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The 3 Big Winners of the Pandemic

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The 3 Big Winners of the Pandemic

Last year, it would’ve been unimaginable for something as minuscule as a virus to have such a big impact on the world we live in. This year, in turn, we’ve all had the chance to experience what it’s like when a disease spreads uncontrollably and has no vaccine, no cure.

As you might expect, the global economy has felt the effects of the pandemic in full. Some companies, like airlines, live event organizers, and those in the hospitality business have seen their revenues melt away like snow. Others, in turn, have become more popular than ever – these are the big winners of the pandemic.

Zoom

One of the first measures imposed by many governments around the world as a response to the pandemic was to tell people to stay at home as much as possible. For a large number of people, this meant working and learning from home – especially after many countries decided to close their schools to further slow the spread of the disease.

There were already many online collaboration suites that offered group video conferencing services that were doing great. One of them, in turn, has seen its revenues skyrocket: Zoom, founded by former Cisco Webex engineer Eric Yuan in 2011.

In the first quarter of 2020, Zoom has seen its user base explode as schools have started transitioning to the platform to hold online classes, and companies switched to remote work. In the February-April 2020 quarter, its revenues exceeded $328 million, more than double compared to the same time period last year. And its market value grew beyond $64 billion.

Netflix

There are memes circulating online telling people how easy they have it with the pandemic happening in 2020 – just two or three decades ago, they would’ve had to sit it out with nothing but broadcast television and perhaps a gaming console in their home. All branches of online entertainment have seen their user base and revenues grow this year, from mobile apps and mobile casino NZ services to streaming giants like Netflix.

In the first quarter of 2020, Netflix has seen its subscriber base grow by almost 16 million worldwide, twice as much as expected. At the same time, its revenues in the first quarter were almost $6 billion. Netflix is the perfect media company for these times, and while its delivery of fresh content is delayed, it continues to offer house-bound people a great way to stay entertained without leaving their homes.

Amazon

With a very large number of people suddenly transitioning from traditional grocery shopping to taking care of it over the internet, online stores – especially Amazon – have seen a sudden growth in their usage.

Jeff Bezos’ company reported revenues of around $33 million every single hour in the first quarter of the year, reaching a staggering total of $75.4 billion. The growing demand for Amazon’s products and services – the company calls it a “permanent Black Friday/Prime Day situation” – has prompted the eCommerce giant to hire personnel at an unprecedented rate: over the last few months, it announced plans to hire up to 175,000 people. And the growth of the company’s share prices has added $13 billion to Jeff Bezos’ net worth.