Verizon cutting 8,000 jobs

From the BNO Newsroom.

NEW YORK CITY (BNO NEWS) -- Verizon, the U.S. phone company, will cut more than 8,000 jobs over the next six months, spokesman Bob Varettoni told BNO News on Monday.

Most cuts will take place on the Wireline side of the company as the Wireless side will continue to expand. The Wireline side had been shrinking slowly for several years, which will now be accelerated.

"I have been very focused on the cost side since taking over as CFO. Although we are taking steps to mitigate the negative impacts of the economy in the short-term, we also need to more significantly reduce the wireline cost structure over the next 12 to 18 months," said Verizon CFO John Killian. "As part of our ongoing program to resize and reduce the cost structure, we reduced headcount by more than 8,000 over the last 12 months. We plan to do more than 8,000 in force and contractor reductions in the second half of this year," he added. "We are also attacking all other cost categories, including network integration, travel, sourcing, rationalizing our real estate portfolio, and all other areas."

Verizon currently has more than 235,000 employees, including about 87,000 Verizon Wireless employees.

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