AWS CEO Steps Down and OpenAI Updates Its AI Model | Bloomberg Technology
>> FROM THE HEART OF WHERE INNOVATION, POWER, AND MONEY COLLIDE, THIS IS "BLOOMBERG TECHNOLOGY," WITH CAROLINE HYDE AND ED LUDLOW. CAROLINE: I'M CAROLINE HYDE IN NEW YORK. ED: I'M ED LUDLOW IN SAN FRANCISCO. THIS IS "BLOOMBERG TECHNOLOGY." CAROLINE: COMING UP, THE AMAZON WEB SERVICES CEO IS STEPPING DOWN FROM THE JOB. DETAILS TO COME. ED: OPENAI UNVEILS AN UPDATE AS GOOGLE KICKS OFF AND AI UPDATE TODAY. CAROLINE:
AND WE SIT DOWN WITH THE BUY NOW PAY LATER IPO. BUT FIRST, WHAT'S TRADING IN THE PUBLIC MARKETS? MAYBE A BIT OF A REPRIEVE AND SPIRITS, EVEN WITH THE PPI NUMBER THAT PRODUCED A PRICE INDEX THAT CAME IN HOTTER THAN ANTICIPATED WITH A SIGN OF LING IN THE KEY AREAS THE FED WILL BE FOCUSING ON HERE IN THE U.S., PULLING UP IN THE NASDAQ, NOTABLY EVEN THOUGH WE SAW INITIAL KNEE-JERK SELLOFF IT IS BACK TO RALLYING ON THE TWO-YEAR YIELD. SHINING LIGHT ON WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE HIGHLY SHORTED NAMES LIKE STOP, AMC, AN EXTRAORDINARY RALLY FOR NO FUNDAMENTAL REASON WITH HIGH SHORT INTEREST STOCKS, BET AGAINST IN THE ROCKS MARKET. MOVING ON TO HAVE A LOOK AT WHAT'S HAPPENING ON THE WORLD OF BITCOIN, NO MOVE OR READ ACROSS FROM THE MEME FRENZY TO THE CRYPTO FRENZY. BITCOIN, SELLING OFF A BIT. WE HEARD FROM KEY PLAYERS
WITHIN THE CRYPTO SEVERE SAYING LOOK, WE WILL BE RANGE BOUND, CURRENTLY AT 62,000. WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING? ED: THERE'S A LOT OF TECHNOLOGY TO FIT TO TODAY. LET'S GO TO CHINA, THE CHAIRS OF ALIBABA AND TENCENT. THERE'S FIGHTING TALK ABOUT AI, FIGHTING TALK ABOUT THE SPENDING POWER OF THE CHINESE CONSUMER, BUT THOSE SHARES ARE LOWER COMPARE AND CONTRAST WITH TENCENT, A LOT OF ADDED GROWTH NVIDIA. WE CHAT SEEING A BIG SURGE IN
USAGE. WE WILL GO TO COVERAGE ON THOSE KEY CHINA NAMES. THE GOOGLE IGO LATER TODAY, ALPHABET SHOWING ITS HANDS, WE THINK, ON THE NEXT OFFERING IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. THE TOP STORY, AMAZON, AMAZON WEB SERVICES, THE CLOUD UNIT OF AMAZON. THE COMPANY ANNOUNCING THAT ADAM ZIELINSKI IS STEPPING DOWN AS THE CEO OF AWS ON JUNE 3. MATT GARMON, WHO STARTED AS AN INTERN IN 2005 PRODUCT LEADERS, WILL TAKE OVER AS YOU KNOW.
SHARES ARE OFF OF SESSION LOWS, -- DOWN AND ASKING IF THIS IS BAD FOR THE CASH COW AND WHO IS MATT GARMAN? LET'S START WITH THE NEWS AT HAND. WHY IS ADAM ZIELINSKI STEPPING DOWN AS CEO AND SHOULD WE BE WORRIED ABOUT THE HEALTH OF AWS? >> AFTER LISTENING TO ANDY JAFFE SAY IT, ADAM SOLICITS -- ADAMSON LIPSKY -- ADAM SELIPSKY SAID THEY WOULD TALK LATER ABOUT GETTING IT IN SHAPE. NOW HE'S CONSIDERING OTHER CHALLENGES. NOBODY DETAILED THAT THERE MALES . WE JUST KNOW THAT HE IS OUT AS OF LAST MONTH -- NEXT MONTH. WELL -- CAROLINE: WELL-EARNED REST BEFORE HE MOVES ON TO HIS NEXT CHALLENGE.
WHO IS MATT HARMON? MBA INTERN TURNING KEY EXECUTIVE? MATT: THAT'S RIGHT, HE JOINED AS AN INTERN IN 2005. HEALTH TO SET PRICING FOR THE FIRST NAMES OF THE PRODUCTS ON THE MARKET. SINCE THEN HE SPENT MOST OF HIS TIME AS AN ENGINEERING LEADER. BACK IN 2020 HE FOUND HIMSELF RUNNING SALES AND MARKETING AND LIKE HE WAS GETTING SET UP TO -- SUCCEED ANDY JASSY. TURNED OUT HE BROUGHT BACK SO LIPSKY, BUT THIS WAS NOT A SURPRISE TO ANYONE WHO FOLLOWED THAT TRAJECTORY. ED: THE MARKET WAS A BIT WORRIED, IF YOU CALL A PERCENTAGE POINT LINE A KNEE-JERK REACTION. THE QUESTION IS, WHAT HAPPENS
NEXT AWS? THAT STILL ACCOUNTS FOR A MAJORITY OF THE OPERATING INCOME FOR AMAZON. THE NEW FIGURE THAT THEY ARE GIVING US IS THIS RUN OF 100 BILLION DOLLARS IN REVENUE. SOME WHERE AWS SITS TODAY. MATT: IT'S THE BIGGEST CLOUD COMPUTING COMPANY. A BUNCH OF PRESSURE HAS COME HOP ON THE LAST YEAR AND THEIR BIGGEST CORPORATE CUSTOMERS ARE LOOKING TO CUT COSTS, BRINGING GROWTH DOWN TO RECORD LOWS. THEY BUMPED UP BEYOND THAT,
WHICH THE MARKET SEEMS TO LIKE WELL ENOUGH. THE MARKET LIKES EVEN MORE THAN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE REVENUE IS STARTING TO MINUTE -- MATERIALIZE, SAYING THAT THEY ARE ON PACE FOR THEIR COUPLE OF BILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS OVER THE COURSE OF YEAR. NOT A DETAIL NUMBER, BUT ASSIGNED THAT AMAZON IS GAINING MOMENTUM AFTER BEING EATEN OUT OF THE GATE IN TERMS OF GENERATIVE AI SERVICES.
