Zoom, the video conferencing platform that many people use to work from home, has terminated the contract of its President, Greg Tomb. Tomb was in charge of sales and had been involved in the company's financial calls. But, Zoom has confirmed that it will not hire anyone else for the position, and Tomb's exit was not because of anything he did wrong, the company said.
Tomb reported directly to Zoom's CEO, Eric Yuan, who founded the company in 2011 and is credited with making Zoom so popular during the pandemic. Millions of people worldwide used Zoom to keep in touch while staying home.
In April 2020, the company boasted 300 million daily participants on its video calls, including virtual weddings and funerals.
However, Zoom has struggled to keep up its success, just like many other tech companies, and had to lay off over a thousand employees earlier this year.
Despite tripling its workforce during the pandemic, the company cut 15% of its staff because of a decrease in demand. Yuan has admitted that the company did not have enough time to analyze its teams and decide if they were working towards its goals.
As companies look to cut costs during the economic downturn, Zoom may lose out to other services such as Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Slack. In response, Zoom is trying to diversify its offerings.
It announced plans to add email and calendar features last year and launched a chatbot to help users with issues. Zoom is also developing Zoom Spots, which are virtual co-working spaces that allow hybrid teams to work together.
In an email to employees, the CEO wrote, "As the CEO and founder of Zoom, I am accountable for these mistakes and the actions we take today. To that end, I am reducing my salary for the coming fiscal year by 98 percent and foregoing my FY23 corporate bonus. Members of my executive leadership team will reduce their base salaries by 20 percent for the coming fiscal year while also forfeiting their FY23 corporate bonuses."
Zoom became famous because it helped people stay connected while working from home during the pandemic. However, it's been tough for Zoom to keep up with its success, and they had to lay off staff. They're also facing tough competition from other video conferencing services like Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Slack.
Zoom is trying to offer new services like email and calendar features and virtual co-working spaces to attract customers. It's still unclear if Zoom can compete in the crowded video conferencing market.
