COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Zoom forecasts sales surge Zoom Video Communications Inc raised its annual revenue forecast by more than 30% after comfortably beating quarterly estimates on Monday as it converts more of its huge free user base to paid subscriptions.Shares of Zoom, which have surged almost four-fold this year, rose 9.3% to US$355.30 after the bell. Earlier in the day they hit a record closing high of US$325.10 in regular trading.Video-conferencing platforms, once used mostly as a technological substitute for in-person meetings, became a vital part of day-to-day life this year for people stuck at home under coronavirus restrictions, be it for work, school or socializing.When the pandemic hit in early 2020, Zoom was a relative upstart founded by a former Cisco executive that had gone public on a promise to make video conferencing software easier to use.But the ease of use came with privacy and security concerns that drove some customers to competitors earlier this year and prompted Zoom to embark on a 90-day plan to address the issues. Zoom began testing end-to-end encryption of its service in July but has not yet implemented the feature for most users. – Nampa/ReutersFacebook partners with researchersFacebook Inc said it is partnering with external researchers to examine the impact of the social media site on society during the 2020 US presidential election.The company said findings of the studies will not be published until the middle of next year, at the earliest. The initiative expands on its Social Science One project with academics who study political impacts of social media.A group of 17 independent researchers from the fields of elections, democracy and social media will now work with internal Facebook data scientists to design the studies.The company expects between 200 000 and 400 000 users to opt into the project, which will log what they see and how they behave on Facebook and Instagram.It will introduce targeted changes to some participants' experiences, such as advertising or types of posts shown to them. Facebook employees will supply aggregated data to the external academics to protect the privacy of those users. – Nampa/ReutersAstraZeneca's study beginsAstraZeneca Plc said on Monday it has begun enrolling adults for a US-funded, 30 000-subject late-stage study of its high profile Covid-19 vaccine candidate.Trial participants will receive either two doses of the experimental vaccine, dubbed AZD1222, four weeks apart, or a placebo, the company said.The trial is being conducted under US government's Operation Warp Speed program, which aims to accelerate development, manufacturing and distribution of vaccines and treatments for Covid-19.US President Donald Trump has said a vaccine for the novel coronavirus could be available before the Nov. 3 presidential election, much sooner than most experts anticipate.AstraZeneca, which is developing its vaccine in conjunction with Oxford University researchers, and Pfizer Inc with partner BioNTech SE have said they could have data by October to support US emergency use authorization or approval of their respective vaccines. – Nampa/ReutersDelta, American drop feesDelta Air Lines and American Airlines said they are permanently dropping domestic change fees, mirroring an announcement by rival United Airlines on Sunday in a push to woo back travellers.US airlines are burning through millions of dollars daily as the coronavirus pandemic hits passenger air travel, which is hovering around 30% of what it was a year ago, forcing more customer-friendly policies to encourage people to start traveling again.Atlanta-based Delta said the elimination of change fees is effective immediately and includes tickets purchased for travel within the United States, Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands. American's change also covers flights to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.The new policies do not cover any of the three airlines' basic economy tickets. Low-cost rival Southwest Airlines has never charged a change fee for its tickets.Delta, United and American were already waiving change fees through the end of the year to give travellers more flexibility in an uncertain environment. – Nampa/ReutersLagardere rejects meeting request French publishing and media group Lagardere said it had rejected a request made by activist fund Amber Capital and Vivendi to hold an extraordinary general meeting."The supervisory board has examined the joint request by Amber Capital and Vivendi to call an extraordinary general meeting. It considers that the legal conditions required to diverge from the corporate schedule known to all shareholders are not presently satisfied", the group said in a statement."It reiterated that it is the guarantor of the group's corporate interest, its independence and its integrity. Accordingly, it has a duty to preserve the group in a particular context where one of the shareholders requesting the meeting is a direct competitor of Lagardere Publishing", the company added, referring to Vivendi.Amber has been embroiled in a tug-of-war with the firm's managers since 2016, as it pushes for a shake-up in its governance.It has been joined in its efforts for a board revamp by French billionaire Vincent Bollore and the Vivendi media group he controls, which has built up a 23.5% stake in Lagardere. Amber, a 20% stakeholder, and Vivendi are asking for four board seats between them. – Nampa/Reuters

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