Good morning. There are more leadership changes in the Fortune 500, with Verizon’s CFO, Tony Skiadas, gaining a new strategic partner—Dan Schulman—as chief executive.
Verizon (No. 30) announced on Monday that its lead director, Schulman, most recently CEO of PayPal and formerly with AT&T and Virgin Mobile, is succeeding Hans Vestberg as Verizon’s CEO, effective immediately. The company reconfirmed its full-year 2025 guidance and postponed the release of its third-quarter earnings report to Oct. 29.
Mark Bertolini, Verizon’s chairman, called Vestberg, in a statement, “an extraordinary leader” who drove network investment and innovation. He said that with the Frontier Communications acquisition nearing completion, “the board and Hans discussed that now is the right time for a CEO transition.”
Bertolini stated that Schulman is the right leader to guide Verizon’s next phase of increased customer focus and financial growth. Schulman said in a statement that he’s honored to serve as CEO, adding, “Verizon is at a critical juncture.” Schulman has served on Verizon’s board since 2018 and was elected lead independent director in December.
Michael Hodel, director of communications services equity research for Morningstar, told me that Verizon underperformed under Vestberg, “at least in the eyes of many market participants.” He continued, “From my view, Verizon has struggled to articulate a clear strategy around market positioning, branding, and pricing, sticking too long to messaging that produced success when it was clearly the best network in the industry.”