IT'S STILL THERE CASH COW AND ACCOUNTS FOR THE VAST MAJORITY OF THEIR OPERATING ORDER PROFIT. THEIR BUSINESS HAS BEEN UNDER PRESSURE FOR A COUPLE OF YEARS, CERTAIN. CAROLINE: IS IT FAIR TO CHARACTERIZE IT AS BEATEN OUT OF THE GATE, OR DID NOT GENERATIVE AI? MATT: A LITTLE BIT OF BOTH.
AMAZON HAS BEEN WORKING ON MACHINE LEARNING FOR YEARS AND YEARS, AS THEY WILL TELL YOU. IF YOU GO BACK TO WHEN OPENAI RELEASED THE CHAT GPT THAT SHOCK TO THE WORLD, GENERATIVE AI WASN'T IN THE CONVERSATION. WHEN IT INTO EMBEDDING GENERATIVE AI PRODUCTS TO SERVICES ON THE MARKET, MICROSOFT AND GOOGLE GOT THEIR REAL.
AMAZON IS WORKING TO CATCH UP FURTHER, BUT IT IS SAFE TO SAY THAT AT THE OUTSET, THEY WERE A COUPLE OF STEPS HIND. CAROLINE: MATT DAY, ON ALL THINGS AWS, THANK YOU FOR TAKING US THROUGH THE KEY NEWS. COMING UP, ANOTHER KEY EXECUTIVE TO GO PUBLIC. SEBASTIAN SALEK KOSPI, COMING
UP IN THE STUDIO. CAROLINE: WE HAVE GOT TO TALK ABOUT KLARNA, THE BUY NOW PAY LATER FIRM EYEBALLING IPO AND WE WONDER WHETHER THEY ARE GOING TO DO THAT. FIRST QUARTER OF NEXT YEAR? THAT'S ACCORDING TO REPORTS NOW.
IT'S BEEN A BIG YEAR FOR GENERATIVE AI, WHICH THIS COMPANY IS DOING. SEBASTIAN IS THE KLARNA CEO AND I WANT TO START WITH WHAT ALL INVESTORS ARE INTERESTED IN, YOUR EYING OF THE PUBLIC MARKETS. WE HERE AS SOON AS YOU ONE. HOW MUCH MORE T'S DOTTING DO
YOU NEED TO DO AT THE MOMENT? SEBASTIAN: I'VE HEARD THOSE RUMORS, BUT FOR US IT'S ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT WANTING TO ESTABLISH OURSELVES AS A GLOBAL BUSINESS AND SUCCESS IN THE U.S.. NOW WITH ALMOST 20 MILLION USERS IN THE U.S. AND IT BEING OUR LARGEST MARKET BY REVENUE, THAT CRITERIA HAS BEEN MET AND WE ARE DEFINITELY READY. CAROLINE: WE WILL GET INTO YOUR PRODUCTS IN A MOMENT, BUT WHEN YOU CALL IT AN INTERESTING RUMOR, COULD YOU GO SOONER? SEBASTIAN: ANYTHING'S POSSIBLE. ED: GOOD MORNING TO YOU, SEBASTIAN LET'S THINK ABOUT WHERE YOU MIGHT LIST IN THE CONTEXT OF YOUR BUSINESS. YOU HAVE GROWN 32% IN THIS COUNTRY OVER THE LAST YEAR. WHY IS THAT?
WHY ARE YOU SEEING STRENGTH U.S. MARKET? SEBASTIAN: IT'S INTERESTING, THERE'S A STUDY FROM 15 FROM KINSEY THAT SHOWS THAT IN THE MARKET THERE IS A GROWING NUMBER OF CONSUMERS VERY TIRED OF HOW CREDIT CARDS WORK. YOU CAN SEAL THE BAD PRACTICES BANKS HAVE TO PUSH PEOPLE INTO THEM TO BUILD UP AS BIG A BALANCE AS POSSIBLE.
THESE ARE SELF-AWARE AVOID OR IS, PEOPLE LOOKING FOR SIMPLE PRODUCTS, ZERO INTEREST, THEY ARE 20% OF THE U.S. POPULATION. BY NOW PAY LATER SPEAKS DIRECTLY TO THIS AUDIENCE AND I THINK THAT'S THE MOST TO NEXT ONE NATION FOR SUCCESS IN THE U.S. ED: LATER IN THE PROGRAM WE ARE TALKING ABOUT ALIBABA. SENTIMENTALLY, THEY ARE NOT PAIRED TO SPEND. PSYCHOLOGICALLY, COMPARED AND CONTRASTED WITH THE UNITED STATES, ARE HERE TALKING ABOUT CREDIT CARD USE AND LEVELS. THAT PSYCHOLOGICALLY TO U.S. CONSUMERS SEEMS PREPARED TO
SPEND. WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THAT AND WHAT DO YOU SEE THROUGH YOUR PLATFORM? SEBASTIAN: EXACTLY THAT. WHEN I SAW THE CHRISTMAS SALES, I FELT IT WAS A LITTLE DISCOUNT DRIVEN. I WASN'T CLEAR HOW MUCH OF IT WAS MERCHANTS TRYING TO OFFLOAD SOCK THROUGH DISCOUNT AND HOW MUCH OF IT WAS CONSUMER STRENGTH, SO TO SPEAK. WITH A FEW MORE MONTHS IN THE BAG, CONSUMER SPENDING IS HOLDING UP WELL AND THERE IS THAT DEMAND ACROSS ALL CATEGORIES THAT WE COVER.
AS MUCH AS WE ARE ASSOCIATED WITH UBER, EIGHT -- AIRBNB AND OTHER BIG AMERICAN BEAR -- BRANDS, WE CAN SEE IT ACROSS THE BOARD. CAROLINE: YOU HAVE BEEN BUILDING UP A FOCUS IN THE U.S., BUT YOU ARE MEANT TO BE THE ANTI-CREDIT CARD COMPANY, THE IDEA OF THE SPIRALING DEBT THAT IS MOUNTING THERE. HOW ARE YOU DOING IT DIFFERENTLY AND WHY? SEBASTIAN: TO ME THE CARD IS A DELIVERY MECHANISM IN EVEN IF WE COVER ONLY 40 OF THE TOP RETAILERS, WE WANT TO MAKE IT AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE. THE KEY DIFFERENCE VERSUS THE CREDIT CARD IS HOW YOU USE IT.
WHEN I WORKED AT WORKING BACK IN THE DAY, ONE FOR DEBIT AND TWO FOR CREDIT. IT MADE A LOT OF SENSE THAT YOU DIDN'T USE CREDIT FOR EVERY PURCHASE BUT THE BANKS ABANDON THAT BECAUSE THEY WANTED YOU TO BUILD UP A MONTHLY STATEMENT AS BIG AS POSSIBLE, PUTTING EVERYTHING ON IT, INCREASING THE LIKELIHOOD OF REVOLVING. REMEMBER, CREDIT CARD BALANCE IS USUALLY $5,500.
