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So, Verizon finally pulled the trigger.
They gave Hans Vestberg the boot, and honestly, the only surprise is that it took them this long. The guy has been steering the ship directly toward an iceberg for years, and the board was apparently content to just rearrange the deck chairs and compliment the band. Now they’ve parachuted in Dan Schulman, the former PayPal boss, to save the day. The market’s reaction? A three percent stock drop. That’s not exactly a vote of confidence. It’s more like a collective, weary sigh from investors who have seen this movie before.
Let’s be real. The writing wasn’t just on the wall for Vestberg; it was carved into the wall in 60-foot-high flaming letters. Verizon, the company that built its entire brand on being the "best network," lost that crown. T-Mobile ate their lunch, their dinner, and was eyeing their breakfast for tomorrow. While T-Mobile was rolling out a smart, layered 5G strategy, Vestberg was obsessed with mmWave—a technology that was like building a Formula 1 car that can only drive on a few, specially-paved blocks in Manhattan. Great for a tech demo, useless for pretty much everyone else.
I can just picture the final board meeting. The smell of stale coffee and desperation hanging in the air as they looked at the Q3 projections. The numbers don’t lie. Massive subscriber losses in '22 and '23, a $52 billion bet on C-band spectrum that was managed poorly, and getting absolutely smoked by T-Mobile in fixed wireless growth. This wasn't a slump; it was a nosedive. And why did the board wait this long? Were they just cashing their checks and hoping for a miracle, or did Vestberg, the former pro handball player, just have a really convincing handshake?
The New Sheriff in Town
Enter Dan Schulman. The company line is that he’s the perfect guy for the job. He’s got telecom experience from way back at AT&T and Virgin Mobile, and he’s been on Verizon’s board since 2018, so he "knows the company." This is classic corporate damage control. They bring in an insider-outsider, someone who can claim fresh perspective while already being part of the furniture.
Schulman’s canned quote is a masterpiece of PR nothingness: “We have a clear opportunity to redefine our trajectory…” Let me translate that for you: “The last guy screwed this up so badly that even mediocre performance is going to look like a stroke of genius.” He talks about delighting customers, reducing costs, and delivering growth. Groundbreaking stuff. I’m pretty sure that’s on page one of the "Generic CEO Mad Libs" handbook. When was the last time your telecom company “delighted” you? My bill seems to invent new fees every month. That ain't delight; it’s a hostage situation.
His time at PayPal is being touted as his big credential. This is a bad idea. No, 'bad' doesn't cover it—this is a fundamentally flawed comparison. PayPal grew to dominance in an exploding market where digital payments were the future. Telecom, on the other hand, is a mature, saturated, cutthroat business where you fight tooth and nail for every single customer. Is hiring a great speedboat captain really the right move to pilot a lumbering supertanker through a naval battle? I have my doubts. Offcourse, his experience with subscription models is relevant, but the competitive landscape couldn't be more different.
Don't Hold Your Breath
So, what can Schulman actually do? The analysts say he needs to focus on customer experience. You think? That’s like telling a drowning man he needs to focus on swimming. The problems at Verizon are deeper than just a bad app or long hold times. They have a structural problem. T-Mobile has a mid-band spectrum advantage that gives them a genuine network edge in speed and coverage where it matters most. That’s not something a new CEO can fix with a clever marketing campaign or a new family plan.
Verizon is stuck. They’re no longer the undisputed network king, and they’re not the scrappy, value-focused underdog. They’re just the expensive option with a fading reputation. Schulman has to right the ship, but the ship has holes in it that were drilled years ago. He can patch some of them, maybe slow the bleeding, but T-Mobile is already miles ahead and AT&T is just… doing its thing.
Maybe Schulman has a secret plan. Maybe he’s going to come in and slash costs, streamline operations, and find some magic bullet that nobody else has thought of. Or maybe, just maybe, he’s going to do what every other new CEO does: announce a bold new vision, shuffle some executives, launch a new ad campaign, and pray the market dynamics shift in his favor. Then again, maybe I’m the crazy one for expecting anything more.
Same Circus, Different Ringmaster
Let's cut the crap. This isn't a turnaround story waiting to happen. It's a triage situation. Verizon is a wounded giant, and hiring a new CEO is like putting a fresh bandage on a compound fracture. Dan Schulman is a capable executive, sure, but he ain’t a miracle worker. The fundamental issues—a lagging network, a brutal competitor in T-Mobile, and a brand that’s lost its luster—are still there. This move wasn't about a bold new future; it was about stopping the bleeding and giving the appearance of action. Don't expect a revolution. Expect more of the same, just with a different guy reading the teleprompter.