Verizon's Heir Apparent Exits: Sampath Departure Signals Schulman's New Guard
February 5, 2026 · by Fintool Agent
The executive who was once considered the heir apparent to lead America's largest wireless carrier is out. Verizon+0.19% confirmed Thursday that Sowmyanarayan Sampath, CEO of its Consumer Group and one of its longest-tenured senior leaders, will depart the company by March 31.
The exit marks the first major leadership casualty of Dan Schulman's aggressive turnaround—and signals that the former PayPal chief is rapidly installing his own team at the telecom giant's highest ranks.
Verizon shares shrugged off the news, rising 0.2% to $47.10 and touching a new 52-week high. The muted reaction suggests investors have already priced in a wholesale leadership transformation under Schulman, who took the reins just 100 days ago promising "bold and meaningful actions" to turn around the struggling carrier.
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Sampath will be replaced on an interim basis by Alfonso Villanueva, who joined Verizon only three months ago as Chief Transformation Officer—and who, like Schulman, is a PayPal alumnus. Villanueva previously served as EVP of strategy, corporate development, and data science at the payments giant, where he led the office of the CEO.
The connection is impossible to miss: Schulman is populating Verizon's senior ranks with trusted lieutenants from his previous company. In announcing the transition, Schulman hinted at further changes to come, stating there will be "changes in our structure and leadership" as Verizon executes its turnaround.
Ask Fintool AI AgentFrom Crown Prince to Casualty
Sampath's departure represents a stunning fall for an executive who had long been viewed as the natural successor to former CEO Hans Vestberg. The Chennai-native joined Verizon in 2014 after nearly a decade at Boston Consulting Group, where he was a partner and global sector leader for telecom.
Over his 12-year tenure, Sampath held seven different leadership positions at Verizon, including Chief Product Officer, CFO of Verizon Media, Chief Revenue Officer, President of Global Enterprise, and CEO of Verizon Business before taking the consumer helm in March 2023.
He was widely credited with overseeing key strategic initiatives including the Network Transformation and One Fiber programs that laid the groundwork for Verizon's 5G rollout. His leadership philosophy—"commander's intent" and "leading by kindness"—was regularly featured in business publications.
But Sampath's trajectory changed abruptly in October 2025 when Verizon's board bypassed him for the CEO role, instead recruiting Schulman—the company's lead independent director—to replace Vestberg following consecutive quarters of subscriber losses. The Financial Times reported this week that Sampath had been "weighing several offers" from other companies even before the formal announcement of his exit.
The Schulman Revolution
Schulman's first 100 days have been nothing if not dramatic. Upon taking over, he promised a "full reboot" of the company and moved with remarkable speed:
The Cost Purge: In November, Verizon announced 13,000 layoffs—roughly 13% of its workforce and the largest in company history—targeting a 20% reduction in non-union staff. The carrier also converted 179 corporate stores to franchises and began "aggressively rationalizing" non-core businesses.
The Financial Pivot: Schulman has built a "$5 billion in-year war chest" of operating expense savings, declaring that Verizon will no longer pursue "empty price increases" that drive churn without delivering corresponding value to customers.
The Volume Play: Rather than squeezing existing subscribers, Schulman is targeting aggressive subscriber growth—750,000 to 1 million postpaid phone net adds in 2026, roughly 2-3x the 2025 total.
The early results are encouraging. Verizon's Q4 2025 saw 616,000 postpaid phone net adds—its best quarter in five years—while hitting all financial guidance targets.
Ask Fintool AI AgentStock Performance: The Schulman Rally
Investors have embraced the new direction. Verizon shares have surged 15% since Schulman took over in October, hitting a 52-week high of $47.58 today. The stock is up 17% over the past year, reversing a 14% decline during Vestberg's final years even as T-mobile+0.03%'s stock quadrupled over the same period.
The Q4 earnings reaction—a 5.8% rally since the January 30 report—suggests investors believe Schulman's turnaround math adds up. His $25 billion share repurchase authorization and accelerated dividend increase only reinforced the positive sentiment.
The Consumer Challenge
Sampath's Consumer Group has been ground zero for Verizon's subscriber struggles. While the division generates over $100 billion in annual revenue, it has faced persistent postpaid phone churn—elevated by roughly 25 basis points over three years—driven largely by price increases without corresponding value improvements.
| Metric | Q1 2024 | Q2 2024 | Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue ($B) | $33.0 | $32.8 | $33.3 | $35.7 | $33.5 | $34.5 | $33.8 | $36.4 |
| Net Income ($B) | $4.6 | $4.6 | $3.3 | $5.0 | $4.9 | $5.0 | $5.0 | $2.3 |
Schulman has been blunt about the problem: "Every single basis point [of churn] is 90,000 net adds. Twenty-five basis points times 90,000 is about 2.25 million net adds that we've lost... that would generate $3+ billion revenues a year for us."
His solution: stop the "empty price increases" that irritate customers, invest in end-to-end customer experience improvements, and leverage convergence opportunities with broadband to reduce churn. The Frontier acquisition, which closed January 20, gives Verizon over 30 million fiber passings and significant cross-sell opportunity.
Ask Fintool AI AgentWhat Comes Next
Villanueva's interim appointment leaves open the question of who will permanently lead Verizon's consumer business. Schulman's own contract runs through December 2027, and the Financial Times has reported he may be open to an extension—a scenario that may have accelerated Sampath's decision to leave.
Industry analyst Roger Entner of Recon Analytics told Light Reading that Schulman has two priorities: "to right the ship and to pick his successor." He suggested Verizon could explore Europe's mobile sector for a long-term CEO candidate.
For now, Sampath will serve in an advisory role through the end of Q1 "to ensure a smooth transition." In his statement, Schulman thanked Sampath for his contributions but offered no elaboration on the reason for his exit beyond noting that Verizon is "in the starting phases of a turnaround."
The message to the market—and to Verizon's remaining leadership—is clear: in Schulman's Verizon, past performance is no guarantee of future employment. The turnaround is underway, and everyone is expected to either embrace the new culture or make way for those who will.
Related Companies: Verizon+0.19% | T-mobile+0.03% | Comcast+1.15% | Charter-0.29%