WEBVTT - Tesla Cuts 200 Autopilot Workers, Closes Site 0:00:01.800 --> 0:00:04.440 This is Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Carol Masser and I'm 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:07.280 Bloomberg Quick Takes, Tim Stanibek. We're here every day bringing 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:09.799 you the latest news from the world of business and finance, 0:00:09.840 --> 0:00:13.640 plus technology, politics, economics, all purtnising the power of Business 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:17.119 Week reporters and editors, not to mention our journalists and 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:19.640 analyst in more than one and twenty countries. You can 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:23.239 download Bloomberg Business Week and iTunes, SoundCloud, or Bloomberg dot Com. 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:25.120 You can also listen to our radio show at two 0:00:25.160 --> 0:00:27.840 pm Eastern Time on Bloomberg Radio or watch us on 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:32.159 YouTube search Bloomberg Global News. Charlie talking about the overall 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:35.440 market trade, signing out some names Tesla also on our radar. 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:37.920 It's down about one point eight percent in today's session, 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:40.720 definitely off. It's loads of the day, and we want 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:44.720 to get to a story um that is courtesy of 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:49.080 our own Bloomberg's Ed Ludlow and Dana Hall Bloomberg exclusive 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:51.360 talking about the company's plans to cut about two hundred 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:54.960 autopilot workers as it shuts down it's California's site. Let's 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:57.680 get more. Bloomberg News West Coast correspondent Ed Ludlow. He 0:00:57.760 --> 0:01:00.319 is in our nine sixties studio in San Francisco. Check 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:03.640 them out on YouTube. As we speak, you can see 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:06.840 him Hi ed Hey, So tell us about this story. 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:08.959 You guys broke it? Um, What do we need to know? 0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:12.440 And was it a surprise? Yes and no. There's a 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:16.840 facility in Samoteo here in the Bay area and it 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:20.200 was home to the Auto Pilot dates babling team, and 0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:24.040 sources tell us that they were all called into yesterday 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:28.520 and told that their jobs were gone, that this was 0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:31.560 part of a longer term plans moved this team from 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:34.920 one facility in Samotheo for one down the road in 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:38.640 lots of those workers are expecting to be moved, but 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:41.840 ultimately what happened was they were laid off. And I 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:43.479 think you're actually at a port and that's a ship 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:49.160 coming in. Is that what's going on? So? I mean 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:52.840 when I saw this headline cross yesterday, usually you would 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:54.720 see the headline like this and be like, oh man, 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:57.840 the company is in trouble or in some sort of 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:00.880 stress that we didn't know about. Is that true in 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:05.000 Tesla's case? So elon must hold Our editor achieve John 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:09.160 mcauthwaite last week that Tesla would be laying off ten 0:02:09.240 --> 0:02:14.640 percent of salaried workers. Tesla's workforce is split between two 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:20.040 thirds hourly workers and one third salaried. This is important 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:23.000 because according to sources, the vast majority of those laid 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:26.920 off yesterday were hourly, not salaried. So it's kind of 0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:29.040 at odds what happened. Because Elon must told us it 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:32.880 would cuts would focus on salaried employees, hourly workers would 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:36.480 be protected. Now. Elon Musk also clarified that a lot 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:38.839 of the hourly jobs he was talking about growing would 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:42.799 be on production lines. The people we're talking about data labelers, 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:46.400 they're working on the auto pilot functionality, but there's still 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:49.600 hourly workers. So it was a surprise because we were 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:53.400 led to believe that those types of employment contracts were protected. 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:56.800 So is this a shift of a mega growth company. 0:02:56.800 --> 0:02:59.840 It feels like um as it's wrapped up and you 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:02.040 have been spitting out its vehicles. I mean, is that 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:04.720 a shift from this company maybe not being such a 0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:08.280 big growth player, but still producing a lot. You know, 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:11.519 autopilot data labing is kind of a manual job and 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:15.840 a thankless job. You basically take video footage that's generated 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:20.239 from the cameras on Tesla customer cars, Tesla owner cars, 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:24.200 and you annotate to help train the neural networks that 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:28.280 improved the technology. People are doing that here in the 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:30.519 Bay Area, but they're also doing it in Buffalo, New York. 