The tech industry’s winners and losers in lockdown

The coronavirus pandemic has been bad news for business. But even as some technology companies have been squeezed tight, others have actually seen a boost.

Some were in the right place at the right time – while others have seen the real-world trade they rely on shut down completely.

When your boss told you to start working from home, you might have had to rush to get to grips with the new kit to do so.

Entire populations did – which is good news for those making the software.

Once a relatively unknown business app, it’s been used for everything from cabinet meetings to farm-animal cameos.

When we’ve finished the work day, we’re still staying at home.

And Gaming is doing well while people are stuck indoors and in need of an escape.

Literally, in the case of Animal Crossing, on the Nintendo Switch – it puts the player on a deserted island getaway, building a colourful town populated by talking animals.

Today’s success might not last, though.

New games and consoles still being made are likely to be delayed.

And stock prices are taking a hit, despite the good sales figures.

It’s not just gaming, though.

We’re also putting a solid chunk of the money we’re not spending on going out towards other entertainment.

At that point, it already had more than 33 million subscribers.

Now, it has nearly 55 million – making it Netflix’s biggest competitor.

With cinemas shut, major current film releases have gone straight to digital.

It makes some of its money from advertising on its free service, though – and that’s completely dried up.

ClassPass, a website offering gym-class access, transformed into an online class-streaming platform after gyms were ordered to shut.

And it says demand for its new venture is high.

At-home fitness, though, is doing just fine.

Peloton was already video-streaming spinning classes over the internet to promote its fitness bikes.

And it’s not just huge companies winning here.

On the surface, Amazon has had a tough time of things during the pandemic.

Warehouse workers who have long complained of poor conditions staged limited strikes.

Then, internal documents insulting one of the organisers leaked.

And France banned non-essential sales by Amazon, while it investigated safety concerns.

And Amazon’s stock price has risen, while its High Street competition has closed.

But Amazon is also one of the world’s largest cloud-computing companies.

We’re gaming and watching movies because we’re not going anywhere.

And that doesn’t include drivers, who are self-employed and dealing with the same crisis.

They are currently banned from public roads in the UK.

And the government is fast-tracking a trial, so they can be used instead of packed Tube trains once restrictions ease.

Companies that don’t make physical real-world products ordinary people buy – but instead acts as a middleman for the people who do – are also hurting.

AirBnB relies on people paying fees when they stay with ordinary people.

But social distancing has stopped that dead.

Even before the lockdown, WeWork, which rents offices and then turns them into shared office space, was due to be bailed out by one of its main investors, Softbank.

But that deal has now collapsed.