Speaker 1: From Marhart where Innovation, Money and power.
Speaker 2: Collie in Silicon Valley NBN. This is Bloomberg Technology with
Speaker 2: Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow.
Speaker 1: Ed Ludlow here in San Francisco. Caroline Hyde is off today.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Technology coming up on the program. Full
Speaker 1: earnings coverage ahead as Uber reports a surprise operating profit
Speaker 1: but misses on revenue estimates. We sit down with CEO
Speaker 1: Dara Koshra Shahi. Plus we'll look at competition in social
Speaker 1: media as Elon Musk's X tries to become an everything app.
Speaker 1: We'll discuss with the CEO of stock Twits. And we're
Speaker 1: going to read on private markets in the state Eventure
Speaker 1: Capital with our VC spotlight Dina Lux Dina Shakir sorry
Speaker 1: of Lux Capital joining us quick check on the markets.
Speaker 1: This is the technology corners of your equity markets. Now,
Speaker 1: is that why one hundred softer buy two tens of percent?
Speaker 1: We're kind of treading water at the moment when it
Speaker 1: comes to the tech sector. Think about that two percent
Speaker 1: gain we had on the NATS that one hundred last week.
Speaker 1: Some weaker earnings are driving the narrative underperformance in the
Speaker 1: US listed shares of Chinese technology names then as that
Speaker 1: Goden Dragon Index down one point seven percent as we
Speaker 1: continue to gauge what's going on in the Chinese economy,
Speaker 1: particularly as well from the regulatory standpoint and the Chinese
Speaker 1: government's attitude towards some of those.
Speaker 2: Chinese tech players.
Speaker 1: And again Bitcoin now actually below twenty nine thousand US
Speaker 1: dollars part token it's traded for the last ten days
Speaker 1: or so in this kind of narrow range between twenty
Speaker 1: nine twenty nine thousand, five hundred US dollars part tooken.
Speaker 1: No real news catalyst or news flow driving what's happening
Speaker 1: in that cryptocurrency.
Speaker 2: One of our favorite risk assets in the earning.
Speaker 1: Story in the single name movers, there's just one that
Speaker 1: we're looking at, and that is Uber. For the first
Speaker 1: time an operating profit on a gap basis. This is
Speaker 1: something that the world's been waiting for when it comes
Speaker 1: to Uber, the question would they ever be profitable? They are,
Speaker 1: Even so, the stockdown almost six percent, on track for
Speaker 1: its biggest decline since October.
Speaker 2: The concern from.
Speaker 1: The street seems to be about growth, but the numbers
Speaker 1: in the court are just gone were good. Let's get
Speaker 1: more on Uber's results and bringing Bloombos Jackie Davloss out
Speaker 1: of DC covering everything, gig economy, everything in the apps.
Speaker 2: Give me the main numbers with Uber because.
Speaker 1: By all accounts, on every metric, whether it's a demand
Speaker 1: focus or a supply focused metric, Uber did well.
Speaker 3: Uber used to be known as the poster child for
Speaker 3: money losing unicorns in Silicon Valley, and this quarter really
Speaker 3: put a lid on that. You had net income of
Speaker 3: three hundred and ninety four million. It's not the first
Speaker 3: time that it's posted a net gain, but what's different
Speaker 3: this time, ed, is that a lot of that came
Speaker 3: from the underlying business, not just positive swings in its
Speaker 3: equity stakes.
Speaker 2: When you look.
Speaker 3: Under the hood, those were trip volumes and it's ride
Speaker 3: hailing business, which were at all time highs, finally recovering
Speaker 3: to those pre pandemic levels.
Speaker 2: You also had delivery.
Speaker 3: Demand at all time highs, people using the app to
Speaker 3: order takeout more often with bigger basket sizes. And then
Speaker 3: on top of that, you have other business lines like
Speaker 3: advertising subscriptions finally rising to a point where it's it's
Speaker 3: making a dent in how much demand the company is
Speaker 3: bringing into the app. Now like you said the street
Speaker 3: wasn't totally convinced that the numbers are there long term.
Speaker 3: You have positive bookings for this quarter they rose sixteen percent,
Speaker 3: but at the same time, there's a little skepticism that
Speaker 3: they can keep this run going, especially when macroeconomic headwinds
Speaker 3: are looking to be a little bit of a challenge
Speaker 3: for some other tech players.
Speaker 1: You know, the story very good summary by the way
Speaker 1: of the numbers, but the story is that people were
Speaker 1: willing to spend on ride hailing. They're willing to spend
Speaker 1: on food delivery despite a tougher economic environment.
Speaker 2: But the bar is so high now for Uber going forward, right.
Speaker 3: That's exactly right.
Speaker 2: You know, they've made steps.
Speaker 3: Over the past few years, and really difficult ones at that.
Speaker 3: If you remember where they were during the start of
Speaker 3: the pandemic, massive layoffs, they hived off unprofitable units. They've
Speaker 3: really been preparing the business for a business that isn't
Speaker 3: relying on artificially low pricing. And now you take a
Speaker 3: look at you know what it's growth drivers are going forward.
Speaker 3: It's going to rely on you know, is the app
Speaker 3: fun to be on for users? Is it useful not
Speaker 3: just for takeout and delivery but also what are some
Speaker 3: of the other ways that it can snag some of
Speaker 3: that attention. It's going into chartered buses, it has you know,
Speaker 3: uber Boat and Migano's grease for example, So it's really
Speaker 3: looking at any other ways it can tap growth. And
Speaker 3: it's been effective so far. But at the same time,
Speaker 3: you know that livery demand is starting to taper off
Speaker 3: a little bit. You have door Dash reporting tomorrow, and
Speaker 3: I think investors are looking to see just how resilient
Speaker 3: that is, because that is a growing part of Oover's
Speaker 3: overall business.
Speaker 2: Jackie.
Speaker 1: The other piece of standalone news is that CFO Nelson
Speaker 1: Chai will step down effective January fifth. I think that
Speaker 1: confirms your reporting from earlier in July. What did the
Speaker 1: company have to say about that?
Speaker 3: Only positive things. Nelson has had an amazing run at
Speaker 3: the company. He really cleaned up the Uber's balance sheet
Speaker 3: from when it first iPod and to now, so this
Speaker 3: quarter is really kind of his victory lap of sorts.
