Popular video conferencing platform Zoom Video Communications Inc. has abruptly terminated the employment of its President, Greg Tomb, a former Google executive who had only started at the videoconferencing company in June 2022.
Although the company did not communicate the reason for his sack explicitly, the company, in a regulatory filing, noted that Tomb would receive severance benefits following arrangements that are payable upon a “termination without cause”.
The move is effective today, Friday, March 3.
A spokesperson for Zoom has said the company isn’t looking to find a replacement and declines to comment further.
Technext cannot instantly ascertain the reasons for the dismissal, but we know that Tomb was appointed in June into the VP role to help shape Zoom’s next chapter as the company continues transforming into a multi-product platform.
We are also aware that more recently, the company has been cutting jobs to deal with softening demand even though the company tripled its workforce size to handle an unexpected rise in demand during the first 24 months of the pandemic. This was in addition to the fact that the business grew by a triple-digit percentage year over year for five consecutive quarters.
The company plans to cut 15% of its staff, about 1,300 people. The CEO communicated this, Eric Yuan, in a blog post addressed to “Zoomies.” He noted that he would also partake in the cut by reducing his salary by 98%.
“As the CEO and founder of Zoom, I am accountable for these mistakes and the actions we take today — and I want to show accountability not just in words but in my own actions,” Yuan wrote. Yuan’s salary was slashed by 98%, with him declining to take his bonus; he also said that executive leadership would reduce their pay by 20% and forfeit their bonuses.
Although that growth naturally slowed down, Zoom remained on a steady upward trajectory.
Zoom shares were off 0.9% in after-hours trading Thursday. The stock has lost 42% over the past 12 months, as the S&P 500 SPX, +0.76% has declined 9%.
More on Greg Tomb
Tomb only joined Zoom in June, when he was announced as overseeing “go-to-market strategy, revenue efforts, and office of the Global CIO.”
He joined from Google Cloud, where he most recently served as Vice President of Sales, Google Workspace, SMB, Data & Analytics, Geo Enterprises, and Security Sales, bringing with him more than 20 years of experience.
The executive had taken a high-profile role at the video conferencing platform during his short tenure, appearing on earnings calls and overseeing the company’s sales operation. He reported directly to Chief Executive Officer Eric Yuan, who started Zoom in 2011 and had to build up the business during a pandemic-fueled boom rapidly.
According to a June filing, tomb’s employment included a $45 million stock grant that would vest over four years, in addition to a $400,000 base salary with an 8% bonus target.
SVB MoffettNathanson analyst Sterling Auty noted after Thursday’s SEC filing that Tomb’s firing comes after Zoom’s latest outlook implied “a bigger deceleration than the Street had modelled” for enterprise growth, “and now we have a change being made in the executive that was brought in for sales leadership.”
In an interview with Bloomberg during the January World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tomb spoke optimistically about the company’s growth potential while acknowledging that the company faced more competition.
Read also: Global roundup: Jack Dorsey exits Twitter board as Zoom, Snapchat shares lose value
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