Foreign media have noted that Russia and U.S. tech companies have often clashed over content, censorship, data, and local representation, a dispute that was further exacerbated in February 2022 after the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict.

RIA Novosti quoted Judge Timur Vakhrameyev as saying that the fine is equivalent to one-tenth of Zoom’s 2022 revenues in Russia.

It’s worth noting that Zoom was fined 15 million rubles last week for failing to store Russian citizens’ data on Russian soil (Currently about RMB 1.127 million), a fine that the court said Zoom had repeatedly violated.

This is in addition to other companies such as Google, Apple, and others, which have been regularly fined large sums of money in Russia over the past few years, and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms, which have also been disabled.

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According to Zoom, employees who live within 50 miles (or 80.47 kilometers, in IT’s case) of a Zoom office are required to be in the office at least two days a week in order to interact with their teams, a spokesperson for Zoom said in a statement. — meaning that employees who live close to the office need to be in the office two days a week to interact with their teams — is the most effective for Zoom. As a company, we are better able to utilize our own technology, continue to innovate, and support our global customers.”

The reason for this change in attitude at Zoom may have something to do with its performance and share price. in 2020, Zoom’s share price rose at least six-fold as its sales surged due to the outbreak, which left millions of employees stranded in their homes. But by 2021, as the epidemic eased and more companies began pushing employees back into the office, demand for Zoom’s videoconferencing services fell, its revenue growth slowed and its stock price plummeted. Since then, the company has lost at least $100 billion in market capitalization.

Despite this, Zoom continues to emphasize the importance of flexible work in its marketing materials. According to a survey commissioned by Zoom, 43 percent of employees view flexible work not as a benefit but as a basic expectation, and 70 percent said they would consider leaving their current job for a more flexible work environment.

Last year, Zoom said that less than 2% of its employees worked in offices. The spokesperson said, “We will continue to leverage the entire Zoom platform to keep our employees and dispersed teams connected and working efficiently.”

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But Zoom did not specify how it will use OpenAI’s software, describing it instead as part of a broader push into AI, including machine learning models of Zoom’s own design.

Earlier this month, customer relationship management software provider Salesforce announced its generative AI customer relationship management technology EinsteinGPT – a suite of generative AI capabilities based on OpenAI – in a similarly descriptive manner. both Salesforce and Zoom Both Salesforce and Zoom seem eager to capitalize on the excitement generated by ChatGPT without making their AI capabilities seem bland in comparison.

Both Microsoft and Google recently announced generative AI capabilities for their products, and Zoom announced a digital assistant that could help the company solidify its position as a productivity platform on par with the two companies. In addition, Zoom has introduced new software that allows users to access their Google and Microsoft emails from within the Zoom app.

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Zoom shares, which have fallen 63 percent in the last year due to the plunge in tech stocks, closed up 9.9 percent after the news but were down slightly after hours. In announcing that it will lay off nearly 15 percent of its workforce, Yuan Zheng, the company’s chief executive, said he will take a 98 percent pay cut and forgo bonuses in the next fiscal year.

We worked tirelessly …… but we also made mistakes,” Yuan Zheng said. We didn’t spend enough time thoroughly analyzing our team or evaluating whether we were moving toward the highest priority sustainably.”

A regulatory filing Tuesday showed that Zoom will incur about $50 million to $68 million in costs from the layoffs. A large portion of that will be spent in the first quarter of fiscal 2024, the company said.

Analysts predict Zoom’s revenue will grow only 6.7 percent in fiscal 2022, after more than quadrupling revenue and nine-fold profit growth in 2021. Profits are expected to fall 38 percent in 2022.

Zoom increased hiring during the outbreak to meet surging demand, but is now joining the ranks of U.S. companies to control costs and prepare for a potential downturn.

The company also said its executive leadership team will reduce base salaries by 20 percent during the same period. Yuan Zheng noted that departing employees will receive 16 weeks of pay, health insurance and a bonus.

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According to Android Police, video conferencing software Zoom has a dedicated Google Chrome extension and a Chrome app optimized for Chromebooks. Unfortunately, however, Zoom no longer wants to maintain a Chromebook app.

It’s fairly easy to install and use Zoom on Chromebooks. But the app lacks all the features beyond the basics. As a result, users can join and start meetings on Chromebooks, but won’t get the same experience as the Android or desktop versions of the Zoom app.

As reported by 9to5Google in June, Chromebook users saw a warning that Zoom would not be supported in September 2022. The app will continue to be available, but Zoom will not provide support or updates.

In 2020, Google announced plans to discontinue Chrome apps across operating systems, including Chrome OS, and to stop supporting development in June 2021. in June 2022, Google will stop accepting new submissions of older Chrome apps in the Chrome Web Store.

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