{"id":1462,"date":"2026-02-03T04:50:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T04:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aura-node.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/03\/verizon-is-apparently-planning-a-change-no-one-saw-coming\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T13:25:04","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T13:25:04","slug":"verizon-is-apparently-planning-a-change-no-one-saw-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aura-node.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/03\/verizon-is-apparently-planning-a-change-no-one-saw-coming\/","title":{"rendered":"Verizon is apparently planning a change no one saw coming"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span>Verizon<\/span> Dallas | Photo Credit &#8211; <span>Verizon<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><!-- HTMLTagInstance html-tag-8519d943-96b0-44e9-8cb4-c05213533f44 -->Verizon may have delivered its best quarter in a long time under Dan Schulman, but the new CEO is reportedly planning to take another big step to make his mark on the company. Schulman is &#8220;not afraid&#8221; to &#8220;make really tough decisions,&#8221; and his next move could call for the head of consumer affairs <!-- HTMLTagInstance html-tag-a5c95b28-ee91-406f-937d-4b00e5eb5bb7 -->Sowmyanarayan Sampath his work.<\/p>\n<h2>It&#8217;s the wrong time<\/h2>\n<p>Q4 was <!-- HTMLTagInstance html-tag-ee73515d-f9d9-482e-addc-7fc83ff7ad72 -->Verizon&#8217;s first good quarter in 2025 in terms of postpaid subscriber additions. It will only be clear if that was enough to keep its lead there <!-- HTMLTagInstance html-tag-d8943283-5748-4f4e-9e10-8e414641bbba -->IT-Mobile reports its Q4 results on February 11. Schulman is not waiting and twiddling his thumbs to plan the next step of his strategy. <!-- HTMLTagInstance html-tag-023f3718-fdd9-48f5-8f2c-cef846a33ee9 -->it is reported that he is looking for a replacement for Sampath, who should have been the successor of Hans Vestberg, <span>Verizon<\/span>Former CEO. Far from passing the torch to him, Schulman appears to be reorganizing his leadership team and looking for someone who might be better suited to be CEO. While Sampath&#8217;s future is <span>Verizon<\/span> hanging in the balance, his dismissal is not guaranteed. He has started to find jobs, but has never developed an exit plan. The report states that despite Schulman&#8217;s efforts, which included laying off 13,000 people and cutting costs, <!-- HTMLTagInstance html-tag-1b425474-5afa-468f-851b-0a9bebcd036b -->Verizon continues to be overshadowed by AT&#038;T and T-Mobile, which explains why it wants to get rid of Sampath.<\/p>\n<p>However, <span>Verizon<\/span>The problems started long before Sampath became CEO of the consumer group in 2023. He stepped into a leadership role when the company was going through a difficult phase, and played his part in bringing the company back.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"quote quote-auto nolinks\" style=\"width: 100%\"><i class=\"ic ic-quotes-quote\"\/><\/p>\n<p>[Sampath had]    he stepped into the head of consumer role at the bottom line of the company&#8217;s operations and righted the ship.<\/p>\n<p>David Barden, partner at New Street Research, January 2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<h2>A disturbing movement<\/h2>\n<p>Instead of having a well-thought-out succession plan, <span>Verizon<\/span> he seems to be hitting it. Lack of planning can backfire, if considered <span>Verizon<\/span> it already has a lot on its plate. Although Q4 was the company&#8217;s best quarter since 2019 in terms of customer growth, it came at the expense of financial performance. <\/p>\n<p>Schulman has a 27-month contract, and although it could be extended, he has never been selected for a long period of time. A company&#8217;s next CEO can be very important to its long-term trajectory, however <span>Verizon<\/span>Lack of confidence at higher levels is not a good sign.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<h2>Fortune favors the brave<\/h2>\n<p>Schulman&#8217;s estimated time at <span>Verizon<\/span> means that he should not only restore the holder to its former glory, but also ensure that he leaves it in the right hands. While it&#8217;s unclear why he doesn&#8217;t think Sampath could be that person, Schulman seems to have a clear vision for the company that he can&#8217;t avoid. <!-- HTMLTagInstance html-tag-27fb2857-fbe3-415e-81d2-cab61204b3d9 -->constant values.<\/div>\n<section class=\"widgetOffers\">\n<div class=\"offer\">\n<aside class=\"offer-picture\">\n<picture class=\"offer-image\">\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/m-cdn.phonearena.com\/images\/offerlinks\/87448-350\/Try-Noble-Mobile-for-only-10.webp\"\/><\/p>\n<\/picture>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"offer-content\">\n<h4 class=\"offer-widget-title h-six\">Try Noble Mobile for only $10<\/h4>\n<div class=\"offer-description\">\n<p>Get unlimited talk, text, and data on the T-Mobile 5G Network and earn cash for data you don&#8217;t use.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>                    <span data-blocked-onclick=\"this.style.background = '#1992ff'; return true;\"><\/p>\n<p>                        Shop at Noble Moblie                    <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"author-byline-latest\">\n<p>Read the latest from Anam Hamid<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Verizon Dallas | Photo Credit &#8211; Verizon Verizon may have delivered its best quarter in a long time under Dan Schulman, but the new CEO is reportedly planning to take another big step to make his mark on the company. Schulman is &#8220;not afraid&#8221; to &#8220;make really tough decisions,&#8221; and his next move could call &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-smartphones"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aura-node.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aura-node.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aura-node.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aura-node.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aura-node.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1462"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.aura-node.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1464,"href":"https:\/\/www.aura-node.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1462\/revisions\/1464"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aura-node.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aura-node.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aura-node.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aura-node.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}