What happened 

Shares of 8x8 (EGHT -0.89%), a cloud communications platform provider, spiked today after the company announced that Dave Sipes would be its new CEO. 

The tech stock gained as much as 40.6% today and was up 32.6% as of 1:14 p.m. EST. 

So what 

Sipes was most recently the chief operating officer at RingCentral, where he helped the company grow from $10 million in annual revenue to $1 billion. 

A rising blue bar graph with arrows on top of it

Image source: Getty Images.

Jaswinder Pal Singh, 8x8's new chairman of the board, said in a statement, "8x8 is participating in one of the biggest SaaS markets today, cloud communications. We believe Dave, with his operational expertise, strong industry background, and world-class go-to-market leadership, is the right leader at the right time to fully realize our potential."

In addition to its new CEO, 8x8 reaffirmed its third-quarter and full-year guidance in its press release today. Management said that third-quarter sales will be $132 million at the top end of its guidance, representing a 12% increase from the year-ago quarter. Additionally, the company said that sales for the full year will be $522 million, again at the top of guidance, which would be a 17% year-over-year increase. 

Now what 

With today's massive share price jump, 8x8's stock is up 53% year to date. The announcement of a new CEO doesn't normally move a company's share price as drastically as 8x8's did today, but investors are clearly enthusiastic that Sipes is now leading the company.