Overview

Verizon Communications is a telecommunications company based in New York.

Business segments and operations

Verizon operates through two strategic business units:
 
Verizon Consumer Group: Consumer-focused wireless and wireline communications services and products.
 
Verizon Business Group: Wireless and wireline communications services and products including broadband, data, video and conferencing services, corporate networking solutions, security, and managed network services, local and long-distance voice services and network access.
 
See more: Verizon’s business and brands

Marketing spending

Worldwide ad spending:
Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers report is the company’s stated “advertising expense.”
 
Verizon disclosed worldwide advertising expense of $3.847 billion in 2023, up 8.2% from $3.556 billion in 2022.
 
U.S. ad spending:
Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Ad Age Leading National Advertisers report is the company’s stated advertising expense. 

Links to Ad Age’s advertiser rankings

Latest rankings: U.S.

The Ad Age Leading National Advertisers 2024 ranking was released Oct. 28, 2024.

Past rankings: U.S.

Ad Age Leading National Advertisers 2023
Ad Age Leading National Advertisers 2022

Latest rankings: worldwide

The Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers 2024 ranking was released Dec. 9, 2024.

Past rankings: worldwide

Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers 2023
Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers 2022

Financial results

See more: Verizon’s financial results

Read Verizon’s annual filing

Frontier Communications:
Verizon in September 2024 signed a deal to buy Frontier Communications Parent for $20 billion. Frontier is a Dallas-based telecom company that offers data and internet, voice and video services over fiber and copper lines.

In the deal announcement, Verizon said: “This strategic acquisition of the largest pure-play fiber internet provider in the U.S. will significantly expand Verizon’s fiber footprint across the nation.”

Verizon expected to complete the transaction in 2026.

The deal came eight years after Verizon in 2016 sold its wireline operations in California, Florida, and Texas to Frontier in a transaction valued at about $10.5 billion.

Frontier filed for bankruptcy reorganization in 2020 and emerged from bankruptcy in 2021.

TracFone Wireless:
Verizon in November 2021 bought TracFone Wireless, a U.S. prepaid mobile phone provider, from Mexico-based telecom firm America Movil for about $7.1 billion in cash, stock, and future payments tied to performance.

As of November 2021, TracFone had about 20 million subscribers; more than 13 million of those subscribers were served over Verizon’s wireless network through an existing wholesale agreement.

TracFone Wireless brands included Tracfone, Net10 Wireless, StraightTalk Wireless, SafeLink Wireless, Total Wireless, Walmart Family Mobile, Clearway, Simple Mobile and Page Plus.
 
Verizon Media sale:
Verizon in September 2021 sold Verizon Media to buyout firm Apollo Global Management for $4.3 billion in cash and $750 million in non-convertible preferred limited partnership units. Verizon kept a 10% stake in the business, which took the name Yahoo after the transaction closed.
 
The sale ended Verizon’s attempt to build a digital media business.
 
Verizon in June 2015 bought AOL, an ad-tech and digital-media company, for about $3.8 billion in cash, net of cash acquired of about $500 million. AOL had been a standalone company since December 2009, when Time Warner spun it off as a separate public company. That split marked the end of a much-debunked merger created with America Online’s acquisition of Time Warner in January 2001.
 
Verizon in June 2017 bought the operating business of internet media pioneer Yahoo Inc. for $4.7 billion. 
 
Upon completing the Yahoo deal, Verizon combined Yahoo and AOL operations into a new digital media and technology division, Oath. Verizon in  2019 changed the name of Oath to Verizon Media.
 
Vodafone:
Verizon Communications, the 55% owner of Verizon Wireless, in February 2014 acquired the remaining 45% stake from Vodafone Group, a U.K.-based telecom firm, for about $130 billion, giving Verizon 100% ownership of the wireless operation.

Management and employees

Hans Vestberg joined Verizon as CEO in 2018 and became chairman in 2019.
 
See more: Verizon management
 
See more: Verizon careers

Stock

Verizon trades on the New York Stock Exchange. Ticker: VZ

Verizon Communications was created in 2000 by the merger of Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp.

Verizon is a rollup of two Baby Bells (Nynex and Bell Atlantic)—companies that split off from American Telephone & Telegraph Co. in 1984’s Bell System breakup—and GTE.

Bell Atlantic merged with Nynex Corp. in August 1997; the merged company was called Bell Atlantic.

Bell Atlantic on June 30, 2000, merged with telecom firm GTE; the merged company took the name Verizon Communications.

Rival AT&T Inc. owns four of the seven Baby Bells that on Jan. 1, 1984, broke off from American Telephone & Telegraph Co. (which became AT&T Corp.): Ameritech, BellSouth, Pacific Telesis Group and Southwestern Bell (which became SBC). (SBC Communications adopted the name AT&T Inc. after SBC bought AT&T Corp. in 2005.)

Qwest Communications in 2000 acquired the seventh Baby Bell, U S West. Telecom rollup CenturyLink (formerly CenturyTel) in 2011 acquired Qwest. CenturyLink in 2021 changed its name to Lumen Technologies. Lumen in 2022 sold its local phone business (operating under the CenturyLink brand) in 20 Midwest and Southeast states to buyout firm Apollo Global Management.

See more: Verizon looks at its past, present and future
 
See more: Verizon’s history