US tech company Zoom laying off 1,300 employees

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Zoom Video Communications announced Tuesday it will lay off 15% of its workforce, or around 1,300 employees.

The American tech firm became a popular online communication tool during the coronavirus pandemic amid strict quarantine measures.

But "as the world transitions to life post-pandemic, we are seeing that people and businesses continue to rely on Zoom," CEO and founder Eric S. Yuan wrote in a blog post.

He said the company made "some mistakes" and did not "thoroughly analyze" if it was growing sustainably.

"But the uncertainty of the global economy, and its effect on our customers, means we need to take a hard – yet important – look inward to reset ourselves so we can weather the economic environment, deliver for our customers and achieve Zoom’s long-term vision," he added.

The move comes as the tech industry is struggling with lower income and recession fears, as big firms like Dell, IBM, Amazon, Microsoft, Salesforce, PayPal and Google's parent, Alphabet, have been laying off workers by the thousands.