#costcutting

Wow just heard on radio not only 15,000 by next week ,but that Dan said more to come and layoffs and cost cutting will be a way of life at Verizon along with most corporate wireless stores will not exist anymore only 3rd party dealers

We are guiding for an additional billion in cost savings and EB said on the call it would come from the same structural changes (headcount) as the billion we hit this year. Exciting times!

The company has been successfully programmed. Why do we need the thousand plus people employed in this group now?

This is 100%. The layoff is not because AI is magically changing things, or because clients need less work. The nature of work is changing, projects are smaller and more focused. But, behind all of this is the need for free cashflow which can be achieved through higher sales (not going to happen) or cut in expenses (it's happening right now). She needs cash to finance AI infrastructure build out, and the only way to find the $$$ is to cut people. She has no other options (ok, she can go in debt, but that's always bad). So, she's repeating the same thing that AWS (30K cuts), MSFT (25K cuts), META (20K Cuts) and others are doing.

I wish all of us good luck.

Layoffs are every other week these days. Gotta cut cut cut those costs. Still need to get under 90k employees. Only 35k more to go. Eventually it will hit the techs, but I’m sure only the junior most people to reduce costs.
Is 90k something that has been officially confirmed as the end goal or are people just guessing?

Just heard this morning; strong possibility the North Haven campus will relocate and close down. CT costs continue to be too high for MDT corporate. No timeline

Got a heads up from my Director new store formats are in the works. Won’t hit immediately but will be part of our next phase. The SM role as we know it is gone. It will transform into more of a AM type role on paper. Reduce stores down to 2 Managers. And Directors will be more like Indirect store managers where they oversee multiple stores and spend more time in stores more like a SM but not as hands on. No more cushy jobs. Basically a lot of the same responsibility without the pay and title for both Directors and SMs. It’s going to be a rough transition and the idea is hopefully some of the top high paid talent will leave or su-k it up and take the pay cut very similar to the one team strategy. The goal is reduce all retail stores and push more traffic to indirect and online. Verizon is willing to take some hits to reduce cost. Verizon has already lost just compare stock prices to T-Mo. This is the liquidation fire sale waive the white flag show them your belly and tuck your tail type strategy. We’re done, the fight is over. Store closures will not be based on volume more based on location and surrounding Verizon doors. If your store does 300 PGAs but lifetime all in have 250 deacts your phone net adds are only 50. Compared to a store that does 200 but will net say 150. Verizon would rather have the indirect take on the cost. The definition of under performing stores has changed to focus on total net phone adds. If you were around during COVID think Covid era type staffing and support. It will be very similar. It will be up to the remaining few employees to user customers to online or AI supported customer service. With little transactions in store so why keep larger stores around you can accomplish that with a kiosk basically why pay the overhead to tell customers to go online or call customer service.

“Aggressively sunset or exit legacy businesses”
Timestamp: 0:19:06 to 0:20:17

“While we narrow our focus to invest in key growth areas, we will also aggressively sunset or exit legacy businesses where we don't see a clear path to profitable market leadership. We have a large opportunity to unleash meaningful margin improvement by doing so, and we will talk about this in more detail in January.”

“Divest and exit legacy businesses”
Timestamp: 0:28:31 to 0:29:35

“We’re going to do a hard look at portfolio rationalization and divest and exit legacy businesses where we don’t see a clear path to profitability.”

“Simpler, leaner, scrappier business” and “aggressively reducing our entire cost base”
Timestamp: 0:17:56 to 0:19:06

“We will be a simpler, leaner, and scrappier business. This work is overdue and will be multi-year and an ongoing way of life for us… We will fund these investments by aggressively reducing our entire cost base.”

“Portfolio optimization”
Timestamp: 0:43:32 to 0:44:19

“We have parts of our business that are costing us billions of dollars of margin, and I think we can think much more clearly about how do we invest in growth areas and divest or exit those that are not that for us. We'll spend more time on that in January…”

“Everything is on the table for us”
Tony Skiadas CFO – Timestamp: 0:46:32 to 0:47:12

“We're looking at everything, and everything is on the table for us. It also entails being very efficient with our capital spend.”