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:33.440 And what sources tell us is that actually that team 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:36.400 is growing in Buffalo, New York. But sources also tell 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:39.960 us that they are paid less in New York State 0:03:39.960 --> 0:03:41.520 than they are here in the Bay Area. So that's 0:03:41.520 --> 0:03:44.600 one factor to consider. But it's definitely one of these 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:46.680 areas that Elon Musk has referred to where they grew 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:49.560 too quickly to two greater size. You know, they're big 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:52.080 teams in the Bay areas. I said this was part 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:54.520 of a sort of change of plan to move people 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:57.040 to different Obviously is they've been winding down the team anyway, 0:03:57.320 --> 0:03:59.720 but it's still interesting. Well that's kind of what I 0:03:59.840 --> 0:04:01.920 was thinking, because it caught my eye in your story 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:05.960 that you say that the company now based in Austin, Texas. 0:04:06.000 --> 0:04:10.200 It's currently about a hundred thousand employees globally. I had 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:12.920 no idea that Tesla employed that many people. And I 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:15.360 think about what we've heard from Amazon, and I think 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:18.960 Walmart too, coming out and saying that they overstaffed. I mean, 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:22.359 could that potentially be true in Tesla's case. You know, 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:25.240 I think what we learned with inflation is inflation took 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:27.840 us by surprise. It's surprise to the upside a lot. 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:30.800 The macro picture in the supply chain breakdown continues to 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:34.080 surprise us, and inventories of retailers is a good example 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:36.120 of that. What I would say is that people have 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:38.200 short memories when it comes to Tesla, and you have 0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:40.800 to remember that there have been rounds of job cuts before. 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:46.240 You know, the stock performed astronomically in the in the 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:49.279 early days of the pandemic, but they did go through 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:51.800 a round of layoffs when things were tought. So we've 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:54.039 seen Elon must be prepared to do this in the past, 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:57.120 and he'd warned us, Hey, you know one thing I 0:04:57.120 --> 0:04:59.520 wanted to ask you, um kady. Now we're just kicking 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:03.120 around some stories in the solar world, in the alternative 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:06.920 energy world. There's a story by Tara Patel about Stilantis. 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:09.760 It's one of Europe's biggest automakers and they are warning 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:12.040 of a car market collapse if evis don't get cheaper. 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:14.680 I have to say that's that makes sense to me 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:16.599 that unless we bring down the price, and I don't 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:18.520 know how we do it, whether it's just you know, 0:05:18.560 --> 0:05:20.720 being able to mass produce more. I mean, how do 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:22.920 you see it? And how does kind of tests the 0:05:23.000 --> 0:05:25.159 play into this. Who has been also trying to, I 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:27.279 feel like, be more aggressive about getting a car for 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:30.320 the mass market. Yeah, you guys, remember Elon Musk had 0:05:30.360 --> 0:05:33.120 this original goal of a twenty five dollar EV where 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:34.920 he wanted to make one for the masses. Well that's 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:38.279 gone out the window, frankly, he's abandoned that idea, and 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:40.560 not every If we take the United States an example, 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:45.479 the median household cannot afford a forty fifty sixty seventy 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:48.360 thousand dollar vehicle, especially a small one like a Tesla 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:51.600 Model three or Model Why. They look for value. And 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:54.640 you look across the market and the trend that we're 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:59.160 seeing all of these EV players, the Rivian's, the Lucids 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:01.320 on top of tests that and the legacy auto like 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:05.480 GM and Ford. It's very expensive high end models they're offering. 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:08.240 We don't yet have a true mass market model that 0:06:08.400 --> 0:06:11.240 is affordable for that media to lower income family household. 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:13.440 And you know that's the inflection point. You look at 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:16.359 China where you the adoptions further ahead. They have a 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:20.040 greater variety of model types and at more affordable prices 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:22.279 than we have here in the United States and Europe. Again, 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:25.160 more option, lower price point. All right, to look into 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:26.840 your crystal ball. What's gonna be the next story on 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:30.120 a Elon Musk is gonna be tesla twitter wet just 0:06:30.279 --> 0:06:33.000 quickly yet you know Elon Musk has not tweeted since 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:36.159 June twenty one. I want to know why. I feel 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:39.200 something's coming. Guys, I feel something's coming. Ellen, are you 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:44.279 out there? You can just tweet it ad directly Bloomberg 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:46.760 Air while you're at it. Yeah, exactly, Come join us 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:49.040 at love Look. Thank you so much as always, great 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:51.800 Scoop West Coast correspondent Bloomberg News