(Yicai Global) Feb. 10 -- Zoom Video Communications, an American provider of video conferencing software that recently recorded its lowest revenue growth, has begun laying off staff at all of its self-operated units in China, according to insiders.

Subsidiaries in Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Hefei have started reducing staff, Jiemian News reported yesterday, citing workers who remain or left the California-headquartered company. It is unclear whether the Shanghai subsidiary, which is owned by a Hong Kong company named Zoom Video Communications, has done the same.

Workers are given severance that converts each year of service to equal one month of pay plus four extra months, the report added. The company's employees in China are mainly technical and product development staff.

Zoom China has not yet commented on the news.

On Feb. 7, Zoom China Chief Executive Yuan Zheng posted an open letter on the firm's website to say that the company will lay off 1,300 employees, or 15 percent of its global workforce. Moreover, he said that he will take a 98 percent pay cut this year while core management will accept a 20 percent decrease and forego bonuses for 2022.

Zoom has lost its rapid growth momentum provided by the Covid-19 pandemic. In the quarter that ended Oct. 31, 2022, the firm's net income slumped by 86 percent to USD48.4 million from a year earlier, according to the latest earnings report. Revenue slid to USD1.1 billion, down by 5 percent, the lowest growth rate on record.

Founded in 2011, Zoom entered China in 2013. But in August 2020, the firm abruptly announced that it will stop selling new products or upgrading its existing plans for mainland clients. Instead, customers can buy the firm's services via third-party providers.

Zoom [NASDAQ: ZM] closed at USD76.77, down 3.3 percent in New York yesterday, nearly 90 percent lower than the peak of USD588.84 in October 2020.

Editor: Emmi Laine