#costcutting

The Social Security Administration is undergoing significant workforce reductions. Over 7,000 jobs, representing 12-13% of its staff, are being eliminated. This restructuring is part of federal cost-cutting initiatives. Lawmakers and advocates express concerns about potential service delays for millions. Critics argue these cuts are weakening the system and worsening backlogs. The SSA maintains these changes will modernize service delivery and improve efficiency.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

https://www.cleveland.com/news/2026/06/social-security-slashes-7000-jobs-faces-service-strain.html

Merck & Co. is reducing its New Jersey workforce. Eighty-eight employees at its Rahway headquarters will be affected. This action is part of a multiyear $3 billion cost-cutting plan. Merck previously confirmed 6,000 global job reductions. The company plans to reinvest savings into new product launches.

Rahway, New Jersey

https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/merck-shrinks-headcount-88-nj-3b-cost-cutting-scheme-rolls

At some point, layoffs at SAP stopped being a last resort and started being a standard business tool. Instead of exhausting every other option first, cutting employees is now the main go-to move whenever costs need trimming.

Uber burned through its entire 2026 AI budget in four months. Now its COO is questioning whether it’s worth it
https://fortune.com/2026/05/26/uber-coo-ai-spending-tokens-claude-code/

Matter of time when China will dump cheap LLMs.

The new COO came to NS in 2024 from UP, after years with CSX. UP will definitely make NS operate under the UP plan, expect major cuts.
Just saying!!!!!

The ferriswheel is starting up again. Let’s improve the company’s bottom line by another deep cut. Why not, it keeps working? The leadership of this company couldn’t manage a lemonade stand. Total failures. Jetting back and forth between Jax and Cincinnati. Feeling they are the best leaders ever. The emperor has no clothes. The leadership is ineffective. Can we cut a few of them instead of people that are really making a difference? Can we cut the bloated CX / acct mgr world that does nothing? It is hard to convince clients that FIS is the company to partner with when you know it is sinking as the execs drill more holes to help.

MGO spent millions on their conference a couple of weeks back. The L4 and up crew gets paid trips each year to have fancy retreats. We have people flying in for some stupid Leadership summit, and spend so much on things that do not really matter.

Redirect these kumbaya events into actual products and services, Mr. Stankey.. or just use that to pay / keep people instead of firing them in the name of AI savings.

Bell laid off 300 individuals, mostly related to the MV-75 program. Due to cost cuts and the program transitioning out of design and into production.

Dont by the BS... There’s a tiny bit of truth to it, though "tiny bit" is doing a lot of work... It gives companies as well as Amdocs a shareholderfriendly reason to cut headcount - it sounds strategic, smart, rather than alarming.

Why trim... Gestures broadly at everything... Economic uncertainty, geopolitical sh-tshow, weak consumer and customer sentiment. Also... volatile markets, copycat costcutting... the growing sense that when things eventually break (whenever that is??) companies would rather have a larger cash cushion than a smaller one (or none at all.)

The Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers recently implemented layoffs. These workforce reductions impact both NBA franchises. The Portland Trail Blazers reportedly laid off 70 employees. This decision is linked to ownership's cost-cutting measures. The changes will affect the teams' future operations.

Portland, Oregon

https://sports.yahoo.com/videos/ramifications-lakers-front-office-layoffs-181247244.html

From the Economist today….