WITH KLARNA, IT'S 50. FOR US THE ABILITY TO HAVE THE OPTION BETWEEN DEBIT AND CREDIT IS FUNDAMENTAL, KEY IN PROVIDING FUNDAMENTAL RESPONSIBLE USE OF CREDIT, AS WELL AS FIXED INSTALLMENT. THOSE ARE PRIMARY CONCEPTS THAT WE CAN BRING TO A CARD OR THROUGH OFFERING THEM DIRECTLY THROUGH THE MERCHANT WEBSITE OR IN THE STORE. CAROLINE: YOU ARE DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY VALUE BEING TECH DRIVEN. A LOT OF CREDIT CARD COMPANIES ARE NOW TECH DRIVEN. FOCUSING ON THE GENERATIVE AI SIDE, YOU CAUGHT A LOT OF HEADLINES BY THE FACT THAT YOU SAID THAT GENERATIVE AI IS DOING THE JOB OF 700 PEOPLE.
IS IT STILL 700? IS IT OR THAN THAT? SEBASTIAN: PROBABLY SLIGHTLY MORE BY NOW. WE KNEW THAT THAT NUMBER WOULD CATCH ATTENTION, BUT PERSONALLY I FEEL THERE IS A LOT OF BUZZ AROUND AI WITH A LOT OF DEMOS ANNOUNCED. THERE ARE FEW THINGS THAT ARE PRACTICALLY THERE AND A LOT OF BUSINESS LEADERS ARE ASKING THEMSELVES WHERE IS THE ACTUAL IMPLICATION ON MY BUSINESS WHERE WE FELT THAT THIS IS NOT JUST SMALL. IT'S REAL LIFE, CONSUMERS PREFER IT AS IT IS HIGHER CUSTOMER SATISFACTION THAN A HUMAN AGENT, HIGHER QUALITY WITH A PROFOUND IMPACT. WE ALSO BELIEVE SOCIETY AND POLITICIANS NEED TO RECOGNIZE THAT THIS IS NOT SOMETHING THAT IS GOING TO CHANGE IN 10 YEARS.
THE IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIETY WILL COME IN THE COMING YEARS. TIME TO THINK ABOUT IT PROACTIVELY. ED: ONE MONTH AGO WE HAD THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION OF FINANCIAL SERVICES VISIT US HERE IN SAN FRANCISCO AND WE TALKED ABOUT FINTECH REGULATION, ESSENTIALLY.
YOU OPERATE MARKETS. WHICH DO YOU FIND TO BE MORE FRIENDLY IN TERMS OF REGULATORS IN THE UNITED STATES AND EUROPE? SEBASTIAN: AMAZINGLY, THE EU INTRODUCED LEGISLATION THAT MEANT A FULLY REGULATED BANK IN SWEDEN QUEPASA CROSS ALL STATES, A TREMENDOUS ADVANTAGE. TO SOME DEGREE, IT IS ACTUALLY EASIER TO OPERATE ACROSS ALL U.S. STATES WHERE IT'S A BIGGER DIFFERENCE ON CONSUMER CREDIT LENDING THEN THERE ARE AMONG THE EUROPEAN NATIONS, TO SOME DEGREE. I WOULD SAY US FAIRLY EVEN, EVEN HAVE BEEN TO JUST TO BE IN EUROPE.
BUT WE DEFINITELY THINK THERE IS MORE COMPETITION, OPENNESS, AND WILLINGNESS TO PROMOTE COMPETITION IN AMERICAN SOCIETY. SO, I THINK THAT IS RE-FAVORABLE. IN THE AMERICAN CONTEXT. ED: WHEN YOU DO GO PUBLIC, INVESTORS WILL BE VERY FOCUSED ON PROFIT. CAN USE A BIT ABOUT PROFIT?
SEBASTIAN: OF COURSE. FROM MY PERSPECTIVE, I HOPE HE WILL BE ABLE TO DELIVER SOME VERY INTERESTING SPEC GIVES WHEN WE ARE READY FOR THAT. WE ARE SEEING STRONG GROWTH, CURRENTLY.
WE ARE DEFINITELY ABOVE $2 BILLION IN REVENUE, SEEING HIGH-VOLUME GROWTH. AT THE SAME TIME BECAUSE OF THE IMPLICATIONS OF AI, SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER, WE STOPPED RECRUITMENT. IN OUR CASE WITH NORMAL ATTRITION RATES, WHERE PEOPLE STAY FOR ABOUT FIVE YEARS, IT THAT WE ARE SHRINKING. IN NUMBER, AT LEAST, PER YEAR. WE HOPE THAT BY THE TIME WE GET TO THAT PERSPECTIVE WE WILL BE ABLE TO PRESENT SOMETHING THAT LOOKS LIKE REVENUE GROWTH AS -- AT THE SAME TIME. CAROLINE: SEBASTIAN, GREAT FOR HAVING THE TIMING OF HER COMING ON.
SEBASTIAN SIEMIATKOWSKI, THE KLARNA CEO. COMING UP, MORE ON AI. ED: YEP. REALLY ENJOYED THAT, BY THE WAY. OPEN CHAT MODEL FROM GOOGLE TODAY AS THEY KICK OFF THEIR AI EVENT. STICK WITH US. THIS IS BLOOMBERG. CAROLINE: OPENAI, FASTER AND CHEAPER VERSIONS OF ITS CHATBOT MODEL, HOLDING ONTO A SEEMING LEAD IN AN INCREASINGLY CROWDED MARKET. JOINING US NOW ON THE ANNOUNCEMENT MADE YESTERDAY, RACHEL METZ. WE HEARD FROM KEY EXECUTIVES WHO REALLY OUTLINED ME, ON PAYING USER, GOING TO GET A LOT MORE FOR FREE? RACHEL: YEAH, THAT IS A BIG ART OF WHAT THEY WERE ANNOUNCING.
