Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week inside from the reporters and
Speaker 1: editors who bring you America's most trusted business magazine, plus
Speaker 1: global business finance and tech news as it happened. Sloomberg
Speaker 1: Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim
Speaker 1: Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Hi everyone, Happy holidays, and welcome
Speaker 1: to the weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week. A special
Speaker 1: Christmas program this week, as we take a look back
Speaker 1: on some of our favorite interviews from this past year.
Speaker 1: A list that's made up of market movers, legendary entrepreneurs,
Speaker 1: and a couple of entertainers that you may be familiar with.
Speaker 1: That's for sure. I gotta say, coming up with this
Speaker 1: list not so easy, Tim. We have so many great guests.
Speaker 1: We have so many great guests throughout the year. Um,
Speaker 1: but we did whittle it down to a few and
Speaker 1: over the next couple of hours we're going to hear
Speaker 1: from the likes of Michael Dell, John Rodgers of Aerial Investments,
Speaker 1: Cathy would have Arc and the former CEO of Google.
Speaker 1: We're talking about Eric Schmidt. Remember when he was the
Speaker 1: adult in the room that was different era, not just
Speaker 1: for Google, but for tech in general. We're also going
Speaker 1: to take a trip down memory lane with music legend
Speaker 1: Gina Shock, the Go Gos drummer and Rock and Roll
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame inductee. We're also going to talk film
Speaker 1: and television production in the time of COVID with award
Speaker 1: winning actor Sam Hwan. He I don't have to tell
Speaker 1: you this, Carol, because you're such a big thing, the
Speaker 1: star of Outlander, among many other things. I do recall
Speaker 1: that he's also big into whiskey. We'll talk about that.
Speaker 1: All of that to go, and we begin with a
Speaker 1: voice very familiar to our Bloomberg audience. TPG Capital executive
Speaker 1: Chairman and founding partner Jim Coulter, and I think increasingly
Speaker 1: there is what I think of as a new year
Speaker 1: of business, and perhaps we can get into that companies
Speaker 1: are going to be held accountable not just for what
Speaker 1: they do, but for how they do it. For example,
Speaker 1: if you look deeply into the E s G world today,
Speaker 1: companies that are highly rated on E s G standards,
Speaker 1: according to recent Bank of America report, have tenent lower
Speaker 1: cost of capital. So capital is looking to invest in
Speaker 1: companies that care that deliver on E s G ratings.
Speaker 1: There's still a lot of uncertainty as to what those
Speaker 1: ratings will be over time, how they'll develop. But to
Speaker 1: be clear, the trend is happening, and it makes a
Speaker 1: difference how you do things. I mean, we're definitely are
Speaker 1: seeing something on the regulatory from when it comes to that, Jim.
Speaker 1: But I do wonder we talked about, like when a
Speaker 1: company reports earnings, certainly for the publicly held companies, do
Speaker 1: we need to have okay top bottom line? We look
Speaker 1: at margins, but we also are looking at okay, here's
Speaker 1: your e s G metric and if you don't do well, um,
Speaker 1: you get penalized. There's got to be some consequences. Do
Speaker 1: we get to that point? Do we need to have
Speaker 1: that kind of point? I think we will get there
Speaker 1: over time, but we can't wait for it. What the
Speaker 1: market is looking for, what I'm looking for as an
Speaker 1: investor is authenticity in action. I'd remind you, Carol that
Speaker 1: it took seventy years to develop GAP our accounting standards,
Speaker 1: and it will take a while to develop the standards
Speaker 1: that will lead the s G era. But we can't
Speaker 1: afford to wait. We need to get to work, and
Speaker 1: capital is flowing to these opportunities. Well, one of that is,
Speaker 1: you know, Tim and I were talking about kind of
Speaker 1: planning for this, about everything that NBA students, Tim, you
Speaker 1: have an NBA yea from a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1: In terms of what you study. Leadership is such a
Speaker 1: big part in terms of getting there right. So what
Speaker 1: is it that the NBA student today on Stanford's you know,
Speaker 1: uh here at Stanford or elsewhere. What do they need
Speaker 1: to be learning when it comes to leadership, Because I
Speaker 1: think it's safe to say that a lot of people
Speaker 1: would say leadership failed us in the last couple of years.
Speaker 1: I think they need to learn to lead in a
Speaker 1: new era. Now, business changes every day, but there's times
Speaker 1: where business ethos changed. When I got out of business
Speaker 1: school in a long time ago, we were studying Japanese
Speaker 1: business practices. In the nineties, the ethos changed to the
Speaker 1: Jack Welsh era were suddenly strategic planning and KPI shove everything.
Speaker 1: Two thousand it changed radically again, where suddenly we were
Speaker 1: told to move fast and break things the ear of
Speaker 1: entrepe ownership. Where Stanford leads today, there's a new era,
Speaker 1: a new ethos developing. As I said, it's not only
Speaker 1: what you do, but how you do it. Jim, there's
Speaker 1: this conversation happening right now about the value of education,
Speaker 1: especially really expensive education. So make the case to us,
Speaker 1: to our viewers, to future NBA students that the NBA
Speaker 1: is still worth it. Yeah. For me, in I walked
Speaker 1: out of Stanford and it was a special place. Then
Speaker 1: it remains a special place today. There's something in the
Speaker 1: air ideas, innovation and risk taking, and at that moment
Speaker 1: I chose to take the lowest pain job I was offered.
Speaker 1: I entered an industry that didn't have a name. Fast
Speaker 1: forward thirty years. That industry is now called private equity.
Speaker 1: It's four trillion dollars. I've helped build organizations within it,
Speaker 1: and today I'm sitting here talking about how to drive
Speaker 1: a new idea, impact investing. So Stanford's auto is change lives,
Speaker 1: change organizations, change the world. It changed my life. It
Speaker 1: allowed me to change organizations, and we're working hard on
Speaker 1: changing the world. That has immense value. It doesn't play
Speaker 1: out necessarily always in year one, although it did for me,
Speaker 1: but it plays out over the arc of her career.
Speaker 1: So you said, thirty years you walked into private equity
Speaker 1: and just earlier this year, your executive chairman still in
Speaker 1: the company UM that you founded, but yet you're not
Speaker 1: CEO or head of the company anymore. I do wonder
Speaker 1: what it's like for a founder coming on the hills
Speaker 1: of KKR right, another legendary private equity firm UM and
Speaker 1: they have set in place their succession plan. How do you,
Speaker 1: as a as a founder think about succession UH and
Speaker 1: the next step for your company? As a leader, well,
Speaker 1: succession is out there for me. But what I constantly
Speaker 1: have to ask myself as a leader is what is
Speaker 1: my highest and best use. We had a co CEO
Speaker 1: Struck Sure, and my highest invest us is actually to
Speaker 1: invest and to innovate. So I chose to evolve my
Speaker 1: focus to this question of how can business make a
Speaker 1: difference in society? How can we address this intersection of
Speaker 1: social responsibility and corporate UH and corporate effectiveness? And that
Speaker 1: ability to continue to invest in innovating is liberating and
Speaker 1: is something that I think is good for me and
Speaker 1: good for the company. That was Jim Coulter, executive chairman
Speaker 1: and co founder of the private equity firm TPG Capital,
Speaker 1: also co managing partner of the Rise Fund and a
Speaker 1: member of Stanford's Board of Trustees. That interview from mid
Speaker 1: October as part of our Stanford b School special Giving
Speaker 1: Up Another Investment Luminary tackles a different set of social
Speaker 1: issues in the business world. We're talking about diversity and
Speaker 1: finance and financial literacy. We've got a conversation with the chairman,
Speaker 1: co CEO and Chief investment Officer of Aerial Investments, John Rogers.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week some of our many
Speaker 1: highlights for any one. This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim
Speaker 1: Stinovik from Bloomberg Radio. Our Christmas weekend edition of Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Business Week is look back at some of our favorite
Speaker 1: conversations from the past year. One in which retail traders
Speaker 1: emerged as a market moving for us. That was a
Speaker 1: big theme of the year Tips It really was a
Speaker 1: big theme in our Next guest is on the board
Speaker 1: of corporate giants like Nike, McDonald's and The New York Times.
Speaker 1: He's also chairman, co CEO and Chief Investment officer of
Speaker 1: Oriel Investments. We're talking about John Rogers. He joined me
Speaker 1: and Bloomberg News New York Deputy Bureau Chief Chortilla Brantley
Speaker 1: back into lie and express concern that novice traders, particularly
Speaker 1: from communities of color, are not yet fully equipped for
Speaker 1: long term investing success. I do worry about it. And
Speaker 1: the good sign is we're getting more and more African
Speaker 1: American investors, and you know, places like Charles Schwab have
Speaker 1: really democratized the stock market, and it's very cheap to
Speaker 1: get involved, and you can do everything online and not
Speaker 1: be intimidating by traditional white shoe investment firms. So all
Speaker 1: that is really really good. But the downside is often
Speaker 1: has happened when the with the Internet bubble at the
Speaker 1: turn of the century, we get pulled in the market,
Speaker 1: gets sucked into the latest themes too often because we
Speaker 1: haven't been as engaged in the stock market as white Americans.
