---
title: "Zoom Founder Eric Yuan Transfers $6 Billion Worth of Shares"
description: "Eric Yuan, chief executive officer of Zoom Video Communications Inc., donated more than a third of his stake in the company, filings show."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Business Maverick"
author: "Bloomberg"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/bloomberg/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-03-09-zoom-founder-eric-yuan-transfers-6-billion-worth-of-shares/"
published: "2021-03-09T05:59:34"
updated: "2021-03-09T06:24:41"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 284
---

# Zoom Founder Eric Yuan Transfers $6 Billion Worth of Shares

> Eric Yuan, chief executive officer of Zoom Video Communications Inc., donated more than a third of his stake in the company, filings show.

By Bloomberg · Published 9 March 2021, 07:59 SAST · Updated 9 March 2021, 08:24 SAST

## Content

Yuan gifted almost 18 million shares of the conferencing-technology firm last week. The filings didn’t specify the recipient of the stock, which was owned by a Grantor Retained Annuity Trust, or GRAT, for which Yuan is a trustee.

*Eric Yuan*

The shares were valued at about $6 billion, based on Friday’s closing price.

The distributions are consistent with the Yuans’ “typical estate planning practices,” a Zoom spokesman said in a statement.

Yuan, 51, joins other members of the world’s mega-rich who’ve been transferring stock recently -- including Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, who last month [gave](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-11/li-ka-shing-gives-zoom-shares-to-son-in-2-billion-stake-revamp) some of his Zoom holding to his businessman son Richard. Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person, has been donating shares of Amazon.com Inc. in support of a $10 billion pledge made last year to combat climate change.

### Pandemic Surge

Yuan became one of the world’s wealthiest people as demand for Zoom’s main product skyrocketed during the pandemic. The stock surged almost 400% last year, but has dipped 7.8% in 2021.

He’s the world’s 130th-richest person with a pre-transfer net worth of $15.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a $9.2 billion increase since last March. The company has also brought huge gains to other [shareholders](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-05/zoom-s-484-surge-gives-little-known-early-investor-a-fortune), including Tiger Global Management’s Chase Coleman and Taiwanese investor Samuel Chen. Li’s Zoom stake now represents almost one-fifth of his net worth.

Born in China, Yuan was refused a U.S. visa eight times before finally prevailing and moving to Silicon Valley. An early employee of rival video-conferencing group WebEx Communications, he founded Zoom in 2011, inspired in part by the challenges of maintaining a long-distance relationship when he was in college.

The Wall Street Journal reported the share transfer earlier Monday.