Zoom fires its president days after the company cut 1,300 jobs

Video conferencing platform Zoom has fired its president Greg Tomb, according to a report in the BBC, citing a legal filing by the company. Mr. Tomb’s contract was abruptly terminated “for no reason”. He will be entitled to severance payments in accordance with the company’s arrangements, payable in the event of a “termination without cause,” the outlet added.

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

He replied directly to Zoom CEO Eric Yuan, who founded the company in 2011 and had to quickly expand it during a pandemic-driven boom, according to the outlet. The company has recently begun laying off employees to meet declining demand.

The company, which became a household name during Covid-19, announced on Feb. 7 that it will lay off about 15 percent, or 1,300, of its workforce. The company’s blog post also stated that Mr. Yuan will accept a 98 percent salary cut this year and waive his executive bonus. The CEO said members of his executive leadership team also let go of bonuses and accepted a 20 percent pay cut.

“Our trajectory has changed forever during the pandemic when the world faced one of its greatest challenges, and I am proud of the way we mobilized as a company to keep people connected,” Mr Yuan said in the blog from the company.

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

He continued: “We worked tirelessly, but we also made mistakes. We didn’t take as much time as we needed to thoroughly analyze our teams or assess whether we were growing sustainably, towards the highest priorities. We see that people and businesses continue to rely on Zoom.”

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