ZOOM Won't Be Worth $23.5B Today If Not For A Long-Distance Love Affair

Zoom became the dominant meeting place for remote communication in early 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Zoom Communications and its founder, Eric Yuan, rose to global fame. However, it is only half of the story. Without Yuan's long-distance relationship (LDR) with his then-girlfriend, now wife, video conferencing might not have been as seamless as it is today.

Eric Yuan and his wife, Sherry, met while they were college students in China. They attended different universities, presenting a significant problem: distance. The 10-hour train commute every weekend to visit her was exhausting and tedious. This personal frustration led to a vision that someday Eric would create a better way to connect visually, especially for people in LDRs.

The Silicon Valley Journey

Yuan's vision stayed with him long after graduation, culminating in his move to Silicon Valley. He joined WebEx, a web conferencing startup, in 1997. He almost did not make it to America because he was denied a US visa eight times.

In May 2007, Yuan became Corporate Vice President of Engineering at Cisco Systems, WebEx's new owner. He suggested several times to his bosses a total rebuild of the video conferencing technology to simplify connections. Without much success in convincing his superiors, Yuan resigned to pursue his vision.

The Seamless Connection

Yuan founded Saasbee in 2011 before renaming the company Zoom Video Communications. In the post-IPO on 18 April 2019, the valuation of the company providing cloud-based remote video conferencing services reached $9 billion (£6.82 billion). The figure is about nine times larger than its private valuation from January 2017.

Two years before Zoom's pubic listing on Nasdaq, Yuan said, 'We do not want to grow too fast. Our philosophy is we really focus on making our existing customers happy. We do not aggressively pursue the new prospects.'

Then came COVID‑19 in 2020, which propelled Zoom's meteoric rise. ZoomInfo data showed adoption rates for web conferencing skyrocketed, with a 418% increase over just two months.

The Vision Accomplished

On 24 November 2025, Zoom Communications (its new name) presented its Q3 fiscal 2026 results. In the quarter ending 31 October 2025, total revenue increased 4.4% year-over-year to $1.3 billion (£0.99 billion), while net income climbed 196% to $612.8 million (£464.63 million) compared to Q3 fiscal 2025.

Notably, free cash flow rose 34.2% to $614.3 million from a year earlier. 'Zoom is continuing to build on our vision of an AI‑first platform that helps people connect and collaborate more seamlessly,' said Eric Yuan.

The near-term plan is to integrate AI functionalities like the AI Companion and AI-first Customer Experience (CX) suite. Zoom is undergoing a transformation. Yuan and his team will also focus on leveraging its strong financial position and brand recognition to diversify into a multi-product, AI-powered platform.

Expect Zoom to dominate in the broader Unified Communications and Customer Experience markets soon.

As of this writing, Zoom's market capitalisation stands at $23.5 billion (£17.82 billion). Did Eric Yuan realise his vision? Absolutely, and it's all because of a long-distance love affair.

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