in our nine sixties 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:54.479 studio in San Francisco. You can hear them Bloomberg Radio 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:56.640 and see them on YouTube. Katie and I come back 0:06:56.880 --> 0:07:00.680 in just a moment. Right here at Bloomberg Radio. You're 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:04.680 listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:08.800 Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Well, the Bloomberg 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:11.280 business Week annual Heist issue. It is out. The cover 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:14.520 story takes us from the Cambodian Jungles to the Metropolitan 0:07:14.600 --> 0:07:17.920 Museum of Art. It is about an art crime for 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:20.520 the ages, and earlier I caught up with Matt Campbell, 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:23.600 Asia editor for Bloomberg business Week from Singapore. Matt wrote 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:26.720 that story along with Bloomberg Business Week editor Joel reb Webber. 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:30.480 I began by asking Joel about how this story perfect 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:33.800 for the Heist issue came to his attention. Matt actually 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:37.720 wrote this story and as he'll I think reveal here, 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:42.120 actually the main character UM is a character named Douglas Latchford, 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:44.640 and Matt had high hopes to actually talk to him 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:47.640 at some point, but then obviously COVID happened and he 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:51.440 passed away. So what is incredible. But the story though, 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:55.320 is that it really speaks to Cambodia and artifacts at Cambodia, 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:58.640 but also the sea change within the art world where 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:03.360 artifacts that UM were looted decades ago are now in 0:08:03.400 --> 0:08:06.640 the crosshairs of investigators who are trying to actually return 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:10.640 them to their rightful owners. UM. So, so Matt talked 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:13.120 to us about Douglas Slatchford, who is he exactly? So? 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:16.800 Dougla Flashford, the late Dougla flash For who died was 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:20.480 a British businessman who lived virtually his whole adult life 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:26.120 in Bangkok uh and among other activities, he was for 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:29.720 a period of about forty years arguably the top dealer 0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:33.680 in the world of statues from Cambodia, the spectacular Khmer 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:36.480 Empire sculptures and some of them a thousand years old 0:08:36.520 --> 0:08:40.000 or more. And he really built an art dealing empire, 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:43.720 and there are works in a very fancy private collections 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:46.160 and huge important museums like the met in the British 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:49.640 Museum with links to Latchford all over the world. But 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:52.559 but as has now become a parent, he was a 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:56.839 part of a looting network and was facilitating essentially the 0:08:57.160 --> 0:09:01.040 looting and laundering of statues that were being ripped from 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:05.320 temple having their origins of Steward and then trafficked onto 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:09.000 the international art market. So what did that network really 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:12.360 look like because he actually really never went into the jungle. 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:14.760 It was wasn't like he was an Indiana Jones character 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:17.760 here going into the jungle to get these artifacts, right, 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:20.480 So what did his network look like that's right, Joel. 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:23.560 There is there has been a perception of Lashford sometimes 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:26.160 in the past as as kind of a tomb raider himself, 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:29.560 and that in fact is not true. He directed this 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:32.360 operation and he did everything that he did essentially from 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:37.280 his apartment in Bangkok. But what he did was by 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:41.520 whatever was coming over the border from this network of 0:09:41.640 --> 0:09:46.040 looters and brokers within Cambodia who do that. Lash was 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:51.080 a buyer. He helped create a huge market for stolen antiquities, uh, 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:55.040 and certainly had contact with the brokers who were deciding 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:57.880 to some extent what got looted and what got out 0:09:57.880 --> 0:10:01.680 of Cambodia. So while he was not himself smashing and 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:07.360 grabbing statues, he was really the essential node in this operation. 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:11.880 Without him, and particularly without his very energetic salesmanship which 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:16.000 made these Cambodian statutes into really big money objects, you know, 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:20.480 selling for for high six and even seven figure prices, Uh, 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:22.800 this looting would never have occurred on the scale that 0:10:22.880 --> 0:10:28.160 it did. And what are the artworks themselves? So we 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:29.600 need to do a little bit of a little bit 0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:33.880 of background history here. Cambodia a thousand or so years 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:36.640 ago was the center of something called the Khmer Empire, 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:42.800 which was this Hindu and Buddhist monarchy stretching encompassing all 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:46.160 of contemporary Cambodia as well as much of Thailand in Vietnam, 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:50.559 was this very powerful civilization. Ongore was the capital on 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:53.040 Gore Watt being the site of people are familiar with. 