Speaker 3: The company said they're looking for another replacement, but he's
Speaker 3: going to stay on board until January fifth of next year,
Speaker 3: so investors can stay assured that that discipline and the
Speaker 3: execution is still going to remain in the months to come.
Speaker 1: All right, Bliebose JACKI Davlos out of DC. Thank you
Speaker 1: very much, so stay with Uber. Web Bush is out
Speaker 1: with a note reacting to earnings that calls Uber CEO
Speaker 1: Dara Koshrahatshahi the comeback kid. The CEO is leading a
Speaker 1: quote comeback for the ages at Uber joining us now
Speaker 1: Dan ives web Bush, seniority analyst who has an outperformed
Speaker 1: rating and fifty two dollars price target on Uber. The
Speaker 1: comeback kid. Why do you say that, Dan, I mean,
Speaker 1: go back eighteen months.
Speaker 4: I mean, as you know, well, back was against the wall,
Speaker 4: and now you will get growth, We'll get profitability and
Speaker 4: cash flow, especially as little brother Lift is at the
Speaker 4: kids table.
Speaker 5: I mean they're gaining share and I think this is
Speaker 5: just a knee.
Speaker 4: Jerk reaction where we're buyers, and I think this is
Speaker 4: the stock that continues to move high. An inslection point quarter,
Speaker 4: rocky bat ball like comeback for Uber.
Speaker 1: The gross bookings forecast for the current period was slightly
Speaker 1: ahead of expectations. But there does seem to be a
Speaker 1: growth longer term with Uber. Why don't you share that concern?
Speaker 4: I will, They've been able to balance and strategically, if
Speaker 4: you look at rides, you look at mobility, you look
Speaker 4: at what's happening ultimately on the food delivery business. I
Speaker 4: think actually numbers continue to be conservative, and I think
Speaker 4: the key here is that.
Speaker 5: The street doesn't get ahead of itself.
Speaker 4: They're not gonna continue to raise guidance, maybe as dramatically
Speaker 4: as some of the investory start, which is why you're
Speaker 4: seeing need your reaction here, But I think that's the
Speaker 4: game for them. Under promise, over deliver balanced growth going
Speaker 4: into twenty twenty four, and I think it's one of
Speaker 4: the best risk reward disruptive tech names out there.
Speaker 5: With this comeback story being led by Down.
Speaker 1: You go back to February and that guidance you're referring
Speaker 1: to is the justiny a bit doar five billion in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, even if not dramatic. Were you surprised
Speaker 1: they didn't revise higher even a little?
Speaker 5: I think that's the way of Pokemon.
Speaker 4: I mean, in this macro still some volatility go in
Speaker 4: the second and half of the year, want to give
Speaker 4: themselves a wager room. I still think that that beatable.
Speaker 4: But if you look at the execution store and not
Speaker 4: just talking and talk walk in the walk, and I
Speaker 4: think many of the bearers that have been skeptical have
Speaker 4: been proven wrong. If you look at the last few
Speaker 4: quarters and even you go back last year, I think
Speaker 4: this is really now what i'll call the next chapter
Speaker 4: of success for Uber that's starting to play out long term.
Speaker 2: What is the picture for Uba?
Speaker 1: Yeah, you called Darak kros Rashahi the comeback kid, but
Speaker 1: that's that comeback's happened. You know, how does he lead
Speaker 1: this company into the next five or ten years.
Speaker 4: I think ultimately down the road it's it's going to
Speaker 4: be our Tiomous is going to play a role, you
Speaker 4: know where I do see them potentially doing more and
Speaker 4: more things with Tesla.
Speaker 5: You know, just when you think about from.
Speaker 4: The where that ultimate is going from a technology perspective,
Speaker 4: I think Free is going to be something where they're
Speaker 4: going to add more into from a resource perspective, and
Speaker 4: then ultimately just penetrating the consumer more and more.
Speaker 5: I think that's really going to be the goal.
Speaker 4: That's the golden goose for Uber when you think about
Speaker 4: where they're head.
Speaker 1: I think Darrek Cross Society was saying earlier this morning
Speaker 1: that they see a world of true autonomy being seven
Speaker 1: to ten years away. Does that signal any complacency to
Speaker 1: you that they're not investing and focused on it now?
Speaker 5: Again, what they're saying what they're actually doing in two
Speaker 5: separate things.
Speaker 4: I do think strategically they are going to be focused
Speaker 4: on by things, be more through partnerships, because the last
Speaker 4: thing you want to see them do is is just
Speaker 4: spend money like nineteen eights rock Stars that they were
Speaker 4: doing two three years ago. I think it's about balanced
Speaker 4: growth here that continues to sort of play out.
Speaker 5: It's hard to pull holes in the store.
Speaker 4: You have knee jerk reactions here, just like we've seen
Speaker 4: with some mother names, but we're buyers here. I think
Speaker 4: this is a stock that ultimately gets into the senior
Speaker 4: citizen type level as we go on in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Dan, We've been talking a lot here on technology
Speaker 1: about the idea of an everything app, and Uber seems
Speaker 1: like as close to an everything app as you see
Speaker 1: in Southeast Asia, for example. Do you see a future
Speaker 1: for them where they offer a broader range of services
Speaker 1: and products.
Speaker 4: Look, I think that's definitely one of the potential paths.
Speaker 4: But as we've seen, you know, we've grab in Indonesia
Speaker 4: and throughout the US. We've seen it with weed Chat.
Speaker 4: It's easier said than done, and I do think Gouber
Speaker 4: right now that is maybe.
Speaker 5: A broader plan.
Speaker 4: Of course, it's a plant for Twitter formally and now
Speaker 4: known as X in terms of muscle growl strategy. But
Speaker 4: Uber needs to make sure that they build this out
Speaker 4: the right way and don't just try to be all
Speaker 4: things to all people.
Speaker 5: And I think that's right now.
Speaker 4: The balance are dow striking, but finally adults in the
Speaker 4: room running the company and investments like what they see this.
Speaker 1: Year Dan looking ahead to Thursday, the big one Apple
Speaker 1: reports its earnings. What are you expecting from the iPhone maker?
Speaker 4: Get out the popcorner. I mean they continue to I
Speaker 4: think beat expectations in China, which is the hearts and lungs.
