Layoffs: Zoom plans to cut 150 jobs; close to 2 percent of its workforce

After the sudden rise during Pandemic that saw a surge in its business, software company Zoom Video Communications has now initiated 150 job cuts this week. However, the reductions are not company-wide and Zoom will continue to recruit people this year in areas such as artificial intelligence, sales and engineering, according to reports. The company confirmed the cuts amount to less than two percent of the company's workforce.

Zoom, which saw huge success during the pandemic, has struggled to maintain its revenue growth. Zoom Video Communications has tried to move beyond its video meeting service by offering a variety of applications for businesses such as contact center software and persistent chat similar to Salesforce’s Slack.

Zoom Phone, a VoIP (use internet connections to make and receive calls) phone service from the company recently touched seven million paid subscribers. The company stated that it would cutdown headcount by 15 percent and bring its workforce to more than 7,000 from 8,500. Since January 2023, Zoom Video Communications, which is based in California has not disclosed its total headcount. In February 2023, Zoom cut around 1,300 workers, that was about 15 percent of its workforce, as the company braced for the "uncertainty of the global economy," CEO Eric Yuan said at the time. The cuts in 2023 hit every organization across Zoom.

2024 opened up on a wave of job cuts across the technology sector. Companies such as Microsoft, Alphabet’s Google, Amazon and Salesforce cut down their workforce. Software company Okta too mentioned that it would bring down seven percent of its staff to reduce costs.

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