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Rolfe Winkler, Business Tech IPOs Outshine Their Consumer Counterparts; Consumers-focused tech companies have lost some of their momentum. Wall Street Journal, Apr 20, 2018 (front page).
https://www.wsj.com/articles/zoo ... are-hot-11555680530
https://www.chegg.com/homework-h ... tups-cate-q37217679

Quote:

(a) "Consumer-focused businesses may have more cachet, but technology startups that cater to companies are what is really hot.

"Until recently, few people outside the corporate IT department had heard of Zoom Video Communications Inc [headquartered in San Jose, Calif], a specialist in videoconferencing software for companies. Still, the company, which counts tens of thousands of business customers, overshadowed better-known Pinterest Inc, which claims some 265 million monthly users of its online pinboards, when the two companies made their debuts on the stock market Thursday [Apr 18].

"Zoom shares soared 72% to close at $62 each from its initial-public-offering price of $36 a share -- which itself was a nearly 10-fold jump when Zoom last raised capital privately in 2017.

"Pinterest shares rose 28% to close at 24.40 a share. Bankers said its $19-a-share IPO price was above its target range, yet the figure still fell short of the $21.53 when it last raised capital in June 2017. Zoom ended the day with a market value of $18 billion, while Pinterest was at $16 billion.

(b) "Why the different reception? For one thing, consumer technology—from smartphones to social media—is dominated by giants that have proven effective at fending off upstart rivals. 'It's hard to compete with Facebook , Apple ,Amazon, Netflix and Google,' said Jeff Richards, managing partner at venture firm GGV Capital.

"Social-networking company Snap is exhibit A, robbed of momentum after Facebook Inc's Instagram mimicked Snap’s core product. Since its 2017 IPO Snap shares have fallen 31%.

"The existing players in business technology, including Microsoft Corp, International Business Machines Corp, and Oracle Corp, have less of a stranglehold on their markets. That is largely because the shift to cloud computing—where companies rent computing power, software and services on others’ servers—has disrupted old markets and created vast new opportunities. * * *

(c) "Zoom was valued more highly relative o its size than Pinterest at its IPO price, with a market capitalization 32 times last year’s sales compared with 17 times for Pinterest. Zoom was slightly profitable last year while Pinterest lost money.

(d) "Chief Executive and founder Eric Yuan came to the US from his native China in 1997 and started as an engineer at videoconferencing service WebEx Communications Inc., which was acquired by Cisco Systems Inc. a decade later. He said in an interview that his expertise in videoconferencing enabled him to spot an opportunity for an alternative service, leading him to start Zoom in 2011.

"Santiago Subotovsky, a general partner at venture firm Emergence Capital, was the first institutional investor to plow money into Zoom in 2014. * * * buying in at 87 cents a share.  

"It wasn't until March [this year], when the company filed to go public and revealed both fast growth and a solidly profitable bottom line, that the wider market took notice of the company, said Mr Subotovsky.

Note:
(a) The report is locked behind paywall.
(b)
(i) Eric S Yuan. In Company Overview of Zoom Video Communications, Inc. Bloomberg, undated (under the heading Software).
https://www.bloomberg.com/resear ... EMS%20INC-CLASS%20A
(Before 2011 "Mr Yuan serves as Corporate Vice President of Engineering at Cisco Systems * * * Mr Yuan holds a Bachelor's degree in Applied Math from Shandong University of Science & Technology 山东科技大学 [(山科); 1951- ; '几经合并、搬迁，1999年改现名，2004年主体搬迁至 * * * 青岛': zh.wikipedia.org] and a Master’s degree in engineering from China University of Mining & Technology" 中国矿业大学 (1909- ; 徐州市) )
(ii) Alex Konrad, 又一个华裔成美国亿万富豪，Zoom袁征身家33亿美元. 福布斯中国, Apr 19, 2019.
www.forbeschina.com/billionaires/380

There is no need to read text of this 福布斯中国 report.