Speaker 4: This is the drum rolls German talks about to Iophone fifteen.
Speaker 4: I'd the doc that can need to rerate higher and
Speaker 4: services as in March, is toward that three and a
Speaker 4: half four trillion mark despite many yelling fire in a
Speaker 4: cryoud theater.
Speaker 1: This year, I look at MODL on the Bloomberg term
Speaker 1: and all the estimates that we're compiling. And the only
Speaker 1: area of sort of year in your top line growth
Speaker 1: is services. Where's your head out with Apple services offering
Speaker 1: right now?
Speaker 4: I think services starts to now tick toward double digits
Speaker 4: as we go into fiscal twenty four. I think some
Speaker 4: of the parts that's worth one point three to one
Speaker 4: point four trillion. And this is all the drum roll
Speaker 4: to a read seller growth story despite the macrom That's
Speaker 4: what's happening at Apple, you know.
Speaker 5: I think when you think.
Speaker 4: About it, it's also the margin story you're seeing asp
Speaker 4: as lyft. It's another example of cook playing chess.
Speaker 5: Well, I just play checkers, all right.
Speaker 1: Dan Knives of Webbush calling uber CEO Darakosi the comeback kid.
Speaker 1: Stay tuned later on in Bloombo Technology when uber CEO
Speaker 1: Daraki joins us here on the show to discuss those results.
Speaker 1: Elon Musk's ex Corps sued a nonprofit group that monitors
Speaker 1: online hate speech, accusing it of falsely describing the social
Speaker 1: media platform formerly known as Twitter as being overwhelmed with
Speaker 1: harmful content. In the lawsuit filed late Monday in San
Speaker 1: Francisco Federal call X Corp Claims the Center for countering
Speaker 1: digital hate is illegally scraping its servers and cherry picking
Speaker 1: objectionable posts as part of a quote scare campaign to
Speaker 1: drive away advertisers.
Speaker 2: We will continue to.
Speaker 1: Track that story now for more only Everything app the
Speaker 1: battle for social media dominance. Were delighted to be joined
Speaker 1: by Rushi Khana, CEO, and I find this so interesting, Richie,
Speaker 1: because at the core of the idea of an everything app,
Speaker 1: as outlined by Elon Musk and Linda Yakarino, the CEO
Speaker 1: of X formerly known as Twitter, it's adding data, financial services,
Speaker 1: and that's creeping into your domain a little bit.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, I think it's easier said than done.
Speaker 6: And you know, first of all, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 6: But yeah, I think you know, in everything app is
Speaker 6: beyond just adding you know, the futures. It's about engaging
Speaker 6: and creating a space that makes people comfortable with doing it.
Speaker 6: And i'd argue trust is a large part of that space,
Speaker 6: which makes it difficult. And over the last you know,
Speaker 6: three to six months, we've seen a tough time of
Speaker 6: Twitter establishing or X establishing maintaining trust with its community
Speaker 6: and user base.
Speaker 1: You know, stock Twitz is a platform where you have data,
Speaker 1: but you also have the opportunity to comment, share live
Speaker 1: quote about the mark kids.
Speaker 2: Do you see that being able to.
Speaker 1: Be replicated on X, which already has the comment part,
Speaker 1: just not the data pot Yeah.
Speaker 6: I mean, obviously we have the community aspect of it
Speaker 6: as X does, and they have that commentary. I mean,
Speaker 6: we came up with Twitter fourteen years ago and have
Speaker 6: built our our community organically over the last fourteen years.
Speaker 2: I think it is.
Speaker 6: You know, we've seen experiments with X adding charts in
Speaker 6: partnership with other vendors and providers, and I think that's
Speaker 6: something they could do. But I'd argue, you know, in
Speaker 6: certain verticals, there's much more depth than just data that
Speaker 6: is demanded by the community and users to really make
Speaker 6: it a valuable verticalized that. I think finance and investing
Speaker 6: specifically is a great space for that, and that's the
Speaker 6: space we're in. I think it's more than just adding data,
Speaker 6: it's the context and being able to focus on that
Speaker 6: context for the community as your product roadmap, as your
Speaker 6: strategy entirely, which you know is much more than you
Speaker 6: know I think we're XS at today.
Speaker 1: No, Rishi, we've been speaking with you on Bloomberg technology
Speaker 1: over the last two or three years in the context
Speaker 1: of memes, stocks, but the idea that something is trending
Speaker 1: or a point of discussion on social media platforms in
Speaker 1: the context of specific names. Do you recognize X, the
Speaker 1: platform for me known as Twitter, as a place where
Speaker 1: those conversations are still taking place or where they originate from.
Speaker 2: I think that.
Speaker 6: Absolutely the conversation is still taking place. So the conversation
Speaker 6: has taken place on X formerly Twitter, it's taking place
Speaker 6: on stock twits, it's taken place on Reddit. You know,
Speaker 6: the conversation is more than just any one platform. But
Speaker 6: you know, I do think you're you're seeing an erosion
Speaker 6: in the trust on on X today right now, where
Speaker 6: you know, it's tougher to find the conversations. I know,
Speaker 6: you know from in speaking to many people, their experience
Speaker 6: in the discovery of the conversation has gotten harder, just
Speaker 6: with the algorithm changes and whatnot. And so I think
Speaker 6: that's the opportunity for other platforms, whether it's a threads
Speaker 6: or whether it's you know, us at stock twits, to
Speaker 6: kind of continue to lean in and make sure that
Speaker 6: we provide the right kind of space for those conversations,
Speaker 6: but it absolutely still happens on acts.
Speaker 1: How does stock Twits lean in then, I mean, is
Speaker 1: there an opportunity for you to expand the stock Twits
Speaker 1: offering to become your own everything app?
Speaker 6: You know, so I feel like I'm in a bord
Speaker 6: meeting right now, but no, it's something we've been very
Speaker 6: focused on for our vertical. So you know, last year
Speaker 6: we actually launched trading right in the app, so through
Speaker 6: our own broker dealer, and so, you know, I look
Speaker 6: at our opportunity to lean in about delivering value across
Speaker 6: the investing life cycle, from ideation, through the research phase,
Speaker 6: through the execution phase, and into portfolio management. So that
Speaker 6: to me is the you know, kind of everything life
Speaker 6: cycle of your investing or trading journey. And so we
Speaker 6: are filling in the pieces across that strategically. Like I said,
Speaker 6: last year, we added equity trading. This year we'll expand
Speaker 6: on kind of the execution platform and the kinds of
Speaker 6: trading you can do both directly through us as well
Speaker 6: as through partners, and continue to fill that and lean
Speaker 6: in there. And at the same time, we're very much
Speaker 6: leading into kind of the community side and the social
Speaker 6: side and giving better tools to our community, filling the
Speaker 6: gaps and tackling the problems you know that are that
Speaker 6: our members have.
