Zoom Video Communications

This article is about the company. For the videoconferencing software developed by this company, see

This article is concerning the corporate. For the videoconferencing software package developed by this company.

Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (or merely Zoom) is associate yank engineering company headquartered in San Jose, California. It provides videotelephony and on-line chat services through a cloud-based peer-to-peer software package platform and is employed for group discussion, employment, distance education, and social relations.

Eric Yuan, a former Cisco engineer and government, supported focus 2011, and launched its code in 2013. Zoom's aggressive revenue growth, and perceived ease-of-use and reliableness of its code, resulted in a very $1 billion valuation in 2017, creating it a "unicorn" company. the corporate 1st became profitable in 2019, ANd completed an initial public giving that year. the corporate joined the NASDAQ-100 index on April thirty, 2020.

Beginning in early 2020, Zoom's code usage saw a big world increase following the introduction of quarantine measures adopted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Its code merchandise have visaged public and media scrutiny associated with security and privacy problems. a little of Zoom's men relies in China, that has given rise to police investigation and censorship issues.

History


Early years

Zoom was supported by Eric Yuan, a former company vp for Cisco Webex. He left Cisco in April 2011 with forty engineers to start out a replacement company, originally named Saasbee, Inc. the corporate had hassle finding investors as a result of many of us thought the videotelephony market was already saturated. In Gregorian calendar month 2011, the corporate raised $3 million of capital from WebEx founder Subrah Iyyar, former Cisco SVP and General Counsel Dan Scheinman, and venture capitalists Matt Ocko, TSVC, and Bill Tai.

In might 2012, the corporate modified its name to Zoom, influenced by Thacher Hurd's children's book Zoom town. In September 2012, Zoom launched a beta version that might host conferences with up to fifteen video participants. In Gregorian calendar month 2012, the corporate signed Stanford as its 1st client. The service was launched in January 2013 when the corporate raised a $6 million Series A spherical from Qualcomm Ventures, Yahoo! founder Jerry rule, WebEx founder Subrah Iyyar, and former Cisco SVP and General Counsel Dan Scheinman. Zoom launched version one.0 of the program permitting the utmost variety of participants per conference to be twenty five. By the tip of its 1st month, Zoom had four hundred,000 users and by might 2013 it had one million users.

Growth

In July 2013, Zoom established partnerships with B2B collaboration software system suppliers, like Redbooth (then Teambox), and conjointly created a program named Works with Zoom, that established partnerships with Logitech, Vaddio, and InFocus. In Gregorian calendar month 2013, the corporate raised $6.5 million in an exceedingly Series B spherical from Horizon Ventures, and existing investors. At that point, it had three million users. In Apr 2020, the app's CEO, Eric Yuan, declared Zoom's daily users have ballooned to quite two hundred million.

On Feb four, 2015, the corporate received US$30 million nonparallel C funding from investors as well as Emergence Capital, Horizons Ventures (Li Ka-shing), Qualcomm Ventures, Jerry Yang, and patron saint Soon-Shiong. At that point, Zoom had forty million users, with 65,000 organizations signed and a complete of one billion meeting minutes since it absolutely was established. Over the course of 2015 and 2016, the corporate integrated its software system with Slack, Salesforce, and Skype for Business. With version a pair of.5 in Oct 2015, Zoom hyperbolic the most range of participants allowed per conference to fifty and later to one,000 for business customers. In Gregorian calendar month 2015, former president of RingCentral David Berman was named president of the corporate, and Peter Gassner, the founder and CEO of Veeva Systems, joined Zoom's board of administrators.

In Jan 2017, the corporate raised US$100 million nonparallel D funding from cypress Capital at a US$1 billion valuation, creating it a questionable imaginary being. In Apr 2017, Zoom launched a ascendible telehealth product permitting doctors to host remote consultations with patients. In May, Zoom declared integration with Polycom's conferencing systems, sanctionative options like multiple screen and device conferences, HD and wireless screen sharing, and calendar integration with Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, and iCal. From Gregorian calendar month 25–27, 2017, Zoom hosted Zoomtopia 2017, its 1st annual user conference. At this conference, Zoom declared a partnership with Meta to integrate Zoom with increased reality, integration with Slack and geographic point by Facebook, and 1st steps towards a synthetic intelligence speech recognition program.

