Zoom Video's chief executive Eric Yuan takes part in the Nasdaq bell-ringing ceremony after his company's IPO in New York in April, last year. AP
Zoom Video's chief executive Eric Yuan takes part in the Nasdaq bell-ringing ceremony after his company's IPO in New York in April, last year. AP
Zoom Video's chief executive Eric Yuan takes part in the Nasdaq bell-ringing ceremony after his company's IPO in New York in April, last year. AP
Zoom Video's chief executive Eric Yuan takes part in the Nasdaq bell-ringing ceremony after his company's IPO in New York in April, last year. AP

Zoom’s first quarter net profit surges as revenue soars


Alkesh Sharma
  • English
  • Arabic

Zoom Video saw a huge spike in its first quarter net profit for the three months ending April 30 as its revenue soared on the back of the company adding more customers.

Net profit to shareholders surged to $27 million (Dh99.5m), which was 135-times the $200,000 earned in the same period a year ago. Revenue for the period reached $328.2m – a yearly increase of 169 per cent, the company said.

“We were humbled by the accelerated adoption of the Zoom platform around the globe in the first quarter,” said Eric Yuan, founder and chief executive of the firm.

The platform is being used much more widely during the Covid-19 pandemic as workplaces and schools have been closed in a bid to limit its spread.

“The Covid-19 crisis has driven higher demand for distributed, face-to-face interactions and collaboration using Zoom ... use cases have grown rapidly as people integrated Zoom into their work, learning, and personal lives,” said Mr Yuan.

Zoom said the number of paying customers, with more than 10 employees increased to 265,400 at the end of the first quarter, a quarter-on-quarter rise of 225 per cent.

In its guidance for the second quarter, the company forecast revenue in the range of $495m to $500m, and for the full year it expects sales of between $1.77 billion and $1.8bn. In its last financial year ending January 31, the company made $622.6m in revenue.

The revenue outlook takes into consideration the increasing demand for remote work solutions for businesses, it said.

Zoom shares, which started the year at around $69, closed at $208.08 on Tuesday.

The company said its gross margin narrowed during the quarter as it relied more on third-party cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services to accommodate the growing number of customers.

This led to “more costs” but was crucial to meet the needs of users, said Kelly Steckelberg, Zoom’s chief financial officer, in an earnings call on Tuesday.

Members of the Vermont House of Representatives convene in a Zoom video conference for its first full parliamentary online session in April. AP
Members of the Vermont House of Representatives convene in a Zoom video conference for its first full parliamentary online session in April. AP

“Moving forward, as we build additional capacity in our own data centres, we expect to gain some efficiencies,” said Ms Steckelberg, adding that the company expects to increase capital expenditure for data centre equipment in the next quarters.

In April, the company said the current number of daily meeting participants across Zoom’s paid and free services has surged to 300 million, from about 10 million in December.

However, the number of participants has fallen from its peak in April, but “certainly over the long term, we expect it to grow beyond that 300 million number”, said Ms Steckelberg.

Zoom, which employs 2,800 employees globally, has also announced a one-time bonus worth two weeks’ pay to all of its non-commissioned employees to help them pay for additional costs arising from any disruption to their work due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The video communications platform has been adopted by businesses, schools, universities and by individuals for social purposes, as well as for entertainment and fitness classes.

But the practice of "Zoombombing" – gatecrashing other people's meetings – has presented problems for the company. Other concerns have arisen regarding how the company has shared users' data.

The company, which went public in April 2019, said that the offices of more than 25 attorneys general in the US had raised questions about privacy issues and it is working with the authorities.

Hackers also reportedly put up half a million Zoom logins for sale on the dark web, which were bought by a cyber security intelligence company. Zoom, in response, said it was common for bad actors to test large numbers of already-compromised credentials from other platforms to see if they’ve been reused.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The%20Roundup
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Difference between fractional ownership and timeshare

Although similar in its appearance, the concept of a fractional title deed is unlike that of a timeshare, which usually involves multiple investors buying “time” in a property whereby the owner has the right to occupation for a specified period of time in any year, as opposed to the actual real estate, said John Peacock, Head of Indirect Tax and Conveyancing, BSA Ahmad Bin Hezeem & Associates, a law firm.