Source:
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/VZ/earnings/VZ-Q3-2025-earnings_call-364743.html

So ADIPEC just wrapped up, and it seems we managed to send a lot of folks to Abu Dhabi to support. Wondering what the final price tag of that ended up being. Seems I saw on another company's page that they put a conservative number on a C-Suite attending at around 50K each (flights, lodging, logistics, incidentals, loss productivity while there). For Sr. Managers, it was near 35K, and for rank and file (non-business class flyers) it was in the area of 20K. Add all that up and it's crazy.

Know we need to be there, but it seems we send a lot of folks who use it more like a vacation and an opportunity to "team build" with the other managers.

No worries, just cut a couple of heads when you return to pay get the numbers where you need them to wrap up Q4 - no need for those folks to do any work.

All aside, consider the travel that is denied for your own team and than run some numbers on the cost to fly Houston to Abu Dhabi (business), stay at the Ritz or like (for ELT), logistics to move folks around, team dinners and the like and the work that has to be pushed back a week. It's not a small number, folks.

But we did win a couple of awards and booked a shitload of air miles for that vacation next year.

We can easily save money by freezing hiring, freezing travel, and penny pinching spending.

Oh wait... But we did that already.

But why are projects delayed???!!

I'm the VP of inflated egos and I don't understand! I hired two 3rd world contractors to take the place of that principle engineer. According to my advanced calculations... 2/1, we should have twice the productivity!

Well I've got a solution...

I'll create a new corporate team of VP's, give it a cool name, and our meetings will save money!

Winning. Too much winning!

Cisco is jumping on the 2025 "AI-washing" bandwagon and will cut legacy roles and hire specialists. Total predicted: 8,500 jobs cut with severance of 6 months + stock vesting acceleration

Why?
The internal AI enshitification is in full bloom (employees realizing AI is bollocks)
Cisco's partner event last week was a wake up call (thoroghly underwhelming. Full of vapourware. snoozefest)

Cisco is pushing for a $2B annual cost savings amid AI restructuring.
the rumors are for 2,000-3,000 job cuts but a real possibility of 10% slash of their 85K headcount (8,500 jobs cut)

The numbers are looking weak.
FY25 revenue stagnated at $56.65B (flat YoY), with networking down 5% despite 6% product growth. At average of $200K total comp/person (salary + benefits) an 8,500 gutting would yield $1.7B in savings. This aligns with 2024 12% (9K) trim that boosted margins 2pts

EPS guidance signals a ton of pressure. Deeper cuts fund $1B+ AI capex while offsetting tariff risks.

which shall it be? 3k or 8.5k?

If AI is supposed to replace mundane, everyday tasks then why wouldn’t we reduce GP headcount further? Some of these GPs do not add any strategic value, they seldom make critical decisions and don’t have the competency to lead the people through 2030. We can cut further cost to fund the 2030 ambition and still attain sound input through AI.

Rumors are leaking out that once again McKinsey is bilking IBM for some serious cash and IBM seems to be going down the path of this McKinsey Three Horizons of Growth nonsense to grow sales and cut costs I guess. Inquiring minds would like to know how many tens of millions IBM has paid McKinsey going back to Gerstner where he was a director there for 13 years 1965-1978. Lets guess since Gerstner came in 1993 IBM has shelled out $3M/year to McKinsey. 32 years x $3M (likely more) is a cool $96,000,000. For what?

1 of a thousand failed examples here...IBM's Personal Computer division reached $4 billion in revenue by 1984, which was more than twice that of Apple at the time. The company continued to be a major player in the global PC market in the following years.
But by 2004, when IBM sold its PC business to Lenovo for $1.75B, annual sales for the division were approximately $10 billion. The company faced increasing competition from "clone" manufacturers throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, which eroded its market dominance and profit margins.

IBM completely F'd up it's wonderful PC business by not properly protecting the HW IP from Intel and the SW IP from MSFT. Combine that with IBM F'ing up MCA micro channel architecture, Token Ring, SNA and OS/2 and that is tens of billions of dollars lost to ineptness.

