Zoom lays off 1,300 employees, CEO Eric Yuan to take massive 98% pay cut

Zoom Video Communications, Inc., a widely used communication technology platform, has announced they will lay off 1,300 employees, or roughly 15 per cent of the company’s workforce. The news has been met with sadness by employees and industry watchers alike as layoffs in tech companies continue. Zoom CEO Eric Yuan wrote in his blog post, “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. This is a difficult decision that we do not make lightly. We are grateful for the hard work and dedication of all our employees.” 

Yuan has also announced a 98 per cent reduction in his salary and no bonus for himself. He has also said that the rest of the executive leadership team won't be taking a corporate bonus too and their base salaries will be reduced by up to 20 per cent. The layoffs come after a period of strong growth, thanks in large part to the pandemic-fueled demand for video conferencing technology. Zoom saw its annual revenue soar in 2020, as it quickly became the go-to choice for businesses, schools, and personal communication. The company had added to its workforce in response to the increase in demand, bringing the total number of employees to around 6,800. But as the pandemic winds down and demand for Zoom’s services slows, the company has decided to reduce its workforce, citing the need to “reduce costs.” Zoom Video Communications, Inc., was founded in 2011 and is headquartered at San Jose, California. It is not the only tech company that has been impacted by the pandemic. Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and many other businesses have reduced their workforce in the last few weeks.