In the ever-evolving landscape of technology and business, few conversations ignite as much intrigue as those surrounding high-profile figures like Elon Musk. Recently, Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway took to their podcast, “Pivot,” to dissect a provocative report from the Wall Street Journal alleging that Tesla’s board was in search of a successor for Musk. This claim raises questions about the stability of leadership within one of the world’s most innovative companies. In this blog post, we will dive into the facts behind this assertion, analyze the contexts surrounding it, and explore the implications of such discussions on Tesla’s future. Is the company truly considering a pivot away from its charismatic leader, or is this just another wave of speculation in the tumultuous world of corporate narratives? Join us as we separate fact from fiction.
Find a fact check of this transcript on CheckForFacts
Transcript:
[00:00:00,000]: Like it’s it’s sad [00:00:01,700]: He’s 53 years old and we talk about him as if he’s a teenager [00:00:05,239]: He’s about to start getting aarp male Hi everyone this is pivot from new york magazine in the vox media podcast network I’m kara swisher and i’m scott calloway [00:00:20,840]: I flew all night and boy are my arms tired [00:00:23,200]: I did it Where did you come in from dc to san francisco [00:00:26,799]: Do you see this [00:00:28,700]: Oh you’re in your favorite place [00:00:30,000]: Yes indeed I’m and you’re you’re collecting a bunch of awards and you’re also look what i’m wearing [00:00:35,459]: I know you’re wearing the thing It’s very attractive bill maher shirt because I know you’re going on bill maher I’m that’s hugely jelly and i’m also wearing My beverly hills hotel hat and I need you To go down to the pool go to the polo lounge have a few makers and gingers say hello to jorge their concierge there And any any russian woman that gives you eye contact return her eye contact um You go down to the counter for breakfast go to the pool Put on a big pair of black sunglasses and any modestly attractive woman that walks by and put an unlit cigarette in your mouth and go Jackie marry me [00:01:12,040]: I make you very happy woman [00:01:13,480]: I’m doing none of this [00:01:15,120]: I am so good there out I am in and out [00:01:18,860]: I come back to san francisco because I have to get a second award on And also do a charity a charity lunch thing [00:01:26,419]: I am so by the way Cheech and chong and kara swisher [00:01:30,720]: That was not the crossover [00:01:31,919]: I was expecting [00:01:33,000]: Yes [00:01:33,199]: Oh they’re the main guest Yeah and then kevin mccarthy and I are on the kevin mccarthy Oh at least one of you has a dick and it’s not the former speaker [00:01:40,139]: What what I don’t even know [00:01:42,019]: I don’t get it It’s fine [00:01:43,940]: Whatever i’m saying that you bring more masculine energy exactly mccarthy and that he that’s what blacks a bad backbone and testicles which produce uh Or testicles that produce testosterone which make you more risk aggressive and have certain leadership skills which he brought none of yeah I know [00:02:00,319]: I don’t know why I don’t know what and it really paid off for the guy Kissing really paid off if he does an ass kiss the way the trump cabinet did yesterday to him the suck uppery It was like you know ann coulter [00:02:12,919]: It was like it was like kim jong il She’s getting paid [00:02:16,039]: He’s not they all find their backbone when they’re out of his orbit which does us no fucking good You watch tomorrow [00:02:21,479]: He’ll be or friday [00:02:22,979]: He’ll be really reasonable and Because they all find sanity and all realize I want to go on [00:02:28,899]: I want to be a guest on msnbc I want a corporate board to hire me and realize i’m not as fucking crazy when it matt Than when it actually mattered when i’m supposed to be saying these people sound like they believe it They do They were such suck ups and then crazy rfk jr [00:02:43,820]: You you noted that the whole thing about child The guy who said that when he was a child He there were no kids with diabetes [00:02:52,679]: My favorite one was that the spanish flu Was a vaccine induced pandemic [00:02:57,800]: I mean and then the whole child trafficking thing [00:03:00,259]: What was he talking [00:03:01,539]: What on earth what on earth they must sit there and be like that [00:03:05,679]: That’s like one of the it’s so weird [00:03:07,000]: It is like jim kim [00:03:08,479]: It’s like north korea [00:03:09,399]: It was crazy I wonder yourself with the dolls [00:03:13,179]: Nobody can have any dolls [00:03:14,500]: You can you can’t do it [00:03:15,820]: Yeah but let me ask you this Do you think there’s any [00:03:19,660]: veracity to the notion that trump says All right I want people to look away from the fact that i’m crashing the economy and deporting four year olds with stage four cancer So just be as fucking crazy as you want if if people want to have their hair on fire about the stupid shit You say have at it anything that distracts them from the fact That I am I am crashing the global economy [00:03:38,520]: The u s is literally going to be like in a state sale Where there’s no will and people just show up and fight over like mom’s you know mom’s sub zero refrigerator Every country in the world is now saying [00:03:50,199]: Oh we want that part of your trade [00:03:52,399]: Yeah [00:03:52,699]: Oh we want your phd students It was it was something it was something and we’ll talk about it more But seriously it was so like i’ve never seen I mean you’re supposed to be sort of peppy at those cabinet meetings But not like that It was like you and the thing is donald trump was the craziest of them And I was like this is like they were competing for crazy [00:04:11,820]: And once again he wins He wins the prize in this case like When he’s always saying he wins at the golf club this time he won on that particular praising himself He kept adding to their praise [00:04:23,220]: Oh don’t forget the firemen [00:04:24,720]: Don’t forget that [00:04:25,820]: I don’t know [00:04:26,320]: I’m excited to see you with speaker McCarthy he reminds me of my dog and that is when I ask him to speak he will but it doesn’t mean fucking anything If he depends it and that was a joke [00:04:35,540]: You didn’t even give me a laugh on that [00:04:36,920]: No I didn’t [00:04:37,559]: Sorry go say it again Go ahead speaker [00:04:40,399]: McCarthy is similar to my dog and that is when I ask him to speak he will but it doesn’t mean anything I think that’s really good [00:04:47,839]: I think that’s really good [00:04:49,100]: I expected a laugh from you [00:04:50,380]: I need your affirmation carol swisher I’m sorry here in california [00:04:54,660]: I want to go to that Belmar after party with cheech and shong [00:04:59,040]: What is the likelihood someone’s going to spark up [00:05:01,119]: I’m going to get a whole bag of weed [00:05:02,519]: That’s what i’m going to do [00:05:03,519]: Listen they invite you speaking of weed They invite you to club rain random [00:05:06,880]: They want you in that little you should go for your book tour That intimidates me [00:05:11,459]: No it’s like up the hills at his beautiful house No no but they get high bill bill gets smarter when he gets high if I got high he’d want to talk about transhumanism I’d be like dude you got any frozen snicker bars [00:05:22,140]: I just don’t I get dumber [00:05:23,920]: No no it’s comfortable You’d like it [00:05:26,100]: You could have drinking [00:05:26,760]: You don’t have to get high [00:05:27,799]: You don’t have to get I didn’t get he intimidates me I don’t I I don’t really know the guy [00:05:31,760]: He doesn’t hang out [00:05:33,019]: He hangs out with everyone after the show with me Yeah and I don’t really know him [00:05:36,660]: He kind of intimidates me Yeah oh my god it’s kind of five times everything happened to you in high school and it continues to this day Oh you think I think what you think you think amy atkins not Not letting me french kiss her and then going to the prom with some other guy that was three years older You think I still remember that you think that still makes me insecure [00:05:58,279]: Yeah you think the four women I asked to prom who said no you know you think that doesn’t have resonance I’m not gonna I told you I went to four proms each year but i’m not gonna go here [00:06:08,299]: We fucking go here We go in between in between collecting awards and having sex with straight men [00:06:14,040]: I’m not even gay straight but go ahead [00:06:17,019]: Sorry I’m just saying i’m way too straight [00:06:19,920]: Anyway how awesome a gay man would I make [00:06:22,679]: Oh my god It’s like my ex used to say gay by day straight by night Okay Okay [00:06:29,040]: Anyway we’ve got a lot to get to today a little slow because it’s early