Verizon CEO Dan Schulman is getting his house in order, as the telecom industry braces for the ultimate disruptor, Elon Musk, and as the company’s executives fret about the possibility of a sale.

Schulman will tap a longtime lieutenant with deal chops, Alfonso Villanueva, to run the telecom giant’s $107 billion consumer business, according to people familiar with the matter. He previously ran that wireless division on an interim basis, following the departure earlier this year of longtime executive Sowmyanarayan Sampath, who was seen as CEO-in-waiting.

Villanueva will remain Verizon’s chief transformation officer. He previously oversaw M&A for PayPal under Schulman.

Villanueva’s appointment brings certainty to a unit that represents 78% of Verizon’s revenue but has been without a permanent leader for months. His new position is set to be officially announced Thursday. Verizon didn’t run an outside search process to replace Sampath, some of the people said.

“It’s not a surprise that some employees may be concerned about the direction of the company,” a Verizon spokesperson said. “We’ve gone with a couple of rounds of cost-cutting which have included job cuts.”

Among those concerns: Speculation has swirled among current and former senior Verizon executives that Schulman is readying Verizon’s flagship wireless business for sale to Musk’s SpaceX or another buyer, according to other people familiar with the matter.

Musk looms large over Verizon and its competitors, AT&T and T-Mobile. Semafor reported Wednesday that Musk is exploring ways to grow his spectrum portfolio with an eye on a terrestrial expansion, either via M&A or by competing at next year’s spectrum auction.

Asked directly about whether he would seek to purchase a carrier — specifically, Verizon — Musk in September 2025 said on the All-In podcast: “It’s not out of the question. I suppose that may happen.”

“Any assertion that Verizon is being positioned for a sale to SpaceX — or any other entity — is unequivocally false, unsubstantiated, and entirely without merit,” the Verizon spokesperson said.

SpaceX didn’t respond to a request for comment.