Speaker 1: From the heart of where innovation, money and power Colli
Speaker 1: in Silicon Valley and beyond. This is Bloomberg Technology with
Speaker 1: Emily Jay. I'm Emily checking in San Francisco and this
Speaker 1: is Bloomberg Technology. Coming up in the next hour, robin
Speaker 1: Hood is launching an index of the top stocks traded
Speaker 1: on its platform. Will that drive more retail investors to it?
Speaker 1: We're gonna ask a top robin Hood Exact plus send
Speaker 1: me a champion. Andre Iguadoala talks to us about what
Speaker 1: he's taking from the court to venture capital, my conversation
Speaker 1: with the basketball star about everything from diversity in tech
Speaker 1: to n f T s and sports betting. And we
Speaker 1: all know about board apes, but what about moon birds.
Speaker 1: That one new to you. We are talking to proof collectives.
Speaker 1: Kevin rows about the future of n f T. All
Speaker 1: of that in a moment, But first, robin Hood announcing
Speaker 1: a new index. This will offer a snapshot, a monthly
Speaker 1: snapshot at the top one stocks it's users are holding
Speaker 1: with the most quote unquote conviction. The company says customer conviction,
Speaker 1: and a stock will be measured by how highly concentrated
Speaker 1: it is across portfolios. Robin Hood, head of investment strategy.
Speaker 1: Stephanie Guild joins us. Now, so talk to us about
Speaker 1: the methodology behind this, Stephanie and the end goal. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think you know, we've brought in a whole new
Speaker 1: generation investors or we helped do that, right over twenty
Speaker 1: million investors, and with it came a narrative that wasn't fair. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, we're not just our investors are not just
Speaker 1: Meme stock holders, and so when we look through the data,
Speaker 1: we saw that there was actually a lot of really
Speaker 1: interesting themes and they are holding onto investing in things
Speaker 1: that are things that you and I might invest in
Speaker 1: for the long term. UM. And so we wanted to
Speaker 1: bring that narrative and be able to show it to
Speaker 1: not only the world, but also give information to our
Speaker 1: customers about it. So some of the top stocks are
Speaker 1: some of the things that we think of as quote
Speaker 1: unquote meme stocks. What do you think has been unfair
Speaker 1: about the discussion about what's traded on Robin Hood's platform. Why?
Speaker 1: I think when you also look at the other ones, right,
Speaker 1: You've got Amazon, Apple, Um, Google has been at the top.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of companies that are in our daily lives,
Speaker 1: and that's no different than generations of investors have been
Speaker 1: investing in, right, like the things that you know and
Speaker 1: use every day. UM. I think the other thing is
Speaker 1: that you you when you look through a lot of
Speaker 1: the data below the top ten, what you do see is,
Speaker 1: for example, a theme of investing in electric vehicles. And
Speaker 1: if this year has not shown you anything about the
Speaker 1: importance of adopting electric vehicles over time, I don't know
Speaker 1: what what could How do you expect investors to use
Speaker 1: the data from this index? I think for them it's
Speaker 1: just a way to say, like what our investors or
Speaker 1: customers or people like me investing in? What are you know?
Speaker 1: How are they positioned relative to me? UM? And right
Speaker 1: now it's just going to be a snapshot on a
Speaker 1: monthly basis, But there may be other ways that we
Speaker 1: can offer it to our customers to help inform them
Speaker 1: in the future. Right. That was my next question. I mean,
Speaker 1: could we see it, you know, weekly, daily, hourly UM
Speaker 1: list of the top ten or top one. I don't
Speaker 1: know if it's going to be updated that often, but
Speaker 1: I think we could in the future potentially bring it
Speaker 1: in app, for example, and share it with our customers. UM.
Speaker 1: If you own that particular stock you'll see maybe perhaps
Speaker 1: with the waiting of that stock is in our own
Speaker 1: index UM, and maybe even compare your performance to it.
Speaker 1: You mentioned electric cars. Talk to us about some of
Speaker 1: the other early data that you're seeing. What are you
Speaker 1: learning about investors from this data? I think other things
Speaker 1: I've seen over time, especially when we look back at
Speaker 1: the history of the index. It goes back to about
Speaker 1: j in your UM, is that our customers have been
Speaker 1: relatively good at timing some of the more tactical things
Speaker 1: that have been out in the market. For example, in uh,
Speaker 1: you know, in COVID, they were investing in UM the
Speaker 1: pelotons for example, and the zooms UM that has dissipated
Speaker 1: quite a bit. They were investing in mortgage companies, you know,
Speaker 1: when when interest rates were super low and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: the housing boom was happening. They were investing in the
Speaker 1: likes of Rocket and Wells Fargo. UM. A lot of
Speaker 1: that stuff has dissipated in the index. And what they're
Speaker 1: investing in is, i'd say, stuff that's sort of longer
Speaker 1: term for the future. UM. A lot of for example,
Speaker 1: financial services companies are not necessarily you know, all the
Speaker 1: banks that have been around forever. It's a lot of
Speaker 1: some of the new um you know, new ways that
Speaker 1: we might see finance evolve. And that's because our our
Speaker 1: customers are you know, thirty two years old on average
Speaker 1: um and so they have time and and why not
Speaker 1: invest in things that you know longer term can help
Speaker 1: build wealth. So why introduce this out at a time
Speaker 1: of a lot of uncertainty in the market going into
Speaker 1: an economic downturn and you know, obviously a lot of
Speaker 1: questions about how the platform is used. I think where
Speaker 1: we wanted to do it because one, as I said before,
Speaker 1: like the narrative has been unfair, and our investors aren't
Speaker 1: just making you know, crazy yolo decisions. A lot of
Speaker 1: them have learned from this recent downturn and are turning
