Speaker 1: From the heart of where innovation, money and power collive
Speaker 1: in Silicon Valley and beyond. This is Bloomberg Technology with
Speaker 1: Emily Jay. I'm Emily Changing in San Francisco, and this
Speaker 1: is Bloomberg Technology coming up in the next hour, from
Speaker 1: Google to Macy's, instatcart and Walmart. The power players of
Speaker 1: retail and those trying to break in are gathered at
Speaker 1: shop Talk in Las Vegas to talk about the future
Speaker 1: of commerce as interest rates and inflation squeeze consumer pocketbooks.
Speaker 1: We will take you there live plus the slap seeing
Speaker 1: around the world. Will Smith smacking Chris Rock at the Oscars,
Speaker 1: overshadowing his own oscar, women sparking memes for day, maybe decades.
Speaker 1: We'll have a report from Hollywood. I the future of
Speaker 1: gene editing and biotechnology. We will speak about the promise
Speaker 1: of new science in a post COVID world with Nobel
Speaker 1: Prize winner Jennifer Down. Now, all of that in a moment,
Speaker 1: but first it's going to look at the market and
Speaker 1: tech stuck starting the week on a high. Are at
Speaker 1: Ludlow here with the big movers, and yeah, we've got
Speaker 1: this continuation of the risk on sentiment we've seen particularly
Speaker 1: in equity markets over the last two weeks. You look
Speaker 1: at it then as that one d up one point
Speaker 1: six percent to its highest level in more than six weeks.
Speaker 1: And it's interesting. I put bitcoin on there as well.
Speaker 1: It's around forty eight thousand dollars per token token. It's
Speaker 1: been a little under the radar, but we're the highest
Speaker 1: level of the year two on bitcoin, and it's also
Speaker 1: raised it's year to date losses, So real momentum there.
Speaker 1: And you've got a flag oil not necessarily directly related
Speaker 1: to tech, but oil down sharply Monday. You see futures
Speaker 1: for W two. I what West Texas Intermediate down seven
Speaker 1: percent below ten dollars per barrel. But there's now a
Speaker 1: narrative around the question on global consumption, particularly China, the
Speaker 1: biggest consumer of energy products. Of course, m coming me,
Speaker 1: bobow terminal. Every so often a chart comes along, and
Speaker 1: I want to talk about Apple. Just look at this chart.
Speaker 1: Apple up on Monday for the tenth consecutive day. It's
Speaker 1: longest streak of gains since October two thousand and ten.
Speaker 1: Let that thinking, I'll let you have that sink in
Speaker 1: for a moment. And that's despite a report from Nicka
Speaker 1: that Apple's cut production of its iPhone sc by because
Speaker 1: of waning demand, waning demand because of inflation, the conflicts
Speaker 1: in Ukraine, and investors they didn't seem to mind. The
Speaker 1: rapid streak that's been going on in mega tech continues
Speaker 1: and Apple really leading that charge. Also worth noting very quickly,
Speaker 1: the Amazon is now positive year today as well. So
Speaker 1: despite that narrative about higher rates, really seeing investors look
Speaker 1: real close at megacap tech stucks are looking well quickly.
Speaker 1: Some movers Tesla up eight percent. We're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: this later in the show. It's gonna ask investors at
Speaker 1: this annual meeting for another stock split, the second in
Speaker 1: two years. Hping up three percent after a three billion
Speaker 1: dollar all cash deal to buy Polly. This is one
Speaker 1: of the makers of remote work tools like headsets and
Speaker 1: video cameras. An interesting all cash deal for them. But
Speaker 1: you see investors taking negatively and lass amc entertainment up end.
Speaker 1: Do you know why why? No idea means talks about Alright,
Speaker 1: thank you Ed. Always love those history lessons, appreciate it well.
Speaker 1: This week we are in Las Vegas at Shoptop where
Speaker 1: thousands of retail moguls are coming together to talk about
Speaker 1: the future of retail. The agenda covering the latest tech
Speaker 1: and trends from apparel and electronics to beauty and grocery.
Speaker 1: Connie Chance, general partner at entries in Horowitz, is in
Speaker 1: Vegas at the conference and joins us Now Live. Connie, you,
Speaker 1: we're a speaker on stage today, and I'm curious, what
Speaker 1: are some of the key themes and trends your most
Speaker 1: bullish on From day one? I mean, the energy here
Speaker 1: is so high. Everyone is talking about how to leverage
Speaker 1: more technology. One of the key trends I'm hearing all
Speaker 1: retailers talk about is how to use more video going forward.
Speaker 1: That could be a combination of short video, long video,
Speaker 1: live video. Lots of retailers are asking questions about these topics,
Speaker 1: how to find the right hosts, the right seller to
Speaker 1: host these videos. But there's a lot of talk about
Speaker 1: just incorporating more technology and to our everyday shopping experiences.
Speaker 1: That said, we're looking at inflation, we're looking at interest rates.
Speaker 1: All of us is really putting pressure on consumers. How
Speaker 1: are retail companies dealing with this and how are consumers
Speaker 1: going to respond? I think retailers are thinking about how
Speaker 1: to decrease the space between brand, retail and customer, to
Speaker 1: foster more brand loyalty, to deliver better customer experiences, to
Speaker 1: make sure customers have more confidence and the things they
Speaker 1: buy before they purchase them, and so examples like using
Speaker 1: video or using personalized chat or having these one on
Speaker 1: one expert recommendations are always that brands can make sure
Speaker 1: that consumers are more confident in their purchases. Now, your
Speaker 1: panel today focused on China as a global e commerce player,
Speaker 1: and we know that you know, in the Chinese economy,
Speaker 1: Chinese shopping economy, there are so many different kinds of
Speaker 1: experiences that have yet to sort of translate to a
Speaker 1: global audience. Talk to us about what you see there
Speaker 1: that has the most promise and whether or not you
Speaker 1: see some of these trends catching on around the world.
Speaker 1: For sure, I'd say the biggest e commerce trend in
Speaker 1: China over the last two three years would be live shopping.
Speaker 1: Live shopping has taken China by storm and it's really
Speaker 1: changed the way lots of brands and retailers are even
Speaker 1: thinking about their marketing budgets. And so you can buy
Speaker 1: everything on live video and China. Now everything from medical
Speaker 1: procedures to clothing to fruit farming. Anything you can think
Speaker 1: of that can be purchased online can be purchased through
Speaker 1: online video, and so I think that trend is now
Speaker 1: showing that it has lots of promise. In the US,
Speaker 1: there are plenty of companies now experimenting with live video
Speaker 1: and they're seeing really great results. You've talked about the
Speaker 1: rise of shop attainment in the past, and I'm curious
Speaker 1: which companies you think are at the forefront of this.
Speaker 1: How do you, for example, think about Instagram versus TikTok,
Speaker 1: versus Facebook versus Snapchat when it comes to video commerce.
Speaker 1: I think lots of companies are going to put video
Speaker 1: commerce at the forefront, just because videos such a fantastic
Speaker 1: way to sell things. If you grow up watching infomercials,
Speaker 1: you know they are effective. And having customer testimonials, having
Speaker 1: live demos on boxing, all of these things are just
Speaker 1: fantastic ways to sell product and get customers more excited
Speaker 1: about the things that they're buying. I think you're right,
Speaker 1: all of these large platforms are going to be experimenting
Speaker 1: with shop attainment and having more video enabled commerce. I
Speaker 1: also think lots of brands are going to attempt putting
Speaker 1: it on their own websites and on their own apps.
Speaker 1: And I also believe there's going to be third party
Speaker 1: apps that rise as new shop um shopping video platforms
Speaker 1: that are going to do tremendously well. Now I have
Speaker 1: to ask you about what's going on in the broader environment.
Speaker 1: What's happening with funding and valuations. We just saw Insta
Speaker 1: car markets own valuation down from thirty nine billion dollars
Speaker 1: to twenty four billion dollars. I know this is a
Speaker 1: company that entries in horrowits invested in at an earlier stage.
Speaker 1: Are we going to see a slew of other markdowns?
Speaker 1: I mean, is this happening at at a lot of companies?
Speaker 1: Like yn't speak about that particular company, but I will
Speaker 1: say that I tend to focus on the very early stage.
Speaker 1: So I'm talking about Precedes, Seeds and A's and so forth,
Speaker 1: and a lot of these companies have a really long
Speaker 1: time horizon five, ten, fifteen years, and so we're less
Speaker 1: concerned about near term shocks to the market, and that
Speaker 1: wouldn't change our focus on how we invest. So are
Speaker 1: you saying the broader economic environment the uncertainty that we're
Speaker 1: seeing what's happening with inflation and interest rates. That's not
Speaker 1: really factoring into your calculus at all at entries and
Speaker 1: horrowits in terms of the early investments that you're making
Speaker 1: at the early stage, I don't think we're that phase
Speaker 1: by near term changes to the market, because again, we
Speaker 1: have a very long term horizon, and so do our founders.
Speaker 1: Many of them are building for five, ten, fifteen years outward.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about what you are looking to invest
Speaker 1: in in terms of companies, in terms of trend what
Speaker 1: are you most bullish on as we come out of
Speaker 1: the pandemic hopefully uh, fingers crossed, But we are facing
Speaker 1: this kind of uncertainty of future of hybrid work. You know,
Speaker 1: where are you placing your bets. I think COVID brought
Speaker 1: a lot of behaviors forward in a really great way
Speaker 1: in the sense that now we're much more accustomed to
Speaker 1: doing things through video, We're more used to ordering things
Speaker 1: on our phone, So I actually think it accelerates a
Speaker 1: lot of the trends that we're going to happen. Anyways,
Speaker 1: I'm looking at new forms of commerce, how people are
Speaker 1: creating new formats, whether it's video or AI driven UM
Speaker 1: and the particularly excited about companies that use AI at
Speaker 1: the forefront, meaning how are they rethinking an entire experience
Speaker 1: with AI to begin with or video to begin with.
Speaker 1: So I'm excited about AI and video in particular. And
Speaker 1: how do you think, like, take us five years out,
Speaker 1: how will we be shopping differently because of AI, because
Speaker 1: of video? Let's say five years from now. I think
Speaker 1: video shopping is going to be very common mainstream behavior
Speaker 1: five years out, which means that you are going to
Speaker 1: be shopping from all kinds of platforms. Means you're not
Speaker 1: just going to be shopping on e commerce platforms. Even
Speaker 1: you'll be shopping from social media platforms. There are other
Speaker 1: platforms that you spend a lot of time on. UM.
Speaker 1: I also think with AI that means you're going to
Speaker 1: have much better personalization and that's going to improve the
Speaker 1: shopping experience for everyone across the board. Ideally that means
Speaker 1: for your returns. Ideally, that means you're buying things that
Speaker 1: fit your style, You're buying things that naturally delight you.
Speaker 1: So AI is just a wonderful way to give a
Speaker 1: more personalized shopping experience. So is this like a smarter
Speaker 1: version of QVC on social media. In some ways, QVC,
Speaker 1: of course is one of the original shopping video platforms.
Speaker 1: Um But I think if you look at what happened
Speaker 1: in China in the last two three years, you get
Speaker 1: a glimpse of what's possible in the US. And in
Speaker 1: many ways, China video shopping is now one of the
Speaker 1: most popular waste shop and people are doing it on
Speaker 1: their smartphones all throughout the day. And you can buy
Speaker 1: literally anything on an online video shopping and it's great
Speaker 1: because you can ask the host questions, you can get
Speaker 1: real time answers. There's a lot of limited time discounts.
Speaker 1: If you think back to your infomercial days, they would
Speaker 1: say or now or in the next fifteen minutes and
Speaker 1: get it a freebee or give one to you know,
Speaker 1: get an extra one to give to a friend. All
Speaker 1: of those limited time promotions, exclusive drops, special pricing, all
Speaker 1: of those things are much more possible through live video.
Speaker 1: And what is the role of the creator economy and
Speaker 1: all of this, I mean, our influencers were placed by
Speaker 1: AI s. I mean, are these real people still selling
Speaker 1: us stuff or not? I think influencers are still really
Speaker 1: important creators are important because they are curating products and
Speaker 1: they are building trusts with their end viewers. Right, there
Speaker 1: are particular folks that I want watch on YouTube, and
Speaker 1: I trust the recommendations they're making based off the background,
Speaker 1: based off the things they've recommended or didn't recommend in
Speaker 1: the past. And so creators are still really important as
Speaker 1: either creators of products or curators, and their curation is
Speaker 1: really valuable because it's giving me a better glimpse more
Speaker 1: information about what I'm purchasing. All right, Connie Chan of
Speaker 1: Entrees and Harrow, it's great to hear your view of
Speaker 1: the future. Thanks for stopping. By meantime, Netflix has headed
Speaker 1: for its biggest quarterly drop in a decade, entering the
Speaker 1: final week at the first quarter of the streaming video
Speaker 1: giant down percent. That makes Netflix one of the biggest
Speaker 1: losers in the NAZAC one hundred, investors largely wary about
Speaker 1: its disappointing growth outlook. Coming up, we'll head back to
Speaker 1: Las Vegas, where Bloomberg's Bradstone sat down with Insta cart
Speaker 1: CEO pg SMO days after the grocery tech giant slashed
Speaker 1: its valuation. That's next. This is Bloomberg and so as
Speaker 1: a private company, even though our businesses, you know, incredibly strong,
Speaker 1: we we really wanted to reflect the facts that, of
Speaker 1: course we're not immune to the volatility of the public markets,
Speaker 1: and so by proactively kind of taking down our valuation
Speaker 1: to reflect what it would be like if we were
Speaker 1: a publicly treated company. It's an employee first move so
Speaker 1: that we can start granting stock to our employees at
Speaker 1: this lower valuation and helps um, you know, participate in
Speaker 1: the upside. Insta Carcimo, they're at sharp talk with our
Speaker 1: very own grad Stone talking about the company's re sent
Speaker 1: mark down. Last week, Instacart slashed its valuation by almost
Speaker 1: to four billion dollars to reflect public market declines at
Speaker 1: companies like doordesh and Shopify, also Instacart and Semo, saying
Speaker 1: this is to give employees more upside. Our Bradstone joins
Speaker 1: us now to discuss and Brad the big question, is
Speaker 1: this the start of something that we're going to see
Speaker 1: happening more broadly at other companies besides Instacart. What more
Speaker 1: contacts context did she give you there? Well, you heard it.
