#strategy

Phase 2: The Premium IPO (Years 3-5)
The endgame is not a utility sale. A rebranded "Tech-Enabled Communications Platform" targets 10-11x EV/EBITDA—more than double VZ’s current segment multiple—by shifting the investor narrative from "low-growth utility" to "digitally enabled service platform."

MetricLegacy VZ SegmentModeled ServCo (Year 5)EBITDA Margin25%38%EV/EBITDA Multiple5-6x10-11xWhy Verizon is the Perfect Case Study

CEO Dan Schulman's track record—scaling PayPal’s asset-light model—aligns perfectly with a ServCo mindset. Separation would allow him to:
Shed Valuation Drag: Instantly move ~$20B in annual CapEx off the P&L.
Focus on Growth: Reinvest freed capital into service innovation and customer experience.

Enhance Transparency: Attract differentiated, growth-focused funds for ServCo and stable income funds for NetCo.

The Precedent is Clear: BT/Openreach, Telstra InfraCo, and KKR/Telecom Italia have already demonstrated double-digit valuation re-ratings once infrastructure and services were properly delineated.

The ServCo, long viewed as the weaker half, could become the crown jewel—reborn as a high-margin, digitally transformed growth vehicle commanding a premium Wall Street multiple.

This isn't financial engineering; it's the structural precondition for sustainable growth. The sum of the parts is clearly worth more than the whole.
hashtag#Telecom hashtag#Verizon hashtag#PrivateEquity hashtag#Valuation hashtag#ApolloGlobalManagement hashtag#Strategy hashtag#StructuralSeparation
likelovesupport

"That 25% of non-core business, including SMB and consumer cybersecurity, DevOps, and analytics, is going to be a hole worth almost $1.3 billion to fill however, so the shrink to grow strategy better work, and the new CEO may need some patience given to them."

https://www.iteuropa.com/news/opentext-shrink-grow-strategy-may-mean-it-has-13bn-sales-hole

JD absolutely burned Nike, pure failure no question. His strategy was cost reduction and DTC, no real tech chops as PK hoped, fitting of a consultant. Company value cut in half 2020-2024 during his time!

How does PK wipe the egg off his face after hand selecting JD, demoralizing employees, and scaring off shareholders? Go back to the safety of Nike DNA roots picking EH a former Dallas Cowboy trainer for his friend JJ.

Cronie nepotism at its best. EH is WAY over his head, he’s a salesman not a CEO. Nike has a very uncertain future ahead, it’s worrisome.

What’s next people? More excuses ahead of earnings coming certainly…

it has been more than one year since EH got CEO job.

I know Nike production is made and delivered in 6 to 9 months to consumers through Futures program to their store.

Now he has no excuse to use JD's incompetence as excuse for having top of the line classic Nike product in Nike store's HASH WALLS by tons with deep discount.
EH was one who OKd Air Jordans to be relegated to Hash Wall in Nike store!!!
And he launched Skims line after looong delays
And I have seen CNBC interview which he seemed to come out with typical corporate BS during entire interview!!

One might say that one year is too short to judge a CEO performance but when you don't see anything positive then it is better to do it early rather than later

He has not come out with any new significant new trent or styles and at the same time he has relegated Nike classics to trash status.

Is there any winner in Beaverton?

Any insight on what this message means?

"[We will be] initiating a two-year, $200M "cost-out" program that simplifies our matrix, improves agility and decision-making speed and enables greater investments in growth of New BD."

the centralization bias is real

Please join us for the next TAAP Town Hall on December 10.

We'll share strategic business updates and news to keep you informed as we prepare for what's ahead in 2026.

We'll also reserve time for Q&A to address any questions you may have. If you have a question for the TAAP leadership team, submit it here by December 9.

We look forward to seeing you there.

VZ CEO from 11/17/2025 In my opinion the union is done after watching this. So start maneuvering

I try to keep up with the stocks and stuff and it seems like we did so bad this year then i saw the other day that we lost another contract in Fla and then the tax credits for our market place plans are going away. And then the medicaid cuts are gonna lose us more members. does it feel like maybe this company won't be around very long?

Saying “the strategy is working” feels almost like a joke. Illumina’s board has made a string of questionable decisions — approving the Grail acquisition despite clear EU regulatory risks, then later giving in to activist pressure and spinning it off at the lowest possible value. They brought in a CEO from a company with a decade-long track record of minimal innovation and stagnant growth. Now the focus has shifted to aggressive cuts in both capex and opex, trying to make margin expansion the only story to sell in the absence of real growth. RIFs have practically become an annual event.

Given all this, calling the current strategy a success is hard to take seriously.

Turn it around employees. Zero identity or evolution.

To EH: this isn’t 2010. Try something new for once. The old playbook is dusty.

