Talk:Verizon/Archive 5

Fourth and final History request
Hello editors, I am wrapping up with my last proposed change to the History section. This request covers the remaining portion of the section (the 2011–present and Acquisition of AOL and Yahoo subsections. In my user space draft (diff), editors can see my proposed changes, which I will also summarize here. The changes include:
 * Adding content on VZ's structural reorganization
 * Streamlining the article by removing the Alley paragraph as it is not a significant initiative
 * Adding new content about expanding fiber optic network and 5g capabilities
 * Removing the sentence: "Verizon invested $10 million in Renovo Auto, an autonomous vehicle company based in Campbell, California." due to it being worded incorrectly. Verizon did not invest $10 million, it participated in a $10 million round. We also exited our investment in Renovo as the company was acquired.
 * Adding new content on major acquisition of spectrum
 * Removing the sentence: "On March 16, 2017, Verizon announced it would discontinue the e-mail services provided for its internet subscribers and migrate them to AOL Mail." as it is insignificant for an article about Verizon Communications the company and its removal would streamline the article.
 * Fixing various WP:PROSELINE in several spots
 * Various copy edits
 * Removing various unnecessary dates

2011–present: Expansion of services Verizon acquired Terremark, an information technology services company, for $1.4 billion in early 2011. Ivan Seidenberg retired as Verizon's CEO on August 1, 2011, and was succeeded by Lowell McAdam. In December 2011, the non-partisan organization Public Campaign criticized Verizon for its tax avoidance procedures after it spent $52.34 million on lobbying while collecting $951 million in tax rebates between 2008 and 2010 and making a profit of $32.5 billion. The same report also criticized Verizon for increasing executive pay by 167% in 2010 for its top five executives while laying off 21,308 workers between 2008 and 2010. However, in its Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 24, 2012, Verizon reported having paid more than $11.1 billion in taxes (including income, employment and property taxes) from 2009 to 2011. In addition, the company reported in the 10-K that most of the drop in employment since 2008 was due to a voluntary retirement offer. Verizon purchased Hughes Telematics, a producer of wireless features for automobiles, for $612 million in June 2012 as part of its strategy to expand into new growth areas in its wireless business. The same month, Verizon's E-911 service failed in the aftermath of the June 2012 derecho storm in several northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., with some problems lasting several days. The FCC conducted an investigation and released a report detailing the problems that led to the failure in January 2013. Verizon reported that it had already addressed or was addressing a number of the issues related to the FCC report, including the causes of generator failures, conducting audits of backup systems, and making its monitoring systems less centralized, although the FCC indicated that Verizon still needed to make additional improvements. The FCC ruled that Verizon must stop charging users an added fee for using 4G smartphones and tablets as Wi-Fi hotspots (known as "tethering"). Verizon had been charging its customers, even those with "unlimited" plans, $20 per month for tethering. As part of the 2012 settlement, Verizon made a voluntary payment of $1.25 million to the U.S. Treasury. In August 2012, the Department of Justice approved Verizon's purchase of Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum from a consortium of cable companies, including Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, for $3.9 billion. Verizon began expanding its LTE network utilizing these extra airwaves in October 2013. The Guardian reported it had obtained an order by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and approved by the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that required Verizon to provide the NSA with telephone metadata for all calls originating in the U.S. Verizon Wireless was not part of the NSA data collection for wireless accounts due to foreign ownership issues. Verizon purchased Vodafone's 45% stake in Verizon in September 2013 for $130 billion. The deal closed on February 21, 2014, and became the third largest corporate deal ever signed, giving Verizon Communications sole ownership of Verizon Wireless. On January 14, 2014, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the FCC's net neutrality rules after Verizon filed suit against them in January 2010. In June 2016, in a 184-page ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld, by a 2–1 vote, the FCC's net neutrality rules and the FCC's determination that broadband access is a public utility rather than a luxury. AT&T and the telecom industry said they would seek to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. The Wall Street Journal reported that Verizon received more than 1,000 requests for information about its subscribers on national security grounds via National Security Letters. In total, Verizon received 321,545 requests from federal, state and local law enforcement for U.S. customer information. In May 2015, Verizon agreed to pay $90 million "to settle federal and state investigations into allegations mobile customers were improperly billed for premium text messages." Verizon Wireless launched the technology news website SugarString in October 2014. The publication attracted controversy after it was reported that its writers were forbidden from publishing articles related to net neutrality or domestic surveillance. Although Verizon denied that this was the case, the site (described as being a pilot project) was shuttered in December. In August 2015, Verizon launched Hum, a service and device offering vehicle diagnostic and monitoring tools for vehicles. On August 1, 2016, Verizon announced its acquisition of Fleetmatics, a fleet telematics system company in Dublin, Ireland, for $2.4 billion, to build products that it offers to enterprises for logistics and mobile workforces. On September 12, 2016, Verizon announced its acquisition of Sensity, a startup for LED sensors, in an effort to bolster its IoT portfolio. A few months later, Verizon acquired mapping startup SocialRadar, whose technology would be integrated with MapQuest. Verizon was accused by Communications Workers of America of deliberately refusing to maintain its copper telephone service in 2016. The organization released internal memos and other documents stating that Verizon workers in Pennsylvania were being instructed to, in areas with network problems, migrate voice-only customers to VoiceLink, a system that delivers telephone service over the Verizon Wireless network, instead of repairing the copper lines. VoiceLink has limitations, including incompatibility with services or devices that require the transmission of data over the telephone line, and a dependency on battery backup in case of power failure. The memo warned that technicians who do not follow this procedure would be subject to "disciplinary action up to and including dismissal". A Verizon spokesperson responded to the allegations, stating that the company's top priority was to restore service to customers as quickly as possible, and that VoiceLink was a means of doing so in the event that larger repairs had to be done to the infrastructure. The spokesperson stated that it was "hard to argue with disciplining someone who intentionally leaves a customer without service". Verizon added to its fiber-optic network and 5G capabilities in February 2017 when it closed its $1.8 billion acquisition of XO Communications' fiber-optic network business. Verizon and Corning announced a deal in April 2017 whereby Verizon would purchase 12.4 million miles of optical fiber per year from Corning from 2018 through 2020. Months later, Verizon purchased WideOpenWest’s fiber-optic assets in the Chicago market for $225 million. Also in 2017, Verizon was sued by New York City for violating its cable franchise agreement, which required the provider to pass a fiberoptic network to all households in the city by June 30, 2014. Verizon disputed the claims, citing landlords not granting permission to install the equipment on their properties, and an understanding with the government that the fiber network would follow the same routes as its copper lines, and did not necessarily mean it would have to pass the lines in front of every property. was created in 2018, combining the individual Telematics, Fleetmatics, and Telogis units. On December 10, 2018, Verizon announced that 10,400 managers had agreed to leave the company as part of a "voluntary separation program" offered to 44,000 employees, resulting in a cut of around 7% of its workforce. At the same time, the company announced a $4.6 billion write-off on its media division, citing "increased competitive and market pressures throughout 2018 that have resulted in lower-than-expected revenues and earning." Verizon underwent structural and organizational changes from 2018–2019. Hans Vestberg succeeded Lowell McAdam as CEO on August 1, 2018. Vestberg's strategy focused on Verizon's 5G technology. In early 2019, Verizon reorganized itself into three new divisions—Consumer, Business and Media. Verizon began offering anti-spam and robocalling features free of charge to all customers beginning in March 2019. Verizon began rolling out its 5G mobile network in April 2019; the network was active in 30 cities by the end of the year. Verizon uses millimeter-wave (mmWave) spectrum as part of its 5G network. While capable of very high speeds, mmWave has limited range and poor building penetration. On January 14, 2020, Verizon announced the launch of its privacy-focused search engine OneSearch. Verizon acquired videoconferencing service BlueJeans in May 2020 in order to expand its business portfolio offerings, particularly its unified communications offerings. While the price of the acquisition was not announced, it was believed to be in the sub $500 million range. In September 2020, Verizon announced its plans to acquire TracFone Wireless (a business unit of Mexican telecom business, America Movil) for $6.25 billion. The deal was approved by the FCC on November 22, 2021 and closed the following day. Verizon more than doubled its existing mid-band spectrum holdings in early 2021 by adding an average of 161 MHz of C-Band nationwide, purchased for $52.9 billion at an FCC C-Band auction. The company won between 140 and 200 MHz of C-Band spectrum in every available market.

Acquisition of AOL and Yahoo
Verizon acquired AOL in 2015 at $50 per share, for a deal valued around $4.4 billion. The following year, Verizon announced it would acquire the core internet business of Yahoo! for $4.83 billion. Following the completion of the acquisitions, Verizon created a new division called Oath, which includes the AOL and Yahoo brands. The sale did not include Yahoo's stakes in Alibaba Group and Yahoo! Japan. Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam in 2017 confirmed the company plans to launch a streaming TV service. The integrated AOL-Yahoo operation, housed under the newly created Oath division, would be organized around key content-based pillars. Verizon completed its acquisition of Yahoo for $4.48 billion on June 13, 2017. Verizon sold its media group, including AOL and Yahoo, to Apollo Global Management for $5 billion in 2021, with Verizon retaining a 10% stake in the division.