TODAY: Lenovo turned a $1.75B investment into $57,000,000,000 and IBM approx $62,000,000,000. An unknown Chinese firm in 2005 now rivals IBM for annual sales?! Could IBM use $60B of revenue for the next forever?!

IBM's latest Hail Mary here with McKinsey => https://flevy.com/topic/mckinsey-three-horizons-of-growth/case-growth-strategy-redesign-professional-services-competitive-market?srsltid=AfmBOoqmaY7ObrlfwqN8tDc9rAtBsbhQri_INrMLx8-zVOaRvYhjsN-9

https://investors.solventum.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/135/solventum-reports-third-quarter-2025-financial-results

Reeks of Inge's $500M/year claimed savings which never manifested. SAP started circulation at 3M in something like 2010, with the fever dream reaching maximum levels in perhaps 2014-2018. They had mandatory "Here, you matter" meetings and plastered the walls of the Quad with SAP propaganda (graphics of people holding a red ball and "You play a part" or whatever nonsense).

https://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReportArchive/3/NYSE_MMM_2016.pdf

My gut is that Transform for the Future is attempting to juice the stock based on returns that will never manifest. I wouldn't be surprised if it is a rebrand of 3M's SAP promises, as the whole "Transform for the Future" verbiage is so vague. What are they spending $500M on, and where will the $500M/year come from? Could they really mean "We're going to spend $500M to complete 3M's partial SAP roll-out" and re-promising the same savings as 3M did in 2015?

I noted that "innovation" is put last, while redundant terms (cost structure and operational efficiency) are up front. Only savings are cited, not increased sales or new products (who are our "customers," again?). Doesn't inspire confidence that we'll be, you know, actually improving patients' lives. Feels like monkeying with financial levers to "create value" (C-suite money bags) where there is none.

Curious what others think.

Startling statistic, likely the start of a trend.

“U.S.-based employers cut more than 150,000 jobs in October, marking the biggest reduction for the month in more than 20 years, a report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas said on Thursday as industries adopt AI-driven changes and intensify cost cuts.”

https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/layoffs-us-october-surge-two-decade-high-challenger-data-shows-2025-11-06/

Or do we not make enough money to be considered "cutting costs?"

As always. That’s why we’ve been shedding competence, experience, and institutional knowledge like there’s no tomorrow.

There’s been talk, from a source I trust, that leadership has been exploring workforce reductions. The numbers being floated include cuts of 15% up to roughly a quarter (25%) of staff under each director across most departments. The focus appears to be aggressive cost savings, and part of that includes looking at compensation levels and where employees are in their career timelines. Officially, they can’t say that’s a factor, but it’s being quietly discussed.

What’s even more concerning is that some highly skilled employees are being targeted not because of performance, but because they don’t fit in with their immediate manager’s preferences, push back against the status quo, or are seen as difficult simply for having a different perspective. If someone isn’t aligned with their leader or is viewed as inconvenient when numbers need to be met, they become an easy choice.

It’s incredibly hard on the people who consistently show up, do exceptional work, and still go unrecognized especially when they’re not being supported or advocated for by leadership. This year feels different. The impact will be left on the shoulders of the people that are left behind, overwhelmed, burning out, and losing their sense of pride in the workplace. But with cost cutting being seen as 'essential' to the business, this is the direction things seem to be heading.

Particularly in our operations, I think we can be better at it from overhead and back office, , Kent Masters in earnings call today.

What does this mean?

Do more with less…… is what they tell us.

• American Airlines has begun layoffs following a recent financial loss, according to the Phoenix Business Journal.
• The airline stated it is “right-sizing” its workforce, indicating a need to adjust staffing levels in response to performance and financial conditions.
• Details on the number of affected employees and specific departments were not disclosed in the article preview.
• The layoffs come amid broader cost-cutting measures across the aviation industry following weaker financial results.
• The announcement highlights continued challenges for major carriers as they balance recovery efforts with post-pandemic economic pressures.

Source: https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2025/11/05/american-airlines-layoffs-follow-recent-loss.html

BP has said it will ramp up efforts to hive off parts of the business, as the energy company reported a drop in profits in its latest quarter.

