Zoom abruptly fires its president Greg Tomb ‘without cause’

New York – Zoom Video Communications abruptly terminated the employment of president Greg Tomb, a former Google executive who had started at the videoconferencing company only in June.

Mr Tomb will receive severance benefits in accordance with arrangements that are payable upon a “termination without cause”, the company said in a regulatory filing. The move was with effect from Friday.

A spokesman for California-based Zoom said the company is not looking for a replacement at this time and declined to comment further.

Mr Tomb had taken a high-profile role at Zoom during his short tenure, appearing on earnings calls and overseeing the company’s sales operations. He reported directly to chief executive officer Eric Yuan, who started Zoom in 2011 and had to rapidly build up the business during a pandemic-fuelled boom. More recently, the company has been cutting jobs to deal with softening demand.

Mr Tomb’s employment included a US$45 million (S$60.6 million) stock grant that would be vested over four years, in addition to a US$400,000 base salary with an 8 per cent bonus target, according to a June filing.

In an interview with Bloomberg during January’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr Tomb spoke optimistically about Zoom’s growth potential while acknowledging that the company faces more competition. A few weeks later, Zoom announced it would cut 15 per cent of its workforce. BLOOMBERG