As I work for Verizon and have a conflict of interest, I ask others to look at my draft and make edits on my behalf. As you reviewed the last History update, I would like to notify you again on my suggestions. Thank you, VZEric (talk) 13:17, 4 May 2023 (UTC)
 * ✅ Ptrnext (talk) 06:37, 19 May 2023 (UTC)
 * Thank you! VZEric (talk) 18:50, 24 May 2023 (UTC)

Verizon as largest carrier
Hello editors, I have noticed some back and forth on this page and the Verizon (mobile network) article between Completely Random Guy and other editors on whether Verizon is the largest or second-largest wireless carrier in the United States. There has been recent coverage by both Bloomberg and Reuters that assert Verizon as the largest carrier based on the most recent subscriber numbers announced by US wireless carriers. But given the frequency of these edits and frequently changing numbers, I recommend making this content in the Introduction more evergreen by saying "Verizon is one of the big three wireless carriers in the United States, with 143.3 million subscribers as of the end of Q4 2022. " Verizon's status as one of the big three is verified in publications such as CNN and The Verge.

This same issue is also occurring on the Verizon (mobile network) page and whatever updates that happen here will likely need to occur there. Thanks for the continuing effort to make these articles better. VZEric (talk) 20:23, 14 August 2023 (UTC)

Hello Eric! The editor who was causing the back and forth was actually banned from Wikipedia for edit warring and I believe saying inappropriate things as well. Now relating to Verizon being the biggest carrier, this is becoming a little bit more touchy now, almost to the end of free advertising for Verizon. It is possible, Bloomberg and other sources we commonly use, also use Wikipedia as a source themselves as it is the most convenient, and usually but not always, the first search result for any given topic. If they based there information on Wikipedia results which were up until about a month ago listing Verizon as number one in subscriber count, in future reports and articles on this topic, the numbers will reflect the updated information. Currently we are using the companies financial earnings reports to give us an outline of their respective subscriber figures, and the figures we are using now are of quarter four of 2022s. If there is a more reliable method for reporting we should definitely use it. Funny enough until quarter two of 2022 we had Verizon listed as the biggest, and all of a sudden ATT is the most popular in Q4? An awkward change yes, but corroborated by each companies financial earnings reports going from Q2 to Q4. HOWEVER, On the List of American wireless communication service providers, before the Q4 numbers were added, there was a phrase listed, something along the lines of "ATT counts each active SIM as a subscriber while it us unknown if Verizon and T-Mobile do the same." This sentence might be why ATTs old numbers were so low because yes, jumping from around 110 million subscribers to 217 subscribers is such a drastic change. Now it is listed by simply the financial earnings reports, no other rules. Although it is worth keeping an eye on those numbers, I fear we are getting into the act of advertising for Verizon now, since all the edits we have been adding would be considered beneficial to the image and perception of the company. None negative. Completely Random Guy (talk) 21:44, 15 August 2023 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the review, I appreciate your concerns and I agree that comparing the subscriber counts isn't quite an apples-to-apples comparison, which is why I thought that something along the lines of "one of the big three" makes sense. Plus, I worry that basing who is largest off subscriber numbers goes too deep into a level of synthesis that No_original_research warns against. I definitely do not want to add promotional content, just make articles less stale and help to prevent back-and-forth changes on content that could potentially be a bit more evergreen. Thanks, VZEric (talk) 12:18, 21 August 2023 (UTC)

Proposed edits to remove promotional language
Hello editors, I noticed the banner in Corporate responsibility flags the section as containing content "that is written like an advertisement" and encourages editors to improve it by removing promotional content. As part of my ongoing effort to improve Verizon-related pages and make them read more like an encyclopedia, I have a proposal for others to consider. I suggest the following content removals (in red with strikethrough) and a few tiny copy edits (in green) to make this section read less like an advertisement.

The Verizon Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Verizon Communications, which donates about $70 million per year to nonprofit organizations, with a focus on education, domestic violence prevention, and energy management. Verizon's educational initiatives have focused on STEM fields, including : a national competition for students to develop mobile application concepts; the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools program, providing professional development for teachers in underserved areas ; and providing students with wireless hardware and services as part of President Obama's ConnectED program. The company also runs HopeLine, which has provided mobile phones to approximately 180,000 victims of domestic violence, and a program that offers grants for victims of domestic violence to start or grow home-based businesses. As part of an initiative to reduce the company's carbon intensity metrics by 50 percent by 2020, Verizon announced planned investment in solar panels and natural gas fuel cells at its facilities. The increased capacity would make Verizon the leading solar power producer among U.S. communications companies. On February 5, 2019, Verizon first entered the green bond market with an issue of $1 billion. The sale was oversubscribed, meaning that investors bids were about $8 billion. Verizon planned plans to invest the money on renewable energy, for instance, by developing solar and wind energy energy-efficient projects involving technology and equipment replacement, and the deployment of 5G wireless technologies, allowing for real-time response for energy demand (smart building management and city systems), green buildings, sustainable water management, and also biodiversity and conservation. According to Cbonds, the newly issued green bonds have 3.875% coupon rate and will mature on August 5, 2029. Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Merrill Lynch were the bookrunners of the deal.