IPO and onward

On Gregorian calendar month eighteen, 2019, the corporate became a public company via Associate in Nursing initial public providing. when rating at US$36 per share, the share value increased over seventy two on the primary day of commerce. the corporate was valued at US$16 billion by the top of its 1st day of commerce. before the initial public offering, Dropbox invested with $5 million in Zoom.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoom saw a significant increase in usage for remote work, distance education, and on-line social relations. Thousands of academic establishments switched to on-line categories victimization Zoom. the corporate offered its services without charge to K–12 colleges in several countries. By Feb 2020, Zoom had gained two.22 million users in 2020 — additional users than it massed within the entireness of 2019. On at some point in March 2020, the Zoom app was downloaded two.13 million times. Daily meeting participants rose from concerning ten million in Dec 2019 to over three hundred million daily meeting participants in Gregorian calendar month 2020. This light-emitting diode to a rise within the company's stock value in early 2020, despite a general securities market downswing. Zoom stock went from but $70 per share in Jan 2020 to $150 per share by the top of March. By June 2020, the corporate was valued at over $67 billion.

On May 7, 2020, Zoom proclaimed that it had noninheritable Keybase, a corporation specializing in end-to-end secret writing. In June 2020, the corporate employed its 1st chief diversity officer, Damien Hooper-Campbell.

In Gregorian calendar month 2020, Zoom proclaimed its 1st hardware as a service product, bundling its videoconferencing code with third-party hardware by DTEN, Neat, Poly, and Yealink, and running on the ServiceNow platform. It began with Zoom Rooms and Zoom Phone offerings, with those services accessible to USA customers, UN agency will acquire hardware from Zoom for a hard and fast monthly price. On July 15, 2020, the corporate proclaimed Zoom for Home, a line of product for home use, designed for those performing from home. the primary product, with code by Zoom and hardware by DTEN, is termed Zoom for Home - DTEN Pine Tree State. It consists of a 27-inch screen with 3 camera lens cameras and eight microphones, with Zoom code preloaded on the device. It became accessible in August 2020. By Sept 2020, Zoom's stock value had increased 569% over the course of the year, lifting its market cap to $129 billion.

After gaining 635% in 2020, Zoom became the foremost well-known video conferencing app used throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In Oct 2020, Zoom's market cap crossed $140 billion, valuing the corporate over one hundred thirty year recent ExxonMobil. However, in Nov, when saying the potency of the COVID-19 vaccinum, Zoom's stock value born over 15 August 1945. In Jan 2021, Zoom raised $2 billion through a typical stock providing.

Privacy and security issues


Zoom has been criticized for "security lapses and poor style choices" that have resulted in heightened scrutiny of its computer code. the corporate has additionally been criticized for its privacy and company knowledge sharing policies. Security researchers and reporters have criticized the corporate for its lack of transparency and poor cryptography practices. Zoom at first claimed to use "end-to-end encryption" in its promoting materials, however later processed it meant "from Zoom finish purpose to Zoom finish point" (meaning effectively between Zoom servers and Zoom clients), that The Intercept delineated as dishonest and "dishonest".

In March 2020, ny prosecuting officer General Letitia James launched Associate in Nursing inquiry into Zoom's privacy and security practices; the inquiry was closed on might seven, 2020, with Zoom not admitting wrongdoing, however agreeing to require additional security measures.

On April 1, 2020, Zoom proclaimed a 90-day freeze on cathartic new options, to target fixing privacy and security problems on Zoom. On July 1, 2020, Yuan wrote a web log post description efforts taken by the corporate to handle security and privacy issues, stating that they discharged one hundred new safety options over the 90-day amount. Those efforts embrace end-to-end cryptography for all users, turning on meeting passwords by default, giving users the power to settle on that knowledge centers calls area unit routed from, consulting with security consultants, forming a CISO council, Associate in Nursing improved bug bounty program, and dealing with third parties to assist check security. Yuan additionally expressed that Zoom would be cathartic a transparency report later in 2020.

