Zoom (software)
Zoom is a video conferencing software developed by Zoom Video Communications, Inc., founded by Eric Yuan in 2011. Yuan, a former engineer at Cisco WebEx, aimed to create a more user-friendly video conferencing experience, enabling easy joining of meetings and compatibility across various devices. The platform gained rapid popularity, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when businesses and educational institutions sought alternatives to in-person interactions. Zoom's ability to handle large meetings and provide features like screen sharing and webinars made it a go-to solution for many users.
The company went public in 2019 and joined the NASDAQ-100 index by 2021, reflecting its significant growth and profitability. However, as the economic landscape shifted in 2023, Zoom faced challenges, including workforce reductions and rising concerns over privacy and security. Despite these issues, Zoom remains a widely used tool for virtual communication, highlighting its importance in the evolving landscape of remote work and education.
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Zoom (software)
Zoom is a video conference service provided by Zoom Video Communications, Inc. The company was founded by Eric Yuan, who broke away from Cisco Webex to develop a more user-friendly, consumer-centered video conferencing software. The application distinguished itself from its competitors by allowing users to join video conferences quickly and easily and allowing communication between various different types of devices. Its capacity for hosting large numbers of users in a single conference made it popular with both schools and businesses.
In 2019, Zoom Video Communications, Inc. completed its initial public offering (IPO) and joined the NASDQ-100 two years later. Zoom experienced a significant increase in sales in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of widespread shutdowns to limit the spread of the virus, many businesses and schools turned to video conferencing to replace in-person meetings. Zoom quickly became the most popular video conferencing service, leading to record profits. In the first years of the 2020s, Zoom expanded rapidly, although, with an economic downturn in 2023, the company began to cut back its workforce and expansion.
Background
Eric Yuan was born on February 20, 1970, in Tai’an, China. Yuan attended school in China, securing both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in the Shandong province. In 1992, Yuan married his long-time girlfriend, Sherry Yuan.
Following graduation, Yuan found work in Beijing, making a name for himself in the technology industry. However, he felt that immigrating to the United States might grant him additional career opportunities. Yuan applied for a visa to work in the United States, but his initial application was denied. Over the next eighteen months, Yuan applied for visas eight more times. On his ninth attempt, his application was accepted, and Yuan was allowed to move to the United States.
In 1997, Yuan landed his first job in Silicon Valley. He began work as a software engineer for WebEx, an American company specializing in web conferencing and videoconferencing applications. Yuan excelled while working at WebEx, quickly earning a reputation as a talented and successful software engineer. At the time Yuan joined WebEx, the small company had roughly a dozen employees.
In 2007, WebEx was purchased by Cisco Systems, Inc. for 3.2 billion dollars as part of a public takeover. Cisco Systems, Inc. is a multinational technology company based in the United States. It sells high-end technological products and services, including both hardware and software. Cisco was pleased with Yuan’s performance, promoting Yuan to vice president of engineering. In that role, Yuan was primarily charged with the development of collaboration software.
While in college, Yuan had taken long train rides to visit with his wife. He had often dreamed about computer software that would allow him to see and speak with her virtually and hoped to develop such a software. In 2011, Yuan decided to leave Cisco to work on the development of this idea. More than forty computer engineers followed Yuan in his exit, helping him create Zoom Video Communications.
Overview
Yuan founded Zoom Video Communications, Inc., formerly known as Saasbee, on April 21, 2011. Yuan did not intend to use the company to create a new product. Several video conferencing software suites were available, one of which he had helped create at Webex. However, Yuan was certain that video conferencing software could be greatly improved if companies were willing to streamline the process and put the consumer’s needs first. Yuan sought to use Zoom to provide a greatly improved video conferencing product, trusting that consumers would flock to the product after its release.
Initially, Zoom struggled to find investors. Many traditional investment firms believed that the video conferencing market was already saturated, and new companies would struggle to compete with established products such as Skype. However, in June 2011, the company raised three million dollars in seed money from venture capital firm TSVC and several individual venture capitalists.
In May 2012, the company changed its name from Saasbee to Zoom Video Communications. Since its founding, the company’s software engineers had been hard at work developing a market-ready product. In August 2012, Zoom Video Communications launched the first iteration of its product. Unlike its more complicated competitors, Zoom allowed users to join a video conference call just by clicking on a link or calling in. Additionally, the software allowed users of different devices, such as iPhones or PCs, to participate in the same room. This first version of Zoom’s software allowed up to fifteen users to participate in a single video conference.
In November 2012, Zoom secured its first large-scale paid subscription. Stanford Continuing Studies was looking for a video conferencing service to integrate with its online teaching platform. Though many other services were tested, Stanford found that Zoom’s quality surpassed its rivals, which provided a significant boost to Zoom’s reputation. In January 2013, the company released its Unified Meeting Experience, which allowed up to twenty-five people to communicate at once. At that point, more than one thousand businesses utilized Zoom as their primary video conferencing platform. By May 2013, that number had risen to more than 3,500 businesses. Zoom continued to refine its product, eventually allowing conference rooms with up to one hundred participants. It also allowed users to share their screens with one another, conduct webinars, and perform many other services valuable to both schools and businesses.
In April 2019, Zoom completed its initial public offering (IPO), common stock at thirty-six dollars per share. That same year, Zoom became profitable for the first time. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe, leading to widespread global shutdowns. Many schools switched to virtual learning, and many companies ordered employees to work remotely. As demand for video conferencing and meeting software skyrocketed, Zoom quickly became the most popular video conferencing service. In the three months ranging from May through July 2020, Zoom reported higher sales and profits than it had in all of 2019. This trend continued throughout 2020 as record numbers of users adopted the software. In 2020, Zoom was the fifth most downloaded application. In 2021, Zoom joined the NASDAQ-100 stock index, and the company continued to grow, acquiring other companies and expanding its offices globally. This growth continued until an economic downturn in 2023. Concerns over privacy and security issues also began to plague the company. Despite cutbacks, Zoom remained a popular choice for web and video conferencing as the 2020s progressed, and remote work remained popular.
Bibliography
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