Verizon cuts 3,000 retail jobs as AI replaces customer service and stores move to franchises

This article was published on July 16, 2026 The latest round of layoffs under CEO Dan Schulman follows a 13,000-job reduction last year and comes as the former PayPal chief accelerates AI across customer service Verizon is laying off about 3,000 retail workers and transferring 274 corporate stores to independent owners under CEO Dan Schulman. Verizon is cutting about 3,000 employees from its corporate-owned retail stores and transferring 274 locations to independent operators, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. The changes take effect on August 16 and will leave the largest US mobile carrier with 1,000 company-owned stores alongside roughly 5,000 independent franchises. A company spokesperson said many of the workers at the transferred stores are likely to be retained by the new owners, though they will no longer be on Verizon’s payroll. The cuts are the third major round of layoffs under CEO Dan Schulman, who took the role in October 2025 after leading PayPal for nearly a decade. In November, Verizon eliminated 20 percent of its nonunion workforce, roughly 13,000 employees, as part of a campaign to cut $5 billion in operating expenses by the end of 2026. Hundreds more positions were