Speaker 1: From the heart of where innovation, money and power collive
Speaker 1: in Silicon Valley and beyond. This is Bloomberg Technology with
Speaker 1: Emily Chang. Welcome to a special edition of Bloomberg Technology.
Speaker 1: I'm Emily Chang, and we are live from the City
Speaker 1: Club in San Francisco, where the Bloomberg Technology Summit is happening.
Speaker 1: Coming up over the next hour, a wide ranging, exclusive
Speaker 1: conversation with Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. His thoughts about the economy, unions,
Speaker 1: and regulation, plus how his relationship with Jeff Bezos has
Speaker 1: evolved since he got the top job, and is Uber
Speaker 1: recession resistant to Eodara Kasra Sha he seems to think,
Speaker 1: so what he's planning to do to keep it that
Speaker 1: way if the economy gets any worse and our invests
Speaker 1: Cathy Wood defending her flagship et S week performance, why
Speaker 1: she says investors to just trust him now. I did
Speaker 1: sit down for an exclusive and wide ranging interview with
Speaker 1: Amazon CEO Andy Jase. We spoke about everything from the
Speaker 1: economy to unions to the role of Jeff Bezos at
Speaker 1: the company today. But first I asked about Dave Clark,
Speaker 1: who spent more than two decades climbing the ranks at
Speaker 1: Amazon to become its consumer chief. He resigned abruptly last
Speaker 1: week and just announced he's joining the logistics software startup
Speaker 1: flex Port. Here's what Jesse had to say about his departure.
Speaker 1: Different people want to do different jobs with different responsibilities
Speaker 1: at different times, and it's incredibly personal. And I think
Speaker 1: Dave wanted a different gig at this point, and I
Speaker 1: don't begrudge him at all. I mean, Dave saided so
Speaker 1: much to Amazon or the last twenty three years, and
Speaker 1: particularly over the last two and a half years, which
Speaker 1: have been among the most crazy in the history of Amazon.
Speaker 1: And I think that if you want to build a
Speaker 1: business that lasts a hundred plus years and that lasts
Speaker 1: all of us, you have to get used to these
Speaker 1: sort of transitions and make sure that you're you know,
Speaker 1: you're doing the right succession planning and you've got the
Speaker 1: right talent to to keep building the business. And you know,
Speaker 1: we've done that historically and I expect we'll do it again.
Speaker 1: Um Elon Musk just came out saying he has a
Speaker 1: super bad feeling about the economy, Tesla laying off ten
Speaker 1: percent of his staff. Jamie Diamond says he's preparing for
Speaker 1: an economic hurricane. The World Bank just slashed its forecast
Speaker 1: for global growth. How do you feel about the economic climate. Well,
Speaker 1: I wasn't planning on giving any guidance today, please, but
Speaker 1: super bad or super super bad? I think, Uh, there's
Speaker 1: some things that it relates to Amazon that are useful
Speaker 1: to remember, you know. I think the first pieces, remember
Speaker 1: the scent of the of the worldwide retail market, segment
Speaker 1: share is offline. And if you believe that that equation
Speaker 1: is going to flip at some point, which we do,
Speaker 1: I think it will who will flip over a long
Speaker 1: period of time. But if you believe that the companies
Speaker 1: that have great customer experiences like we do, I think
Speaker 1: are gonna are gonna do all right. And you know,
Speaker 1: and that and great customer experiences mean you have really
Speaker 1: broad selection, low prices, and very fast delivery that's reliable
Speaker 1: to customers. You know. I also think that if you
Speaker 1: look at different down turns um you know, should we
Speaker 1: have one at some point and we've been through a
Speaker 1: few obviously in the twenty five years that I've been
Speaker 1: at Amazon. Customers change their habits, you know, they tend
Speaker 1: to be pickier about what they buy and when they
Speaker 1: buy and who they buy from, and they often pick
Speaker 1: the partners and the companies that they trust, you know,
Speaker 1: and they have great customer experiences like the dimensions I
Speaker 1: mentioned earlier. UM And so you know, I also think
Speaker 1: there's you know, those two reasons, those two factors give
Speaker 1: me some optism that even if we have a downturn,
Speaker 1: that we have the potential to still grow. I would
Speaker 1: say that regardless though, we have so many things that
Speaker 1: we believe we can do better for customers. We have
Speaker 1: a roadmap that's you know, probably three to five years long,
Speaker 1: and we're going to continue to invent. We're going to
Speaker 1: continue to be insurgent, and we have a lot of
Speaker 1: work to do to get to where we think we
Speaker 1: ultimately can get for customers. Everyone's very curious about Jeff's
Speaker 1: role these days. What kind of executive chair he really is.
Speaker 1: He said when he left that he'd focus his attention
Speaker 1: and energies on initiatives that he really cares about as
Speaker 1: at Amazon. But from the outside, it looks like he's
Speaker 1: really focusing on philanthropy, he's focusing on space. What kind
Speaker 1: of an executive chairman is he? Well, he you know,
Speaker 1: Jeff is always going to be involved and um he
Speaker 1: has you know, I'm I feel very lucky to have
Speaker 1: been in Amazon for twenty five years. I feel very
Speaker 1: lucky to have worked directly for Jeff for twenty of them.
