Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg explains the company's massive reorganization
Thomson ReutersVerizon Chief Executive Officer Hans Vestberg speaks at a news conference in Stockholm
- Speaking at Business Insider's IGNITION Conference, Hans Vestberg explained the impetus behind the massive business reorganization the company announced in November.
- The company is now comprised of Verizon Consumer Group, Verizon Business Group, and Verizon Media Group.
- The reorg will help the company leverage its best assets, which Vestberg described as the network, distribution, and brand.
Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg has been running the company for just four months, but he's already brought seismic changes to the company.
In November, Vestberg reorganized the business that was split between wireless and wireline businesses and created three main business segments: Verizon Consumer Group, led by Ronan Dunne; Verizon Business Group, led by Tami Erwin; and Verizon Media Group, led by Guru Gowrappan.
Speaking at Business Insider's IGNITION Conference in New York on Tuesday, Vestberg explained the impetus behind the change.
He called it a "logical and natural step in order to leverage all of the best assets we have in Verizon, which is the network, the distribution, and our brand."
A change for a company of Verizon's size, with roughly 160,000 employees and 150 million customers, required conversations with "tremendous" amounts of internal executives and shareholders, Vestberg said.
And much of the change leads back to Verizon's network and the company's plans for 5G. Vestberg started at Verizon in April 2017 as chief technology officer. The business reorganization was the natural next step after the work that the company has put into place to transform its network, he said. Verizon's 5G network will spur innovation around the world, according to Vestberg.
"There are three and a half billion people having a smart phone today," he said. "It's the biggest mass market of electronic devices that you've ever seen in mankind."