NEW YORK, September 7, 2000 - The board of directors of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ), the national communications company formed through the merger of Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp., today declared a quarterly dividend of $.385 per outstanding share.
The Verizon dividend is unchanged from the pre-merger Bell Atlantic dividend. Since GTE shareowners received 1.22 shares of common stock in Verizon for each share of GTE they held, their dividend payment (1.22 times $.385 per share) is equivalent to the former GTE quarterly dividend of $.47 per share.
The dividend is payable on Nov. 1 to Verizon Communications shareowners of record at the close of business on Oct. 10. Verizon Communications has approximately 2.7 million individual shareowners and approximately 2.7 billion shares of common stock outstanding.