Since 2020 as many people have run bp as have run Britain. Sir Keir Starmer, the
fourth prime minister in as many years, promised to end the pantomime in
Westminster. Last year Albert Manifold was appointed as chairman of bp to do the
same thing in nearby St James’s Square. Sir Keir is still hanging on. Mr Manifold is
finished. On May 26th, after less than eight months in post, Mr Manifold was sacked in
a unanimous vote by the board, which includes Meg O’Neill, the oil company’s new
chief executive.
Mr Manifold inherited a neglected giant. The net-zero strategy of his predecessor
Helge Lund, a Norwegian, had made bp uninvestable. It is fitting, then, that Mr
Manifold’s dismissal should have the air of a Eurocratic initiative. The timing of the
directive announcing his departure could not have been better chosen to agitate
markets. It travelled down the wires just as traders in New York returned to their desks
after a bank-holiday weekend and were busy digesting news about a possible end to
America’s war in Iran. Shares in bp fell by nearly 10%.
But the real sin was the statement’s style. It was written in the worst literary tradition
of arrogant, managerial minimalism. Rather than elaborate on the reasons why bp must
now search for another chairman, the board o!ered just a few lines of cryptic lanyard-
speak. There are “serious concerns” about “important governance standards, oversight
and conduct”, the statement said. Trust us, he’s a wrong’un, pleaded a board which
shareholders have little reason to trust. Like Sir Keir, bp’s board appeals confidently to
an authority that has been spent twice over.
Thus began a guessing game: what did Mr Manifold do that was seemingly awful
enough to jeopardise bp’s turnaround? Plotting a coup in some faraway resource-rich
land? Not likely. Trying to sink Ed Miliband, Britain’s fanatical minister for net zero, in
the North Sea? If only. Predictably, initial speculation turned to sleaze. In its recent
history two bp chief executives have left their posts in bizarre circumstances related to
their private lives.
That wasn’t it, either. Instead, Mr Manifold was apparently exiled from clubland for
being a bad chap. The Financial Times reported allegations that he had been viewed by
some at bp as aggressive and that the board had received complaints from whistle-
blowers. Some reportedly called him a bully. On May 28th Mr Manifold responded. Yes,
he may have pushed people to accelerate cost-cutting and strengthen the balance-
sheet. But “at no point”, he wrote, “has anyone raised with me any issue about my
conduct...I dispute entirely this characterisation of my conduct.”
If Mr Manifold was truly intolerable, the board must explain to shareholders in more
detail. If he was merely disagreeable, that is probably proof of a job well done. As a
supposed City grandee herself, Dame Amanda Blanc, the bp director who led the
process to appoint Mr Manifold, would surely have known his City-wide reputation for
directness. Having (very) successfully run crh, an Irish building-materials firm, for a
decade, Mr Manifold could hardly have been expected to be a passive and detached
chairman.
Accusations of abrasiveness are, in the markets’ eyes at least, a less serious crime than
Accusations of abrasiveness are, in the markets’ eyes at least, a less serious crime than
the value destruction of which other members of the board are plainly guilty. Sure, bp
is in much better shape than it was a year ago. Profits from producing oil rise with the
price of the commodity, after all. The company’s traders are making a fortune. Last
year it made a huge discovery o! the coast of Brazil. Its corporate structure is in the
process of being simplified. But the job is not even half finished. Costs are out of
control, including at its headquarters in St James’s. It is the most indebted of the major
oil companies and still bears the weight of some of its worst misadventures in
renewable energy.
Must bp always be as ungovernable as Britain? Oil majors often reflect the politics of
their home countries. Exxon and Chevron are run by men who care little about the
separation of powers. Both run the board and manage the company. Together the firms
are worth $400bn more than a decade ago. The top job at TotalEnergies, the French oil
major, is held by a former civil servant; at Eni, by a colourful Italian. The two have
outperformed their British rival. bp, once in e!ect a branch of the British state in the
Middle East, now mirrors its decline. Whitehall talks about “delivering at pace”; bp,
about “moving at pace”. Neither goes anywhere.
Manifold destiny
The psychodrama at bp could not have been better designed to embarrass Britain’s
business elite. One view is that an outsider was appointed to shake things up at a
national champion before being pushed out unceremoniously by a club of grandees
who talk about change without really wanting it. An alternative reading of Mr
Manifold’s tenure is about as bad: an amateur with little experience in the industry
thought he knew better than the experts and came unstuck. The big American firms
would hardly hand such power to someone new to drilling.
The main problem with reforming Britain’s business elite is that it doesn’t really have
one. Those in America, Japan, France and Germany are all easily pictured. But Britain?
Its once-mighty merchant banks have disappeared. So have its fund managers. Its
biggest companies, like bp, have mostly become a global clearing house for mediocre
management talent.
The City nowadays is best viewed as a battleground between European collectivist
politics and American finance. Capitalist villains such as oil companies, tobacco giants
and banks make up much of Britain’s stockmarket. But the top investment banks and
funds fly the American flag. The saga at bp is a case in point. It threw itself zealously
into net zero. Now it is being disciplined, mostly by Elliott Management, an American
hedge fund. A very British shambles—and an international joke.