Speaker 1: our eye toward how how can I build long term
Speaker 1: wealth for myself? And our platform, you know, really helps
Speaker 1: you get started with that, and we want to grow
Speaker 1: with our customers, and having this information available to us
Speaker 1: and being able to track it can also help us
Speaker 1: understand our customers better and give them what they need
Speaker 1: over time. All right, Stephanie Guild, Robin Hood's head of
Speaker 1: investment Strategy, will continue to track those now that they're out.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us to come up how venture
Speaker 1: capitalists are changing their strategy amid a market downturn. That's next,
Speaker 1: This is bloomerk. The economic downturn is slashing startup valuations,
Speaker 1: leading to smaller I p o s or no our
Speaker 1: i p o s in some cases, and less venture
Speaker 1: capital activity. How long does it last? Amber? About Charia
Speaker 1: of Maverick Ventures, managing director joining us now, Amber, how
Speaker 1: long do you think it lasts? I've heard two to
Speaker 1: three years for this downturn. Well, great to have, Great
Speaker 1: to be on the show, Emily, thanks for having me. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I wish I had that crystal ball in terms of
Speaker 1: how long it will last, but we're certainly in the
Speaker 1: middle of it now. I think that the catalysts have been,
Speaker 1: you know, the raising of the interest rates. I think
Speaker 1: part of the bubble being popped that we were in
Speaker 1: last year. But I think it's also presents an opportunity
Speaker 1: for a lot of startups um particularly ones that have
Speaker 1: have good balance sheets, ones that actually have great unit
Speaker 1: econom mix. And I think that's where a lot of
Speaker 1: folks are focusing now. Is you know, are there real
Speaker 1: fundamentals that are crving business progress, and that's where I
Speaker 1: think the attention has shifted away from high grow, high
Speaker 1: burn and other things that we're really being funded. Last year,
Speaker 1: so I've heard massive layoffs coming. Valuation right down to
Speaker 1: what we've seen so far. Isn't the least of it,
Speaker 1: would you agree? I think it's started. I think in
Speaker 1: the beginning of the year there's a big wait and
Speaker 1: see attitude, you know, would this be a temporary blit
Speaker 1: with the with with the market's not back really fast.
Speaker 1: I think in the second half of the year, particularly
Speaker 1: post summer, I think reality is setting in. I think
Speaker 1: we have seen many startups take down their burn rate,
Speaker 1: both in terms of layoffs, contractors, the real estate costs,
Speaker 1: things of that sort. I think secondly, we've seen a
Speaker 1: lot of companies shot up their balance sheets. Uh. And
Speaker 1: while they do that, they're they're saying, hey, you know,
Speaker 1: the the path towards profitability is now much more important
Speaker 1: than the path towards hired growth. I think the and
Speaker 1: then third thing when you mentioned valuations, I think I
Speaker 1: think there's a reality setting in that oftentimes for maybe
Speaker 1: not the top companies, but for the average startup. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, there there's a reality check on the market,
Speaker 1: and I think what we're seeing there is for a
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of companies that are good companies
Speaker 1: with good unit economics and good fundamentals, they're saying, hey,
Speaker 1: we want to raise a more modest amount of money
Speaker 1: at a more modest valuation valuation than last year, and
Speaker 1: that that that's a great path. But for companies that
Speaker 1: need money, need capital, I think that's where you're starting
Speaker 1: to see evaluation declines, structure for deals and things of
Speaker 1: that sort. Is there a lot of dry powder just
Speaker 1: sitting on the sidelines because of all these funds that
Speaker 1: raise so much money and now don't have as many
Speaker 1: places to deploy it, and our vcs waiting for evaluations
Speaker 1: to fall further before getting in there is a lot
Speaker 1: of drive. I think that's when when when you talked
Speaker 1: a lot of investors in the private equity space and
Speaker 1: in the venture capital space, a lot of folks who
Speaker 1: are very fortunate and raised in the last few years,
Speaker 1: the pace of capital deployment has slowed down. I think
Speaker 1: there's two things that are happening um right now, and
Speaker 1: I'll bifurcate the early stage market and the growth equity markets.
Speaker 1: In the early stage market. I think business there has continued, um,
Speaker 1: you know, as as expected. Um, there's great innovation happening
Speaker 1: out of a lot of scientific labs, out of a
Speaker 1: lot of engineers who are leaving, you know, leaving other startups,
Speaker 1: leaving you know, the big corporations who have their ideas,
Speaker 1: and that just continues at the normal pace. UM. And
Speaker 1: there's lots of research saying that in these moments of
Speaker 1: economic downturn are the time that more resilient companies are
Speaker 1: being built. And so that that's why one thing we've seen,
Speaker 1: I think, on the other hand, on for for more
Speaker 1: of the kind of the growth equity you know, growth
Speaker 1: growth stage companies. UM. You know, I think you are
Speaker 1: seeing um, you know, you're seeing the pay slow down there.
Speaker 1: I think people want to see better fundamentals and unit
Speaker 1: economics than than they saw before they hedge fun. Tiger
Speaker 1: Global was such a big player in in Silicon Valley
Speaker 1: over the last few years. It's also been blamed for
Speaker 1: inflating a lot of these valuations because they had a
Speaker 1: lot of money to deploy. What do you make of
Speaker 1: that criticism, Well, I think, um, you know, it's more
Speaker 1: and more broadly speaking, I think there was a lot
Speaker 1: of money in the ecosystem last year, whether it's from
Speaker 1: folks like Tiger or soft Bank or others. UM and
Speaker 1: what what they what they did was, you know, they
Speaker 1: played a very important role in financing these companies. UM.
