WEBVTT - Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend - March 28th, 2020 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:06.360 This is Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio. Hi. I'm 0:00:06.440 --> 0:00:09.160 Jason Kelly and I'm Carol Masser. Welcome to the weekend 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:12.440 edition of Bloomberg Business Week. As you know, it's not 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:15.560 business as usual. Jason and I spending the week at 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:18.480 our homes doing our broadcasts as we're all of our 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:21.280 guests that we talked to, and this edition of Bloomberg 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:26.360 Business Week again, we're taping this largely on Thursday. As 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:30.480 the story continued to evolve in terms of stimulus packages, 0:00:30.640 --> 0:00:33.200 in terms of market reaction, and in terms of course 0:00:33.320 --> 0:00:36.480 of the virus count and the spread. Jason, Well, and Carol, 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:39.360 what I found so interesting about this week so far, 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:41.199 and as you say, weeks not over yet and we 0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:45.480 know things can change very quickly, there were diverging storylines 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:48.960 in many ways. We saw the markets get a little 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:52.199 more enthusiastic, maybe a lot more enthusiastic in some cases 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:58.320 about stimulus, as you mentioned, economic monetary actions by the 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:01.440 federal government at this same time, and you and I, 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:03.040 as you pointed out, are both in the New York 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:07.919 City area, we are seeing still a deep and seemingly 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:11.800 abiding health crisis in certain parts of this country and 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:15.240 so the push and the poll is really hard to 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:18.040 synthesize in a lot of ways. Yeah. Absolutely, And you 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:21.360 saw that play out within officials at the White House 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:23.680 and in Washington versus some of the governors in the 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:25.680 hardest hit states, whether it was New York, whether it 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:28.520 was New Jersey, whether it was California. There is this 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:33.119 growing divide about getting the nation back, getting the economy 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:35.840 back on track, versus those states who are still just 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:39.080 trying to get uh, trying to really deal with the crisis, 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:42.039 which has yet to peak. And so that was certainly 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:44.280 a bit of attention this week overall. I also want 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:47.280 to say, Jason, it was the week of big numbers, 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:50.560 that weekly jobless numbers. We all knew it was going 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:54.600 to be a big number, three point three million jobless 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:58.360 claims surging for the most recent week, and that number 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:01.120 when it hits still, you know, it was a chakra. 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:04.600 And then let's not forget this bailout or stimulus package 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:07.040 that was working its way through Congress, you know, two 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:10.200 trillion dollars and folks saying that this is only phase three, 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:12.880 and Phase four and five expected to come as well. 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:16.280 So it was a number that on many different levels, 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:20.000 of course was shocking, and of course the personal feelings 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:22.440 and this is uh the personal impact, I should say, 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:24.960 in terms of folks still coming down with the virus 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:27.600 and folks losing their lives because of the virus. Well, 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:29.560 and it's important going back to the numbers for a 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:33.960 second to understand that superlatives really fail us at this 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:40.080 point because the orders of magnitude larger that these measures, 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:43.200 these figures are. It's just incredible. You think about that 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:45.320 three point three million that you pointed out. If you 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:47.360 go back to the last sort of darkest time that 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:49.639 we had, which is the depth of the financial crisis, 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:53.000 the weekly number then the worst weekly number was about 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:57.440 six hundred thousand giver take, so you're talking about five times, 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:00.120 you know, four or five times what we saw in 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:03.679 the Great Recession. And that's why people are really struggling. 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:07.160 That's why you see the market taking these wild swings. 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:10.360 That's why you have individual people, as you say, some 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:13.320 of whom were struggling with this disease in particular, but 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:16.440 others who are just struggling living their daily lives in 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:20.760 an economy that has completely been turned upside down. Absolutely, 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:22.400 and that leads us to a story that's in the 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:25.600 magazine this week. It's by our economics editor Peter coy 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:28.960 and Peter has been such a great person to talk 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:31.960 to and to read his work because he really is 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:34.160 looking at this, you know, from a bigger perspective, from 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:38.080 a historical perspective, from an economic perspective, because ultimately one 0:03:38.080 --> 0:03:41.400 of the conversations that really came to the forefront Jason is, 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:44.120 you know, we do have to think about keeping our 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:46.920 economy going or getting it back on track. And the 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:50.480 bigger the fall is because of the coronavirus, it's going 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:52.680 to be much more difficult to get it moving again 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:55.680 on the other side. And so Peter writes about in 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:57.960 the magazine this week about big ideas to say the 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:01.560 economy from bailouts to super chapter eleven. But it's all 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:04.760 specifically about how do you help companies right, how do 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:06.520 you keep them going as much as you can through 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:09.720 the virus so that they don't come come undone or 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:12.400 file bankruptcy or so on, so that when we get 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:15.960 on the other side, there is there are still companies 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:17.880 out there, there are still jobs to be had, there's 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:21.640 still economic input. All right, let's check out that conversation 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:25.360 with Peter Coin. Well, I decided to focus on business. 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:29.600 We are Business Week, after all, and I take it 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:31.800 for granted that we have to do a lot to 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:35.120 save the individuals, people who are laid off, people who 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:37.880 aren't laid off but are still in financial stress. That 0:04:37.960 --> 0:04:40.960 goes about saying, well, maybe it doesn't go without saying. 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:43.559 It should be said very clearly. But what I'm talking 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:48.320 about is what to do to rescue businesses. And I 0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:51.919 think that cannot be given short shrift. Because when a 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:55.120 company fails, if if it, if it goes through hard 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:57.880 times and comes back, that's one thing, but it actually fails. 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:00.960 If it, if it, if it's looked it aidd goes 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:04.920 out of business, there is real damage done, not just 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:08.080 to the employees of that firm and its owners, but 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:10.280 to the economy as a whole. It's going to be 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:13.840 much harder for the economy to bounce back after this 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:20.120 COVID virus fades. If people, uh, if companies have been 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:24.360 dismantled and have to be started from scratch, there's organizational capital, 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:28.359 there's social capital that's permanently lost. I'm thinking about teams. 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:31.120 We have a lot of teams working at Bloomberg so 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:34.520 we know about this, but there are teams throughout the economy. 