Speaker 1: Rishie, let's let's run with that idea. You're in a
Speaker 1: board meeting ex Corp and Elon Musk of a proposal
Speaker 1: on the table to acquire stock twits.
Speaker 2: What's the chances of that happening?
Speaker 6: I would say it's low to quite low in terms
Speaker 6: of that offer coming. I mean, we're we've been independent
Speaker 6: entity for a long time. I think Elon Musk is
Speaker 6: a very you know, mercurial, uh, you know, interesting person.
Speaker 6: I don't know that you know he's gonna have that
Speaker 6: appetite for acquisitions or or looking outside.
Speaker 2: I think he has.
Speaker 6: He has a very strong vision from what he thinks
Speaker 6: he wants to do from back in the nineties and
Speaker 6: uh and so I don't I don't know that you
Speaker 6: know it's coming out acquiring you know, stock twits, which
Speaker 6: may maybe we'll take over the tweet branding for him
Speaker 6: since he's decided to let it go.
Speaker 1: What's what's driving the conversation on stock twits culturally? You know,
Speaker 1: where are you seeing traffic and engagement at its highest?
Speaker 6: Well, the beauty of the markets is it's new every day,
Speaker 6: right and so you know today right now in our
Speaker 6: current you know where we're at, it's earning seasons is
Speaker 6: in full swing and we're seeing a ton of you
Speaker 6: know conversation happened around earning season, you know, so far
Speaker 6: yesterday obviously had you know, some really great you know,
Speaker 6: positive news for their their stock, and there's a lot
Speaker 6: of conversation around that. And you know we're going into
Speaker 6: some we had some big earnings last week. We're going
Speaker 6: into some big ones you know, Apple and Uber and
Speaker 6: whatnot this week.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 6: And so earnings and those kind of like you know
Speaker 6: kind of market factors are always there. You definitely have
Speaker 6: that kind of meme stock aspect as well. So Tupperware
Speaker 6: has been one of these, you know, big conversations over
Speaker 6: the last call it five days or so, I guess.
Speaker 6: And so where people are discovering whatever the thesis might
Speaker 6: be right with tupple where it's an interesting, one long
Speaker 6: standing brand, uh, you know, struggling from a financial perspective,
Speaker 6: short interest discovered. It has those catalysts that you know
Speaker 6: I've I've talked about before in terms of what drives
Speaker 6: or what can what can create a meme stock. So,
Speaker 6: you know, the beauty with the markets is there's different catalysts,
Speaker 6: whether it is a regular thing like earnings, or whether
Speaker 6: it's you know, kind of news driven uh, you know,
Speaker 6: kind of special report driven in you know, AI has
Speaker 6: been a big thing or ev space has been a
Speaker 6: huge aspect.
Speaker 1: Christy Khana's stock twits is always good to catch up.
Speaker 2: Thank you for your time joining us out of New York.
Speaker 1: Now coming up, ftx's new bankruptcy plan could mean cash
Speaker 1: payments for its customers.
Speaker 2: Bring you that story next.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Technology.
Speaker 2: All right. Time for talking tech.
Speaker 1: First up, NASA is listening for any sound from Voyager
Speaker 1: two after losing contact with the spacecraft billions of miles away.
Speaker 1: Voyager two has been out of touch ever since flight
Speaker 1: controllers accidentally sent a wrong command more than a week
Speaker 1: ago that tilted its antenna away from Earth. Plus Florentry
Speaker 1: Advisors is doubling down on India's drone making sector after
Speaker 1: an early bet on the Mumbai listed company generated a
Speaker 1: return of almost six hundred percent. The Blackstone Alarm brought
Speaker 1: a fifteen percent stake in bot Lab Dynamics for about
Speaker 1: two point four million and expects three more portfolio companies
Speaker 1: to go public soon.
Speaker 2: An FTX unveiled.
Speaker 1: A cash repayment plan as part of its bankruptcy. The
Speaker 1: draft proposes valuing customer claims in US dollars as of
Speaker 1: the date it went bankrupt and repaying them by selling
Speaker 1: assets tied to various silos of the business. FTX hasn't
Speaker 1: ruled out rebooting an offshore exchange.
Speaker 2: That all, according to filings.
Speaker 1: Coming up, a big bloomberg scoop on Tesla, a one
Speaker 1: hundred million dollar plan for a semi truck charging network.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Technology. Welcome back to Bloomberg Technology. Ed
Speaker 1: Ludlow here in San Francisco. Looking at the markets, the
Speaker 1: index level then a's that one hundred. It is the
Speaker 1: tech heavy index, software by four tenths of a percent.
Speaker 1: The story's been sort of the market treading water this
Speaker 1: earning season. There have been some disappointments, some of the
Speaker 1: megacats of surprise to the upside, with focus as well
Speaker 1: on economic data and the conversation about a recession, particularly
Speaker 1: in the US is now steering toward a soft landing.
Speaker 1: But there is so much of this earning season still
Speaker 1: to go away from earnings. We're also looking at shares
Speaker 1: of Tesla moving to the downside.
Speaker 2: Moving a little lower.
Speaker 1: But there is some news out of Bloomberg News ev
Speaker 1: giant Tesla seeking a one hundred million dollar check from
Speaker 1: the US to help it build a network of charging
Speaker 1: stations for the Tesla's semi truck. That's according to emails
Speaker 1: seen by Bloomberg News that outline a proposed trucking corridor
Speaker 1: from the Texas Mexico border to northern California. Bloomberg's Dana
Speaker 1: Hole broke that story alongside Sean o'caine and joins me, Now.
Speaker 2: Let's take a look at the map.
Speaker 1: We're talking about a route between Laredo, Texas up to
Speaker 1: northern California. What did you learn about what Tesla's trying
Speaker 1: to do.
