Zoom, the hot video-conferencing startup that's helping remote workers amid the spread of coronavirus, is asking employees at its San Jose HQ to work from home (ZM) by Paayal Zaveri

Zoom, the hot video-conferencing startup that’s helping remote workers amid the spread of coronavirus, is asking employees at its San Jose HQ to work from home (ZM) –

Videoconferencing company Zoom is asking employees at its San Jose, CA headquarters to work from home due to concerns over the coronavirus, CEO Eric Yuan said on a call with analysts.
This comes as Zoom reported fourth quarter earnings that beat estimates, but that still sent the stock falling over 10 percent after investors expected a higher rate of growth.
Zoom has seen its stock has skyrocket since the coronavirus outbreak started, with investors betting that more people will use video-conferencing tools, sending user numbers up.
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Video-conferencing company Zoom is asking its employees at its headquarters in San Jose, CA to work from home due to concerns over the coronavirus disease, COVID-19, which has spread to the company’s home state of California.

This comes as Zoom reported fourth quarter earnings that beat Wall Street estimates but still saw the stock falling over 10 percent before recovering some of the losses — a drop that apparently comes from investors expecting a higher rate of growth.

“I am happy to report that all of our employees in the affected areas are healthy,” CEO Eric Yuan said on a call with analysts after the earnings were released. “Given the recent emergence and growing number of coronavirus cases in the US, we have directed our HQ employees to work from home, unless there is a business-critical need for them to be in the office.”

Employees based at offices in China, Japan, London, Amsterdam and Paris are also working from home.

Zoom has seen its stock has skyrocket since the coronavirus outbreak started, with investors betting that more people will use video-conferencing tools, thus sending user numbers up. Zoom stock is up about 70 percent year-to-date.

Zoom lifted the 40-minute time limit per video meeting for its free product in China last week, in an effort to help those affected by the coronavirus outbreak. Zoom CEO Eric Yuan, who grew up in China’s Shandong province, said he wanted to do something to help those affected as the virus disrupts daily affairs, business operations, and school classes.

Wall Street firm Bernstein Research estimates that Zoom has already brought in more new active users this year than last year due to coronavirus, according to CNBC.

In its earnings released Wednesday, Zoom said revenue increased 78 percent from a year prior, to $188.3 million. The number of customers paying over $100,000 annually was 641 for the quarter, up 86 percent from a year prior.

Here is what Zoom reported:

Revenue: $188.3 million. Analysts were expecting $175.8 million.
Earnings per share (adjusted): $0.15. Analysts predicted $0.07.
Revenue (next quarter): $199.0 million to $201.0 million, estimated. Analysts had predicted $185.4 million.
Earnings per share (adjusted, next quarter): $0.10 estimated. Analysts predicted $0.06.
Customers paying more than $100K in trailing 12 months revenue: 641 customers up 86% from the same quarter last fiscal year.

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