Speaker 1: And we have a really close relationship and have for
Speaker 1: a long time, and I think we share a lot
Speaker 1: of the same value is about customers and um, how
Speaker 1: important is to optimize for customers and how high standards
Speaker 1: they need to be. Um, you know, given how easy
Speaker 1: it is for people to switch, and the importance of
Speaker 1: invention and speed, and so I know, I just feel
Speaker 1: very lucky to have had the chance to work so
Speaker 1: closely with him. We still talk all the time. It's
Speaker 1: it's very useful for me to be able to seek
Speaker 1: his counsel. He did the job for so long and
Speaker 1: and he's always made himself available. So is your relation
Speaker 1: I mean, he was your only boss for twenty five years, right,
Speaker 1: is your relationship fundamentally different than it was when you
Speaker 1: were the head of of course, you know, every every
Speaker 1: single job you have, the relationships different. You know. Remember
Speaker 1: the first couple of years I worked for Jeff, I
Speaker 1: worked is what we call his shadow then, which really
Speaker 1: like a chief of staff. And that was different than
Speaker 1: when I was starting AWS, which was different from when
Speaker 1: we got AWS going, and it was, you know, a
Speaker 1: business that was starting to do well. And and it's
Speaker 1: different when I'm in the CEO role. But you know,
Speaker 1: the constant has always been that we have a great
Speaker 1: relate ship, and we collaborate really well, and I think
Speaker 1: that we listen to one another. And um again, for
Speaker 1: me to have the ability to bounce different things off
Speaker 1: from and seek his council is very valuable. And he's
Speaker 1: still focused on Amazon. He still has focused on Amazon. Yea. Um.
Speaker 1: Amazon is poised to become the biggest private sector employer
Speaker 1: in the world, second only right now Walmart is in
Speaker 1: that spot, but Amazon will probably soon surpass it. First
Speaker 1: vote to unionize at an Amazon warehouse, I know you've
Speaker 1: been spending a lot of time at warehouses. When you
Speaker 1: look at someone like Chris Small's who I think some
Speaker 1: people look at as this modern day hero who got
Speaker 1: fired pulled off this union vote, what's your message to
Speaker 1: someone like him, Your message to the folks who think
Speaker 1: maybe we should join a union. Well, I know, I
Speaker 1: think that the first thing to be clear about is
Speaker 1: that employees get to make that choice whether they want
Speaker 1: to have a union or not. They always have had
Speaker 1: that choice and it continues to be their choice. And
Speaker 1: you know, we happen to think they're better off without
Speaker 1: a union or a number of reasons, including the fact
Speaker 1: that you know, it's it's much harder when you have
Speaker 1: a union to have a direct relationship with your manager
Speaker 1: and to get things done quickly. So if you see
Speaker 1: something on the line that you think could be better
Speaker 1: for your your team or you or you or customers,
Speaker 1: you can't just go to your manager and say let's
Speaker 1: change this. You know, there's a whole process in bureaucracy
Speaker 1: that you have to go through to be able to
Speaker 1: do that. You know, and and we get you know,
Speaker 1: when there's a union, we're going to get the feedback
Speaker 1: filtered by what the union decides is worth bringing up.
Speaker 1: And we'd much rather hear from every employee whatever is
Speaker 1: on their mind. And so, you know, I think if
Speaker 1: you want to continue to have the structure that we've
Speaker 1: had for all this time, you have to have really
Speaker 1: competitive benefits. And then I think if you look at
Speaker 1: Amazon's they're very unusual in this space. We champion the
Speaker 1: fifteen dollar minimum wage, several years ago. The starting salaries
Speaker 1: now over eighteen dollars an hour, which you know is
Speaker 1: more than double the federal minimum wage. You get full
Speaker 1: health insurance in four oh one k and twenty weeks
Speaker 1: up to twenty weeks of parental leave. And if you
Speaker 1: want to get a college education, you haven't had one.
Speaker 1: We have a career choice program that's our fulfillment Center
Speaker 1: associates to be able to do so. That is a
Speaker 1: very unusual and compelling set of benefits, and those were
Speaker 1: all accomplished without a union. So, you know, I think
Speaker 1: that we realized that we you know, we have to
Speaker 1: continue to work on the relationship with our our employees,
Speaker 1: and we need to continue to provide the right benefits,
Speaker 1: and you know, we need to continue to work on safety,
Speaker 1: and that's our intention. My exclusive interview there with Amazon
Speaker 1: CEO Andy Jasse, you can catch the full interview at
Speaker 1: Bloomberg dot com. We're gonna have much more from the
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Tech Summit coming up. Jet fuel price hikes, flight cancelations,
Speaker 1: what does it all mean for summer travel? Will exped
Speaker 1: CEO Peter Kern has traveled here. He will join me next.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg welcome, Welcome back to the Bloomberg Technology
Speaker 1: Summit in San Francisco, where we are live from the
Speaker 1: City Club. Summer is here, But well all of your
Speaker 1: travel plans come off without a hitch. I'm joined out
Speaker 1: by Expedia CEO Peter Kerrent, who can help us answer
Speaker 1: that question. Thank you for flying on down here to
Speaker 1: join us today from Seattle. So, look, there were a
Speaker 1: ton of flight cancelations over Memorial Day weekend, jet fuel prices,
Speaker 1: pilot shortages, hotels struggling to get enough staff. How is
Speaker 1: all of this going to affect our summer travel plans
Speaker 1: because we've been dying to travel. Yeah, well, clearly everyone's
Speaker 1: going to travel somehow. I think there will be disruptions.
