New York, January 16, 2026, 20:51 EST — The market has closed.
- Verizon shares slipped 1.14% to close at $38.91 on Friday, then edged up roughly 0.3% in after-hours trading.
- Verizon confirmed it has secured all regulatory approvals to finalize its Frontier acquisition on Jan. 20 and plans to share more details during its Jan. 30 earnings call.
- The company is issuing a $20 credit following a 10-hour outage; the FCC announced it will investigate the disruption.
Shares of Verizon Communications dropped 1.14% on Friday, ending the session at $38.91 after a volatile week marked by two major company announcements. In after-hours trading, the stock edged up roughly 0.3%.
Timing is the key issue now. Verizon aims to finalize its Frontier Communications acquisition by Jan. 20 and has marked the Jan. 30 earnings call to share further details on the next steps.
U.S. stock markets will be closed Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, pushing the next full trading session to Tuesday. That day also marks the planned closing date for Verizon’s Frontier deal.
California regulators gave the green light to Verizon’s roughly $20 billion acquisition of Frontier on Thursday, Reuters reported. The CPUC’s approval came with strings attached: Verizon must add 75,000 new fiber locations, build 25 wireless towers, and uphold broadband commitments for low-income households in California.
Verizon is still grappling with the aftermath of Wednesday’s outage. The company announced a $20 credit for hundreds of thousands of customers affected by the roughly 10-hour disruption. Verizon attributed the issue to a software glitch, denying any cyberattack was involved.
Verizon announced that customers can claim the $20 credit via the myVerizon app once they receive a text message. Business customers will be reached out to individually. In a Thursday morning update, the company clarified the credit “isn’t meant to make up for what happened,” but serves as a gesture to recognize customers’ time. Verizon
Friday’s market offered little support. The S&P 500 edged down 0.06%, and the Dow dropped 0.17%. Telecom stocks also took a hit—AT&T slid 1.01%, while T-Mobile lost 2.28%, according to MarketWatch data.
Heading into the weekend, analyst sentiment turned cautious. BNP Paribas Exane lowered its price target for Verizon to $40 from $44 but maintained a neutral rating, according to an MT Newswires report cited by MarketScreener.
One key uncertainty boils down to math. Verizon hasn’t disclosed how many customers will actually claim the credit, and the total cost hinges on that number. Barron’s estimated that a flat $20 credit to Verizon’s entire consumer postpaid base would total roughly $647 million — though Verizon’s annual dividend payout dwarfs that figure.
The downside isn’t limited to a one-off credit. A harsher FCC reaction, or signs that the outage drags on with higher churn, could dampen sentiment just as Verizon pitches investors on a larger fiber-and-wireless package following Frontier’s exit.
Key dates are coming into focus: Nasdaq Trader notices tied to the Frontier deal suggest the merger will close before markets open on Jan. 20. Verizon’s investor calendar shows the fourth-quarter earnings call set for Jan. 30.