Fondly,
Former shareholder

Starting this thread to discuss the key wins and strategic successes of the most successful Five9 executive who has turned our ship around (its the wrong way however.)

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/verizon-plans-harsh-change-major-201300564.html

Verizon plans a harsh change after major customer losses

Patricia Battle
Fri, November 14, 2025 at 3:13 PM EST
Verizon has been on a downward spiral this year after it frustrated its phone customers with a series of price increases rolled out over the past few months.

During the third quarter of this year, Verizon lost 7,000 postpaid phone customers, as its churn rate reached 0.91%, according to its latest earnings report. This loss is alarming, given that during the same quarter in 2024, the phone carrier attracted 18,000 new postpaid phone customers.

Don't ask "how do they expect [any function] to continue?". They don't. Verizon will look completely different very quickly and your job, if you still have one, is going to change. Whether it's a sale, merger, or complete dismantling, the old phone company is no more.

Notice how after a layoff, the Lumen higher ups like to post about the "wonderful awards" they seem to garner from this group or that group, and directors like to post about "brain storming" sessions with subordinates that they are working on things like AI and NAAS, but not addressing the real elephant in the room regarding declining revenues on the services that are still paying the bills? "look at this shiny thing over her, while we run Lumen into the ground" Kate and Kye are truly lost, it's no wonder why they jump from company to company, and bring all their friends with them.

Here's an scheme to detox Amazon:

1) Eject Andy and his entire S-team.
2) Close 80% of offices. Go remote first (i.e. remote like the Cloud).
3) Remove 70% of managers, keep the top 30% based on team feedback/metrics.
4) Get rid of LPs. Stop saying that it's day 1 - Amazon has operated since July 5, 1994 - i.e. at least day 11000 (for those that can count).
5) Get rid of Forte, PIP, and URA targets.
6) Modify the hiring process so that most talented candidates are actually hired! Actually look at/study their background.
7) Reassign ICs to teams where they will grow and perform well.
8) Make comp way more competitive (i.e. Meta, NVIDIA, Netflix) and with actual refreshers.
9) Stop supporting Republicans tyrants!

Between $50B in spectrum, and billions more in buildout, we flushed money down the toilet to be able to say we had “Real 5G”. Users didn’t care. A rose by any other name.

Incremental speed increases to keep networks delivering richer content within user expectations is sufficient. Aside from that, they want USABLE, contiguous signal.

Not full bars at a busy lunch spot and all your apps are saying “No Internet Connection”. Not SOS at the same cabin in the mountains from 3 years ago when you still had 3G service.

When a brand has substance, your reputation precedes you and you can ki-l it each quarter with cheesy or basic advertising. When a brand is commoditized, and differentiators are all removed, the GLUE that kept that 1% churn rate is gone.

Shameful waste of marketing $ over past 5 years. Using almost anybody from SNL. We lose Hans but gain Franz. Really??? SNL full circle

1-15k layoffs
2-Looking to gain subs from frontier

What about, 2026 strike?

He didn't invent PayPal, just took over 20 years later. Good Luck

IBM has become such a dysfunctional relic that the most merciful thing left is for the company to sell itself to someone who actually knows how to run a tech business. Years of clueless leadership, bloated acquisitions, pointless reorgs, and nonstop layoffs have turned the place into a slow-motion train wreck where innovation goes to die and the employees who keep the lights on get punished for it. IBM isn’t “transforming” — it’s circling the drain. A sale might be the only shot this dinosaur has at survival.

So new board chair was on CNBC and spoke about the need to act and why. The story was factually incorrect though- why overly dramatize the doom and gloom? Yes, VZ has had a problematic trend and yes the company needs to alter strategy to address it, however he stated VZ has gone from 1st to 3rd in bond ratings (false, VZ still enjoys better bond ratings than TMO and ATT), market cap (pick the day and T/VZ swap between 2nd and 3rd, so not entirely factually incorrect), and marketshare- additionally share has fallen 30% over the last 8 years (false, share is not down 30% and VZ still has the most wireless customers- assuming that is what he was referencing). Change was/is needed, but the company isn’t failing- the income and cashflow statements are enough to prove that point. As a boardmember, executive, etc the focus is almost universally to drive confidence in the company- highlight successes, vision, strategies for growth, etc so that investors and others see the positive story (even when the true situation is more of a mixed bag). Why go on the largest business network and bash the company you chair with false facts? Either he needs to spend more time understanding the company he chairs, or this is to sandbag and lay the groundwork and justification for an absolutely unthinkable scale of change in the short/intermediate term. The later is unfortunately the likely answer.

15,000 jobs gone. A ‘streamlined’ future promised. Yet executive pay stays sky‑high and friends get hired into new divisions. If we truly want transformation, let’s stop cutting the backbone of the company and start listening to the people who actually make it work.