year in california Beautiful sunrise happening right now [00:06:35,640]: Um lots going on microsoft and the meta’s latest earnings [00:06:39,459]: Wow Those were pretty impressive and donald trump getting pissed with amazon and then kissing out because when they kissed his ass it was fine But first tesla’s board was reportedly looking for a successor to elon musk last month According to wall street journal journal says the board got frustrated With falling sales and musk’s dc focus you think and told elon he needed to publicly announce He would spend uh more time on tesla tesla’s board chair robin denholm denies the reports and she has almost no credibility She just backs up her back her trunk her trunk and they fill it with money posting on x that they are absolutely false not just false but Absolutely false [00:07:15,619]: Meanwhile musk said goodbye to the president trump’s cabinet on wednesday claiming doge has so far saved 160 billion dollars It’s pathetic actually and most people think that number is not even accurate He did so wearing not one but two trump hats it was so So so painful [00:07:32,459]: Let’s listen to the goodbye [00:07:33,859]: You know they say I wear a lot of hats and as you can see It’s true Even my hat has a hat Um so um You know the american people voted for secure borders safe cities and sensible spending And that’s what they’ve gotten a tremendous amount has been accomplished in the first 100 days as everyone has said It’s more than has been accomplished in any administration before uh ever period more lies more lies Well I do agree that I do agree that more has been accomplished [00:08:12,140]: It’s just how you would define accomplished [00:08:14,279]: I think in 100 days the entire World economy is being reshaped [00:08:19,959]: Uh around I mean the kind of post world war two order has absolutely been Is being reshaped and you’re gonna see I mean first off prime minister carney was elected because of trump And you’re about to see the same thing happen in australia because the other party has become associated with You know the other party went on kind of this dei they were trying to take a page out of trump’s notebook And they realized oh this isn’t working out [00:08:45,260]: Well right Yeah even though you know they would do well there [00:08:49,219]: They were murdoch there and stuff like that [00:08:51,260]: So so the tesla The hat thing I just it’s so painful [00:08:55,359]: He’s worn several remember we wore the big hat and then he had that coffee Like it’s it’s sad [00:09:00,619]: He’s 53 years old [00:09:02,039]: It’s so sad [00:09:02,700]: I mean we talk about him as if he’s a teenager He’s about to start getting aarp mail honestly Tell me about the lead the tesla board thing now They’re denying it but it makes they have got to be open to lawsuits and everything else Even if elon runs the place but the numbers don’t lie [00:09:20,400]: I mean and gravity is a thing like What do you I don’t I believe they were looking for a ceos or I believe they told him He needed to publicly say he’s going to spend more time at tesla Yeah I don’t so I don’t know obviously we don’t know if this is true or not And if it is true it reflects a couple things one [00:09:36,900]: There’s someone leaking it Two it probably means the stock is and this isn’t financial advice is a really great short right now because it means that They they’re going to cut this guy a lot of slack because he’s built an incredible company and they’ve all made a shit ton of money because of elon musk And so there’s got to be a ton of goodwill just based on what they’ve put up with so far They have put up with more aberrant Unacceptable behavior from a ceo than any board in history and so So for them to cross the line means that there’s absolutely nothing in the product Pipeline that is gonna that is going to stop this company from crashing that it’s about it’s gonna it’s gonna go Sometimes it’s darkest before it’s pitch black It feels like if they are in fact looking for taking the bold step of looking for a ceo it means that they look at this company like wow there is we are we are in really um big trouble and I mean it just The but the thing I didn’t agree with is that people said who would take that job [00:10:41,559]: A lot of people would take that job [00:10:43,080]: Okay before I get to that tell me you’ve been on boards I have not give me the strategy of leaking something like this I think it the journal has been right about the drug use it was right about they did a lot of board stuff So they know that board that has been very accurate has turned out to be accurate They even did a story about him sleeping with sergey brin’s [00:11:01,940]: Uh uh wife at the time Accurate the vice presidential candidate [00:11:07,020]: Yeah right her [00:11:09,099]: Um anyway I just feel like they wouldn’t write this if they didn’t have it [00:11:12,099]: I I have a lot of regard for the journal and so Someone on that board was telling them or more than one person or there was some messaging happening here to elon himself So what if you’re on a board [00:11:23,760]: What how does this look [00:11:26,520]: Leaks usually are Okay Our stock’s getting so so so on a meta level It is amazing how much boards will put up with when the stock is going up And it’s amazing how much [00:11:38,840]: Unfair blame they’ll put on the ceo when the stock is going down There’s notion that boards this bullshit virtue signaling narrative that they adopted and the odds that it’s about stakeholder value It’s not it’s about shareholder value if the shares are going up in price You know he can be banging his assistant and her dog and we’ll find reasons to to you know say you You’re going to rehab but it’s better now and you know We’ll figure out a reason to bring you back or maintain [00:12:07,619]: You’re the ceo and call you chairman when the stock’s going down Uh you’re in trouble [00:12:12,700]: You’re on the green mile all the time At least for two or three years the new ceo gets two to three years and a lot of ceos that are there for a long time will populate the board with their golf buddies and the the board becomes Ineffective in terms of actual leaks sometimes [00:12:29,099]: It’s a board level thing where they say [00:12:31,359]: All right There’s a narrative out there that we’re an irresponsible board And that we need to find a new ceo and so so let’s leak it that we’re looking for a new ceo I don’t think he would have wanted this message to be leaked because it makes him look bad When you have i’ve been on boards where there’s leaks where there’s a proxy fight and the board is at each other’s throat And then one or more people start leaking shit That’s when boards start to really digress and dissolve into chaos because nobody trusts each other Everyone’s like okay who the fuck here is leaking And most of the boards I have been on generally speaking [00:13:03,059]: They don’t leak they don’t They just don’t um they realize it’s bad for the bad for the governance It creates tremendous distrust within and among board members [00:13:12,359]: They don’t want to work with each other You know there’s two board meetings one of the people on x side one on y side so I don’t I i’m confused a little bit by this because They don’t want to announce this until they have a new ceo [00:13:27,719]: So someone leaking this Let me I don’t think it’s on the board [00:13:30,840]: I don’t think it came from the board but you don’t okay [00:13:32,960]: So um When you who would be the ceo you said that I I mean Who who would do this and and more to the point if he’s running it [00:13:41,140]: What does he do [00:13:42,799]: What’s his what does he do except go on and on and try to do this hypnotic thing [00:13:47,539]: By the way henry blodgett wrote a piece about my idea and likes it the idea of merging tesla with xai fyi [00:13:54,200]: Yep I said I rendered you speechless which I did I did which isn’t easy to do so who would be the ceo or what should elon do as ceo whatever [00:14:04,559]: um I’m sorry repeat the question kara who should be the ceo should they replace him and if they don’t and he is the ceo in this He stays what should he do because he seems entirely uninterested in the business or pretending [00:14:18,440]: It’s another business We’re going to have millions of optimist primes [00:14:21,359]: This is this is a data company or we’re going to have robo taxis None of which exist no products exist [00:14:28,659]: It feels like a cyber truck part two essentially which was a huge dud by the way Yeah look I don’t the Who should run it um so first off if He shouldn’t have been ceo two or three years ago when he started committing securities fraud And started getting really awful accusations and decided that he wanted to be ceo of three or four companies who shouldn’t have been ceo They should have said all right in case you’re interested if you if