Ronaldo's record at Man Utd

Seasons 2003/04 - 2008/09

Appearances 230

Goals 115

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GIANT REVIEW

Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan

Director: Athale

Rating: 4/5

Tamkeen's offering
  • Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
  • Option 2: 50% across three years
  • Option 3: 30% across five years 
What's%20in%20my%20pazhamkootan%3F
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The Meg
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Starring:   
Two stars

Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015

- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France

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All%20The%20Light%20We%20Cannot%20See%20
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Paatal Lok season two

Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy 

Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong

Rating: 4.5/5

Seemar’s top six for the Dubai World Cup Carnival:

1. Reynaldothewizard
2. North America
3. Raven’s Corner
4. Hawkesbury
5. New Maharajah
6. Secret Ambition

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
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  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
PROFILE OF HALAN

Started: November 2017

Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga

Based: Cairo, Egypt

Sector: transport and logistics

Size: 150 employees

Investment: approximately $8 million

Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar

RESULTS

Bantamweight

Victor Nunes (BRA) beat Siyovush Gulmamadov (TJK)

(Split decision)

Featherweight

Hussein Salim (IRQ) beat Shakhriyor Juraev (UZB)

(Round 1 submission, armbar)

Catchweight 80kg

Rashed Dawood (UAE) beat Otabek Kadirov (UZB)

(Round-1 submission, rear naked choke)

Lightweight

Ho Taek-oh (KOR) beat Ronald Girones (CUB)

(Round 3 submission, triangle choke)

Lightweight

Arthur Zaynukov (RUS) beat Damien Lapilus (FRA)

(Unanimous points)

Bantamweight

Vinicius de Oliveira (BRA) beat Furkatbek Yokubov (RUS)

(Round 1 TKO)

Featherweight

Movlid Khaybulaev (RUS) v Zaka Fatullazade (AZE)

(Round 1 rear naked choke)

Flyweight

Shannon Ross (TUR) beat Donovon Freelow (USA)

(Unanimous decision)

Lightweight

Dan Collins (GBR) beat Mohammad Yahya (UAE)

(Round 2 submission D’arce choke)

Catchweight 73kg

Martun Mezhulmyan (ARM) beat Islam Mamedov (RUS)

(Round 3 submission, kneebar)

Bantamweight world title

Xavier Alaoui (MAR) beat Jaures Dea (CAM)

(Unanimous points 48-46, 49-45, 49-45)

Flyweight world title

Manon Fiorot (FRA) v Gabriela Campo (ARG)

(Round 1 RSC)

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Cricket World Cup League Two

Oman, UAE, Namibia

Al Amerat, Muscat

 

Results

Oman beat UAE by five wickets

UAE beat Namibia by eight runs

 

Fixtures

Wednesday January 8 –Oman v Namibia

Thursday January 9 – Oman v UAE

Saturday January 11 – UAE v Namibia

Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Superliminal%20
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The Sand Castle

Director: Matty Brown

Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea

Rating: 2.5/5

10 tips for entry-level job seekers
  • Have an up-to-date, professional LinkedIn profile. If you don’t have a LinkedIn account, set one up today. Avoid poor-quality profile pictures with distracting backgrounds. Include a professional summary and begin to grow your network.
  • Keep track of the job trends in your sector through the news. Apply for job alerts at your dream organisations and the types of jobs you want – LinkedIn uses AI to share similar relevant jobs based on your selections.
  • Double check that you’ve highlighted relevant skills on your resume and LinkedIn profile.
  • For most entry-level jobs, your resume will first be filtered by an applicant tracking system for keywords. Look closely at the description of the job you are applying for and mirror the language as much as possible (while being honest and accurate about your skills and experience).
  • Keep your CV professional and in a simple format – make sure you tailor your cover letter and application to the company and role.
  • Go online and look for details on job specifications for your target position. Make a list of skills required and set yourself some learning goals to tick off all the necessary skills one by one.
  • Don’t be afraid to reach outside your immediate friends and family to other acquaintances and let them know you are looking for new opportunities.
  • Make sure you’ve set your LinkedIn profile to signal that you are “open to opportunities”. Also be sure to use LinkedIn to search for people who are still actively hiring by searching for those that have the headline “I’m hiring” or “We’re hiring” in their profile.
  • Prepare for online interviews using mock interview tools. Even before landing interviews, it can be useful to start practising.
  • Be professional and patient. Always be professional with whoever you are interacting with throughout your search process, this will be remembered. You need to be patient, dedicated and not give up on your search. Candidates need to make sure they are following up appropriately for roles they have applied.

Arda Atalay, head of Mena private sector at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Rudy Bier, managing partner of Kinetic Business Solutions and Ben Kinerman Daltrey, co-founder of KinFitz

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets