Zoom reported three percent year-on-year growth for Q1 despite laying off 15 percent of its staff
Story by Kieran Devlin, UC Today
Zoom Reports Q1 Growth Despite Staff Lay-Offs
Zoom reported three percent year-on-year growth at its Q1 2023 earnings call, despite laying off 15 percent of its staff.
Zoom achieved total revenues of $1.105 billion, roughly $20 million above the high end of guidance. In February, Zoom announced it would cut 1,300 employees, and its CEO, Eric Yuan, took a 98 percent pay reduction. These job losses were accredited to a waning demand for video conferencing services.
Eric S. Yuan, Zoom Founder and CEO, commented:
The solid start to the year has enabled us to raise our outlook for fiscal year 2024 while continuing to invest in innovations such as AI to help make interactions more meaningful and communications more effective.”
Other significant financial results included Zoom’s non-GAAP gross margin of 80.5 percent exceeding its long-term target, enterprise business up 13 percent, online revenue increasing, and Zoom Phone surpassing ten percent of quarterly revenue.
However, not all results reported were positive. While the Americas revenue grew eight percent, it declined in EMEA and APAC by eight percent and five percent, respectively. Kelly Steckelberg, CFO at Zoom Video Communications, suggested this loss was due to local regulations prolonging the redundancy process, a stronger dollar, and the Russia-Ukraine war.
Looking forward, for Q2, Zoom expects its revenue to grow to between $1.110 billion and $1.115 billion, with a non-GAAP income between $405 million and $410 million.
