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Why Verizon’s new CEO must partner with the CFO on a clear market strategy

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Good morning. There are more leadership changes in the Fortune 500, with Verizon’s CFO, Tony Skiadas, gaining a new strategic partner—Dan Schulman—as chief executive.

Verizon (No. 30) announced on Monday that its lead director, Schulman, most recently CEO of PayPal and formerly with AT&T and Virgin Mobile, is succeeding Hans Vestberg as Verizon’s CEO, effective immediately. The company reconfirmed its full-year 2025 guidance and postponed the release of its third quarter earnings report to Oct. 29.

Mark Bertolini, Verizon’s chairman, called Vestberg, in a statement, “an extraordinary leader” who drove network investment and innovation. He said that with the Frontier Communications acquisition nearing completion, “the board and Hans discussed that now is the right time for a CEO transition.”

Bertolini stated that Schulman is the right leader to guide Verizon’s next phase of increased customer focus and financial growth. Schulman said in a statement that he’s honored to serve as CEO, adding, “Verizon is at a critical juncture.” Schulman has served on Verizon’s board since 2018 and was elected lead independent director in December.

Michael Hodel, director of communications services equity research for Morningstar, told me that Verizon underperformed under Vestberg, “at least in the eyes of many market participants.” He continued, “From my view, Verizon has struggled to articulate a clear strategy around market positioning, branding, and pricing, sticking too long to messaging that produced success when it was clearly the best network in the industry.”

Hodel added that Verizon needs to adapt to the current market structure and “has failed to live up to growth forecasts under Vestberg.” Hodel added: “My guess is that the board was losing patience given how the stock has performed.”

Scott Simmons, co-managing partner at executive search firm Crist Kolder Associates, commented on Verizon’s announcement: “Vestberg was named CEO in 2018, seven years ago, and the stock has not moved in the right direction the past few years, which increased pressure from investors,” Simmons said.

Verizon’s stock price has dropped notably since its peak between 2018 and 2020 and is down about 30% over the past five years, reflecting sustained underperformance compared to broader market indices. On Monday, the stock fell by 5% following the announcement that Schulman has replaced Vestberg as CEO. Verizon did not provide further comment on the reason for the CEO change.

Simmons, who has more than 20 years of experience in executive recruiting, described Schulman as bringing a fresh perspective to Verizon, with leadership experience across multiple industries, including telecom and fintech. He noted that Schulman successfully transformed PayPal, now valued at nearly $70 billion. “Schulman is the force that will change Verizon’s direction,” Simmons said.

Wireless industry ‘entering a new era’

Ookla’s lead industry analyst Mike Dano wrote in a LinkedIn post on Monday: “Broadly, we’re entering a new era in the U.S. wireless industry, with early 5G buildouts wrapping up and, now, a big focus on fiber getting underway.”

Verizon is competing with major industry players, including AT&T and T-Mobile. In September 2024, Verizon announced its $20 billion acquisition of Frontier Communications, a leading U.S. fiber broadband provider. Although Vestberg has stepped down as CEO, he will serve as special advisor through Oct. 4, 2026, and will oversee the integration with Frontier Communications, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, according to Verizon.

When I asked Skiadas last month what distinguishes Verizon among its competitors, he cited the company’s investment of about $200 billion in wireless spectrum and networks over the past seven years—almost $18 billion annually—to strengthen its network. “That’s really the hallmark of our company, and then giving customers choice and flexibility,” Skiadas said. He became CFO in 2023 and has been with Verizon and its predecessors for nearly three decades. 

Regarding the CEO-CFO dynamic, “I would argue CEOs and CFOs must be strategic partners, or else something in that equation is broken,” Simmons said. “Knowledge diminishes risk, and the familiarity between a board member, Schulman, and the CFO, Skiadas, should smooth the path toward success as strategic partners—assuming a certain level of professional respect exists between the two.”

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.co

Leaderboard

Anthony Armstrong has been appointed CFO of xAI, Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence group, the Financial Times reports. Armstrong will replace Mike Liberatore, who left the startup this year for OpenAI after three months in the role. Liberatore departed following clashes with some members of Musk’s inner circle, according to the report. Armstrong will reportedly oversee the finance function for both xAI and the social media platform X. Musk merged X and xAI in March, valuing the combined group at $113 billion. Formerly the head of global technology mergers and acquisitions at Morgan Stanley, Armstrong was part of the team hired by Musk to facilitate the acquisition of X, then known as Twitter. Most recently, Armstrong worked for the Trump administration as a senior adviser to the Office of Personnel Management.

 

Marshall Witt was appointed senior vice president and chief financial officer of FedEx Freight, effective Oct. 15. Witt’s appointment completes FedEx Freight’s executive leadership team, joining the previously announced leadership roles. FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) is preparing for the separation of FedEx Freight into an independent company. Witt is the former CFO of TD SYNNEX, a global IT distributor and solutions provider. Prior to joining TD SYNNEX, Witt spent 15 years at FedEx, primarily within the FedEx Freight finance organization, where he most recently served as senior vice president of finance and controller.