GIVING PEOPLE THE CAPABILITIES THAT UNTIL NOW HAD BEEN RESERVED FOR JUST THE PAYING USERS OF GPT4 AND OVERALL THEY SAID THE MODEL IS FASTER AND MORE EFFICIENT WITH ADDITIONAL INTERESTING THINGS THAT THEY ROLLED OUT, LIKE AUDIO CAPABILITIES THAT ARE MUCH FASTER THAN WHAT WE HAVE SEEN BEFORE. THEY HAD THE ABILITY ALREADY TO TALK TO CHATGPT THROUGH THE APP. I BELIEVE THAT THAT WAS JUST FOR PAID USERS IN THE PAST. NOW, YOU CAN USE THAT IN A MUCH MORE REAL-TIME WAY AND IT IS MUCH MORE CAPABLE THAN IT APPEARED TO BE IN THE PAST, THAT WILL BE OUT IN THE COMING WEEKS. ED: LET'S ZERO IN ON THE UNDERLYING LOT -- MODEL, GBDRO? -- GPT4O, RIGHT? THE MAIN THING WE ARE TALKING ABOUT IS THAT THIS HAS DRAMATICALLY REDUCED LATENCY IN TEXT, IMAGE, AND VIDEO USE CASES. GET NERDY FOR US. RACHEL: IT SHOULD JUST MAKE ALL THINGS FASTER THAT PEOPLE WANT TO DO WITH THE MODEL. IT COULD MAKE IT, IT COULD MAKE
IT FEEL MORE LIFELIKE IF YOU ARE TALKING TO IT IT IT IS TALKING BACK TO YOU, ANALYZING PICTURES. IN THE DEMOS THAT THEY SHOWED ON THE SCREEN THERE WAS AN OPEN CAMERA VIEW. RIGHT NOW IF YOU ARE USING CHATGPT, YOU HAVE TO TAKE A PICTURE. IN THE FUTURE THEY SAID THEY WOULD BE ADDING THE ABILITY TO ANALYZE VIDEOS AS WELL, NOT JUST STILL IMAGES.
EAGER, BETTER, FASTER, MORE WITH THIS MODEL. WE WILL HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE HOW WELL IT WORKS. ED: RACHEL, TERRIFIC REPORTING, GREAT TO HAVE YOU ON THE PROGRAM. ONE THING THEY DID WAS -- REVEAL WAS SEARCH. THE GOOGLE IO CONFERENCE IS
KICKING OFF IN MOUNTAIN VIEW. LET'S HEAR HOW THE ALPHABET WILL CHARACTERIZE THIS COMPETITION WITH THE CEO OF MICROSOFT. LISTEN TO THIS. >> ONE OF THE WAYS THAT YOU CAN DO THE WRONG THING IS BY LISTENING TO SOMEONE ELSE'S DANCE MUSIC. I'VE ALWAYS BEEN VERY CLEAR, HAVING A CLEAR SENSE OF WHAT WE NEED TO DO. ED: THAT WAS PART OF THE CONVERSATION HE HAD ON THE CIRCUIT EMILY CHANG.
TALKING ABOUT MICROSOFT, BUT OPENAI HAS BEEN PRETTY SURGING AS WELL. JACKIE, WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING OUT OR? >> A FEW THINGS. THE DANCING, HARD TO IGNORE, ESPECIALLY WITH THAT ANNOUNCEMENT OUT OF OPENAI YESTERDAY, RAISING THE BAR FOR GOOGLE. ONE THING THAT WILL BE KEENLY FOCUSED ON IS THE UPDATE TO ITS CURRENT FLAGSHIP GEMINI MODEL. WE ARE EXPECTING A FEW MORE DETAILS ON JUST HOW THAT MODEL WILL BE INTERSPERSED THROUGHOUT ITS MOST UBIQUITOUS PRODUCTS. THINK GMAIL, MAPS, AND LIKE YOU MENTIONED, SEARCH.
THEY HAVE BEEN EXPERIMENTING WITH SOME FEATURES BUT HAVE NOT RULED OUT ANYTHING BROADLY. THERE WILL BE MORE COLOR THERE AND WE ARE NOT JUST TALKING ABOUT SOFTWARE, WE ARE ON TABLETS, SMARTPHONES, AND UP DATES TO THE ANDROID 15 OPERATING SYSTEM. CAROLINE: THE CONTEXT WITH ALL OF THIS IS THAT THEY SEEM TO BE BEHIND THE CURVE, EVEN THOUGH FOR MANY GENERATIVE AI WAS ONLY MADE POSSIBLE BECAUSE OF THE RESEARCH FROM GOOGLE, BUT THEY RUSHED OUT PRODUCTS AND THERE WERE A LOT OF CONCERNS AROUND IMAGE GENERATION IN PARTICULAR. HOW ARE WE SEEING THEM TRYING TO RIGHT SIZE THE PERCEPTION? JACKIE: YOU SAID IT PERFECTLY, THEY WERE EARLY PIONEERS WITH BEST AND BRIGHTEST TALENT IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, BUT WHERE THEY FELL BEHIND WAS IN CREATING THIS BIGGER GENERATIVE AI GO SYSTEM THAT IS EMBEDDED ACROSS PRODUCTS THAT HAS AN ADVANTAGE IN SEARCH, AS WE ALL KNOW, BUT WE HAVE SEEN MICROSOFT AND OPENAI MAKE ITS WAY INTO PRODUCTS MUCH QUICKER AND REALLY COMMERCIALIZE THAT TECHNOLOGY IN A MUCH BROADER WAY. SO, TODAY WE ARE REALLY GOING TO BE LOOKING TO LEARN HOW EXACTLY DOES THIS FLOW-THROUGH ACROSS THE BUSINESS? NOT JUST ONE OFF TEACHERS HERE AND THERE, BUT UNVEILING THE SMALLER MODEL OF OPEN SOURCE, REALLY LOOKING TO CATCH UP AND OFFER A MORE BROAD ARRAY OF MODELS, JUST AS WE HAVE SEEN OPENAI DO AS WELL. ED: I DON'T WANT TO PUT YOU ON THE
SPOT, BUT OF ALL OF THE ANNOUNCEMENTS, WHAT'S THE ONE PIECE OF AI TECHNOLOGY YOU ARE USING RIGHT NOW? JACKIE: PERSONALLY? I LOVE HOW IN GOOGLE DOCS, IT MAKES MY MEETING TEMPLATES. I DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT DOING THAT DRUDGERY. I DON'T USE IT QUITE YET FOR WORK, BUT IT IS KIND OF, YOU KNOW, IF I NEED TO WRITE UP A QUICK NOTE AND HALF THE TEMPLATE IS THERE, IT'S PREDICTIVE AND IT KNOWS WHAT I'M LOOKING TO WRITE AND IT TAKES SOME OF THE BORING ASPECT OUT OF MY WORK, THERE.
CAROLINE: I LOVE THAT. PS, I'M AGNOSTIC. ED: OTHERS AVAILABLE. CAROLINE: I LOVE YOUR NUANCE ON HOW YOU ARE USING IT IN EVERYDAY LIFE. AS HAVE -- AS WE HAVE BEEN HEARING, WE WILL BE KEEPING AN EYE ON SHARES FOR YOU AS WE GALVANIZED TOWARDS GOOGLE AND DEALS ARE DONE WITH DELIVERY HEROES AND FOOD PANDA OVER IN TAIWAN FOR 950 MILLION DOLLARS, IT'S ABOUT CONTROL OF THE KEY ASIAN MARKET. CAROLINE: WELCOME BACK TO "BLOOMBERG TECHNOLOGY." ED: QUICK CHECK ON THE MARKETS, THIS IS WHERE WE STAND IN THE MOMENT, BASICALLY TREADING WATER WHEN IT COMES TO THE NASDAQ 100.
