Zoom fires President Greg Tomb ‘without cause’: What does it mean?

The announcement was made on March 3 through a regulatory filing which stated that Tomb will be entitled to severance benefits in accordance with the company’s arrangements payable upon a “termination without cause”.

Earlier in February, the company laid off about 15% of its workforce. Some 1,300 employees were impacted by the decision, and CEO Eric Yuan also experienced a sizable pay reduction.

Also Read: Zoom employees left in ‘utter disbelief, shock’ by layoffs

Although the former executive at Google had only started in June 2022, he reported directly to Yuan, who had to rapidly expand the business during the pandemic-induced surge. However, as demand for video-conferencing services has softened in recent months,

Zoom has been laying off staff. Tomb’s employment contract included a $45-million stock grant that would have vested over four years, in addition to a $400,000 base salary with an 8% bonus target, according to a June filing.

A spokesperson for the San Jose-based company has confirmed that there are no immediate plans to find a replacement for Tomb and declined to provide further comments on the matter.

Also Read: Zoom jumps on AI bandwagon, forecasts upbeat 2024 target; stock up 8%

In an interview with Bloomberg in January 2023 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tomb expressed optimism about Zoom’s growth potential, while acknowledging the increase in competition. However, a few weeks later, Zoom announced that it would be laying off 15% of its workforce.

Zoom named Greg Tomb its president in June 2022. He was accountable for the organisation’s go-to-market plan, revenue initiatives and office of the Global CIO. Tomb joined Zoom from Google Cloud with more than 20 years of experience, most recently serving as Vice-President of Sales for Google Workspace, SMB, Data & Analytics, Geo Enterprises and Security Sales.

What does “termination without cause” mean?

“Termination Without Cause” means a separation as a result of a termination of employment by Zoom without Cause (and other than as a result of your death or disability), provided you are willing and able to continue performing services within the meaning of Treasury Regulation l.409A-l(n)(l), as per a company document dated May 19, 2020.

Payments that are contingent on future events like being terminated without Cause shall be reduced (or eliminated) before Payments that are not contingent on future events, it says.