Speaker 7: Yeah, so there's a lot of money in the infrastructure
Speaker 7: build pro President Biden to build out EV charging. And
Speaker 7: when we talk about EV charging, we typically focus on
Speaker 7: passenger cars. But if we're going to really electrify transportation
Speaker 7: in the United States, heavy duty truck. Heavy duty trucking
Speaker 7: is huge opportunity. And it's this chicken and egg thing
Speaker 7: where like we don't really have a lot of EV
Speaker 7: trucks on the road yet, because there's not a robust
Speaker 7: ev charging infrastructure for the Class eight kind of trucks
Speaker 7: that are out there. So Tesla is seeking funding to
Speaker 7: build this kind of route basically from Texas where they
Speaker 7: have a factory, to North California, where they also have
Speaker 7: a factory. So it's obviously in their interests to sort
Speaker 7: of do the route this way. We know that the
Speaker 7: semi truck is going to be used to sort of
Speaker 7: haul Tesla goods internally, and it's also a major trucking corridor.
Speaker 7: I mean, there's a lot of trucking in Texas in general.
Speaker 2: So you know, this is not a done deal.
Speaker 7: This is Tesla seeking federal funding to kind of do
Speaker 7: this proposal, but it's just an interesting window into sort
Speaker 7: of what Tesla has planned and is thinking about, and
Speaker 7: their policy team has always been very shrewd of taking
Speaker 7: advantage of any federal funding that is out there.
Speaker 1: I think it's nine proposed sites between Laredo and northern California, right.
Speaker 1: It's also interesting south of the border because Tesla has
Speaker 1: plans for production in Mexico.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 7: Absolutely, I mean, and you can sort of imagine that
Speaker 7: Tesla could use this route to ship parts and batteries
Speaker 7: and goods between its various facilities here in North America.
Speaker 7: But it's also you know, the route kind of goes
Speaker 7: from Laredo through you know, set through the Phoenix area
Speaker 7: and then southern California and then up to Fremont. Interestingly,
Speaker 7: it stops in Compton and in Bakersfield. There's a big
Speaker 7: kind of push to electrify, you know, electrify in neighborhoods
Speaker 7: that are low income, and so that you know, the
Speaker 7: Biden administration is very, very aware of the impact of
Speaker 7: diesel fuel on port communities, on low income communities, and
Speaker 7: so the the cities that are chosen are sort of
Speaker 7: interesting from that perspective as well.
Speaker 1: Donna, You're completely right that the electrification story is just
Speaker 1: as much about commercial vehicle as it is the consumer car.
Speaker 1: What do we know about the production plans for the
Speaker 1: Tesla Semi.
Speaker 7: Well, interestingly, I mean, they have been very slow to
Speaker 7: kind of get these vehicles out. You know, they made
Speaker 7: a big show of kind of turning over their first
Speaker 7: vehicles to PEPSI and Freedo Ay, and you know that
Speaker 7: company is definitely using them and piloting them and running
Speaker 7: them but in the last earnings report, Tesla in its
Speaker 7: deck said that the Semi is still in pilot production,
Speaker 7: and so you know it's going to be quite a while.
Speaker 7: I think before we see these in a massive scale.
Speaker 7: I think Tesla is still learning a lot. I think
Speaker 7: the battery size is still a question for a lot
Speaker 7: of people, like how big is this battery? There was
Speaker 7: a recall earlier this year, so they're still they're still
Speaker 7: kind of working out the kinks, which is smart, right.
Speaker 7: You don't want to like make a ton of car,
Speaker 7: make a ton of Class eight trucks and then have
Speaker 7: to recall them. So I think it's just a very
Speaker 7: slow process, all right.
Speaker 1: Bloombergs Dana Hole, I really encourage you to check out
Speaker 1: her reporting as well and what Tesla's doing with PEPSI Coo,
Speaker 1: you've been on the ground. The Tesla Semi going to
Speaker 1: be a big story going forward, but it's in the
Speaker 1: early stages of its production. Again, as we look at Tesla,
Speaker 1: shar's softer by almost three percent at this point, but
Speaker 1: seeing a lot of gains. Thank you to Bloomberg's Dana Hole.
Speaker 1: Another big story, of course that we're watching is Uber
Speaker 1: earnings out the stock lowest and disappointment on the street.
Speaker 1: With that in mind, we welcome our Bloomberg radio and
Speaker 1: television audiences worldwide.
Speaker 2: Joining us now.
Speaker 1: The CEO of Uber, Dara koshra Shahi and Bloomberg's Emily
Speaker 1: chang with me on set in San Francisco.
Speaker 8: Emily, thank you, and Dara, thank you so much for
Speaker 8: joining us.
Speaker 2: It's good to have you back.
Speaker 7: Look, I think investors are.
Speaker 8: Reacting to a bit of a revenue miss, but your
Speaker 8: first gap profit reported ever. Talk to us a little
Speaker 8: bit about the discipline here and what kind of Troy
Speaker 8: says you had to make to make this happen in
Speaker 8: this macro environment.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 9: Absolutely, we're very excited about this. It's a seminal moment
Speaker 9: for Uber to deliver gap operating profit, free cash role
Speaker 9: of over a billion dollars just in the quarter, along
Speaker 9: with a really strong strong top line. You look at
Speaker 9: a gross booking strow that was thirty three point six
Speaker 9: billion dollars, up eighteen percent on a constant currency basis.
Speaker 9: So I think the results both in terms of the
Speaker 9: top line and the bottom line have been second to
Speaker 9: none and certainly leading in our industry. And it has
Speaker 9: taken a lot of cost discipline in terms of really
Speaker 9: looking at making that perfect match between a rider and
Speaker 9: a driver, or an eater and a courier and a restaurant,
Speaker 9: and making sure everything in that transaction happens perfectly with
Speaker 9: no errors, no mistakes, no cancelations, et cetera. And at
Speaker 9: the same time it takes a lot of cost discipline.
Speaker 9: In terms of overheads. Our headcount has been flat, and
Speaker 9: if you look at our headcount compared to twenty nineteen
Speaker 9: pre pandemic, our total cat count is up ten percent
Speaker 9: during those years, and our growth bookings in the core
Speaker 9: business has been up eighty percent versus headcount growth of
Speaker 9: ten percent. So it absolutely has taken that discipline. But
Speaker 9: at the same time, the company continues to innovate and
Speaker 9: gain category position, which is what it's all about.