Speaker 1: I mean, we're seeing in Europe, we're seeing in the US. Obviously,
Speaker 1: the shortages of staff create a problem, and we'd love
Speaker 1: to see more planes in the air. We'd love to
Speaker 1: see hotels open to full capacity. But in the meantime,
Speaker 1: I think people are finding options wherever they go, sometimes
Speaker 1: vacation rentals, sometimes hotels. Uh, they're finding flights domestically if
Speaker 1: they can't find them internationally, and uh, you know, and
Speaker 1: we're seeing just about everything filling up. So I think
Speaker 1: it's going to be a busy time either way. But
Speaker 1: there will always be issues when you're traveling. Well, Delta
Speaker 1: just cut capacity for example, for the foreseeable future. How
Speaker 1: long does this go on for? Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, with the talk that we see on your
Speaker 1: shows and all the shows about the you know, potential recession,
Speaker 1: the inflation issues, what the Fed is doing, I think
Speaker 1: it's obviously going to make some companies be more conservative
Speaker 1: about letting the rope out and getting more aggressive. You know,
Speaker 1: we were expecting increases in capacity in late summer for
Speaker 1: international travel. We'll see what happens there. So you know,
Speaker 1: we're hopeful. We we'd like to see the airlines expand
Speaker 1: we'd like to see hotels again open to capacity. But
Speaker 1: you know, I think a lot of CEOs I talked
Speaker 1: to will probably watch and wait, and we'll tend on
Speaker 1: the careful side, which will continue to constrain supply keep
Speaker 1: prices up, which is not great for the consumer. But
Speaker 1: you've all seen the prices up um and that looks
Speaker 1: like it's going to sustain itself for a while. So
Speaker 1: if Elon Musk has a super bad feeling about the economy.
Speaker 1: What is Peter Kerrent think, Well, I'm no elon Musk
Speaker 1: but uh and I definitely don't tweet about anything. But
Speaker 1: I would say, you know, from what we can see
Speaker 1: of the of the US market and the Western markets
Speaker 1: where you know, there's still markets where people can't travel
Speaker 1: in a pack and that's still going on, but there's
Speaker 1: tons of pent up demand. We've seen people wanting to
Speaker 1: rebound and overspend into travel. They were buying lots of
Speaker 1: stuff you had Andy on today, you know, they were
Speaker 1: buying a lot of stuff through COVID. They underspent travel
Speaker 1: and they saved a lot of money and we're seeing
Speaker 1: that rebound and that savings probably come into spending on travel.
Speaker 1: So that looks pretty robust for us when that runs
Speaker 1: out of gas and what you know, the how the
Speaker 1: economy lands, who knows. But as we say at our
Speaker 1: company that you know, we're in a multi trillion dollar market,
Speaker 1: we're tiny fraction of it, still as big as we are,
Speaker 1: so we got plenty of room to continue to grow
Speaker 1: regardless of the company. You and I last spoke around
Speaker 1: earnings about a month ago, and you said, well, maybe
Speaker 1: we'll see some rerouting from Paris to San Diego. How
Speaker 1: much of that is happening, You know, we haven't seen it. Again.
Speaker 1: You go to Paris, all the luxury hotails are completely
Speaker 1: sold out for the summer um. So we're not seeing
Speaker 1: a lot of rewriting down. Again, I think people have
Speaker 1: been planning for this big summer and they're you know,
Speaker 1: they're all booked way ahead and everything's booked up. I
Speaker 1: think as that rolls off, we don't know, but we're
Speaker 1: not seeing a lot of rewriting down to people looking
Speaker 1: for cheaper alternative. But could this potentially be delayed to
Speaker 1: the fall or holiday travel? And yeah, again no signs yet.
Speaker 1: There's no like magic date out in November where everything
Speaker 1: falls off a cliff. We're not seeing it in terms
Speaker 1: of booking ahead. But you know, we're not making any
Speaker 1: predictions either. Obviously there's a lot of noise in the market.
Speaker 1: There's gas prices and home prices, and we're mindful of that.
Speaker 1: But again that's where I think we'll see maybe adjustments
Speaker 1: to the demand and perhaps a d R start to
Speaker 1: come down, you know, prices on air and and uh
Speaker 1: and hotels, etcetera. But um, so far, there's no sign
Speaker 1: of easing on price, and there's no real sign that
Speaker 1: demand is shrinking. Well, speaking of pricing, you just added
Speaker 1: some new technology that enables customers to track prices to
Speaker 1: figure out when the best time is to fly. This
Speaker 1: is something that Google has been offering for a while. Hopper,
Speaker 1: you can get it there as well. You know, why,
Speaker 1: why should folks choose expedient? And in some cases, are
Speaker 1: you even discouraging people from from buying now if they no? No,
Speaker 1: what we're really trying to do is give people confidence.
Speaker 1: One of the biggest issues that consumers face when picking
Speaker 1: airline tickets is fear that they're picking the wrong thing
Speaker 1: at the wrong time. They're going to buy it too
Speaker 1: early and pay too much, or too late and pay
Speaker 1: too much. So we're trying to give them predictions. So
Speaker 1: because we have a lot of data, so we can
Speaker 1: show you what might happen to the price, and we're
Speaker 1: trying to give you tracking so if you if you're
Speaker 1: not ready to purchase, you don't feel like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: I have to make a decision. You can wait and
Speaker 1: track it and when you feel like it's the right time,
Speaker 1: you can do it. So what we're doing is really
Speaker 1: more than just tracking a single fight and a single price.
Speaker 1: We're tracking a whole route system across all their lines
Speaker 1: and saying, Okay, if you want to NonStop from San
Speaker 1: Francisco to New York and you check the price and
Speaker 1: you're not ready to buy, you can watch it and
Speaker 1: maybe in a week it moves down or up you'll
Speaker 1: make a choice. So airlines see it as an opportunity
Speaker 1: for us to give customers confidence to book, and that's
Speaker 1: what they want. So what does this all mean for
Speaker 1: Expedia's business? Obviously we've talked about the share price. Um,
Speaker 1: there's it's not just Expedia. What the shares are down.
