Cost-Cutting Costs Weigh on Verizon

The buyouts Verizon (VZ) has offered some 11,000 employees have cost the company dearly. Posting second-quarter earnings Friday morning, Verizon said it lost $198 million, or 7 cents a share, largely as a result of–you guessed it–one-time costs related to workforce reductions.

Unfortunate news, particularly since that loss compares to a profit of $1.48 billion, or 52 cents a share, a year earlier. That said, excluding one-time items, Verizon earned 58 cents a share, which was better than the 56 cents analysts had been looking for.

And the company’s wireless business is booming. Verizon Wireless added a better-than-expected 1.4 million net customers, with about 665,000 of them opting for annual contracts. Those customers are spending more each month–$51.56, up 0.9 percent from the previous quarter. They’re also canceling service far less often. Subscriber churn fell to .94 percent–the lowest it’s been in nearly two years.