Speaker 1: So I do worry that we're getting pulled into some
Speaker 1: of these risky areas that exactly the wrong time. And
Speaker 1: we know, you know, the way that we came to
Speaker 1: this country, the traditions that we had to fight against,
Speaker 1: the Jim Crow and all the challenges that we face
Speaker 1: in our community put us behind the April when it
Speaker 1: came to investing and getting comfortable in the markets. And
Speaker 1: so again, whenever we get pulled in, I do worry
Speaker 1: sometimes when it's late in the game. Well, let's talk
Speaker 1: about financial literacy and how that plays into alleviating your concerns.
Speaker 1: You know, I think we need to continue to do
Speaker 1: more and more. We have just scratched the surface when
Speaker 1: it comes to financial literacy. During the Obama administration, I
Speaker 1: had the privilege to be able to be able to
Speaker 1: chair his counsel and Financial Capability for Young Americans, and
Speaker 1: we talked to the President about how can we get
Speaker 1: more financial institutions to partner with urban public schools to
Speaker 1: teach kids about the market, give the kids real dollars
Speaker 1: to invest in real stocks, be role models for young
Speaker 1: people of color to get engaged in the financial services
Speaker 1: sectors career choices. So I think we have a long
Speaker 1: way to go, because it's just so critically important that,
Speaker 1: you know, African Americans get exposed to the markets at
Speaker 1: young ages. You know, we know the wealth gap in
Speaker 1: this country has gotten larger and larger. We've fallen further
Speaker 1: behind because of the historical discrimination that we face in
Speaker 1: this country. So the way to catch up is to
Speaker 1: get folks involved in the best parts of the economy
Speaker 1: where the wealth and jobs are being created today, and
Speaker 1: learning about the magic of compound interests and getting comfortable
Speaker 1: in equities because we all know when you get a
Speaker 1: odd now you have to be your own money manager
Speaker 1: with your four own K plan. So financial literacy is
Speaker 1: more important in this country than ever, John, how do
Speaker 1: we get there? The reason I asked is I actually
Speaker 1: came across a Federal Reserve paper that was done by
Speaker 1: a researcher about ten years ago. I think talking about
Speaker 1: the importance of financial literacy, I think about someone like
Speaker 1: you know, Warren Buffett, who talked about compound interest like
Speaker 1: knew it when he was at a young age. We
Speaker 1: have been talking about the importance of financial literacy across
Speaker 1: society for a long time, and I wonder, how do
Speaker 1: we really move the needle on this, because I agree
Speaker 1: that this is something that unlocks kind of the financial
Speaker 1: is the key that kind of unlocks financial wealth for
Speaker 1: more Americans, and certainly for black Americans. Well, you know,
Speaker 1: I think one of the things I talked about all
Speaker 1: the time. You know, my father bought stocks for me
Speaker 1: every birthday and every Christmas after I was twelve years old,
Speaker 1: and I got exposed to the markets at an early
Speaker 1: age and loved it. You know, there's a program in
Speaker 1: New York, New York City Rise that is doing that
Speaker 1: with young people, getting kids into five twenty nine programs
Speaker 1: that you know, right in kindergarten and on the way
Speaker 1: and at the Aerial Community Academy that's now twenty five
Speaker 1: years old. We give kids real money to invest in
Speaker 1: real stocks, and they get to see the money grow
Speaker 1: from kindergarten through eighth grade. And I think that's just
Speaker 1: so important. You've got to get exposure, you know, get
Speaker 1: your hands a little dirty with the markets, learning how
Speaker 1: to do the research, seeing the inevitable ups and downs,
Speaker 1: but seeing how markets steadily climb even after you have
Speaker 1: some ups and downs. We come back from downturns and
Speaker 1: bounce higher. So I can't over emphasize the importance for
Speaker 1: corporate America to work with public schools, get public schools
Speaker 1: to have robust financial literacy programs, and get volunteers from
Speaker 1: the corporate community to get in there and talk with
Speaker 1: kids about how to do the research and the magic
Speaker 1: of our capitalist democracy. You know that really builds wealth
Speaker 1: over time. Just a quick follow. Should it be mandatory
Speaker 1: in schools? I personally think that kids should be starting
Speaker 1: in kindergarten learning about financial literacy. Make it part of
Speaker 1: the curriculum. Do you think that's what needs to be done.
Speaker 1: I think that's really critical. I think that's exactly right.
Speaker 1: You know. I know local communities make decisions on their
Speaker 1: own local schools. It's hard to dictate that federally, but
Speaker 1: it's you know, I always joke with my friend Arnie Duncan,
Speaker 1: the former Secretary of Education, that you know, the French
Speaker 1: class is maybe not as important as that financial literacy class.
Speaker 1: You know, I think I've been to France five times
Speaker 1: in my life, and I spent five years studying French. UM.
Speaker 1: Financial literacy is so important to our economy and so
Speaker 1: important to our country and in our in all communities. Well,
Speaker 1: there have just been so many efforts. If you will
Speaker 1: announced post George Floyd, you know your organization has um
Speaker 1: launched Project Black Can you just tell our audience a
Speaker 1: little bit more about that and what has been the
Speaker 1: response so far our you know, our co CEO created
Speaker 1: Project Black UH in partnership with JP Morgan Chase and
Speaker 1: Jamie Diamond. You know, Melanie Hobson had this vision, this
Speaker 1: idea that we would create a fund that would build
Speaker 1: stronger Black owned and Latin X businesses and get them
Speaker 1: to scale. We feel like too many of the programs
Speaker 1: are all about helping small micro businesses get small loans
Speaker 1: to build their businesses. We feel we want to help
Speaker 1: build capital for companies to be really scalable where they
Speaker 1: can create real multigenerational wealth higher hundreds of not thousands
Speaker 1: of people, and have a permanent impact on our society.
Speaker 1: At the same time, we'll work with decision makers in
Speaker 1: Corporate America to encourage them to do business with minority
Speaker 1: businesses and the parts of the economy where the wealth
Speaker 1: and jobs are created today. You know, we know financial services,
Speaker 1: we know wealth created and technology, media, etcetera. And sometimes
Speaker 1: well meeting supplier diversity programs have not really encouraged minority
Speaker 1: businesses to have real opportunity in the parts of the
Speaker 1: economy again where the wealth is created today. So that's
Speaker 1: what Project Black is all about, is to make sure
Speaker 1: the Corporate America is doing business with everyone and they
Speaker 1: were building businesses of scale, which we think will have
Speaker 1: a real permanent impact and positive impact on our society.
Speaker 1: It's going extremely well. We're really busy out there. We
Speaker 1: have a great board of directors and great CEO. Um,
Speaker 1: it's just been, uh, you know, off to a great,
Speaker 1: great start. That was John Rogers, Chairman, co CEO and
Speaker 1: Chief Investment Officer of Arial Investments. He spoke with Carol
Speaker 1: and Bloomberg News New York Deputy Bureau Chief Shartilla Brantley
Speaker 1: over the summer coming up. In our Bloomberg Business Week
Speaker 1: Christmas special, we head back to the Stanford Graduate School
Speaker 1: of Business. We'll hear from the founder and co c
Speaker 1: of Minted Mayor of NAFISI on her company's next big expansion.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg. Wake up and text, Text and eat,
Speaker 1: Text and meet up with a friend you haven't seen
Speaker 1: in forever. Hi, Text and complain that they're on their
Speaker 1: phone the whole time. Text and listen to them complain
Speaker 1: that you're on your phone the whole time. Text and whatever.
Speaker 1: But when you get behind the wheel, give your phone
Speaker 1: to a passenger, put it in the glove box. Just
Speaker 1: don't text and drive. Visit stop texts, Stop rex dot org.
Speaker 1: A message from Nitza Amy at Council broadcasting from the
Speaker 1: financial capital of the World Bloomberg eleven Frio in New
Speaker 1: York to Washington, d C. Bloomberg to Boston, Bloomberg one
Speaker 1: oh six one does San Francisco, Bloomberg nine sixty to
Speaker 1: the country Sirius XM Chado one nineteen and around the
Speaker 1: globe the Bloomberg Business app and Bloomberg Radio dot com.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg business Week. One thing that started to
Speaker 1: return to a degree of normalcy to our lives this
Speaker 1: past year was our ability to travel for business. We
Speaker 1: were lucky enough to be able to do a handful
Speaker 1: of remote broadcast in one and it's really something we
Speaker 1: missed big time to the height of the pandemic. It
Speaker 1: felt good to be quote unquote a little bit normal here, Tim, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it really did. And one of those programs took place
Speaker 1: at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in October. We
Speaker 1: traveled there to celebrate the school's repeat appearance atop Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Business Week's list of America's Best to be Schools. What's
Speaker 1: cool ab at it is? We were able to engage
Speaker 1: with students, key faculty, and administrators, as well as some
Speaker 1: of Stanford's most successful NBA recipients ever, and among them
Speaker 1: was a woman who has emerged as a pioneer of
Speaker 1: the creator economy. We're talking about Miriam Nafisi. She's the
Speaker 1: founder and co CEO of Minted. Her business focuses on
Speaker 1: stationary and I know this because years ago I used
Speaker 1: them for my wedding as well as our home goods
Speaker 1: and digital content. Also now, Minted is expanding into furniture,
Speaker 1: having gaveuted its first line exclusively at West Elm earlier
Speaker 1: this year. Well, I think the fundamental thread through all
Speaker 1: of these businesses is this idea that great talent can
Speaker 1: come from anywhere, great ideas can come from anywhere. And
Speaker 1: so what we're trying to do is bring great independent,
Speaker 1: unique art and design two people everywhere and um empower
Speaker 1: artists around the globe to put their hat in the
Speaker 1: ring and then really build businesses off of our platform,
Speaker 1: regardless of where they were educated, where they're from, um
Speaker 1: whether they had any connections to be able to get
Speaker 1: into business. This helps anyone really be part of a marketplace.