The company reported an underlying profit of $2.2bn (£1.7bn) in the three months ended in September. It marked a slowdown against its previous quarter, when it made a profit of $2.4bn, but beat analyst expectations of $1.98bn.

Its chief executive, Murray Auchincloss, who is under pressure from shareholders to reverse years of underperformance by moving away from renewable projects and increasing investments in oil and gas, said BP would push to sell off parts of the business faster.

“We are looking to accelerate delivery of our plans, including undertaking a thorough review of our portfolio to drive simplification and targeting further improvements in cost performance and efficiency,” he said.

Auchincloss, who has vowed to sell off $20bn of assets by the end of 2027, added that he expected the company would have sold or announced the sale of $5bn worth by the end of the year.

BP’s new chair, Albert Manifold, told staff on his first day in the job last month that the company needed to accelerate a plan to cut costs and sell assets.

BP has already managed to agree to sell its US onshore wind business to LS Power, as well as a deal to offload its Dutch retail fuel sites and its electric vehicle charging hubs.

This week, BP also agreed to sell its stakes in US shale assets for $1.5bn, including four Permian central processing facilities: Gand Slam, Bingo, Checkmate and Crossroads.

However, BP did not provide an update on the sale of its multibillion-dollar Castrol lubricants unit, which will be a central part of its plan to raise at least $20bn by 2027.

The company is under pressure from Elliott Management, the activist New York hedge fund that is known for its attempts to shake up listed companies. It has built up a stake in BP and has been pushing the company to cut costs.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/nov/04/bp-asset-sales-fall-in-profits-oil-gas

As we continue to feel strains and increased costs as a company perhaps looking at top exec costs would help cut off some of that. Are there business travels at that level that are really needed or lunches for those in those positions that really need to be paid for? How are leaders paid more and advancing levels when others are not? How many additional senior leaders do we really need? Our members need to be able to reach live, direct workers. Happy employees lead to happy members and business which organically leads to overall better business. Telling associates benefits are more, AIP is less, and growth will not really happen is tough for lower ranking associates. I wonder when that piece of the puzzle will be realized by the business. Further consider these associates are also members trying to make it in the world today.

Team of the usual suspects working on a plan to fully outsource Permian operations. Similar to Guyana SBM Model. Being close to the wellhead to be safe was never true. Timeline for change is unclear. Those in operations will be offered to switch over to third party service provider as was done previously with groups like IT and GREF with the associated cut in pay and benefits.

Thoughts on this shocking move? If saving money is the long game, then make the move now! Sell the assets. Cancel the contracts. Exit these high tax states. Don’t offer relocation. Eliminate 50% of corporate staff at HQ. If you don’t face a customer or directly interact with those that do, then time to let go. Get rid of the Pelaton marketing crew and turn out the revenue.

This is not a rumor. Just throwing this out there.

Elliott made a play at $1.2 billion new debt at over 10% interest nielsen has to pay. New debt mean more ways to cut cost to show profit. Sign Elliott is ready to cash out and move on. When do we think the IPO will be?

50% reduction, combined with VCG operations across the board

Tech support US here.

It seems like we’re seeing a shift in staffing with more roles being filled by people from India. I can’t help but wonder why Dell doesn't consider hiring more people from the US when there are so many qualified candidates ready and willing to work. We’re being told to take ethics courses, which honestly feel more like a chore, yet it seems like the company itself is falling short of its own ethical standards.

It’s clear that the company is gradually moving its US operations overseas, and it’s disheartening to see how this has unfolded. First, we saw changes to our healthcare benefits, and now it feels like the focus is on cheap labor at the expense of loyal workers. It’s tough to continue supporting a company that seems to be disregarding its employees in favor of cost-cutting measures. This needs to be stop.

Regarding layoffs specifically in November 2025, Cisco is preparing to eliminate approximately 2,000 to 3,000 jobs by early November as part of a cost-saving effort aimed at achieving $2 billion in annual savings. However, the exact dates for these November layoffs have not been specified beyond the general timing in early November.