Speaker 1: Now what remains to be seen is, you know, the
Speaker 1: role that they will that they will play and other
Speaker 1: growth equity players will play in terms of now getting
Speaker 1: these companies on a path towards profitability, on a path
Speaker 1: towards and I p O maybe not and maybe not
Speaker 1: in two but in future years UM and how they
Speaker 1: adjust their their mindset, how they had us to support
Speaker 1: that they're giving their portfolio company. I think it's gonna
Speaker 1: be very telling actually in the coming years. And so
Speaker 1: we look forward to working with them and other investors
Speaker 1: in that realm to see, you know, how you build
Speaker 1: long term sustainable businesses. That that's the main goal. Gary
Speaker 1: tan uh formally of Initialized, who's been a guest on
Speaker 1: this show many times. Uh Is has been tapped to
Speaker 1: run y Combinator, and you know, of course there's been
Speaker 1: many Y combinator startups born in a downturn, like Airbnb,
Speaker 1: like Stripe. What do you think the future is of
Speaker 1: a accelerator like y Combinator in a down market when
Speaker 1: there are other accelerators out there now, many other accelerators
Speaker 1: trying to do the same thing. It's um. You know,
Speaker 1: the last two days have been the y Comminator demo days,
Speaker 1: so we've been you know, knee deep in looking at
Speaker 1: all the companies in there. Uh. You know, we've had
Speaker 1: a very strong relationship with y Commonator before. We think
Speaker 1: it's one of the round rules of global innovation. UM.
Speaker 1: Every every six months there's you know, hundreds of companies
Speaker 1: that present, and you you just have this feeling that
Speaker 1: there's within that you know, within that realm, there's a
Speaker 1: couple of bills that are going to be these enduring,
Speaker 1: industry defining companies. UM. One of the things that we've
Speaker 1: noticed in this Y Combinator UM, you know, batch from
Speaker 1: from from this the last couple of days, you can
Speaker 1: notice certain macro trends and I think this kind of
Speaker 1: this discuss your question. One thing that we've gotten very
Speaker 1: excited about is the increase use of artificial intelligence in
Speaker 1: companies that are that are in Y Combinator, and I
Speaker 1: think that's at one of the forefronts of trends in
Speaker 1: in the coming decade. And if you just we ran
Speaker 1: the mats earlier today about you know, what percentage of
Speaker 1: companies are using artificial intelligence to build UM in this
Speaker 1: y Combinator batch in between AI and machine learning. It's
Speaker 1: almost a quarter of companies are doing this. And if
Speaker 1: you compare this to even to Batchets two years ago, UM,
Speaker 1: that's a growth of um of companies doing that. And
Speaker 1: the only time we've seen that before is you know,
Speaker 1: eight to ten years ago when you started seeing cloud
Speaker 1: companies and start US being built on the cloud and
Speaker 1: he started the growth of cloud computing US and and
Speaker 1: Google and Microsoft. And so when when you come to
Speaker 1: think about why combinator, uh, you started seeing these macro
Speaker 1: trends as all, and I think that's that's really what
Speaker 1: we're seeing there, all right, Uh, interesting stuff, Amber about
Speaker 1: a Charia Maverick Ventures managing director, uh and bar thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us as we're entering a potentially lengthy
Speaker 1: economic downturn. I caught up with NBA champion and Mastery
Speaker 1: Ventures general partner Andre Gudala about where he's placing his
Speaker 1: bets and how the macro environment is impacting his strategy.
Speaker 1: To pick a listen for me personally, UM, you know,
Speaker 1: earlier stage, which is where I'm investing, uh, you know
Speaker 1: about uh my time and resources. Um, they have been
Speaker 1: affected as much. So if you look at you know,
Speaker 1: PRECC series A, UM, they haven't been effected as much.
Speaker 1: Whereas the growth stage has been some uncertainty. UM, you've
Speaker 1: seen a lot of down grounds coming out as of late,
Speaker 1: and I think those have been affected more than any
Speaker 1: of the sector. So whore I'm at. The deals are
Speaker 1: still pretty hot. Everyone's trying to get in you know, UM,
Speaker 1: you're placing your beds earlier. There's bigger returns, but there's
Speaker 1: also more risk. So for me, still full of throttle
Speaker 1: and still chasing the earlier deals. Now, Master, I know
Speaker 1: you say you want to ensure diversity when it comes
Speaker 1: to investing, to governance, to talent. What does that look
Speaker 1: like to you? And how do you think you can
Speaker 1: personally influence it given your success as an athlete. I
Speaker 1: just thinking holding you know, companies like the aggregators, um,
Speaker 1: you know, making sure that they're doing their uh duty
Speaker 1: into helping build the pipe line or or just looking
Speaker 1: for the right talent. So what we've been able to
Speaker 1: do is identify a black founded UH talent search firm
Speaker 1: and using that firm to make sure that we're able
Speaker 1: to you know, build the right pipelines from you know HBC,
Speaker 1: use higher education UM institutions UM with a you know,
Speaker 1: with the talent and making sure that these companies are
Speaker 1: building the right culture. UM is one thing to you know,
Speaker 1: hire minorities, but it's another thing to make sure those
Speaker 1: minorities are having success within that culture. So you know,
Speaker 1: you've got to build the right culture so they can
Speaker 1: have success once they work there. We found that that's
Speaker 1: been an issue as well. So UM holding these companies
Speaker 1: accountable is one thing. And you know, building out UM
Speaker 1: you know projections or building out you know, colors to
Speaker 1: make sure that you know, this is what it should
Speaker 1: look like. You know, this is a percentage of UH
Speaker 1: minorities that you should have within your companies throughout building
Speaker 1: your companies as we're invest earlier and seeing them through
Speaker 1: and through. I recently spoke to Serena Williams about her
Speaker 1: for a into venture capital investing, and she she said
Speaker 1: that a lot of people look at her and think,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm just doing this as a hobby, but
Speaker 1: really it's a passion and when it comes to you know,
Speaker 1: what she can bring to the table from the court,
Speaker 1: she said, I like winning and I know how to win.
