Video conferencing platform Zoom has laid off around 1,300 staff, around 15 per cent of its workforce.

In a letter to employees, Zoom’s chief executive Eric Yuan said that while people and businesses had relied on the company during the pandemic, the uncertainty of the global economy and its effect on users meant that the company had to make changes.

Yuan added that to further cut costs, he would reduce his salary by 98 per cent and forgo his corporate bonus. Other members of the leadership team are also reducing their salaries by 20 per cent and forgoing their bonuses.

He said: “We worked tirelessly and made Zoom better for our customers and users. But we also made mistakes. We didn’t take as much time as we should have to thoroughly analyse our teams or assess if we were growing sustainably, toward the highest priorities.”

The restructuring will cost around $50 million to $68 million and the affected staff will receive a package of 16 weeks salary, heath care and other support.

Other global technology firms have also recently announced layoffs, with Microsoft cutting around 11,000 jobs, or about five per cent of its workforce. IBM said it was going to cut around 4,000 jobs, while Amazon will increase layoffs to more than 18,000.

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