you want to do this You can be chairman and have huge input but we need to bring in a full time person who’s ceo and has The license to make decisions and has accountability for these decisions In terms of who should be ceo [00:15:04,479]: I think it needs to be someone from the automobile sector And there’s a lot of great there are a lot of great leaders in the automobile sector Um I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up being someone um from outside of the u s [00:15:16,840]: I think that person In their contract says I have total support of the board And if something goes wrong and you fire me because i’m not getting along with elon i’m getting the most ridiculous fucking severance package because This guy’s going to need or gal is going to need the mother of all Kind of parachutes they could go more design or more cool product or something around manufacturing pick someone from the cloud or something but I think the automobile sector is so much about I think it’s such a unique industry and so complicated and so much about supply chain That I think they would want someone from the automobile sector [00:15:48,159]: This is a long way of saying I don’t know What if he stays what should he do [00:15:51,219]: Because he’s keeps he’s the only one who can do his flim flamory around the robots and the he should do what you’re suggesting He should do a sleight of hand and merge it With xai and pretend that it’s not an automobile company to get people to look away from the fact that his doesn’t have automobile Cell his pipeline is weak and his sales are crashing [00:16:08,820]: Yeah [00:16:09,299]: Yeah [00:16:09,739]: Okay [00:16:09,979]: We’ll see [00:16:10,799]: We’ll see what happens I’m sure he looks like unhappy to be back working on that [00:16:14,039]: He seems entirely unexcited by it Which is is hard to do [00:16:17,280]: I understand that feeling if you don’t want to keep doing the same thing but um Tell me about it but he made a disaster doge So he’s going to make another disaster here because he’s uninterested um President trump sat down speaking of flim flamory president trump sat down for a contentious interview marking 100 days In office with abc news terry moran uh who’s not who he’s never heard of apparently It was so ridiculous some highlights [00:16:41,739]: I gave you this chance terry and you fucked me Um in regards to pete hegseth the president remained optimistic But when asked he wouldn’t say he had a hundred percent confidence in him calling it a stupid question Which is his go to trump dismissed backlash to terrorists saying they were just what people voted for and everyone’s going to be Just fine when discussing the case of kilmar obrego garcia This was a whopper when the administration who the administration sent to el salvador in in error trump referred to a photoshopped image of ms 13 on garcia’s Knuckles let’s listen And you’ll pick out one man but even the man that you picked out He said he wasn’t a member of a gang and then they looked and on his knuckles he had ms There’s a dispute [00:17:24,000]: Wait a minute [00:17:24,400]: Wait a minute He had ms 13 on his knuckles tattoo [00:17:28,020]: He had some tattoos that are interpreted that way but let’s move on [00:17:31,000]: Wait a minute I want territory [00:17:32,819]: Yeah he did not have the letter ms [00:17:35,180]: One [00:17:35,640]: It says ms [00:17:36,479]: One three [00:17:37,099]: That was photoshopped Uh so let me that was photoshopped [00:17:40,199]: Terry you can’t do that Hey they’re giving you the big break of a lifetime you know you’re doing the interview I picked you because frankly I never heard of you but that’s okay [00:17:48,119]: Oh my god [00:17:48,640]: He’s such a nigger It’s so amazing like nag nag nag but let me say it was photoshopped He didn’t he doesn’t know that that was trying to say the tattoos on there represented ms 13 and someone put those to give reference and he he’s insisting that ms 13 was actually on there it it was Total addlement like I or just just lying almost continually everything he does he breathes he lies um Any thoughts on that interview the thing that struck out for me was first off terry moran is a world class journalist He’s been covering the supreme court and I believe the white house for a while [00:18:26,619]: He’s in this I thought he put on a master class and I think the big winner here was terry because This is an impossible position [00:18:34,819]: You you have to maintain some decorum and dignity and respect for the office And so when the president says no you got to trust me on this [00:18:41,959]: It’s this it’s hard [00:18:42,819]: It’s really hard to push back and he was forceful yet dignified and Attempted to show grace and not just say okay [00:18:51,319]: Mr President [00:18:52,180]: Stop fucking lying [00:18:53,619]: Stop lying please That’s what I would have done [00:18:55,719]: I would have had the picture [00:18:57,079]: I would have but that’s why you’ll never interview the president so These people have to these people have to walk a very fine line And that is they get criticized if they don’t push back on obvious lies At the same time they have to maintain a certain They have to maintain a certain decorum that respects the office terry thread that needle perfectly It reminded me of that interview on cnbc with diedre Bolson and keith robois where basically keith committed securities fraud over and over and over About open door claiming it was profitable and she real time fact checked him in a very kind of dignified non combative way By the way I think there’s stock that stocks off like 70 or 90 percent since he went on it journalists who Want to give people the benefit of the doubt want to show some decorum and you have to show the president a certain amount of grace otherwise You’re here i’m going to push back on because i’m an interviewer So I I feel like in that case the constant line [00:19:51,339]: This is biden’s you know gdp drop [00:19:53,880]: This is this It’s just you it’s it is it you cannot let him continue to make things up It’s it’s literally although what I got the the vibe was as an old person I it literally brought me to an argument I had with my mom like no it’s this no it’s absolutely this and I was like It’s not it’s not that Yeah but he got Don’t you think terry made it clear to anyone with an iq over [00:20:17,219]: I don’t know 40 Did he’s he is lying or uninformed and he did it while maintaining some he did he did I was going back and forth on it I think he should have pulled the picture out and said mr President these numbers were put on by photoshop to indicate And been polite that way if this was not actually on his fingers [00:20:35,260]: Here’s the picture of his actual fingers Can we move on did you [00:20:40,400]: It’s so interesting [00:20:41,339]: It’s interesting what the media focuses on the media is focusing on that I thought by far the most interesting and damning part of the interview Was when he asked him what the declaration of independence And of course you have the Declaration of independence [00:20:55,619]: What does it mean to you [00:20:57,439]: Well it means exactly what it says it’s a declaration that’s a declaration of unity and love and Respect and it means a lot and it’s something very special to To our country [00:21:10,319]: It was hilarious and the look that terry moran gave was the same look and desi lydic said this When a school teacher decides a kid needs to see an adolescent psychotherapist It was the look he was like he’s like oh my god we’re in worse trouble than I thought Yeah he definitely this person needs help you know Break glass [00:21:30,319]: This is an emergency [00:21:31,839]: Yeah [00:21:32,439]: Yeah because he said the declaration of independence was about unity Desi lydic like that is the only thing it wasn’t about what’s interesting though Is that I just to call some of balls and strikes here the people around biden clearly knew [00:21:45,040]: Yeah he was Cognitively impaired and they hit him from the media sure did I think the people around trump would probably or anyone smart would like to say let’s Let’s pull back on the media appearances but there’s no way he thinks he’s doing great [00:21:58,619]: He thinks he’s doing he thinks he’s doing great He does you know with biden with biden [00:22:03,280]: They said no don’t go on john stewart We’re just going to reheat your soup and nana’s coming home and he listened and He was I told you the well behaved guy in the old folks home and trump’s the one that’s like where’s the soup [00:22:18,020]: I ordered soup [00:22:20,000]: Oh he’s the guy leading water aerobics [00:22:21,839]: Yeah [00:22:22,160]: Well joe’s leading water aerobics today And regarding the stories of korea Yeah and how he fought a tyrannosaurus rex [00:22:30,800]: He’s doing he does think he’s doing great [00:22:32,920]: It’s really something No he