Speaker 1: What do you think you bring from the court to investing.
Speaker 1: That's unique that traditional Silicon Valley venture capitalists don't have
Speaker 1: well winning in in there similarities in terms of winning,
Speaker 1: um as the percentage of humans with within the sport
Speaker 1: or with this just in competing, and I think athletes
Speaker 1: and venture capital investors, you know, this is really hard
Speaker 1: to win and it's only a small percent that win
Speaker 1: at a high clip. In Serena fits right into that.
Speaker 1: I feel like I've been fortunate enough to be around
Speaker 1: step area, so I fit into it as well. And
Speaker 1: for me, it's just identifying. For me, it's identifying talent,
Speaker 1: identifying how to make the best use of that talent.
Speaker 1: You know, I've been in situations where I've been, you know,
Speaker 1: the focal point of the organization. I've also been in
Speaker 1: a situation where I've been a six man and we've
Speaker 1: had success, and so understand how the ego works. Um
Speaker 1: what I've learned throughout my journey and tech is, you know,
Speaker 1: the eagle is big in tech, is the same way.
Speaker 1: It's big in sports, and you know, you've got some
Speaker 1: of the brightest UM founders, and you've got some of
Speaker 1: the brightest vcs, and there's battles and you know, the
Speaker 1: stakeholders with with the founders in terms of the direction
Speaker 1: of the company and just being able to make sure
Speaker 1: that you know, all the eagles are you know, throwing
Speaker 1: out the window and we're all on the same page,
Speaker 1: and how do we build a company efficiently, responsibly, um,
Speaker 1: you know, with the with the consumer uh in mind
Speaker 1: as well. You're also the co host of a podcast
Speaker 1: called Point Forward, where you're interviewing top athletes, musicians, entrepreneurs.
Speaker 1: You've been making some waves. I believe Joe lake Up
Speaker 1: said gotten a little trouble with something he said on
Speaker 1: your podcast. UM, I'm curious what trends you're seeing in
Speaker 1: the media landscape given this new ability for people like
Speaker 1: yourself to just go straight to their audiences directly. Well,
Speaker 1: I think sports says you can see with some of
Speaker 1: these um, you know, some of the TV deals and
Speaker 1: the rights um to you know, whether it's NFL, NBA, UM,
Speaker 1: and then you just look at the deal the Big
Speaker 1: Tent did was astronomical you know, a great deal done
Speaker 1: by Kevin Warner. Kevin Warren over at UH who runs
Speaker 1: the Big tent Um, and you started to seeing these
Speaker 1: sports has become actual media companies with you know, live
Speaker 1: sports being you can you know, you can pretty much
Speaker 1: gauge what's your viewership is going to be in how
Speaker 1: many eyeballs advertisers can come across. And I feel like
Speaker 1: UM athletes are starting to understand their influence and being
Speaker 1: able to leverage their brands as well. And you know,
Speaker 1: understanding that there there's not just the financial side, but
Speaker 1: also the branding side of you're going straight to the consumer,
Speaker 1: which is what streaming is. And you've been able to
Speaker 1: talk to your fan base and UM, whether it's you're
Speaker 1: trying to monetize it or just build that base of
Speaker 1: of of fans. And you know, that's what we talked
Speaker 1: about Web three, That's what we talked about n f
Speaker 1: T S and you know, the director consumer part of
Speaker 1: the business coming into media and sports as well. Amazon's
Speaker 1: Prime Video will have exclusive streaming rights starting September fifteenth
Speaker 1: for Thursday Night Football, kicking off an eleven year, thirteen
Speaker 1: billion dollar deal that could forever alter the television landscape.
Speaker 1: This is the first time a streaming service has had
Speaker 1: exclusive rights to NFL games in the United States, and
Speaker 1: a big challenge two major networks that have dominated sports
Speaker 1: for generations. Here to discuss this, bloombergs Luca Shaw, who
Speaker 1: wrote about this for blue Berg's Big Take. So, lucas,
Speaker 1: this is a huge deal. If you want to watch
Speaker 1: Thursday night football, you're gonna have to go onto Amazon
Speaker 1: Prime Video. How many viewers is this going to drive
Speaker 1: for Prime and is the bet going to be worth it? Well?
Speaker 1: Amazon is estimating that in the first year it will
Speaker 1: probably attract about twelve million viewers a week. That's below
Speaker 1: what the typical third to night broadcast has has attracted,
Speaker 1: but much higher than I think the number of people
Speaker 1: using Amazon on your on your average Thursday. I mean,
Speaker 1: the thing to remember for them is this is a
Speaker 1: very long term that it's useful. It's you know, they
Speaker 1: see football both as a benefit for their Prime members.