THERE ARE AN EQUAL NUMBER OF NAMES IN THE GREEN AS THERE ARE IN THE RED. AND THEN WE LOOK AT THE GOLDEN DRAGON INDEX, THE U.S. LISTED SHARES OF ALL OF THE CHINESE TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES. THE EARNINGS STORY THAT WE ARE
ABOUT TO TOUCH ON, THEN THE IMPACT OF THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TARIFFS ON THE AUTOMOTIVE SECTOR IN CHINA WITH ASSISTED NAMES IMPACTED. IN TERMS OF SPECIFICS, WE HAD A LOT OF THE MORNING LOOKING AT ALIBABA AND TENCENT. ALIBABA, SLUGGISH IN THE CLOUD UNIT AND THE CLOUD ADOPTION THAT WAS SLOW IN CHINA. AI IS THERE. TENCENT, GREAT STRENGTH IN VIDEO ADVERTISING AND THE WE CHAT USER BASE. ONE STOCK GOING LOWER IN THE U.S., ANOTHER GOING HIGHER. WRAPPING IT UP, LET'S BRING IN HENRY AND ISABEL. I THINK THAT IS THE SUMMARY,
RIGHT, WHEN IT COMES TO THESE EARNINGS AND WHAT I OUTLINED. LET'S START WITH ALIBABA. >> TENCENT REPORTING BETTER THAN PROJECTED, SURGE IN EARNINGS, BUT ALIBABA PROFIT PLUNGED. THE FACT THAT THE TWO BIGGEST IN CHINA REPORTING ON THE SAME DAY WAS A RARITY AND IT HIGHLIGHTED THE TALE OF TWO FORTUNES FOR BOTH. BETTER-THAN-EXPECTED SINGLE-DIGIT REVENUE GROWTH, BUT PROFIT PERFORMANCE IS WHERE THEY DIVERGE AND INVESTORS ARE LOOKING AT ON A MINING THESE COMPANIES AS THEY ARE SEEN AS A BAROMETER OF CHINESE HEALTH WHEN CHINA RECOVERS FROM ROCKY COVID RECOVERY AND A ONE YEAR SLUMP BIG TECH CRACKDOWN. GET THIS, NEITHER COMPANY
OFFERED STRONG REASSURANCES ON THE FUTURE OF THE CHINESE ECONOMY MOVING FORWARD. CAROLINE: WE LOVE HOW YOU GIVE US THE MACRO CONTEXT. LET'S GO OPTIMISTIC, FIRST. WHY WAS TENCENT PULLING IT OUT FOR
THE INVESTOR BASE TODAY? >> THEIR PROFITABILITY REALLY SHINES IN THE RESULTS. BASICALLY, VIDEO STREAMING IS A HUGE POSITIVE, BUT IN THE MEANTIME THE COMPANY IS CUTTING USUALLY ON COSTS. REMEMBER, THEY ARE LOOKING AT REVENUE GROWTH OF 6% THEY COSTS OF REVENUE THAT'S DOWN 8% FROM ONE YEAR AGO. THE KEY TO THAT IS LOWER CUTS IN COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH CROWD PROJECTS AND APPOINTMENT. IN THE MEANTIME, THE COMPANY IS CUTTING DOWN OTHER COSTS, FOR EXAMPLE EMPLOYEE BENEFITS AND SHARE-BASED COMPENSATION THAT REALLY STANDS OUT.
ONE OF THEIR KEY WORRIES IN RECENT QUARTERS HAS BEEN THE DOMESTIC GAINING BUSINESS THAT SHOWS SIGNS OF THE COMPANY SAYING THAT TWO OF THEIR FLAT CHIP GAINS RECEIVED POSITIVE GROWTH IN MARCH. A POSITIVE SIGNAL TAKEN FROM INVESTORS. ED: I WAS INTERESTED IN THAT ON THE GAMING SITE WHERE THEY TALKED ABOUT RATHER THAN HAVING A STANDALONE GAMING TITLE, THEY WOULD HAVE THE KINDS OF GAMES WERE YOU COULD UP EIGHT THEM REGULARLY.
EXECUTIVES ON BOTH SIDES HAD SOME BASICALLY FIGHTING TALK SAYING THAT THEY WERE EACH THE BEST AT AI. DID WE LEARN ANYTHING NEW ABOUT EITHER COMPANY'S AI STRATEGY? >> YES, INDEED. ALIBABA, THEY ARE CONFIDENT THAT AI WILL DRIVE THEIR GROWTH AND THE COMPANY SAID THAT WITH THEIR AI MODEL GAINING STEAM IN CHINA, THEY ARE CONFIDENT THAT THEY WILL TURBOCHARGE CLOUD UNIT GROWTH.
REMEMBER, IT'S TECH GROWTH IN THIS QUARTER. BUT THAT THEY ARE CONFIDENT THAT IN THE SECOND HALF OF FISCAL 25 THEY CAN ACTUALLY RETURN BACK TO DUDGEON -- DOUBLE-DIGIT CLIP GROWTH. GOOD NEWS, AS THE CLOUD UNIT HAS ALWAYS BEEN SEEN AS A GROWTH DRIVER WORK ALI -- DRIVER FOR ALIBABA. FOR TENCENT, IT'S ALREADY VERY RUDE. WE MENTIONED THE STRONG ADVERTISING MOMENTUM FOR THE
VIDEO STREAMING BUSINESS. REMEMBER THAT THE COMPANY IS ALREADY DEPLOYING MANY OF ITS RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR USERS AND HAS ALREADY BEEN SEEING THE EARLY SIGNS OF BENEFITS. CAROLINE: ISABEL, PUSH US FORWARD A BIT, HERE. YOU ARE GIVING US THE CONTEXT OF THE CONSUMER AS WELL. JD.COM COMING LATER IN THE WEEK.