Speaker 1: And you've got this uncertainty around the travel season coming
Speaker 1: up ahead, you know what's your Yeah, we don't think
Speaker 1: about it in short term. We think about in the
Speaker 1: long term, and we're not spending a lot of time,
Speaker 1: and we're obviously thinking about a potential recession, but we're
Speaker 1: not we're not planning for it or or valuing our
Speaker 1: business that way. We're doing the work to really upgrade
Speaker 1: the technology. We've talked about it a lot. We've changed,
Speaker 1: we're changing the whole stack. We're really innovating around customer experience,
Speaker 1: like flight tracking and other tools to shop more confidently,
Speaker 1: discover better products, find the right fit and match for you,
Speaker 1: which we don't think has really been in the travel
Speaker 1: sector for decades. So we're focused on that work and
Speaker 1: you think that's gonna unleash a ton of business for
Speaker 1: our supply partners, and focused on how that will help
Speaker 1: our B two B business. So there's a lot of
Speaker 1: opportunity and a lot to work on, and we're not
Speaker 1: worried about the rest. What are your summer travel plans?
Speaker 1: Any plans to live on v r b O Verbo
Speaker 1: excuse me? Planning to send big part of July working
Speaker 1: in London with our teams there and staying in the Verbo.
Speaker 1: So that's that's my summer so far. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: thank you for making the trip. Take a trip. I've
Speaker 1: got some plans which I will not share television Peter Current,
Speaker 1: CEO of Expedia, thank you. Good to have you here
Speaker 1: in person. Welcome back to Bloomberg Technology Live from our
Speaker 1: big tech summit in San Francisco. In the world of
Speaker 1: E t F, there are few as influential as Kathy
Speaker 1: would However, our investment management is suffering a steeper drop
Speaker 1: in assets than almost any other u s E t
Speaker 1: F this year, and of course Tesla a big one
Speaker 1: of their bets. She spoke exchools we with our very
Speaker 1: own ad Ludlow about why if you look at our performance,
Speaker 1: our flagships performance from the low and COVID to the
Speaker 1: peak in February twenty one, that was increase Innovation solves problems.
Speaker 1: We had a lot of problems through the coronavirus. Innovation
Speaker 1: solves problems. We were rewarded accordingly since then peak to trough.
Speaker 1: When we hit our trough, thank goodness, we're pasted it down.
Speaker 1: Why inflation and interest rates? So there is this and
Speaker 1: it's really interesting to be here um Walmart territory because
Speaker 1: I think we're learning a lot from the retailers now
Speaker 1: and we're talking about what we learned about infet yes
Speaker 1: uh so uh. The fear of rising interest rates uh
Speaker 1: and inflation out of control has grouped the market and
Speaker 1: of course, and that's the equity market. If you look
Speaker 1: at the fixed income market, it does not agree with this.
Speaker 1: The three year, I mean the ten year treasury bond.
Speaker 1: Deald is three that that instrument should be one of
Speaker 1: the most responsive to inflation fears. Right, so three which
Speaker 1: suggests GDP growth three to four percent during the next
Speaker 1: ten years. So it's not being corroborated by the fixed
Speaker 1: income markets. And I don't think, I don't think that
Speaker 1: we are in a period where we can't extricate ourselves
Speaker 1: from this. In fact, the inventory stories are a very
Speaker 1: good example of why, of why inflation has become a problem.
Speaker 1: You know, the scrambling to bring more and more inventory
Speaker 1: to satisfy demand, stay at home demand went into overdrive.
Speaker 1: And I believe the narrative in the last year inflation
Speaker 1: gave purchasing managers this idea that, Okay, what's the worst
Speaker 1: that could happen if I build inventories. The worst that
Speaker 1: could happen is that I'm able to deliver inventory profits
Speaker 1: sell at a higher ice. Well, that's not going to happen.
Speaker 1: That's not going to happen when we see I've never
Speaker 1: seen inventory um surges like this in my career, and
Speaker 1: I've been around for a long time. So UH at Walmart,
Speaker 1: at at Target, uh at at coal, so very broad based.
Speaker 1: Uh And so I think we're going to see a
Speaker 1: lot of discounting and this and what's beginning to happen
Speaker 1: now just at the margin, and we're seeing it because
Speaker 1: our strategy is now starting to outperform the rest of
Speaker 1: the market. I've never been in a market where the
Speaker 1: market has gone to new highs and we are hitting loads.
Speaker 1: I've never been in a market so there's been and
Speaker 1: it hasn't been supported by the fixed income market. So
Speaker 1: we'll see what happened. Kathy Wood there with our at
Speaker 1: Ludlow's CEO of Park Investment Management at the UP Summit
Speaker 1: in Bentonville, Arkansas. Welcome back to a special edition of
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Technology. I'm emily changing at the City Club of
Speaker 1: San Francisco for our Bloomberg Technology Smit, where You've had
Speaker 1: a host of special guests, including Uber CEO dar Causmashat,
Speaker 1: who spoke exclusively to my colleague Bradstone about the current
Speaker 1: economic climate and how it could impact Uber's business. Take
Speaker 1: a listen. We don't see any signal of a recession
Speaker 1: coming now. What's different about us than most companies out
Speaker 1: there is that, just as you saw during the pandemic,
Speaker 1: a shift from spend on services to spend on retail,
Speaker 1: that shift is now going back to services and we
Speaker 1: are the definition of a service right moving around travels back,
Speaker 1: et cetera. So I do think that our service is
Speaker 1: benefiting from the shift back. Certainly the reopening helps our
Speaker 1: mobility business or mobility businesses growing at very very high rates,
Speaker 1: highly profitable. The delivery business, delivery of everything at home,
Speaker 1: continues to be strong. Uh So at this point we
Speaker 1: don't see any signal whatsoever. We have gone through recessions
Speaker 1: in South America, Mexico and Brazil in the past, and
Speaker 1: what you see doing those recessions is that as a
Speaker 1: labor pool eases up, and certainly we don't see signs
Speaker 1: of that yet here or in in Europe. Uh. More
Speaker 1: drivers come onto the platform. Uh And as more drivers
Speaker 1: come onto the platform, the platform continues to grow, service
Speaker 1: levels get better. So I think versus many other companies,
Speaker 1: we don't have large large asset base. Our cost base
Speaker 1: essentially adjusts. In stronger economy, cost base increases as earners
Speaker 1: and drivers earned much more money, and weaker economies, as
Speaker 1: you get more drivers into the marketplace, their earnings adjust
Speaker 1: as well. So I think we are relatively were session resistant.
