Dan Schulman speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 23, 2020.
Adam Galica | CNBC
Verizon announced on Monday that the board of directors has appointed former PayPal CEO Dan Schulman as the company’s new CEO.
Schulman replaces Hans Vestberg, who had led the company since 2018.
Shares of the company sank roughly 5% in midday trading.
Verizon said Vestberg will remain on the board of directors until the 2026 annual meeting and will serve as a special advisor through Oct. 4, 2026, to ensure a smooth transition and close the deal to acquire Frontier Communications.
Verizon on Monday also announced that Mark Bertolini would be chairman of the company’s board of directors.
“The board is thrilled to have Dan as Verizon’s next CEO, and embark on a new chapter of growth and sector leadership,” Bertolini said in a statement. “Dan is a seasoned and decisive leader with a unique set of experiences, and a proven record of transformative leadership and operational excellence. He is the right leader to chart Verizon’s next phase of increased customer focus and financial growth.”
At PayPal, Schulman grew the company’s revenue from $8 billion to $30 billion, according to the announcement, and added “hundreds of millions” of new customers for the global payments platform. He has served on Verizon’s board of directors since 2018.
“Verizon is at a critical juncture,” Schulman said in a statement. “We have a clear opportunity to redefine our trajectory, by growing our market share across all segments of the market, while delivering meaningful growth in our key financial metrics. We are going to maximize our value propositions, reduce our cost to serve, and optimize our capital allocation to delight our customers and deliver sustainable long-term growth for our shareholders.”
Vestberg, who became CEO in 2018 and chairman of the board in 2019, is known for creating the company’s 5G network strategy. In a statement, he said now was “a good time to pass the baton” to Schulman.
Verizon also reiterated its previously issued full-year 2025 financial guidance.
In May, the Federal Communications Commission announced it was approving Verizon’s $20 billion deal to acquire Frontier, a fiber-optic internet provider. FCC chair Brendan Carr had probed Verizon for its diversity, equity and inclusion programs and said they could be a factor in the Frontier deal, but the agency gave its blessing to the merger when the company agreed to end those programs.
Verizon said the deal will allow it to upgrade and expand Frontier’s network capabilities across the country by bringing more fiber to roughly one million American households. Verizon called the acquisition “a cornerstone” of its broadband expansion strategy.
