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Verizon appointed former PayPal President and CEO Dan Schulman to lead the company in October 2025, replacing Hans Vestberg. Verizon’s announcement described the appointment as effective immediately on October 6, 2025, while its 2026 proxy statement records October 4, 2025, as the date Vestberg stepped down and Schulman became CEO. As of August 18, 2026, Schulman remains Verizon’s chief executive.
The succession marks a shift from Vestberg’s network-investment era toward a commercial test: whether Verizon can turn its wireless network and expanded fiber footprint into stronger customer growth, better service economics and improved financial performance.
What Verizon announced
Verizon named Schulman CEO, appointed Mark Bertolini chairman of the board and moved Vestberg out of the chairman-and-CEO roles. Vestberg did not immediately disappear from the company: Verizon made him a special adviser, with responsibilities that included transition continuity and the Frontier Communications integration, and expected him to remain on the board through the 2026 annual meeting.
Verizon also reaffirmed its full-year 2025 financial guidance and postponed its third-quarter 2025 earnings release. These were separate announcements accompanying the leadership change, not evidence that the appointment itself had already changed Verizon’s financial results.
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The company’s announcement is dated October 6, 2025 and calls the appointment effective immediately. Verizon’s 2026 proxy uses October 4, 2025, for Vestberg’s departure and Schulman’s start date. The two official documents therefore establish the transition but report different effective-date conventions. (Verizon announcement; 2026 proxy statement)
| Role or event | What changed |
|---|---|
| Chief executive | Dan Schulman replaced Hans Vestberg. |
| Board chair | Mark Bertolini became chairman. |
| Vestberg’s role | Special adviser through October 4, 2026, and expected board service through the 2026 annual meeting. |
| Financial guidance | Verizon reaffirmed its full-year 2025 outlook. |
Who is Dan Schulman?
Schulman is best known for serving about nine years as PayPal’s president and CEO. Before PayPal, his career included leadership roles connected with telecommunications, technology, travel and financial services, including AT&T, Virgin Mobile, Priceline and American Express.
He was already familiar with Verizon. He joined the company’s board in 2018 and became lead independent director in December 2024. Moving from that oversight role into the operating CEO job gave him knowledge of Verizon’s strategy, competitive position, major transactions and board processes.
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Verizon’s biography says that during Schulman’s PayPal tenure, revenue rose from $8 billion to $30 billion, earnings per share increased fivefold and the company added hundreds of millions of customers. Those figures are Verizon’s published résumé claims, not an independent assessment of causation or performance. Schulman holds a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College and an MBA in finance from New York University’s Stern School of Business. (Verizon biography)
Why Verizon selected him
Verizon’s board described Schulman as a “seasoned and decisive leader” and cited transformative leadership, operational excellence, customer focus and financial growth. His previous Verizon service also offered continuity at a time when the company was preparing a large broadband transaction.
A reasonable interpretation—not an official explanation—is that Verizon wanted a commercially oriented operator who could improve customer acquisition, retention and monetization rather than another leader focused principally on building network capability. PayPal experience is relevant to digital platforms, customer growth and operating efficiency, but wireless networks, spectrum, field operations and telecom regulation create different execution demands.
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Schulman said Verizon would seek to maximize its value propositions, reduce its cost to serve, optimize capital allocation, focus on customers and pursue growth in mobility and broadband. Those are management objectives. The appointment alone does not demonstrate that any of them has been achieved.
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The strategic problems Schulman inherited
Verizon entered the transition with a strong network-investment base but a difficult commercial environment. U.S. wireless competition is highly promotional, and the company needed to translate capital-intensive network spending into subscriber gains, lower churn, revenue growth and shareholder returns.
- Wireless competition: Pricing, promotions, net additions and churn determine whether network quality produces profitable growth.
- Broadband expansion: Verizon needed to grow beyond its traditional wireless footprint while integrating a major fiber operator.
- Cost discipline: Reducing cost to serve requires changes in customer support, sales channels, billing and operations, not simply lower spending.
