CEO wants to forego 98 percent of salary

The video service Zoom has announced the layoff of around 1,300 employees. The reason given by the company was the uncertain economic situation. According to his own statements, CEO Eric Yuan even wants to forgo 98 percent of his salary.

The corona pandemic has triggered a real boom at Zoom. In order to cope with the increased demand, the video service has therefore massively increased its staff. The company almost tripled in size within 24 months.

Zoom is laying off around 13 percent of its workforce

But now the rosy times at Zoom seem to be over. Because in view of the uncertain economic situation, the US group has now announced massive job cuts. CEO Eric Yuan told his employees about it in one official statement with:

We made the difficult but necessary decision to downsize our team by approximately 15 percent and say goodbye to approximately 1,300 hard-working, talented colleagues.

However, Yuan also admitted to making mistakes. The company therefore took too little time to analyze its teams and to assess whether the previous growth, including the increase in personnel, was really sustainable.

Mass dismissal via email

Now Zoom is preparing for life after the pandemic. The company found that many people and other companies still trust the video service. Due to the current economic situation and its uncertain effects, CEO Yuan wants to look inwards above all.

The aim is a new orientation in order to survive the economic crisis. All departments are also being put to the test and are to be realigned. First of all, however, it would be a matter of showing respect to the dismissed employees. Eric Yuan also took personal responsibility and apologized for his mistakes.

He also regrets the way the workforce found out about the layoffs: “We know that receiving this message by email is not ideal.” However, management felt it best to inform all employees as soon as possible.

Zoom CEO wants to forego 98 percent of his salary

Meanwhile, Eric Yuan not only wants to point out his mistakes with words, but also with his own hands. The Zoom boss therefore announced that he would forego 98 percent of his salary in the 2024 financial year. The same applies to his company bonus in 2023.

The members of his management team would also voluntarily accept a salary cut of 20 percent in the future. They also want to forego their corporate bonuses for the 2023 financial year. Meanwhile, dismissed full-time employees should receive their annual bonus. Yuan also promised them 16 weeks of salary and health insurance.

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