(Dominic Gwinn/Getty Images)

Zoom has become a hub for Kamala Harris' fundraising efforts

...though its own financials aren't so buzzy

7/29/24 11:46AM

The Kamala Harris campaign has reportedly raised $200 million in just over a week, after President Biden announced he’d be dropping out of the race and endorsed his VP as the Democrat Party’s next nominee.

Perhaps even more staggering than the amount being raised in such a brief period, though, is where a significant chunk of it has been coming from. Indeed, an arena better associated with drawn-out work calls and lockdown meet-ups is now fertile ground for political party fundraising: Zoom.

Within hours of the president confirming he’d be stepping aside, the Win With Black Women collective held a Zoom call that attracted ~40,000 users to rally around Harris, raising a whopping $1.5 million. When news of the meeting’s success caught on, a host of other Zoom calls were organized by different groups, including an apparently record-breaking online conference on Thursday, where 164,000 attendees raised a further $8.5 million for the Harris campaign — making it the “largest Zoom meeting in history”.

Muted results

Despite its latest function as a fundraising vehicle, Zoom has struggled in recent quarters to maintain the momentum observed during its pandemic-era boom. While year-over-year revenue growth already consistently rose above 100% throughout FY 2019, and stayed relatively high in the year after, 2021 saw revenue growth expand by as much as 370% in a single quarter, as we migrated our work and social lives online.

However, since late 2022, the tech company’s quarterly earnings have pretty much plateaued at a not inconsiderable ~$1.1B. Politics aside, Zoom has been trying new ways to adapt to an increasingly in-person world: last October, the annual “Zoomtopia” conference announced new return-to-office mandates within the company itself to help employees develop new face-to-face collaboration products.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Zoom company revenue declined by 3% YoY in Q3 '24. This has now been amended.

Max Knoblauch10/24/25

Premium seats help push airlines higher following third-quarter results

Shares of American Airlines are climbing toward the carrier’s best trading day since August 12, when ultra-budget rival Spirit issued its initial warning about its ability to survive. American’s shares are up more than 7% on Friday afternoon.

Investors’ optimism comes a day after American posted a better-than-expected full-year earnings forecast. In a call with investors, American said that it’s ramping up its premium cabin offerings.

“Our ability to grow capacity in premium markets will be further supported as we take delivery of new aircraft and reconfigure our existing fleet. These efforts will allow us to grow our premium seats at nearly two times the rate of main cabin seats,” CEO Robert Isom said. American CFO Devin May said that nose-to-tail retrofits of certain wide-body jets will bump the number of premium seats available on those planes by 25%.

Extra legroom has been a boon for major carriers, particularly this quarter. Delta Air Lines said its premium product revenue grew 9% in Q3, compared to a 4% drop in economy seat revenue. Similarly, United Airlines said its premium revenue grew 6%, outpacing economy. Shares of both airlines were up more than 3% on Friday.

Carriers with less exposure to first- and business-class tickets like Southwest Airlines and JetBlue didn’t see the same amount of momentum on the day.