Speaker 8: Now you've formally announced that CFO Nelson Chai will be
Speaker 8: leaving the company, which Bloomberg reported a few weeks ago.
Speaker 8: What is the interim plan and what are you looking for?
Speaker 8: Will this be an internal hire and external hire?
Speaker 9: Yeah, so Nelson is going to be staying with us
Speaker 9: really through the balance of the year, up until early January,
Speaker 9: to make sure that we have a smooth succession plan.
Speaker 9: The next CFO is in seat and can be coached
Speaker 9: by Nelson as well. And really what I'm looking for
Speaker 9: is another partner like Nelson. You know, Nelson came in
Speaker 9: in a very difficult time and teamed up with myself
Speaker 9: and the rest of the team, taking us through an
Speaker 9: environment of deep operating losses, taking us through the IPO,
Speaker 9: getting us a really strong balance sheet so that we
Speaker 9: could come out of the IPO and could deal with
Speaker 9: issues like the pandemic to where we are now, which
Speaker 9: is a leading company. The next five years of her
Speaker 9: journey are about scaling and becoming that true global platform
Speaker 9: that can grow top line in a twenty percent range,
Speaker 9: can continue to innovate and continue to drive the kinds
Speaker 9: of margins and the incremental margin growth that we've been driving. Historically.
Speaker 9: We told investors that incremental margins is a percentage of
Speaker 9: growth bookings growth will be seven plus percent, and consistently
Speaker 9: we've come in above that because we've been innovating but
Speaker 9: at the same time been disciplined at the bottom line.
Speaker 9: I'm looking for a partner who can deliver the next
Speaker 9: chapter of our growth, just like Nelson did. Ubertotato so
Speaker 9: to speak.
Speaker 2: So let's talk.
Speaker 8: About the EXECUTIVESUITE, the broader executives whit in that next chapter.
Speaker 8: Your CTO left back in twenty twenty one, was not replaced.
Speaker 8: How are you thinking about that role? Is there anyone
Speaker 8: particular in mind?
Speaker 9: We actually our tech team is led by three different leaders.
Speaker 9: Sinji Jaine, who's our chief product officer, really thinking about
Speaker 9: the rider app, driver app, eater app, etc. Gus Foldner,
Speaker 9: who's thinking about the core services customer service, safety, insurance, etc.
Speaker 9: And then Albert Greenberg, who runs the infrastructure. You know,
Speaker 9: we are at a core a technology company, and instead
Speaker 9: of having one tech leader, we have three tech leaders,
Speaker 9: and that team has come together to drive outsize innovation.
Speaker 9: When you look at driver upfront fares, when you look
Speaker 9: at her uber Keen's product, when you look at Tassi hailables,
Speaker 9: low cost our entry into new verticals, there's no company
Speaker 9: in the industry that's innovating at our speed or scale.
Speaker 9: And it's thanks thanks to the tech leaders that we
Speaker 9: have in house.
Speaker 2: At this point.
Speaker 1: To our global radio and television audience, you're listening to
Speaker 1: our conversation with U The CEO, Dara Koshushahi following that
Speaker 1: earning sprint. You know, Dara A look at the court
Speaker 1: of gone, number of trips, gross brookings, active drivers, demand
Speaker 1: and supply side all at records, strong gross booking forecast.
Speaker 1: Why wasn't that enough to kind of raise expectations for
Speaker 1: adjusted a bit DAR next year you'd said in February,
Speaker 1: I believe it'd be around five billion.
Speaker 9: Well, I'm not a stock analyst. I can focus on
Speaker 9: running the company. And we guided for Q three adjusted
Speaker 9: ibidal well abus Street estimates. We guide her for nine
Speaker 9: hundred and seventy five million to a billion twenty five,
Speaker 9: which was a Substanini shall increase versus expectations out there,
Speaker 9: and consistently, if you look at our track record, we've
Speaker 9: put out targets, we've consistently beaten those targets you by
Speaker 9: anywhere five ten plus percent, and we intend to beat
Speaker 9: that five billion dollar target, just as we've beaten every
Speaker 9: single target that we put in front of our investor.
Speaker 9: So we think continued discipline, execution, strangths, top line growth,
Speaker 9: increased margins.
Speaker 2: And more of the same, along.
Speaker 9: With innovation is going to get us well beyond the
Speaker 9: five billion dollars.
Speaker 1: The innovation piece really interesting. I liked Emily's question about
Speaker 1: the tech leadership. M's been all around San Francisco and
Speaker 1: a cruise. I've been all around San Francisco and a wayman,
Speaker 1: and I appreciate for our audience around the world. Jumping
Speaker 1: in a robotaxi with no driver is not yet a reality,
Speaker 1: but for lots of people that I asked on thread's
Speaker 1: Twitter LinkedIn, that's their question for you, Dara, when is
Speaker 1: Uber going to take that fleet of autonomous vehicles is
Speaker 1: more of a priority.
Speaker 9: Well, we are very bullish on autonomous It's taking time.
Speaker 9: We have to make sure that the technology is safe,
Speaker 9: and we're partnering amongst all of the significant verticals that
Speaker 9: we have. What are the unique aspects of Uber is
Speaker 9: not only are we global, not only are we the
Speaker 9: largest platform with the biggest audience one hundred and thirty
Speaker 9: seven million consumers coming to us every single month, but
Speaker 9: we operate in every significant vertical for autonomous passenger vehicles
Speaker 9: with Uber delivery, food and grocery delivery, delivery with eats,
Speaker 9: and then trade as well. Autonomous trucks are absolutely going
Speaker 9: to be a big part of our future. And if
Speaker 9: you look at each one of those verticals. We're partnering
Speaker 9: with leading companies Waymo for example in passenger vehicles, Neuro
Speaker 9: and Serve, amongst others in delivery and then and trucking
Speaker 9: of course Aurora, with which we have a strategic investment
Speaker 9: as well. So we absolutely believe that autonomous is going
Speaker 9: to be part of the future and we are working
Speaker 9: to expose our leading marketplace to autonomous technology as it
Speaker 9: develops in a safe, efficient manner.
Speaker 8: Well, speaking of another kind of technology, artificial intelligence instacarts
Speaker 8: now out with the chatbot door dash as well.