thinks he’s killing it [00:22:35,800]: He thinks he’s killing it [00:22:36,979]: He feels really old everybody [00:22:38,239]: He’s Having an old boy [00:22:39,880]: I think he feels crazy [00:22:41,000]: I don’t see the physical impairment [00:22:42,780]: No but it’s like well You don’t have an elderly parent you’re dealing with who’s absolutely certain they didn’t block amanda on the phone I did not like she she blocks my son [00:22:53,780]: She she pushes somebody It’s the longest running argument we ever have i’m like you did it [00:22:59,079]: No I did not the phone did it [00:23:00,819]: That’s what it feels like anyway Um like i’m not going to go into it but that was a long argument Um and I I don’t know why I have to be right [00:23:07,500]: I should be like terry moore and like okay Let’s move on [00:23:10,040]: No but seriously terry moran did it [00:23:11,959]: Just to again shout out terry moran was fantastic [00:23:15,140]: He handled a very difficult situation very well I thought anyway Lastly a federal judge dismantling apple’s control of the app store ruling said the apple violated orders in a five year antitrust case bought by epic games In a previous ruling the judge ordered apple to allow apps to use external payments to avoid 30 Commission charges the judge accused executives of lying saying apple created a new system forcing external sales to be charged 27 commission now the judge says apple may no longer take commissions from sales outside the app store Let me just say I do not understand this because apple won almost everything except this one thing And they did not follow it along now The app store is a large part of apple’s hundred billion dollar annual services revenue I don’t imagine it’s an enormous flow because it’s difficult to do those outside external sales But seemed like a real error on apple’s part here to do something Like petulant like this given how much they won Like the the biggest toll boosts in the world are google and arguably apple’s app store and to think Your buddy um barry diller summarized it perfectly [00:24:19,880]: This is like a credit card company [00:24:21,140]: The app store provides infrastructure payment technology security safety a certain level of Assurance that if if something goes wrong they vet the stores [00:24:31,819]: They vet the consumers um credit card companies charge between 1 8 and 3 apple charges 30 or 15 I think if it’s a recurring revenue but They have such a lock Even though they have I think of about what a 40 or 50 percent market share in the u s [00:24:47,619]: I think they have closer to 80 or 90 percent of actual revenue volume because anyone with any money has an ios or people with most money have an ios So i’ve been saying this for a while the best ways to oxygenate the economy Would be to one for china in the u s to kiss and make up because everything would get 10 cheaper around the world But two to basically bust up these toll booths and have other toll roads or other players I mean I don’t know if you saw in the in the wake Of just monster earnings from meta and alphabet [00:25:18,079]: We’ll talk about that in a minute [00:25:19,180]: But go ahead pinterest and snap are just Dying a slow death I mean no one can compete with their scale so In the app store is just another example I mean you could easily break a great company in terms of a breakup would be apple services Which would probably be why would they do this given they really did sort of [00:25:38,800]: Win in this case except for this one [00:25:40,739]: I don’t I don’t understand [00:25:41,699]: What what do you think [00:25:42,560]: I think I have no idea [00:25:44,060]: It seems like a well they just don’t want to do it I just don’t want to do it like they’re going to just challenge it And now of course the judge is saying well they’ll appeal it that these people know how to appeal I guess I assume that’s what they’re going to do Anyway it seems to be a real tip unusual error on their part to do some being petulant I mean I can see petulance from mark zuckerberg or or bezos or any of them but not tim cook But here we are another a real winner though and a player in this is is uh and I have an investment is epic I don’t know if uh they’re moving minecraft It’s one of the movies killing it [00:26:16,920]: Fyi That’s one of the highest gross It’s one of the highest grossing movies in history [00:26:21,479]: Yeah and who would have thought the minecraft movie [00:26:25,319]: I would so my kids were obsessed with it [00:26:27,880]: I could see that [00:26:28,800]: Yeah it’s just and and they went up against apple and sort of I don’t know if I don’t know if you’d say that one but they didn’t back down and it doesn’t appear They didn’t really win [00:26:38,479]: It was it was more in apple’s favor But in this case now they’re able to do what they want [00:26:42,540]: We’ll see how much that sticks I mean I think apple’s playing the very long game with trump and everything else in the quiet long game Okay scott [00:26:48,739]: Let’s go on a quick break go and get back microsoft and med earnings Which we will discuss because they were pretty fantastic and why trump is getting compared to the grinch who stole christmas [00:26:59,160]: Scott we’re back met microsoft and meta shares are up both Uh after companies reported quarterly earnings that beat wall street expectations on wednesday and and how [00:27:07,599]: Microsoft sales surpassed 70 billion dollars up 13 percent from a year ago The company’s azure cloud unit posted a 33 percent revenue gain Meta sales grew by 16 percent year over year to 42 billion dollars net income was 16 billion The company isn’t slowing down on capex spending either boosting its forecast as high as 72 billion This is mostly around ai of course the weak spot continues to be that first shift that mark made Meta reported 4 2 billion dollars in losses from its reality labs division [00:27:35,579]: That’s why they call themselves meta It also announced the launch of meta ai this week It’s a standalone ai app sort of to compete with chat gpg makes sense So far the company’s avoided getting dragged down by tariff chaos which is interesting We’ll see if it goes on mark Secretary addressed the concerns about tariff impact his earnings call saying I think we’re well positioned to weather the economic uncertainty I think advertising is an open question just for people to know amazon and apple earnings coming After we record so we’ll dig into those next week but talk a little bit about these earnings each company [00:28:06,699]: Let’s start with microsoft Staggering you know revenues on a big base up 13 their cloud revenue is up 20 [00:28:15,731]: 33 [00:28:18,191]: I have Microsoft cloud revenue is up 20 and 33 up in Azure anyways up a lot [00:28:25,971]: And what you have here and also Microsoft is probably I don’t want to say it’s a defensive stock but it’s least it’s kind of most recession proof and also it doesn’t seem to be subject to real damage other than a slowdown in the economy from these tariffs [00:28:39,991]: And keep in mind the majority of their biggest customers are global [00:28:42,671]: So even if the US gets hit they’re pretty well insulated [00:28:46,411]: You know Apple is going to take a hit [00:28:48,051]: If the tariffs continue you know continue to escalate Amazon will absolutely take a hit [00:28:56,231]: Microsoft Meta and Alphabet are more insulated because they’re digital marketing but Microsoft has exposure to the cloud [00:29:02,191]: It’s a very diversified robust business [00:29:03,911]: It’s really well managed [00:29:05,491]: I mean it’s just it’s staggering [00:29:07,331]: And then going from better to amazing [00:29:10,351]: Can I just say with with Microsoft um Satya Nadella I think even though he’s the quietest of them [00:29:16,151]: And by the way if you’ve noticed he hasn’t sucked up to Trump he’s doing he’s he’s he’s just doing his job like kind of thing [00:29:23,091]: And of course his job doesn’t have that much the interaction they have has to do around national security and everything else [00:29:28,691]: And they do have let me tell you that’s where their big weaknesses is around security issues around their software et cetera [00:29:35,471]: But um but I have to say he deserves much more credit than almost any CEO in terms of really making this this company shine [00:29:44,211]: I I I I’m always impressed with him and especially how he handles things [00:29:48,451]: Um he manages not to lose his soul every five minutes [00:29:51,731]: Um but go ahead on on my Meta which I think is hugely impressive [00:29:56,331]: Mark Zuckerberg really knows how to run a company [00:29:58,251]: He really does [00:29:59,111]: Well revenue increased 16 and even I think even more impressive their price per ad was up 10 [00:30:06,231]: If you’re looking for how AI is impacting our economy their ability to talk I mean having