[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] As the number of companies implementing remote work increased due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the first-quarter revenue of the video conferencing platform company 'Zoom,' which saw a surge in users, increased by 169% compared to the same period last year.
According to CNBC and other media on the 2nd (local time), Zoom announced in its earnings report released that day that its first-quarter revenue was $328.2 million (approximately 416.8 billion KRW). Earnings per share were 20 cents, significantly exceeding experts' expectations of 9 cents per share.
Zoom also projected its fiscal year 2020 revenue to be between $1.78 billion and $1.8 billion, nearly doubling from the $905 million to $915 million range announced last March. The expected earnings per share were also raised from 42-45 cents to $1.21-$1.29, more than doubling.
Zoom is considered a surprise growth company amid the COVID-19 crisis. The need for video conferencing increased due to the expansion of remote work, which brought Zoom into the spotlight. Consequently, the number of users also surged significantly. Zoom's client companies reached 265,400, a staggering 354% increase during the first quarter.
However, Zoom did not disclose the number of active users in this earnings report as usual. App analytics company Apptopia estimated that as of the 27th of last month, the monthly active users of the Zoom mobile app reached 173 million. Previously, the estimate on March 4 was 14 million.
Kelly Steckelberg, Zoom's Chief Financial Officer (CFO), stated that they will improve operational efficiency through data center expansion and that the gross profit margin will rise to the mid-70% range within a few quarters.
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