RingCentral Layoffs: Targeted Staff Cuts at UCaaS Cloud Service Provider -

RingCentral is cutting about 50 employees from its headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to a local media report. The cuts are scheduled for sometime in September 2022, but RingCentral will continue to have a team of about 700 people in the Bay Area, and the cloud communications provider plans to make hires in growth areas of the business, the report said.

RingCentral promotes collaboration, video conferencing and phone services to businesses. The Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) company works closely with channel partners, ISVs (independent software vendors), hardware companies and consulting firms, among other types of businesses.

RingCentral revenue was $487 million in Q2 of 2022, up 28% from Q2 of 2021. The net loss was $159.5 million, compared to a $111 million net loss in Q1 of 2021. The figures generally beat Wall Street's expectations.

Potential UCaaS Market Challenges Facing RingCentral, Avaya, Mitel...

Still, RingCentral and other players in the UCaaS market are striving to manage their businesses very carefully amid recession talk on Wall Street, and potential competition from mainstream video conferencing and collaboration services such as Microsoft Teams, Salesforce Slack and Zoom.

Among the anecdotal items to note in the UCaaS market:

August 2022: 8x8's stock fell sharply as it seeks to refinance $500 million in debt, SeekingAlpha reported.
July 2022: Avaya’s board of directors “removed” James Chirico from his role as president and CEO, and named Vonage veteran Alan Masarek to succeed him. The company also is planning cost cuts, though Avaya did not mention if the cuts involve layoffs.
December 2021: Mitel confirmed layoffs after selling certain assets to RingCentral.

Take a closer look, and you'll notice that RingCentral invested in Avaya in 2019, and RingCentral acquired certain Mitel technologies in 2021.

Elsewhere, UCaaS provider Intermedia canceled an IPO in 2021 amid "adverse conditions" in the IPO market. Shortly thereafter, NEC announced plans to invest $40 million in Intermedia.