don’t you increasingly have more of those moments where you’re thinking my shoulders have been bothering me and all of a sudden on reels I’m getting served ads for like for bands to help with my shoulders [00:30:21,211]: I’m like how the fuck did they figure that out [00:30:23,291]: The and the amount of time in terms of serving you up incredible um ads uh their recommendation engine is contributed to a 35 increase in time spent on threads a 7 increase in time spent on Facebook 6 on Instagram [00:30:41,811]: Uh he predicted or Zuck predicted AI would be able to handle half of Meta’s developer work [00:30:47,031]: Um so he’s able to maintain you know other than CapEx around data storage and AI their human capital costs uh have decelerated and aren’t aren’t growing nearly as fast as their top line revenues [00:31:00,311]: Meaning that um meaning that quote unquote um earnings are going to explode [00:31:05,411]: And just to give you a sense I do this deck on AI [00:31:08,931]: I think the AI company at 2025 is Meta because first off if you look at it 80 of people in the world outside of China are on a Meta platform [00:31:21,371]: In addition [00:31:22,531]: But can I just know something [00:31:23,491]: It’s the best data [00:31:24,491]: Like think about Twitter data [00:31:25,831]: It’s not good data [00:31:26,871]: Like you know it’s kind of all noisy but this is all people moving and using and relatively behaving [00:31:33,551]: I mean there’s all kinds of problems on this platform obviously but go ahead [00:31:36,711]: The peanut butter and chocolate or chocolate and peanut butter of AI is loosely speaking the chips of processing power [00:31:42,131]: They’re the second biggest purchaser of chips [00:31:44,051]: They’re in they’re in line with the second biggest purchase order of Nvidia chips [00:31:47,651]: And then the chocolate is the actual data the input the coal in the furnace whatever you want to call it right [00:31:53,251]: Grist to the mill [00:31:54,271]: And just to give you a sense of just how much data is produced on Meta platforms Reddit which is unbelievably accelerated has the fifth most traffic of anyone in the US any site in the US [00:32:07,691]: Reddit is a source of roughly 1 3 trillion tokens of text right [00:32:12,671]: 1 3 trillion tokens of text Meta 180 trillion tokens [00:32:19,631]: So Meta has more coal to throw into the furnace to process and learn from and they’re going to have the second most Nvidia chips [00:32:29,231]: In addition they not only get the benefit of saying all right we’re going to use that to have a consumer facing product instead or in addition to we’re going to use AI to give advertisers such extraordinary targeting at the right time for the right person in the right place that advertisers are going to be helpless not to just reallocate more and more of their budgets to Meta [00:32:53,231]: I mean it’s just the guy [00:32:56,431]: Look we all have our issues with Mark Zuckerberg and he’s deserved but man can he write [00:33:00,771]: He’s like a Gatesian figure [00:33:02,031]: Remember how well Bill Gates ran during those many years [00:33:04,531]: Brilliant businessman [00:33:05,491]: Brilliant business person [00:33:06,611]: He wore those glasses everywhere the Meta glasses which are popular [00:33:09,571]: I don’t think they’re an enormous business for them but he does the walk [00:33:13,391]: I mean he looked [00:33:15,271]: He didn’t look [00:33:15,831]: He wore them everywhere this week which was smart [00:33:18,671]: It was smart that he did it [00:33:19,851]: He didn’t look as dumb as Elon looks in a hat but I would agree [00:33:23,971]: I think it’s really astonishing what’s happening [00:33:27,911]: Like you were noting and I was thinking about it the rest of the week was Google has so many good businesses within this company [00:33:34,951]: So does Facebook right [00:33:36,231]: And I like threads [00:33:37,931]: I do [00:33:39,011]: I do [00:33:39,251]: I like it for [00:33:40,091]: It feels like Instagram a little bit easier like essentially [00:33:44,951]: And I’m on Blue Sky [00:33:45,971]: I like Blue Sky too by the way but there’s so many good products in this term [00:33:51,091]: I think the two dings on them obviously will be their deleterious effect on the entire world [00:33:57,691]: And this trial we’ll see a lot of people [00:34:00,011]: I’ve been talking to a lot of people [00:34:01,651]: Most people and I agree think it’s a relatively weak case that they have competition now and they’re just doing very well with the competition but a lot of other people think they’re going to lose and it’s going to be like Microsoft right [00:34:15,951]: It doesn’t really matter [00:34:16,951]: And they won’t spin stuff off but we’ll see if they have to spin things off like an Instagram or a WhatsApp [00:34:24,091]: It would certainly be interesting if they did as you and I have talked about [00:34:30,031]: Anyway good job Mark Zuckerberg [00:34:31,571]: We have to give it to you [00:34:33,111]: And again we’ll talk about Amazon and Apple earnings [00:34:35,391]: We both think they’re going to get hit today later today [00:34:37,931]: There’s only just one thing in the Microsoft earnings that I thought were interesting in the earnings call and that is their data storage expenditures coming down [00:34:48,271]: And I wonder if some of them are thinking that DeepSeek maybe there’s an opportunity or maybe the data storage and the power consumption won’t be as great as initially forecast [00:35:01,271]: I think a lot of them are looking at the DeepSeek innovation and thinking how does this impact our CapEx moving forward [00:35:08,171]: You’re probably going to see in the back half of the year even more staggering earnings because it feels like they have so much momentum on the top line [00:35:16,211]: And yet on the expense side I think they’re going to maintain I think their CapEx is going to go flat or maybe even down which is just going to be like nitro and glycerin for their earnings [00:35:27,511]: Yeah [00:35:27,771]: We’ll see about that [00:35:28,691]: It’ll be interesting [00:35:30,231]: And it’ll be interesting to compare Amazon and Apple with them [00:35:32,411]: But speaking of economic uncertainty President Trump is blaming former President Biden for the U S economy contracting in the first quarter of 2025 suggesting in this cabinet this ridiculous cabinet meaning that Q2 will also be tied to Biden [00:35:46,651]: He’s going to blame Biden [00:35:47,571]: He mentioned Biden like 912 times or not that many but a lot [00:35:51,531]: He’s taking the same stance on markets writing on True Social on Wednesday this is Biden’s stock market not Trump’s even though he had claimed it was Trump’s stock market back in 2024 [00:36:00,731]: When he wasn’t president the market was doing well [00:36:02,451]: He was calling it Trump’s stock market [00:36:04,611]: He’s also telling Americans to be patient but acknowledge there will be some consequences from his tariffs [00:36:10,831]: Let’s get to the doll situation [00:36:12,871]: You know somebody said oh the shelves are going to be open [00:36:15,471]: Well maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls you know and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more [00:36:22,571]: Oh my God [00:36:23,071]: It’s true [00:36:23,811]: Whoever said that [00:36:24,951]: This idea that I mean look that may be true [00:36:27,951]: I agree [00:36:28,411]: I have too many fucking toys in my house and I wish I had like many less [00:36:33,111]: But it’s none of his business if people want 30 dolls [00:36:35,751]: Americans are used to products on the shelves and open whatever open means empty is the word he’s looking for [00:36:42,591]: Toy manufacturers are already warning about a Christmas toy shortage [00:36:46,491]: Factories in China produce nearly 80 of all toys and 90 of Christmas goods sold in the US [00:36:53,711]: It’s like he’s making a point yes we shouldn’t consume as much [00:36:57,131]: The man who consumes more than anybody who is just like a giant maw of consumption is lecturing people [00:37:03,271]: His whole administration is doing this [00:37:05,991]: They’re very on message [00:37:06,891]: Well you don’t need that stuff [00:37:08,071]: You don’t need it [00:37:09,091]: And that may be [00:37:10,791]: But how do you think it’s going to hit with people especially if there are empty shelves not open shelves but empty shelves [00:37:16,511]: From a guy that golfs every third day and banks porn stars [00:37:19,411]: He’s talking about consumption [00:37:20,631]: And then shows off his gold in that Terry Moran interview by the way [00:37:23,351]: Look Americans we are the most conspicuous consumers in history [00:37:28,611]: America is sort of you’d argue an insurance company with a military [00:37:33,251]: But really what it is it’s a platform for prosperity where people get material