Zoom’s top lawyer-turned-COO earned $28M comp package
Zoom Video Communications Inc. has paid its top lawyer more than $28 million in compensation the past fiscal year.
As a matter of fact, according to an annual financial filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Aparna Bawa (pictured), Zoom’s chief operating officer and interim legal head, earned a pay package of $28 million last year, which is: $27.6 million in stock awards + around $426,900 in annual base salary, as stated by the company.
The top laywer-turned-coo entered Zoom as its first general counsel in 2018 and in May 2020 she was appointed as COO. Previously, she served as general counsel at Magento and general counsel & corporate secretary at Nimble Storage.
Zoom revealed also that, as a result of the pandemic boom, Bawa got more than $10.6 million in compensation (mostly as company stock awards) for fiscal 2021. As Bloomberg writes, “Bawa has sold off at least $37 million in Zoom stock since the beginning of 2021, securities filings show. She currently owns almost $2 million in Zoom shares, according to Bloomberg data. Bawa also owns more than $960,000 in shares of Palo Alto Networks Inc., whose board she joined in 2021”.
Zoom to cut pays and workforce
This happens meanwhile Zoom’s top executives had their salaries reduced. As Eric Yuan, Zoom’s chief executive, said, his executive officers will see their $450,000 base salaries diminished 20% in fiscal 2024 due to the slower post-pandemic growth. For this same reason, 15% of Zoom’s global workforce will be cut.
“We have made the tough but necessary decision to reduce our team by approximately 15% and say goodbye to around 1,300 hardworking, talented colleagues. I know this is a difficult message to hear, and certainly not one I ever wanted to deliver. […] Our trajectory was forever changed during the pandemic when the world faced one of its toughest challenges. […] 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” , Yuan announced in a blog post.
