NEW YORK -- Verizon said Monday that 10,400 U.S. employees have accepted a voluntary buyout offered as the company seeks to trim costs to invest more for its push into the next-generation network known as 5G. That's about 7 percent of the company's global workforce.
Verizon offered the buyouts to 44,000 employees earlier this year. The workers taking the buyouts are mainly U.S.-based managers, excluding Verizon's media business and employees in some customer-facing roles.
The buyout is the company's second-largest, after a 2003 offer in which 21,600 employees accepted severance packages.
The move comes five months after Hans Vestberg took over from Lowell McAdam as chief executive officer at the U.S.' largest wireless carrier. Vestberg, who spent his entire career at communications-equipment maker Ericsson AB before going to New York-based Verizon in April 2017, is making network technology a priority throughout the company.
"For those who were accepted, the coming weeks and months will be a transition," Vestberg wrote in a letter to employees. "For the entire V Team, there will be opportunities to work differently as we prepare for the great things to come at Verizon."
Verizon aims to capitalize on its network investment and gain a lead in new 5G services while its competitors are challenged by merger integration. Its largest rival, AT&T Inc., also is preparing a 5G network, but it's been busy turning itself into a media conglomerate. And T-Mobile US Inc. is seeking approval for its $26 billion takeover of Sprint Corp.
As part of its revamp, Verizon has also scaled back on its media and advertising ambitions. Earlier this year, the company shut down its Go90 mobile-video operation. It also announced plans to rebrand its Oath media unit, which contains online properties AOL and Yahoo, renaming it Verizon Media Group.
Verizon's stock rose 1 percent to $58.27 in New York. The stock was up 9 percent for the year as of Friday.
The staff reduction is part of a four-year, $10 billion cost-cutting program that McAdam announced last year. Employees were told Monday that they were approved for the buyouts, which were capped at 60 weeks of salary and bonuses, and given departure dates depending on the work they were involved with. Some workers will leave by year's end and others as late as June.
Information for this article was contributed by staff members of The Associated Press and by Scott Moritz of Bloomberg News.
Business on 12/11/2018