and hopefully emotional gains from an incredible operating system [00:37:43,551]: And you could argue that Biden was kicked out of office because the price of eggs went too high [00:37:48,051]: But he doesn’t think people are going to notice [00:37:50,251]: 90 of America is on a fixed budget [00:37:52,631]: And if toys go up in price 30 40 50 that means a third to a half fewer toys [00:37:57,851]: You don’t think that’s going to hit home emotionally when the kids start noticing wait you know that just really hits you hard [00:38:05,591]: It hits on an emotion where when you feel like you’re not providing for your kids on key moments it really rips at your soul [00:38:16,951]: And people are going to get angry [00:38:18,711]: Just the notion that oh Americans that these people that with his tacky retrofitted 757 that somehow Americans you know don’t need all this stuff [00:38:31,351]: Well okay folks Americans love their stuff [00:38:35,971]: America is the land of stuff [00:38:38,411]: We love our shit [00:38:39,191]: There’s nothing wrong with it [00:38:39,971]: Our Nespresso our Netflix we love stuff [00:38:43,671]: And loosely speaking actually if you were to pick one thing that impacts the majority of elections in America for the last 50 years it’s kind of your safety and security around your ability to buy more stuff [00:38:59,231]: It’s the economy [00:39:00,871]: And so that’s just a ridiculous statement [00:39:03,811]: So why did he make it [00:39:04,751]: I mean he just he and then that was echoed by all his people and then blaming Biden obviously he’s going to use Biden as you know for 10 years from now he’s going to say Biden was the reason [00:39:14,671]: What is I mean I don’t think people are thinking of Biden anymore you know or mentioning it although his voters have a very astonishing they are now echoing this [00:39:24,051]: There was a lot of interviews I saw where they’re like yeah we got to buck up [00:39:27,331]: Like we’re in the middle of the war too and the Nazis are headed our way [00:39:30,511]: Like that kind of mood of something like that [00:39:34,171]: Yeah I think most people now see this or I think more and more people see this as a self inflicted injury [00:39:42,451]: And it’s just not I think consumers the idea that you’re not going to just remind consumers every day let me back up [00:39:51,451]: There is some truth to the notion that this GDP this so GDP was off first negative quarter since I think 2022 first in three years we had a contraction [00:40:01,591]: I don’t think it’s fair to lay that at the feet of the Trump administration [00:40:05,211]: GDP is a lagging indicator [00:40:07,191]: The surge in imports because of these ridiculous tariffs took you know took a large portion of the GDP down [00:40:13,571]: Consumption is down too the both things together but go ahead [00:40:17,211]: But next quarter there’s just no excuses he owns it [00:40:20,351]: And you’re going to see a contraction [00:40:22,051]: I don’t like GDP I don’t think it’s a good measure but you’re going to see the economy contract and it’s on its way [00:40:27,391]: I’m doing a lot or a decent amount of I have a lot of friends who are impacted by the tariffs [00:40:32,191]: And essentially like business has come to a standstill and they’re sitting around trying to guess do we try to move [00:40:39,811]: Do we do we go to our bank borrow a shit ton of money cut 20 30 of our workforce and spend the next three years trying to reroute our supply chain through Vietnam or Indonesia [00:40:49,091]: Or do we hope this guy pops up wakes up tomorrow morning and goes just kidding [00:40:53,711]: But in the meantime they’re in a state of paralysis [00:40:56,271]: They have stopped all shipments from most of my friends from China [00:40:59,831]: Shipping volume is off anywhere depending on how you account for it between 35 and 65 [00:41:05,291]: The port of Los Angeles is less crowded than it’s been in recent memory [00:41:09,471]: And it’s the largest port in the Western hemisphere [00:41:12,091]: And there’s a lag effect but when the ships coming into the port are empty or they’re not coming in that means in about four to 12 weeks the stores are going to be empty [00:41:23,671]: And also you’re going to start to see layoffs [00:41:26,351]: Yeah [00:41:26,551]: Because I just interviewed Wes Moore [00:41:28,311]: He’s the governor of Maryland and a very handsome man as you would say [00:41:35,891]: Wes Moore he’s going to be a president in just a minute [00:41:38,591]: And he was talking about the knock on effects in Baltimore in terms of like truckers unloaders people around it restaurants around it [00:41:49,251]: It’s just going to reverberate all over these economies in California and Maryland New Of course these are all blue states but still it will have so much reverberations around the country [00:42:02,331]: And then it just keeps having knock on and knock on effects [00:42:04,971]: Anyway I don’t think he can keep blaming [00:42:07,111]: I agree with you [00:42:07,831]: He can blame them for a short time but this is just nonsense lecturing people on how many dolls they should have [00:42:13,451]: I agree that we shouldn’t have so many choices but that’s my personal opinion [00:42:18,231]: And he’s the president of the United States it’s none of his business to tell people what to buy [00:42:22,571]: Americans love it’s like that Borat film you know 33 different types of cheeses that’s just who we are [00:42:28,731]: Yeah [00:42:29,051]: The weird thing is just going back to the earnings for a moment you’re probably going to see an increased bifurcation between the Magnums and Seven and the rest of the economy because these firms so Amazon is the most subject to this trade war than anyone because two thirds of their business comes within the U S and a lot of their products are subject to tariffs [00:42:50,111]: A company like Meta gets only one third of its business from the U S and the majority of its products are not subject to tariffs [00:42:57,251]: Apple two thirds from outside the U S A company like Microsoft half their business comes from outside the U S So these companies [00:43:03,405]: are I don’t want to say they’re insulated but the big guys and the big tech companies are much more insulated [00:43:10,465]: A most of the vast majority of the products are not subject to tariffs and B the majority of their business comes from outside of the U S So who’s gonna get really hard here are kind of the mainline traditional [00:43:23,365]: The mainline firms yeah absolutely [00:43:25,265]: The main street economy is really gonna get hit hard [00:43:28,885]: You’re absolutely right [00:43:29,905]: All right Scott let’s go on a quick break [00:43:31,585]: Speaking of Amazon when we get back we’ll talk about Jeff Bezos bending the knee once again [00:43:35,945]: It’s not the first time to Trump [00:43:38,705]: Scott we’re back [00:43:39,685]: President Trump is calling Jeff Bezos very nice and a good guy after phoning Bezos to complain about a report that Amazon was gonna show how much of an item’s cost comes from tariffs [00:43:48,425]: The White House initial reaction was Press Secretary Carolyn Leavitt also known as Tracy Flake calling Amazon’s plan a hostile and political act [00:43:57,225]: And while Amazon first said the pricing plan was only being considered for its budget site Amazon Hall and a subsequent statement the company noted the plan was never approved and it was not gonna happen [00:44:07,145]: They kept changing their story [00:44:08,945]: Trump later told reporters that Bezos solved the problem very quickly so it clearly was on deck to happen who knows where and which part of Amazon [00:44:16,085]: Their credibility has declined rather significantly with this incident [00:44:20,105]: Bezos has of course been making nice with Trump for a while now [00:44:22,725]: And back in December at the Times deal summit he said he was optimistic about Trump’s behavior in his second term and completely wrong [00:44:30,025]: Let’s listen [00:44:30,505]: What I’ve seen so far is that he is calmer than he was the first time and more confident more settled [00:44:41,885]: I guess he wants him to go to his fancy wedding in Venice in June I guess [00:44:45,405]: What do you think of this [00:44:47,425]: Obviously he’s gonna do it [00:44:48,425]: You predicted last week the Fortune 500 CEOs and businesses were gonna start standing up to Trump [00:44:52,885]: This is not what happened here [00:44:54,805]: And it looks like Paramount is gonna do the same thing Sherry Redstone to settle a ridiculous baseless lawsuit in order to make nice to get that merger through [00:45:07,485]: Was the initial Amazon plan a good idea [00:45:09,585]: Should companies be transparent about these prices and put them on [00:45:12,505]: Some companies are doing this [00:45:14,225]: And there’s an antitrust trial coming up obviously