PFNA has been running an extended behind the scenes reduction in force for several months now. They call it North Star. They are using 2019 headcount numbers as their target for work force reductions. It has resulted in thousands of position reductions. This year they have severance packages if needed to get to targets. There are interim milestone targets they are working against. But the "ZBB" group is going around the country totaling up reduction targets for all sites that will be then be enforced. This is hourly and salaried. Targets for salaried focused on a salaried/hourly ratio of 13:1 or higher; cross checked with the 2019 headcount. It's a top- down, arbitrary number. SOOOO much has changed since 2019. To try and hit that number is ignorant and will result in substantial performance outages. You may as well have targeted 1971! the logic is just as valid. Classic Pepsico compression productivity. you don't need real strategic business plans, just place arbitrary, impossible targets on your field and gut your capability. Indra perfected this predatory leadership. Her protégés don't know how to do anything else. Pepsico has always believed in cooking the golden goose. How Ramon, Steven and others made deliberate business decisions that cost thousands their jobs yet they continue in position is a damning indictment of the board. Where's the accountability? I guess it's the fault of the frontline? Couldn't be the C-suite's responsible? nah, right?

Here's an update from the UK Telegraph. It's behind a paywall, so I've copied it here. Seems AM was also questioning the hospitality spend, with particular reference to highly expensive Wimbledon tickets. I recall seeing photos of BL and his partner at the tournament in July 2023. Nice to know who was really paying for them.

Ousted BP chairman hits back over ‘excessive’ spending
Dismissed chairman suggests his ‘determination to drive change’ is behind misconduct allegations

Albert Manifold said his cost-cutting measures, such as foregoing limousines and private jets, may have ‘ruffled feathers’

Christopher Jasper

The ousted chairman of BP has attacked a culture of “excessive” spending at the oil giant, including purchasing tickets for sports events such as Wimbledon.

Albert Manifold suggested he had been forced out of BP after raising concerns over “unnecessary expenditure”.

Mr Manifold was dismissed without warning on Tuesday, with people close to the BP board suggesting he had been shown the door because of a “volcanic” temper, “bullying” and “verbal abuse”.

However, in a 769-word statement published on Thursday, Mr Manifold said he had been the victim of “lies” from people hiding behind “anonymity”.

He said that during a 40-year career he had “never once had accusations made against me such as those made in recent days”.

During his eight-month tenure at BP, Mr Manifold is understood to have proposed a crackdown on unnecessary spending, such as some corporate events.

Events attended by board members at the expense of the company are said to have included Wimbledon.

A source close to Mr Manifold said: “He feels that that is one of the reasons the board turned on him. Some members didn’t share his commitment to cost-cutting and budgeting.”

Ousted BP chairman hits back over ‘excessive’ spending
Dismissed chairman suggests his ‘determination to drive change’ is behind misconduct allegations

Albert Manifold said his cost-cutting measures, such as foregoing limousines and private jets, may have ‘ruffled feathers’

Christopher Jasper
Transport industry editor
28 May 2026 4:21pm BST

The ousted chairman of BP has attacked a culture of “excessive” spending at the oil giant, including purchasing tickets for sports events such as Wimbledon.

Albert Manifold suggested he had been forced out of BP after raising concerns over “unnecessary expenditure”.

Mr Manifold was dismissed without warning on Tuesday, with people close to the BP board suggesting he had been shown the door because of a “volcanic” temper, “bullying” and “verbal abuse”.

However, in a 769-word statement published on Thursday, Mr Manifold said he had been the victim of “lies” from people hiding behind “anonymity”.

He said that during a 40-year career he had “never once had accusations made against me such as those made in recent days”.

During his eight-month tenure at BP, Mr Manifold is understood to have proposed a crackdown on unnecessary spending, such as some corporate events.

Events attended by board members at the expense of the company are said to have included Wimbledon.

A source close to Mr Manifold said: “He feels that that is one of the reasons the board turned on him. Some members didn’t share his commitment to cost-cutting and budgeting.”

In response, a source close to BP suggested it would not have been unusual for the firm to take up tickets to entertain business clients at events such as Wimbledon.

