Verizon: Bell Atlantic's Comeback, NSA Phone Records and the Oath Flop

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When regulators broke up the AT&T Bell System in 1983, Bell Atlantic emerged as the Baby Bell for the Mid-Atlantic states. It merged with NYNEX in 1996 and moved to New York City, then in 2000 merged with GTE and renamed itself Verizon, a blend of veritas and horizon. That year it formed Verizon Wireless with Vodafone, holding 55 percent to Vodafone's 45, and started with 23 million customers before absorbing smaller carriers such as Rural Cellular and Alltel. In 2014 Verizon bought out Vodafone's stake for $130 billion, one of the largest corporate deals in history, taking full control of its national network.

Control brought controversy. In 2004 and 2005 Verizon blocked all European email by default to fight spam, prompting a class action; in 2007 it initially refused NARAL Pro-Choice America a text short code; in 2010 it blocked 4chan over DDoS attacks; and in 2014 it won a court ruling that struck down FCC net neutrality rules. Reports in 2006 said it handed landline records to the NSA without warrants, and the 2013 Snowden leaks revealed a FISA court order requiring daily call metadata. Verizon then tried media: the tech site SugarString, which barred stories on net neutrality and surveillance, AOL for $4.4 billion in 2015 and Yahoo's core business for $4.8 billion in 2017, combined as Oath. It wrote down $4.6 billion in December 2018 and sold the division to Apollo Global Management for $5 billion in 2021.

• A researcher found a flaw in Verizon routers in 2015 that exposed home Fios customers to account information leaks.
• Its 2019 5G rollout bet on millimeter wave spectrum, which needs dense small cells because the signal struggles to pass through buildings and foliage.
• Verizon bought Tracfone in 2020 and agreed to acquire Frontier Communications for $20 billion to expand its fiber footprint.
• In May 2025 it ended its diversity, equity and inclusion programs as the Trump administration probed them, a move the episode ties to securing Frontier approval.
• New CEO Dan Schulman, named in October 2025, cut about 3,000 jobs and sold company-owned stores to franchisees in a $5 billion cost plan that includes replacing routine roles with AI.