Zoom to lay off 1,300 workers as big tech firms slash jobs
09 February, 2023
Zoom is to lay off 1,300 employees – nearly 15% of its entire workforce – joining an array of Silicon Valley giants also making cuts.
The redundancies were announced yesterday by Zoom CEO Eric Yuan, who said that he would cut his own salary by 98% this year. Other executives will have their salaries trimmed by 20%, as well as forfeiting their bonuses.
Yuan said the redundancies were necessitated by uncertainty in the global economy. But he added that Zoom had grown threefold in size to meet demand and continue innovation over a period of two years. The company had made mistakes, he said, such as not thoroughly analysing its teams and assessing if it was growing sustainably.
In a published statement, Yuan said: “As the world transitions to life post-pandemic, we are seeing that people and businesses continue to rely on Zoom. “But the uncertainty of the global economy, and its effect on our customers, means we need to take a hard – yet important – look inward to reset ourselves, so we can weather the economic environment, deliver for our customers and achieve Zoom’s long-term vision.”
Laid-off workers in the US will receive up to 16 weeks’ salary and health coverage, payment of earned bonuses, some continued stock option vesting, and outplacement services. Workers outside the US will receive similar support, taking into account local laws.
Microsoft previously announced 10,000 redundancies – nearly 5% of its global workforce – on 18 January. This was after adding 40,000 workers to its payroll between June 2021 and 2022.
The redundancies were expected to affected work on HoloLens and Microsoft Edge, as well as Microsoft’s marketing teams and workers at 343 Industries and Bethesda.
Other US tech giants announced redundancies last year including Amazon, which planned to lose 18,000 employees, and Facebook, which aimed to axe 11,000 staff.
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Source: www.avinteractive.com