Zoom Acknowledges 'Mistakes,' Slashes 15% of Workforce in Layoffs

Zoom is cutting 15% of its workforce, or 1,300 employees, as part of a “reset” to weather the current economic environment.

Zoom CEO Eric Yuan announced the layoffs in a blog. He’s also reducing his salary for the coming fiscal year by 98% and foregoing his fiscal year 2023 corporate bonus.

Zoom joins the more than 20 companies doing business in the channel that have cut workers since the start of the year.

Zoom’s Eric Yuan

“We worked tirelessly and made Zoom better for our customers and users,” Yuan said. “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. 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.”

All Organizations Across Zoom Impacted by Layoffs

Each organization across Zoom will be impacted by these changes, Yuan said.

“We did not take a single departure lightly,” he said. “Our leadership carefully examined and made decisions based on critical priorities for long-term growth, and also looked for functions that have become overly complex or duplicative. Some teams will also be adjusting their structures to allow us to better invest in the opportunities ahead. But today we are focused on supporting those leaving Zoom and making the transition as respectful and compassionate as possible.”

Members of Yuan’s executive leadership team will reduce their base salaries by 20% for the coming fiscal year. They’ll also forfeit their corporate bonuses. 

“We are humbled to be realizing Zoom’s platform vision, but we still have a lot of hard work ahead of us to ensure we’re delivering an experience that enables a new kind of productivity — one that brings all the best tools and applications for modern, engaging collaboration into one destination,” he said. “While we have to take these steps today, we will continue to invest in key strategic areas to help us reach our vision.”

Yuan said the company will “learn from the past to set ourselves up for future success, and redouble our efforts to help evolve Zoom to tomorrow.”

For the third quarter of its fiscal year 2023 that ended Oct. 31, Zoom reported $1.1 billion in revenue, up 5% year over year. Net income was $48.3 million; that compared to $340.2 million for the year-ago quarter.