Zoom revenue grew 369% to $882 million in fiscal Q4 ended Jan. 31 “due to strong sales and marketing execution in online, direct and channel businesses as well as lower-than-expected churn,” said Chief Financial Officer Kelly Steckelberg on a quarterly webinar Monday. “Demand was widespread.” The increase in customers generated about 80% of the “incremental revenue,” up from 59% in Q4 a year earlier, she said. “We continue to add customers of all sizes and across industries that we anticipate will provide future upsell opportunities.” Zoom continued to benefit from significant growth in customers with 10 or fewer employees, she said. Customers in that segment generated 37% of revenue, nearly double that of Q4 a year earlier, she said. For the full year of fiscal 2022 ending in late January, Zoom expects revenue to be $3.76 billion to $3.78 billion, which would be 42-43% year-over-year growth, she said: “Although we remain optimistic on Zoom’s outlook, please note the impact and extent of the COVID-19 pandemic and people returning to in-person contact still remains largely unknown.” The stock closed down 9% Tuesday at $372.79.
2021 will have some "bright spots” but remain challenging for the movie industry, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter wrote investors Monday. Wedbush expects Imax to resume “impressive” growth, citing recent box office strength in China. It expects crowds to return to theaters in North America and Europe once COVID-19 vaccines are widely distributed and for Imax to resume expanding its market share. Shortened windows at Universal and Paramount won’t affect Imax, said Pachter. After release slate movement in 2020 and 2021 and halted productions, Wedbush updated its coming box office estimates; it projects Imax will return to 100-plus screen growth next year. Imax reports Q4 results Thursday.
User interface technologies moved beyond simply representing machines to their users to enabling “sophisticated and personalized interaction,” reported Frost & Sullivan Monday. The pandemic accelerated their use in healthcare, manufacturing, education, retail and banking to simplify interactivity and improve engagement, it said, as the global augmented/virtual reality market is expected to reach $661.4 billion by 2025. Organizations should prioritize cybersecurity to ensure success of UI devices in the 5G era, said analyst Murali Krishnan. Advances in mixed reality, holographic displays, computer vision and wearables will create opportunities, he said.
The Senate is expected to vote as soon as Wednesday on the American Rescue Plan Act COVID-19 budget reconciliation package (HR-1319), which includes $7.6 billion for E-rate remote learning (see 2102100061), Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday. The House OK'd it 219-212 Saturday. All House Republicans opposed the measure, as expected. The House Rules Committee decided Friday against allowing floor votes on three telecom-related amendments, including one seeking to require the FCC to “establish a priority system that prioritizes” the E-rate funding for schools and libraries in unserved and rural areas. Agriculture Committee ranking member Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., spoke during the Rules meeting for his amendment to allocate $800 million for Agriculture Department broadband programs. They were “left out” despite being “instrumental in closing this digital divide in rural America,” he said. Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said HR-1319 “meets the urgency of this moment,” citing the money as a way to “expand internet connectivity to help students and teachers without home internet access.” Commerce ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., called the measure a “hyper-partisan package” that “isn’t timely or targeted.” Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition Executive Director John Windhausen praised it as a “welcome move to help learners of all ages.”
Live Nation Entertainment CEO Michael Rapino accentuated mainly positives as his company reported that concert venues darkened due to the COVID-19 pandemic sent 2020 revenue plunging 84%, resulting in a $1.65 billion operating loss compared with a year-earlier $325 million profit. “We continue to have a substantial tailwind in the live event industry, as consumers, more than ever, are looking to spend on experiences,” said Rapino on a Q4 call Thursday. “There is substantial pent-up demand for concerts,” and 83% of fans are continuing to hold on to their tickets for rescheduled shows rather than opt for refunds, he said. “We believe there will be strong momentum to reopen society swiftly as soon as vaccines are readily available, and we believe outdoor activity will be the first to happen. So while the timing of return to live will continue to vary across global markets, every sign points to beginning safely in many countries sometime this summer and scaling further from there.”