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:37.720 When those teams are broken up, it's hard to put 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:40.520 them back together again. Yeah. I love this line you 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:42.840 have in your story, Peter herb. But don't kill bend it, 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:46.719 but do not break it. Uh. Certainly policymakers are thinking 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:49.919 along those lines. But CEOs have to be thinking that 0:05:50.000 --> 0:05:54.120 way too, right, Right, if you're a CEO, you're thinking, Look, 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:57.640 I've got to just find some way to get past this. 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:00.599 And if if it means reaching out to the government 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:04.240 for help, you know, I'll do it because I can't 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:07.440 afford to lose these people. They might not come back 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:09.799 to me. You know. We we had a tight labor 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:13.039 market before this crisis hit, and I hope we'll have 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:17.920 a tight labor market after it passes. Uh, because there's 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:22.240 a shortage of skilled people in the economy. There has 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:25.080 been and there will be again. You don't want to 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:27.960 lose your teams. And that was Peter Cord, the economics 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:30.760 editor for Bloomberg Business Week, talking about his story in 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:33.200 this week's edition of the magazine. You're listening to Bloomberg 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:36.400 business Week coming up, How the coronavirus outbreak is impacting 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:45.400 the early stage investment community. This is Bloomberg. You're listening 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:49.000 to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason Kelly 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:51.760 from Bloomberg Radio. We're bringing you some of the most 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:54.679 important and informative conversations that we had on our daily 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:57.440 radio show about the coronavirus this week and Jason, as 0:06:57.480 --> 0:06:59.880 we want to remind everybody, this story was very flu 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:04.440 and constantly advancing and changing, but some of these conversations 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:07.719 just really struck home well absolutely, and I think part 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:11.920 of what we heard consistently Carol was what happens next? 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:13.600 What are the impacts? And we try and look at 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:15.160 that throughout the course of the show. And one of 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:17.000 the voices we caught up with Carol was Michael mo 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:20.239 He's the co founder of GSV Asset Management and author 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:25.800 and investor, longtime resident and entrepreneur investor there in Silicon Valley. 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:28.320 We started by asking him what it's like they're in 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:32.480 the valley. Clearly everywhere people are are UM, you know, 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:34.960 a little bit of a shock. And I think the 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:40.040 you know, the fear of the virus, you know, has 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:44.480 UM really kind of consumed many people's thinking and behavior, 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:46.960 and when people get scared, and I think many a 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:49.400 lot of people are scared. You know, it's hard to 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:52.960 focus on much else, and so I think generally speaking, 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:55.480 that's kind of it. It's a little bit eerie. It's 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:57.760 you know, I live in a place where there is 0:07:57.800 --> 0:07:59.720 typically a lot going on, a lot of energy, and 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:03.920 it's very very quiet. Yeah, and I think we do wonder, Michael, 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:07.080 you know, how much of kind of how we're adjusting 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:09.400 our lives at this point, how much of it once 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:12.120 we get through this. I'm assuming we of course, will 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:15.400 you know that how much of it stays with us 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:19.160 in terms of you know, concerns about viruses because there 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:21.360 will be more viruses to come, but also how we're 0:08:21.480 --> 0:08:23.720 kind of adapting our work lives, a lot of us 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:26.280 working from home and the ability to do that. I 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:28.760 just wonder, you know, we had a conversation with someone 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:32.360 who talked a well known investor, Cathy Wood, who invest 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:34.400 in disruption, and she says, you know, when you see 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:37.640 market disruption, that's where you kind of get innovation, uh 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:40.360 and opportunity. So I wonder, you know, if you're looking 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:44.000 at it in a similar way, that's clearly where the 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:46.959 half is glass half the glass is half full. I mean, 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:50.720 you've seen this over and over again where you've had 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:55.720 this location and disruption, you've also had huge opportunities, and 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:58.320 so I think, what's exciting And then again, this is 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:01.720 a very serious situation and and obviously the most important 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:05.160 thing is health and safety, but you are saying people 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:09.120 in their creativity and the innovation thinking about what, you know, 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:11.040 what does this mean and where does this go? So 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:13.440 I like to say, is we were it was it 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:17.000 was BC before, that's before Corona, and now we've got 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:19.000 a d which is going to be you know, after 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:23.600 the disease, and these opportunities that emerge a d UM, 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:26.439 I think are going to be very exciting. And so 0:09:26.600 --> 0:09:28.800 that's part of what we're doing is focus on what 0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:33.079 those opportunities might be and also understand what it means 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:36.120 for kind of companies that UM grew up in the 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:38.800 old world. Right. Well, one of the things I wanted 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:40.960 to make sure we talked about Michael was you know, 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:43.800 normally this time of year, you are like in the 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:46.800 thick of planning this massive conference that you do in 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:50.720 in San Diego and partnership with Arizona State. I believe 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:53.280 you know, you bring together some huge speakers to talk 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:57.720 about the future of education, education, technology, and tech specifically. 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:00.960 I guess two things. It seems like you've made a 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:04.079 big decision to do a lot of that virtually this year. 0:10:04.160 --> 0:10:07.320 Tell us about that. First, Well, we're shifting the physical 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:10.200 conference to the fall UM with the hopes that things 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:12.599 will be UM more or less back to normal by that. 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:18.000 But we didn't want to lose the UM opportunity to 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:20.000 convene people that we're gonna do it virtually, So we're 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:24.679 gonna have a one day virtual event UM next Wednesday, 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:27.319 April one, and we called this, you know, the dawn 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:30.560 of the Age of Digital Learning, because while digital learning 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:35.280 has been growing at a very healthy clip up until now, 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:39.280 UM you know this, the coronavirus has really been a 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:43.280 major catalyst to accelerate this. And with whether you're a parent, 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:45.920 whether you're a K twelve school, you know, there's one 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:49.160 point four billion kids around the world right now that 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:52.160 we're going to school now our home. UM. You know, 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:56.359 universities are scrambling to figure out what they do to UM, 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:59.920 you know, to provide courses for for their for their 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:04.880 college students, and corporations are reimagining what they need to 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:07.320 do to upscale, re school their their work force. So 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:11.040 it is as much of this is a a very 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:16.720 difficult situation for society, for the economy, for online learning. Um, 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:19.040 it's it's I think of you know, it's based on 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:21.560 accelerts to the future well, and the same thing with 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:24.640 like I think, um, you know, using the virtual world 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:28.120 in terms of distance and reaching out to our medical community, 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:31.800 right in terms of telehealth. UM, I mean I wonder 0:11:31.840 --> 0:11:34.400 if that is something that we look at very differently 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:37.240 coming out on the other side, for sure. I mean again, 0:11:37.280 --> 0:11:40.800 I think this has been it has been a total 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:44.719 shift in terms of how people think about you know 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:46.880 what you know, those sort of the realities of of 0:11:46.920 --> 0:11:52.320 an interconnected world, urbanization and and and globalization that that 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:55.880 you know, the pandemics. You know, people that are you know, 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:58.520 worry about you know, things that could happen in the 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:01.440 future have been worried about demics for some time. But 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:05.520 really this is the first time where it's been you know, 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:09.559 basically relevant to everybody. And I think that kind of 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:12.760 you know, mind shift is going to affect this isn't 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:14.760 because the genie is not going back in the bottle. 