses were already improving before CEO Dan Schulman arrived, but New Street says the pace of improvement has picked up
- Schulman’s $5 billion cost-cutting plan is helping drive EBITDA growth, but New Street warns Verizon can’t “cut its way to greatness”
- All told, Verizon is making strides – and Schulman will be paid generously for his efforts
How is Verizon doing after nearly a year since Dan Schulman left his post as independent board member and stepped in as CEO?
Suffice it to say, not too shabby. For starters, Verizon’s stock – up 21% – has outperformed its peers. Since Schulman took over, AT&T is up 1% and T-Mobile is down 19%, noted New Street Research analyst David Barden in a report for investors on Monday.
“Maybe this is because investors love a good second derivative turnaround. Maybe (probably) this is because no one owned Verizon for all the reasons Dan is the new CEO and the telecoms they did own (T-Mobile and AT&T) were jettisoned (wrong in our view) for fear of the dawning of a new LEO threat,” Barden said.
Indeed, all of the major wireless carrier stocks are taking a hit from the overhang that is SpaceX and its ambitions to upend the wireless world with Starlink Mobile.
Industry insiders – including the seasoned RF engineers underpinning the mobile phone industry – are fairly united in their belief that Starlink faces a gargantuan task if it seriously plans to use femtocells to build anything close to what the Big 3 operate.
But Wall Street? It doesn’t take much to spook investors – and if you mention Elon Musk, they’ll head for the hills (or should we say, outer space) in no time, trusting the trillionaire will do whatever it takes to defy physics and replace ground-based towers with satellites that will miraculously reduce latency and penetrate buildings.
Back on Planet Earth, New Street’s Barden points out that Verizon’s postpaid phone net losses improved by the end of 2023 and had stabilized closer to flat when Schulman abruptly took over from Hans Vestberg at the beginning of October 2025.
“It is no secret that Verizon has been a market share donor but the y/y decline in market share had been improving before Dan took over,” Barden said. “The y/y change in Verizon’s share of the retail wireless market was improving at a slow pace, but the improvement has been more pronounced since Dan took the reins. We aren’t underwriting an increase in market share in the near future but we do expect share donation to narrow.”
To add to Schulman’s contributions, Verizon’s wireless gross adds are up close to double digits since he took over as CEO, and consumer and total wireless postpaid phone churn were down 6 bps and 5 bps, respectively, in the second quarter of 2026, Barden noted.
Cuts don’t equal greatness: analyst
However, surprise, surprise. Not all is changing for the better – at least, not for its employees and some would argue, by extension, its customers.
Verizon’s cost cuts are well publicized.
Schulman axed more than 13,000 jobs shortly after he took the CEO reins and at the start of 2026, he outlined a plan to cut $5 billion in operating expenses.
Wireless opex was down 2% and 11% year-over-year in Q1 2026 and Q2 2026, respectively. New Street expects wireless EBITDA to grow more than 5% as a result of these cuts.
“We view these as necessary but at the same time, we believe EBITDA growth driven by cost cuts is unsustainable in the long term. No one can cut their way to greatness,” he said.
Despite the unsustainable cuts, Barden said it’s encouraging to see Verizon fight back on the subscriber front and step away from the excessive price increases they’ve passed onto consumers over the past few years.
“The subscriber trends are moving in the right direction but are coming at the cost of ARPU. For sustainable service revenue growth, Verizon needs to find the right balance between price and volume growth. We’re not there yet, but the beginnings are emerging,” he said.
Moffett: Turnaround makes strides
Barden isn’t the only one marking signs of improvement at Verizon.
MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett also cited falling ARPU and ARPA as troubling data points, but Schulman has succeeded in fixing Verizon’s long-term slide in postpaid subscribers.
“Verizon is a turnaround story that is still mid-stream, but one that has made some genuine strides over the past few quarters,” Moffett told investors in a July 24 report.
Verizon provides $$$ incentive
It seems as though most everything is boding well for Schulman, even if he’d rather be roping cattle at his ranch in Montana.
Earlier this summer, Verizon revealed in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing that it was extending Schulman’s contract from December 31, 2027, to December 31, 2028, with his term subject to annual one-year extensions unless either party gives the other at least 90 days’ notice.
According to the same SEC filing, Schulman stands to gain an incentive award valued at $25 million (at least) in calendar year 2028, so it looks like he'll be sticking around for the foreseeable future.
Read more about Verizon:
Verizon touts $1B deal with Google to connect AI data centers
Verizon CEO shuts down Starlink MVNO talk, touts strong Q2 comeback
Verizon launches Simplicity pricing, new loyalty program
Verizon names Alfonso Villanueva as head of Consumer division