About Kelly Steckelberg
Kelly Steckelberg, Zoom’s CFO, has discussed the company’s financial performance and strategy in multiple media appearances. In February 2024, she told CNBC’s Jim Cramer that Zoom’s priority is investing for growth, both organically and through potential acquisitions, while also executing a $1.5 billion share repurchase program. She stated that Zoom is expanding its platform with features like workspace reservation to support hybrid work. In November 2023, she said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that Zoom was pleased with its Q3 results, noting that Zoom Phone had crossed the 10% of revenue threshold and that the company uses a “federated approach” to AI, working with multiple models including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta. She also highlighted that the company saw stabilization in its online business earlier than expected and reported peak gross margins of 80.5%.
Steckelberg has also addressed the company’s approach to hybrid work and competition. In a December 2023 interview, she said Zoom’s structured hybrid approach, asking employees near an office to come in two days a week, was going well and that 65% of employees remain remote. She has described Microsoft as a partner, stating that Zoom works with customers to integrate its products with Microsoft’s offerings. At Zoomtopia 2023, she said the company would not charge extra for its AI Companion, aiming to make it available to all paying customers. Steckelberg, a UT McCombs alumna, has said that her goal of becoming a public company CFO was realized with Zoom’s IPO, and she has established an endowed scholarship at the business school.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Kelly Steckelberg's recent appearances.
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Transcript (13 segments)
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Reporter0:15
What's it going to take for the stock of Zoom Video to get its groove back? It's now been four years since the pandemic changed our lives, turning Zoom into a household name. After surging in 2020, the stock spent the next couple of years getting pulverized as the world returned to normal. They started facing some heavy hitters in competition like Microsoft and Salesforce. For the last year, the stock has been bouncing around from the low 60s to the mid-70s. Last year, they had a sizable top and bottom quarter and a strong four-year earnings forecast even as the revenue items came in a tad light. They rolled out a $1.5 billion buyback, which is pretty significant for a $20 billion company.
I'm so glad you are here. You were so much to your beat. I thought this was one of those numbers, Kelly, that could be the start of something big. I want you to walk us through what led to the beat, because it is pretty significant.
K
Kelly Steckelberg1:27
We were very pleased with our Q4 results, as you highlighted. We announced revenue a little over $1.14 billion, which was ahead of our guidance. We also have very strong operating margins, and our free cash flow is up over 80% year-over-year at $333 million. And that was a result of a lot of hard work this year focusing on expanding the platform, momentum in Zoom Phone. We are starting to see a lot of great wins. We have Contact Center, and stabilization in our online business. It's exciting. Customer experience solutions, it's a remarkably tough and good company, top 10. The worldwide liquor company. Can you kind of give me a sense of what these companies are doing with Zoom that makes it so that there's really some traction here?
Yeah. As you said, it was a brand-new customer win for the quarter. Thrilled to have them joining the family. They brought our bundle, which includes not only Meetings, but also Team Chat and Phone. I think what they recognize is the total cost of ownership coupled with the amazing ease of use and reliability you get from the platform, and as you mentioned, they are very focused on the total possible. Virtual Agent. They've seen how we've transformed their Meetings and their Phone experiences, and now are ready to leverage that into Contact Center and our Virtual Agent.
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Reporter3:20
Now, the decision to make that giant repurchase, how are you going to do it? It's not accelerated. Are you just going to be there on days when people just don't think the company is doing as well? It's suddenly a huge amount of cash. You are an incredibly conservative company, which I like in uncertain times, but this buyback could be very significant for a company like Zoom.
K
Kelly Steckelberg3:46
Yeah. First and foremost, our priority is investing for growth. So that means organic through expansion of the platform, and go to 2025 of approximately $1.4 billion again. That gives us a lot of flexibility, that we can do both. We can continue to look for opportunities to either accelerate development, or do potentially something more transformative while also now providing returns to our shareholders by executing this buyback. It will be done in a very measured way throughout the year. We will look for opportunities. We set up a buying program every quarter so we look at where the market conditions are, and that's how we decide how we want to execute this.
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Reporter4:45
You did use the word transformative. You're telling me if something really big came along, you might want to use some of that cash toward making your company more relevant, for something like AI?
K
Kelly Steckelberg4:58
We look for inorganic opportunities that stick next to us. I think it's a perfect example of a portfolio that hasn't been in our core, but is a great addition to our portfolio.
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Reporter5:25
Today is one of those days where my PC was slow, which means they want you to turn it off and put it back on. Sure enough, what happens? They must've known I was going to interview. It opens up to Teams and then gives me three separate pages for Teams. I don't want those pages. I want to go right where my PC is. That's not antitrust, I guess. That's what they can do.
K
Kelly Steckelberg5:53
Yeah. What we hear from our customers all the time is they love Zoom, on other decisions. But we are really focused on continuing to provide a platform that provides windowless human connection, and by continuing to innovate and provide great products to our customers at an amazing total cost of ownership, we are just going to continue to solidify their love.
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Reporter6:37
The most important reason I use Zoom and many others, it started with remote work. What is the state of remote work in this country right now?
K
Kelly Steckelberg6:45
So we have customers that are fully remote still. They have chosen that as a way of working because of the flexibility it provides their work journey. We have the Meetings platform that everyone has come to know and love. And then we have an amazing Rooms and Events offering as well. We also have expanded recently into Workspace Reservation so you can reserve your desk in the office and we know you are coming in for lunch, for example. Really working on expanding a platform that meets these customers no matter how they are embracing their work style.
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Reporter7:41
First of all, thank you for coming on today because this is a very positive day for Zoom. People have to refresh their views. A look at some 2% revenue growth versus 17% for Workday and decide that that's the future. Maybe that's the past. Maybe there's a lot of things...