Speaker 1: It's the big reason they're spending billions of dollars on entertainment,
Speaker 1: and it becomes very hard for us to see if
Speaker 1: that number really pencils out. But it also could provide
Speaker 1: a huge boost their advertising business, which has been one
Speaker 1: of the fastest growing sectors of the company. And you know,
Speaker 1: football is the hottest property on television. A thirteen billion
Speaker 1: dollar deal for eleven games a season, is it Is
Speaker 1: it worth it? Well, am On is paying less than
Speaker 1: other broadcasters pay for football. I mean, that's the thing
Speaker 1: to remember here is that the price of sports rights
Speaker 1: has gotten absolutely ludicrous over the past several years. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it's I find it really hard to answer
Speaker 1: that is it worth a question with Amazon, just because
Speaker 1: it feels like they're playing a different game than most
Speaker 1: of these other companies. You know, I think when a
Speaker 1: CBS paramount by football rates, the bet is that they're
Speaker 1: that show itself will probably lose money for them, but
Speaker 1: it brings so many people into CBS that it makes
Speaker 1: money for them overall. And without football, they would be
Speaker 1: far less valuable to the cable operators that need to
Speaker 1: carry the channel. It's not a perfect comparison, but it's
Speaker 1: a little bit similar to Amazon, where they're spending a
Speaker 1: lot of money to bring people into their ecosystem. The
Speaker 1: problem is that if you want to watch any of
Speaker 1: these games on a streaming platform, it is kind of confusing.
Speaker 1: For example, I like baseball on Friday nights. I have
Speaker 1: to go to Apple, but only on Friday nights, not
Speaker 1: on any other night. How does that infusion smooth out
Speaker 1: over the longer term when you have all of these
Speaker 1: different networks and then all of these different streaming platforms
Speaker 1: getting just smaller pieces of a much larger pie. Well,
Speaker 1: first of all, I can't believe this is the first
Speaker 1: time I'm hearing that you're a baseball fan, because I'm
Speaker 1: a huge fan. So it's just good information to have.
Speaker 1: But baseball is a lot more complicated than the Is
Speaker 1: it against me? I wouldn't other than the fact that
Speaker 1: you're probably a giant stand and that is bad for me.
Speaker 1: So I'm a fan Lucas and Oakland A's fan. I
Speaker 1: like the Giants when the A's aren't playing them. M
Speaker 1: football is a little bit, you see, than baseball. Baseball
Speaker 1: is on regional sports networks, just on a bunch of
Speaker 1: different networks. You know, Thursday night football is only going
Speaker 1: to be on Amazon. There's a little bit of you know, confusion,
Speaker 1: and that if you're in a bar, you'll be watching
Speaker 1: direct TV, but nobody's paying attention to how they're getting it.
Speaker 1: If you're in the market of the team playing. You
Speaker 1: may be able to watch it on local TV, but
Speaker 1: you're right there. This requires a lot of marketing on
Speaker 1: Amazon's part. You know, they're not used to spending a
Speaker 1: ton of money to market their entertainment shows. They figured
Speaker 1: that people who are sort of coming to Amazon anyways
Speaker 1: will watch the things that they have to offer. Because
Speaker 1: of how much money they've spent both on football and
Speaker 1: on their new Lord of the Ring show, they're starting
Speaker 1: to market in a way that they really happened before.
Speaker 1: And the nice thing about it is this will be
Speaker 1: one of the first times where we get weekly viewership numbers.
Speaker 1: I think the first time actually where we get weekly
Speaker 1: viewership numbers from Amazon. So we'll be able to see
Speaker 1: real time each week how the viewership is and whether
Speaker 1: it's able to attract an audience that's comparable to TV.
Speaker 1: And that's what the NFL is gonna on to know.
Speaker 1: Right They're making a big bet here. The NFL has
Speaker 1: only been available on linear networks for the most part
Speaker 1: for its history, and they've now given one of their
Speaker 1: flagship programs to a streaming service. It's the first time
Speaker 1: they've done that. It's really the first time a major
Speaker 1: sports league in the US has done it, uh, and
Speaker 1: it is a big test of where we see the
Speaker 1: future of media going. All right, Bloomberg's Lukasha. You can
Speaker 1: check out Lucas's big take in Bloomberg Business Week. Obviously
Speaker 1: a lot of evolving and moving parts here. I do
Speaker 1: want to get to some breaking news that is crossing
Speaker 1: the terminal now. Advisors for Elon Musk have apparently written
Speaker 1: to Twitter about a separate basis to end that deal, that,
Speaker 1: of course, forty four billion dollar buyout deal that Musk
Speaker 1: is trying to walk away from. Uh, Musk saying and
Speaker 1: his advisor saying, they became aware of facts that they
Speaker 1: believe serve as a basis for terminating that deal. This
Speaker 1: is coming in an amended thirteen D filing. We're going
Speaker 1: to continue to follow these headlines. They're just crossing the
Speaker 1: terminal now, but either way, an additional attempt for Elon
Speaker 1: Musk to get out of buying Twitter. Continuing our conversation
Speaker 1: on streaming now, I want to bring in George Pine,
Speaker 1: founder and CEO of Bruin Capital. Bruin has the rights
Speaker 1: to run NFL game Pass worldwide for the league. So
Speaker 1: if you want to watch the Super Bowl in Hong Kong,
Speaker 1: London or Brazil. It's through game pass. So, George, I
Speaker 1: know you were listening to our conversation with Lucas earlier.
Speaker 1: Some people are calling this, uh, you know, move towards
Speaker 1: more streaming platforms having more sports rights and inflection point,
Speaker 1: like an inflection point in broadcast history. Do you think
Speaker 1: it's fair to say that at this point or too soon? Emily?