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:58.760 And these Cambodian kings commissioned massive statues. You know, these 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:01.720 are four feet tall fig feet tall, you know, six 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:07.520 hundred pounds stone objects depicting gods and warriors or themselves, 0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:12.240 you know, or or their wives and children. Really beautiful figures. 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:15.000 And actually when you spend a little time with these 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:17.679 objects as I have, it's very easy to see how 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:21.520 you can become obsessed with them, as Douglas Flatchford was well, 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:24.920 and you know, take us there, Matt, you went to 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:28.800 the Cambodian Jungles. Tell us about what you saw, uh, 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:31.240 and kind of the massive I mean some of these 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:33.680 there's some pictures in the magazine. They really are are stunny, 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:37.559 but they're they're massive. And take us to also where 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:39.720 you know, who knew that feet would be so key 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:42.800 in figuring out this heist, if you will? Well, so 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:46.560 one of the things that strikes you about visiting temples 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:49.920 in Cambodia is, first of all, they are spectacular and 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:53.200 they're amazing places and and sort of overwhelming to see 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:55.560 you in person. But but as you look a little 0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:58.400 more closely, you realize what's not there is that these 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:02.640 buildings are empty. Because as there were statues, they used 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:05.320 to be full of statues. But the statues are all gone, 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:08.800 and we're all taken years and years ago. Some were 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:11.760 taken under the French, others later, you know, during the 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:14.559 Cambodian Civil War and the Camara Rouge period and then 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:17.599 this really big period of looting which I described in 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:19.240 the story in the nineties, and that was really the 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:24.880 golden age of Temple Robin in Cambodia. And however, this 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:28.520 looting was sort of crude and left behind remnants and fragments, 0:12:28.520 --> 0:12:31.360 and actually, as you alluded to, feet uh and and 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:33.840 one of the key anecdotes and the story relates to 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:38.000 matching a pair of statues that had made it into 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:41.840 Western collections to their feet which were still in sits 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:45.360 you on the ground, broken off. And of course it's possible, 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:47.960 you know, with with computer technology to three D match 0:12:48.080 --> 0:12:51.880 these objects together and to determine this statue came from 0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:54.600 this place, and then if you can interview witnesses find 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:57.320 people who remember that being taken, you can actually nail 0:12:57.360 --> 0:12:59.720 down the when as well, when and how did this 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:03.559 high begin to unravel. So this has been a long 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:07.840 and kind of interesting, very interesting process where you've had 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:13.800 a number of private citizens, heridag activists, archaeologists, other people 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:16.200 involved in antiquities in one way or another who have 0:13:16.240 --> 0:13:20.400 had suspicions about this trafficking network for over a decade now. 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:25.120 But things really began to unravel in the mid when 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:28.800 US prosecutors, specifically in the Southern District of New York, 0:13:29.200 --> 0:13:32.680 began to take an interest in antiquities trafficking and antiquities 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:35.880 trafficking from Cambodia. So there have been a series of 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:38.440 indictments now of both federally and at the state level 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:41.319 in New York of people involved in one way or 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:47.079 another with the lash Ford operation. And in last for 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:52.000 himself was indicted on fraud and h conspiracy charges by 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:55.199 SDN Y and that really signaled that there was this 0:13:55.320 --> 0:13:59.719 extremely serious law enforcement effort underway. However, a latch for 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:02.160 I had about a year after that indictment. He was 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:04.640 very sick at the time, eighty eight years old and 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:07.240 never went to trial. I feel like there are three 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:11.760 key players in your story, and we've covered um Douglas Latchford. 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:14.400 There's the individual who helped him and digging up and 0:14:15.000 --> 0:14:17.320 you know, finding they aren't getting it out of Cambodia. 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:20.160 There was also an internationally connected attorney that the U. 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:22.560 S Department of Justice turned to, Brad Gordon. How important 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:24.360 was he in kind of helping figure this all out? 