By
Steve Muchoki
August 22nd, 2023
Zoom has announced an acquisition of Keybase. In the nearest future, Zoom is planning to provide an end-to-end encrypted meeting mode to all paid accounts. Keybase, for its part, will offer its help to Zoom to develop new capabilities for its platform. ZM stock is rising.
Zoom Video Communications Inc (NASDAQ: ZM) has made its first acquisition. The company has bought Keybase, a secure messaging and file sharing service, with a view to building end-to-end encryption that can reach the current scalability of Zoom. According to Zoom, the acquisition is a key step for the company in creating a truly private and secure video communications platform that can scale to hundreds of millions of participants.
Details of the Keybase Acquisition by Zoom
During all the nine years of its existence, Zoom has been striving to make video communications frictionless and empower people to accomplish more. On April 1, Zoom announced a 90-day plan to improve the quality of its services and maintain its users’ trust. As Zoom has written in its blog, the acquisition of Keybase marks a milestone in the plan and further strengthens the security of the Zoom video communications platform.
Zoom said:
“Our goal is to provide the most privacy possible for every use case, while also balancing the needs of our users and our commitment to preventing harmful behavior on our platform. Keybase’s experienced team will be a critical part of this mission.”
In the nearest future, Zoom is planning to provide an end-to-end encrypted meeting mode to all paid accounts. This will also include governments whose meetings need to be protected in this way. Keybase, for its part, will offer its help to Zoom to develop new capabilities for its platform. It has been famous for its messaging platform that features end-to-end encryption, with the highest standard. As both companies have said, they will also focus on improving Keybase’s product.
Keybase wrote:
“Initially, our single top priority is helping to make Zoom even more secure. There are no specific plans for the Keybase app yet. Ultimately Keybase’s future is in Zoom’s hands, and we’ll see where that takes us. Of course, if anything changes about Keybase’s availability, our users will get plenty of notice.”
Within the deal, Keybase cofounder Max Krohn will lead Zoom’s security engineering team and report directly to Zoom CEO Eric Yuan.
Zoom’s Deal with NY AG Office
Along with buying Keybase, Zoom has made one more effort to revamp its security practices. The company reached an agreement with New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office regarding the protection of its users’ privacy.
Letitia James stated:
“This agreement puts protections in place so that Zoom users have control over their privacy and security, and so that workplaces, schools, religious institutions, and consumers don’t have to worry while participating in a video call.”
Currently, Zoom is working on a draft design of its encryption policy. On May 22, the company will release its vision.
Zoom Stock’s Performance
Following the news about the acquisition, Zoom (NASDAQ: ZM) stock rose by 5.49% to close at $157.80 per share on May 7. After hours, Zoom shares added 0.57% to $158.70. In the pre-market, ZM stock is 0.75% up, at $158.99. Zoom stock is now 131.92% up compared with the previous year. The company’s market cap is $44.027 billion. Such growth is a result of the coronavirus pandemic. As people are staying at home, they use Zoom’s services for working and studying.