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me. I think it's a little too
Speaker 1: soon to say that. I'd say they're around the hoop
Speaker 1: per se, but I don't think it's an inflection point.
Speaker 1: I think you're seeing more activity. I mean Apple with
Speaker 1: the NFL, plus Amazon with the Thursday Night Football, Apple
Speaker 1: with Major League Soccer, but still they're they're kind of
Speaker 1: not the major moves. No one's in unseeding Fox or
Speaker 1: CBS or the NBA or the NFL. So I they're
Speaker 1: around the hoop in a way they haven't been before,
Speaker 1: but I wouldn't quite say it's an inflection point. Okay,
Speaker 1: So how long do you think then that this land
Speaker 1: grab is going to take to play out? And what
Speaker 1: does it look like on the other side, do streaming
Speaker 1: platforms have more power have more power over the sports
Speaker 1: that you know, so many millions of people want to
Speaker 1: watch or do. The traditional networks hold onto a lot
Speaker 1: of that power. Well, I think it's two fold. One,
Speaker 1: the money's in the old media, right, it's the most
Speaker 1: sports of the most valuable thing for old media. I mean,
Speaker 1: like the top hundred shows on television are sports enormously
Speaker 1: valuable content. And I break the streamers into two groups.
Speaker 1: I mean Paramount Plus, Peacock and ESPN Plus those are
Speaker 1: tied to linear television, and so that's just a champ.
Speaker 1: We're able to use both streaming and linear in a package.
Speaker 1: And it's quite different than Amazon and Apple. We're really
Speaker 1: using it, as Lucas said, almost as a sponsorship a
Speaker 1: way that augment their other business. And so Amazon and
Speaker 1: Apple are quite different than Paramount plus, ESPN Plus and others,
Speaker 1: let in Peacocks. So there are two strategies, and um,
Speaker 1: you know, it's more seamless the media side because that
Speaker 1: content is so valuable. And then on what I call
Speaker 1: the retail products side, it's still valuable, but it's valuable
Speaker 1: because it's really driving awareness to another core product. And
Speaker 1: you could choose stairsay night football or another form of entertainment.
Speaker 1: But if you're a media company, sports is irreplaceable and invaluable,
Speaker 1: and in the value proposition to a media company is
Speaker 1: far greater than it would be to a retail product.
Speaker 1: Now Bruin has the rights to NFL game Pass, the
Speaker 1: league is also pursuing NFL Plus. What's your take on
Speaker 1: the league pursuing its own streaming platform. I think it's
Speaker 1: quite right, you know, because they're trying to read the
Speaker 1: youth there also you have in the next year, the
Speaker 1: young consumers are where the streamers are. So if I'm
Speaker 1: the NFL, I'm trying to reach that audience, whether it's
Speaker 1: through NFL Plus, will be Sunday, the Sunday ticket package Amazon.
Speaker 1: Those are critical consumers to grow the game. So I
Speaker 1: think it's mart to try and have as many touch
Speaker 1: points with the consumer, particularly young consumer. It's it's really
Speaker 1: good and then internationally it's tough to watch NFL all
Speaker 1: around the world, and so of course NFL game Pass
Speaker 1: really serves that purpose to feed people NFL content, you know,
Speaker 1: for us in our case, in one countries. So what
Speaker 1: does the league making these changes working towards this evolution,
Speaker 1: What does that mean for game pass and for your business, Well,
Speaker 1: for us, we're outside of the US, so I think
Speaker 1: there's a it's a different approach. Game Pass International is
Speaker 1: really a growth engine for for international, it's your marketing
Speaker 1: to consumers, one person at a time. So I think
Speaker 1: the international and domestic are quite are quite different, different strategies,
Speaker 1: different objectives. Game Pass International is a very important part
Speaker 1: of the marketing outside the United States for the NFL,
Speaker 1: as is uh NFL plus in the US. But it's
Speaker 1: you have more more resources inside the US and less
Speaker 1: outside the US. All right, Well, thank you for joining
Speaker 1: us ahead of a big football weekend here in the
Speaker 1: United States. Brewing Capital founder and CEO George Pine, appreciate
Speaker 1: you stopping by. We're gonna continue our coverage of sports
Speaker 1: streaming Monday. Marie dono Hue, Amazon vice president of Global
Speaker 1: Sports Video, just four days out from Thursday Night Football,
Speaker 1: taking center shade. She's going to join us to talk
Speaker 1: about Prime Video and this big bet that Amazon is making.
Speaker 1: Plus Tonight Bloomberg premiering Bloomberg's of the line up. Kaylee
Speaker 1: Lines and Damien Sassau are gonna give you the latest
Speaker 1: on betting trends and talk about the biggest players across
Speaker 1: the industry. Seven pm Eastern Friday's coming up All Things
Speaker 1: and f T S and Tech with Proof Collective co
Speaker 1: founder and cereal tech entrepreneur Kevin Rose. That is next.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg. It's not known for our crypto report,
Speaker 1: and I want to take a look now at n
Speaker 1: f T S with Proof Collective, which recently announced a
Speaker 1: big raise fifty million dollars led by Andrews and Harrowitz participation.
