Following a wave of large-scale IT layoffs in recent weeks and months, the Bay Area-based teleconferencing behemoth Zoom has executed huge layoffs.
15% of the company’s international employees will be let go, CEO Eric Yuan revealed in a memo to employees on Tuesday. But rather than just a written apology, the CEO of the company really apologizes in the announcement.
Yuan issued a letter to the company’s employees, or “Zoomies”, “As the world transitions to life post-pandemic, we are seeing that people and businesses continue to rely on Zoom. But 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.”
Zoom is likely the quintessential example of a pandemic-era technology success story; the company’s flagship product became synonymous with both remote work and video chats during the pandemic. Recall all the happy hours and game parties that Zoom hosted in the early days of the pandemic. Zoom stock rose to an astounding high of $559 per share by October 2020.
Zoom’s growth slowed down significantly, and its stock leveled out to pre-pandemic levels as pandemic regulations started to loosen up and companies started to view remote work more favorably. At the time of publication, the price of the company’s stock was close to $83 per share, up almost 7% from the day before.
Affected Zoom employees will receive up to 16 weeks of pay, health insurance, their bonus from the 2023 fiscal year, six months of stock vesting, and other outplacement services.