Speaker 1: If it happens, I certainly hope it doesn't happen right now.
Speaker 1: The signal on the street is things are really strong
Speaker 1: and the spend on services continues to be quite robot Okay,
Speaker 1: you said you'll treat hiring as a privilege and be
Speaker 1: delivered up about the pace, but you didn't mention potential layoffs.
Speaker 1: And I wonder because other companies and some of your
Speaker 1: competitors are having to consider it. How you feel about
Speaker 1: layoffs at uber um, we don't think they're necessary at all. Right.
Speaker 1: The perspective at uber is that in Q one, for example,
Speaker 1: if you look at our girl spokings, they're up thirty
Speaker 1: nine percent on a constant currency basis. Uh. We are
Speaker 1: one of those companies. While our delivery business benefited from
Speaker 1: the pandemic, our mobility business is absolutely benefiting from the reopening.
Speaker 1: We talked about guidance of twenty eight and a half
Speaker 1: to twenty nine and a half billion and growth bookings
Speaker 1: in the next quarter, profitability increasing two forty million to
Speaker 1: two hundred seventy million. So the business is growing at
Speaker 1: a healthy hace. However, with an uncertain environment out there,
Speaker 1: we should be more cautious. You know, there's much more
Speaker 1: uncertainty as you look forward six to twelve months. Uh.
Speaker 1: And my message to our employee basis, We're going to
Speaker 1: be careful. We feel really good about the business and
Speaker 1: the trends, but let's not get carried away. And the
Speaker 1: environment is one that demands caution, and I do think
Speaker 1: that in a tougher environment, the scale players right, we're
Speaker 1: the largest player on a global basis. We're the only
Speaker 1: player that has the portfolio of go Get. We have
Speaker 1: a platform advantage in terms of our riders turning into eaters,
Speaker 1: our couriers turning into drivers, etcetera. We have structural advantages
Speaker 1: over the smaller players. You can catch the full interview
Speaker 1: with Dura kauser shot. He's e of uber at Bloomberg
Speaker 1: dot com. Now turning to the gaming world and the
Speaker 1: so called metaverse and a Twitter poll conducted at our summit,
Speaker 1: we asked what will the metaverse have the most drastic
Speaker 1: impact on? The overwhelming majority said gaming Joining me now
Speaker 1: and hand. She's the CEO and chairwoman of Super League Gaming.
Speaker 1: Good to see you here in person, Thank you for coming. Nice.
Speaker 1: So using something interesting on stage, which is that you
Speaker 1: don't like to use the term metaverse. Why is that
Speaker 1: there's a little backlash right now because a lot of
Speaker 1: people are wondering about this bigger metaverse play that we're
Speaker 1: really probably five to ten years away from. But metaverse
Speaker 1: games are open world platform games as we call them,
Speaker 1: have been around for over a decade. Games like Minecraft
Speaker 1: games where they give you a set of tools and
Speaker 1: you make the game yourself and you invite friends in
Speaker 1: and so it has creation, collaboration, and most of all,
Speaker 1: it's social. It's really a digital cul de sac. And
Speaker 1: so we focus a lot on how we bring brands
Speaker 1: into metaverse experiences to reach those gen zum players. And
Speaker 1: I do think the good news is is gaming is
Speaker 1: than the trojan horse for the greater metaverse because it's
Speaker 1: existed for some time and it's a very successful platform,
Speaker 1: but you don't see it until five to ten years out.
Speaker 1: I think the big meta is a ways off. It's
Speaker 1: kind of like the Internet right, new wild terrain. And
Speaker 1: the difference about the metaverse though, for gaming is that
Speaker 1: it's so social, it's so community based, um. And so
Speaker 1: what's exciting in some ways is the Internet failed us
Speaker 1: in many ways, right, especially the ad model for the Internet. UM.
Speaker 1: It became a nuisance, it became disruptive, It didn't fully
Speaker 1: deliver because it interrupted the user's experience and what we
Speaker 1: focus on a super league is ways to bring brands
Speaker 1: in that's really engaging and immersive and allows brands to
Speaker 1: reach this very elusive audience, but meet them right where
Speaker 1: they are in games and enhance those experiences for them.
Speaker 1: The big meta. I like that, and I start using
Speaker 1: the big meta. Okay, so in the big meta, how
Speaker 1: how much is our real world self separate from our
Speaker 1: digital self? Like, are we going to lose track of
Speaker 1: where we are who we are? It's a really good question.
Speaker 1: I mean, on one hand, you can always worry about
Speaker 1: some of the security concerns and the blurring of those lines.
Speaker 1: But when I think about the younger generation and we
Speaker 1: talked to them, and we talked to their parents, I
Speaker 1: actually feel that there's more po positives and negatives. First
Speaker 1: of all, gen Z does not see a difference between
Speaker 1: their digital and physical life. It's just their life. And
Speaker 1: they do want their their digital selves and their physical
Speaker 1: selves to align to the same values and interest And
Speaker 1: you know, this is the way I look at it.