It’s “almost unfathomable” that theater chain Cinemark a year ago was reporting 2019 as its fifth straight year of record results, said CEO Mark Zoradi on a Q4 earnings call Friday. “It goes without saying that our environment has drastically changed. COVID-19 has caused significant distress in multiple industries, including the exhibition industry.” Cinemark’s revenue for 2020 was down 79% to $686.3 million, and its $754.97 million operating loss compared unfavorably with a $338.4 million profit in 2019. But the chain is “highly confident” the moviegoing industry “will rebound in a most significant way,” said Zoradi. “We are beginning to see the signs of that recovery.” The announcement that New York City theaters can begin reopening March 5 (see 2102230039) “is a significant step forward in the recovery of our industry,” he said. “We also remain optimistic that Los Angeles and San Francisco will be able to reopen in the coming weeks,” he said. “As theaters in these key markets begin to reopen and the virus is more contained, we expect the volume of new film content will accelerate.”
Fewer than a quarter of business-to-business sales reps say they're “equally effective” selling virtually amid the pandemic as they are in a live, in-person setting, reported Gartner Wednesday. It canvassed 1,100 reps September through January, finding that 93% report “experiencing significant challenges with virtual selling, … in spite of coaching” geared specifically to the virtual experience, said analyst Danielle McKinley. The survey found only 39% of sales reps report their training managers effectively use technology to coach, said Gartner: “As more sales organizations invest in sales training and coaching technologies, it will be critical to ensure they have the infrastructure in place to support and leverage the effective use of the technologies.”
AMC Entertainment stock closed 17.7% higher Tuesday, after the theater chain hailed New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) decision greenlighting the March 5 reopening of cinemas in New York City. Cuomo’s executive order Monday put theaters in the five boroughs in line with most cinemas elsewhere in the state that were allowed to reopen with limited capacities in late October. Theaters in the city have been shuttered since the first COVID-19 lockdown orders took effect March 22 statewide. Theater restrictions will be uniform statewide, including mandatory masks and preassigned socially distanced seating, said Cuomo. Attendance will be limited to 25% of capacity or 50 people per screen, whichever is smaller, he said. AMC will reopen all 13 of its locations in the city when the restrictions lift March 5, said CEO Adam Aron. S&P at least twice downgraded the stock, warning investors AMC was precariously close to running out of cash amid COVID-19 theater closures and the pullback of major film slates from in-person audiences (see 2101220036). The New York development is a “ray of light” for AMC, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter wrote investors Tuesday. The move could entice other densely populated areas to reopen and lead to studios maintaining Q2-Q3 film slate release plans, he said. The analyst tempered remarks about pent-up demand saying people may remain reluctant to attend movies until they get inoculated for protection against COVID-19. Pachter stood by his comments Monday (see 2102220052) that he doesn’t expect movie attendance to begin returning to normal before July.
It was a “transformational year” for Dropbox, as the world “abruptly shifted to working from home due to the pandemic,” said CEO Drew Houston on a Q4 call Thursday. “We helped many of our customers through this transition” and “adapted quickly to the new environment ourselves,” reorienting product “to address many of the new challenges and opportunities that distributed work presents,” he said. Revenue for the year increased 15% to $1.91 billion, he said: “We ended 2020 with more than 15 million paying users and 525,000 business teams.” Dropbox experienced a surge in demand during the onset of COVID-19, including “elevated trial starts” that were “mostly isolated to the first half,” said Houston. “Engagement broadly has been up.” Permanent work-from-home rituals in 2021 and beyond “will be a tailwind, given that folks are shifting to distributed work and Dropbox becomes a lot more important when you're working out of the screen,” he said. “We see a lot of opportunity to address new pain points in the virtual work experience. Everybody has a need to keep all their content organized. It's a very fragmented and distracting and overwhelming experience now.”
The Transportation Security Administration wants to hire more than 6,000 security screeners by summer for 430 U.S. airports, anticipating that “the progress of COVID-19 vaccinations” will fuel a return to seasonal travel spikes, said the agency Friday. “We expect to screen a higher number of travelers regularly by the summer months and will need additional officers to support our critical mission,” said Melanie Harvey, acting executive assistant administrator for TSA’s security operations.