Speaker 1: What are you finding is the best way to communicate
Speaker 1: what you're doing and how you're growing, Because I do
Speaker 1: think a lot of people know mented for invitations. I
Speaker 1: mean full disclosure. It's what we used for. You know,
Speaker 1: my wife and I used for our wedding and and
Speaker 1: I think people know it for for holiday cards. But
Speaker 1: but how do you then communicate that you're doing furniture
Speaker 1: as well. Yeah, I think it's a great question. I mean,
Speaker 1: we are targeting niche audiences through niche marketing, so you know,
Speaker 1: you might not see it at the very highest level
Speaker 1: of corporate marketing, but we are. We are marketing to
Speaker 1: different audiences. But I think also you'll see more brand
Speaker 1: building campaigns from us at the higher level this Christmas season,
Speaker 1: where we really are focusing on the artist as the
Speaker 1: common thread through all these businesses, so that I think
Speaker 1: people really understand that it's about it's it's really about
Speaker 1: an artist marketplace and community that is participating across textiles, paper, furniture,
Speaker 1: wall art, many different goods and bringing but really centering
Speaker 1: it around the artist story and their journey. And you'll
Speaker 1: see that coming out too. You are so great about
Speaker 1: highlighting other people's nys and artist journeys, but what about
Speaker 1: your own journey here? Because you didn't get accepted the
Speaker 1: first time around, but you came back the next year.
Speaker 1: How did you make that happen? Yeah, I mean, I
Speaker 1: think it's this idea of being persistent and fighting for
Speaker 1: what you really what your dream is. And um, you know,
Speaker 1: I had come into Stanford knowing I wanted to be
Speaker 1: an entrepreneur. I'd landed in California after graduating from college.
Speaker 1: I'd spent some time at some other businesses uh in investment, banking,
Speaker 1: and consulting, and I knew that I wanted to carve
Speaker 1: my own path. Um. I felt that if I had
Speaker 1: gone more of the bigger corporate route, I wasn't sure
Speaker 1: if that was a good fit for me and or
Speaker 1: if I would be given the responsibility that I thought
Speaker 1: maybe in my year old mind, I thought I may
Speaker 1: be deserved. And so I really felt that the US
Speaker 1: is you know, I'm a I'm an immigrant to the US.
Speaker 1: I felt like, um, this is really a country of
Speaker 1: great opportunity, uh, and that the American consumer would be
Speaker 1: the ultimate judge of merit, that they wouldn't really care
Speaker 1: necessarily who the product. If they like the product, they
Speaker 1: would buy the product. And so I was really motivated
Speaker 1: around entrepreneurship as a way to create the world. I
Speaker 1: wanted to live in and create the products I wanted
Speaker 1: to see. Um, have you found out to be the
Speaker 1: case about the American consumer? I do think so. I
Speaker 1: mean we have this is one of the best things
Speaker 1: about being American is that we have this huge Peatrie
Speaker 1: dish of like several hundred million consumers who can buy
Speaker 1: your product and test your products. So it's a fantastic
Speaker 1: It's why we are so good at product development and
Speaker 1: marketing actually because we have this great we have a
Speaker 1: great Peatrie dish, and so, um, that's exactly what's happened.
Speaker 1: And um, that's why I wanted to pursue entrepreneurship and
Speaker 1: come to Stanford. Um, so when I came out, I
Speaker 1: knew that that's what I wanted to do. So what's
Speaker 1: the endgame? And you know, it's a Bloomberg question. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's got to be nice being private, but having investors involved, right,
Speaker 1: But I mean, is the ultimate goal to be a
Speaker 1: public company? How do you think about it? Because there
Speaker 1: are options today. I think it used to be it
Speaker 1: was a direct path. You stayed private for a long time,
Speaker 1: but as soon as you could you get to the
Speaker 1: public markets. It doesn't have to be that way. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of cash out there with investor support to
Speaker 1: keep a business going for years. We see that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think we're always trying to keep all
Speaker 1: options open um. But you know, it is an independent
Speaker 1: company in the sense that our artists are independent too.
Speaker 1: It's a fungible community. People can come and go, and
Speaker 1: I think the idea of capturing trying to capture that
Speaker 1: community inside another company is probably a little bit of
Speaker 1: a forced a forced, it would be forced, some kind
Speaker 1: of strange probably. So I think of ourselves as an
Speaker 1: independent business, that we're building an independent company, and certainly
Speaker 1: we could continue private financing or or go public, and
Speaker 1: we're just preparing for, you know, for either, you know,
Speaker 1: both both paths, and we always keep we always keep
Speaker 1: ourselves prepared for both. What a fun conversation that was.
Speaker 1: Miriam Nafisi, she's the founder and co c of Minted.
Speaker 1: She joined us on campus at the Stanford Graduate School
Speaker 1: of Business, and that was back in October. You're listening
Speaker 1: to the Christmas weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week. Some
Speaker 1: of our highlights when it comes to the interviews that
Speaker 1: we did over this past year, and coming up next,
Speaker 1: you're going to hear from one of the most successful
Speaker 1: innovators of all time, founder, chairman, and CEO of Dell Technologies,
Speaker 1: Michael Dell. He talked to us about a lot, including
Speaker 1: his new book, and that included a story about dinner
Speaker 1: with Carl con Love. This part this is Bloomberg. You're
Speaker 1: listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Quick Takes Tim Stinovik from Bloomberg Radio. We're bringing you
Speaker 1: some of our favorite conversations from the past year on
Speaker 1: this holiday weekend, and we're pleased now to look back
Speaker 1: on an interview with one of the biggest names in
Speaker 1: the history of America's tech sector. When he first incorporated
Speaker 1: his company that he founded back in nineteen eighty four,
Speaker 1: it was known as Dell Computer Corporation. At the time,
Speaker 1: Michael Dell was just nineteen years old. I know it's unbelievable.
Speaker 1: His story is is incredible. Nearly four decades later, he
Speaker 1: detailed his climb to the top of his industry in
Speaker 1: a book called Plain Nice. But when a CEO's journey
Speaker 1: from founder to leader In a wide Ray Gene conversation
Speaker 1: this past fall, the billionaire innovator spoke with us about
Speaker 1: the fight for tech talent, the dawn of an era
Speaker 1: to be dominated by artificial intelligence, and the time he
Speaker 1: tangled with Carl con when the activist investor tried to
Speaker 1: impede del f him taking his own company private. Back
Speaker 1: in it was very hard. You know, I didn't really
Speaker 1: have much experience dealing with somebody who would just go
Speaker 1: on television and lie. You know that That's not something
Speaker 1: I had experienced very often in my in my business career. Um.
Speaker 1: But you know, ultimately, as I talked about in the book,
Speaker 1: I did go to his house and confront him, and
Speaker 1: you know, really saw that he didn't have any plan
Speaker 1: whatsoever for the company, and to him, it was just
Speaker 1: a big poker game. And and uh, you know, it
Speaker 1: turned out to be way more difficult than that than
Speaker 1: I thought, as was chronicled on Bloomberg television and radio
Speaker 1: very extensively. I remember it. It was a story that
Speaker 1: never ended until it did. And and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: fortunately we were able to accelerate our transformation. Are our
Speaker 1: shareholders got some of the benefits of our transformation if
Speaker 1: we were successful, which we turned out we we we
Speaker 1: were without taking on any of the risk. And uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I I've learned how to how to how
Speaker 1: to face down carl Icon. So there you go. Yay.
Speaker 1: I'm wondering, Michael, if you if you missed the days
Speaker 1: of of of running a company that's that's private, that
Speaker 1: that doesn't have a report card available to you each
Speaker 1: and every day Monday through Friday from you know, nine
Speaker 1: thirty to four, every day where you watch the company's
Speaker 1: stock move, Because you do talk a little bit in
Speaker 1: the book about the way that big swings in the
Speaker 1: company's stock would would make you feel and the way
Speaker 1: that you thought that analysts and investors were missing it.
