(proper noun; verb) high-flying tech company that profited from Covid-19 lockdowns; to take part in an online video call
What a difference a pandemic makes. A year ago, Eric Yuan was worth less than $4bn and zooming was generally done by a camera or a bullet train. Today, Mr Yuan is worth $18bn and everyone, from prime ministers to priests and pop stars, is zooming thanks to the Silicon Valley company he founded in 2011: Zoom Video Communications.
Other companies grew massively during the pandemic. Zoom became a cultural phenomenon. Like Google, Hoover and Xerox it is now not just a household name but a verb, a feat that not even Amazon’s Jeff Bezos has managed. As online retail exploded, he became the first person in modern history to be worth $200bn, yet no one said they were off to do a bit of Amazoning.