Executive Summary#

Strategic Redirection Under New Leadership#

VZ Communications has appointed Dan Schulman, the 67-year-old former chief executive of PayPal Holdings, as its new chief executive officer, effective immediately, marking a decisive pivot away from the capex-intensive network infrastructure philosophy that defined Hans Vestberg's eight-year tenure. The board's October 6 announcement explicitly positions Schulman as the architect of a subscriber-centric strategic reset, tasked with reclaiming market share from T-Mobile and AT&T through an integrated portfolio of broadband initiatives spanning satellite connectivity, fixed wireless access expansion via the newly announced Starry acquisition, and fiber footprint consolidation through the pending Frontier Communications merger. Schulman's elevation from Independent Lead Director—a position he assumed in December 2024—reflects board recognition that VZ existing operational playbook, optimized for premium network differentiation and margin preservation, has yielded insufficient subscriber growth in a mature wireless market increasingly driven by pricing competition and customer-centric service delivery rather than infrastructure superiority alone.