Speaker 1: Do you miss the days of of of of not
Speaker 1: running a public company? Well, I've I've I've done both
Speaker 1: right and uh, you know, the key for us was
Speaker 1: really put the company on a different trajectory. And back
Speaker 1: in two thousand twelve and two thousand and thirteen, the
Speaker 1: markets really didn't give us permission to go invest in
Speaker 1: those new areas. Uh. You know, now I think we're
Speaker 1: in a different spot, new capabilities, new growth rate, and
Speaker 1: new trajectory. And you know, we also reignited that entrepreneurial
Speaker 1: spirit which was the formation of the company and very
Speaker 1: much kept that alive. Even as we've transitioned back to
Speaker 1: being public again. Well, you know it's interesting too, and
Speaker 1: we've really leaned on I think even more so during
Speaker 1: the pandemic. Are our leaders right of companies UM to
Speaker 1: help us get it through. I think about Black Lives
Speaker 1: Matter and you know, one of the things we wanted
Speaker 1: to ask you, And it feels like from reading your book,
Speaker 1: you don't play around too much or careful around politics.
Speaker 1: And I can understand that for for CEO S. But
Speaker 1: you know your home state of of Texas. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I have a lot of family in Texas. You seem
Speaker 1: to be you know, you really love that state and
Speaker 1: and you write a lot about it in your book.
Speaker 1: How do you feel about things like the abortion law
Speaker 1: and the voting rights one? Would you would you have
Speaker 1: spoken out about? Yeah? I have spoken out about voting
Speaker 1: rights and certainly we've communicated with our team members about uh,
Speaker 1: you know, some of the some of the recent laws. Look,
Speaker 1: I would much rather see our policymakers focus on education
Speaker 1: and infrastructure and broadband and you know, the things that
Speaker 1: will help the state continue to be successful. And as
Speaker 1: we've communicated to our team members, you know, our belief
Speaker 1: is that uh, you know, they should have more access
Speaker 1: to healthcare, not not less. Do you worry though about
Speaker 1: you know, some of these issues that will it'll hurt
Speaker 1: del's ability to attract talent, especially in Austin or are
Speaker 1: generally speaking, haven't seen that problem yet. Well, well, we'll
Speaker 1: see how it plays out and uh, you know, uh
Speaker 1: to again, our company will go where the talent is,
Speaker 1: and you know, uh, let's let's see also how how
Speaker 1: the courts you know, rule on these things. And you know, uh,
Speaker 1: I think there's still a lot that we don't know
Speaker 1: about how how this plays out. Hey, Michael, I want
Speaker 1: to stick on on talent because we have spoken to
Speaker 1: executives in recent months who've said, hey, the labor crunch
Speaker 1: that we're seeing, it's really across the spectrum from hourly
Speaker 1: employees all the way up to executives. If you had
Speaker 1: to raise wages to attract and retain talent, well you're
Speaker 1: always adjusting, you know, compensation and benefits. Pretty pleased with
Speaker 1: our attrition, you know, our data says, you know, we're
Speaker 1: uh uh in the you know, kind of lower quartile
Speaker 1: of attrition. So I haven't really had an enormous challenge
Speaker 1: there as I know many companies have and look at
Speaker 1: um you know, Uh, our job is to create an
Speaker 1: inspire ring and uh you know, passionate environment where people
Speaker 1: can do their very best work. And we tracked a
Speaker 1: lot of young people into our company given those opportunities.
Speaker 1: I think if we keep doing that, uh you know,
Speaker 1: we'll we'll be just fine. Am C. It is a
Speaker 1: company that we know, we've all talked about it, um
Speaker 1: you know, the king of growing uh storage device market.
Speaker 1: We know cloud computing is changing all of this. Uh
Speaker 1: you know, a former we were talking to some of
Speaker 1: our colleagues, Uh, a former MC executive telling uh them
Speaker 1: that EMC was once the last or what was the
Speaker 1: last great storage companies. There will never be another one.
Speaker 1: So what is the future of that market in your view?
Speaker 1: And how do you think Deale specifically can benefit from that? Well,
Speaker 1: the interesting thing is if you peel back the onion
Speaker 1: on just about anything that's going on. You were talking
Speaker 1: about crypto earlier, dec finance, autonomous vehicles, you know, just
Speaker 1: pick your new thing that's happening. Behind all of that
Speaker 1: is an enormous amount of data and uh you know,
Speaker 1: it turns out you need a lot of cloud infrastructure Uh,
Speaker 1: no matter where it is, and you need a lot
Speaker 1: of data to make all these things happen. And so
Speaker 1: you know, as the number one company in the world
Speaker 1: that provides all of that, we're seeing some really nice
Speaker 1: growth in those areas. So, uh, I think the world's
Speaker 1: kind of figuring out. Yeah, public cloud is a thing,
Speaker 1: but it's not just the public cloud, it's multi cloud.
Speaker 1: It's also the edge and there's enormous growth going on
Speaker 1: as everything in the world becomes intelligent and connected and
Speaker 1: now with five g uh, the distributed computing world is
Speaker 1: even more distributed. All that creates enormous opportunities for us
Speaker 1: have to say that, um, you know, and we want
Speaker 1: to talk a little about innovation. We've got a few
Speaker 1: minutes left. Mike Bloomberg stop by my desk. I was working.
Speaker 1: I have a huge pile of books and he's like,
Speaker 1: do you read all of these? And I'm like, I try,
Speaker 1: I said, but one book I'm reading right now is
Speaker 1: Michael Dale's new book. And he's like, I know Michael,
Speaker 1: and he goes, really smart guy, really innovative guy, and uh,
Speaker 1: it was just kind of interesting and he talked about
Speaker 1: you know, how you reinvented your company. Um, when it
Speaker 1: comes to innovation reinvention, Um, what are the technologies that
Speaker 1: you think we should be focusing on? You know what
Speaker 1: general you know what gets you excited? Is it crypto?
Speaker 1: Is it AI? Is it something? Is that the metaverse?
Speaker 1: What do you think is interesting? Because reading your book,
Speaker 1: I mean you've been involved in the text space that
Speaker 1: you were a kid, and I just wonder what really
Speaker 1: catches your attention now? Yeah, you know the power of
Speaker 1: AI to again use all this data to up end
Speaker 1: and reinvent every part of our world in society is incredible.
Speaker 1: I think, Uh, you know, they're going to be incredible
Speaker 1: innovations in the intersection of the bio biological and computational
Speaker 1: sciences in all the areas you you talked about. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's hard to predict you know, exactly how all these
Speaker 1: things are going to evolve. But you know when when
Speaker 1: you have these powerful ingredient technologies coming together, and look,
Speaker 1: you have an enormous amount of risk capital right now
Speaker 1: that's going after these problems and even harder, hard tech problems.
Speaker 1: I think that the future is is super bright for
Speaker 1: for uh, you know, humankind. That was Dell Technologies founder,
Speaker 1: chairman and CEO Michael Dell. We interviewed him back in October.
Speaker 1: His new book out this year, Play Nice, But when
Speaker 1: a CEO's journey from founder to leader. I have to say,
Speaker 1: at a hard time putting this one down. You know,
Speaker 1: we get a lot of books get written by business leaders.
Speaker 1: This one was different. It was and I think what
Speaker 1: was fascinating was like it went back in time and
Speaker 1: then it went forward in time, Like it was juxtaposition
Speaker 1: in the creation of his company with then taking it
Speaker 1: private again, Like it just went back and forth and
Speaker 1: a really cool way. He also takes the gloves off
Speaker 1: in some parts. I kind of love when people get
Speaker 1: to a point in their in their lives. Were like,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna tell you what how it happened? Her
Speaker 1: names names? He does name names. That wraps up the
Speaker 1: first hour of our Christmas weekend edition of Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week from Bloomberg Radio and Carol Masser and I'm Tim Stannavat.
Speaker 1: Coming up in our next hour. More of our best
Speaker 1: from one, including Cathy Wood on her early days as
Speaker 1: a fund manager and her road to stardom in the
Speaker 1: financial world, plus newly minted Rock and Roll Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame Regina Shocked, taking us behind the scenes with the
Speaker 1: Go Goes and then Outlanders. Outlanders stars m hugh and
Speaker 1: on his latest pursuits both on and off the set.
Speaker 1: Whiskey anyone Yes? Also coming up, you'll here from the
Speaker 1: former chairman and CEO of Google, Mr Eric Schmidt. Heard
Speaker 1: of him, Yeah, I've heard of him. Uh And you know,
Speaker 1: you think about you know, when he was at Google, right,
Speaker 1: this was a company that was really going through growing
Speaker 1: pains um slowly on its way to becoming what it
Speaker 1: is today. But you know, he was often called we
Speaker 1: joke about it, you know, the adult in the room,
Speaker 1: like there are a bunch of you know, the guys
Speaker 1: who created the company right, brilliant, but they needed somebody
Speaker 1: to kind of formulate the company and help it on
Speaker 1: its longer term journey. You know, we asked him that
Speaker 1: question too, about other companies that perhaps need another adult
Speaker 1: in the room. Stay tuned to hear what he had
Speaker 1: to say. Really cool stuff. This is Bloomberg. This is
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business Week inside from the reporters and editors who
Speaker 1: bring you America's most trusted business magazine plus global business,
Speaker 1: finance and tech news. As it happened its Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovik
Speaker 1: on Bloomberg Radio. Hi'm Carol Masser and I'm Tim Stock.