Speaker 2: Is there an Uber bought in the works.
Speaker 9: There's definitely going to be an Uber bought in the works.
Speaker 9: But I tell you that we have been working with
Speaker 9: machine learnings, artificial intelligence systems deep learning systems for years
Speaker 9: and years and years. Every time you get matched up
Speaker 9: with a car or get matched up with a courier,
Speaker 9: there are mL algorithms that are making that match. The
Speaker 9: pricing that happens time and day and distance, all of
Speaker 9: that is driven by machine learning algorithms. Well that has
Speaker 9: been going on. Those algorithms only get better, and the
Speaker 9: data sets that we work with are the largest data
Speaker 9: sets globally, and the more data we have. The smarter
Speaker 9: we get, the more personal we can get. We are
Speaker 9: now focused more on productivity applications, so for example, introducing
Speaker 9: GitHub copilot for our developers, or helping summarize situations for
Speaker 9: customer service agents so that they already know context of
Speaker 9: what's going on with the particular customer and how they
Speaker 9: can help. We will absolutely put our AI agents out
Speaker 9: there to help the consumer, but also don't forget about
Speaker 9: the driver drivers who are driving on our marketplace. They
Speaker 9: also want help where should I go, what right should
Speaker 9: I accept, etc. So we're also working on AI to
Speaker 9: power drivers and couriers so that they can make smarter
Speaker 9: decisions every day, to be able to earn flexibly, but
Speaker 9: to maximize their earnings based on their time.
Speaker 8: So hang on, just to double down, there is an
Speaker 8: uber chat bought something that you're working on right now.
Speaker 9: We're working on right now, absolutely, but it's a very
Speaker 9: very small part of the AI ecosystem.
Speaker 1: In our global radio and television audience is listening to
Speaker 1: the CEO Dara Kroshashahi. Dara Uber is as close as
Speaker 1: anything the US and Europe has too an everything app
Speaker 1: something akin to what you might see in Southeast Asia.
Speaker 1: So I'm curious how closely you're paying attention to your
Speaker 1: crosstown neighbor, mister Musk and what X is doing within
Speaker 1: everything app.
Speaker 9: Well, it's difficult to take your eyes off of what
Speaker 9: Musk is doing or read about what Evon is doing,
Speaker 9: and we do so because we want to learn and listen.
Speaker 9: It's pretty fun. But we are leading in terms of
Speaker 9: building out a super app. Remember to that in Southeast
Speaker 9: Asia we have a very significant strategic investment in grab
Speaker 9: As has mobility delivery payments on their app Kareem, which
Speaker 9: in which we have a big investment in mentally same
Speaker 9: thing mobility delivery payments payments as well. So we're very
Speaker 9: very familiar with a super app concept and in the West,
Speaker 9: I do think Uber is the closest to achieving that
Speaker 9: super app. We want to be that operating system for
Speaker 9: your everyday life. Wherever you're going, whatever you want to
Speaker 9: get delivered, Uber is going to be there for you.
Speaker 9: And I think that we are steadily moving along with
Speaker 9: the super app path, which is why we're gaining category
Speaker 9: or position against their competitors both in mobility and delivery,
Speaker 9: while delivering margins and being profitable as well.
Speaker 8: Curious a free is part of that super app plan.
Speaker 7: Dara.
Speaker 8: I mean even you pointed out today that you know
Speaker 8: that is the weakness in the business. It does seem
Speaker 8: to be a drag on the business. What's the plan
Speaker 8: there to sell it, to spin it off?
Speaker 9: Well, the plan is to build at this point, so
Speaker 9: Frede is absolutely suffering from the same kinds of trends
Speaker 9: that you see in terms of delivery of things in
Speaker 9: retail generally is a bit weaker than spend on services.
Speaker 9: You saw Yellow for example, big trucking firm go out
Speaker 9: of business yesterday. There's a lot of difficulty in terms
Speaker 9: of freight, in terms of freight rates, and freight is
Speaker 9: fighting its way through that. But we continue to innovate.
Speaker 9: Even today. The way that shippers connected truckers is incredibly outmotive.
Speaker 9: There's a lot of paper, there is so much data.
Speaker 9: The pricing, the routing, etc. Is based on technology that
Speaker 9: was built twenty twenty five years ago. As we continue
Speaker 9: to innovate, and as we continue to focus on algorithmic
Speaker 9: pricing making that perfect match between a shipper and a trucker,
Speaker 9: we think over per to time we can build an
Speaker 9: asset of great value. So At this point, it's heads down.
Speaker 9: The team is executing in a tough environment. Our losses
Speaker 9: are decreasing. We think the second half on a bottom
Speaker 9: line basis is going to be significantly better than the
Speaker 9: first half, and next year we're going to get back
Speaker 9: to growth.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: Oh, thanks to Bloomberg's Emily Chang in that conversation with
Speaker 1: Uber CEO Dara Koshrashahi.
Speaker 2: Morehead, stay with us. This is Bloomberg quick piece of news.
Speaker 1: Atos is in talks to sell a legacy division to
Speaker 1: a private equity firm run by check billionaire Daniel Kratinski.
Speaker 1: The company plans to negotiate one hundred and ten million
Speaker 1: dollars in cash and transfer one point nine billion euros
Speaker 1: in debt.
Speaker 2: To the buyer.
Speaker 1: The proposed deal follows months of struggle for the French
Speaker 1: company after its IT outsourcing business was slow to adapt
Speaker 1: to the cloud.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: Lux Capital raised one point one five billion dollars in
Speaker 1: April to invest in startups focused on science and so
Speaker 1: called deep technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics and biotech hits.
Speaker 1: Tell us more about how it's going. Lux Capital general
Speaker 1: partner Dina Shakir. We'll ask you one thing first, there's
Speaker 1: a dislocation right now between the backward looking data and
Speaker 1: all of the news headlines on this program about new
Speaker 1: funds being raised.
Speaker 2: It seems like the environment's pretty good right now.
Speaker 10: You know, it depends on how you look at it.
Speaker 10: There certainly is a lot of dry powder out there.
Speaker 10: Funds like ours are eager to invest in the cutting
Speaker 10: edge companies, especially in AI, but across lots of categories,
Speaker 10: including healthcare, which is where I spend a lot of time,
Speaker 10: and we believe this is going to be one of
Speaker 10: the most exciting vintages of companies to be born.
