Zoom, Netflix, FedEx executives’ fortunes slump as Pfizer’s vaccine hits shares of Covid-19 lockdown winners

Name: Pfizer coronavirus vaccine more than 90 per cent effective, US drug maker says
Uploaded: 2020-11-10T03:26:54.000Z
Duration: 2 min 30 s
Description: Pfizer coronavirus vaccine more than 90 per cent effective, US drug maker says

Eric Yuan, the founder of Zoom, saw his net worth drop by US$5.1 billion after the video conferencing firm’s shares sank 17 per cent on Monday

Peloton founder John Foley, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and FedEx chairman Fred Smith see their net worth shrink by at least US$250 million

Reading Time:3 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom Video Communications, takes part in a bell ringing ceremony at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York, on April 18, 2019. Photo: Reuters

Bloomberg

Published: 11:26am, 10 Nov 2020Updated: 11:26am, 10 Nov 2020

Eric Yuan is, in many ways, the poster child for the coronavirus economy.

His Zoom Video Communications has hosted school lessons, family gatherings and business meetings for more than 300 million participants a day during the pandemic. The stock of the video conferencing site has soared more than 500 per cent this year and Yuan, a Chinese-born immigrant to the US, was at one point worth US$28.6 billion – the 40th wealthiest person on the planet.

That remarkable surge took a hit on Monday after Pfizer said the Covid-19 vaccine it’s developing with BioNTech prevented more than 90 per cent of infections in a study, the most encouraging scientific advance so far in the battle against the virus. Airlines, oil giants and hotel operators surged, but stocks that benefited from lockdowns and work-from-home arrangements – such as Peloton Interactive, Netflix and Sea, Southeast Asia’s largest internet company – all slumped. On Tuesday, the rout continued in Asia for glovemakers that saw demand surge this year.

The key question now is whether those extraordinary gains can hold, or whether people will stop using the services of companies like Zoom after the pandemic ends and they return to the workplace.

02:30

Pfizer coronavirus vaccine more than 90 per cent effective, US drug maker says

“I don’t think the trend around e-commerce, video collaboration or shift-to-cloud will change as a result of the vaccine,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mandeep Singh. “The valuations look rich for some of these names, but some of these are multi-year growth stories. This is just normal volatility as investors look to rotate into sectors that have been depressed due to the pandemic such as travel, casinos and hospitality.”

Zoom shares fell 17 per cent in New York on Monday, erasing US$5.1 billion from Yuan’s net worth. He’s sold more than US$275 million of Zoom stock in 2020 and is still worth US$20 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Peloton founder John Foley became a billionaire on the stunning rise in the home-fitness company’s shares. He’s down US$300 million after the stock tumbled 20 per cent.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x