Sunday, March 05, 2023











Zoom fires its president, a former Google employee, after only 10 months

Kate Duffy
Fri, March 3, 2023 

Zoom has fired its president, Greg Tomb, just 10 months after he joined.


The company said in a SEC filing that Tomb's "termination without cause" was effective Friday.


Before his stint at Zoom, Tomb worked as Google's vice president of sales.


Zoom has sacked its president, Greg Tomb, a former Google employee who only began working at the company around 10 months ago.

Zoom said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that Tomb's termination was effective as of Friday. He will receive severance benefits in line with his employment arrangements, which are payable upon a "termination without cause," according to the SEC filing.

The filing was signed off by Aparna Bawa, the chief operating officer at Zoom.

An SEC filing showed details of the Zoom president's salary.
Thiago Prudencio/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images


Zoom said in an SEC filing in June, when Tomb joined, that he would receive an annual base salary of $400,000, with a yearly bonus target of 8%. His employment also included a $45 million stock grant, which would vest over four years, per the filing.

Insider was unable to reach Tomb for comment because no contact details were immediately available.

It is unclear who will take over Tomb's position as president of Zoom. A spokesperson from Zoom told Insider the company won't find a replacement for Tomb and declined to comment further.

Tomb's LinkedIn profile shows that he joined Zoom as president in June 2022. Before this, he worked at Google for more than a year as the vice president of sales for Google Workspace, Security, and Geo Enterprise.

Tomb was also previously a president at software firm SAP and computer programming provider Vivido Labs, according to LinkedIn. He is a member of the board of Pure Storage, a tech company, his LinkedIn profile said.

Tomb's termination comes after Zoom announced in early February it was laying off about 1,300 employees — 15% of its workforce. Eric Yuan, the CEO and founder of Zoom, said he was accountable for mistakes and the actions he was taking as a result; Yuan said he would take a pay cut of 98%, meaning his salary would be $10,000 this year.

IMPROPER DISMISAL 
Zoom boss Greg Tomb fired ‘without cause’

Shiona McCallum - Technology reporter
Fri, March 3, 2023 

Zoom logo displayed on San Jose, California headquarters

Video conferencing platform Zoom has sacked its president, Greg Tomb, a former Google executive.

Mr Tomb's contract was abruptly terminated "without cause", according to the company in a regulatory filing.

The businessman had taken up the role in June 2022 and had been active on earnings calls and overseeing the company's sales.

A spokesperson for Zoom said the tech firm isn't looking for a replacement.


Mr Tomb reported directly to chief executive officer Eric Yuan, who started Zoom in 2011 and was at the helm as the company became one of the pandemic's biggest winners.

Zoom became a household name as people needed to stay at home, and screen time increased.

There were Zoom weddings and funerals, and by April 2020 the company said 300 million daily participants were on Zoom calls.

At the time of Mr Tomb's appointment, Mr Yuan said he was excited about the strength he was adding to the leadership team: "Greg is a highly respected technology industry leader and has deep experience in helping to scale companies at critical junctures."

Mr Tomb said he was thrilled to join the team and help "drive growth" as businesses around the world addressed their communications needs.

But it has been a difficult picture for the company, which has struggled to maintain its pandemic boom and - like many others in the tech sector - it has been forced to lay off staff.

Despite Zoom tripling its head count in two years during the pandemic, in February the company cut 15% of its staff - 1,300 people - to deal with waning demand.

"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," Mr Yuan said.

As companies look to cut costs in the face of an economic downturn, Zoom could be left behind in favour of rival services such as Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Slack.

Zoom is trying to diversify. Last year, it announced plans to integrate email and calendar features and a chatbot to help users with troubleshoot issues. Zoom Sports is also in the works.




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