NEW YORK, June 29, 2026, 13:02 EDT
- U.S. cash equities were trading as of the dateline. NYSE regular hours are 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET, and June 29 isn’t on the 2026 NYSE holiday schedule.
- Verizon Communications Inc. NYSE:VZ dropped 6.4% to $43.55 at midday, wiping out close to $12.6 billion worth of market cap based on the price and existing market-cap figures.
- Alphabet Inc. NASDAQ:GOOGL took Verizon’s spot in the Dow Jones Industrial Average before the bell. S&P Dow Jones Indices noted Verizon was just 0.5% of the price-weighted index.
- Verizon’s disclosure on its BT Group plc (LON:BT.A) venture showed a $625 million payment and listed second-quarter charge ranges, putting some short-term earnings swings ahead of plans for $4 billion in annual revenue.
Verizon Communications Inc. NYSE:VZ dropped sharply Monday. Shares fell $2.99 to $43.55, off 6.4%, even though the cash outlay for its new BT partnership wasn’t huge. By comparison, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) gained 1.3%.
Verizon lost around $12.6 billion in market value, looking at the day’s share price drop against its current market cap. That loss is about 20 times larger than the $625 million equalisation payment Verizon is paying in the BT deal. It also comes in at about 8-10 times the range of second-quarter items Verizon listed in its 8-K filing Monday.
| Verizon item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Share price as of last midday | $43.55 |
| Price change today | -$2.99 / -6.4% |
| Latest market cap | $183.3 billion |
| Market value lost | about $12.6 billion |
| BT deal cash payout | $625 million |
| Q2 items noted in filings | $1.25 billion-$1.55 billion |
| Value erased vs Q2 items | about 8.1x-10.1x |
Verizon said in a filing that it will move its subsidiaries running the international wireline connectivity and managed network services business into a new joint venture with BT. Verizon will put in $625 million. That cash will go to the new company and be passed on to BT. In return, Verizon gets 50% of the new company. The filing said the assets are now marked as held for sale as of the second quarter, and Verizon expects a loss of $700 million to $800 million from that.
The same filing also listed two more Q2 charges: $350 million to $450 million for severance due to job cuts, and $200 million to $300 million for asset rationalization, mostly real estate and network assets. The company said both are part of broader transformation, not deal-related costs.
BT Group and Verizon plan to set up a 50:50 joint venture, aiming to reach over 3,000 customers in 180-plus countries, with annual revenue of about $4 billion, the companies said. They expect the deal will close in 2027, pending regulatory nods and other approvals. Martijn Blanken, who previously worked at Telstra and KPN, was named CEO-designate.
BT CEO Allison Kirkby told Reuters the market is “very fragmented” and said the deal “could be the start of further consolidation.” Verizon chief Dan Schulman called the venture “the clear answer” for international customers needing cross-border cloud connectivity, according to the company’s statement. Reuters
Index changes drove some action. Alphabet took Verizon’s spot in the Dow before trading started Monday. S&P Dow Jones Indices said Verizon’s low price gave it just 0.5% of the Dow’s weighting, a small slice for a price-weighted index.
This could help limit some forced selling. Reuters said roughly $115 billion tracked the Dow as of Dec. 31, 2024, compared with about $20 trillion tied to the S&P 500, which already included Alphabet. Still, Verizon loses its blue-chip status in the Dow just as it gave updated charge guidance.
| Security | Last price | Day move | Market read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verizon Communications Inc. NYSE:VZ | $43.55 | -6.4% | Took the hardest hit out of the three big U.S. wireless stocks in the group |
| AT&T Inc. NYSE:T | $21.65 | -4.7% | Down too, but didn’t drop as much as Verizon |
| T-Mobile US Inc. NASDAQ:TMUS | $174.30 | -4.6% | Still trades above Verizon by market cap |
| SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) | $738.34 | +1.3% | SPY traded up, tracking broad U.S. stocks higher |
Verizon shares dropped, moving against what the company suggested in April. In the first quarter, Verizon posted $3.8 billion in free cash flow, adjusted EPS at $1.28, and $142.5 billion in total unsecured debt at the end of the quarter. Verizon also boosted its 2026 adjusted EPS forecast to a range of $4.95 to $4.99.
The next checkpoint comes July 24. Verizon reports second-quarter numbers at 8:30 a.m. ET, and said it will post materials at 7:00 a.m. ET.