Speaker 1: I talked about a little bit earlier in the summit. Today.
Speaker 1: You know, a five year old picks their Minecraft I
Speaker 1: D and the world hasn't yet boxed them in or
Speaker 1: made any decisions about who they're going to be one day,
Speaker 1: So their aspirational self comes through, and maybe that means
Speaker 1: that they feel more limitless in their physical life as well.
Speaker 1: So I think there's just as many positives to establishing
Speaker 1: your digital self. Um, instead of it being an act
Speaker 1: as as older generations might do, it's more of a
Speaker 1: genuine interest in what they want to be. Now. Cheryl Sandberg,
Speaker 1: longtime CEO of Meta, just resigned this week and she's
Speaker 1: leaving in the fall, and you know she would have
Speaker 1: had to evolve this very long standing business bottel for
Speaker 1: the metaverse? Is advertising the business model of the future
Speaker 1: in the metaverse? And will it really translate? Well, you know,
Speaker 1: I think it's just as much the digital to physical crossover.
Speaker 1: Right Like when you were interviewing you know, Andy Chassis
Speaker 1: earlier today and he talked about of retail still happening physically.
Speaker 1: Imagine if a brand can get to a young person
Speaker 1: in the metaverse, engage with them either because they're an
Speaker 1: existing customer or because they're a new customer, and then
Speaker 1: the ways you can create crossover. So I think it's
Speaker 1: actually more than anything an acquisition and retention channel. So
Speaker 1: are you saying maybe I would make fewer bad online
Speaker 1: purchases because in the metaverse, maybe I get to try
Speaker 1: stuff on. Certainly, there will certainly be a game for
Speaker 1: that where you can try on all of your fashion
Speaker 1: and have your friends react right and get real time feedback.
Speaker 1: But you know, think about things like if you have
Speaker 1: a gaming avatar, and right now you buy for that avatar,
Speaker 1: say a pair of Nike shoes or a Gucci cape,
Speaker 1: your propensity now to want to bring that brand into
Speaker 1: your physical life is much higher. And so it's actually
Speaker 1: a very affordable, accessible way for brands to get to
Speaker 1: know a new batch of cons. What company or kinds
Speaker 1: of companies are going to own the metaverse? Oh gosh.
Speaker 1: I mean, it'll be very interesting to see in the
Speaker 1: role of crypto throughout all of it, and blockchain as well. Um,
Speaker 1: I think right now it's going to continue to be
Speaker 1: gaming lead, and so look for those big players like
Speaker 1: the Microsoft Tones, Minecraft, Roadblocks, Epic who is now opening
Speaker 1: up their Unreal engine as well inside Fortnite. Look for
Speaker 1: gaming to continue to lead. And I think what I'm
Speaker 1: excited about is the next place where gaming will lead.
Speaker 1: And I think that's around education and being a new
Speaker 1: entry point for kids to learn about STEM. All right
Speaker 1: and hand Super League Gaming CEO. Good to see you here,
Speaker 1: any person. Thanks for stopping by. Thank you. Okay, coming up,
Speaker 1: rethinking the pivot to crypto. What coin bases hiring freeze
Speaker 1: means for workers that flock to digital assets? That is next.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg. Welcome back to Bloomber Technology Live from
Speaker 1: our flagship technology summit. As crypto, we're talking krypto now
Speaker 1: became more of a hot commodity. Workers rushed to careers
Speaker 1: in digital assets. But with coin based announcing a hiring
Speaker 1: freeze and crypto markets boiling, some young employees are rethinking
Speaker 1: that pivot. Joining us now, Michelle By, a partner at
Speaker 1: Sequoia Capital. Michelle, get to see you here in person, Yes,
Speaker 1: thank you for having me. Okay, So let's talk about
Speaker 1: what's happening in crypto coin bases hiring phrase. It certainly
Speaker 1: doesn't look good what's happening in the industry right now? Yes,
Speaker 1: So the thing to remember at crypto is there always
Speaker 1: ups and downs. Is a very volatile sector, especially before
Speaker 1: we get a better regulatory framework in place. But Sequoia
Speaker 1: has been investing for fifty years in a lot of
Speaker 1: market cycles and is no stranger to the cycles in crypto.
Speaker 1: So the thing to remember is, you know, founders in
Speaker 1: the space expect ups and downs, and every company is different.
Speaker 1: So I work very closely with f t X. Sequoia
Speaker 1: is a proud partner there, and they're not doing a
Speaker 1: hiring freeze. They are well capitalized and ready to take
Speaker 1: advantage of this period. So there's a huge range in
Speaker 1: the way companies are reacting to the downturn and asset prices,
Speaker 1: and long term we are still very optimistic that the
Speaker 1: best companies will actually extend their advantage and come out
Speaker 1: even stronger. So would you say that in the case
Speaker 1: of coin based then there was a mistake in execution.
Speaker 1: They grew too fast. You know the big public company
Speaker 1: now yeah, I think less big than it was. Yes,
Speaker 1: many public company CEOs, you know Sequoia works and company
Speaker 1: is seed through public. So many public company CEOs have
Speaker 1: had to deal with their stock price changing and a
Speaker 1: market that valued growth pivoting to one that valued profitabilities.
Speaker 1: So this is a change many people are going through.
