There’s been some speculation about another round of layoffs, and unfortunately that speculation is accurate. Another round is coming soon. The core issue is pretty simple: we’re losing customers and we can't increase prices any more. When revenue isn’t growing—or is actually declining—cost cuts become inevitable.
Video has been in long-term decline for a while now. Traditional cable TV isn’t coming back, and 5–10 years from now it’s likely a dead product. The uncomfortable reality is that cable TV is still Comcast’s largest revenue stream. When your biggest source of revenue is in structural decline, the downstream impact is unavoidable.
Broadband is also under pressure. DOCSIS 4.0 isn’t delivering the results that were hoped for, and customers are increasingly choosing fiber instead. DOCSIS 4 can be talked about all day, but the reality is that customers now have real alternatives—and many are choosing fiber because it’s faster and often cheaper, or FWA because it’s easier to buy and use.
Voice (landline) is obviously a dying product, and the organization supporting it is still far larger than the business justifies.
Wireless is selling, but it’s not accomplishing what it was supposed to do—namely, reducing broadband churn. It’s true that customers with wireless have lower churn, but the causality may be backwards. Customers who were unlikely to churn in the first place are the ones signing up for Xfinity Mobile. Customers who have fiber alternatives or who are unhappy with Comcast tend not to add mobile at all.
Both the Division/Regional teams and the Technology & Product organization likely need to be reduced further. The next round of layoffs will probably look similar in size to what we’ve seen over the past couple of quarters, but unless business conditions improve, a much larger restructuring—including the elimination of entire organizations—must come sometime next year.
From my own perspective, having visibility from the Finance side: despite the cuts that have already happened, there are still significant opportunities to reduce costs. We continue to have too many resources allocated to Video, Voice, and even DOCSIS 4.0. If these products are not selling or are in structural decline, it’s hard to justify continued heavy investment. Additionally, we still pay a premium for U.S.-based engineering talent, and it’s not clear why we haven’t shifted more work to CIEC, where costs are less than a quarter of comparable U.S.-based roles.