BP also has a history of hosting politicians – many of whom have backed the oil industry – at the tournament, and was revealed in 2023 to have donated tickets worth more than £4,200 to two MPs and a government minister.

Before his removal, Mr Manifold reportedly clashed with BP’s company secretary and board member Ben Mathews over costs.

Mr Mathews, whose role is to advise the board on corporate governance, was a key architect in the push to oust Mr Manifold, according to the Financial Times. He has since been put on medical leave because of stress after having dealt with the departures of Mr Manifold and his predecessor Helge Lund in quick succession.

BP did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding spending by directors.

In his statement, Mr Manifold said he was dismissed after he had “sought to streamline and refresh the board and started to advocate for a review of the workings of the board to improve efficiency”.

Called out excessive expenditure
Mr Manifold said he had wanted to “set an example” at BP and detailed how he demonstrated this by making his own coffee, buying his own lunch and resisting the use of private jets.

He added: “Where I saw unnecessary or excessive expenditure, I called it out. I had no interest in having a dedicated chauffeur-driven limousine at my beck and call on the occasions that I was in London.

“I, like most people, walked, took taxis, trains, etc. I had no interest in taking private aviation nor in availing myself of corporate tickets for sports events. I made my own coffee and bought my lunch in the local café. I sat in a small office, eschewing the grand corner-office privilege of previous chairmen.”

However, he said, those priorities “were not always shared by everyone”.

He added: “In business, small signals matter in driving change and contribute to ensuring no company has a culture of entitlement.

“All of this was my attempt to ensure the continuing independence and transparency of the board and the ongoing improvement in oversight and governance.”

Mr Manifold praised BP’s chief executive Meg O’Neill, its chief financial officer Kate Thomson and the wider executive team as being “among the finest people I have worked with”, saying they were “brimming with integrity”.

On Monday, June 1st, Copilot moves to token-based billing with major adjustments to token-cost multipliers. Some models will cost 60x more per token than others. Most of what users would call the "useful" models will become exceedingly expensive in comparison to the others.

Guess I’m finally going to start using AI as much as Sandeep has begged for.

Get ready to open your wallets, you d-mb fu--ing ghouls.

The golden years are long gone. To compete with price slashing, we have to almost give away our product. This leaves less to work with. Though cost cutting has been a theme the past 5 years. But this past year has reached Sprint levels. Do more with less people and money but be happy about leadership's questionable decisions. It is scary the similarities of what Sprint went through before being destroyed and what we are seeing today within. A sad coincidence we added yellow to our colors. On top of all that weight from above, customers are getting worse. Not just with us but everywhere. The entitlement norm and lack of compassion or respect of fellow humans is a crazy strain on workers already looking over their shoulder.

@xx+1kqqf7e4m makes an excellent point.

UPS closed the midnight shift at its 43rd Street hub in Manhattan. This action is part of the company's "Network of the Future" restructuring drive. Workers faced job elimination or difficult split-shift arrangements. UPS has eliminated 48,000 jobs since 2024 and plans further cuts. The company aims to reduce labor costs and increase profit margins.

New York City, New York

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/05/23/mzuy-m23.html

An employment lawyer identified several indicators preceding layoffs. Return-to-office mandates often prompt employee resignations, reducing staff. Leadership comments about financial struggles can encourage employees to seek new jobs. Implementing multiple cost-cutting measures also signals potential workforce reductions. These actions help companies reduce staff without formal layoff announcements or severance.

https://www.yourtango.com/career/subtle-signs-show-up-right-before-job-starts-laying-people-off

Adding all the extra employees to Denver City from the properties offloaded greatly increases overhead. Cost cutting? Fuzzy math?

Isn’t it unwise to be hiring summer interns while laying off experienced employees left and right? If we need to cut costs, shouldn’t we start with interns, who are a net drain on resources?

The purpose of an internship program is to build a pipeline to hire entry level workers. Are we really going to hire entry level workers? Isn’t AI going to do all the entry-level work? Even if we are going to hire entry level workers, is it necessary to recruit them prior to graduation? There are thousands of them desperate for jobs.

I feel sorry for students right now, but does it make sense to spend time and money on an internship program?

The Portland Trail Blazers laid off over 70 employees. This cut nearly 18% of their workforce. Hall of Famer Tina Thompson was among those affected. She had served as a scout for the team for nearly four years. New owner Tom Dundon initiated these cost-cutting measures.

