Verizon
Headquarters:
140 West St.
New York, NY 10036
Employees: 235,000
CEO: Ivan Seidenberg
Website: http://www.verizon.com
Stock Symbol:
VZ
Career Page
Verizon is the nation's largest telecommunications
company. It provides local and long distance service. high-speed
Internet access and TV service primarily in the mid-Atlantic
and northeastern U.S.
Verizon serves customers in 29 states with
wired phone service and DSL broadband Internet access. The company
has 8.2 million broadband users.
Verizon
Wireless offers cellular phone
and data services to 65.7 milion customers nationwide and gained
6.9 million customers over the past year. Verizon Wireless is
a joint operation between Verizon and U.K.'s Vodafone company.
In 2007, Verizon had earnings of $6.8 billion
on record revenues of $93.5 billion, up 6.1% from the previous
year.
The company is rolling out delivery of
high-speed fiber optic lines to cities in its service area. The
service is called FiOS and offers superfast connections to the
Internet along with TV service. The company said it had over
1 million FiOS subscribers .
Verizon said it cut 4,000 jobs in the fourth
quarter of 2007 and expects to cut 5,000 more in 2008.
History
Verizon was formed by the merger of Bell
Atlantic and GTE in July 1998. The Verizon name comes from veritas,
the Latin word connoting certainty and reliability, and horizon,
signifying forward-looking and visionary.
In 2005, Verizon acquired MCI, formerly
known as Worldcom.
The company spun off Verizon Directories
in 2006, the second-largest publisher of phone directories in
the nation. This includes the SuperPages.com directory and now
trades independently on the NYSE as Idearc Inc.
Benefits
Verizon offers medical, dental, vision,
life insurance and reimbursement accounts. We also have a number
of work/life benefits such as an Employee Assistance Program,
Dependent Life Insurance, Adoption Assistance, and in some
locations, Day Care Assistance. We have a generous time off plan
including vacation, personal days, and holidays.
Tuition assistance is also provided. Employees
are encouraged to expand their professional qualifications by
attending training classes, seminars, and conferences.
Verizon also offers retirement benefits,
including a 401(k) with matching contributions and a pension
plan. The company announced it would freeze all pension plans
on June 30, 2006 for managerial employees and increase 401(k)
contributions. These employees will retain pension benefits they
have already earned, continue to be eligible to grow into their
early retirement pensions, and on June 30, 2006, receive an 18-month
enhancement to the value of their pension and retiree medical
benefits. These changes will not affect current retirees.
Management employees hired after Jan. 1,
2006, will no longer earn pension benefits.
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