Speaker 1: Plenty ahead in our second hour of this special Howdy
Speaker 1: weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week, some of our biggest
Speaker 1: interviews some of our favorites from including Cathy Wood of
Speaker 1: ARC invest on the origins of her now world renown
Speaker 1: risk Apple Tight, someone who is always on the investment
Speaker 1: world radar and has been really gracious to us, giving
Speaker 1: us lots of time throughout the year, and speaking of
Speaker 1: being in the spotlight, We're gonna hear from two individuals
Speaker 1: in the entertainment space. Go Goes drummer Gina Shock on
Speaker 1: her life as part of the groundbreaking all female rock group.
Speaker 1: Also Sam Hewan from the hit series Outlander on his
Speaker 1: award winning and growing business portfolio. He's an author, he's
Speaker 1: an actor. He does a lot when it comes to
Speaker 1: charity and giving back. And don't forget that whiskey. No
Speaker 1: we're not, We're not um really too fun individuals in
Speaker 1: the entertainment space looking forward to that first up this hour,
Speaker 1: though another Titan of America's technology landscape. In our last segment,
Speaker 1: you heard Michael Dale's thoughts on the age of artificial intelligence. Well,
Speaker 1: our next guest has had a hand in bringing us
Speaker 1: to this point. He's got lots to say where we
Speaker 1: go from here to help us understand the challenges that
Speaker 1: are facing humankind as this technology becomes more pervasive. Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Cross Asset reporter Katie Raifeld and I spoke with Eric Schmidt,
Speaker 1: the co founder of Schmidt Futures, also, of course, the
Speaker 1: former CEO and chairman of Google. This change in the
Speaker 1: next five to ten years is the beginning of an
Speaker 1: ethical change in human history, similar to the Age of
Speaker 1: Reformation where age of reason excuse me, where we went
Speaker 1: from the age of faith where people basically just believe
Speaker 1: that whatever God said was correct versus the notion of
Speaker 1: having reason. And the world where we're going to have
Speaker 1: ourselves and then inanimate non human intelligence is helping us
Speaker 1: is a very different world than the one we're in today.
Speaker 1: And bridge the gap between the world we're in today
Speaker 1: and the world we're heading into where AI is a
Speaker 1: bigger part of it. Because you know, when I think
Speaker 1: about a I I struggled to think about how it
Speaker 1: will transform my day to day life. So if we
Speaker 1: go down that path, you know, five, ten, even more
Speaker 1: years into the future, I mean, how do you see
Speaker 1: this shaping the world around us? Well, most people when
Speaker 1: they think about it, are they think of a killer robot.
Speaker 1: Wasn't going to say that, but yeah, yeah, yeah, we're
Speaker 1: We're not talking about that. What we're talking about is
Speaker 1: that you will have assistance. Today, you have an assistant
Speaker 1: in the form of Google UM, you have recommendation engines
Speaker 1: and so forth. Those are all AI powered by the way,
Speaker 1: but translations and so forth, that all works very well.
Speaker 1: What will happen in the next five or ten years
Speaker 1: is you're going to have conversational systems that are human
Speaker 1: life that you're gonna ask questions and can make recommendations
Speaker 1: and more importantly, generate new things. UM. In our book,
Speaker 1: we talk about the h the achievement of AlphaGo, where
Speaker 1: computers developed new game strategies for a game that have
Speaker 1: been played by humans for two thousand private or years
Speaker 1: that had never been discovered by humans. We highlight the
Speaker 1: discovery of a new antibiotic. They could never have been
Speaker 1: done without using superhuman supercomputer analysis with human collaboration to
Speaker 1: look through all the choices to find a new antibiotic
Speaker 1: that says that saves lives. And we also talk about
Speaker 1: these new language models, which are these immense systems where
Speaker 1: we build them and that we don't know what they
Speaker 1: know and what they really think. And it's called GPP three.
Speaker 1: These are the beginning platforms of a transformation of our
Speaker 1: the world around us. So the answer for you, specifically
Speaker 1: your reporter, Uh, you're you're in the news, You're inundated
Speaker 1: with information. Everyone is going to be pushing more and
Speaker 1: more stuff to you. You're gonna be inundated. You're going
Speaker 1: to need a digital assistant. It will help you prioritize
Speaker 1: what you what you need to do in your work
Speaker 1: as well as your whole life. Okay, that sounds better
Speaker 1: than a killer robot. Absolutely. So to that end, you
Speaker 1: write in the preface along with your co author, is
Speaker 1: that the three of you differ to the extent in
Speaker 1: which you're optimistic about AI. Where do you fall in
Speaker 1: that of the three of us, I'm the more most optimistic,
Speaker 1: I think because in my world and my experience, we've
Speaker 1: we have these enormous opportunities with enormous down sides and
Speaker 1: somehow we muddle through. Um. If I told you the
Speaker 1: social media would become the primary attention source and information
Speaker 1: source for the most of the world, you'd say, great.
Speaker 1: What I didn't realize when we did social media it
Speaker 1: would also be used to manipulated elections and manipulate people
Speaker 1: through falsehoods and misinformation and so forth. Uh, we're working
Speaker 1: on the ladder. So when this next generation of much
Speaker 1: smarter systems come along, we better have a notion of
Speaker 1: what their ethics are. What are they promoting? Um, when
Speaker 1: you put one of these things with your kid, who's
Speaker 1: obviously developmentally vulnerable, what happened If the thing has a
Speaker 1: hidden bug in it, like it's slightly racist, or it
Speaker 1: has the wrong values, everyone's a all. It says something inappropriate.
Speaker 1: Do you really want your child exposed to that in
Speaker 1: such an important role where this is the child's best friend. Eric,
Speaker 1: I want to talk about the metaverse and the context
Speaker 1: of last week's rebranding of Facebook. What is the relationship
Speaker 1: between AI and the metaverse? Well, the metaverse needs to
Speaker 1: be defined, you know, as you know, the term was
Speaker 1: coined a night by Neil Stevenson in a famous science
Speaker 1: fiction book, and most of us think that the metaverse
Speaker 1: is a world where sort of similar to the movie
Speaker 1: Ready Player, one where you would move into a digital
Speaker 1: world that's everyone's smarter, more beautiful, faster, it's more fun,
Speaker 1: and it's really enjoyable. Facebook has not built that product yet,
Speaker 1: and so we have to assume that that's their direction.
Speaker 1: But it seems to me that naming the changing the
Speaker 1: name of all of Facebook, which is a hundred thousand
Speaker 1: people in an enormous business, based on products that have
Speaker 1: not been announced yet is a pretty big decision. And
Speaker 1: we'll see, let's see how the products play out. That's
Speaker 1: Eric Schmidt, the co founder of Schmidt Futures and former
Speaker 1: CEO and chairman of Google. Also the co author of
Speaker 1: the Age of a I and Our Human Future, which
Speaker 1: he wrote with Henry Kissinger and Daniel Hutton Locker. You're
Speaker 1: listening to Bloomberg Business Week. We continue with some of
Speaker 1: our memorable conversations, including a catch up with Cathy would
Speaker 1: the founder, CEO and see IO of Arc invest. This
Speaker 1: is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer
Speaker 1: and Bloomberg Quick Takes. Tim Stinovik from Bloomberg Radio So
Speaker 1: gave us a chance to hit the road again and
Speaker 1: broadcast from some of our favorite events in the financial world.
Speaker 1: One of them was the Milk And Institute Global Conference
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles that was back in October. The annual
Speaker 1: gathering of global leaders and government, finance, health, academia, philanthropy,
Speaker 1: and Moore returned to an in person format after last
Speaker 1: year's event was scaled down and completely remote, of course,
Speaker 1: due to the pandemic. Yeah, it really felt good to
Speaker 1: be back in person. It was scaled down, but nonetheless
Speaker 1: great to be around people and actually do panels up
Speaker 1: on stage with individuals rather than virtually. We did spend
Speaker 1: three jam packed days talking about the disruptions and innovations
Speaker 1: brought on by the global pandemic, along with social crises
Speaker 1: and economic hardships that we've really seen developed since last March.
Speaker 1: And when you want to talk innovation and how to
Speaker 1: place your bets on the future, if there's one person
Speaker 1: you need to hear from, well it's Cathy Wood. Carol
Speaker 1: sat down with the ARC invest founder, CEO and ce
Speaker 1: IO at Milkne to get the backstory behind the fund
Speaker 1: manager's rise to investment fame. I think important to note
Speaker 1: here Carol You've known Cathy for years, uh, back to
Speaker 1: when she started ARC, and you know, she wasn't a
Speaker 1: household name at least in the investing world like she
Speaker 1: is today. Yeah, it was pretty fascinating. I think about
Speaker 1: seven years ago, I think it was, uh, and she
Speaker 1: didn't have a lot of money, didn't have a new
Speaker 1: fund out yet. It was just, you know, a new
Speaker 1: name in the space and her ideas that this whole
Speaker 1: idea of disruption innovation. You know, it's something we talked
Speaker 1: about pretty regularly now, but back then it was a
Speaker 1: new idea after the tech and telecombust and then even
Speaker 1: more so after oh eight oh nine, I began to
Speaker 1: see just incredible risk aversion, career risk, business risk, and
Speaker 1: everybody was worshiping the almighty index benchmarks, and that was
Speaker 1: not consistent with what we were doing at all. So
Speaker 1: we were becoming I described it as an otter and
Speaker 1: otter duck, you know. And I also felt this was
Speaker 1: very bad behavior. I feel like the maybe investing and
Speaker 1: tried and true is not wrong, but investing only in
Speaker 1: the past, I do believe is wrong. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: because there are so many so there's so much in
Speaker 1: the way of innovation evolving, and I did not feel
Speaker 1: like it could be funded appropriately in the in the
Speaker 1: public markets. The private markets were screaming, so valuations were crazy.