Portland, Oregon

https://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/2026/05/trail-blazers-layoffs-include-hall-of-famer.html

WH Smith rejected a request from Modella Capital. Modella Capital is the new owner of a former high street chain. They sought millions of pounds. These funds were for layoff costs. Sky News reported this development.

https://www.tradingview.com/news/reuters.com,2026:newsml_FWN41X0JM:0-wh-smith-rejected-plea-from-former-high-street-chain-s-new-owner-modella-capital-for-millions-of-pounds-to-fund-cost-of-layoffs-sky-news/

Why hire "expensive" experts from the west when an Indian or Bangladeshi will do the same job for 90% less. Quality of work isn't a variable in this discussion.

BILL Holdings is cutting its workforce by up to 30%. This strategy aims to make the company leaner. The company also plans to leverage AI for increased efficiency. BILL Holdings faces headwinds from declining interest rates and SaaS sector pressures. Its stock has seen a roughly 20% decline year-to-date.

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4906834-bill-holdings-ramping-profitability-with-new-layoffs

https://x.com/TheLayoff/status/2056862351513866483

👀🚐 Tan said great job, crushed it, I just need less of you and I want you in a hub. Though he was in The Hague he said Hague ain’t hub. Did I catch that correctly?

Anyone know what's going on in NJ? Heard a bunch of senior leaders are out there for a couple of days. Rumor mill says they are discussing more cost cutting

Hearing rumors that some departments won’t see any RIFs, not because things are stable, but because the company supposedly can’t afford severance packages.

Interesting priorities considering there’s still money for multimillion dollar golf sponsorships. Something about that doesn’t add up.

From London to New York on business class for frivolous reasons that achieves nothing substantial? Especially when Citi has laid off so many people? If this person is required to be in new York, why wasn't he made to relocate to let go and someone new York based found to fill the opposition?

Is it only a coincidence that this person has family in ny/NJ that he gets to meet on company dime when laid off people have struggled to find something new after being laid off, been on expensive insurance and many other struggles?

Why is Nawani and his team so special? They've barely achieved anything of note that isn't brittle as a house of cards that would fall apart when actual experts in data look into it rather than second or third line generalist that have made every decision for him on data products? And whatever was left was made by generalist consultants

Starbucks announced 252 corporate job cuts in Seattle. These layoffs impact vice presidents, directors, and senior managers. The company stated cuts will sharpen focus and lower costs. Separations are expected from July 17 through February 1, 2027. Starbucks is also closing some regional support offices.

Seattle, Washington

https://www.geekwire.com/2026/starbucks-layoffs-impact-252-jobs-at-seattle-support-center-including-vps-and-other-senior-roles/

The online gambling industry is experiencing widespread layoffs. Penn Entertainment recently cut over 70 jobs in its interactive division. Gambling.com Group also laid off approximately a quarter of its employees. These reductions reflect a shift towards efficiency and AI adoption. Industry growth is slowing, forcing companies to streamline operations.

https://www.gamblingnews.com/news/betting-firms-cut-jobs-as-industry-growth-stalls/

Gambling.com Group's stock price plummeted sharply. Its shares fell by 53% in a single day. This decline followed an announced cost-cutting program. The company plans to restructure and lay off 25% of its staff. First-quarter results showed a $1.17 million net loss and a 43% EBITDA decrease.

https://wnhub.io/news/hr/item-50863

These days, it's fashionable not even to attempt retaining talent. Cost-cutting is the go-to strategy for propping up the share price and securing leadership bonuses. In the long term, they're cutting the branch they're sitting on. I'm not sure any of this is sustainable. The two groups most targeted in layoffs have been veterans, the well of knowledge and experience, and the younger talent that any company would ki-l for under normal circumstances. It's a recipe for disaster.

Unfortunately, if things are falling apart, the only way to turn a profit is to reduce headcount, and that is not sustainable. That works on Wall Street but not with a private company. You do not have investors to impress and no stock price to move , only members who have given more than most and deserve an experience that reflects that commitment.

While expanding membership eligibility may address volume concerns in the short term, it risks diluting the brand's unique identity and the trust that took decades to build.