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:17.560 I think it's a permanent shift about how people think 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:21.240 about UM activity and how they've done how they do 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:23.800 things in the future differently than maybe they did in 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:26.080 the past. You know, you wrote a book a couple 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:29.600 of years ago that I read. It's fantastic, and it's 0:12:29.640 --> 0:12:32.200 about Global Silicon Valley. This whole notion of the Global 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:34.719 Silicon Valley is the Global Silicon Valley Handbook is the 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:38.559 technical title. UM but you have really explored this notion 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:43.400 of this interconnected world and this notion that the ideas, 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:46.640 the ethos of Silicon Valley is much wider spread than 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:49.959 just the place where you happen to be sitting right now. 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:54.680 Does this dent that ambition at all or does it 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:57.839 strengthen it? Yeah, I think it's actually is going to 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:01.640 strengthen it. And I think that's partially You've had this 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:06.600 trend that's been going on for a dozen years. You know, 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:09.080 the front g s V stands for Global Silicon Valley, 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:12.000 and so to your point, you know, the mindset of innovation, 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:14.959 entrepreneurship that's made Silicon Valley that's an amazing place and 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:17.160 I've been fortunate to live in for twenty five years, 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:21.079 is going you know, spreading throughout the world, and you're 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:24.880 looking at the ambition that exists with young people that 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:27.720 want to not work for the large company but want 0:13:27.760 --> 0:13:30.760 to start their own business. And you know, in today's world, 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:34.360 where you know you're gonna have more difficultd hiring is 0:13:34.400 --> 0:13:36.360 going to not be as robust as what we've seen 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:39.240 the last five years, you're gonna see that likely accelerate 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:42.480 because your opportunity costs to start a business is lower. 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:46.200 And so what we're seeing is from you know, from 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:49.640 Austin to Boston, from Chicago to Salpallo, from Mumbai to Shanghai, 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:52.160 do by this emergence of this global Silicon Valley. And 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:55.400 that's Michael mo co founder of gsc Asset Management, speaking 0:13:55.400 --> 0:13:58.400 to us from his home in Silicon Valley. Everybody working 0:13:58.440 --> 0:14:00.679 from home, Carol, but trying to make sense of this. 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:03.520 And you know, it was an interesting perspective a given 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:09.080 Michael's vast historical institutional knowledge, global knowledge, but also the 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:11.520 idea that he's in a part of the country as 0:14:11.559 --> 0:14:14.400 we are, that has been deeply affected on a very 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:16.760 human level by this virus. And I'm just gonna say, 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:18.120 why you're at home, you might want to check out 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:20.800 some of his books. He wrote the Global Silicon Valley 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:23.680 Handbook and also Finding the Next Starbucks. So um, certainly 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:26.720 some books to check out. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week. 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:30.680 Coming up a valuable lesson that three M learned after 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:33.320 the stars epidemic of two thousand to two thousand three 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:35.400 that's going to let them make more than a billion 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:38.600 medical masks by the end of the year. This is Bloomberg. 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:47.320 You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:50.760 Jason Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. This week we're bringing you 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:54.120 some of our most important and we hope informative conversations 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:57.000 we had on our daily radio show that runs two 0:14:57.080 --> 0:15:00.360 pm to six pm Wall Street Time every weekday, and 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:03.160 of course all of it was about the coronavirus and 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:05.400 the cover story of the magazine this week, Jason is 0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:07.920 about three M. Three M is a company you know 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:10.760 really well. They make post its, they make Scotch tape. Well, 0:15:10.840 --> 0:15:12.760 this company is now looking to make more than a 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:16.280 billion medical masks, something that everyone needs to get through 0:15:16.280 --> 0:15:19.200 the coronavirus. Now. The company's CEO, Mic Roman, spoke with 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:23.320 Bloomberg's David Weston we've been working very closely with the government. 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:26.520 We've been working, you know, with with Vice President Pence 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:29.800 from his visit, looking at how to make sure that 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:33.280 we can shift what have been the industrial and ninety 0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:37.640 five respirators into healthcare. So it was really appreciate the 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:40.960 Emergency Use authorization out of the SPA and then the 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:44.040 prep Act amendment which enabled us to be able to 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:48.040 deliver our industrial respirators at the healthcare workers of the 0:15:48.040 --> 0:15:51.440 front line. That was the first big step. So that 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:54.440 is the three M CEO, Mic Roman talking with our 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:58.440 own Blueberg David Weston Well three M and it's overall 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:00.720 team caught up with our Brian. Really, he's got a 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:03.120 great story. That's the cover of the magazine this week. 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:06.240 Brian is Projects and Investigations reporter at Bloomberg News. He's 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:09.160 with us right now on the phone from Chicago. Also 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:12.360 with us Joe Webber, editor of Bloomberg Business Week magazine. 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:14.840 He's on the phone from Brooklyn. So Brian, let me 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:17.800 kick it off with you. I mean, three M man, 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:21.240 this is a company that has learned from past crises 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:23.320 and figured out how to be ready for what we 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:27.120 needed today. Talk to us about what they learned. I 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:31.320 believe it was through Stars. Years ago. You had the 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:35.760 Stars outbreak two thousand two, two thousand three, and after 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:42.160 that prem realized they really weren't geared up two uh 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:46.800 to address a real big surge in demand until then 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:51.120 they decided that they would build into their plants what 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:55.080 they called surge capacity. And over the years, um they 0:16:55.080 --> 0:16:57.760 would find this. But but essentially what it is is 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:02.480 putting in idle lines, you know, lines you don't use, 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:07.720 which assembly lines you don't use, which runs contrary to 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:11.600 most um business sense. I mean when when we talk 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:16.600 about automobile manufacturers, for instance, so we talk about down capacity, 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:19.520 that's money going out the door because you're not you're 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:22.600 paying for that. You have carrying costs on that equipment 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:25.560 and machinery, and you're not getting any money for it. 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:29.480 So or something that three M thought would would be 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:32.399 helpful in times of crisis, and and they've used it 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:35.640 over and over again, but but um, it never has 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:38.800 it come into such important play as it is now. 