Zoom is one of a growing list of tech companies to announce job cuts this year.
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Zoom Video Communications,
the video conferencing company, announced it would be cutting headcount and the CEO would take a pay cut of 98%.
Zoom Video (ticker: ZM) Chief Executive Eric Yuan announced in a message to employees that was published as a blog post Tuesday that the company will be cutting about 15% of its staff, or around 1,300 people.
Yuan wrote in the blog post that the company made hiring “mistakes,” including rapidly increasing staff to meet increased demand during the pandemic.
“We didn’t take as much time as we should have to thoroughly analyze our teams or assess if we were growing sustainably, toward the highest priorities,” Yuan wrote.
He added that the economic uncertainty, and its effect on 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.”
Yuan also announced that he was cutting his salary by 98% and foregoing a 2023 bonus. Leadership members will reduce their salaries by 20% and also forfeit their 2023 bonuses.
Many other tech companies have been announcing job cut this year in an attempt to cut costs. According to Layoffs.fyi, 95,508 employees in the tech sector have been laid off in 2023. Other companies that have announced recent job cuts include
Microsoft
(MFST),
Splunk
(SPLK) and
Workday
(WDAY).
Shares of Zoom jumped 8.4% Tuesday to $83.72 and were on pace for their largest percent increase since November 2022, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The stock has climbed 24% this year.
Write to Angela Palumbo at angela.palumbo@dowjones.com
Credit: marketwatch.com