Zoom is laying off 1,300 employees, CEO taking 98 percent pay cut

Zoom is laying off around 1,300 employees, reducing its workforce by around 15 percent. It’s the latest company to be hit by widespread layoffs at Big Tech, joining a slew of other companies including Microsoft, Amazon, Meta and PayPal.

The mass layoff was announced in a blog post by Zoom founder and CEO Eric Yuan(Opens in a new tab) on Tuesday, who said affected US employees would be notified via email within 30 minutes of their release. Non-US employees who are fired will be notified in accordance with local law.

“For the Zoomies waking up to these messages or reading this after normal working hours, I’m sorry you’re finding out this way, but we thought it best to notify all affected Zoomies as soon as possible,” said Yuan.

The abrupt dismissal of technicians via email has become an unfortunately common scenario in recent months, with a different company announcing a mass layoff seemingly every week. While Yuan explained that leaving Zoom employees will be able to do an in-person check-in with a company executive if they so choose, that probably won’t mitigate the sting much.

Full-time Zoom employees in the US who are laid off will receive up to 16 weeks of salary and health insurance, as well as their annual bonus, six months of stock options and access to services designed to help them find new employment. International employees receive similar benefits, which in turn reflect local requirements.

Zoom’s popularity exploded at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, as millions of people turned to the video conferencing tool, as companies started working remotely and countries went into lockdown. Yuan noted that Zoom has grown three times in size in just two years, hiring new staff to handle the unexpected influx of customers.

However, once lockdowns were lifted and employees began moving back into the office, Zoom’s growth and revenue slowed. This combined with increasing expenses has revealed the company’s net profit(Opens in a new tab) drop significantly. By November, Zoom’s share price had plummeted by over 90 percent(Opens in a new tab) since its peak in October 2022.

“We haven’t taken as much time to thoroughly analyze our teams or assess whether we’re growing sustainably, toward the highest priorities,” Yuan wrote in Tuesday’s blog post.

Yuan also announced that he would take a temporary pay cut this fiscal year, cutting his salary by 98 percent and not receiving a bonus. Similarly, the executive team’s salaries will be reduced by 20 percent this fiscal year and will also receive no bonuses.

“As Zoom’s CEO and Founder, I am responsible for these mistakes and the actions we are taking today – and I want to show responsibility not just in words but in my own actions,” Yuan said.

Zoom’s next conference call is scheduled for later this month, when the company will release its full-year 2023 financial results.