TCS , the named outsourcing for the core IT infrastructure teams at Lyondebasell, in an effort to reduce cost due to a CEO thats has shamelessly destroyed a vibrant company with unneeded loans, closed plants and a business model that is ridiculously unsubstantiated, has proven during a "transition" period, to going to cost more jobs, less productivity, poor service, and downtime. This Indian based company is typical of a CEO, CFO, CTO and certain directors that have little to no knowledge of IT outside of the buzzwords they learn on Google. The dumpster fire that is management has reduced a prosperous company and great place to work to a steaming pile save-my-a-s ELTs and SVPs with below sub-par entry level at best outsource contractors.

Verizon reported $33.8 billion in total operating revenue for the third quarter of 2025, not $34 billion in profit. Its consolidated net income (profit) for the quarter was $5.1 billion.
Verizon is currently in the process of reducing its workforce as part of a voluntary separation program and wider cost-cutting initiatives:
Job Reductions: In September 2024, Verizon announced a voluntary separation program for approximately 4,800 U.S.-based management positions as part of a cost-saving plan aiming to save up to $3 billion by 2025. Over half of these employees were expected to leave by September 2024, with the remainder departing by March 2025.
Technician Layoffs: The recent job cuts primarily targeted management positions, not specifically technicians, although overall headcount has been shrinking across the company and industry due to automation and digitization.
Financial Context: Despite strong quarterly revenue and profit, which actually increased year-over-year, the company has significant long-term debt (net unsecured debt of $112 billion as of Q3 2025) and operates in a highly competitive market. The cost-cutting measures are part of a broader strategy to manage debt, improve operational efficiency, and remain competitive.
The decision to cut jobs despite high revenue is a strategic business move aimed at long-term financial health, operational efficiency (partially through automation and AI), and managing a large debt load, rather than a reflection of immediate financial distress.
What a bunch of Dou--e Bags!!!

AI benefits for Indian Public- Tata cars prices to slashed by 70%, Tata steel at half prices thanks Robots.

Tata Homes Spacious 2 BHK in Pune at 25 lakh, build by AI and robots using advanced materials developed TIFR , that cost a fraction of current material.
4 lakh CTC in for Tech lead job in TCS will let you all these benefits -so easy

No agreement on Union Contract, New CEO with the mission to cut cost, go lean, blah blah..

Do we need to prepare for EWA?

Cut cut cut cut cut cut

Headwind ahead

Would be a great cost saving and I don’t think they add much when there are already managers,senior managers,ADs and Directors

Get rid of some of the fat and Verizon might have a chance

I will start: C-level folks like $$$, pumping up their bonuses. China and tariffs and all other competition. The analog semi market is in shambles, demand is down and wafer starts are down - this will persist for a while. Meanwhile, we'll keep cutting but this will turn at some point.

Our stock has been on a steady decline for the last 6 months and shows no sign of any rebound. We now stand at more than an 11% decrease in stock price during this time period. On Market capitalization of $323 Billion, we ( our shareholders) have lost an amazing $32 Billion in this amount of time. How long will the patience last? How long will SAP go before it must drastically cut costs to stop the losses since we are not able to close the gap with increased revenue?

Do not think that our Board does not see that major layoffs are accelerating across sectors, with Amazon cutting 14,000 jobs, UPS slashing 48,000 positions and Microsoft (our partner) on track to cut at least 16,000 so far this year (with perhaps more to come).

The reality is that some of the factors driving these layoffs are beyond SAP's control and were cited by our CFO in the Q3 review, such as: Trump’s tariffs, rising operational costs and massive AI investments as primary drivers of the widespread job cuts. At the same time SAP will increase it's proposed buyout of $4.5 Billion of BlackLine, which offer they rejected. The message is clear, SAP's only hope of survival is to attempt to "buy" our way into profitability and market survival.

But will it work? I think not by itself. Let us all be prepared, our Board is fighting for their own survival. Shareholders will not close out the year on such poor stock performance without some pull back. The "quick" fix will be to do with so many other companies are doing which is to employ widespread layoffs to hopefully reduce the damage the stock has been suffering from for the last half of this year. Q4/25 and Q1/26 are likely not to be good for us - stay alert and prepare yourselves for what may be coming in the months ahead.

