As the pandemic seems to swell rather than ebb, many retail and tech companies have seen their profits soar. All those who were prepared for online sales and meetings have earned in disproportionately large amounts as traditional businesses collapse.

One such small company, whose video conferencing and calling services saw revenues increase by four times and profits   increase manifold up to 90%, is Zoom. This huge growth spurt has made its founder Eric Yuan, worth double when compared with Marc Benioff, the co-founder and CEO of Salesforce. On Salesforce’s investor day, this month the CEO appreciated Zoom’s role in helping salespersons meet customers through video as the pandemic has almost totally shut down in-person meetings.

Although Yuan was a billionaire in 2019, after the IPO of Zoom in April 2019 the pandemic increased his worth to approximately $17 billion as per Fact Set and he is now one among the world’s 100 richest people.

His rise has been strewn with a few controversies including attacks on Zoom sessions, both benign and malicious including porn clips during vital conferences as well as classroom training; raising concerns about the efficacy of its software security and privacy.

In June, the app arbitrarily shut down meetings that commemorated the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing, after the Chinese government brought them to Zoom’s attention. This created additional questions on his loyalty to America, He has affirmed that he is an American and Zoom is an American company, in a blog post.

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