Zoom Communications, Inc.
Company History
Zoom History: Founding, Growth & Key Milestones
Founded 2011 in San Jose, California, United States
When was Zoom founded?
Zoom was founded in 2011 in San Jose, California, United States by Eric Yuan, making it 15 years old.
- Founded
- 2011
- Founding place
- San Jose, California, United States
- Founders
- Eric Yuan
- Headquarters today
- San Jose, California, United States
- Milestones documented
- 12 (2011–2026)
- Current CEO
- Eric Yuan
- Acquisitions
- 4
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 2011 | Zoom founded |
| 2013 | Zoom Launches |
| 2017 | Series D at $1 Billion Valuation |
| 2019 | Nasdaq IPO |
| 2020 | Remote-work surge |
| 2020 | Acquired Keybase |
| 2021 | Five9 deal ends |
| 2022 | Zoom Contact Center launched |
| 2023 | Acquired Workvivo |
| 2024 | Renamed Zoom Communications |
| 2025 | Acquired BrightHire |
| 2026 | Common Room deal and Q2 fiscal 2027 results |
- Where was Zoom founded?
- Zoom was founded in San Jose, California, United States in 2011. wikidata.org
- Who founded Zoom?
- Zoom was founded by Eric Yuan.
- When did Zoom start?
- Zoom was founded in 2011.
- How old is Zoom?
- Zoom is 15 years old as of 2026.
Founding Story
Eric Yuan was an engineering leader at Cisco Webex. He left in 2011 to start a video meetings company built for cloud and mobile use. Zoom launched its product in 2013, went public on Nasdaq in April 2019, and grew rapidly during the 2020 shift to remote work. In November 2024 it changed its corporate name from Zoom Video Communications, Inc. to Zoom Communications, Inc.
Founders
Eric Yuan
Eric S. Yuan founded Zoom in 2011 and has been its CEO ever since. He took the company public in 2019, led it through the 2020 remote-work surge and the security fixes that followed, and has since pushed it into phone, contact center and AI products. In November 2024 he renamed it Zoom Communications. Eric Yuan was born in 1970 in Tai'an. Education: Shandong University of Science and Technology.
Key Milestones
Zoom Launches
Zoom Video Communications launched its video-conferencing product in 2013.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgSeries D at $1 Billion Valuation
Zoom raised $100 million from Sequoia Capital in January 2017 at a $1 billion valuation.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgRemote-work surge
Usage soared during the pandemic, and Zoom ran a 90-day security overhaul.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgFive9 deal ends
Five9 shareholders rejected Zoom's all-stock acquisition offer.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgRenamed Zoom Communications
The company dropped "Video" from its legal name in November 2024.
Source: zoom.comCommon Room deal and Q2 fiscal 2027 results
Zoom agreed to buy Common Room in July and reported Q2 revenue of $1.277 billion in August.
Source: nasdaq.comMajor Acquisitions
Keybase
2020Secure messaging and encryption team acquired in May 2020 to help build end-to-end encrypted meetings.
Workvivo
2023Employee experience and internal communications platform, acquired in 2023.
BrightHire
2025Interview intelligence software for recruiting teams.
Common Room
2026Seattle-based go-to-market intelligence platform that builds person-level buyer profiles for sales teams. The agreement was announced July 2, 2026, and the price was not disclosed.
Keep researching Zoom
Zoom Company History FAQ
When, where, and how was Zoom Video Communications founded?
Zoom was founded in April 2011 in San Jose, California, by Eric S. Yuan, former corporate Vice President of Engineering at Cisco Webex, who left with over 40 engineers to build a mobile-first video platform.
What inspired Eric Yuan to build Zoom?
As a college student in China, Eric Yuan dreaded the ten-hour train rides to visit his girlfriend (now wife), dreaming of a video device that would allow them to speak face-to-face with a single click.
When did Zoom complete its initial public offering?
Zoom completed its initial public offering on the NASDAQ stock exchange under ticker symbol ZM in April 2019, pricing at $36 per share, raising $356 million, and debuting with rare GAAP profitability.
How drastically did Zoom's usage surge during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic?
Zoom experienced unprecedented hypergrowth, surging from approximately 10 million daily meeting participants in December 2019 to over 300 million daily participants by April 2020.
What was the '90-Day Security Plan' initiated by Eric Yuan in 2020?
After rapid consumer adoption exposed security vulnerabilities ('Zoombombing'), Zoom froze all feature development for 90 days, rolled out end-to-end encryption, and hired top global security advisors.
How did Zoom expand beyond video meetings into a broader enterprise platform?
Zoom launched Zoom Phone (reaching over 7 million enterprise cloud seats), Zoom Contact Center, Zoom Rooms for hybrid offices, and integrated Zoom Workplace with its native AI Companion.
Why did Zoom's proposed $14.7B acquisition of Five9 fall through in 2021?
In September 2021, the proposed all-stock acquisition of cloud contact center provider Five9 was terminated after Five9 shareholders voted against the deal following tech stock market fluctuations.
What is Zoom Workplace and how does it integrate generative AI?
Launched in 2024, Zoom Workplace is an AI-powered collaboration platform that integrates video, phone, chat, whiteboards, and email, featuring Zoom AI Companion included at no extra cost for paid users.
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