What’s Going On Here?Zoom announced better-than-expected quarterly results earlier in the week, but only once the teleconferencing company had found the HDMI cable. What Does This Mean?Even the people who work for Zoom are pretty tired of using Zoom at this point, with chills running down their spines every time Keith in middle management proposes a remote social. The company, then, has recognized the pressing need to broaden its product offerings, which it’s been doing in the form of analytics tools and customer service contact centers.
That diversification has been paying off: Zoom upped the number of business customers by 24% last quarter from the same time last year, with the number of big business customers – those that have spent more than $100,000 over the past 12 months – up 46% (tweet this). That helped its profit beat expectations, and gave the company enough confidence to deliver a better-than-expected profit outlook for this quarter too. Investors buffered… buffered… buffered, and sent its shares up 5%. Why Should I Care?For markets: Should you give Zoom a second chance?
Zoom’s stock has fallen nearly 50% this year, meaning it’s down around 80% from its October 2020 peak. But some analysts reckon investors have been overlooking the company’s potential in this new hybrid landscape, even if it’s going to struggle to repeat the five-straight quarters of triple-digit percentage revenue growth it enjoyed over the pandemic. That might be why they're forecasting that its stock will rise over 60% on average in the next 12 months.
The bigger picture: Work-life is all about balance.
They might be onto something, since it doesn’t look like hybrid working will be going anywhere soon: data out last week showed less than 20% of workers have returned to offices full time, and over a quarter of workers now see the choice to work remotely as more important than pay. In fact, one survey from a global recruiting firm noted that 50% of US workers would rather resign than be forced back to the office five days a week. | 