Speaker 1: They're the same kind of stock was selling for a
Speaker 1: fraction of the valuation in the public markets. So I
Speaker 1: felt there was an I felt there was an arbitrage opportunity.
Speaker 1: Many people in the public world said, oh, those private valuations,
Speaker 1: those are going to crash. Didn't think that was true.
Speaker 1: We thought the public market valuations were going to move up.
Speaker 1: So I felt that this focus on innovation had been lost,
Speaker 1: research lost, investing lost in the public markets. And I
Speaker 1: said we could we could fulfill a huge on met
Speaker 1: need and and change this misallocation of capital, which is
Speaker 1: all about the past, especially because of the explosive growth
Speaker 1: opportunities there are in the future. So tell us about
Speaker 1: And I know there's been a podcast you've done and
Speaker 1: there's been some writing. What was the aha moment you said,
Speaker 1: I'm going to do this differently And I want you
Speaker 1: if you don't mind. I mean, I know your faith
Speaker 1: is important to you and the name of your company's
Speaker 1: are so how did that play into it? Sure? So
Speaker 1: I remember walking into my home on a beautiful side.
Speaker 1: I get these epiphanies on beautiful sunny days when I'm
Speaker 1: not really thinking about anything. But I walked into my
Speaker 1: beautiful sunny day silence. Now had three children, two dogs,
Speaker 1: and a nanny, and it was complete silence because they
Speaker 1: were going to all be away for two weeks, first
Speaker 1: time ever in this house. And I walked into the
Speaker 1: kitchen and I wasn't happy, but I wasn't sad. I
Speaker 1: wasn't even thinking about work, and and I got the
Speaker 1: message loud and clear. You have to take all of
Speaker 1: the technologies that have disrupted other industries and start to
Speaker 1: disrupt your own and focus on their new creation. It
Speaker 1: sounds like, and I want to stay here for a moment.
Speaker 1: I have faiths and beliefs that are very important to me.
Speaker 1: It sounds like your faith guides you in a lot
Speaker 1: of ways. How does it as you look at these companies,
Speaker 1: make your investments, make your decisions. How does that play
Speaker 1: into it? Cathy Um? Well, first of all, in terms
Speaker 1: of that aha moment, you know, many people would describe
Speaker 1: that as the force or the universe. I would call
Speaker 1: it the Holy Spirit, and so the Holy Spirit as
Speaker 1: a guide. Um. You know, as much as we in
Speaker 1: the financial world would like to think we're in control.
Speaker 1: We're not. Uh, there are much bigger forces in control.
Speaker 1: Some would say the fans in control around No, not
Speaker 1: even the FEDS in control. So um and and this
Speaker 1: idea of the new creation, In fact I got it
Speaker 1: was after I described what I the ecosystem that I
Speaker 1: wanted to put in place, involving social media and giving
Speaker 1: our research away. And you know, I wasn't even thinking
Speaker 1: about going viral and the way that we have gone viral.
Speaker 1: I was just thinking, how can we get our message
Speaker 1: out because we can't get it out through traditional channels.
Speaker 1: Nobody believes in us. Well, if you're going to do
Speaker 1: it differently, like you're gonna do it differently all the way,
Speaker 1: all the way, all the way. And so we are
Speaker 1: seeking the truth as these news new technologies evolve, all
Speaker 1: of them at the same time, right and cause like
Speaker 1: a lot of chaos, a lot of confusion, a lot
Speaker 1: of fund fear, uncertainty, end doubt in our markets. And
Speaker 1: we're trying to allocate capital to its highest and best
Speaker 1: use to do the right thing. That was Kathy Would,
Speaker 1: she's the founder, CEO and CEE i O of our
Speaker 1: invest her conversation with Carol took place at the Milk
Speaker 1: and Institute Global Conference back in October. I was there live.
Speaker 1: This was a standing room only event because it was packed. Uh.
Speaker 1: And you know what, you got up there with Kathy.
Speaker 1: I think it was just after Steve Manusian was up
Speaker 1: there with our colleague Romain Bostick, which is another exactly
Speaker 1: easy to follow, But you didn't thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1: It was really nice to be there, and like both
Speaker 1: of us, we had so many good conversations. I think
Speaker 1: about those three days of broadcasts, you and I really
Speaker 1: talking to some really smart individuals. Everybody loved being in person,
Speaker 1: and I highly recommend folks go back and check out
Speaker 1: our podcast feed because those shows were pretty memorable. Uh.
Speaker 1: And I was so glad that we could be there
Speaker 1: all right. Still the Common Bluemberg Business Week. A new
Speaker 1: inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We're
Speaker 1: gonna shift gears a little bit, have some fun in
Speaker 1: this last thirty minutes of our special holiday broadcast. So
Speaker 1: a rock and Roll Hall of Famer and also an
Speaker 1: award winning actor, entrepreneur, and I guess I can say
Speaker 1: a man of the Scottish Highlands and our best Bloomberg
Speaker 1: business Week Christmas Weekend special. It takes us onto the
Speaker 1: stage with rock legend Gina Shock. Also on set with
Speaker 1: Outlander star Sam Huant. This is Bloomberg. COVID nineteen has
Speaker 1: changed how we live and how we feel, but now
Speaker 1: there are vaccines and they are the first step that
Speaker 1: lets us get back to the things we miss most
Speaker 1: like spreading the word without spread and concern, girls tripping
Speaker 1: instead of solo, sipping and talking smack with the side
Speaker 1: of mac and cheese. It's okay to have questions about
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen vaccines. Now get the facts. Visit get Vaccine
Speaker 1: Answers dot Org so you can make it in decision
Speaker 1: when COVID nineteen vaccines are available to you, brought to
Speaker 1: you by the AD Council. This is Bloomberg Business Week
Speaker 1: with Carol Masser and Bloomberg Quick Takes. Tim Stinovic on
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Radio. Alright, we definitely got to beat this year.
Speaker 1: We've had some great interviews, and I gotta say being
Speaker 1: part of the Bloomberg Business Week team and family means
Speaker 1: we talk daily about the intersection of markets and business
Speaker 1: with every industry that's out there, and that includes arts
Speaker 1: and entertainment, which is why we wanted to catch up
Speaker 1: with an original member of The Go Goes, the first
Speaker 1: all female rock group to write their own songs, play
Speaker 1: their own instruments, and reach the top of the Billboard charts.
Speaker 1: Drummer Gina Shock recently released her new book Made in Hollywood,
Speaker 1: All Access with the Go Goes. It's a personal account
Speaker 1: of the band that includes a treasure trove of photographs
Speaker 1: and memory Billia collected over the course of her forty
Speaker 1: year career. This is an awesome book. The pictures alone
Speaker 1: are amazing. It's gorgeous. It's really really well done. And
Speaker 1: when we spoke with her back in November, she and
Speaker 1: her bandmates had just been inducted into the Rock and
Speaker 1: Roll Hall of Fame. We wanted to know which artists
Speaker 1: she had looked to for inspiration along the way. I
Speaker 1: am the ultimate fan, let me tell you, you know,
Speaker 1: I just adore them all. It's music is my whole
Speaker 1: life and it's always been and I feel so lucky
Speaker 1: to be able to contribute. Um. I meeting David Bowie
Speaker 1: was a huge thing in my life. I idolized him
Speaker 1: growing up and you know, had the utmost respect to
Speaker 1: the The guy was a genius um and I got
Speaker 1: to meet him three times and that was super duper cool.
Speaker 1: It was actually the first time I met him that
Speaker 1: the photo of us in the book is when he
Speaker 1: was doing the Serious Moonlight tour and we actually got
Speaker 1: to open for him too, I think at Anaheim Stadium.
Speaker 1: That was very cool. But the first time I met
Speaker 1: him was in night before the Gogers were even signed.
Speaker 1: We were playing at the Rich in New York City.
Speaker 1: Checked this out. We didn't have a record deal. We
Speaker 1: had just gotten back from England. We had been opening
Speaker 1: for Madness and the Specials over there, so we all
Speaker 1: had our our boyfriends with us. So man is, we're
Speaker 1: on our show. What we get done? And we go
Speaker 1: to the I P set and then they're like, guess
Speaker 1: who was at your show? Who? Okay, David Bowie and
Speaker 1: his constant companion Coco, Peak Towns and and John and Yoko. Now,
Speaker 1: unfortunately John and Yoko left during the encore, and yet
Speaker 1: in a couple of months he was going, you know
Speaker 1: that murdered him. Um so, but the two of them
Speaker 1: had seen the show. That meant a whole lot to me,
Speaker 1: and Peak towns and that meant a lot. And then
Speaker 1: of course Bowie and meeting him and talking to him.