By deleting all the content in red in the above draft, this section will contain less content that editors might deem too detailed or promotional in nature. If it's helpful to see the deletions in a bulleted list as well, here you go: As I work for Verizon and have a conflict of interest, I ask others to look at my draft and make edits on my behalf. Thank you, VZEric (talk) 19:09, 29 August 2023 (UTC)
 * a national competition for students to develop mobile application concepts;
 * and providing students with wireless hardware and services as part of President Obama's ConnectED program
 * approximately 180,000 victims of domestic violence,
 * As part of an initiative to reduce the company's carbon intensity metrics by 50 percent by 2020, Verizon announced planned investment in solar panels and natural gas fuel cells at its facilities.
 * The increased capacity would make Verizon the leading solar power producer among U.S. communications companies.
 * …, for instance, by developing solar and wind energy energy-efficient projects involving technology and equipment replacement, and the deployment of 5G wireless technologies, allowing for real-time response for energy demand (smart building management and city systems), green buildings, sustainable water management, and also biodiversity and conservation
 * According to Cbonds, the newly issued green bonds have 3.875% coupon rate and will mature on August 5, 2029. Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Merrill Lynch were the bookrunners of the deal.

Reply 29-AUG-2023
Below you will see where proposals from your request have been quoted with reviewer decisions and feedback inserted underneath, either accepting, declining or otherwise commenting upon your proposal(s). Please read the enclosed notes within the proposal review section below for information on each request. Please also note that the requested deleted sections were all approved. Subsequent to that, the maintenance template was also deleted. Spintendo 00:56, 30 August 2023 (UTC)


 * Thanks for this. I am posting an updated edit request below based on your feedback. VZEric (talk) 16:33, 31 August 2023 (UTC)

New proposed updates for Corporate responsibility
Hi I appreciate you removing the content I requested and the "advertisement" banner above. You also raised a few good issues about some of the other content you removed. This allowed me to re-evaluate the material and propose a somewhat similar yet updated version of the Corporate responsibility section. I suggest the following content additions (which are in green text). The black text is the current wording in the live article, for which I am not seeking any changes.

The Verizon Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Verizon Communications, which donates about $70 million per year to organizations, with a focus on education and domestic violence prevention. Verizon's educational initiatives include the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools program. The company ran HopeLine, which provided mobile phones to victims of domestic violence.

Between 2019 and 2023, Verizon issued five green bonds for a total of $5 billion. Proceeds from its 2023 issue were earmarked to transition to more environmentally friendly electrical grids.

Here's a rundown of the things I've suggested in this draft:
 * I reinstated the first sentence, yet removed the "and energy management" from it for two reasons: the source used doesn't verify "and energy management", and that appears to apply more to Verizon Communications, not the foundation. Spintendo previously said they did not have access to the source via Nexis. Therefore, I updated the reference with a link directly to the Washington Business Journal article and included a quote in the |quote parameter of the citation template. While the Business Journal articles are sometimes paywalled, I feel this is acceptable per WP:Paywall.
 * I streamlined the description of Verizon's educational initiatives, including the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools program, while citing Billboard magazine.
 * I updated the verb tense surrounding HopeLine for accuracy.
 * Spintendo previously questioned what was meant by "oversubscribed" in relation to the green bonds. That's a fair question, and in researching the topic, I located a more recent source (Bloomberg, 2023) that discusses Verizon's green bond issues, so I rewrote that content altogether to streamline and update it.
 * I have not sought to seek reinstatement of material that cited what could be considered subpar sources.

As I work for Verizon and have a conflict of interest, I ask others to look at my draft and make edits on my behalf. Thank you, VZEric (talk) 16:33, 31 August 2023 (UTC)

Reply 31-AUG-2023
Below you will see where proposals from your request have been quoted with reviewer decisions and feedback inserted underneath, either accepting, declining or otherwise commenting upon your proposal(s). Please read the enclosed notes within the proposal review section below for information on each request. Spintendo 20:24, 1 September 2023 (UTC)