Zoom Fires Its President Days After Company Cut 1,300 Jobs

Video conferencing platform Zoom has fired its President Greg Tomb, according to a report in the BBC, which cited a regulatory filing by the company. Mr Tomb’s contract was abruptly terminated “without cause”. He will be entitled to severance benefits in accordance with the company’s arrangements payable upon a “termination without cause”, the outlet added.

The businessman and a former Google employee, Mr Tomb had assumed the position in June 2022. Since then, he had actively participated in earnings calls and managed the company’s sales. According to a Zoom representative, the tech company is not seeking for a replacement.

He answered directly to Zoom’s CEO Eric Yuan, who founded the company in 2011 and had to quickly expand it during a pandemic-driven boom, as per the outlet. The company has begun laying off employees more recently to deal with decreasing demand. 

The company, which became a household name during Covid-19, announced on February 7 that it is laying off about 15 per cent or 1,300 of its staff. In the company’s blog post, it was also stated that Mr Yuan is taking a 98 per cent cut in salary this year and forgoing his executive bonus. The CEO said that the members of his executive leadership team were also letting go of the bonuses and taking a 20 per cent pay cut.

“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,” Mr Yuan said in the company’s blog.

According to him, Zoom hired more employees during the pandemic as people used the platform for remote work, court appearances, social gatherings, education purposes as Covid-19 risks prevented them from meeting up in person.

He continued, “We worked tirelessly, but we also made mistakes. 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. We are seeing that people and businesses continue to rely on Zoom.”

However, Mr Yuan added that the company had to think to be able to achieve its long-term goals. “But the uncertainty of the global economy, and its effect on our customers, means we need to take a hard look inward to reset ourselves so we can weather the economic environment, deliver for our customers and achieve Zoom’s long-term vision.”