If the pandemic has been great for one company, it's Zoom, which posted a remarkable financial increase in Q2 2020. As the dominant video conferencing app during a time when everyone needed exactly that kind of app, Zoom saw a massive influx of users in early 2020. These impressive numbers aren't entirely reflective of the platform's quality or value to its users – there was definitely a ton of luck at that company. But, Zoom rose to the occasion and the numbers reflect that.
Zoom used to do most of its business in the enterprise space. It was a great way for companies in need of a remote communications platform to get those needs met. That familiarity with white-collar workers made it an easy platform to turn to when everyone was initially forced to work from home. That naturally helped the company's numbers, but things really heated up when people's social lives became video chats and things like remote happy hours went mainstream. Now, TV broadcasts, sports, high school graduations, and lots of other productions are handled via video chat and Zoom is right at the center of it all.
A press release straight from the company goes into detail about just how successful Q2 2021 was for Zoom. In terms of raw numbers, Zoom reported $663.5 million dollars in revenue, for a year-over-year increase of 355%. It picked up over 370 thousand customers, which was a 458% increase from last year. Additionally, Zoom's stock saw some impressive increases and the company's total revenue forecast for the fiscal year has it earning over $2 billion. That would be more than quadruple what the company made a year ago.
Zoom Admits the Coronavirus Has Been Helpful
The press release is very open about the fact that people working and socializing from their homes has had a lot to do with the revenue increase. That's important because, despite the new features Zoom introduced in 2020, misleading the public and investors by dodging the warning that a lot of this success came from the pandemic would be awful for the company. The company specifies that current work-from-home customers have contributed, but also mentions many businesses relying on Zoom for work plan to expand their own remote work capabilities.
That lines up with news we've heard from companies like Facebook and Microsoft. Those and other tech companies plan to allow large portions of their workforces to continue working from home indefinitely. Zoom's revenue for the upcoming fiscal year probably won't see another spike like this year's but the company is clearly going to be immensely successful for a long time to come. It's already the primary program for remote education now that school semesters are resuming.
Source: Zoom