BT Group and Verizon Communications on Monday announced a 50-50 joint venture combining their international operations, with Verizon paying BT a $625 million equalisation fee to guarantee equal voting rights. The joint venture ends BT’s more than 18-month search for a buyer of its international business unit and creates a company serving more than 3,000 multinational customers across roughly 180 countries with about $4 billion in combined annual revenue.
The companies said the deal remains subject to regulatory clearances and consultation with employee representatives in some countries. The international businesses will operate independently until the transaction closes, which the companies said they expect in 2027. The Financial Times described the deal as “a milestone in BT’s strategy of refocusing on its domestic operations.”
BT CEO Allison Kirkby said the deal marks an “important step forward for BT as a whole, as we deliver on our UK-focused strategy.” Kirkby, who became CEO in February 2024 after serving on BT’s board, has overseen a multibillion-pound cost-cutting programme. Last month she said BT would raise its savings target from £3 billion by 2029 to £3.7 billion by 2030. BT’s headcount is expected to end the decade at between 75,000 and 80,000, at the lower end of a range the company set out in 2023.
Kirkby’s pay and bonus package more than doubled last year to £5.6 million, the company’s largest award to a chief executive in more than a decade. BT shares have risen more than 70% since she took the helm.
Verizon has also been cutting costs, announcing in November that it would eliminate about 13,000 jobs. CEO David Schulman told employees at the time that the company needed to “simplify our operations to address the complexity and friction that slow us down and frustrate our customers.” In a statement Monday, Schulman said the joint venture will provide “a cutting-edge, AI-ready and secure platform run by a single global organisation dedicated” to customer needs.
The new business will be led by Martijn Blanken, a former executive at Australian telecoms company Telstra. It will be incorporated in Jersey and headquartered and tax resident in the UK, the companies said. The combination is designed to create a scaled international connectivity platform for multinational enterprise clients, drawing on the network assets of both companies.