The verified development, per the joint statement issued in London and New York on June 29, 2026: BT Group and Verizon have signed an agreement to fold their international enterprise arms into a single 50:50 joint venture, owned equally, with equal voting rights and a $625 million equalization payment flowing from Verizon to BT to balance what each side puts in. The new company will serve a customer base above 3,000 multinationals spread over more than 180 countries, worth roughly $4 billion a year in combined revenue. Closing is expected in 2027, subject to regulatory clearances and consultations with employee representatives where law requires.
The record shows how BT arrived here. The group spent more than 18 months shopping its international unit, and no buyer met its price. A joint venture resolves that standoff on different terms: BT keeps half the business and half of any upside rather than sell at a discount. Chief Executive Allison Kirkby has spent her tenure pulling the company back toward the UK, where most of its profit is generated; her cost program targets £3.7 billion of savings by 2030; headcount, on the same plan, is set to shrink to a band of 75,000 to 80,000 before the decade ends. “The world’s leading brands and international organizations trust BT International to connect them across the world”, Kirkby said in the statement, arguing that pairing that heritage with Verizon’s multinational relationships builds “a stronger, scaled connectivity partner” with the reach to compete. Customers, she said, “will benefit from new, secure and resilient connectivity platforms which are designed for the age of AI and sovereign where it matters”, and, in her telling, it opens new opportunities for staff and long-term value for owners. Her summary line was plainly domestic: “Today’s announcement marks a major milestone for BT International, and an important step forward for BT as a whole, as we deliver on our UK-focused strategy”.
Verizon’s position is the mirror image. For the American carrier the venture is small change against $138.2 billion in 2025 revenues, but it sharpens an enterprise story at a moment when the company is working to show growth beyond the consumer phone business. “Our international customers require secure, flexible connectivity that works seamlessly across borders and cloud environments”, Verizon chief executive Dan Schulman said. “When we thought about how to best support them,” he continued, “this joint venture was the clear answer: a cutting-edge, AI-ready and secure platform run by a single global organization dedicated to their needs.” He was explicit that the US side of the relationship does not move: “At the same time, our relationship with those customers will stay equally strong as we continue to directly provide them with the connectivity they need in the U.S.” A venture with its own leadership and capital structure lets Verizon chase global corporate accounts without draining resources from the domestic network.
Management has been named. Martijn Blanken, named chief executive-designate conditional on completion, brings almost thirty years across telecommunications and digital infrastructure, with senior roles spanning Telstra, KPN, Openwave Systems and EXA Infrastructure across four continents. From September 1, 2026, he moves inside BT to ready the venture for launch, observing the relevant regulatory requirements. Clive Selley stays on as chief executive of BT International until the transaction closes; Verizon’s own leadership is unchanged. The paperwork was divided along the same line as the business: Goldman Sachs led for BT with Freshfields as legal counsel and Deloitte on transaction services, while Morgan Stanley advised Verizon and Kirkland & Ellis took its legal side.
The venue is its own statement of position. The new company registers in the Bailiwick of Jersey, with headquarters and tax residence in the United Kingdom, and on completion it will hold commercial relationships with both parents, including for BT’s UK customers and Verizon’s US ones, so that the service surface stays continuous across borders.
Markets registered the asymmetry rather than the headline. BT stock rose nearly 1% in London on the news; Verizon slipped slightly in US premarket trading. Small moves, of the kind that reflect many factors beyond one announcement, but consistent with the arithmetic: $4 billion of revenue weighs far more in BT’s ledger than in Verizon’s, and for the American company the deal is a sharpened enterprise pitch rather than a shift in earnings. Nothing changes for customers until the venture actually launches, and until regulators in several countries approve, none of it takes effect.
Sources
- Verizon pays BT $625M in telecom shakeup – TheStreet
- BT Group and Verizon to form joint venture, creating a scaled international connectivity platform for multinational customers