BAIDU, AS WELL. ARE WE GETTING ANY CLARITY ON HOW RESILIENT THE CHINESE CONSUMER IS RIGHT NOW? >> I THINK WE WILL. THE CHINESE CONSUMER IS DEALING WITH PERSISTENT USE EMPLOYMENT, THE CHINESE ECONOMY SLIPPING DEEPER INTO DEFLATION, BUT IT IS A BIG MONTH FOR CHINESE COMPANIES WITH BAIDU AND OTHERS SURPRISING ON THE UPSIDE FOR THE LAST EIGHT ORDERS. THIS IS KIND OF GOOD NEWS, MEANING THAT THE RECOVERY IS THERE, SLOWLY BUT SURELY, AND MONEY MANAGERS ARE LOOKING AT CHINA TWO WAYS. TUCCI, THAT'S WHY THEY WANT TO GO IN, OR THAT IT IS TOO CHEAP FOR A REASON. THERE ARE DIVERGING VIEWS AMONG
THEM, BUT I THINK THAT THIS IS GOING TO BE A BIG TELL MOVING FORWARD THIS MONTH. CAROLINE: WE WILL BRACE OURSELVES ON THE EARNINGS TO COME. HENRY, GREAT WRAP UP. LET'S TURN OUR ATTENTION TO
WASHINGTON AND U.S. CHINA RELATIONSHIPS. PRESIDENT BIDEN, HIKING TARIFFS AS WE EXPECTED ON A WIDE RANGE OF CHINESE IMPORTS, INCLUDING CRITICAL MINERALS AND SOLAR CELLS. FOR MORE, LET'S BRING IN KAILEY LEINZ. A TREND STARTED BY TRUMP, IS THERE NUANCE INTO HOW THEY ARE DOING THIS? KAYLEE: TRUMP ERA TARIFFS HAVE LARGELY REMAINED INTACT AND NO TARIFFS HAVE BEEN REDUCED TODAY. JUST A NEW ONES IMPLEMENTED WITH OTHERS RAISED, AFFECTING EIGHT -- 8 BILLION OF IMPORTS INTO THE U.S., TAKING EFFECT
BETWEEN THIS YEAR AND 2025 WITH A NUMBER OF KEY INDUSTRIES AND FOCUS. SEMI CONDUCTORS SEEING THE RATE FROM 25% TO 50%, AIMED AT SO-CALLED LEGACY CHIPS. CRITICAL MINERAL TARIFFS, 25% THIS YEAR, THAT'S AN AREA THAT COULD BE MORE DISRUPTIVE THAN SYMBOLIC, CONSIDERING THE U.S. IS STILL LARGELY DEPENDENT ON CHINA FOR THINGS LIKE RETICLE MINERALS. OTHERS THAT WE SAW FORECAST
LIKE SOLAR CELLS AND LITHIUM-ION BATTERIES, THE TARIFF RATE GO HIGHER, JUMPING TO 25%. SOLAR CELLS JUMPING FROM 25% TO 50% WITH A BIG QUADRUPLING OF CHINESE MADE ELECTRIC ECHOLS GOING UP TO 102 POINT 5%. THAT IS AN AREA THAT IS LARGELY SYMBOLIC BECAUSE OF EXISTING TARIFFS. THEY WERE ALREADY NOT REALLY LOOKING AT THE U.S. CONSUMER MARKET TO GET THE DEMAND. WHAT THIS WAS ABOUT WAS MAKING SURE THAT NO FURTHER SUPPLY NECESSARILY COULD COME DUMPING INTO THE U.S. GIVEN THE CONCERNS THE
ADMINISTRATION HAS ABOUT CHINESE OVERCAPACITY. THEY ARE TRYING TO AIM AT SHORING UP PRODUCTION IN THESE CRITICAL AREAS. THEN WE WILL SEE THE EFFECT THAT THIS MAY HAVE ON THE U.S., IF THERE IS A RETALIATORY MOVE THAT COULD POTENTIALLY COME TO CHINA, WHICH SAID THEY WERE RESOLUTELY OPPOSED TO THE MEASURES. ED:
I CHECK YESTERDAY, THERE WERE JUST FOUR CHINA MADE EVS YOU COULD GET IN THIS COUNTRY. IT'S LIKE A DETERRENT FOR MODELS TO COME. THERE IS A BALANCING ACT HERE SO THAT EVERYONE DOESN'T GET HURT. ANNE-MARIE HORTON SPOKE TO THE TREASURY SECRETARY AND THERE WAS A CLEAR MESSAGE FROM THE ADMINISTRATION BASICALLY SAYING THAT WE ARE JUST BEING FAIR WITH WHAT CHINA IS DOING. KAILEY: YEAH, ESSENTIALLY THEY WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT THE U.S. REMAINS COMPETITIVE. THIS IS SOMETHING WE HEARD THE TREASURY TALKING ABOUT.
WHEN ANNE-MARIE ASKED YESTERDAY ABOUT A TRADE WAR WITH CHINA, THE TREASURY SECRETARY DIDN'T SEEM TO WANT TO CONFIRM THAT, THEY ARE TRYING TO WALK A DELICATE LINE WHERE THEY DON'T WANT BLOWBACK ON U.S. CONSUMERS, PERHAPS WHY YOU ARE SEEING THIS MORE CALIBRATED TARGETING OF CERTAIN AREAS COMING FROM THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION IN THIS REVIEW RATHER THAN SOMETHING LIKE THE BLANKET TARIFFS THAT TRUMP SAID HE WOULD LOOK TO DO ON ALL CHINESE IMPORTS IN A SECOND ADMINISTRATION IF HE WON THE WHITE HOUSE IN NOVEMBER AS THERE IS A CONCERN ABOUT THE INFLATIONARY EFFECT IT COULD HAVE AT HOME. YOU WOULD LIKE TO SAY THAT THIS HURTS CHINA, BUT THE COSTS ARE PAID BY IMPORTERS AND THEN GET PAST TO THE END CONSUMER AT A TIME WHEN THIS ADMINISTRATION IS NOT ONLY STRUGGLING GEOPOLITICALLY TO NAVIGATE A RELATIONSHIP WITH CHINA, BUT ALSO SO COOPERATIVE AND HERE AT HOME WHERE THEY ARE SEEKING REELECTION, REALLY STRUGGLING WITH AN ECONOMY AND OF -- INFLATION OUTLOOK THAT MANY AMERICANS ARE UNHAPPY WITH. CAROLINE:
KAILEY LEINZ, THANK YOU. ED: COMING UP, WE WILL BE JOINED BY DAVID SACHS ON A BRAND-NEW AI COMMUNICATION TOOL AND COMPANY THAT HE'S LEADING. STAY WITH US, WILL BE RIGHT BACK. "BLOOMBERG TECHNOLOGY." CONVERSATION WITH JOHN WALDRON OF GOLDMAN SACHS, 4:30 P.M.
