Zoom Stock Slides Into A New Normal
Your daily head start in the business of tech + filtered + focused
The most important thing in tech today is …
Zoom stock took a dive Tuesday after the enterprise communications firm reported strong earnings, but guidance that showed a pronounced growth slowdown — particularly among the smaller customers who flocked to the service during the pandemic.
The results drive home a reality for investors: As demand normalizes, pandemic high-fliers will find themselves battling established innovators for the next leg of growth. It’s not just Zoom. In fintech, Robinhood and Coinbase will go head-to-head with PayPal and Square while trying to become the “everything app” for the next generation of consumer finance. In fitness, Peloton cut bike prices as rising temperatures sent gym rats back outside and into their natural, tech-infused habitats.
I’ve long thought one of the hardest things about tech investing (which I don’t do myself, as a business journalist) must be deciding on the entry point. Zoom was trading at $565 a share back in October. It was under $100 a share in early 2020. Clearly it’s a visionary company — but investors will have to recalculate what that means for its value going forward.
Coming up today on CNBC’s TechCheck, 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT …
Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi
While you were sleeping …
South Korea’s parliament has approved a bill that will make it the first country to impose curbs on Google and Apple’s payment policies that force developers to only use the tech giants’ proprietary billing systems. CNBC
Robinhood’s stock fell 6.9% to $43.64 per share after Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler told Barron’s that banning the controversial practice of payment for order flow is “on the table.” CNBC
In the broader world …
The sustainable shoe maker Allbirds said Tuesday that it has lost money since its inception and expects it will continue to be unprofitable for the foreseeable future, as it prepares to debut on Wall Street through an initial public offering. CNBC
On the horizon …
Today, 3:15 ET: Fortt Knox 1:1 with Atlassian CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes