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:42.320 So Joel Weber, come on in here. What struck you 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:46.280 about this story? Because obviously everything is a business story, 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:49.600 as you often say, and man, this is just a 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:53.800 business squarely in the heart of a crisis. Yeah, so, 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:57.119 I um, I've thought about this story a lot, because 0:17:57.119 --> 0:17:58.960 it was one of the first things that came to 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:01.960 mind a couple of weeks ago as we were just 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:05.840 seeing a huge um surge in demand for for a 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:09.280 lot of consumer products actually, from things like toilet paper, 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:14.520 to Go Joe hand sanitizer and even Clorox bleach right like, 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:17.040 and that the idea kind of just jumped in my 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:18.959 head of like, you know, how do you make more 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:23.280 of these products yesterday? How does how does three M 0:18:23.280 --> 0:18:27.639 manufacture millions and millions of maths in addition to the 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:30.080 ones that they were already doing. So I sort of 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:32.880 just started kicking that idea around with people like Brian 0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:35.879 and Rick Klus also the code island on this story, 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:38.679 and three M just kind of came back to us 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:41.280 again as like the company like in the middle of 0:18:41.280 --> 0:18:44.440 a crisis like this, and lo and behold, it turns 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:47.880 out that they're a company that actually has built this 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:53.320 manufacturing technique into its factories for precisely this moment, and 0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:56.400 so they've been able to go into overdrive actually back 0:18:56.640 --> 0:18:59.600 beginning in January, and what we're seeing now is like 0:18:59.640 --> 0:19:01.880 by the into the year, they may have been able 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:04.840 to make as many as more than a billion face masks. 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:08.040 And that's just incredible when you think about a company 0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:11.160 that was just sort of potentially in the right please 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:14.520 at the right time and and have the capacity and 0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:18.240 wherewithal to kind of plan for the future. What's interesting 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:21.399 too is, you know, and Brian, I just think about 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:23.480 this is a company. If we think about three AM, 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:25.679 they have just so many different products under their roofs 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:27.919 under their roof, and most of us think about the 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:31.120 post it notes and you know, those things, but I mean, 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:33.640 they do so much more. This is a company that's 0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:36.919 been around for a long time. They're really expertsing materials, 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:40.720 creating materials, and you mentioned one post which is one 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:44.160 of their it's part of you know, the adhesives they make. 0:19:44.280 --> 0:19:47.560 They have I think forty six different technology platforms they 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:49.879 build from. This is a good thing for them, and 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:53.640 sometimes it's a bad thing because it's tough to keep 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:56.840 all those different businesses going in the right direction, and 0:19:56.920 --> 0:19:59.600 when one or two are not. Wall Street doesn't like that. 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:02.399 They've had some struggles over the last couple of years. 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:06.080 But you're doing pretty pretty well right now, especially in 0:20:06.119 --> 0:20:10.200 this particular spot, and it's sort of an odd feel 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:14.120 good story in the midst of this crisis which produces 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:17.119 so much great And that's Business Week reporter Brian Grooley 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:21.600 and Business Week editor Joel Weber. Listen. This is in 0:20:21.680 --> 0:20:26.320 some ways a story about hope and preparedness. Carol, you know, 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:29.119 we hear so much about people not learning the lessons 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:32.439 of the past three m clearly got the message and 0:20:32.480 --> 0:20:36.359 acted very differently going into this crisis than in previous iterations. 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:38.840 You're listening to Bloomberg business Week. Coming up, the CEO 0:20:38.880 --> 0:20:42.000 of Travago explains how COVID nineteen is impacting the travel 0:20:42.080 --> 0:20:49.040 industry and his team. This is Bloomberg. You're listening to 0:20:49.160 --> 0:20:52.920 Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason Kelly from 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:55.600 Bloomberg Radio. We're bringing you some of the most important 0:20:55.600 --> 0:20:58.439 and informative conversations that we had on our daily radio 0:20:58.480 --> 0:21:01.399 show about the coronavirus is this week, and Jason, we 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:03.639 were really lucky. Our team man really hard at work, 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:06.959 bringing us folks from the corporate communities, from the medical communities, 0:21:07.000 --> 0:21:10.080 from academia really so that we could get the full 0:21:10.080 --> 0:21:12.239 picture on what's going on with the virus. Well, and 0:21:12.320 --> 0:21:16.159 certainly this global lockdown of sorts. You've got people staying 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:18.639 in play, sheltering in place in some of the world's 0:21:18.680 --> 0:21:22.639 biggest cities, and travel has been brought to a complete halt. 0:21:22.800 --> 0:21:25.399 We wanted to get inside that industry understand some of 0:21:25.440 --> 0:21:27.840 the nuances, so we caught up with Axel Heaper, he 0:21:28.040 --> 0:21:30.600 is the CEO of Travago, to find out what the 0:21:30.600 --> 0:21:33.920 coronavirus is doing to his company. To start with the 0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:38.000 most important I mean, obviously the situation has significantly deteriorated 0:21:38.240 --> 0:21:42.439 UM in Europe, but really all around the world. And 0:21:43.359 --> 0:21:45.520 we have a very global workforce, so we have a 0:21:45.560 --> 0:21:49.719 lot of effect that UM. UM friends and family in 0:21:49.760 --> 0:21:53.199 the company, UM that are living in in areas that 0:21:53.240 --> 0:21:56.840 are completely locked down, that are severely affected. UM. We 0:21:56.880 --> 0:21:59.919 have a company have have moved to home office operation. 0:22:00.040 --> 0:22:02.960 That's pretty much every company a few weeks ago and 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:08.160 UM so far okay, UM and nobody in the company 0:22:08.240 --> 0:22:12.359 has been affected. But yeah, the situation is is pretty 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:16.160 dramatic in and a lot of regions and particularly around Europe. Well, 0:22:16.240 --> 0:22:21.359 and Axcel, you have a window like almost no no 0:22:21.400 --> 0:22:25.280 one else into the travel industry. I mean, this industry 0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:31.000 has been absolutely for the moment just brought to a standstill. 0:22:32.400 --> 0:22:35.680 What what does that look like? From from where you sit? 0:22:37.359 --> 0:22:41.440 I think the the the most important thing is to 0:22:41.440 --> 0:22:44.399 to think about what is actually right and in the 0:22:44.440 --> 0:22:47.120 current situation. UM. And by now, I think that's that's 0:22:47.119 --> 0:22:50.440 pretty much clear to all the Western leaders. The right 0:22:50.480 --> 0:22:53.160 thing is not to travel, but to actually not move 0:22:53.240 --> 0:22:56.280 and have as little contact as possible. So UM, we 0:22:56.400 --> 0:22:59.920 also communicated that to our our users, UM, that they 0:23:00.280 --> 0:23:03.480 should actually not travel if they don't have to. UM. 0:23:03.680 --> 0:23:07.000 And and obviously and at times like that, UM, there 0:23:07.000 --> 0:23:11.280 shouldn't be any travel activity unless it's absolutely necessary. And 0:23:11.280 --> 0:23:14.600 and that's also what what you what you would expect 0:23:14.680 --> 0:23:17.800 and so UM, yeah, I mean that that that that 0:23:17.920 --> 0:23:22.240 is obviously affecting the business. UM. But UM, that's that's 0:23:22.280 --> 0:23:24.800 that's okay. In times like this, I mean, everybody has 0:23:24.840 --> 0:23:28.199 to sacrifice to really get it under control. As you 0:23:28.280 --> 0:23:30.760 look at it, what are you seeing in terms of 0:23:30.800 --> 0:23:35.119 different geographies when it comes to the virus impact? I 0:23:35.560 --> 0:23:39.080 think too in a certain way, in all the Western 0:23:39.080 --> 0:23:42.399 economies are pretty much all the Western economies, UM, the 0:23:42.480 --> 0:23:47.120 governments have decided to slow down the virus by shutting 0:23:47.160 --> 0:23:50.960 down pretty much the daily life. And and that that 0:23:51.080 --> 0:23:54.520 obviously has um has a huge impact on travel activity. 0:23:54.600 --> 0:23:57.919 I mean, nobody should travel, nobody wants to travel, nobody 0:23:57.960 --> 0:24:02.679 is allowed to travel unless absolutely necessary. In in Asia. UM. 0:24:02.960 --> 0:24:07.239 There are some countries where UM where the shutdown or 0:24:07.280 --> 0:24:10.200 the lockdown seems to have had a positive impact and 0:24:11.000 --> 0:24:14.199 where things seem to normalize to a certain extent, But 0:24:14.280 --> 0:24:16.719 overall from a from a travel perspective, I think it's 0:24:16.760 --> 0:24:20.360 still too early to tell. UM. I think it will 0:24:20.400 --> 0:24:24.919 be will be very important to think about our travelers. UM. 0:24:24.960 --> 0:24:27.800 Not only right now where everybody is really sitting at 0:24:27.800 --> 0:24:30.679 home UM and and and would like to to be 0:24:30.720 --> 0:24:33.720 out there, UM if things would would have normalized, but 0:24:33.880 --> 0:24:36.359 more at one or two months in the future, when 0:24:36.920 --> 0:24:40.040 people will have had a lot of indoor activity or 0:24:40.080 --> 0:24:42.560 it will have been locked down into their apartment in 0:24:42.640 --> 0:24:46.280 certain areas without even being allowed to leave the apartment 0:24:46.520 --> 0:24:50.120 other than going to the supermarket and um. And that's 0:24:50.119 --> 0:24:52.600 really what is driving us as a business to think 0:24:52.600 --> 0:24:56.000 about that moment in time when we can actually help travelers. 0:24:56.000 --> 0:24:58.960 And right now we can only help travelers by not 0:24:59.119 --> 0:25:02.159 encouraging anybody to travel, but to to just try to 0:25:02.200 --> 0:25:06.080 stay disciplined, UM, to really slow down the spreading as 0:25:06.160 --> 0:25:09.280 much as we can, and so accel. You know, we've 0:25:09.280 --> 0:25:11.560 been posing this question too to a lot of experts 0:25:11.600 --> 0:25:14.280 we've been speaking with, and and that is, you know, 0:25:14.440 --> 0:25:16.800 working under the assumption which I think we all should, 0:25:16.840 --> 0:25:20.120 that this will abate and and uh and we will 0:25:20.119 --> 0:25:21.760 get our arms around it and there will be a 0:25:21.800 --> 0:25:24.800 peak and recovery and all of those things. What do 0:25:24.840 --> 0:25:28.320 you think changes about the business of travel in the 0:25:28.359 --> 0:25:32.960 aftermath of this, I think they they it is it's 0:25:33.000 --> 0:25:35.880 it's fair to assume that that the whole industry will 0:25:35.920 --> 0:25:39.080 be a different, different one. UM to what extent the 0:25:39.600 --> 0:25:42.680 user behavior will change. I think in the short term 0:25:42.760 --> 0:25:47.320 it will change. UM, it's likely that initially, and particularly 0:25:47.320 --> 0:25:50.280 in times of uncertainty, where the virus is under control 0:25:50.320 --> 0:25:52.720 in one country and perhaps not another, or in one 0:25:52.720 --> 0:25:55.480 region not in the other, that there will be a 0:25:55.520 --> 0:25:59.879 trend to shorter trips that feel safer, or generally travel 0:26:00.000 --> 0:26:02.200 that is perceived as a stafer, and that that will 0:26:02.400 --> 0:26:07.439 only normalize over time. But the much more difficult question 0:26:07.480 --> 0:26:10.600 to answer is to what extent this will completely change 0:26:10.920 --> 0:26:15.480 the structure of the industry, Because this has never happened before. 0:26:15.520 --> 0:26:18.560 That that the industry basically globally has come to a 0:26:18.560 --> 0:26:23.440 complete standstill within a few weeks and um, and it's 0:26:23.480 --> 0:26:27.280 likely to stay in in that mode for quite some time. UM. 0:26:27.320 --> 0:26:30.800 And obviously it has a huge impact on everybody who 0:26:30.960 --> 0:26:33.760 is is active in any leisure activity, not only travel, 0:26:33.800 --> 0:26:36.399 but anything that is that is really requiring people to 0:26:36.440 --> 0:26:39.320 be active and to be out there. And you are you, 0:26:39.400 --> 0:26:44.480 Folcus at Robago actual are thinking about you know this time, 0:26:45.000 --> 0:26:48.200 you are thinking about the recovery, right and I'm assuming 0:26:48.480 --> 0:26:53.440 kind of planning for it already. Absolutely, I mean, it 0:26:53.800 --> 0:26:58.280 is obviously very difficult to to really deal with this situation. 0:26:58.359 --> 0:27:01.240 I mean for all of us individual really, um, in 0:27:01.280 --> 0:27:03.960 particularly I mean in the company with with friends and 0:27:04.000 --> 0:27:08.439 families in very severely affected areas and and when they started, um, 0:27:08.480 --> 0:27:11.840 I mean, the first reaction of everybody is really damage control, 0:27:11.920 --> 0:27:14.919 I mean, and that that's that's very natural, um. To 0:27:14.960 --> 0:27:17.400 make sure that every employee is safe, to make sure 0:27:17.480 --> 0:27:20.760 that that really the business is safe, so that costs 0:27:20.760 --> 0:27:25.400 are are coming down, that marketing is top, etcetera. UM. 0:27:25.520 --> 0:27:28.240 But then it is also important to to look into 0:27:28.280 --> 0:27:31.359 the future because the present is is quite depressing, and 0:27:31.359 --> 0:27:35.760 and that's what we thankfully started very early UM. And 0:27:35.840 --> 0:27:38.480 really this thought that I mentioned before, the thought of 0:27:38.600 --> 0:27:41.280 our user who has not been able to travel for 0:27:41.440 --> 0:27:44.040 quite some time but would like to end and has 0:27:44.080 --> 0:27:47.119 been in his apartment UM sometimes as I said, with 0:27:47.320 --> 0:27:51.520 very very limited outside activity for quite some time. That 0:27:51.680 --> 0:27:53.960 is really the moment in time where we can really 0:27:53.960 --> 0:27:56.960 make a difference to our user. And and that's what's 0:27:56.960 --> 0:27:59.959 really we are focusing on. So what kind of service 0:28:00.000 --> 0:28:02.920 and what kind of product do we need to UM 0:28:03.240 --> 0:28:06.360 to bring to our users UM to really help them 0:28:06.400 --> 0:28:09.000 in that moment in time. And that is really it's 0:28:09.080 --> 0:28:12.680 really I think it's very important from a business perspective. 0:28:12.760 --> 0:28:15.119 It's also very important to help our users there, but 0:28:15.160 --> 0:28:19.000 it's also very important to keep focusing the business and 0:28:19.000 --> 0:28:23.600 and not get get get really to too taken away 0:28:23.680 --> 0:28:27.879 by by the very very difficult situation that everybody is 0:28:28.160 --> 0:28:31.359 facing personally within the family and also I mean the 0:28:31.400 --> 0:28:34.879 overall society right well. And actually that that raises such 0:28:34.920 --> 0:28:38.520 an interesting point because you know, ultimately people turn to 0:28:38.600 --> 0:28:41.880 you for information in a lot of ways. And I 0:28:41.920 --> 0:28:44.520 do wonder if the types of information that people will 0:28:44.560 --> 0:28:47.960 be looking for you know, whether it's as simple as 0:28:48.000 --> 0:28:52.000 you know, sort of health and safety type information, wellness 0:28:52.040 --> 0:28:55.560 type of information. I do wonder if that changes going 0:28:55.640 --> 0:28:58.440 forward and whether your team is is thinking about those 0:28:58.440 --> 0:29:01.120 sorts of things. Absolutely, I think that that that's that's 0:29:01.160 --> 0:29:04.120 you're absolutely right, that's exactly what we are what we 0:29:04.160 --> 0:29:06.240 are doing and then trying to do right now, we're 0:29:06.240 --> 0:29:09.600 trying to think from a user perspective, where is the 0:29:09.680 --> 0:29:12.680 user UM in in really one or two months from now, 0:29:12.680 --> 0:29:15.239 what is he thinking? What is important to him? And 0:29:15.320 --> 0:29:18.920 some things are obvious, UM, I mean it's it's clearly 0:29:19.200 --> 0:29:22.840 favorable to to show rates that you can cancel if 0:29:22.840 --> 0:29:24.840 there are still in particular in times where there's still 0:29:24.840 --> 0:29:28.760 a lot of uncertainty, but but safety overall will be 0:29:28.800 --> 0:29:32.320 a lot more important. Um. International air travel might still 0:29:32.360 --> 0:29:35.560 be disrupted for quite some time with all the major 0:29:35.600 --> 0:29:39.400 airlines reducing their networks. So so these are exactly the 0:29:39.440 --> 0:29:42.320 thoughts that that we are going through. UM, what is 0:29:42.400 --> 0:29:44.480 really the need of the user and how can we 0:29:44.560 --> 0:29:47.000 best serve that? And they're obviously you need to think 0:29:47.000 --> 0:29:49.840 about multiple scenarios because that's a global business. We will 0:29:49.920 --> 0:29:54.400 face multiple realities in different markets. As every country and 0:29:54.520 --> 0:29:58.400 sometimes in every state is reacting slightly differently to manage 0:29:59.000 --> 0:30:01.480 the control all of the spread and at the same 0:30:01.520 --> 0:30:05.400 time the impact on the overall economy. And um, yeah, 0:30:05.480 --> 0:30:08.880 different balances early to two different different situations or will 0:30:08.920 --> 0:30:11.360 lead to very different situations and a few months from now. 0:30:11.480 --> 0:30:13.600 And that's actual He for the CEO of Travago and 0:30:13.640 --> 0:30:17.840 what's fascinating Jason. We talked with him in late February when, 0:30:17.880 --> 0:30:19.760 of course there were lots of virus concerns and a 0:30:19.760 --> 0:30:22.000 lot more outside the United States, so we were able 0:30:22.040 --> 0:30:23.960 to kind of get the picture from there. But to 0:30:24.120 --> 0:30:27.680 get an update, especially as the virus has spread and 0:30:27.800 --> 0:30:31.360 he's got truly a global team, uh, and so to 0:30:31.400 --> 0:30:33.960 get his input was I think really crucial in understanding 0:30:34.000 --> 0:30:36.160 this story and the spread of the virus. Well, that 0:30:36.200 --> 0:30:38.480 wraps up the first hour the weekend edition of Bloomberg 0:30:38.480 --> 0:30:41.200 Business Week from Bloomberg Radio. I'm Jason Kelly and I'm 0:30:41.240 --> 0:30:43.400 Carol Mass. There plenty of coming up in our next hour. 0:30:43.440 --> 0:30:46.120 We're going to continue looking at all aspects of the 0:30:46.160 --> 0:30:49.400 coronavirus and really it's impact on our world. Cure Leave 0:30:49.440 --> 0:30:53.200 sporis Jordan's He's executive chairman of that company, will check 0:30:53.240 --> 0:30:55.440 in with him. It's a personal story for him, Jason. 0:30:55.440 --> 0:30:58.400 That cut me by surprise. So fascinating to hear what 0:30:58.440 --> 0:31:01.280 he had to say about at as well as how 0:31:01.280 --> 0:31:04.400 his company is getting through. Also an IVY League perspective. 0:31:04.400 --> 0:31:08.880 Barnard College president see on bilog. She has written extensively 0:31:08.880 --> 0:31:13.040 and studied the impact of stress on our lives, very 0:31:13.040 --> 0:31:15.400 relevant now, as well as the fact that she's running 0:31:15.400 --> 0:31:18.520 a major institution. Plus Carol, one of our favorites, Paul Rabel, 0:31:18.760 --> 0:31:21.600 the co founder and chief strategy officer of the premier 0:31:21.720 --> 0:31:23.760 lacrosse Lee. Jason was great to check in with Paul 0:31:23.800 --> 0:31:26.080 because the sports industry has just been shut down, and 0:31:26.080 --> 0:31:27.480 I feel like a couple of weeks ago when that 0:31:27.560 --> 0:31:29.800 started to happen, I think for many of us, we 0:31:29.920 --> 0:31:33.000 realized how widespread and how big the impact of the 0:31:33.080 --> 0:31:42.320 virus was. This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg Business 0:31:42.360 --> 0:31:45.840 Week from Bloomberg Radio. Hello. I'm Carol Masser and I'm 0:31:45.920 --> 0:31:48.000 Jason Kelly. Today we're bringing you some of the most important, 0:31:48.000 --> 0:31:51.720 we hope informative conversations we had on our daily radio show, 0:31:51.720 --> 0:31:56.360 Bloomberg Business Week about the coronavirus, it's impact broadly on 0:31:56.400 --> 0:32:00.760 the economy, on businesses, executives, and human beings all across 0:32:00.800 --> 0:32:03.720 the nation, and Jason, that included the cannabis industry. We 0:32:03.760 --> 0:32:06.640 caught up with Cia Leafs Boris Jordan's he's the executive 0:32:06.720 --> 0:32:09.280 chairman of that company. This is a personal story for 0:32:09.360 --> 0:32:12.760 him because his own daughter impacted by the virus. So 0:32:12.800 --> 0:32:14.920 we talked to him about that as well as talk 0:32:14.960 --> 0:32:18.160 to him about continuing to run his business because that's 0:32:18.200 --> 0:32:21.360 what he's doing, and also how this is impacting his team, 0:32:21.440 --> 0:32:23.840 his team of workers well. And we also went into 0:32:23.960 --> 0:32:28.440 two worlds very much affected by the coronavirus. First the 0:32:28.560 --> 0:32:32.000 world of academia. We talked to the Barnard College president 0:32:32.320 --> 0:32:36.239 see on bylog. She has also studied stress, she understands that. 0:32:36.320 --> 0:32:39.320 And also the world of sports. Paul Rabel, of course, 0:32:39.360 --> 0:32:42.320 co founder of the Premier Lacrosse League. The sports world 0:32:42.560 --> 0:32:45.680 shut down completely. I gotta say both of those conversations 0:32:45.720 --> 0:32:48.720 really inspiring for for me certainly, and I hope to 0:32:48.760 --> 0:32:51.160 our listeners. First up, though, we did spend some time 0:32:51.200 --> 0:32:53.920 with Daniels were and he's the CEO of Arena Investors 0:32:54.120 --> 0:32:56.640 and he had Jason, A lot to say about the 0:32:56.680 --> 0:32:59.920 investment environment and just the world at large. It's been evolving. 