What Is Eric Yuan’s Net Worth? Everyone knows the COVID era, and how could one forget? The lockdowns prohibited us from connecting and conducting our daily jobs, which we couldn’t avoid for long. Had it not been for the availability of Zoom, we would have suffered a lot more. And Eric Yuan is the founder of this savior software. But recently, Zoom and Eric have been in a bad situation.
In the last half-week, massive news concerning Zoom and Eric has shaken the tech and finance world. Tech and Ed-tech companies are going through a mass layoff phase. And you might have already seen it on the news, Instagram, and everywhere else on the internet. There was a time when Zoom touched the skies, but ultimately it also had to hit the ground.
And it has been hitting the ground for two years now. And in the matter of the last two-three days, two big decisions took place – 1) 15% layoff, and 2) Eric Yuan cut his salary by 98%, yes 98. Eric and the board took the step so that the company holds in these rough times. The entire Zoom situation beginning from the COVID days, has twisted Eric’s net worth by far. So let’s see how much he’s worth now, along with some extra knowledge.
Eric Yuan And Zoom Video Communications, Inc.
Born on February 20, 1970, Eric pursued a bachelor’s in Applied Mathematics and a master’s in Geology engineering. During his undergraduate years, he studied the applications of computer science and was fascinated by it. In 2006, he received the Stanford Executive Program Certificate.
Eric’s first work experience was with WebEx (a video conferencing software by Cisco). He worked there from August 1997 to Apr 2007. He got a promotion from the VP of Engineering in WebEx to the VP of Engineering in Cisco. He left the post in June 2011 and founded his own video conferencing solution, Zoom Video Communication, Inc. He got the inspiration from Cisco’s WebEx.
Zoom wasn’t much of a deal, and companies were using WebEx, but 2019 changed everything. WebEx could have worked, but it was more of a business-class software. Zoom made things easy, leading people to use it for conducting classes, friendly chats, and office meetings. Eric’s plans might have been great, but he went wrong when he launched the IPO.
The IPO was a success, but users started facing problems. Google Meet countered Zoom’s free limits of 100 members and 40 minutes/session. This led the users to shift to Meet instead. However, Zoom was more featured, and companies were still using it. Let’s see more in the next section
Eric Yuan’s Net Worth
According to Forbes, Eric Yuan & Family are worth $5.2 B (as of 2022) and rank 523 on the global richest index (data is subject to change). His net current net worth is $3.6 B, a massive change of $1.6 B. Eric launched the Zoom IPO in 2019, with prices ranging from $28 to $35. The share prices are sky-rocketed to open at $65 and closed at $62 on the launch day.
Things were going great, and the Zoom ticker touched $588.84 in October 2020. Massive profits all around, and Eric closed the year with a net worth of $14.9 B (source: Forbes). But in March 2021, stock prices began to fall and went under $350. It was because things became better, well, not better, but it couldn’t work online anymore. As things shifted to the offline mode, Zoom’s use became less and lesser.
The company got some relief in mid-2021, but it was “the calm before the storm.” The ticker never saw a rise above $350s again and kept falling to the point where it now trades at $59.94. A great idea, but perhaps Eric thought it too big too soon, and he couldn’t contemplate the flaw that online was only temporary.
Now the situation is dire enough for Zoom to cut down salaries and bonuses. And as per news reports, 1300 job cuts are coming soon. From what I can see, Eric’s net worth will keep falling unless he has another idea (great mids). Zoom isn’t rocketing since things aren’t going online anytime soon. Let’s just wait and see where the situation goes, and wish them good luck for the financial years to come.
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