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:28.360 Brad Gordon is a really crucial character in this narrative 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:32.040 and and is really a remarkable character. He is an 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:35.320 American lawyer. He's lived in Asia much of his career, 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:38.880 had lived in Cambodia for over a decade now, and 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:42.040 he was hired by the d J about ten years 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:45.680 ago to begin investigating some of these thefts on behalf 0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:49.600 of the US government on the Cambodian side, and Brad 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:54.000 really became obsessed by it, totally hooked on the challenge 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:57.720 of figuring out where these objects were taken and uh 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:01.960 and how they might be returned to Cambodia ultimately. And 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:05.840 in that effort he found a really crucial witness, a 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:09.280 Cambodian man named talk Tick, who actually Brad referred to 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:12.880 with a code name Lion uh and Lion it turned out, 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:17.760 was a master looter, an extremely prolific looter, and someone 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:22.080 who helps Brad and measurably put it all together. Alright, 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:25.200 that last voice Matt Campbell, Asia editor for Bloomberg Business Week. 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:29.480 He joined us from Singapore Morning, Our time, Night, his time. 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:32.400 It's his story, he wrote it. It's for the annual 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:35.240 Heist issue, which comes out every summer. And Katie, it 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:37.080 is just a great summer read. Just these all these 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:41.360 kinds of theft stories, intrigue, and Matt tells a tale 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:44.400 like no other. End. I'm just waiting for this story 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:47.520 to be on Netflix or Hulu or you know, one 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:49.880 of the streaming channels, because it's pretty incredible. All Right, 0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:55.920 you're listening to Bloomberg Radio. This is Bloomberg Business Week 0:15:56.120 --> 0:16:00.120 with Carol Masser and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:03.920 Bloomberg Radio, July four, Holiday, just around the bend. So 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:06.800 we're talking hot dogs, hamburgers, we're talking fried chicken, trip 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:09.000 macaroni salad. That's what my mom used to make when 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:11.920 we were growing up. In fourth we had Fourth of July. Um, 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:14.360 we're gonna eat probably some different things, Katie, but safe 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:17.160 to say that we're all going to probably pay a 0:16:17.200 --> 0:16:19.560 bunch more for it. So let's get to it and 0:16:19.560 --> 0:16:21.480 see what our next guest has to say about that. 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:24.160 Carol Flynn is ag tech analyst at Wells Fargo. She 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:27.120 joins us on the phone in California, and Carol is 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:29.320 good to have you here with Katie and myself. So 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:31.920 tell us a little bit about the pain points that 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:33.920 we're going to face this Fourth of July when it 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:36.600 comes to what we eat. Well, thank you so much 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:41.000 for having me. Look, um, it's it's absolutely a pain point. 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:45.480 Food price inflation is hitting everybody's wallets. Um, and we 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:49.800 wrote this uh research just to figure out where that 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:55.560 pinch of inflation could be potentially solved by finding relative 0:16:55.680 --> 0:17:00.240 value and more palatable price points. And so what welk 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:03.520 us through some of those relative value plays. Feels like 0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:05.399 I'm talking about stocks here, but when it comes to 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:08.520 food in particular, I mean, one are the substitutions that 0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:11.080 one could make if they are trying to host a 0:17:11.119 --> 0:17:14.520 party and not you know, pay a fortune for it. Well, 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:16.720 that's a great question. What you know, it's year over 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:21.760 year in food price acceloration that we're looking at here, 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:25.480 and the substitutions are truly going to be um, things 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:28.000 like what else can we put on our grill? It 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:32.000 looks like brisket is going to be more affordable than 0:17:32.080 --> 0:17:35.280 try tip this time. Maybe if you're gonna stick with 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:38.359 the hamburger patties, take a look in the frozen food section, 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:42.199 anything that's sort of had shelf stay, book stability, or 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:46.520 frozen foods versus perishable. You're gonna see some specials out 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:49.399 there and some loss leaders. Um, it's gonna take a 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:53.800 little more effort to make sure this is um the price, 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:56.480 the budget is taken care of, all right, Carol Kate 0:17:56.560 --> 0:17:58.480 is already weighed in because I'm not gonna eat shrimp 0:17:58.480 --> 0:18:02.520 and port tacos. I heard that there are so many 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:05.639 argans in the produce department and you don't have to 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:08.359 have that. That's I mean, that's the beauty of the 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:13.159 American food and agricultural system. I mean, we have an incredible, 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:16.359 incredible glossy of foods available, but are shrimp taco is 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:20.640 actually cheaper this time around? The reason we brought up 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:24.439 shrimp is actually shrimp prices have not increased over the 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:27.240 last five years, but you look at the other proteins 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:30.000 on the grill and they're looking at twelve or fifteen 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:34.800 percent year over year increases. So again all about relative value. 