It is increasingly difficult to demonstrate genuine care for members and their financial well-being when it becomes harder to differentiate from competitors. For the first time in my life, I am looking at other options.

Giving three billion dollars back to members sounds significant until you do the math. Spread uniformly across 14 million members, that is roughly $214 per member per year, while USAA simultaneously raised my home insurance premium by $1,000 with no prior claims. The net result is a loss of $786 before I even start counting.

Meanwhile, member attrition is often attributed to external factors, but internal dynamics are worth examining too. Until member service metrics are quantified and honestly compared with competitors, nothing changes, and the members who built this company will keep doing the math and ask, "What do I get in service to justify the extra cost ?" Right now, no one can answer that question. Pretty sad.

OP: @ke+1krm5bf35

Bumping this up for visibility.

Because the company wants to keep up with all the other tech and telecom layoffs, and they will blame “AI” like the others did.

1) Current leadership appears to believe staffing levels expanded too aggressively during prior growth periods. Recent layoffs and return-to-office initiatives are being framed around AI and efficiency concerns, although many employees do not view the reductions as directly connected to AI adoption.

2) A broader organizational issue remains unresolved despite restructuring efforts. Cost reduction initiatives continue to focus primarily on headcount reduction, particularly among contractors and remote employees, because those areas are easier to target operationally.

3) The challenge with this approach is that it may not address underlying performance issues. During the pandemic, the company significantly expanded access to national talent pools through remote hiring. If productivity metrics such as revenue per employee are declining despite broader access to highly qualified technical talent, the more important question may be why the organization has struggled to convert that talent into stronger business outcomes. Cost cutting can improve short-term financial optics, but it does not necessarily resolve structural execution problems.

4) Recent operational and strategic missteps suggest that many issues originate at higher management layers rather than within technical teams themselves. Even after workforce reductions, competitive challenges are likely to remain if leadership and organizational alignment issues are not addressed. Managing distributed teams effectively requires different operating models, and return-to-office mandates alone may not solve coordination or productivity concerns.

5) A stricter return-to-office policy may also reduce access to specialized talent that competitors continue to recruit nationally. “But Amazon is doing RTO also” is a failure of leadership to understand their competitor - Amazon has headquarters in every tech capital
of America. RTO does not affect their access to this pool of talent. An alternative strategy could have been deeper investment in fully remote corporate operations alongside stronger management accountability, clearer execution priorities, and improved organizational communication. Employees generally respond more positively to leadership engagement that produces measurable business outcomes rather than highly polished internal presentations with limited operational impact.

6) Many employees joined the company because it was perceived as having a stable culture and experienced workforce. However, there appears to be growing disconnect between leadership and technical staff. Compensation structures and long-term incentives that may have retained prior generations of employees do not necessarily create the same loyalty among newer talent pools. Leadership may benefit from evaluating how effectively the organization supports, retains, and empowers the employees responsible for maintaining and building critical systems. After this abject failure of management, it will take years to earn any trust at all.

Verizon CEO cuts to the chase on new layoffs and AI future:
As a new wave of job cuts hits Verizon, leadership delivers a blunt reality check on future plans and an AI deadline.

May 11, 2026 5:37 PM EDT
Dan Schulman, president and chief executive officer of PayPal Holdings Inc.
Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The leaner era of Verizon Communications has entered a new phase of targeted reductions. On May 7, the company confirmed a new round of workforce cuts that will affect hundreds of employees.

This move arrives less than six months after the company completed a massive 13,000-person reduction, the largest in the telecom provider’s history.

The heaviest impact of these new layoffs is expected to be concentrated at the company headquarters in Basking Ridge, New Jersey.

According to Business Insider, the latest reduction represents approximately 1% of Verizon’s overall headcount.

And while the company has been conservative with specific headcounts, a recent State Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filing in May confirms that 121 employees at the Basking Ridge headquarters are scheduled to be laid off on August 7, 2026.

Behind these layoffs and the company’s shifting profits lies a larger story of finance and AI-driven infrastructure aimed at improving efficiency.

Verizon’s $5 billion efficiency mandate

The latest workforce reduction follows a transformative milestone for the company. Earlier this year, in January, Verizon finalized its acquisition of Frontier Communications. The $20 billion deal expanded Verizon’s fiber footprint to 31 states.