Big Deal

Sports team acquisitions are on pace to set an annual record in 2025, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Private equity is driving higher valuations and encouraging long-time owners to sell.

As of August, aggregate deal value reached $23.6 billion for the year, putting 2025 on track to surpass the previous full-year record of $16.6 billion set in 2023.

The 2025 total includes two megadeals: the $10 billion sale of The Los Angeles Lakers, Inc. announced in June, and the $4.25 billion sale of the Portland Trail Blazers Inc. pending agreement in August.

Going deeper

“AMD stock jumps on OpenAI deal as Big Tech seeks to reduce reliance on Nvidia” is a Fortune report by Sharon Goldman.

From the report: “AMD announced a long-term partnership with OpenAI on Monday that will make it one of the startup’s key chip suppliers for running its AI models. The company’s stock jumped 28% in midday trading on the news of the multiyear deal, which could generate tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue for AMD over time and marks one of the largest AI infrastructure commitments that’s not based on processors from industry leader Nvidia.” Read the complete report here

Overheard



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SpaceX to offer insider shares at record-setting $800 billion valuation

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SpaceX is preparing to sell insider shares in a transaction that would value Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite maker at as much as $800 billion, people familiar with the matter said, reclaiming the title of the world’s most valuable private company. 

The details, discussed by SpaceX’s board of directors on Thursday at its Starbase hub in Texas, could change based on interest from insider sellers and buyers or other factors, said some of the people, who asked not to be identified as the information isn’t public. SpaceX is also exploring a possible initial public offering as soon as late next year, one of the people said. 

Another person briefed on the matter said that the price under discussion for the sale of some employees and investors’ shares is higher than $400 apiece, which would value SpaceX at between $750 billion and $800 billion. The company wouldn’t raise any funds though this planned sale, though a successful offering at such levels would catapult it past the record of $500 billion valuation achieved by OpenAI in October.

Elon Musk on Saturday denied that SpaceX is raising money at a $800 billion valuation without addressing Bloomberg’s reporting on the planned offering of insiders’ shares. 

“SpaceX has been cash flow positive for many years and does periodic stock buybacks twice a year to provide liquidity for employees and investors,” Musk said in a post on his social media platform X. 

The share sale price under discussion would be a substantial increase from the $212 a share set in July, when the company raised money and sold shares at a valuation of $400 billion. The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times earlier reported the $800 billion valuation target.

News of SpaceX’s valuation sent shares of EchoStar Corp., a satellite TV and wireless company, up as much as 18%. Last month, EchoStar had agreed to sell spectrum licenses to SpaceX for $2.6 billion, adding to an earlier agreement to sell about $17 billion in wireless spectrum to Musk’s company.

Subscribe Now: The Business of Space newsletter covers NASA, key industry events and trends.

The world’s most prolific rocket launcher, SpaceX dominates the space industry with its Falcon 9 rocket that lifts satellites and people to orbit.

SpaceX is also the industry leader in providing internet services from low-Earth orbit through Starlink, a system of more than 9,000 satellites that is far ahead of competitors including Amazon.com Inc.’s Amazon Leo.

Elite Group

SpaceX is among an elite group of companies that have the ability to raise funds at $100 billion-plus valuations while delaying or denying they have any plan to go public. 

An IPO of the company at an $800 billion value would vault SpaceX into another rarefied group — the 20 largest public companies, a few notches below Musk’s Tesla Inc. 

If SpaceX sold 5% of the company at that valuation, it would have to sell $40 billion of stock — making it the biggest IPO of all time, well above Saudi Aramco’s $29 billion listing in 2019. The firm sold just 1.5% of the company in that offering, a much smaller slice than the majority of publicly traded firms make available.

A listing would also subject SpaceX to the volatility of being a public company, versus private firms whose valuations are closely guarded secrets. Space and defense company IPOs have had a mixed reception in 2025. Karman Holdings Inc.’s stock has nearly tripled since its debut, while Firefly Aerospace Inc. and Voyager Technologies Inc. have plunged by double-digit percentages since their debuts.

SpaceX executives have repeatedly floated the idea of spinning off SpaceX’s Starlink business into a separate, publicly traded company — a concept President Gwynne Shotwell first suggested in 2020. 

However, Musk cast doubt on the prospect publicly over the years and Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen said in 2024 that a Starlink IPO would be something that would take place more likely “in the years to come.”

The Information, citing people familiar with the discussions, separately reported on Friday that SpaceX has told investors and financial institution representatives that it’s aiming for an IPO of the entire company in the second half of next year.

Read More: How to Buy SpaceX: A Guide for the Eager, Pre-IPO

A so-called tender or secondary offering, through which employees and some early shareholders can sell shares, provides investors in closely held companies such as SpaceX a way to generate liquidity.

SpaceX is working to develop its new Starship vehicle, advertised as the most powerful rocket ever developed to loft huge numbers of Starlink satellites as well as carry cargo and people to moon and, eventually, Mars.



