Tech layoffs: Zoom fires 1,300 employees; eBay to cut 4% jobs

Zoom Video Communications Ltd and e-commerce giant eBay have become the latest companies to sack thousands of employees amidst uncertain global macroeconomic conditions and a reduction in sales volume. 

On Tuesday, the U.S.-based video conferencing company said that it has taken “the difficult but necessary” decision to sack 1,300 employees or 15% of its workforce, whereas the company’s chief executive officer (CEO) Eric Yuan will take a 98% salary cut. 

"We built Zoom to remove the friction that businesses felt when collaborating. Our trajectory was forever changed during the pandemic when the world faced one of its toughest challenges, and I am proud of the way we mobilized as a company to keep people connected. To make this possible, we needed to staff up rapidly to support the quick rise of users on our platform and their evolving needs. Within 24 months, Zoom grew 3x in size to manage this demand while enabling continued innovation," Yuan said in a statement. 

"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 analyze our teams or assess if we were growing sustainably, toward the highest priorities," he added. 

Yuan said that he is taking accountability for the "mistakes," and will take a salary cut of 98% for the coming fiscal year and reduce the corporate bonus for FY23. The board members of the company will also reduce their base salaries by 20% for the coming fiscal year while forfeiting their FY23 corporate bonuses.

Meanwhile, the e-commerce major eBay, in a securities and exchange commission (SEC) filing said that it will be letting go of approximately 500 employees globally or 4% of its workforce. Jamie Iannone, Chief Executive Officer of eBay said, "Over the past few months, we've taken a thoughtful look at where we are as a company with considerations of the macroeconomic situation around the world and how to best invest and operate so that we can continue to be successful. To create long-term, sustainable growth for eBay, we need to evolve our organization as we take the next step in our strategy — focused on driving growth, building a trusted marketplace, empowering enthusiasts and seeding new technologies for the future."

"As a result of these considerations and our future-forward plans, I have some hard news to share. Over the next 24 hours, we’ll be letting approximately 500 employees globally know that their jobs will be eliminated. This number represents about 4% of our total employee base," he added. 

Iannone said that the shift will give the company an additional space to invest and create new roles in high-potential areas such as technology and to continue to adapt and flex with the changing macro, e-commerce and technology landscape. 

Earlier this week, PC manufacturer Dell Technologies announced that it will sack 6,650 employees or 5% of its global workforce as the company witnesses plummeting sales. Last week, Dutch health technology company Philips announced plans to lay off another 6,000 employees or 5% of the company's global workforce by 2025. 

In January, software giant IBM Corp sacked 3,900 employees of its global workforce, whereas SAP announced to slash 3,000 jobs or 2.5% of its global workforce. Microsoft announced laying off 10,000 employees by the third fiscal quarter of 2023, whereas Google said it'll slash 6% of its total workforce or around 12,000 jobs globally. Amazon also announced layoffs of over 18,000 workers, starting January 18, 2023.