I’ll Reduce My Salary by 98% – Zoom CEO Announces Mass Layoff

2023 began with an array of layoff announcements by tech giants. Leading the list, Salesforce announced job cuts on January 4th, closely followed by Amazon on the 5th. Twitter, who noted that it made more sense to consolidate teams under one leader (instead of two) announced cuts on the 6th. On the 10th of January, Crypto firm Coinbase stated that it was closing 950 roles to ensure that it succeeds in 2023. 

Also, Meta, Alphabet (its healthcare services unit), and Goldman Sachs announced layoffs on January 11th. SmartNews, Microsoft, and Alphabet(Google’s parent company) also dismissed varying percentages of their workforce on the 13th,18th, and 20th of January respectively. 

The layoffs continued on the 23rd of January as Spotify stated that it was dismissing 600 members of staff, about 6% of the company’s workforce. Similarly, Intel, IBM, SAP, Groupon and Paypal closed the month of January with their dismissal notices on the 23rd, 25th, 26th, and 31st. 

Again, on the 6th of February, Dell (DELL) hinted it would cut about 5% of its workforce. Following the trend,  Zoom, a Video Communications Company, says it will dismiss about 1,300 employees as the company tries to adapt to the uncertainty of the global economy.

Zoom’s layoff impacts every part of the organization

In a memo, Zoom stated that every part of the organization will be affected by the layoff, which represented about 15% of its workforce. Zoom’s CEO Eric Yuan also acknowledged that the company made mistakes in the growth recorded during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Zoom became a popular video communications channel during the pandemic as several individuals turned to the platform to breach the communication gaps created by covid 19. In a bid to manage the boom, Yuan revealed that he staffed up rapidly. He said, “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.”

Zoom’s CEO Yuan takes responsibility for mistakes 

Assuming responsibility for the mistakes made during the pandemic, Yuan disclosed that he will reduce his salary by 98% in the coming fiscal year. The CEO added that he will also forfeit his 2023 corporate bonus.

Also, Yuan noted that members of the executive leadership team will reduce their base salaries by 20% for the coming fiscal year and forgo their fiscal year 2023 bonuses.

NEXT:Microsoft Dismisses 10,000 Workers, 5% of its Workforce