Speaker 1: Also from seven seven six that's Alexis Ohanians venture capital firm.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about what it all means for
Speaker 1: collectives expansion plans with its co founder and CEO Kevin Rose,
Speaker 1: who of course also founded the social news site dig
Speaker 1: Back in the day. He was a general partner at
Speaker 1: Google Ventures. A longtime angel investor, he backed Twitter, Facebook, Square,
Speaker 1: and is the host of the Proof and Modern Fine
Speaker 1: Finance podcasts. He joins US now along with our crypto
Speaker 1: contributor Shinnali Bossik in New York. Kevin, welcome, Shanali. Take
Speaker 1: it away, Kevin. I'm really curious. Yeah, absolutely, And you know,
Speaker 1: we're really curious here because obviously there has been this
Speaker 1: crypto winter, yet you were able to raise a series
Speaker 1: A here in a world where n f T collections
Speaker 1: at large having very volatile this year, what is it
Speaker 1: that makes an n f T collection valuable And how
Speaker 1: much of it has to do with the community rather
Speaker 1: than the assets themselves. Yeah, I mean a lot of
Speaker 1: it is certainly the community and the strength of that community.
Speaker 1: And you know how active and engaged they are in
Speaker 1: what you're building, because you know, as a company, we're
Speaker 1: just a handful of people, and and really it's how
Speaker 1: we deputize our community to go out and build on
Speaker 1: our behalf that makes us so powerful. So I think
Speaker 1: what you're seeing with what we're doing at Proof with
Speaker 1: moon Birds is really the birth of kind of decentralized
Speaker 1: brand in which the community has the keys of the castle.
Speaker 1: They get to be the ones to go out and
Speaker 1: decide how to use the i P and how to
Speaker 1: monetize it. It's a complete flip of say something like
Speaker 1: a Disney where they're the ones that hold the i
Speaker 1: P close to the their own um. They hold it
Speaker 1: internally and they never really release it. So they are
Speaker 1: the ones that get to monetize the entire thing. And
Speaker 1: this is a chance to completely flip that model, flipping
Speaker 1: the model, but what about what it means relative to
Speaker 1: other n f T collections. What sets apart moon Birds,
Speaker 1: for example, from the board apes. Yeah, I mean, I
Speaker 1: think you really have to find your community. Like every
Speaker 1: community inside of the world of p FPS, these profile
Speaker 1: photo pictures, UM, they have different vibes and different kind
Speaker 1: of core tenants of what they stand for. We are
Speaker 1: always this idea of this love of an appreciation of art,
Speaker 1: this curation with a point of view that's kind of
Speaker 1: what we've always uh done at Proof. We're not about
Speaker 1: getting into this crazy um market of the muddy waters
Speaker 1: of flipping n f T s or how to quick
Speaker 1: make a quick five X. And we're long term builders.
Speaker 1: I mean, we've been doing this for twenty plus years
Speaker 1: in terms of who we are as entrepreneurs, having built
Speaker 1: many businesses over that period of time. And you know,
Speaker 1: many of the members on our team are ex Google
Speaker 1: and so it's really a level match already that's coming
Speaker 1: to the table here to build this business. And I
Speaker 1: think people have a lot of confidence in who we
Speaker 1: are UM as that team. You know that this is
Speaker 1: largely an anonymous space where there's a lot of products
Speaker 1: and some great projects actually that launched with anonymous founders,
Speaker 1: but in a world where there's this uncertainty and there
Speaker 1: can certainly be sometimes what they call rug poles where
Speaker 1: you never know if a project is disappears. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: six months later, we've kind of put everything out there
Speaker 1: and said we're serious about this, We're gonna go raise
Speaker 1: venture capital, and we're gonna be a team that's gonna
Speaker 1: stick around for many years to come. You know. Critics
Speaker 1: also say here that if you look at what n
Speaker 1: f T s are to what extent is their utility
Speaker 1: behind them? How do they go beyond just being digital
Speaker 1: art and into something that has a broader purpose. What
Speaker 1: do you say to critics like that, Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I think this is a very new idea and concept
Speaker 1: for people to wrap their head around, where for the
Speaker 1: very first time you actually have in something that is
Speaker 1: a core piece of ownership of a project. So oftentimes,
Speaker 1: as these projects become more and more popular, value a
Speaker 1: cruise back to these n f t s as uh
Speaker 1: a collectible pieces of art. And that is different in
Speaker 1: that if you're dealing with a traditional media company, you're
Speaker 1: just a consumer. Like if you go out and you
Speaker 1: watch a star Wars movie or you go and and
Speaker 1: you somehow um participate in that experience. Yes, they're great
Speaker 1: media experiences, but there's nothing really to walk away with
Speaker 1: their that is a part of that project. And here
Speaker 1: you have these different members of the community coming together
Speaker 1: and taking this artwork that they actually own and going
Speaker 1: off and doing very creative things with it so they
Speaker 1: can they can figure out when and how they want
Speaker 1: to monetize it, they can remix it, and you're deputizing
Speaker 1: a community of brand builders to go out there and
Speaker 1: blow this up and get it more and more exposure
Speaker 1: in new and creative ways that you never thought possible
Speaker 1: as a centralized organization. So the bet here really is
Speaker 1: to say, we think there's a different way to build
Speaker 1: a media a business here, and it's not one where
Speaker 1: it's a handful of people in a boardroom they get
Speaker 1: to make the decisions. But it's really empowering the community
Speaker 1: to go out and do big and bold things on
Speaker 1: our behalf. And we're just kind of the ones that
Speaker 1: are making sure that the business is running and that
Speaker 1: we have our delivering solid products in in conjunction with
Speaker 1: our community members. Kevin Gibbon, you're so steeped in the
Speaker 1: earlier social iterations of the Internet. For our viewers who
Speaker 1: are less crypto native, can you explain why you think
Speaker 1: blockchain technology and Web three really is the future and
Speaker 1: what happens to these social platforms like Facebook and Twitter,
Speaker 1: uh that we all know now in this future? Do
Speaker 1: they continue to exist? Yeah, it's it's a good question
Speaker 1: because there is a lot of um. Certainly the Web
Speaker 1: three environment and community behind it are a lot more
Speaker 1: privacy focused, and there is is certainly this idea that
Speaker 1: we can come in and reinvent a lot of the
Speaker 1: two technology that's underpinning a lot of these businesses in
Speaker 1: a way that doesn't put the consumer as the product
Speaker 1: that doesn't sell their eyeballs, it doesn't sell their personal information.