Rawool Fernandass announced with great enthusiasm “My leadership is uniquely leaning itself toward strategic penetration as we fully embrace a deep engagement with our organization’s Assponential operating framework".

Today’s car buyers market is mostly made up of trailer trash, dregs, welfare queens, serial shoplifters, crackheads, alcoholics, me-h heads, basically your all around gutter trash.
So what does Ford need vehicles wise to get these losers into Ford Dealers to buy a car?

The answer is designing cheap new beaters with a fresh coat of paint and no warranty. Ford could mass-produce cars like this just as like old Henry Ford did. Price them cheap, sale them fast should be Fords strategy.

it feels even more insane than normal. All the million different shops trying to maintain a strong strategy presentation which I do get but if you would just staff your stores adequately you would see a return on investment. Like why do we need a “cozy throw shop”, plus the joyland shop and then have different price points subcategories all thrown in the mix. It’s confusing to us in the store trying to set it up and get the stuff out, it has to be confusing to the customer or they get so overwhelmed trying to understand the visual impacts but gets lost because there are so many. 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 idk it’s a lottttt.

dealing with amazon might be sweet in the beginning but it will ki-l you down the line.

Yes, amazon will deliver few billion dollars of sales immediately but keeping them close will ki-l you down the line by cutting independence, originality, fresh new views, objectivity!!
Look at Toys are us, book publishers and latest victim is turns out is UPS. This is short list that comes to my head

Nike be free and independent !!!

So no they are not laying off field techs .Infact they are actually Hiring like crazy .The reality is that long ago the company 1 focus turned solely to wireless which we all knew was not gonna be forever.All while turning their back on the back bone bread and butter of wireline that fed their cell towers served their longtime customers towns buisness. This also was bad for wireless since if you been beaten up and abused by a company on wireline you be your not gonna go buy a wireless plan from them.Next they spent more money and time on hiring Managers upon managers to waste time trying to micromanage the people actually doing the work everyday .We now have brand that’s been beaten down has a bad look.Too much management most of who know nothing .All managing a smaller work force with less customers .Hence Layoffs

These Value brands used to be their own business's and pay Verizon for “access”.

Nancy got moved to protect her nearly 40 year tenure.

Indirect dealers have been beefing up their operational staff with old Verizon execs.

Should be interesting next week.

What is the over/under Of Verizon getting out of the PS business all together just shifting all focus to wireless and broadband?

Bryan appears to either be simple-minded on his approach to running SOLV (into the ground) or being directed by a higher power or deity who has no idea how to run a HC company (Peltz). Either way, he has once again proven that the GE style (Welch, McNerney, Nardelli) of "leadership" simply emaciates a once-strong company into a parceled mess of unrelated businesses waiting for a spin or break-up.

Thankfully, I got to leave during the Covid wave of layoffs and enjoy retirement and coffee mornings on the porch, but still care from time to time about what was left behind.

When Bryan was named CEO before the actual spin and gave his first townhall, people on this board sounded so optimistic, which made sense since Roman was a complete buffoon as CEO. Not sure if he talked much about actual strategies for growth and investment or he just used soothing words and bubblegum phrases to get people to like him, but the shine has clearly worn off.

Annual layoffs, as occurred at 3M under Roman and now at SOLV, only prove you have either NO long-term strategy except for HOPE or you have a strategy that changes faster than the weather in Minnesota every spring and fall day. Either way, Wall Street has (finally!) learned that such a "strategy" is a loser and has kept SOLV stock changing mostly sideways while the SP500 is up over 15%.

Having read a few of the public SOLV releases to shareholders, it appears that SOLV is not likely to have any major runout during Bryan's term. NO long-term growth = no long-term ROI. He has never indicated either to employees or Wall Street what his plan is to reduce the massive debt 3M left in his mailbox. He is the antithesis to Lee Iacocca who earned $1 per year and potentially worthless stock options while flying commercial to DC to lobby for loan guarantees.

Perhaps the only strategy that will work is a series of mergers and spins with other HC companies to spread the debt across multiple companies, hopefully stronger and run for growth. But where would this leave Bryan and his guaranteed 40 million per year? That's the sting! I'm convinced a McKnight CEO would quickly be forced out by some activist investor wanting a quick return for their buck like Peltz.

If there's any consolation, Peltz is basically sitting on dead money with 600+ million invested, almost zero gain on the stock price, and no dividend for perhaps years to come. No wonder he keeps pushing for more layoffs. But the layoffs people talked about this week appear to wiping out business critical roles that will only hurt SOLV and help the competition.

Sorry to hear about this 2nd round of Holiday layoffs. The people at 3M/SOLV deserved much better than Roman, Hanson, and Brown.

