Verizon and BT agree to combine international enterprise operations in a 50-50 JV valued at about $4 billion in annual revenue

Verizon is moving to consolidate its international enterprise connectivity business with BT Group, agreeing to form a 50-50 joint venture designed to serve multinational customers worldwide. The plan, announced June 29 and reported broadly by markets media, is structured to combine the partners’ respective international enterprise operations into a single scaled platform focused on global connectivity and service delivery.

Under the agreement, the new joint venture is expected to serve more than 3,000 multinational customers across more than 180 countries, representing approximately $4 billion in combined annual revenue, according to Verizon’s announcement. The companies said the broader footprint is intended to create scale efficiencies across network and service operations once the transaction is completed.

Verizon said the joint venture has been “designed specifically for a cloud-first world in the age of AI,” indicating a shift away from traditional connectivity-only selling toward packaged network services intended to fit modern enterprise architectures. The companies did not outline, in the text of the announcement, exactly how the product portfolio will be restructured, but they framed the new entity as being built around a “new platform” to support cloud and AI use cases.

The announcement also named Martijn Blanken as Chief Executive Officer-designate of the joint venture, with the appointment conditional on the transaction closing. Verizon said the deal is expected to complete in 2027, subject to regulatory clearances and customary closing conditions.

Separately, reporting cited by other business outlets indicated that Verizon and BT will use a cash “equalization” payment to account for differences in the relative size of the businesses contributed. MarketScale, summarizing Reuters coverage, said Verizon will make a $625 million equalization payment to BT and that both sides will hold equal voting rights in the new company.

From a strategy standpoint, the deal fits a familiar pattern in telecom: operators are trying to improve profitability and competitive positioning by narrowing focus on higher-margin enterprise markets and by building platforms that can sell recurring connectivity services tied to enterprise cloud migrations and compliance requirements. For BT, the arrangement provides a vehicle to reshape its international exposure, while for Verizon it offers a way to combine network assets and sales coverage without fully absorbing the overseas enterprise business of a partner.

Still, key deal mechanics remain sparse in the public summary available through Verizon’s release. The announcement does not provide a detailed breakdown of expected integration timelines, how assets and employees will transfer, or what specific network technology and service layers will be unified. It also does not specify financial terms beyond the $4 billion combined annual revenue expectation and the timeline to closing, leaving investors and customers to wait for further filings and transaction documentation for more operational and accounting details.

Looking ahead, the items to watch are regulatory review timelines in the jurisdictions where the combined enterprise operations will be relevant, as well as any additional disclosure on the joint venture’s commercial model and platform roadmap. The market will also likely monitor whether the partners describe clear customer migration plans and service continuity commitments for the more than 3,000 multinational customers the deal targets.