EASTERN, THIS IS BLOOMBERG. ED: A WORK CHAT FOR THE AI ERA. IT IS CALLED GLUE, A NEW AI NATIVE COMMUNICATION PLATFORM GOING PUBLIC AND COMING OUT OF STEALTH TODAY AFTER SIX MONTHS OF PRIVATE DATA, TAKING THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS, CHATGPT AND SLACK, BUILT FOR THE WAY THAT PEOPLE COLLABORATE COLLEAGUES AND AI ASSISTANTS. LET'S BRING IN CRAFT
CO-FOUNDER, DAVID SACKS IS HERE WITH US. IF IT'S OK, I WANT TO START WITH THE TECHNOLOGY ITSELF. GLUE IS BUILT FOR CLAW THREE AND CHATGPT4, SO WHAT DID YOU DO IN TERMS OF BUILDING IT? DAVID: WE WANT TO BE AGNOSTIC AND USE THE LATEST VERSION OF CHATGPT THAT THEY LAUNCHED YESTERDAY. IT'S PRETTY AWESOME, THE PERFORMANCE IS TERRIFIC. STEPPING BACK A SECOND, WHAT WE ARE TRYING TO DO WITH GLUE AI IS CREATE THE FIRST NATIVE CHAT APP. WHAT IT DOES IS CREATE ONE
PLACE WHERE YOU CAN HAVE A CHAT WITH AI AND A CHAT HUMANS, YOUR TEAM. WE THINK THAT PEOPLE, EMPLOYEES, WANT TO DO THAT IN ONE PLACE RATHER THAN GOING TO SEPARATE APPS AND THE PROBLEM WITH CHATGPT, AWESOME AS IT IS, IT IS NOT A MULTIPLAYER EXPERIENCE, THERE'S NO WAY TO BRING YOUR COWORKERS INTO THE CHAT WITH YOU. THE PROBLEM WITH SLACK IS THAT THE CHANNELS GET IN THE WAY AND WE HEAR FROM LOTS OF TEAMS THAT THEY HAVE CHANNEL FATIGUE AND THEY REALLY WANT THIS NEW THREADED CONVERSATION WITHOUT ALL OF THE CHANNELS. SO, THAT IS WHAT WE HAVE DONE WITH GLUE. ED: WE HAVE KNOWN YOU AS A VENTURE CAPITALIST. WHAT WAS THE NEED OR THE GAP IN THE MARKETPLACE
THAT IDENTIFIED THAT MADE YOU WANT TO START AND BUILD A COMPANY YOURSELF, RATHER THAN BACK OR INVEST IN ANOTHER PLAYER? DAVID: BEFORE BECOMING AN INVESTOR, BEFORE BECOMING A PODCASTER, I WAS AN INTERNET PRODUCT GUY AT PAYPAL. I CREATED A PRODUCT CALLED YAMMER IN 2008, 1 OF THE FIRST ENTERPRISE MESSAGING AT FORBES. BACK THEN IT WAS BASED ON THE IDEA OF FEEDS, WHICH ANGST TO SOCIAL NETWORKING BREAK CONVERSATION PARADIGM. IN THE NEXT DECADE WE HAD SLACK.
NOW WE HAVE A NEW CONVERSATION PARADIGM BASED ON AI AND CHATGPT. EVERY DECADE, YOU GET A NEW PARADIGM LIKE THIS AND YOU NEED A NEW COMMUNICATION TOOL. THAT IS WHAT WE HAVE BUILT. I JUST DIDN'T SEE THE TOOL ON THE MARKETPLACE REACTING FAST ENOUGH TO THE DISRUPTION. SO, I PARTNERED WITH EMMETT OWEN, MY CO-FOUNDER AND SEE THE OH IN ORDER TO CREATE GLUE. CAROLINE: I KNOW THAT YOU LIKE TO START WITH A DEMOKAN MUSCLE LET'S THEM OUT A LITTLE BIT, HOW DOES IT LOOK, FEEL, AND INTERACT? AS THE FOUNDER AND PUTTING THE MONEY INTO IT, ARE YOU NOT WORRIED ABOUT THE COMPETITION OUT THERE? EVERYONE IS GETTING INTO ENTERPRISE GENERATIVE AI.
DAVID: FOR SURE. RIGHT NOW EVERY ENTERPRISE APP TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO INCORPORATE AI INTO THEIR PRODUCT ROADMAP, NO QUESTION, BUT THERE'S A PRETTY BIG DEBATE STILL ABOUT WHERE IT'S GOING TO LIVE IN THE ENTERPRISE, WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO GO TO ASK BROAD-BASED QUESTIONS ABOUT, FOR EXAMPLE, WHO IN YOUR ENTERPRISE HAS THE RIGHT EXPERTISE AND WHO SHOULD WE BE TALKING TO? THE CORE USE CASES. OUR VIEW ON IT IS THAT AI SHOULD LIVE IN THE CHAT. AGAIN, YOU DON'T WANT ONE APPLICATION FOR AI CHAT AND ONE FOR HUMAN CHAT. IT ALL BELONGS TOGETHER.
WHAT WE FOUND IS THAT WHEN YOU INCORPORATE AI AS A FULL-FLEDGED PARTICIPANT IN THE CHAT, IT CAN USE ALL OF THE LIVE CHAT HISTORY AS CONTEXT. SO, YOUR WORK CHAT APP IS ABLE TO GIVE YOU ANSWERS THAT REGULAR CHATGPT COULD NOT. WE'VE HAD STAGGERING RESULTS USING IT INTERNALLY.
I HAVE ASKED AI TO WRITE INVESTMENT MEMOS, ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST INVESTING. IT'S DONE AN UNBELIEVABLE JOB ASSEMBLING THE ARGUMENTS BASED ON CHAT HISTORY. I ASKED WHO IS CONTRIBUTE IN THE MOST TO DEAL FLOW AT CRAFT.
IT'S AMAZING, THE ANSWERS YOU CAN GET, WHEN YOU GIVE IT ACCESS TO CHAT HISTORY. CAROLINE: AMAZING ANSWERS BUILT BY LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS. I AM INTERESTED IN YOU HAVING SOLD TO MICROSOFT PREVIOUSLY, UNDERSTANDING THE WAY THAT M&A WORKS IN A COMPANY THAT LOOKS FOR EXITS, NOW THESE INTERESTING PARTNERSHIPS ARE BEING DONE. WHETHER IT IS OPENAI OR MICROSOFT, DROPPING AMAZON AND GOOGLE AT THE SAME TIME, HOW DO YOU JUDGE THAT AS A VC? DAVID: THERE'S INNOVATION HAPPENING AT EVERY LEVEL OF THE STACK. YOU ARE SEEING TREMENDOUS INNOVATION OF THE FOUNDATION MODEL WHERE YOU HAVE GOT OPENAI, LIKE YOU MENTIONED, EXTANT AI LAUNCHING THAT WE JUST INVESTED IN. THEN YOU'VE GOT INNOVATION
HAPPENING AT THE APPLICATION LAYER, WHERE THEY ARE ABLE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ALL THE NEW CAPABILITIES. IF YOU ARE POSITIONED CORRECTLY IN THE APPLICATION LAYER, YOU DON'T WANT TO COMPETE AGAINST THE MODELS. YOU WANT TO HARNESS THEM SO THAT AS THEY GET BETTER AND BETTER, YOUR APPLICATION GETS BETTER AND BETTER.