As Dan said " you can find the answers on ChatGPT"

Excellent and very relevant question — especially given where telecoms like Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile are right now: mature networks, flattening subscriber growth, heavy debt loads, and Wall Street pressure for cost efficiency.

If a telecom giant announces multi-billion-dollar cost cuts and large-scale layoffs (10,000–20,000+), here’s where they’d most logically focus — and where AI and automation will accelerate the process.

💼 1. Middle Management & Support Functions

Most vulnerable: Managers and directors who are not directly tied to revenue, customer experience, or mission-critical operations.

Why:
Telecoms are layer-heavy. AI and analytics tools now provide real-time visibility and decision-making data, reducing the need for multiple layers of review or reporting.

Examples:

Regional or district-level managers whose teams already report into national dashboards.

Internal communications, reporting, and compliance coordinators.

Project managers overseeing slow, cross-department initiatives that AI can track automatically.

AI Impact:
Generative AI tools and workflow platforms can automate meeting notes, project tracking, and executive summaries — eliminating the “information translator” role many mid-managers fill.

🧑‍💻 2. Back-Office & Administrative Roles

Most vulnerable: Shared services like HR operations, finance, procurement, and legal support.

Why:
These departments have large headcounts and repetitive, rules-based work ideal for automation.

Examples:

Payroll and benefits processing

Invoice auditing and vendor management

Contract review (AI can pre-screen NDAs and agreements)

Recruiting coordinators and scheduling

AI Impact:
AI-powered ERP and RPA (robotic process automation) systems like Workday AI, SAP Joule, or UiPath are already cutting thousands of such positions globally.

☎️ 3. Customer Service & Call Center Roles

Most vulnerable: Tier 1 service reps and retention specialists.

Why:
Verizon and AT&T already deploy advanced virtual agents that can handle account inquiries, upgrades, and even billing disputes.

Examples:

Inbound Tier 1 support

Chat-based troubleshooting

Billing dispute resolution

AI Impact:
Generative AI assistants (trained on customer data) now resolve 70–80% of customer issues without human input — a massive cost reduction opportunity. Humans will remain only for escalations and high-value accounts.

⚙️ 4. Network Operations (Low-Level Monitoring & Maintenance)

Most vulnerable: NOC (Network Operations Center) monitoring staff and certain field dispatch roles.

Why:
Predictive AI can identify and resolve outages or congestion before they occur, and field routing is now fully automated.

Examples:

NOC analysts watching dashboards

Scheduling/dispatch coordinators for field techs

Routine diagnostic engineers

AI Impact:
Self-healing networks, AI-based predictive maintenance, and drones for tower inspections reduce human labor significantly.

🧠 5. Marketing & Sales Operations (Non-Quota Roles)

Most vulnerable: Analysts and coordinators who produce internal reports, pricing models, or campaign tracking.

Why:
AI tools like Tableau GPT or Salesforce Einstein now produce insights, summaries, and predictive forecasts instantly.

Examples:

Sales ops analysts building dashboards

Marketing coordinators producing campaign metrics

Data entry or CRM updating roles

AI Impact:
Automation will let quota-carrying salespeople handle more accounts directly, with AI generating proposals, decks, and pipeline forecasts.

💣 Least Likely to Be Cut (Protected Roles)

Customer-facing field techs (fiber installs, enterprise network repair)

Top-tier enterprise sales reps and BDMs (they drive revenue)

AI engineers, cybersecurity, and network architects (strategic growth areas)

Government relations & regulatory (too high-impact politically)

🔍 Summary — If Verizon/AT&T Targets $3–5B in Cost Cuts:

Area % of Cuts Role Examples AI/Automation Relevance

Middle Mgmt 25–30% District & Ops Managers Moderate–High
Back Office 25–35% HR, Finance, Legal Very High
Customer Service 20–30% Tier 1 Reps, Chat Agents Very High
Network Ops 10–15% NOC, Dispatch Moderate
Marketing & Admin 5–10% Analysts, Coordinators High

If you’d like, I can draft a strategic breakdown for how a telecom could communicate such a restructuring internally (e.g., “efficiency initiative” or “AI transformation plan”) — useful if you’re studying or preparing for leadership discussions.

Would you like that next?