Zoom Video Communications
has struggled in the postpandemic period, as the Covid-era work from home boom eased and competition from
Microsoft
and others intensified.
Zoom stock has badly lagged behind the market in 2023, with a gain of just 3%, compared with a 27% rally for the Nasdaq Composite Index. That follows a 63% decline in 2022 and 45% drop in 2021.
At the company’s Zoomtopia user conference in San Jose Tuesday morning, Zoom unveiled a step to fight back against Microsoft Teams, the all-in-one communications suite that has been taking business from Zoom’s web-based videoconferencing.
At the center of that effort, Zoom is launching its own word processing application called Zoom Docs, which seems intended to take on both Microsoft’s Word and Alphabet’s Google Docs in the market for document creation software.
Zoom said the new software provides a “flexible AI-powered workspace, purpose-built to address today’s hybrid work challenges.” The company said that “the status quo for document creation and collaboration isn’t cutting it anymore.”
The move into document software follows the company’s announcement last November—at the prior Zoomtopia—to add email and calendaring software, other features that are offered in Microsoft Teams.
As Zoom expands its offerings, the company is hoping to prove that the heart of document creation and collaboration is with meetings, rather than office applications. It will be an uphill battle, given Microsoft and Google’s dominant position in productivity applications.
Zoom Docs is expected to be generally available to customers in 2024. Pricing details weren’t immediately disclosed.
Write to Eric J. Savitz at eric.savitz@barrons.com
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