THAT IS WHAT WE HAVE SEEN GLUE. WITH EACH NEW RELEASE AND MODELS THAT WE HAVE INCORPORATED, THE CHAT TOOL GETS BETTER AND BETTER . SO, WE WILL RIDE THE WAVE AS THE UNDERLYING MODEL CONTINUES AND GETS BETTER AND BETTER, FEATURING APPLICATIONS THAT WILL GET BETTER AND BETTER. THAT'S HOW YOU WANT TO POSITION YOURSELF. ED:
YOU HAD SAM ON LAST WEEKEND ON SOCIAL MEDIA THERE WAS A DEBATE PARTICIPATED IN ABOUT WHETHER HE SAID ANYTHING NEW THAT GOES WITH YESTERDAY'S PRESENTATION ABOUT OPENAI AND HOW MUCH SURPRISE TO BASED ON THE CONVERSATION THAT YOU HAD LAST WEEK. DAVID: IN RETROSPECT, HE GAVE US A BUNCH OF HINTS LAST WEEK. I WAS BEING UNCHARITABLE, BUT I WAS NOT RESIZING SAM, I WAS JUST TRYING TO RATIO JASON. SAM GAVE ME A BUNCH OF HINTS LAST WEEK THAT NOW MAKE A LOT MORE SENSE IN THE LIGHT OF CHATGPTO YESTERDAY, AND IMPRESSIVE DEMOKAN. WE HAVE ALREADY CORPORATIVE TO
GLUE AND I CAN TELL YOU THE PERFORMANCE VENUES ARE BETTER THAN FOR TURBO. KUDOS TO THE OPENAI TEAM. ED: THINKING ABOUT THE PORTFOLIO OF CRAFT, DID YOU TRY TO GET INTO THE XAI ROUND? DAVID: WE DID PARTICIPATE IN THAT. CAROLINE: WILL YOU INTEGRATE XA I INTO GLUE AND HOW WILL YOU THINK ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT THERE WILL BE A COMMODITIZED VERSION OF LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS. DAVID: I EXPECT WE WILL INTEGRATE ALL OF THEM. OUR VIEW IS THAT WE ARE LLM
AGNOSTIC. WE WANT TO GIVE THEM A CHANCE -- CHOICE OF WHAT TO USE AND HELP THEM MAKE THE CHOICE IN TERMS OF THE MODEL TO USE BASED ON THE QUERY THEY ARE TRYING TO ASK. SO, WE ACTUALLY THINK THAT THE MORE MODELS, THE BETTEL ARE -- THE BETTER. CAROLINE:
COULD XAI HAVE GOTTEN A BETTER VALUATION? DAVID: I DON'T WANT TO ANNOUNCE AROUND FOR THEM, BUT IF THE QUESTION IS WHETHER WE PARTICIPATED, WE DID. ED: IT'S A PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION YEAR. BACKGROUND IN TECHNOLOGY, TESTING, YOU BEEN VOCAL ON THE POLITICAL FRONT.
WILL YOU BE MORE ACTIVE THIS YEAR IN THIS ELECTION CYCLE? DAVID: WE TALK ABOUT POLITICS IN THE ALL IN POD. FOREIGN-POLICY EVENTS ALL OVER THE WORLD. OBVIOUSLY, THE ELECTION IS UNAVOIDABLE. IT'S NO SECRET THAT I HAVE BEEN A CRITIC OF BIDEN. I MAY GET MORE INVOLVED IN THE SENSE OF MAYBE HOSTING EVENTS, MAYBE CONTRIBUTING. IT'S REALLY, IT'S NOT, IT'S CERTAINLY NOT THE MAIN THING THAT I DO, PUT IT THAT WAY.
THE WAY THAT YOU GET INVOLVED IN THE POLITICAL PROCESS IS YOU HOST EVENTS AND MAYBE YOU GET TO MEET THE CANDIDATES THAT WAY. THAT IS SOMETHING WE HAVE TRIED TO DO, ME AND MY COHOSTS. WE HAVE DONE THAT NOW FOR ROBERT F.
KENNEDY, JR., WE DID THAT WORK VIVEK RAMASWAMY. WE'VE HAD EVENTS FROM THEM. WE HAVE EXTENDED AN OFFER TO THE OTHER MANAGER -- MAJOR CANDIDATES AND WE HOPE THEY ACCEPT. CAROLINE: WELL, NOT THE ONLY THING THAT YOU DO. ON TOP OF A POD, AND TESTING, FOUNDING OTHER BUSINESSES AS WELL.
MEANWHILE, COMING UP, IT IS 2021 ALL OVER AGAIN, DISCUSSING THE RETURN OF MEME STOCKS. CAROLINE: LET'S GET TO THE RETURN OF THE MEME STOCKS. GAMESTOP, AMC, SURGING. RETAIL FRENZY? IS IT? WHATEVER'S HAPPENING, ROARING KITTY SEEMS TO HAVE REVIVED THE ANIMAL SPIRITS.
WE HAVE MORE, 96% HIGHER ON THE DAY. NOT GOING TO ASK YOU ABOUT THE BUSINESS MODEL OF SELLING REAL GAMES AND STORES, BUT WHO IS DRIVING THIS HIGHER? >> SEEMS LIKE FINGERPRINTS OF WALL STREET. LOOKING AT THE FLOW DATA ACROSS INTERACTIVE BROKERS IN THE WAYS WE TRACK THE REAL-TIME PURCHASES , DOESN'T SEEM LIKE THEY ARE BUYING GAMESTOP. SEEMS LIKE ON THE NET SALES
ACROSS THE FLAT ARM, FOR GAMESTOP TO OUTPACE THOSE TO BUY, GAMESTOP SEEMS TO BE A LITTLE BIT LESS THAN AMC RELATED TO THE CELL ORDERS BUT IT'S MAKING UP THE TRENDS WE'VE BEEN SEEING AND GAMESTOP HAS ACE -- IS ON TRACK TO GETTING BACK TO THOSE ALL-TIME HIGHS. ED: DO WE HAVE ANY MORE CLARITY ON THE SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS FROM ROARING KITTY? >> NO, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE LOGIC IS. I HAVE DM TIM, PLEASE DM ME BACK, ROARING KITTY.
NO ONE KNOWS ANYTHING, THERE'S SO MUCH UNCERTAINTY AROUND WHAT HE'S DOING CAROLINE: I MEAN, HE'S GOING BONKERS, LIFTING A POST FROM BACK IN FEBRUARY, NOW IT IS JUST VIDEO AFTER VIDEO. CHECK IT OUT. THAT DOES IT FOR THIS EDITION OF "BLOOMBERG TECHNOLOGY." BUSY ONE. ED:
CHECK OUT OUR PODCAST, YOU CAN FIND IT ON APPLE, SPOTIFY, IR. WE LOVE THE POD.
2024-05-16 09:25