- Capital allocation: Network investment, spectrum, acquisition spending, debt service and dividends compete for cash.
- Commercial execution: Mobile and home-internet bundles can improve retention, but only if installation, provisioning, billing and support work reliably.
Why Frontier was central to the timing
Verizon agreed to acquire Frontier Communications for approximately $20 billion as part of its broadband-expansion strategy. Verizon said the deal was expected to close in the first quarter of 2026. After receiving all required regulatory approvals, the companies announced clearance on January 15, 2026, and Verizon announced that Frontier had become a Verizon company on January 20, 2026. (regulatory approval announcement; closing announcement)
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Verizon said the combined business would have approximately 30 million fiber passings across 31 states and Washington, D.C. A fiber passing is a home or business that the network can potentially serve; it is not the same as an active broadband subscriber. The commercial opportunity therefore depends on converting network reach into paying customers and profitable bundles.
The integration test
Frontier gives Schulman an immediate operating assignment: combine wireless and fiber offers, align sales and service systems, retain customers during migration and capture expected scale benefits. Integration can expand Verizon’s addressable market, but it also brings legacy systems, installation logistics, employee changes, regulatory obligations and additional financial commitments.
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What happened to Hans Vestberg?
Vestberg became Verizon’s CEO in 2018 and led the company through major 5G and spectrum investments. Verizon credited him with building out its 5G network and establishing the company’s network position. He stepped down as chairman and CEO in October 2025, but stayed involved as a special adviser through October 4, 2026, according to Verizon’s announcement and proxy.
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That arrangement provided continuity during the Frontier transaction and distinguishes the change from an abrupt departure. The official materials do not describe Vestberg as fired, so the transition is more accurately understood as a board-and-CEO succession tied to Verizon’s next phase.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What changed after Schulman took over?
Frontier integration became a near-term priority after the January 20, 2026 closing. Verizon continued to identify Schulman as CEO in its executive biography and investor materials, including 2026 investor events. In February 2026, Verizon also announced that Sowmyanarayan Sampath stepped down as Verizon Consumer Group CEO and that an interim leader would take over that role. That was a separate management development and, by itself, does not establish a broader crisis. (Verizon Consumer Group transition; Verizon investor hub)
How to judge whether the appointment is working
Schulman’s success should be evaluated through operating results rather than the announcement’s promises. Investors and customers can track:
- Wireless performance: postpaid and prepaid net additions, churn, pricing, promotional intensity and average revenue per account.
- Broadband conversion: fiber passings compared with actual broadband additions, customer adoption, installation performance and churn.
- Bundling economics: the number and profitability of mobile-home-internet combinations, not merely the availability of a bundle.
- Financial results: revenue, EBITDA, free cash flow, capital expenditure, debt and dividend coverage.
- Integration execution: Frontier milestones, integration costs, expected synergies and service continuity.
- Customer operations: complaints, service metrics, call-center performance and cost to serve.
- Leadership stability: whether the company can retain key operators while integrating Frontier and changing its commercial model.
The trade-offs behind the choice
- Familiarity versus fresh perspective: Board service can speed execution, but an insider may be less inclined to challenge existing assumptions.
- Platform expertise versus telecom specialization: PayPal experience can help with digital customer growth, while spectrum, network engineering and field operations require different expertise.
- Growth versus balance-sheet discipline: Frontier expands broadband reach but adds integration complexity and financial obligations.
- Network strength versus commercial results: A capable network does not automatically produce superior subscriber growth, lower churn or better returns.
Bottom line
Verizon’s appointment of Dan Schulman was a completed October 2025 CEO succession, not a proposal, and he remains CEO as of August 18, 2026. It signals a move from building network capability toward extracting more commercial value from that capability and from Frontier’s expanded fiber footprint. The real verdict will come from wireless and broadband customer growth, integration execution, cash generation, debt discipline and service quality—not from the leadership announcement alone.
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