Zoom laying off 1,300 workers, a 15% cut

Zoom said Tuesday it will lay off 1,300 employees, the latest in a slew of tech industry cuts.

The meetings platform company blamed the 15% reduction in staff on a decline in sales as the majority of people who worked remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic’s height have returned to in-person work spaces and activities.

“We have made the tough but necessary decision to reduce our team by approximately 15% and say goodbye to around 1,300 hardworking, talented colleagues,” CEO Eric Yuan said in a letter addressed to all “Zoomies” on the site’s blog. “Our trajectory was forever changed during the pandemic when the world faced one of its toughest challenges, and I am proud of the way we mobilized as a company to keep people connected,” Yuan said. “To make this possible, we needed to staff up rapidly to support the quick rise of users on our platform and their evolving needs. Within 24 months, Zoom grew 3x in size to manage this demand while enabling continued innovation.”

He said the company’s leadership made “mistakes” in failing to assess the sustainability of the growth process.

Yuan also announced he would relinquish 98% of his base salary for the coming fiscal year, and his entire 2023 corporate bonus. Other executive leadership team members will see a 20% base salary reduction and forgo their bonuses, he added.

Yuan’s base salary at his 2018 hire date was $300,000, according to SEC filings. However, his salary makes up a very small portion of his reported net worth. He held nearly $4.4 million in stock options when the company filed for its initial public offering in 2019. The value of his stake in the company has drastically grown in the years since Zoom went public.

In 2021, Yuan transferred $6 billion worth of shares into a trust fund under the rubric of estate planning, as Bloomberg reported at the time.