Speaker 1: He was such a gentleman and so generous at this time,
Speaker 1: and wow, what what an incredible night that was for
Speaker 1: me um and of course opening for the Stones. I mean,
Speaker 1: these are things you dream of, you know, and man,
Speaker 1: it's like happening a little old Gina from Dundock in Baltimore, Like,
Speaker 1: it's crazy stuff, guys. It's it's like your dreams do
Speaker 1: can happen? They can really happen. It's it's amazing what
Speaker 1: you're can accomplish. It's all INSIDEI you just have to
Speaker 1: you just have to stay focused and do the right thing.
Speaker 1: That's all. That's it. Hey, gin, know what what has
Speaker 1: it been like getting back there on the road and
Speaker 1: doing it at a time and we're in the midst
Speaker 1: of the pandemic. How are you doing it? Well? You know,
Speaker 1: it's been rough because the last two years we've had
Speaker 1: both we've had our tours canceled. We had last year
Speaker 1: we were having a tour summer tour this year was canceled.
Speaker 1: So fortunately we are going to be doing some shows
Speaker 1: at the end of the year on the West Coast,
Speaker 1: which we're all really excited about. And then of course
Speaker 1: next year we're going to be doing shows with Silly
Speaker 1: Idol UH in the UK, UM playing like at Wemley
Speaker 1: and uh Leads Arena, all these fantastic places to play UM,
Speaker 1: and then we're we're going to be doing more shows
Speaker 1: in the States. But on top of that, UM, this
Speaker 1: year it's just been incredible for us because it seems
Speaker 1: like everything is sort of coming to fruition. You know,
Speaker 1: our our documentary really pushed people, i think, to recognize
Speaker 1: the bandon and know the ban in a way that
Speaker 1: they hadn't prior to that. Uh. UM. Also, you know
Speaker 1: our musical but which is out on Broadway a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago, that's coming back. That's a the Pasadena
Speaker 1: Playhouse like in a week, and it's opening in Australia
Speaker 1: again Head over heels. That's really cool. UM. And then
Speaker 1: the induction at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,
Speaker 1: and then now I'm doing my book tour and and
Speaker 1: my first photo exhibition and like it's wow, well that's great, guys.
Speaker 1: Well it's just you know, it is interesting and you
Speaker 1: really do think about the impact that you had. I
Speaker 1: mean there's so many female musicians now. And if you
Speaker 1: think about though, when you guys went out and did
Speaker 1: your thing, it wasn't commonplace. No, not so much. Go ahead, please,
Speaker 1: you know I'm one, Like I'm checking Instagram out every day.
Speaker 1: There are so many girls that are playing drums now
Speaker 1: and and shredding on guitar. There are so you know
Speaker 1: now that there's the latest statistic is that there are
Speaker 1: more girls learning instruments than there are guys now. But
Speaker 1: how do you like that one guy? That's incredible? Um,
Speaker 1: it's great. Yeah, it's that's the latest. Um, and it's
Speaker 1: like really great. I'm hoping that we've had an influence
Speaker 1: on them. I feel that we have. I've heard that
Speaker 1: a lot, and it's to me, the best gifts that
Speaker 1: I could ever leave when I closed my eyes on
Speaker 1: this planet is to think that I've inspired someone to
Speaker 1: step out of their comfort zone perhaps and do what
Speaker 1: they love to do. That was legendary drummer Gina Shocked,
Speaker 1: the author of Made in Hollywood All Access with the
Speaker 1: Go Goes. It's a tribute to the trailblazing female rock
Speaker 1: band also now members of the Rock and Roll Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame. Okay, so if you want saying We've got
Speaker 1: the bea connessing vacations. All I ever wanted are sealed. Man,
Speaker 1: I'm not going. You know that would be my last.
Speaker 1: That would be like my last, you know, show Business
Speaker 1: Week more followers. You know this is a radio voice,
Speaker 1: singing voice. So okay, you're listening to Bloomberg Business Week.
Speaker 1: Coming up, we wind down our Christmas weekend special with
Speaker 1: a man of many talents, Award winning actor, best selling author,
Speaker 1: and now make her a fine whiskey at enderstar Samhwan.
Speaker 1: You can say it favorite interview of hands down. I've
Speaker 1: shared it with the world and I got more emails
Speaker 1: after sharing it. That's up next. This is Bloomberg. You're
Speaker 1: listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Quick Takes. Tim Stinovik from Bloomberg Radio. Wanting down on
Speaker 1: this special Christmas weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week. Some
Speaker 1: of our favorite interviews from have to say, we are
Speaker 1: very lucky. We speak to amazing people. We have a
Speaker 1: lot of favorite interviews. We really appreciate the guests who
Speaker 1: joined us throughout the year. I got to say that
Speaker 1: this next one a lot of fun and full transparency.
Speaker 1: I'm a big fan, you really are. I think that's okay,
Speaker 1: you know, full full disclosure there. If you follow our
Speaker 1: next guest on social media, you'll see a lot of versatility.
Speaker 1: He stars in the popular streaming series Outlander. He's also
Speaker 1: an author, having recently published a follow up to his
Speaker 1: New York Times bestseller klan Len's Whiskey Warfare and a
Speaker 1: Scottish Adventure like no other. You know, it was also
Speaker 1: great about this, but he was one of the first
Speaker 1: guests of the year to join us in the studio.
Speaker 1: He really was, right, Yeah, that's a good point. I
Speaker 1: forget about that. And it was a big deal to
Speaker 1: have him here in person. It was, and it felt
Speaker 1: so good to have him in student And you're right
Speaker 1: to have somebody back in there with us. His new
Speaker 1: book is entitled The clan Lands Almanac. He's also got
Speaker 1: TV and film projects on the horizon. He's got his
Speaker 1: own line of whiskey, even his own charity. Sam Hugh
Speaker 1: and joined us as to mention in studio this past
Speaker 1: fall to talk about how he's managing all of that
Speaker 1: in the midst of a pandemic business wise. More than anything,
Speaker 1: it's delayed a lot of imports and exports, especially without whiskey.
Speaker 1: Did it complicate things? Oh? Absolutely? Yeah. I mean I
Speaker 1: think you've maybe seen the pictures of you know, the
Speaker 1: the container ships outside Long Beach. Things are just really slow,
Speaker 1: you know, globally, it's it's been tough. You know, we've
Speaker 1: been challenged with the cork for our stoppers and the bottles,
Speaker 1: you know, trying to get access to that right, yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: or just even getting a container to to transport our
Speaker 1: whiskey across from from the UK. So yeah, it's been challenging.
Speaker 1: What changes did you have to make as a result
Speaker 1: of these challenges? Did you have to raise prices, did
Speaker 1: you have to change material or just be patient? I
Speaker 1: think it's pretty much. Yeah. You know, people were waiting
Speaker 1: for our next release. We released last year and then
Speaker 1: this is our biggest release. Um, we wanted it to
Speaker 1: be out in time probviously the holiday season, but um,
Speaker 1: it's finally here. We were actually only delayed a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks, so we're pretty fortunate. How much fun are
Speaker 1: you having with this and it's doing and tell us
Speaker 1: about like taking it around in and introducing it to people. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I'm really proud. Obviously self financed, self realized. You know,
Speaker 1: we designed everything, you know, every every aspect of the finance.
Speaker 1: You've strapped it all. Yeah, yeah, so we haven't any investors.
Speaker 1: We've we've done it all ourselves. And um, as I said, yes,
Speaker 1: our second round, we've we've won about seven double gold
Speaker 1: medals from various awards. I'm just really proud of it.
Speaker 1: It's my it's my baby. Can you talk about why
Speaker 1: you bootstrapped it and chose not to bring on outside investors.
Speaker 1: Did you not want to dilute the equity? I think so,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, firstly, it is a small, limited
Speaker 1: batch release. You know, it's it's hard to get our
Speaker 1: hands on enough of the products, so we didn't need
Speaker 1: and at the first But then also, um, you know,
Speaker 1: just to retain, to retain the rights, to retain the
Speaker 1: majority share or control of it. And as I said,
Speaker 1: it is a passion project, so I really didn't want
Speaker 1: to give anything away. There may be a time when
Speaker 1: we do look at find people lucking at the door.
Speaker 1: We we yes, we have, We've definitely have conversations and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, there will be a point where we want
Speaker 1: to really upscale and and and increase. And I think
Speaker 1: at that point investment would really help us because it's
Speaker 1: interesting in the marketplace. Uh, you know, it's a crowded marketplace.
Speaker 1: But when you can create a brand um that somehow
Speaker 1: has some interesting distinction to it, and I think this
Speaker 1: one is safe to say it does also taste good. Um,
Speaker 1: you can really move ahead. What's the been the response
Speaker 1: that you're hearing? And as you because you're meeting with
Speaker 1: people in New York and elsewhere. Yeah, well, so we
Speaker 1: were now available in I mean, I think about forty states.
Speaker 1: We're working on the rest of them, and we're working
Speaker 1: on Canada as well and Europe. Um, it's it's a
Speaker 1: whisky that I wanted people to be accessible. Um. You
Speaker 1: know a lot of people don't haven't tried whiskey, or
Speaker 1: don't know much about Scotch whiskey. This is a blend.