During the Q1 earnings call, CFO Tony Skiadas also revealed that Verizon is aggressively pursuing an operating expense (OpEx) savings target of $5 billion by the end of 2026.

The telecom provider has also set an ambitious target of $1 billion in operating cost synergies by 2028.

As Verizon absorbs Frontier’s merger and expands its fiber footprint to almost 30 million passings, the company is also prioritizing automation to manage the expanded network, albeit with a smaller human headcount.

“We have begun to see meaningful cost benefits from our transformation efforts as we take out legacy structural costs from the business,” said CEO Dan Schulman during the call.

Skiadas detailed a relentless strategy to permanently remove $5 billion from the company’s annual spend.

“We’re off to a great start on the $5 billion of cost transformation,” Skiadas told analysts.

The strategy is multi-layered:

Workforce reduction: The 13,000-plus layoffs since October 2025 are the primary driver of savings. Skiadas noted the company is “running leaner” and is cutting “third-party contractor and outsource spend” to keep savings in line.

Legacy decommissioning: Verizon is decommissioning old copper network elements, recycling and “monetizing” them by selling scrap metal.

Real estate rationalization: As the workforce shrinks, the company is also reducing its real estate footprint across administrative and network sites.

The most vital aspect of Shulman’s turnaround is the AI tech stack sprint, designed to address customer pain points by automating digital sales and service.

Verizon, through these AI-enabled channels, aims to lower the cost of retention while defending its customer base.

Schulman, who has usually been upfront about AI’s role in the future, told investors that the company is on a timeline that would have been impossible a year ago.

“We are going to be substantially complete with that entire AI tech stack by July, and we hope to be fully done by November,” he said on the call.

To hit this mark, the company has recruited several “AI-savvy individuals” over the last seven months, adding that “we’ve done more in the last three months than we’ve done in the last three to four years around this.”

Verizon’s stock is up 15% year to date.

The Frontier factor and Verizon’s record profits

The May layoffs coincide with Verizon’s most successful quarter in recent years. According to the company’s recent Q1 2026 financial release, Verizon achieved its first positive first quarter “postpaid phone net adds since 2013.”

Its adjusted EPS also rose to $1.28 per share, a 7.6% year-over-year increase.

By integrating Frontier’s fiber network, Verizon expects at least $1 billion in annual cost synergies by 2028. This merger allows Verizon to stop paying third-party access costs and automate its network management, albeit now with a significantly smaller headcount.

Analysts, meanwhile, remain divided. Morgan Stanley recently raised its price target on Verizon to $50 from $40, keeping an equal weight rating. Noting the improving subscriber growth and competitive intensity in wireless was “encouraging,” the firm said.

However, Este Group downgraded Verizon to hold from buy, saying the company’s earnings growth still lags behind the broader sector average, according to TheFly.

As Verizon works to complete its AI tech stack by July, the company’s message is clear that it intends to continue this cost transformation well beyond 2026.

https://www.thestreet.com/employment/verizon-ceo-cuts-to-the-chase-new-layoffs-ai-future

TRend at Bnym, and it’s not subtle.
More and more employees are being “RIF’d” under the disguise of performance issues — even when their track record is spotless. Let’s call it what it is: ageism and salary targeting.Batman and Robin don’t want to admit they’re cutting older, higher‑paid workers, so they hide behind manipulated evaluations and vague buzzwords like “not agile enough,” “not aligned with culture,” or “needs more energy.” It’s a cost‑cutting strategy dressed up as performance management.
This isn’t about merit.
It’s about money, age, and who they think they can push out quietly.
I should have fought your bullsh-t but didn't. I hope others do and this POS company gets what they deserve.

Dan has been give 20-30% reduction in costs now. There will be massive cuts for 3P and employees. Expect layoff, expect old investigations opened up, and expect minor issues to result in termination. The teams that will be hit are EDAO, P&C IT, Corp and Bank. No one is safe but those are the target areas

• Amazon's Selling Partner Services team cut jobs this week.
• Amazon is doubling down on AI and other forms of automation.
• The latest job cuts highlight Amazon's ongoing efficiency drive.

https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-continues-job-cuts-retail-ai-2026-5