In might 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proclaimed that it had been trying into Zoom's privacy practices. The independent agency alleged that since a minimum of 2016, "Zoom maintained the science keys that might permit Zoom to access the content of its customers’ conferences, and secured its Zoom conferences, in part, with a lower level of cryptography than secure." On November nine, 2020, a settlement was reached, requiring the corporate to implement further security measures.

In Gregorian calendar month 2020, Zoom proclaimed that it had been underneath investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and therefore the us professional for the Northern District of Calif. which it had received a subpoena in Gregorian calendar month 2020 from the us professional for the japanese District of recent royal family requesting data on the company's interactions with foreign governments and political parties. each federal prosecutors additionally sought-after data and documentation concerning security and privacy matters concerning Zoom's practices.

On Gregorian calendar month nineteen, 2020, a former Zoom government was charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with conspiracy to commit interstate harassment and unlawful conspiracy to transfer a method of identification. the fees area unit associated with the alleged disruptions to video conferences ceremonial occasion the 1989 Tiananmen sq. massacre. Federal prosecutors in borough, New York, aforesaid that province "Julien" Jin, then 39, was a San Jose, California-based company's main liaison with intelligence and enforcement agencies of China. Zoom later acknowledged it had been the corporate in question. Zoom aforesaid in an exceedingly statement that it had terminated Jin's employment for violating company policies and was cooperating with the prosecutors. Jin isn't in custody as a result of he's primarily based in China.

Censorship


In April 2020, subject workplace warned that having a lot of of Zoom's analysis and development in China may "open up Zoom to pressure from Chinese authorities." In Gregorian calendar month 2020, Zoom was criticized for closing multiple accounts of U.S. and Hong-Kong primarily based teams, together with that of Chow Fengsuo and 2 different human rights activists, WHO were observance the 1989 Tiananmen sq. protests. The accounts were later re-opened, with the corporate stating that within the future it "will have a replacement method for handling similar things." Zoom responded that it's to "comply with native laws," even "the laws of governments against free speech." Zoom later admitted to closing down activist accounts at the request of the Chinese government. In response, a bi-partisan cluster of U.S. senators requested clarification of the incident from the corporate. part in response to criticisms of its obstruction of the activists accounts still as expressions of concern by the us Justice, Zoom moved to stop direct sale of its product in Red China in late August 2020.

In Sept 2020, Zoom, following lobbying by the individual coalition cluster "End individual Hatred", prevented point of entry State University from mistreatment its video conferencing code to host former Palestinian militant and hijacker Leila Khaled, a member of the favored Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). In justifying its call, Zoom cited the PFLP's designation as a foreign terrorist organization by the us Government and its efforts to accommodates U.S. export management, sanctions, and anti-terrorism laws. Facebook and YouTube conjointly joined center denying their platforms to the conference organizers. prof Rabab patriarch Abdulhadi, one amongst the conference organizers, criticized Zoom for censoring Palestinian voices.

Workforce


In Jan 2020, Zoom had over a pair of,500 staff, with 1,396 within the us and one,136 in international locations.[94] it's reportable that 700 staff inside a subsidiary add China and develop Zoom package.[ In could 2020, Zoom declared plans to open new analysis and development centers in Pittsburgh and Phoenix, with plans to rent up to five hundred engineers between the 2 cities over successive few years. In July 2020, Zoom declared the gap of a replacement technology center in urban center, India, to host engineering, IT, and business operations roles. In August 2020, Zoom opened a replacement knowledge center in Singapore. the corporate hierarchic second place in Glassdoor's 2019 "Best Places to Work" survey.

Part of Zoom's development team relies in China, wherever a median entry-level school earnings is tierce of yank salaries, that may be a key driver of its profitableness. Zoom's analysis and development prices square measure ten % of its total revenue and fewer than half the median share among its peers.


Source : wikipedia | Zoom Video Communications


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