Verizon swings to loss, projects another round of layoffs

[*LTD*]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703906204575026803979106926.html

Verizon swings to loss, projects another round of layoffs

"Verizon Communications Inc. swung to a fourth-quarter loss because of charges related to job cuts, as the company's executives continued to cast a downbeat note on the economic recovery," Roger Cheng reports for The Wall Street Journal.

"While the New York telecommunications giant's wireless arm remained resilient in the face of lower consumer spending, its legacy wireline segment wasn't so fortunate. Verizon said there haven't been any indications of a pickup in spending on the business side. In addition, the number of new FiOS customers disappointed Wall Street," Cheng reports.

"'The economy won't help us as much as we thought,' Chairman and Chief Executive Ivan Seidenberg said, adding that he doesn't see a significant improvement until the end of the year. As a result, the company projects another round of layoffs, similar in size to last year," Cheng reports.

"The company reported a loss of $653 million, or 23 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $1.23 billion, or 43 cents. Excluding one-time items, among them the costs from cutting about 8,000 jobs, earnings fell to 54 cents a share," Cheng reports. "Revenue jumped 9.9% to $27.09 billion. Both profits and revenue disappointed analysts, who were already bracing for weaker results."

"The wireless business, however, remained strong thanks to Verizon Wireless's latest attempt to counter the popularity of AT&T Inc. and Apple Inc.'s iPhone. Motorola Inc.'s Droid, powered by Google Inc.'s Android software, saw moderate success with its holiday launch," Cheng reports.

"To offset the slowing revenue, the company maintained its commitment to cutting costs," Cheng reports. "It expects to cut its work force of 117,000 by another 13,000, similar to the amount of jobs it slashed last year."

 

[miles01110]

So how does this article equate to Apple being God's gift to planet Earth while simultaneously portraying Microsoft as the antichrist, LTD?

 

[kdarling]

No surprise here.

Every carrier's landline division is losing customers to their wireless side, so they don't need as many landline installation and repair techs.

Note that the wireless division (VZW) is doing great, and is probably hiring like crazy.

For the first time, there are now more people using just cell phones than using just landline phones.

 

[maflynn]

Verizon is in a difficult position, trying to promote its landline, compete against the cable providers with their fios and not extend that networks. All of which cost money. What I didn't know is that their fios product is only SD only, no HD channels. That will certainly hurt adoption as people adopt HD TVs.

 

[kdarling]

Verizon is in a difficult position, trying to promote its landline, compete against the cable providers with their fios and not extend that networks. All of which cost money.

I thought they were nuts at first, but Verizon's FiOS investment turned out to be a smart move. It allows them to keep customers and even chew into the cable market. Plus they can use their fiber network as backhaul for their cell towers. They even lease it to other carriers.

What I didn't know is that their fios product is only SD only, no HD channels. That will certainly hurt adoption as people adopt HD TVs.

Odd, Their website says they have 100 HD channels on FiOS.