Zendesk laying off about 300

Zendesk, the maker of customer support software, is laying off 5% of its workforce, becoming the latest Bay Area tech company to cut staff.

The company said late Monday that it needed to cut more costs and optimize operations. The announcement comes a few days after a mass layoff at Twitter of roughly half its 7,500 workers, including 784 in San Francisco. Like Twitter, Zendesk is headquartered in Mid-Market and benefited from a 2011 payroll tax break to open offices in the area.

The cuts affect roughly 300 workers. Zendesk has 5,450 total employees, according to its website.

“The changes we are making will enable a healthier and more efficient Zendesk,” the company said in a statement. “We will continue to grow and to focus on growth, albeit at a pace that appropriately balances our need to improve our profitability.”

Supervisor Matt Dorsey said last week that city officials were notified that Zendesk was laying off around 28 workers in San Francisco as part of 84 layoffs in California. The company said all workers can stay remote as part of a “digital first” policy earlier this year.

Laid-off workers will receive at least three months of base salary.

Gergely Orosz, a tech newsletter writer, first reported news of the layoffs.

In June, private equity firm Hellman & Friedman and Permira and other investors agreed to buy Zendesk for $10.2 billion and take it private. The deal is expected to close by end of the year and came after Zendesk rejected a $17 billion takeover offer in February, saying at the time that it undervalued the company.

Zendesk reported a net loss of $59 million in the third quarter. The company’s share price has fallen by around 50% since the start of 2021.

Numerous tech companies have reduced their workforces as the economy has slowed and the Federal Reserve has repeatedly raised interest rates, including Lyft, Stripe, Chime and Opendoor, all in the past week.