NEW YORK (Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc (>> Verizon Communications Inc.) said on Thursday that its chief financial officer, Francis Shammo, plans to retire at the end of the year and will step down from his role on Nov. 1.

Verizon said its board of directors appointed Matthew D. Ellis, who is currently senior vice president and CFO-operations finance, to succeed Shammo.

Shammo, 55, will be leaving after 27 years with the company.

He joined Verizon's predecessor company, Bell Atlantic, in 1989 and became Verizon CFO in 2010.

During his tenure, Verizon agreed to pay $130 billion to buy Vodafone Group's stake in Verizon Wireless. It also acquired AOL Inc, the owner of the Huffington Post and TechCrunch, last year and agreed to buy web pioneer Yahoo Inc (>> Yahoo! Inc.) for $4.8 billion in July.

Ellis, 45, joined Verizon in 2013 after 15 years at Tyson Foods Inc (>> Tyson Foods, Inc.) in various roles.

(Reporting by Malathi Nayak; editing by Cynthia Osterman and Phil Berlowitz)

By Malathi Nayak

Stocks treated in this article : Verizon Communications Inc., Yahoo! Inc., Tyson Foods, Inc.