Speaker 1: So that's a really exciting new direction to move the Web.
Speaker 1: And it's early days. So what we're building here is
Speaker 1: kind of the infrastructure and underpinnings of all of that,
Speaker 1: and you'll see that be spread across a whole series
Speaker 1: of different categories. So our art and digital collectibles being
Speaker 1: the obvious one here with n f t s and
Speaker 1: and rewriting the way that artists get paid with royalties
Speaker 1: enforceable by the blockchain, and just a lot of really
Speaker 1: exciting things that are happening there, which I certainly believe
Speaker 1: that it's pretty clear now that the future of a
Speaker 1: lot of art is going to go in the form
Speaker 1: of n f T s. But certainly there's going to
Speaker 1: be the same reimagination and reinvention of classic Web two
Speaker 1: properties in a way that puts the consumer in more
Speaker 1: control and gives them a piece of that upside. So
Speaker 1: they're not just a product of a big uh or
Speaker 1: a massive of like fortune company, but really they are
Speaker 1: actually part of that ownership via tokens or or or
Speaker 1: via n f T. So it's a pretty exciting new
Speaker 1: new change. You know, there's a lot about to happen
Speaker 1: in the next couple of weeks with ther theory emerge.
Speaker 1: I guess my question is do you think the gatekeepers
Speaker 1: of the Internet today Meta, Twitter, Google, do they survive
Speaker 1: in this new world or is all this new technology
Speaker 1: a major threat to them? Certainly there are going to
Speaker 1: be companies like any major shift like we saw with
Speaker 1: Web one point o going to Web two point o
Speaker 1: or whatever it may be, there are companies that that
Speaker 1: get it, that understand it at a core level. I
Speaker 1: would put, um, you know, Jack Dorsey in that camp,
Speaker 1: right because all the things that they've done at Square
Speaker 1: uh and everything they're building up block I think that's there.
Speaker 1: They're an amazing group of innovators. They understand blockchain technology
Speaker 1: at a very, very core level. Um, there are others
Speaker 1: that are playing in this realm, meaning that if you
Speaker 1: take a look at Instagram how they embraced and enabled
Speaker 1: n f T s now to be displayed. But it's
Speaker 1: it's more like a bolton and not really a retooling
Speaker 1: and rethinking of the product at its core. I don't
Speaker 1: think long term the kind of bolton we're just gonna
Speaker 1: do this because it's the hot thing of the week.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's gonna play well. And it's really
Speaker 1: not the dramatic change that consumers, at least in the
Speaker 1: Web three space are looking for. And so um, for me,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a lot of new native companies built
Speaker 1: from the ground up that tackled these problems. So it's
Speaker 1: gonna be brand new businesses that are being built right
Speaker 1: now that will probably in the next two to three
Speaker 1: years really emerges some of the early winners. And so
Speaker 1: you know, I would say the reason we went out
Speaker 1: and raise this round of financing um within reason is
Speaker 1: that we believe there's a better way to do a
Speaker 1: media business, and that really puts the consumers in control
Speaker 1: of of this um of these assets and really gives
Speaker 1: them a way to experience and and collect digital collectibles
Speaker 1: that have never been done before. So that's what's exciting
Speaker 1: for us. But that's just one vertical, probably fifteen that
Speaker 1: the blockchain is going to address and reimagine over the
Speaker 1: next few years. Fascinating. Well, it's great to hear about
Speaker 1: what you're doing now, Kevin Rose, CEO and co founder
Speaker 1: of Proof Collective, along with our very own Shinali Bossic,
Speaker 1: Thank you for stopping by. A few other stories we
Speaker 1: are watching. Tesla's considering building a battery grade lithium refinery
Speaker 1: on the Gulf coast of Texas. Company has filed a
Speaker 1: newly public application for tax breaks with the Texas Comptroller's Office,
Speaker 1: calling the proposed facility the first of its kind in
Speaker 1: North America. The electric car maker is also evaluating a
Speaker 1: site in Louisiana, and Amazon sellers are bracing for a
Speaker 1: bleak holiday shopping season. This is inflation bitten consumers are
Speaker 1: curbing their spending. Many merchants who sell more than half
Speaker 1: of the goods on the Amazon website are concerned they're
Speaker 1: going to be forced to cut prices to move a
Speaker 1: mountain of unsold inventory. This is an abrupt change from
Speaker 1: the previous two years, when sellers were scrambling to get
Speaker 1: enough products into Amazon warehouses to meet all of that
Speaker 1: pandemic fuel demand, despite chronic shortages that let them jack
Speaker 1: up prices. That's a trend we're going to continue to follow.
Speaker 1: And that does it for this Friday edition of Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Technology Monday. Really excited to have Mariad Donahue, Amazon's vice
Speaker 1: president of Global Sports Video, to talk about their thirteen
Speaker 1: billion dollar for a into the NFL, and tonight Bloomberg
Speaker 1: premiering the line up Kaylee Lines and Damian Sasaur. We're
Speaker 1: going to give you the latest data on betting trends
Speaker 1: and talk to you the biggest players in the industry.
Speaker 1: Seven pm Eastern. This is Bloomberg. Have a wonderful weekend.