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National Park Service drops free admission on MLK Day and Juneteenth while adding Trump’s birthday

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The National Park Service will offer free admission to U.S. residents on President Donald Trump’s birthday next year — which also happens to be Flag Day — but is eliminating the benefit for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth.

The new list of free admission days for Americans is the latest example of the Trump administration downplaying America’s civil rights history while also promoting the president’s image, name and legacy.

Last year, the list of free days included Martin Luther King Jr Day and Juneteenth — which is June 19 — but not June 14, Trump’s birthday.

The new free-admission policy takes effect Jan. 1 and was one of several changes announced by the Park Service late last month, including higher admission fees for international visitors.

The other days of free park admission in 2026 are Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Constitution Day, Veterans Day, President Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday (Oct. 27) and the anniversary of the creation of the Park Service (Aug. 25).

Eliminating Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, which commemorates the day in 1865 when the last enslaved Americans were emancipated, removes two of the nation’s most prominent civil rights holidays.

Some civil rights leaders voiced opposition to the change after news about it began spreading over the weekend.

“The raw & rank racism here stinks to high heaven,” Harvard Kennedy School professor Cornell William Brooks, a former president of the NAACP, wrote on social media about the new policy.

Kristen Brengel, a spokesperson for the National Parks Conservation Association, said that while presidential administrations have tweaked the free days in the past, the elimination of Martin Luther King Jr. Day is particularly concerning. For one, the day has become a popular day of service for community groups that use the free day to perform volunteer projects at parks.

That will now be much more expensive, said Brengel, whose organization is a nonprofit that advocates for the park system.

“Not only does it recognize an American hero, it’s also a day when people go into parks to clean them up,” Brengel said. “Martin Luther King Jr. deserves a day of recognition … For some reason, Black history has repeatedly been targeted by this administration, and it shouldn’t be.”

Some Democratic lawmakers also weighed in to object to the new policy.

“The President didn’t just add his own birthday to the list, he removed both of these holidays that mark Black Americans’ struggle for civil rights and freedom,” said Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada. “Our country deserves better.”

A spokesperson for the National Park Service did not immediately respond to questions on Saturday seeking information about the reasons behind the changes.

Since taking office, Trump has sought to eliminate programs seen as promoting diversity across the federal government, actions that have erased or downplayed America’s history of racism as well as the civil rights victories of Black Americans.

Self-promotion is an old habit of the president’s and one he has continued in his second term. He unsuccessfully put himself forwardfor the Nobel Peace Prize, renamed the U.S. Institute of Peace after himself, sought to put his name on the planned NFL stadium in the nation’s capital and had a new children’s savings program named after him.

Some Republican lawmakers have suggested putting his visage on Mount Rushmore and the $100 bill.



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JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says Europe has a ‘real problem’

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon called out slow bureaucracy in Europe in a warning that a “weak” continent poses a major economic risk to the US.

“Europe has a real problem,” Dimon said Saturday at the Reagan National Defense Forum. “They do some wonderful things on their safety nets. But they’ve driven business out, they’ve driven investment out, they’ve driven innovation out. It’s kind of coming back.”

While he praised some European leaders who he said were aware of the issues, he cautioned politics is “really hard.” 

Dimon, leader of the biggest US bank, has long said that the risk of a fragmented Europe is among the major challenges facing the world. In his letter to shareholders released earlier this year, he said that Europe has “some serious issues to fix.”

On Saturday, he praised the creation of the euro and Europe’s push for peace. But he warned that a reduction in military efforts and challenges trying to reach agreement within the European Union are threatening the continent.

“If they fragment, then you can say that America first will not be around anymore,” Dimon said. “It will hurt us more than anybody else because they are a major ally in every single way, including common values, which are really important.”

He said the US should help.

“We need a long-term strategy to help them become strong,” Dimon said. “A weak Europe is bad for us.”

The administration of President Donald Trump issued a new national security strategy that directed US interests toward the Western Hemisphere and protection of the homeland while dismissing Europe as a continent headed toward “civilizational erasure.”

Read More: Trump’s National Security Strategy Veers Inward in Telling Shift

JPMorgan has been ramping up its push to spur more investments in the national defense sector. In October, the bank announced that it would funnel $1.5 trillion into industries that bolster US economic security and resiliency over the next 10 years — as much as $500 billion more than what it would’ve provided anyway. 

Dimon said in the statement that it’s “painfully clear that the United States has allowed itself to become too reliant on unreliable sources of critical minerals, products and manufacturing.”

Investment banker Jay Horine oversees the effort, which Dimon called “100% commercial.” It will focus on four areas: supply chain and advanced manufacturing; defense and aerospace; energy independence and resilience; and frontier and strategic technologies. 

The bank will also invest as much as $10 billion of its own capital to help certain companies expand, innovate or accelerate strategic manufacturing.

Separately on Saturday, Dimon praised Trump for finding ways to roll back bureaucracy in the government.

“There is no question that this administration is trying to bring an axe to some of the bureaucracy that held back America,” Dimon said. “That is a good thing and we can do it and still keep the world safe, for safe food and safe banks and all the stuff like that.”



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