Verizon Just Crushed Expectations: Is This the End of Customer Exodus?
Verizon shocked Wall Street with its strongest quarterly subscriber gains in six years. The telecom giant added 616,000 postpaid phone customers in the fourth quarter of 2025, blowing past analyst expectations and signaling that new CEO Dan Schulman’s aggressive turnaround strategy might actually be working.
This performance marks a dramatic reversal for a company that spent most of 2025 bleeding customers to rivals AT&T and T-Mobile. Verizon ended the quarter with 146.9 million total wireless retail connections and delivered total quarterly revenue of $36.4 billion, up 2% year over year. Wireless service revenue, the company’s bread and butter, hit $21 billion.
New Leadership Brings Bold Changes
Dan Schulman took the helm in October 2025 after serving as Verizon’s lead independent director. The former PayPal CEO, who tripled that company’s revenue from $8 billion to $30 billion during his tenure, wasted no time shaking things up.
Within weeks of taking charge, Schulman ordered Verizon’s largest-ever round of job cuts, eliminating more than 13,000 positions. He demanded the company become “scrappier” and vowed to examine “every dollar” of operating and capital expenditures.
“Verizon will no longer be a hunting ground for our competitors,” Schulman declared during Friday’s earnings call. The CEO made it clear that price increases without added value would stop. Those tactics, he admitted, had been driving customers away.
The Numbers Tell the Story
Analysts polled by FactSet had expected roughly 417,000 net postpaid phone additions. Verizon delivered 616,000 – crushing expectations by nearly 50%. The company secured these wins during an intensely competitive quarter when both Verizon and T-Mobile launched aggressive promotions to steal each other’s customers.
Verizon’s four phone lines for $100 per month deal resonated with users during Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaigns. The strategy worked so well that the company issued bullish guidance for 2026, projecting between 750,000 and one million net postpaid phone additions.
Shares surged nearly 12% on the trading day, marking the largest single-day gain since 2008. The company also authorized up to $25 billion in share repurchases over the next three years, sending another positive signal to investors.
Broadband Expansion Powers Growth
Verizon did not stop at wireless. The company added 372,000 net broadband connections in the fourth quarter, including 319,000 fixed-wireless access customers. Fixed-wireless service uses cell towers instead of traditional cables to deliver home internet.
The game-changer came with the January 20, 2026 completion of Verizon’s $9.6 billion acquisition of Frontier Communications. This deal expanded Verizon’s fiber footprint to nearly 30 million homes and businesses across 31 states, bringing total fixed-wireless and fiber broadband connections to more than 16.3 million.
“Today marks a defining moment for our company,” Schulman wrote in a welcome letter after closing the Frontier deal. The acquisition supports Verizon’s convergence strategy of bundling mobile service with high-speed home internet – a combination that drives customer loyalty and reduces churn.
Cost Cuts and Financial Discipline
Schulman expects to realize $5 billion in operating expenditure savings in 2026. The company forecast capital expenditures between $16 billion and $16.5 billion for the year, down from $17 billion in 2025.
Verizon reported per-share earnings of 55 cents, or $1.09 excluding special items. Severance charges from the massive layoffs reduced profit, but the company still beat Wall Street’s expectations of $1.06 per share.
The telecom operator generated $20.1 billion in free cash flow in 2025. Management projects that figure will grow roughly 7% to at least $21.5 billion in 2026.
Competitive Landscape Heats Up
The subscriber surge comes as competition intensifies across the telecom sector. T-Mobile continues gaining market share, while AT&T pushes aggressively into fiber. Verizon had been losing ground, shedding core consumer postpaid phone connections for three consecutive quarters before this turnaround.
Schulman acknowledged that Verizon could no longer rely on having the best network perception or competitive pricing. Instead, he promised a “customer-first culture” focused on value and experience rather than promotions alone.
The CEO stressed that cost reductions would become “a way of life” at Verizon. The company plans to exit or streamline legacy businesses without clear paths to profitability while investing in growth areas like 5G and fiber.
What This Means for 2026
Despite a major network outage in January 2026 that disrupted service for millions, Verizon’s fourth-quarter results demonstrated resilience. Bloomberg highlighted the subscriber surge as evidence that turnaround efforts under Schulman were starting to bear fruit.
The company projects wireless service revenue will remain fairly flat in 2026, while total mobility and broadband service revenue should grow 2% to 3%. Capital expenditures will include a fiber build pace of at least 2 million passings, reinforcing long-term network expansion goals.
“Our 2026 guidance reflects the beginning of our turnaround, and is a step function change from our past five-year historical average,” Schulman noted.
With 116 days on the job, the new CEO has already triggered what he calls a “true shift in mindset” at Verizon. Faster decision-making and a trimmer organizational structure appear to be paying dividends.
“We are exiting 2025 with strong momentum, delivered by a team that is intensely focused on winning through healthy volumes and fiscally responsible growth,” Schulman said.
The question now is whether Verizon can sustain this momentum or if the fourth quarter represented a temporary bounce. Only time will tell if Schulman’s aggressive approach translates into lasting competitive advantage.
FAQ: Verizon’s Subscriber Surge Explained
How many new customers did Verizon add in Q4 2025?
Verizon added 616,000 postpaid phone customers in the fourth quarter of 2025. This number far exceeded analyst expectations of 417,000 additions and represents the company’s strongest quarterly performance since 2019. The subscriber gains reversed three consecutive quarters of losses and marked a turning point under new CEO Dan Schulman’s leadership.
What is Verizon’s strategy under CEO Dan Schulman?
Dan Schulman focuses on three core priorities: aggressive cost cutting, customer experience improvement, and profitable growth. The company eliminated over 13,000 jobs to streamline operations and targets $5 billion in operating expense savings for 2026. Schulman vowed that Verizon would stop raising prices without adding value, instead competing through better service and bundled offerings that combine wireless with home internet.
How did the Frontier acquisition impact Verizon?
The $9.6 billion Frontier Communications acquisition closed on January 20, 2026, expanding Verizon’s fiber footprint to nearly 30 million homes and businesses across 31 states. This deal brought total fixed-wireless and fiber broadband connections to more than 16.3 million. The expanded fiber infrastructure enables Verizon to offer bundled mobile and high-speed internet packages, which increases customer loyalty and reduces the likelihood of subscribers switching to competitors.
What are Verizon’s projections for 2026?
Verizon expects to add between 750,000 and one million postpaid phone customers in 2026, representing two to three times the number added in 2025. The company projects total mobility and broadband service revenue will grow 2% to 3%, while free cash flow should reach at least $21.5 billion, up roughly 7% from 2025. Capital expenditures will range from $16 billion to $16.5 billion, with plans to build at least 2 million new fiber passings.