Speaker 1: There wasn't really a premium blend out there that I
Speaker 1: felt was comparable to like the Asian blends out there,
Speaker 1: which are really phenomenal. Um, So we wanted to create
Speaker 1: something like that modern but also you know, with a
Speaker 1: nod to our heritage. So we've got some great moret
Speaker 1: whisky in here. Um and yeah, I think people's reaction
Speaker 1: has been really really positive. We did want to talk
Speaker 1: to you a little bit about what's it like on
Speaker 1: the set because it looks like you guys have just
Speaker 1: an incredible group of people. It is. Yeah, we've been
Speaker 1: obviously on the show now almost I think about eight years,
Speaker 1: where in our sixth season is about to come out, um,
Speaker 1: and it really it's where this sort of real core
Speaker 1: ensemble of actors and um, it's it's been good. I
Speaker 1: mean this was the hardest year definitely, you know, with
Speaker 1: with obviously COVID situation, but also we were shooting in winter.
Speaker 1: Um it was tough. I mean it was it was
Speaker 1: really difficult. But um, a really strong season and I
Speaker 1: think that's what brings you, gets you through something like that.
Speaker 1: You know, your your sort of friendship and your bonds
Speaker 1: and with the crew as well. You know, it's like
Speaker 1: one big family. What are the COVID protocols? And how
Speaker 1: is it different this season than it was in previous
Speaker 1: seasons before we were talking about COVID each and every day. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know we so I worked on a movie as
Speaker 1: well during COVID, UM movie called Text for You. Um.
Speaker 1: Also men and Kilts shows. We're one of the first
Speaker 1: shows to shoot in the UK with the COVID protocols.
Speaker 1: Um for outlined it was difficult, different and difficult because
Speaker 1: it's such a big show. You know, we have so
Speaker 1: many extras were out out in Scotland, so it did
Speaker 1: delay us by a number of months. But um, the protocols,
Speaker 1: you know, everyone was tested every day. We actually had
Speaker 1: a testing center in the production offices which was amazing.
Speaker 1: They could do a rapid test, so you get tested
Speaker 1: every morning. We had bubbles. Um, you did have bubbles, right,
Speaker 1: this is what we heard from when we were talking.
Speaker 1: Stuff came back so basically different. Uh, depending on sort
Speaker 1: of your your level of what your function is in
Speaker 1: on set, you would then be in allocated a certain bubble.
Speaker 1: What I really want to know when you drink whiskey
Speaker 1: on the set, are you drinking real whiskeys? Um? Absolutely,
Speaker 1: of course all the time. Wait a minute, you and
Speaker 1: I were talking, we were talking around the table here,
Speaker 1: um about your brand, ASSASSINAC. So is there more to come?
Speaker 1: You expand this? Yeah, you put me on the spot. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well you know, well absolutely, you know our tagline is
Speaker 1: Unique Spirits. Uh, so we are looking you know, around
Speaker 1: the world for you know, unique opportunities and um, really
Speaker 1: just shining the spotlight on you know, great producers and
Speaker 1: collaborating with other people. So um. But you know, obviously
Speaker 1: the whiskey is are is our main party. It's our
Speaker 1: first spirit and we really want to establish that and
Speaker 1: then let that grow as well. One last one on
Speaker 1: the on the spirit in the spirits the industry right now. Oh,
Speaker 1: I mean there's just you know, I mean the explosion
Speaker 1: of tequila obviously is really interesting. I've spent a lot
Speaker 1: of time over in in actually in Tequila Town, which
Speaker 1: is a really fun place. Um. But you know, even
Speaker 1: look in the UK, I mean, Gin is really big.
Speaker 1: It's it's kind of almost overpopulated now. Um. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm really interested in just like these small producers. I mean,
Speaker 1: Mescal is just fascinating, you know, and it's hard to
Speaker 1: for them to upscale. So um, I'd love to go
Speaker 1: to well Hacker and spend a bit of time there. Um.
Speaker 1: How long do you think you might hold onto the
Speaker 1: brand before maybe something you know, we talked about people
Speaker 1: being interested and we know, um, certainly some of the
Speaker 1: bigger brands are always looking for um new players new entries.
Speaker 1: Do you think that the the end game is that
Speaker 1: ultimately becomes part of somebody's portfolio. Um? I, to be honest,
Speaker 1: I don't know. It's something it's obviously very close to
Speaker 1: my heart. It's quite poured so much to myself into this,
Speaker 1: so I want to retain it. Um. But who knows
Speaker 1: in the future where that could go. So let's talk
Speaker 1: about some of the other projects that you're working on. UM.
Speaker 1: What is it like to either have a director reach
Speaker 1: out to your producer? Is it virtual still or is
Speaker 1: things getting back to normal? Yeah? It is, Uh, it
Speaker 1: is still kind of virtual. UM. I just shot a
Speaker 1: TV show in the UK called Suspect and that was
Speaker 1: all predominantly you know, the retool was done by our
Speaker 1: you know via zoom calls. UM, which is it is
Speaker 1: quite challenging, but it's great. You know, we're getting we're
Speaker 1: getting back on the feet that the movie TV industry
Speaker 1: is really really flourishing at the moment, is really busy.
Speaker 1: It is really busy. We're seeing certainly in and around
Speaker 1: New York too. I mean, is it the best time
Speaker 1: to be a creative right now? You not only have
Speaker 1: streaming services just duking it out for content for talent,
Speaker 1: but you also have established companies looking to get into
Speaker 1: streaming by creating more content. I mean, we are so
Speaker 1: hungry for content. Yeah, we are, and I think myself,
Speaker 1: I'm already pitching something at the moment, and it has
Speaker 1: been mostly to streamers because that's that's where who have
Speaker 1: the money and who are making things. But I mean
Speaker 1: it's also good to see that movie industry and people
Speaker 1: going back to the movies, you know, and c Bond
Speaker 1: recently it was fantastic and I mean, like in the theater,
Speaker 1: just that shared experience, which I think is something which
Speaker 1: we all miss as well. And I think hopefully, you know,
Speaker 1: also it will also have a life and we'll get
Speaker 1: people back back into the movie theaters. So, um, Atlander,
Speaker 1: what can we expect in the season. Yeah, it's back,
Speaker 1: um early. Next to the long dry spell it has,
Speaker 1: it has, it's a it's a different season. It's only
Speaker 1: eight episodes, however, the episodes are longer. The first episode
Speaker 1: of things an hour and a half. Um, it's a
Speaker 1: dare I say, it's Autlanta. So it's quite a dark season.
Speaker 1: There's a lot going on. Um, But I'm really I'm
Speaker 1: really excited the first episode especially, it's it's pretty strong.
Speaker 1: It's one of the interesting things I think that you
Speaker 1: guys did, and we've had a lot of conversations about
Speaker 1: how you all come together really portray reality, like you
Speaker 1: don't hide some of the difficult things that go on,
Speaker 1: whether it's in a relationship or just certainly the history
Speaker 1: that was out there. And and that's pretty impressive in
Speaker 1: terms of showing it and not kind of sugarcoating things. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it comes down to Diana Gabeldon's books. You know,
Speaker 1: I think they're you know, they can be pretty gritty
Speaker 1: in places. Um, so that's part of it. But I
Speaker 1: think also the show has tried not to shy away
Speaker 1: from certain subjects and it can put us in a
Speaker 1: sticky situation. But I think we're you know, we really
Speaker 1: do go into, you know, trying to portray whether it's
Speaker 1: a victim of trauma or culture for insince the Native Americans,
Speaker 1: which we haven't play a large part in in our season.
Speaker 1: This season plays into so much kind of the world
Speaker 1: at large. If you think about the last couple of years,
Speaker 1: whether it's the pandemic or whether it's George Floyd like
Speaker 1: things that have been in our society for such a
Speaker 1: long time, but you guys really kind of deal with
Speaker 1: that in big way. Yeah, but it was also showing
Speaker 1: America in its infancy, which is really interesting. I didn't
Speaker 1: know a lot of this, you know, how this will happened,
Speaker 1: and the British influence and um, it's it's fascinating. So
Speaker 1: it's just interesting that we're shooting, you know, for in
Speaker 1: Scotland for America. That's award winning actor in New York
Speaker 1: Times bestselling author, entrepreneur and philanthropists Sam Ewen. He was
Speaker 1: in our Interactive Broker studio back in October and that
Speaker 1: reps up our special Christmas weekend edition to Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week from Bloomberg Radio. Thanks so much for spending the
Speaker 1: holiday with us. I'm Carol Masser and I'm Tim Stanovk.
Speaker 1: Be sure to tune into Bloomberg Business Week Monday through Friday,
Speaker 1: starting at two pm Wall Street Time on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: You can also watch our daily broadcast sun YouTube. Just
Speaker 1: search Bloomberg Global News and check out our Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week podcast. You can find it at Bloomberg dot com,
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Speaker 1: on the Bloomberg terminal. You can also see me on
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Quicktake. It's available on Bloomberg dot com, slash qt,
Speaker 1: and streaming platforms like Roku, Apple TV, Samsung TV and more.
Speaker 1: Have a great weekend and Merry Christmas. Yeah, Merry Christmas everyone,
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, always always for listening. This is Bloomberg