Speaker 1: I think the important thing to remember those that cryptos
Speaker 1: very diverse and so there are a lot of companies
Speaker 1: very well positioned who are not struggling to make quite
Speaker 1: an impact in the future. So and obviously Sequoia has
Speaker 1: a huge portfol Leo and you've got workers moving between
Speaker 1: companies all the time. Do you see employees rethinking, oh,
Speaker 1: should I go to a crypto company or maybe I
Speaker 1: should stay at Apple or Google for a little while longer. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we see actually quite a valuable market in the talent
Speaker 1: market for startups. So we think one positive of this
Speaker 1: period for the startups that play their cards right is
Speaker 1: that they'll actually be able to hire talent they probably
Speaker 1: wouldn't have been able to before. And so in many ways,
Speaker 1: this loosening in the talent market could be very beneficial
Speaker 1: for those leading companies to you know, stack their staff
Speaker 1: and their teams with top talent from these companies. So
Speaker 1: we're pretty optimistic actually that those companies will be able
Speaker 1: to succeed, even if there's some near term shift happening.
Speaker 1: So if Sequoia could send that R I P. Good
Speaker 1: Times memo now like at this moment, what would the
Speaker 1: headline be. I think we gathered our founders earlier this
Speaker 1: year to talk about how to deal with this downturn
Speaker 1: and how to plan for it, and the key message
Speaker 1: was adapting to indoor. So what we've learned through so
Speaker 1: many cycles is that you know, focusing on R and
Speaker 1: D and extending your product advantage is one of the
Speaker 1: most important things you can do during this time. And
Speaker 1: so really capitalizing on this to put yourself ahead of
Speaker 1: your competitors while also potentially trimming in other areas depending
Speaker 1: on how you've been running your business, are the most
Speaker 1: important thing. And so we think the best companies can
Speaker 1: come out stronger, but they have to survive long enough
Speaker 1: to have that chance. So where is Sequoia placing its
Speaker 1: crypto beets now? Where do you see the most opportunities
Speaker 1: for growth? Very similar areas, So our conviction is very
Speaker 1: unrattled by this, you know, honestly, it's just really the
Speaker 1: same on a tenure horizon. We're hoping that crypto can
Speaker 1: grow from the millions of users into the billions, and
Speaker 1: for that to happen, we're investing in a broad number
Speaker 1: of areas, from infrastructure to financial applications to internet applications
Speaker 1: that are based on blockchains, and so we're very excited,
Speaker 1: especially about the infrastructure and developer tools that we're seeing
Speaker 1: that will help more companies be able to build more resilient, safe,
Speaker 1: and more secure applications. All right, so does it matter
Speaker 1: if bitcoin gets back to sixty in your view or
Speaker 1: you know, doesn't The price doesn't matter long term. We're
Speaker 1: not investing for the prices of the assets. We're investing
Speaker 1: behind the founders and the companies. So FT Experiences that
Speaker 1: we work with is a great example. They're building an
Speaker 1: exchange that we think could be a really amazing product
Speaker 1: for cryptodrivatives markets. And so whether the price goes up
Speaker 1: or down, people are still trading. And that's a founder,
Speaker 1: you know, it's a perfect example of what we look
Speaker 1: for with an incredible founder, a great market opportunity, and
Speaker 1: so the price doesn't matter as much. It's really the
Speaker 1: long term business that we're excited about. Okay, Michelle buy
Speaker 1: a partner at Sequoia. Great to have you. Thank you
Speaker 1: for sharing your view of the future things so much.
Speaker 1: Weymo is clearly a leader in the autonomous space. Uh.
Speaker 1: And this is actually a pretty deep partnership with Weymo
Speaker 1: where we now have we're going to have access to
Speaker 1: Billy of miles driven as it relates to their autonomous driver.
Speaker 1: Uber CEO dar Kaswa Shy. They're speaking at the Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Tech Summit about a new partnership with Weymo, and of
Speaker 1: course remember these two companies were bitter rivals. So how
Speaker 1: did it happen? I'm joined out by Weymo coat CEO
Speaker 1: to Key Drama Kondo t teacher. Great to have you
Speaker 1: with us. I know you just ran from the stage,
Speaker 1: so thanks for Let's talk about how the partnership is
Speaker 1: gonna work. Yes, you know in the future, does this
Speaker 1: mean Weymo trucks on Uber's network. Yes, so we Wemo
Speaker 1: will partner with carriers and shippers and they will have
Speaker 1: trucks with the Wemo driver on them, our fit generation
Speaker 1: drivers what we're using right now on Timelore trucks, and
Speaker 1: then those trucks, shippers and carriers will have the opportunity
Speaker 1: to opt in to the Uber Freight network and you know,
Speaker 1: paying the vision for us. These are trucks that are
Speaker 1: taking anything you can imagine criss crossing the country of
Speaker 1: the world, exactly long haul trucking, So massive long haul
Speaker 1: truck across say Tucson, Arizona to Houston or Dallas, to Houston,
Speaker 1: major major shipment of goods across the country. And the
Speaker 1: reason this is so important is we've reserved the capacity
Speaker 1: for billions of miles on this network because we believe
Speaker 1: as two companies that we can improve the efficiency of
Speaker 1: how goods move. So Uber and Weymo long ago rivals
Speaker 1: that date all the way back to Travis Kline, the
Speaker 1: co founder of Uber and Anthony Lewandowski, co founder of
Speaker 1: Google Car, Like, how did you get past a really
Speaker 1: long and drawn out lawsuit? You know, I'm really happy
Speaker 1: to say that the way mo Via team and the
Speaker 1: Uber Freight team have focused on what we actually are
Speaker 1: here for right which is improving road safety, improving this
Speaker 1: long haul trucking and logistics opportunity. And Dar and I
Speaker 1: have from the beginning had a really good sort of
Speaker 1: upfront direct relationship, which I appreciate. So let's talk about
Speaker 1: how far AMO has come. Because I rode in the
Speaker 1: Google Car in and just a couple of days ago,
Speaker 1: my colleague Tom Giles rode in the Weymo of today.