0:33:00.280 --> 0:33:04.360 Over the last couple of weeks. We certainly saw equities 0:33:04.440 --> 0:33:08.800 breaking down, but the kind of over the counter institutional 0:33:08.880 --> 0:33:13.520 markets were relatively immune and really weren't reacting at all. 0:33:14.120 --> 0:33:19.239 Then we started seeing UM kind of institutionally held UM 0:33:19.400 --> 0:33:22.320 basically arbitrage related positions starting to come out and starting 0:33:22.320 --> 0:33:26.440 to get liquidated of various sorts across um rate of return, 0:33:26.520 --> 0:33:30.120 things in merger, arbitrage, and relative value. We then saw 0:33:30.440 --> 0:33:35.080 large scale selling and liquidations of kind of institutionally held 0:33:35.320 --> 0:33:38.160 loans and A B S offerings of which we probably 0:33:38.200 --> 0:33:43.400 haven't seen at these levels in several years. In most instances, 0:33:43.440 --> 0:33:46.200 still a good ways away from kind of where the 0:33:46.240 --> 0:33:48.040 bottoms of an O eight or an O two or 0:33:48.120 --> 0:33:52.040 ninety eight looked like. But UM certainly uh a level 0:33:52.040 --> 0:33:54.560 of activity and a type of activity that's been a 0:33:54.600 --> 0:33:57.200 long time coming. So Dan, how far are we do 0:33:57.240 --> 0:34:01.680 you think we are from that bottom? I think if you, 0:34:01.760 --> 0:34:03.760 if you did, it kind of apples to apples in 0:34:03.760 --> 0:34:07.080 a very general sense to where those other where those 0:34:07.120 --> 0:34:10.360 markets kind of bottomed out. UM. I think it looks 0:34:10.400 --> 0:34:13.640 like we're probably a third a halfway. Um, you know, 0:34:13.719 --> 0:34:16.799 there's a good, a good way to go because you know, 0:34:16.800 --> 0:34:19.880 as i've as we talked about in our earlier discussions, 0:34:20.000 --> 0:34:24.759 there was such an absolute frenzy of credit, fueled originally 0:34:24.800 --> 0:34:27.120 by the kind of depressed risk free rates from the 0:34:27.120 --> 0:34:31.640 monetary authorities, that things got so overdone that it just 0:34:31.680 --> 0:34:35.560 means that the trip back is going to be longer 0:34:35.600 --> 0:34:38.560 and harder. So I have a thought there though, So 0:34:38.640 --> 0:34:41.399 if it wasn't the virus from what you're saying, because yeah, 0:34:41.440 --> 0:34:43.960 it was such a frenzy of credit, right, we all 0:34:44.000 --> 0:34:46.520 talked about all the money that was slashing around there, 0:34:46.760 --> 0:34:49.479 whether it's the public markets and you know, especially even 0:34:49.560 --> 0:34:52.240 in the private markets. So was it just a matter 0:34:52.280 --> 0:34:56.640 of time? That's something, Um, maybe not in this magnitude, 0:34:56.680 --> 0:34:58.719 but we would have had some kind of undoing of 0:34:58.719 --> 0:35:03.319 all of this. Absolutely absolutely, And it's totally consistent with 0:35:03.360 --> 0:35:07.200 the last you know, several hundred years of market behavior. Ultimately, 0:35:07.239 --> 0:35:09.399 the thing that kind of knocks the market off it's 0:35:09.520 --> 0:35:11.600 off its chair is going to be something none of 0:35:11.680 --> 0:35:14.640 us counting on. By definition, if we were counting on it, 0:35:14.680 --> 0:35:17.640 then it wouldn't do that And so every every five 0:35:17.719 --> 0:35:20.080 or ten or fifteen years, you're going to see this. 0:35:20.160 --> 0:35:22.600 And and by the way, it doesn't really seem to 0:35:22.760 --> 0:35:25.560 uh fit the kind of normal distribution because we've had 0:35:26.000 --> 0:35:28.200 you know, we've had four or five one in a 0:35:28.239 --> 0:35:30.399 million year type things happened, you know, in the last 0:35:30.400 --> 0:35:34.200 twenty five years. So clearly something's amiss. And so when 0:35:34.239 --> 0:35:37.120 you saw this kind of frenzy happen, I would like 0:35:37.200 --> 0:35:40.200 in it potentially to you know, not to OH eight 0:35:40.520 --> 0:35:43.640 or O one or O one or nine, but really 0:35:43.680 --> 0:35:47.920 to O two where the world comp fraud happening in 0:35:47.960 --> 0:35:50.600 the wake of and Ron and others happened where there 0:35:50.640 --> 0:35:55.040 wasn't a fundamental change even in the general macroeconomic environment 0:35:55.040 --> 0:35:58.440 as much as a a a an absolute repricing of 0:35:58.560 --> 0:36:01.600 risk and reward across the credit spectrum. That's a really 0:36:01.640 --> 0:36:04.440 smart point. Yeah, keep going. I'm sorry, there have been well, 0:36:04.480 --> 0:36:07.759 there's just been there's just been so much. Uh, this 0:36:07.800 --> 0:36:11.520 party has been such a frenzy um that and it's 0:36:12.040 --> 0:36:14.880 lasted so long even relative to kind of normal careers, 0:36:15.400 --> 0:36:18.920 that the number of people even old enough who are 0:36:18.960 --> 0:36:21.480 still in the market, who were senior enough to be 0:36:21.560 --> 0:36:24.600 kind of at the trigger in some of these old 0:36:24.600 --> 0:36:28.960 time times, so to speak, has dwindled. And so this 0:36:29.040 --> 0:36:31.080 is a big surprise if you just haven't lived that 0:36:31.160 --> 0:36:34.600 mom uh. And so that really exacerbates what you what 0:36:34.719 --> 0:36:37.000 you see. And then, as I noted in a in 0:36:37.080 --> 0:36:39.000 a bit of a paper, I wrote, you know, there's 0:36:39.000 --> 0:36:41.840 a whole series of secular changes that happened in the 0:36:41.840 --> 0:36:43.520 wake of the of the crisis of the O a 0:36:43.719 --> 0:36:47.720 crisis that have changed the game, uh, such that it 0:36:48.000 --> 0:36:52.000 if a situation like this ever arose, the issues that 0:36:52.280 --> 0:36:55.439 it caused would be greatly exacerbated. And that stands weren 0:36:55.520 --> 0:36:58.880 He's the CEO of Arena Investors, He's a specialist in 0:36:59.440 --> 0:37:01.600 this is the term of art on Wall Street, Carol, 0:37:01.880 --> 0:37:07.000 special situations and listen, this is beyond special. It's extraordinary 0:37:07.080 --> 0:37:10.000 the time we're living in. And yet investors they are 0:37:10.040 --> 0:37:13.040 getting their heads around this. We saw that this week 0:37:13.239 --> 0:37:18.399 and you start to see strategies form around where we 0:37:18.440 --> 0:37:20.920 go from here. And I have to say, Jason, I 0:37:20.960 --> 0:37:23.040 found it really helpful, and I hope are our our 0:37:23.040 --> 0:37:26.400 listeners did as well. That listening to investors who have 0:37:26.480 --> 0:37:29.359 gone through some of these market disruptions, market cycles, whether 0:37:29.400 --> 0:37:32.440 it's the financial crisis or other. I think um was 0:37:32.520 --> 0:37:34.680 really helpful and understanding how we got through that and 0:37:34.719 --> 0:37:37.640 how it's different perhaps than what we're going through today, 0:37:37.680 --> 0:37:39.440 and how we get out on the other side. And 0:37:39.480 --> 0:37:42.040 I found it so interesting that he didn't make the 0:37:42.080 --> 0:37:44.719 comparisons that everybody else is making to two eight to 0:37:44.800 --> 0:37:47.759 two tho one his comparison World Calm. I found that 0:37:47.880 --> 0:37:50.560 so interesting. You're listening to Blueberg Business Week. Coming up 0:37:50.560 --> 0:37:53.879 Barnard College president see on by Luck. She explains how 0:37:53.920 --> 0:37:56.600 COVID nineteen is impacting higher education. I think this was 0:37:56.640 --> 0:38:00.200 a really thoughtful conversation about how it's impact in the 0:38:00.239 --> 0:38:03.759 student body, her administration, but also Jason about she's done 0:38:03.760 --> 0:38:06.239 a ted talk on stress and how that impacts us. 0:38:06.280 --> 0:38:08.839 I think really helpful at this time front of mine, 0:38:08.840 --> 0:38:17.120 for sure. This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg Business 0:38:17.120 --> 0:38:20.920 Week with Carol Masser and Jason Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. 0:38:21.160 --> 0:38:23.200 We're bringing you some of the most important and informative 0:38:23.200 --> 0:38:26.280 conversations that we had on our daily radio show about 0:38:26.280 --> 0:38:29.160 the coronavirus this week. One of the individuals we spoke 0:38:29.200 --> 0:38:31.480 to was in the sports world. Paul Reable, a friend 0:38:31.520 --> 0:38:34.040 of the show, Jason, and it was really great to 0:38:34.040 --> 0:38:36.200 hear what he had to say. He's the co founder 0:38:36.200 --> 0:38:38.960 of the Premier Lacrosse League and obviously this effects the 0:38:39.000 --> 0:38:43.960 world far beyond lacks. We have never seen anything like this. 0:38:44.440 --> 0:38:49.640 Certainly haven't imagined that a world would exist where there 0:38:49.680 --> 0:38:54.560 are no professional sports leagues in play at this moment um. 0:38:54.719 --> 0:38:57.680 And so for all of us at the league level, 0:38:58.000 --> 0:39:03.040 we've actually locked arms and are are having conversation daily. 0:39:03.160 --> 0:39:05.600 So between the p LLL, the NBA, the p G 0:39:05.760 --> 0:39:10.080 A tour um and then there's also a seasonal tranche 0:39:10.320 --> 0:39:16.239 of decision makers. So probably uh safest right now are 0:39:16.239 --> 0:39:19.919 fall sports and uh and we're in the summer, so 0:39:20.480 --> 0:39:24.480 we're certainly observing what the current leagues are doing that 0:39:24.560 --> 0:39:28.040 we're caught in the middle of the season having conversations 0:39:28.080 --> 0:39:33.560 with all the networks, the venues, shareholders, advertisers, and with 0:39:33.640 --> 0:39:37.000 the news about the Olympics postponing, which you know, it's 0:39:37.120 --> 0:39:40.600 I thought it was anecdotal to the way this whole 0:39:41.160 --> 0:39:43.399 you know, this this whole last seven to ten days 0:39:43.440 --> 0:39:47.160 have gone. Really it's felt like we've, uh, we've experienced 0:39:47.200 --> 0:39:49.520 a whole year's worth, so to put it in perspective 0:39:49.560 --> 0:39:52.600 the Olympics, they sent out an email to their membership 0:39:52.800 --> 0:39:56.000 around the prospect of discussion of postponement and they would 0:39:56.040 --> 0:39:57.960 have a decision in four weeks. They made a decision 0:39:58.000 --> 0:40:02.080 in twenty four hours. So it seems to be the 0:40:02.400 --> 0:40:04.520 state of leagues right now is we're having minute by 0:40:04.520 --> 0:40:07.239 minute and hour by our conversations. But our goal is 0:40:07.320 --> 0:40:11.320 to continue to persevere through this and get our product 0:40:11.840 --> 0:40:15.440 out to the communities because we're we're servicing a lot 0:40:15.480 --> 0:40:20.440 of constituents, from our fans to our players, and health 0:40:20.440 --> 0:40:24.520 and safety and following public official guidelines is sits at 0:40:24.560 --> 0:40:27.800 the top and as everyone's priority. But for a long time, 0:40:27.840 --> 0:40:29.840 and we're talking to century sports of being quote a 0:40:29.920 --> 0:40:32.759 human connection and their tribal and the way people feel 0:40:32.840 --> 0:40:35.319 entertained and motivated and so on. Yeah, and there is 0:40:35.320 --> 0:40:37.640 still this need, this drastic need, and I see it 0:40:37.680 --> 0:40:40.840 among even our our you know, editorial community of people 0:40:40.880 --> 0:40:44.279 being home and feeling very isolated. So to that point, Paul, 0:40:44.280 --> 0:40:47.160 what are you guys doing to continue to connect um 0:40:47.239 --> 0:40:50.120 with your fans. Yeah, that's that's a great question, Carol. 0:40:50.239 --> 0:40:53.560 So where there is challenge and I was listening to 0:40:53.600 --> 0:40:57.040 you guys talk about the public markets, they're they're also opportunity. 0:40:57.239 --> 0:41:00.120 And so if you look at the network television landscape, 0:41:00.640 --> 0:41:03.719 what we've seen is as as O T T and 0:41:03.760 --> 0:41:07.480 technology have disrupted, is that live news and live sports 0:41:07.520 --> 0:41:10.920 have become the last standing firewall. So right now network 0:41:11.160 --> 0:41:14.719 national and local news has seen a dramatic uptick. There 0:41:14.800 --> 0:41:17.360 is no live sports on right now. So the traditional 0:41:17.400 --> 0:41:21.200 sports networks are replaying old programming but also looking to 0:41:21.320 --> 0:41:25.640 acquire programming that hasn't hit the shelves yet, so they're 0:41:25.640 --> 0:41:30.480 looking at expedited documentaries and expedited docuseries timelines. We're gonna 0:41:30.520 --> 0:41:33.440 see a big pop in an NFL draft, but in 0:41:33.480 --> 0:41:38.120 the interim, we've seen big climbs in engagement on social 0:41:38.160 --> 0:41:42.080 media and in particular tools that these platforms launched, like 0:41:42.160 --> 0:41:45.680 Instagram Live, where you're seeing not only musicians but athletes 0:41:45.719 --> 0:41:48.759 go live on these platforms and communicate. So that's the 0:41:48.800 --> 0:41:52.959 silver lining is is finding through technology in an era 0:41:53.040 --> 0:41:55.960 where we've never had this level of connection with an 0:41:55.960 --> 0:42:00.360 audience to maintain that sense of entertainment and human action 0:42:00.400 --> 0:42:04.960 that sports have traditionally brought through live games. And so Paul, 0:42:05.239 --> 0:42:08.640 knowing that the timeline is incredibly fluid. You know, when 0:42:08.719 --> 0:42:12.880 does your team, what's your timeline for thinking about your season, 0:42:13.000 --> 0:42:15.480 which I believe is scheduled to launch at the end 0:42:15.520 --> 0:42:19.200 of May, right, that's right. So right now we're a 0:42:19.280 --> 0:42:22.920 May twenty nine and thirtie opening weekend, and it's getting 0:42:22.960 --> 0:42:26.080 tighter and tighter, Jason to to your point, and uh, 0:42:26.120 --> 0:42:27.640 you know, there's a there's a lot that we're gonna 0:42:27.680 --> 0:42:29.759 find out in these next two weeks. Is we're in 0:42:29.800 --> 0:42:33.279 the midst of of the curve, and uh, you know, 0:42:33.320 --> 0:42:36.600 there's a lot that our economic leaders and public health 0:42:36.640 --> 0:42:39.879 officials are are deciding on. And right now we can 0:42:39.920 --> 0:42:42.280 we consider ourselves very much a part of a horizontal 0:42:42.320 --> 0:42:44.920 strategy to to self quarantine as a nation, but I 0:42:45.320 --> 0:42:48.200 think it will evolve into a more verticalized strategy to 0:42:48.239 --> 0:42:52.760 focus on imminent threats um and and then from there 0:42:52.920 --> 0:42:55.000 what we'll see, uh kind of a trickle back up 0:42:55.040 --> 0:42:59.919 to normalcy hopefully. And so for us, given our cush 0:43:00.040 --> 0:43:03.279 and so to speak, in scheduling, matched with our tour 0:43:03.320 --> 0:43:07.640 based model, which we had announced with Bloomberg now about 0:43:07.640 --> 0:43:10.839 a year and a half ago, we actually have about 0:43:10.880 --> 0:43:14.839 a dozen scenarios that we've planned around contingency of if 0:43:14.840 --> 0:43:17.400 we have to delay the start, we can actually pull 0:43:17.800 --> 0:43:21.280 by virtue of that tour based model, similar like Jenga 0:43:21.480 --> 0:43:24.440 and re stacking your bloxes. We can take week one 0:43:24.480 --> 0:43:26.480 and slide it to our first bye week in July. 0:43:26.920 --> 0:43:28.759 We can take week two and slide it into our 0:43:28.800 --> 0:43:31.560 second bye week. So right now we have about a 0:43:31.600 --> 0:43:34.439 half half of our scenarios where we maintain a full 0:43:34.600 --> 0:43:38.080 regular season, playoffs and championship, and then the others. We 0:43:38.200 --> 0:43:41.080 can take a traditional game weekend where all of our 0:43:41.120 --> 0:43:43.560 teams are in market, extended a day or two and 0:43:43.600 --> 0:43:47.000 do doubleheaders. And that's Premier Lacrosse League co founder and 0:43:47.200 --> 0:43:51.000 player Paul Rabel, and I love his perspective. He's an entrepreneur, 0:43:51.120 --> 0:43:55.000 he's an athlete, obviously, but he's also clearly from that conversation, 0:43:55.400 --> 0:43:58.520 very much in touch with the broader sports world, Carol. 0:43:58.600 --> 0:44:01.840 He understands the McCann next, the media aspect to it, 0:44:01.880 --> 0:44:05.040 the fan aspect so much. You're listening to Bloomberg Business 0:44:05.080 --> 0:44:08.240 Week coming up, Executive chairman of Cure Leaf, Boris Jordan 0:44:08.360 --> 0:44:11.400 joins us on how the medical cannabis company is dealing 0:44:11.560 --> 0:44:15.160 with the coronavirus outbreak and how he's dealing with it 0:44:15.320 --> 0:44:22.719 as a parent. This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg 0:44:22.800 --> 0:44:27.000 Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. 0:44:27.320 --> 0:44:28.880 And today we're bringing you some of the most important 0:44:28.920 --> 0:44:31.839 and informative conversations we had on our daily radio show, 0:44:31.840 --> 0:44:35.800 Bloomberg Business Week about the coronavirus it's impact across the world, 0:44:35.960 --> 0:44:38.520 and that includes Jason a conversation that we had with 0:44:38.560 --> 0:44:41.520 Cure Leaf executive chairman Boris Jordan. He's been a member 0:44:41.560 --> 0:44:44.480 of the Bloomberg fifty list, uh and we've talked to 0:44:44.560 --> 0:44:47.760 him several times over the past year about the industry overall, 0:44:48.160 --> 0:44:51.319 but this conversation definitely had a different tone. How do 0:44:51.360 --> 0:44:53.960 you deal with a crisis like the one that the 0:44:54.000 --> 0:44:56.239 world and the country is facing right now, and how 0:44:56.239 --> 0:44:58.240 do you deal with it when you're worried about your workers, 0:44:58.480 --> 0:45:01.280 you're worried about your company, and also of course worried 0:45:01.280 --> 0:45:04.399 about your family. I had actually a daughter who came 0:45:04.440 --> 0:45:06.680 down with the bars. She's young, she worked for us, 0:45:07.080 --> 0:45:10.959 twenty uh seven years old, and uh three days later 0:45:11.000 --> 0:45:14.560 she's feeling much better. So I hope that's encouragement everybody. 0:45:14.680 --> 0:45:17.320 That's obviously a scare for her, for me as a father, 0:45:17.440 --> 0:45:20.280 but it was good to hear from her this morning. 0:45:20.320 --> 0:45:22.399 She's she's in Manhattan, she said to me, she's feeling 0:45:22.400 --> 0:45:26.200 a lot better. Wow. That's interesting. And so I mean 0:45:26.280 --> 0:45:29.000 with that, we don't need to I don't want to 0:45:29.040 --> 0:45:32.120 get to invade your privacy at all. But um, it's 0:45:32.239 --> 0:45:37.799 so interesting and heartening to hear that that somebody, somebody recovered. 0:45:38.400 --> 0:45:40.919 Uh like that. Anything more you can tell us about 0:45:40.960 --> 0:45:44.040 her experience, I just think listen, I think that overall, 0:45:44.080 --> 0:45:47.319 there's a lot more cases out there that we don't 0:45:47.320 --> 0:45:50.440 know about today, and many of them are as we 0:45:50.600 --> 0:45:52.840 saw the statistics coming out in New York or with 0:45:52.960 --> 0:45:56.120 younger people, uh, and they seem to be recovering reasonably well. 0:45:56.160 --> 0:45:58.760 And I think that's the encouraging thing about this. Obviously 0:45:59.280 --> 0:46:02.440 that's not the it's with the older population. Uh. And 0:46:02.480 --> 0:46:06.160 obviously our our our hearts and and and and go 0:46:06.200 --> 0:46:09.000 out to their well being and and we're doing everything 0:46:09.080 --> 0:46:11.120 at our company. As you know, we've been granted the 0:46:11.719 --> 0:46:14.879 Essential Services designation and all of our key markets around 0:46:14.880 --> 0:46:18.520 the country, we provide a very important service for for 0:46:18.560 --> 0:46:21.920 our medical patients who are dealing with either cancer treatments 0:46:22.000 --> 0:46:25.840 or or pain treatments or or children's epilepsy, where we 0:46:25.880 --> 0:46:30.000 provide the necessary drugs to help these them UH and 0:46:30.080 --> 0:46:33.480 products to help these families through difficult times. And you know, 0:46:33.600 --> 0:46:37.359 our business, like everybody else's, has changed dramatically. UM. We 0:46:37.440 --> 0:46:42.040 are you know, we're serving curbside, we're doing mobile delivery services. 0:46:42.480 --> 0:46:45.279 We're doing anything we can to keep both our employees 0:46:45.680 --> 0:46:49.520 UH and our clients and and and partners and and 0:46:49.520 --> 0:46:53.280 and and patient states UH so that we can continue 0:46:53.280 --> 0:46:55.520 to deliver on the products that are necessary for their 0:46:55.600 --> 0:46:58.040 well being. And so boards help us understand, like what 0:46:58.200 --> 0:47:01.920 is that designation allow you to do in terms of 0:47:01.960 --> 0:47:06.920 increased latitude or or operations. Well, we've had to our 0:47:06.960 --> 0:47:09.200 business is very highly regulated. As you know, it's still 0:47:09.239 --> 0:47:11.520 federally illegal. So we've had to go state by state 0:47:11.960 --> 0:47:14.640 and negotiate with the various governors in order to give 0:47:14.719 --> 0:47:17.480 us these things. I have to say some most governors, UM, 0:47:17.520 --> 0:47:19.560 and I'd like to thank them in advance, have been 0:47:19.640 --> 0:47:22.680 very very responsive to this and making sure that we 0:47:22.719 --> 0:47:26.040 can deliver a safe uh in the products our products 0:47:26.040 --> 0:47:27.919 in a safe way and so you know, what we've 0:47:27.960 --> 0:47:30.400 done is we've negotiated the curb side delivery that was 0:47:30.440 --> 0:47:32.840 never allowed in any of the states before. We have 0:47:32.880 --> 0:47:37.360 negotiated mobile applications and online snails that hasn't been allowed, 0:47:37.400 --> 0:47:40.279 home deliveries in some states that was allowed in many 0:47:40.320 --> 0:47:43.080 states it wasn't. So there's a lot of changes taking place. 0:47:43.120 --> 0:47:47.440 I think the whole positive changes for both this terrible 0:47:47.480 --> 0:47:50.239 time that we're being faced with now, but also I 0:47:50.280 --> 0:47:53.080 think going forward, it will help the industry become much 0:47:53.080 --> 0:47:56.879 more mainstream. I think, you know, just several months ago, 0:47:57.040 --> 0:47:59.239 nobody would have thought that, you know, cannabis would be 0:47:59.280 --> 0:48:02.360 made a sent should would be designated essential services, and 0:48:02.400 --> 0:48:04.080 it's one of the few industries in the country that 0:48:04.120 --> 0:48:06.520 has been so far well. I think that's really revealing 0:48:06.520 --> 0:48:08.680 what you just said. And I do wonder, you know, 0:48:09.280 --> 0:48:11.719 we keep talking about what will be the longer term 0:48:11.760 --> 0:48:14.000 and lasting impact of some of the things that we're 0:48:14.040 --> 0:48:17.120 all doing to adapt in this situation, and I do 0:48:17.200 --> 0:48:20.239 wonder about the regulatory environment understanding, okay, what needs to 0:48:20.280 --> 0:48:22.719 be changed, what needs to be perhaps loosened up. Do 0:48:22.760 --> 0:48:26.200 you feel like this will ultimately um stick with us? 0:48:27.480 --> 0:48:29.920 I think so I think, listen, the biggest problem we 0:48:29.960 --> 0:48:33.239 all face is obviously federal banking and federal legalization. I 0:48:33.239 --> 0:48:35.960 think it's time for the federal government to understand and 0:48:36.040 --> 0:48:39.000 see that every governor in this country that's thirty some 0:48:39.360 --> 0:48:43.160 governors that have medical cannabis in their states have made 0:48:43.160 --> 0:48:46.440 it UH. Most of them have designated it as essential 0:48:46.480 --> 0:48:49.920 services UM. There's huge demand from the population for this 0:48:50.160 --> 0:48:53.440 um UH and it's time for the federal government to allow, 0:48:53.480 --> 0:48:56.120 for instance, credit cards, the banking services so that we 0:48:56.160 --> 0:48:59.279 can make the process even safer. Today, no matter what 0:48:59.320 --> 0:49:02.239 we do, we still have to exchange cash, whether it's curbside, 0:49:02.239 --> 0:49:04.360 whether it's in the store, whether it's on home delivery. 0:49:04.680 --> 0:49:07.719 That obviously adds to the you know, the danger of 0:49:07.719 --> 0:49:10.399 the spread of the virus UM and and we've been 0:49:10.440 --> 0:49:13.160 requesting this from the federal government now for that are 0:49:13.200 --> 0:49:15.719 part of ten years, and they're very slow to move 0:49:15.760 --> 0:49:17.359 on it. And I would say that's the last bit 0:49:17.400 --> 0:49:20.080 that we'd like to see UH changed. And we are 0:49:20.120 --> 0:49:22.720 working our our lobbyists working in Washington as we speak, 0:49:22.760 --> 0:49:24.040 to try and see if we can get that. But 0:49:24.400 --> 0:49:26.720 you know, they're they're ingrained in their ways in Washington 0:49:26.800 --> 0:49:29.080 d C and and there's still a lot of opposition 0:49:29.160 --> 0:49:34.280 even though the population overwhelmingly the population for medical cannabis 0:49:34.320 --> 0:49:36.200 around the country. Of course, I do need to ask 0:49:36.200 --> 0:49:37.960 you because I think this is a situation we're all 0:49:37.960 --> 0:49:40.720 trying to figure out. You know, what workers get really 0:49:40.800 --> 0:49:43.640 taken care of during a crisis like this, and some 0:49:43.719 --> 0:49:46.400 of the bigger companies, you know, those workers continue to 0:49:46.440 --> 0:49:49.440 get paid. Uh, we're certainly not seeing that necessarily in 0:49:49.440 --> 0:49:51.880 a lot of the hospitality industry. Can hear your workers 0:49:51.960 --> 0:49:54.960 are being taken care of, and everybody's up and working 0:49:54.960 --> 0:49:57.759 and will be. We are, we are, we are Our 0:49:57.880 --> 0:50:01.440 first priority is our employee, in our customers. We've broken 0:50:01.480 --> 0:50:04.040 teams into eight teams and beat teams that are working 0:50:04.080 --> 0:50:07.640 at different shifts. We've gotten masks and gloves for everyone, 0:50:07.640 --> 0:50:10.920 obviously we have We're paying bonuses at the end of 0:50:10.920 --> 0:50:13.280 the month for those workers that are on the front 0:50:13.280 --> 0:50:16.600 line in order to keep them incentivized. We are looking 0:50:16.600 --> 0:50:19.600 after those that are that have fallen ill um and 0:50:19.760 --> 0:50:21.719 and we haven't really had any so we've been very 0:50:21.760 --> 0:50:23.880 very lucky. But we know we will and so and 0:50:24.000 --> 0:50:25.680 and we're in you know, as you know, we're in 0:50:25.680 --> 0:50:28.359 in in nineteen states around the country, and so so 0:50:28.440 --> 0:50:30.319 we we we we have a very wide reach and 0:50:30.320 --> 0:50:32.239 we are looking after all employees and I have to 0:50:32.280 --> 0:50:34.680 thank all of them today. I'm sorry I'm doing that 0:50:34.719 --> 0:50:36.880 on the radio to say thank you very much for 0:50:37.160 --> 0:50:40.480 continuing to provide services to our patients. I'm curious too, 0:50:40.560 --> 0:50:43.719 as someone who runs a business understands that there needs 0:50:43.760 --> 0:50:45.880 to be safety nets for workers. You're seeing some of 0:50:45.920 --> 0:50:48.520 the bailout programs come along. Um, what's your take on 0:50:48.560 --> 0:50:53.520 everything that's happening out of Washington and the assistance. And 0:50:53.640 --> 0:50:57.720 I think it's very important for Washington to finally approved 0:50:57.760 --> 0:51:00.360 this package. I think it's um uh and for the 0:51:00.360 --> 0:51:03.560 workers in the country, so that we have millions and 0:51:03.640 --> 0:51:05.919 millions and millions of people that are out of work. 0:51:06.040 --> 0:51:09.640 I've heard estimates that layoffs could be somewhere between twenty 0:51:09.640 --> 0:51:12.359 and thirty million dollars over the next quarter. We need 0:51:12.400 --> 0:51:14.360 to address that. That would be bigger than even we 0:51:14.400 --> 0:51:16.799 saw in the Great Depression. And I think it's very 0:51:16.800 --> 0:51:19.480 important to federal government to step up. And uh, we've 0:51:19.480 --> 0:51:21.359 been waiting now for you know, for over a week 0:51:21.400 --> 0:51:23.520 for the federal government to get its act together with 0:51:23.640 --> 0:51:26.440 this uh. With this bill, I'm not you know, I 0:51:26.480 --> 0:51:28.160 don't know how much of this bill is going to 0:51:28.160 --> 0:51:32.600 be available towards workers, um uh, you know, and and 0:51:32.760 --> 0:51:35.120 how quickly it will be available. We're certainly all hopeful 0:51:35.160 --> 0:51:37.000 that it will be available to workers and to people 0:51:37.040 --> 0:51:39.080 that are laid off very very quickly. I mean, Schumer 0:51:39.120 --> 0:51:42.840 said it's unemployment on steroids. I think the the people 0:51:42.880 --> 0:51:44.799 that have been laid off in the restaurant industry and 0:51:44.840 --> 0:51:47.880 the hospitality and the airline industry are really hoping to 0:51:48.000 --> 0:51:51.360 receive some assistance here during these difficult times. So boris 0:51:51.760 --> 0:51:55.680 altas square something, especially given what we said at the 0:51:55.719 --> 0:51:58.480 top that you know, you have a personal experience with this. 0:51:58.920 --> 0:52:02.399 You know, certainly through your daughter, what it's like here 0:52:02.440 --> 0:52:04.879 in the New York City area in terms of this 0:52:05.040 --> 0:52:09.440 virus really ravaging this area. And yet we also at 0:52:09.480 --> 0:52:11.360 the same time have a call on the part of 0:52:11.360 --> 0:52:13.560 many business people, on the part of the president to 0:52:13.600 --> 0:52:15.719 really get back to work. You know, the president talking 0:52:15.760 --> 0:52:18.600 about Easter. How do you balance those things and how 0:52:18.640 --> 0:52:21.440 do you look at it as someone who's running a business. 0:52:21.880 --> 0:52:23.560 So I have to say it's it's I would not 0:52:23.640 --> 0:52:25.719 want to be the president United States right now. Um, 0:52:26.120 --> 0:52:30.279 somebody uh much smarter than me players this way. Just 0:52:30.360 --> 0:52:32.799 imagine he's got two shoulders. On the right shoulders got 0:52:32.800 --> 0:52:35.440 the medical community which is telling him, uh, you need 0:52:35.480 --> 0:52:38.960 to you know, uh, quarantine the country, you need to 0:52:38.960 --> 0:52:42.759 slow down transportation, you need to stop the virus. Uh. 0:52:42.800 --> 0:52:46.439 And on the other side, you've got, um, the economists 0:52:47.040 --> 0:52:48.840 that are telling him, you know, if you keep this 0:52:48.920 --> 0:52:51.799 going much longer, you could bankrupt the country, and that 0:52:51.840 --> 0:52:55.120 would create much more hardship, uh for the countries and 0:52:55.480 --> 0:52:57.880 what we're doing. And I think the biggest worry I 0:52:57.960 --> 0:53:00.160 have is the people that are losing their job to 0:53:00.239 --> 0:53:02.719 the people that need it the most. And that's what 0:53:02.760 --> 0:53:05.640 I am concerned about. And you know, the longer this 0:53:05.719 --> 0:53:08.080 goes on, the harder it is going to be for 0:53:09.000 --> 0:53:12.280 the more needed needing part of our population, the people 0:53:12.320 --> 0:53:15.200 that are in the in the in the uh you know, 0:53:15.280 --> 0:53:19.560 retail businesses, in the in the in the hospitality industry, uh, 0:53:19.600 --> 0:53:22.160 you know, union people. We we really need to look 0:53:22.160 --> 0:53:24.960 after these people. And so it's a very difficult decision 0:53:25.320 --> 0:53:27.279 whether we start the economy or not. But I do 0:53:27.400 --> 0:53:29.400 think they're not going to have much of a choice 0:53:29.440 --> 0:53:32.040 at some point. They're gonna have to. I hope that 0:53:32.080 --> 0:53:35.240 the country uses these next two weeks to really quarantine seriously. 0:53:35.800 --> 0:53:39.200 I'm more specifically focused on the young population, which in 0:53:39.239 --> 0:53:42.040 some places isn't taking this very seriously. They need to 0:53:42.080 --> 0:53:44.200 take this seriously. We need to slow the virus down, 0:53:44.200 --> 0:53:45.879 and then we need to get the country back to work. 0:53:45.920 --> 0:53:49.520 We are a capitalist, you know economy, uh and and 0:53:49.520 --> 0:53:52.800 and the capitalist economy cannot survive without being without working. 0:53:52.840 --> 0:53:55.040 So I think we need to get this country back 0:53:55.120 --> 0:53:57.880 to work how fast. I don't want to make that prediction. 0:53:57.920 --> 0:53:59.719 It's not mine. I'm not an expert. Well did you 0:53:59.800 --> 0:54:02.200 do you say that? Because yeah, the younger population. We've 0:54:02.200 --> 0:54:05.319 certainly seen New York City Mayor Build A Blasio talk 0:54:05.360 --> 0:54:08.279 about it, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, uh, you know, 0:54:08.320 --> 0:54:10.319 threatening to shut down parks and things just to kind 0:54:10.320 --> 0:54:13.160 of stop it. You you have a younger community, right 0:54:13.200 --> 0:54:18.239 who are working at um, you know, your various retail outlets. Um, 0:54:18.280 --> 0:54:21.359 what are they saying about that? I mean, obviously there's 0:54:21.360 --> 0:54:24.400 a tremendous amount of nervousness. UM they understand. You know, 0:54:24.440 --> 0:54:27.080 the people that work in the cannabis undership are very, 0:54:27.160 --> 0:54:30.280 very dedicated Uh, and they and they and they truly 0:54:30.360 --> 0:54:33.120 believe in the product that they sell. And so we've 0:54:33.120 --> 0:54:36.319 had a tremendous um you know, sort of sort of 0:54:36.440 --> 0:54:39.760 effort on behalf of our employees stay there and to 0:54:39.800 --> 0:54:42.799 service our patients. That's force Jordan, the executive chairman of 0:54:42.880 --> 0:54:45.000 Cure Leaf. Jason, and I think it's safe to say 0:54:45.040 --> 0:54:46.840 that when he started talking about his daughter having the 0:54:46.920 --> 0:54:50.000 virus and having to you know, continue running his company, 0:54:50.040 --> 0:54:52.400 being worried about workers, but then having to of course 0:54:52.840 --> 0:54:55.120 first and foremost, being worried about his daughter and making 0:54:55.160 --> 0:54:57.840 she sure she was okay. Um, it really took the 0:54:57.920 --> 0:55:00.680 story in a whole different direction. Well, and it's also 0:55:00.760 --> 0:55:04.000 interesting to think about this industry and what it may 0:55:04.080 --> 0:55:07.440 mean a pivotal moment. We know that from covering uh, 0:55:07.480 --> 0:55:10.239 the cannabis boom as it were, over the last couple 0:55:10.280 --> 0:55:13.319 of years, he obviously is right in the middle of it. 0:55:13.560 --> 0:55:16.520 What happens next remains to be seen. And that wraps 0:55:16.560 --> 0:55:19.239 up the weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio. 0:55:19.239 --> 0:55:21.160 Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Jason Kelly and 0:55:21.200 --> 0:55:23.560 I'm Carol Masster. Be sure to tune into Bloomberg Business 0:55:23.600 --> 0:55:26.280 Week Radio live Monday through Friday, starting at two pm 0:55:26.280 --> 0:55:28.400 Wall Street Time, And if you can't catch us live, 0:55:28.440 --> 0:55:31.480 get our daily podcast wherever you download podcast. You can 0:55:31.480 --> 0:55:33.759 also watch the show live on YouTube. Just search for 0:55:33.800 --> 0:55:36.560 Bloomberg Global News and you can get this week's edition 0:55:36.560 --> 0:55:39.000 to the magazine. It's on newsstands now. We'll be back 0:55:39.040 --> 0:55:41.960 next week at the same time. This is Bloomberg