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:37.880 So we'll see the shoppers looking for relative value. If 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:41.040 shrimp is already on your grill, you may have more 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:44.959 of it this time. If there's something else that you like, um, 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:47.520 then you're going to be maybe looking for substitutions in 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:52.399 the frozen case or some new innovative menu items. Sp Uh, No, 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:55.600 I don't. I'm gonna say shrimp prices probably haven't gone 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:58.119 up because it's a weird food. It is that a 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:01.480 weird food. It's a great food, weird texture. Not a fan, 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:03.840 but in any case, I also want to talk about alcohol, 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:05.720 because personally I don't really like beer, more of a 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:08.399 white wine gal, but a lot of people drink beer 0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:11.000 and other beverages at the fourth of July. What's the 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:15.000 outlook there. It does look like some of the higher 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:21.400 priced beverages in the beer case are up, and we're 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:26.919 already seeing demand flow to the domestic um super premium brand, 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:30.080 so people are already making a change, and the white 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:34.080 wine and especially killed white wine is still out there 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:37.879 and there's some great, amazing brands that are at lower 0:19:37.920 --> 0:19:41.280 price points. If you're still looking to still you know that, 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:44.400 you know, to prepare with a really nice wine, you're 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:46.720 gonna be okay, okay, all right, So talk to me 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:50.879 too about veggies or things like avocados between have been expensive. 0:19:50.920 --> 0:19:53.280 We've talked about shortages. I feel like over the last 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:56.879 year or so, where are we on that? Well, Avocado 0:19:56.880 --> 0:20:01.160 shortages is another story altogether. You know, most sleep supply chain, 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:05.920 there's always a perishability issue and weather driven issues. Um, 0:20:05.960 --> 0:20:09.880 but California avocados are just about to come into season, 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:12.600 into the peak of the season. To look for your 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:15.680 in your protest department again, seasonality is going to drive 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:17.840 a lot when their tired supply. You're going to see 0:20:17.920 --> 0:20:22.320 prices get moderated and things move quickly. It's very dynamic 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:26.120 space in the in the protest section. So, um, talk 0:20:26.160 --> 0:20:29.400 about sort of weird textures. People talk about that with avocados, 0:20:29.440 --> 0:20:32.960 but once you are a fan, it's usually a lifetime issue. 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:37.240 So are you saying they're expensive but they're around No? 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:39.240 I actually think that prices are going to come down 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:42.480 because we're gonna better supplies because we're coming into the California. 0:20:42.520 --> 0:20:45.920 See this avocados. Actually, I am not in avocado every 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:49.240 single morning, half of all, not an entire avocado left 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:52.840 the record. Should it's so healthy for you, so healthy. 0:20:52.960 --> 0:20:54.639 I'm glad to hear it, Carol. We only have about 0:20:54.640 --> 0:20:57.440 thirty seconds left, but we've covered the main course, We've 0:20:57.480 --> 0:21:01.200 covered beverages. What about dessert. What's the outlook there? Well, 0:21:01.240 --> 0:21:02.879 I think he might want to look at some of 0:21:02.880 --> 0:21:05.600 the non dairy alternatives. I'm a big fan of the 0:21:05.680 --> 0:21:08.600 real milk people, so don't forget the real live cream. 0:21:08.880 --> 0:21:11.200 But it does look like those are those price futures 0:21:11.240 --> 0:21:14.240 gonna be up substantially. I like a hot fudge Sunday 0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:16.080 on my July four I'm just gonna say it, and 0:21:16.119 --> 0:21:18.200 a little bit of watermelon as well. All Right, we're 0:21:18.200 --> 0:21:21.399 gonna run um. Have a great holiday. Esay holiday, Carol 0:21:21.840 --> 0:21:24.439 Flinch's ag tech analyist over at Wells Fargo joining us 0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:35.359 on the phone in California. I'm robbing journal. Yeah, but 0:21:35.520 --> 0:21:40.280 you let me drive? Oh no, no, no, no, who's right? Please? 0:21:40.400 --> 0:21:46.920 I'll ravels. I want to drive. It's a good question 0:21:47.280 --> 0:21:54.639 that drives in the drive to the globe. Well up, 0:21:54.880 --> 0:21:58.120 jog down on Bluebird Radio. All right, just about eleven 0:21:58.119 --> 0:22:01.000 minutes left in today's trading session. We have been bouncing around. 0:22:01.080 --> 0:22:03.159 Slight gain on the Dow, as you just heard from Charlie, 0:22:03.160 --> 0:22:05.080 a little bit lower on both the NAZAC and the SNP. 0:22:05.240 --> 0:22:07.120 So off our highs and lows of the session. Talk 0:22:07.160 --> 0:22:10.760 about searching forward directions, So let's get to it. Uh. 0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:13.320 Delighted to have with us Stephanie Pierre. She see of 0:22:13.400 --> 0:22:15.159 Dry Fus Melon and E t S for B and 0:22:15.280 --> 0:22:18.440 Y Melon Investment Management. She is in our Bloomberg Interactive 0:22:18.440 --> 0:22:21.840 Broker Studio with Katie, and she and I were in 0:22:22.040 --> 0:22:25.680