Verizon may lay off 5,000 to 6,000, analyst says

Verizon may be laying off as many as 6,000 employees as rival Sprint culls its payroll, according to a Wall Street analyst.

Jeffrey Kvaal, with Nomura Securities International, wrote in a note to clients that Verizon employees had been informed of the cutbacks. Kvaal cited a Bloomberg article about Verizon’s plan to reorganize its wireless business and reduce its wireless employee count.

“Although the company did not specify the magnitude of the cuts, nor the areas impacted, our checks suggest the cuts will be broad-based and impact 5-6k (5,000 to 6,000) employees,” his note about Verizon said.

Jeffrey Nelson, vice president of corporate communication at Verizon, declined to address the number of layoffs Kvaal indicated but acknowledged earlier statements that job cuts would be part of the reorganization.

Verizon wireless employs about 180,000, according to Kvaal, who said he would not be surprised if the layoffs involved the company’s “legacy wireline business” as well.

He also put savings from the cutbacks and other reorganization efforts at Verizon at between $500 million and $600 million. He wrote that he hoped for more details when Verizon management meets with analysts on Monday.

Sprint has said that it is in the process of finding $2 billion in operating cost savings and that layoffs will be part of that effort. It has not said how many jobs will be involved.

Sprint officials do not expect layoffs to cover all of those savings and have identified other cuts as well. For example, Sprint has told employees it is “going paperless,” with plans to pull printers and copiers from offices soon, and the company announced lower severance benefits for employees notified of a layoff after Jan. 30 of next year.

Layoffs and voluntary job reductions late last year and early this year eliminated 3,700 jobs at Sprint, which is based in Overland Park.

This story was originally published October 30, 2015 at 4:55 PM with the headline "Verizon may lay off 5,000 to 6,000, analyst says."