Eric Yuan, founder and CEO of Zoom Video Communications Inc., has experienced a $5.1 billion decline in his net worth following Pfizer Inc.’s announcement on Monday that its Coronavirus vaccine has prevented over 90% of infections during clinical trials.
While airlines, oil corporations, and tourism operators enjoyed surges in stock prices due to the announcement, Zoom shares fell by 17% on the New York Stock Exchange. Enjoying growth of more than 500% in 2020, Zoom was one of the only companies to enjoy sustained growth since the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic.
The company’s video conferencing platform drew in more than 300 million participants per day, with events ranging from business meetings to school lessons and even family gatherings.
Zoom was not the only tech company to take a hit following Pfizer’s surprise announcement. Home fitness company Peloton took a $300 million hit, with stocks plummeting by 20%, while Netflix founder Reed Hastings saw his net worth decrease by $416 million.
Despite its recent slump, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mandeep Singh remains confident of Zoom’s ability to bounce back: “I don’t think the trend around e-commerce, video collaboration, or shift-to-cloud will change as a result of the vaccine,” Singh assured investors.
Innovations such as Zoom have provided a platform on which to conduct international business while bypassing geographical boundaries—and they’ll likely continue to do so in the future.