Speaker 1: How much has that experience changed in eleven years? This
Speaker 1: was this is yeah, that's today, Yeah, this is today.
Speaker 1: So today we have the fifth generation Wemo driver, which
Speaker 1: is what you say on the all Electric I pace.
Speaker 1: Here in San Francisco, we have employees who are taking
Speaker 1: right only which means no human behind the wheel rides,
Speaker 1: and we have members of the San Francisco community taking
Speaker 1: also taking rides as trusted testers. In addition, we've announced
Speaker 1: that we are expanding to downtown Phoenix, where the same
Speaker 1: vehicles there and our employees are taking rides. And we've
Speaker 1: also started having employees take rides to and from the
Speaker 1: Phoenix Airport, which is really exciting because it's the first
Speaker 1: time that any autonomous vehicle company is figuring out how
Speaker 1: to navigate UH and airport. So and I, well, I
Speaker 1: ask you this every time we talk, but I guess
Speaker 1: the real question is when can I in a major
Speaker 1: city open an app and hail a way. So right
Speaker 1: now you can in the Phoenix metro area, right, and
Speaker 1: you're devalace in testing in San Francisco, But when does
Speaker 1: this become more available available? So I think you know,
Speaker 1: what we really focused on is what does it take
Speaker 1: to go from one city to now three g o
Speaker 1: s one platform to now across multiple platforms. And that's
Speaker 1: what we've been able to do. One of the things
Speaker 1: we've learned in doing that is it's operating a service
Speaker 1: that's actually the learning curve, right, You've got to learn
Speaker 1: how to not just make sure the technology works and
Speaker 1: is see, but how do you delight the writers? What
Speaker 1: does that experience look like? And so one of the
Speaker 1: areas that we've found wonderfully delightful is when people are
Speaker 1: using right hailing and there's no driver in the car,
Speaker 1: no human driver in the car, the window driver only,
Speaker 1: they immediately start casting their music. Right. Those kinds of
Speaker 1: features are what allow people to come back and feel
Speaker 1: like this is their third space. So the question you're
Speaker 1: asking is what's your roadmap? And I'm not telling you that,
Speaker 1: But what I am telling you is we're spending time
Speaker 1: learning a lot. And in Phoenix, Phoenix metro area, our
Speaker 1: service has been up and going almost two years now,
Speaker 1: twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, and
Speaker 1: those writers continue to make a value part of their
Speaker 1: So what's going to differentiate a way mow from a
Speaker 1: self driving test left from a zooks from You know,
Speaker 1: there are a bunch of different companies Aurora now working
Speaker 1: on self driving technology. Yeah, I think you'll have to
Speaker 1: see what those companies are really focused on that really
Speaker 1: important first step, which is getting to removing the driver.
Speaker 1: As we all remove the driver, and we've done that
Speaker 1: now a couple of years ago, then you figure out
Speaker 1: what your value proposition differentiation is going to be. I
Speaker 1: have no idea what there is it's going to be.
Speaker 1: I just know who ares? How about regulators? How much
Speaker 1: progress do you really think you're making on getting regulators
Speaker 1: comfortable with the safety of this. So the safety is
Speaker 1: really the focus of the federal government, and so right
Speaker 1: now it's largely a permissive framework where companies have the
Speaker 1: opportunity to submit safety report. Um there hasn't been a
Speaker 1: lot of detailed movement at the federal level. Of the
Speaker 1: state level, there has been and we you know, our
Speaker 1: teams work with all levels of government at the state level,
Speaker 1: as we're even seeing here in California, the states, both
Speaker 1: legislators and regulators are trying to figure out how best
Speaker 1: to advance this technology while doing so safely. How often
Speaker 1: do you get to ride? I love to ride. So
Speaker 1: when I go to Phoenix, every time any family member
Speaker 1: says they're going to be there, any friend, I try
Speaker 1: to go and take a ride. And then of course
Speaker 1: now that it's right here in San Francisco, I do
Speaker 1: rides on Are you like taking notes and sending them
Speaker 1: back to the course of course? Yes, alright, alright, alright,
Speaker 1: So so let's say five years where five years in
Speaker 1: a lot of cities? How many okay, and a lot
Speaker 1: of cities. And also, you know we have right yelling.
Speaker 1: We also have the say trucks, so our trucks will
Speaker 1: be on roads moving goods safely. Um. And then we
Speaker 1: have local delivery and so you know, your meals or
Speaker 1: groceries or hopefully coming to your house. And is this
Speaker 1: going to go global? I mean definitely we're focused on
Speaker 1: is there a market that is more exciting than another? Internationally?
Speaker 1: There are a lot of really exciting har right, because
Speaker 1: the question is how does this skip? Right? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think that's right, and we're really we're in the early
Speaker 1: days of focusing on that right now. Scale, you know,
Speaker 1: and operating across three geos and two platforms is the
Speaker 1: beginning of learning what you have to do all the
Speaker 1: rails that have to be laid in order to do that.
Speaker 1: Two Kedramkana, co CEO of Wemo, Great to have you here.
Speaker 1: Thank you said, I need my ride. It's been eleven years.
Speaker 1: I'm coming to you for that, okay, and that doesn't
Speaker 1: for a special addition of Bloomberg Technology. At the City
Speaker 1: Club in San Francisco, We've had some fascinating conversations, amazing guests,
Speaker 1: Amazon CEO Anti Jase Wars, Dara Kasrashahi, Michael Meeboch, the
Speaker 1: CEO of master Card. You can catch all of that
Speaker 1: at Bloomberg dot com. And we've got a great show
Speaker 1: lined up for you tomorrow. Arianna Hoffington will be with
Speaker 1: us and George Kurtz. This is Bloomberg