One of the things I really miss about corporate life is playing the “which, if you’re unfamiliar with it, is where you go to meetings with the express intent of taking zero actions whatsoever. And if you’re thinking, what is this corporate lingo, then an action is something that you actually have to do. And you might think, “Well, isn’t that the whole point of work, that you actually get stuff done?” To which I would say, “No, foolishness!” You’re too busy attending meetings at which you’re avoiding actions to actually have time to do anything.

So how do you avoid taking any actions? Well, you might think, maybe just don’t show up to the meeting, which would be a terrible strategy, because then the people at the meeting will give you all of the actions, and you hear about it later. So that’s a rookie mistake. There are a variety of strategies for avoiding taking actions, one of which is to just remain perfectly still. This is the Jurassic Park approach. You hope that if you just don’t move, the dinosaur won’t see you, like this. But sadly, the dinosaurs often do spot you, so it’s not a good strategy.

A much better strategy is to constantly be positive in meetings and compliment people, saying things like, “That’s a really great idea!”, “I just wanted to double down on that point…”, “I completely agree!” or “Let me just build on that…”, because that gives people the impression that you’re contributing to the meeting without actually contributing anything.

There is a risk, though, that at some point an action will start to come your way. You need to spot that and head it off quite quickly. You do that by saying things like, “We’re just so busy right now,” or “My team just don’t have the bandwidth,” or even a kind of inferred threat where you say, “We’d have to deprioritize some of our strategically aligned work.” That usually stops them.

You might think that leaders of these meetings would get very frustrated with everybody avoiding taking actions, but they don’t, generally, because that’s how they got where they are, by being very good at giving the impression that they’re doing something whilst at the same time not actually doing anything whatsoever. And I know you’ve got this lingering suspicion: in that case, how does any work actually get done? Well, good question.

The answer is, you give it to somebody else to do. If you have budget, you lodge that with a third party, a vendor, who can actually do the doing, and then you take the credit for the doing. But if you don’t have budget, then you just kind of moan incessantly about not having sufficient budget. “My team doesn’t have enough budget.” “We just don’t have the budget to get anything done this year.” That ensures that you can continue attending meetings where you avoid taking any actions but nevertheless give the impression that you’re actually doing work.

Is this attainable given top line decline rates are 9%

MW is promising something like 12% production increases per year to account for production declines and well failures.

Is this doable or will more companies need to be purchased?
Possibly a Permian Pure Play, and a multinational large independent

Verizon to focus on Verizon brands

Total drag on Verizon! Two V’s don’t make a W!

If AI is supposed to replace mundane, everyday tasks then why wouldn’t we reduce GP headcount further? Some of these GPs do not add any strategic value, they seldom make critical decisions and don’t have the competency to lead the people through 2030. We can cut further cost to fund the 2030 ambition and still attain sound input through AI.

Rumors are leaking out that once again McKinsey is bilking IBM for some serious cash and IBM seems to be going down the path of this McKinsey Three Horizons of Growth nonsense to grow sales and cut costs I guess. Inquiring minds would like to know how many tens of millions IBM has paid McKinsey going back to Gerstner where he was a director there for 13 years 1965-1978. Lets guess since Gerstner came in 1993 IBM has shelled out $3M/year to McKinsey. 32 years x $3M (likely more) is a cool $96,000,000. For what?

1 of a thousand failed examples here...IBM's Personal Computer division reached $4 billion in revenue by 1984, which was more than twice that of Apple at the time. The company continued to be a major player in the global PC market in the following years.
But by 2004, when IBM sold its PC business to Lenovo for $1.75B, annual sales for the division were approximately $10 billion. The company faced increasing competition from "clone" manufacturers throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, which eroded its market dominance and profit margins.

IBM completely F'd up it's wonderful PC business by not properly protecting the HW IP from Intel and the SW IP from MSFT. Combine that with IBM F'ing up MCA micro channel architecture, Token Ring, SNA and OS/2 and that is tens of billions of dollars lost to ineptness.

TODAY: Lenovo turned a $1.75B investment into $57,000,000,000 and IBM approx $62,000,000,000. An unknown Chinese firm in 2005 now rivals IBM for annual sales?! Could IBM use $60B of revenue for the next forever?!

IBM's latest Hail Mary here with McKinsey => https://flevy.com/topic/mckinsey-three-horizons-of-growth/case-growth-strategy-redesign-professional-services-competitive-market?srsltid=AfmBOoqmaY7ObrlfwqN8tDc9rAtBsbhQri_INrMLx8-zVOaRvYhjsN-9

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mohamedamer_retailstrategy-organizationaltransformation-activity-7392217719959396353-hAdx?utm_medium=ios_app&rcm=ACoAAAgtY3sBYDFnclM5iLdHkOCfHOYJbmAQVAQ&utm_source=social_share_send&utm_campaign=copy_link