for Amazon [00:45:19,425]: It didn’t work so well for Mark to kiss up because it’s still going forward [00:45:23,805]: Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to Bezos on Wednesday asking whether he received any promises or favors from Trump in exchange for scrapping Amazon’s plan [00:45:31,705]: Thoughts [00:45:33,165]: Well when the White House press secretary she immediately said this was a hostile and political act and why didn’t they put what the prices were because of the Biden inflation [00:45:45,125]: I mean that’s just such a ridiculous statement [00:45:48,005]: One in terms of Biden and inflation that’s so intellectually dishonest because of all the G7 countries our inflation was the lowest [00:45:54,725]: There was tremendous supply chain shocks from the invasion of Ukraine and COVID [00:46:01,245]: And two these guys all claim they’re such free speech warriors putting what the tariff [00:46:07,585]: Airbnb and Amazon have all come under criticism for not putting on [00:46:14,545]: When I order from Caviar which I love in New York it used to piss me off that I wouldn’t see up front how much delivery charge and service fee and all that [00:46:22,385]: Airbnb came under fire [00:46:23,405]: So Airbnb said okay we’re gonna put the true costs [00:46:26,125]: And they started breaking it out [00:46:27,685]: That’s transparency [00:46:28,505]: And it’s also free speech [00:46:30,305]: It is entirely reasonable for Amazon to say all right this is how much the tariffs are costing [00:46:36,225]: It is a bit of a political statement [00:46:38,145]: It’s also called free speech [00:46:40,285]: And two when you start having [00:46:43,905]: Biden came under fire for having one off conversations with Meta about misinformation around COVID [00:46:49,225]: And he got huge criticism [00:46:50,845]: And there’s some veracity to the notion that the president should not be having one off conversations and putting pressure on individual companies [00:46:57,765]: That’s supposed to have systemic solutions and laws that impact the whole industry [00:47:01,805]: Otherwise it just ends up being corruption as it is now where I don’t know if you saw the latest auto companies are now gonna be exempt from a lot of these tariffs [00:47:09,765]: So if you’re a big company that’s on his lunch calendar or you have a popular brand or you’re gigantic or you get to have lunch with him you get exemption from this ridiculous behavior [00:47:22,185]: And the problem is is that small and medium sized business which account for 98 of the companies that depend upon export and import are shit out of luck because they can’t afford lobbyists and they’re never gonna go to Mar a Lago [00:47:33,245]: So these individual one off conversations are corrupt [00:47:36,985]: You’re not supposed to have them [00:47:38,285]: And also I gotta be I mean you saw me I was so excited about Bezos [00:47:43,225]: I went out with all these threads saying good for him good on him and I was so excited [00:47:49,505]: And then you texted me and you’re like he caved [00:47:52,285]: He caved [00:47:52,885]: And I’m like oh fuck [00:47:54,045]: And I had to go back and be like well false alarm [00:47:56,825]: No way he’s such a caver [00:47:58,885]: He’s a caver [00:47:59,565]: He wants all the Trumps to be at his wedding [00:48:01,465]: Like are you kidding [00:48:02,385]: He’s gone [00:48:03,705]: Jeff Bezos never was there but he’s gone now [00:48:06,025]: He’s down the Mar a Lago highway and he’s living down there [00:48:09,345]: You know much more so even than Elon I think [00:48:12,005]: I don’t know [00:48:13,505]: Yeah I don’t know [00:48:14,625]: I’m actually excited and we’ll talk about it maybe next week but I’m excited about he’s about to put a competitor into space with Yeah I’m good with his blank slate [00:48:25,165]: I’m good with the rocket stuff that he’s competing with but whatever they never fail to disappoint these people [00:48:33,405]: They really don’t [00:48:34,125]: They just don’t [00:48:34,865]: I just expect disappointment [00:48:36,725]: You’re like that [00:48:37,085]: I do think we’re gonna see it though [00:48:38,625]: This time you’re like this time my boyfriend’s gonna behave and show up and pick me up [00:48:44,625]: He’s changed [00:48:45,965]: He sent an Uber for me [00:48:47,905]: He sent an Uber [00:48:48,845]: The stripper loves me I swear [00:48:50,725]: I swear she loves me [00:48:52,625]: You can go to a strip club Scott but she doesn’t love you [00:48:55,745]: Yeah I haven’t been to a strip club in 20 years [00:48:57,305]: I don’t like strip clubs [00:48:57,665]: We should go [00:48:58,405]: We should go [00:48:59,025]: We should do a tour [00:48:59,805]: We should do Pivot [00:49:00,605]: Live Pivots and a strip club [00:49:02,345]: No I’m not into strip clubs [00:49:03,965]: All right one more quick break [00:49:05,905]: We’ll be back for predictions [00:49:07,385]: Scott gets to have a good one [00:49:09,225]: Okay Scott let’s hear a prediction and listen up time for something new [00:49:13,065]: We wanna hear your predictions [00:49:15,005]: Send us your predictions 30 seconds or less and we’ll play them on the show if they’re good [00:49:19,145]: And well if they’re dirty we’ll probably play them too [00:49:23,065]: Go to nymag com [00:49:24,245]: slash pivot to submit a prediction for the show or call 85551 Pivot [00:49:27,785]: I wanted to create some competition for Scott [00:49:30,225]: So Scott up your game today [00:49:32,065]: Let’s go [00:49:32,625]: I don’t know if mine’s very good but basically one of the wonderful things about our economy is once a company establishes something resembling or supposedly monopoly power and can start implementing those rents on consumers there’s so much profits that that’s like chum in the water and other sharks show up [00:49:50,685]: That’s the basis of competition and hopefully if a company gets too far ahead of another the FTC and the DOJ move in break it up such that it can inspire more competition lower prices more innovation et cetera [00:50:02,785]: Competition really is one of the secrets to America’s success [00:50:06,565]: And my internet went out [00:50:09,025]: In London I have to have crazy fast broadband and I spent I’m not exaggerating I think I spent 50 000 or 60 000 to have fiber run across Regent’s Park to get the kind of broadband I need [00:50:21,205]: You’re that guy [00:50:21,485]: And it went out [00:50:22,505]: Yeah I’m that guy [00:50:23,405]: It went out I don’t have satellites and I went out it went out this weekend and so everyone’s scrambling including Drew to try and figure out a solve and they went out and they bought one of those portable Starlinks and they set it up in about four hours [00:50:38,745]: It’s an incredible service [00:50:39,785]: I’ve used Starlink on a plane before [00:50:41,685]: You can do FaceTime [00:50:42,685]: It really is an amazing product [00:50:43,965]: I think now close to 2 3rds of the lower satellites are owned by Starlink or SpaceX [00:50:52,465]: I guess it’s Starlink [00:50:53,385]: And it really is an incredible product [00:50:55,765]: And I’m just thrilled to see and I think another reason why I think Amazon’s gonna continue probably to outperform is that they launched their first I don’t even know how you just pronounce it [00:51:08,005]: Is it Kuper [00:51:09,245]: K U I P E R [00:51:10,625]: I think it’s Kuper [00:51:11,485]: Yeah I met with the CEOs [00:51:13,665]: They’ve been at it the same way they’ve been at the rocket stuff but Kuper [00:51:17,625]: I think it’s Kuper [00:51:18,465]: Yeah Kuper [00:51:19,265]: So the first batch of a planned 3 300 Kuper satellites launched from Florida [00:51:24,685]: The mission kicks off a race to rival SpaceX’s massive Starlink network [00:51:29,585]: And Amazon can launch five more Kuper missions this year [00:51:33,025]: I think the promise of that is gonna take their stock up because Starlink is just such an incredible company that essentially has monopoly power right now [00:51:41,025]: Yeah that was run [00:51:41,845]: I forget who used to run that company [00:51:43,645]: I met with him several times [00:51:46,305]: They’ve been trying it [00:51:47,145]: Like everyone’s trying to catch Starlink obviously and it’s a great opportunity to do so [00:51:51,625]: Anyways the brand we talk a lot about in brand strategy the first kind of key asset in brand strategy is awareness [00:51:58,245]: About 98 of our purchases at least until it’s not true recently I’d like to redo this data but up until the social graph 98 of your purchases are from brands you’ve heard of before [00:52:09,765]: Just think about you’re just less inclined to return the email of someone you don’t know [00:52:14,065]: Just having heard of somebody or having heard of a brand makes you much more your purchase inclination or your purchase consideration goes up exponentially [00:52:22,065]: And so I would often say the first step in any brand is just to be known [00:52:27,425]: And unfortunately we live in a society as the philosopher Italian philosopher Umberto Eco said that being famous and having awareness is more important than what you’re famous or have awareness for [00:52:37,845]: So awareness is enormous and it’s a decent proxy for future value to be monetized [00:52:43,205]: And I think the brand that’s about to go from zero to 100 in the next six months is Cooper [00:52:49,665]: Because it’s a 10 billion project that was unveiled in 2019 it’s had a lot of delays and it’s finally starting to get its kind of mojo [00:52:58,485]: And I think you’re gonna see they’re gonna start doing a good job of showing real time footage of every launch [00:53:04,185]: And then when you think about if Amazon can offer a Starlink like service with their interface I mean at some point you know what they’re gonna do [00:53:11,585]: They’re gonna roll it into Prime [00:53:13,465]: Anyways Cooper from Prime is about to become one of the biggest brands and also be the most formidable competitor to the most valuable private company in the world I think right now which is SpaceX [00:53:24,685]: So anyways my prediction is the brand you haven’t heard of as of May 1 2025 is gonna be ubiquitous in the investment and consumer landscape by the end of the year and that is Project Cooper which is a 10 billion satellite effort from the good folks at Amazon [00:53:42,365]: You know what [00:53:43,005]: I’ve touched a Cooper [00:53:44,225]: They brought one to show it to me once [00:53:46,105]: That was in high school right [00:53:47,625]: Oh wait I’m sorry [00:53:49,165]: I’m sorry [00:53:50,885]: Yeah it’s an interesting [00:53:51,945]: And then you decided no not for me [00:53:53,245]: Interesting but not for me [00:53:54,845]: There’s a bunch of these [00:53:56,045]: Interesting but not for me [00:53:58,425]: But as usual with Tesla same thing [00:54:01,065]: People are coming in and they’re gonna give him a run and if he’s not on his game Elon Musk he’s got a lot of competitors headed his way because he’s shown the way [00:54:09,645]: And just because you’ve shown the way Elon the planes are covered with the bodies of pioneers as everybody well knows [00:54:15,845]: Oh Starlink [00:54:16,705]: To be fair Starlink’s an amazing product [00:54:18,385]: It is but I’m just saying so was Tesla three years ago right [00:54:21,925]: And then now there’s lots of [00:54:24,245]: That’s the video competition [00:54:24,945]: That’s why folks we need an FTC and a DOJ to break companies up [00:54:27,905]: You need these small scrappy star [00:54:30,165]: Anyway [00:54:30,445]: That’s correct [00:54:30,745]: You can’t take your eye off the ball [00:54:31,865]: He’s lucky [00:54:32,405]: In that company he has a good CEO Gwynne Chotwell who is also much too obsequious to him but nonetheless she really runs that show and that shows the good idea to have a good CEO in place [00:54:44,905]: All right [00:54:45,665]: I think you’re gonna be outstanding on Bill Maher [00:54:47,685]: Thank you [00:54:48,205]: I think you’re gonna be outstanding [00:54:49,485]: We’ll see [00:54:49,605]: I could crash and burn but I hope not [00:54:52,405]: I think I will [00:54:52,905]: He likes me slapping him around a little bit just like you do [00:54:56,145]: Anyway as I said people give your predictions [00:54:59,185]: We wanna hear your predictions [00:55:00,845]: Send in the predictions 30 seconds or less [00:55:03,025]: We’ll play them on the show [00:55:04,025]: As I said go to nymag com [00:55:05,925]: slash pivot to submit this prediction for the show and beat Professor Galloway or call 855 51 PIVOT [00:55:12,325]: And elsewhere in the Kara and Scott universe this week on Prof G Conversations Scott spoke with David Brooks [00:55:17,725]: Okay okay for you an op ed columnist for the New York Times [00:55:20,965]: I love how could you [00:55:21,585]: Don’t don’t don’t [00:55:21,885]: I just I can’t [00:55:23,065]: He’s wonderful [00:55:24,385]: Okay [00:55:25,365]: All right [00:55:25,925]: I’m not a fan [00:55:26,505]: How can you not love David Brooks [00:55:28,105]: So many people don’t [00:55:29,405]: Are you not paying attention on the internet [00:55:32,645]: Spiritual smart [00:55:33,945]: I don’t [00:55:34,825]: Big talk community [00:55:36,205]: I’m glad that he’s very smart [00:55:36,925]: You’re right [00:55:37,365]: That’s correct [00:55:37,905]: I’m just not a fan [00:55:38,945]: I’m sorry I can be not a fan of David Brooks [00:55:40,505]: I think he’s just a lot [00:55:43,045]: He’s a writer also at the Atlantic too [00:55:45,185]: Let’s listen to a clip [00:55:46,805]: And when I look at the Trump administration I see a massive attempt to return us to the life of dog eat dog [00:55:53,245]: The life of nasty British and short [00:55:55,265]: The life where gangsters have maximum freedom to do what they wanna do [00:55:59,145]: And that is the evisceration of all the values of civilization that conservatism is supposed to transmit and preserve [00:56:06,605]: And I think the raw lust for power that Donald Trump embodies has not only eviscerated conservatism it’s eviscerated Christianity [00:56:14,665]: That’s a very thoughtful thought [00:56:16,025]: He’s right [00:56:16,865]: He’s right [00:56:17,445]: He’s right [00:56:18,025]: I’m excited [00:56:18,545]: I’ll listen to it I promise [00:56:20,245]: Okay Scott [00:56:21,385]: I love that [00:56:21,485]: What’d you say [00:56:22,485]: I really enjoyed my conversation with him [00:56:25,285]: I found him to be very spiritual [00:56:26,865]: By the way while you’re out there with Bill Maher say hello to my favorites [00:56:31,985]: Bill doesn’t hang out with me but the executive producers do [00:56:34,585]: Sheila Griffiths Sheila Griffiths I think and Mark Gervitz and Dean Johnson [00:56:39,345]: They’re literally Friday Night Lights parents [00:56:42,145]: Yeah it’s a great team [00:56:44,565]: They’re handsome people good looking people in their 40s who feel like if I ever have a big problem I’m just calling them and saying can you just pretend to be my parent right now [00:56:53,485]: And they are so nice [00:56:55,425]: And they come in into that little green room and they’re like we’re so happy to have and they’re so nice and I get nice emails from them [00:57:03,005]: It is the night of my Good swag too [00:57:05,645]: Good food good swag [00:57:07,405]: And beer [00:57:08,165]: I shotgunned a beer before the last one because I got so fucking nervous [00:57:10,225]: Oh you’re kidding [00:57:10,565]: I’m not gonna do that [00:57:11,565]: Yeah I think that’s called alcoholism [00:57:13,545]: And also my sherpa there is a woman named Susan Bennett who’s wonderful [00:57:18,725]: Yes Susan’s amazing [00:57:19,965]: Amazing [00:57:20,325]: She’s so lovely [00:57:21,625]: I have to say Bill Maher has a staff that’s stayed with him for a very long time and it’s a good reflection on him even if you don’t like Bill Maher [00:57:26,845]: Greatness is in the agency of others [00:57:28,925]: He has a team same thing with Scott [00:57:30,485]: Same thing with Scott he’s been with him [00:57:32,545]: 100 [00:57:32,945]: Yeah it’s true [00:57:33,885]: The key to success is the ability to attract and retain people more talented than yourself [00:57:37,165]: That is it full stop [00:57:38,565]: Yeah one of the prouder things I had was our And having a big Cooper [00:57:42,805]: And having a really big Cooper [00:57:44,305]: My code team at All Things C team was with me for 20 years the conference team [00:57:48,285]: They were all for the most part [00:57:49,885]: It’s funny the pivot team is nodding right now [00:57:51,245]: They feel nice [00:57:51,845]: Nodding they’re hoping they’re hoping [00:57:52,945]: We’ll see [00:57:53,585]: We’ve changed we’ve changed [00:57:55,285]: Okay Scott that’s the show [00:57:56,905]: We’ll be back on Tuesday with more Pivot [00:58:00,625]: Read us out [00:58:01,825]: Today’s show is produced by Larry Naiman Zoe Marcus Taylor Griffin and Kevin Oliver [00:58:05,785]: Ernie and Todd Engineer did this episode [00:58:07,345]: Jim Mackle edited this video [00:58:09,925]: Thanks also to Drew Burrows Miss Averio and Dan Shalon [00:58:12,625]: Nishat Karwa is Vox Media’s executive producer of Auto [00:58:14,605]: Make sure you subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts [00:58:17,645]: Thanks for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media [00:58:19,925]: You can subscribe to the magazine at nymag com slash pod [00:58:22,705]: We’ll be back next week for another breakdown of all things tech and business [00:58:26,745]: Tune in to see Cheech and Chong Speaker McCarthy and Kara Swisher [00:58:33,785]: We’ll be back next week for another breakdownTranscribe your media with TRNSCRB.
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