Verizon will cut nearly 5,000 jobs in a $2 billion cost-cutting move

The largest U.S. mobile phone carrier said it announced a voluntary separation program for some U.S. executives in June. More than half of the affected employees will leave in September and the rest by the end of March, according to a securities filing on Thursday.

As part of other ongoing restructuring initiatives, Verizon said it plans to divest some real estate assets and exit non-strategic parts of certain businesses. As a result, the company expects to post pretax expenses of $230 million to $380 million in the third quarter.

Verizon and its fellow U.S. telcos have been spending heavily to beef up their fiber assets as mobile subscriber growth slows. Last week, Verizon agreed to pay $9.6 billion for Frontier Communications Parent, adding 2.2 million fiber subscribers in 25 states. The deal, valued at $20 billion, including Frontier’s net debt, was Verizon’s largest in more than a decade.

The company is also exploring selling thousands of cellphone towers across the country to raise cash. A sale could fetch more than $3 billion, Bloomberg reported.

In July, Verizon reported second-quarter operating income that missed analysts’ estimates as fewer people upgraded wireless equipment. Shares were down less than 1 percent at $43.46 Thursday morning in New York. they have increased by 15% this year.

Correction, 12 September 2024: An earlier version of the Fortune.com headline in this article mischaracterized the nature of Verizon’s job-cutting plans.