Zoom Slashes 15% of Staff in Latest Tech Layoffs
CEO Eric Yuan says the cuts are due to economic uncertainty.
- Carl R. Greer/Andrew D. Hepburn Award for Best Nonfiction Essay (Miami University, 2020)
Zoom is cutting 1,300 jobs, CEO and founder Eric Yuan said in a blog post Tuesday. Yuan blamed the layoffs on uncertain global economic conditions.
The cuts, which began Tuesday, will affect up to 15% of Zoom's workforce. The company didn't immediately respond to questions on what roles are being eliminated.
Zoom has been central to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic. To keep up with demand, the company grew three times its size in two years, Yuan said. "We didn't take as much time as we should have to thoroughly analyze our teams or assess if we were growing sustainably," he added.
"I am accountable for these mistakes and the actions we take today," said Yuan in the blog post. "I want to show accountability not just in words but in my own actions." He said he's taking a 98% pay cut and won't collect a company bonus for the upcoming fiscal year.
The videoconferencing company joins tech giants Google, Microsoft and IBM, among others, in laying off employees in the past month. Amazon is also eliminating more than 18,000 jobs.