As its stock price (“T”) trades at 30+ year lows, AT&T is under severe pressure to cut costs.  Its wireless subscriber growth is slowing, new fiber take rates are lower, debt has increased by $6 billion to $143.3 billion, while the company faces a potentially costly ($B+) lead cable cleanup.

AT&T recently announced they will cut another $2 billion in expenses over the next three years, even after reaching a $6 billion cost reduction plan early.  Largely through what AT&T called “surplussings,” rounds of layoffs have been conducted on a department level on nearly a monthly basis to reduce costs. 

The Dallas-based company’s employment has shrunk this decade from a peak of 281,000 to less than 160,000 through the first half of this year.   Since the beginning of 2021, AT&T has cut 74,130 employees, including through divestitures, or 32% of its total staff through June 30th.

The company added fewer customers than analysts’ expected in the second quarter of 2023. In the three months ended June 30th, AT&T added 326,000 mobile phone subscribers.  AT&T has been offering free phones in order to fuel customer growth for several quarters. The appeal of those promotions may be wearing out. The company cautioned last month that the pace of subscriber gains had slowed due to competition from rivals and cable TV companies.

AT&T raised rates on its premium mobile plan to help boost revenue and is in the process of restructuring operations by reducing 350 offices across the U.S. to nine core locations with the main hubs in Dallas and Atlanta.  The telco has told 60,000 managers that they need to show up in person to one of these locations, and some will face relocation decisions or be fired.