Speaker 2: Yet how quickly have you got going? Then? Since April, we've.
Speaker 10: Been very active. We've been announcing new deals in the
Speaker 10: AI space, in bio, we're investing in healthcare. More news
Speaker 10: to come there. So we've certainly been deploying. The pace
Speaker 10: of capital is not quite what it was at the
Speaker 10: height of the period of exuberance, and we think that's
Speaker 10: probably a good thing.
Speaker 1: I know you as someone that's kind of deeply pensive,
Speaker 1: well connected in global silicon valley for one of a
Speaker 1: better expression. But on the other side of the table,
Speaker 1: where's the energy are there? Founders that are starting businesses
Speaker 1: in the space you care about. Are they trying to
Speaker 1: kick down your door for a check?
Speaker 2: You know ed?
Speaker 10: To be a founder is somewhat irrational, right, You have
Speaker 10: to have this sense of optimism, and to be a
Speaker 10: founder in this environment, you have to be even more resilient,
Speaker 10: to have even more grit. It is amazingly inspiring to
Speaker 10: see the founders that are coming to the table, to
Speaker 10: see the companies that are being born out of academic spinouts,
Speaker 10: to see incredible talent that has been laid off or
Speaker 10: otherwise unleashed out there building new companies. So we are
Speaker 10: seeing amazing talent. It's certainly not easy, but that's why
Speaker 10: we believe they'll be even more successful than generations prior.
Speaker 1: Digital health was quite interesting in the first half of
Speaker 1: the year. We've just entered the second half. I think
Speaker 1: it's something like six billion dollars two hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: deals or so. How does the second half look in
Speaker 1: that space? I know it's an area that you're focused
Speaker 1: on as an individual, but broadly, how does it look?
Speaker 10: Yeah, if you look at the data in digital health specifically,
Speaker 10: you'll see there were quite a few deals done, but
Speaker 10: a lot of them were done by existing investors. There
Speaker 10: were rounds that were otherwise unlabeled, many extension rounds, companies
Speaker 10: really kicking the can down the road before raising a
Speaker 10: new round and a new valuation, because the valuations haven't
Speaker 10: quite caught up to where perhaps investors think that they
Speaker 10: should be. At some point those companies are going to
Speaker 10: have to raise again. And I have to say, despite
Speaker 10: all of these headwinds, there are some categories like women's health,
Speaker 10: where as you know, I spend a lot of time
Speaker 10: that are actually continuing to see lots of activity and
Speaker 10: lots of interest.
Speaker 1: The lux capital thesis is basically to look at corners
Speaker 1: of the market that have been overlooked to this point
Speaker 1: by investors, but just explain to the audience why that
Speaker 1: translates to an opportunity as an investor.
Speaker 10: Absolutely, so we say we like to believe before it's obvious,
Speaker 10: and that's really what any good invest wants to do.
Speaker 10: Otherwise you're paying a hefty price when everybody already knows
Speaker 10: it's a good investment. So women's health is one area
Speaker 10: where we have been doing that for quite some time.
Speaker 10: We've deployed over one hundred million dollars into the space
Speaker 10: into companies with a combined valuation of over eight billion.
Speaker 10: Of course, there are later stage companies like Maven, whose
Speaker 10: Series D we co led, as well as earlier stage companies,
Speaker 10: including ones that will be coming to light in a
Speaker 10: few months though we've actually helped incubate. We're looking at fertility.
Speaker 10: We're looking at companies that are prolonging ovarian longevity and
Speaker 10: delaying menopause. We're looking at companies in family health, in
Speaker 10: the pediatric space. Really across the board. This is an
Speaker 10: area that represents not only half the population, but women
Speaker 10: control over eighty percent of the dollars in healthcare. So
Speaker 10: we think it's a massively underinvested in an undervalued opportunity
Speaker 10: to create value.
Speaker 1: Dina quickly where geographically is the innovation happening in this space.
Speaker 10: You know, it's interesting because we are in a post
Speaker 10: COVID world, so we're still seeing it all over the place.
Speaker 10: So definitely the coast areas. You know, lux itself is
Speaker 10: bi closal. So we see a lot of energy in
Speaker 10: New York, a lot of energy in Silicon Valley, but
Speaker 10: we're seeing innovation come out of Europe. We're seeing it
Speaker 10: come from various other places. Around the country and you know,
Speaker 10: hopefully more to come from elsewhere.
Speaker 1: Lux Capital general partner dianash Kids. So good, let's catch
Speaker 1: up here in person in SF. Thank you all right,
Speaker 1: A quick time for going viral, which James Donaldson is
Speaker 1: no stranger of. Better known as mister Beast, the globally
Speaker 1: followed YouTuber has more than one hundred and seventy million
Speaker 1: subscribers to his channel, making him the most subscribed individual
Speaker 1: on the platform the second most subscribed channel overall. In
Speaker 1: twenty twenty, Mister Beasts partnered with Virtual Dining and began
Speaker 1: selling burger and fry combos, tapping restaurants and commercial kitchens
Speaker 1: across the country that we're experiencing downtime due to the
Speaker 1: pandemic also known as ghost kitchens. Now, the YouTube star
Speaker 1: is suing his partner, saying the company sacrifice quality in
Speaker 1: its bid for rapid expansion. Beast Investments sued for breach
Speaker 1: of contracts, asking a federal judge in Manhattan for the
Speaker 1: right to terminate his business relationship with Virtual Dining Concepts
Speaker 1: of Florida, company co founded by former Planet Hollywood executive
Speaker 1: Robert Earl. Anyone out there on social knows mister Bees,
Speaker 1: and we will continue to monitor that story.
Speaker 2: Two days in.
Speaker 1: That does it for this edition of Bloomberg Technology.
Speaker 2: My goodness, what a week we have in store. Don't forget.
Speaker 1: You can recap everything from today's episode on our podcast
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast, but we're on Apple, Spotify, iHeart,
Speaker 1: and of course all of the Bloomberg platforms. We are
Speaker 1: in the depths of Big Tech earning season Uber the
Speaker 1: Story of the Day later to come this week, Amazon
Speaker 1: and Apple. From here in San Francisco, this is Bloomberg Technology.