Speaker 1: She called it an employee first move. She said it
Speaker 1: would help Instacart with retention but look, I think instacarts
Speaker 1: in a pretty unique position and it's going to be
Speaker 1: more difficult for other companies to follow. As you remember, Emily,
Speaker 1: last year, a poor of a meta, the CEO and
Speaker 1: founder of instacarts, stepped aside. They brought in Fiji. She
Speaker 1: really signaled, you know, a full pivot for the company
Speaker 1: from just a food delivery business into a more sort
Speaker 1: of full featured, enterprise looking business where Instacart is providing
Speaker 1: technology for supermarkets, building them ghost warehouses, helping with thirty
Speaker 1: minute delivery. I think that Reset bought a Fiji a
Speaker 1: lot more runway. It's allowed this private valuation Reset. Other
Speaker 1: companies that are facing more of a liquidity demand, who
Speaker 1: who might have to go public soon, who can't put
Speaker 1: it off as Fiji did last fall, are going to
Speaker 1: have less flexibility. She's pushing this idea of insta cart
Speaker 1: as an antidote to Amazon, and I'm curious what you
Speaker 1: think of that, given you know, the many many years
Speaker 1: that you've covered Amazon, Can insta cart really take on
Speaker 1: Amazon in the way that she is expressing. You know,
Speaker 1: It's it's funny because that's not really the right question,
Speaker 1: at least right now, because Amazon's a little measily two
Speaker 1: percent a player in the grocery business, whole foods. They
Speaker 1: really haven't invested all that much. They're doing some interesting
Speaker 1: things with the checkout technology, but really the boogeyman, if
Speaker 1: there is one, is an instat cart partner. It's Walmart.
Speaker 1: I mean, with a twenty percent plus market share in
Speaker 1: grocery is Kroger of course, another big giant. If you're
Speaker 1: a small supermarket, you know, maybe Amazon motivates you a
Speaker 1: little bit, but really, you know, the the the the
Speaker 1: dragon in the room are are these big scale players
Speaker 1: that are modernizing very fast. That's the real reason for
Speaker 1: the digital transition that's needed at small supermarkets. Now. Since
Speaker 1: I spoke with Fiji Cimo a couple of weeks ago
Speaker 1: for Studio one point Oh, we had a debate in
Speaker 1: that episode about what's a fair wage and shoppers who
Speaker 1: had told me, you know, their typical payment for a
Speaker 1: shop is seven dollars. She told me that that wasn't
Speaker 1: consistent with what is normal. But it sparked this frenzy
Speaker 1: of shoppers out there sending me screenshots of their orders,
Speaker 1: some many of them getting paid seven dollars. So I'm
Speaker 1: getting paid as low as five dollars. You know, what
Speaker 1: does she have to say about this about wages, whether
Speaker 1: or not they're fair, and whether or not this kind
Speaker 1: of economy is really sustainable? Right? And I mentioned that explicitly.
Speaker 1: I said, you know, if for anyone who who writes
Speaker 1: or reports about Instacart, you tend to get these testimonials
Speaker 1: and that their shoppers are kind of suffering. And you
Speaker 1: know from what I recall, and I want to go
Speaker 1: back and listen to the tape she really didn't talk
Speaker 1: about I I asked directly, can you raise the wage?
Speaker 1: And she talked more about the kinds of perks that
Speaker 1: come with being a shopper for Instacart, trying to instigate
Speaker 1: more demand because in times of peak demand you maximize savings.
Speaker 1: She talked about lots of features, specific features for female
Speaker 1: shoppers who are a preponderance of their of their labor ecosystem.
Speaker 1: You know, I have a feeling that they might be
Speaker 1: a little bit constrained at least on the economics. I mean,
Speaker 1: she talked about running the delivery business basically at cost
Speaker 1: and making instacarts margin on things like advertising and enterprise sales.
Speaker 1: So it might just be that you know, the economics
Speaker 1: of instacrt delivery aren't that great, and they find that
Speaker 1: they're they're limited what they can do for shoppers despite
Speaker 1: that vocal percentage of shoppers that are complaining. All right,
Speaker 1: Brad Stone joining us live from the shop top floor.
Speaker 1: Thanks Brad. That certainly an open question. I'll be with
Speaker 1: you tomorrow there to interview Uber CEO Dara Kasra Shah
Speaker 1: he and much more. Meantime, HP has agreed to buy
Speaker 1: plant Tronics, and at three point three billion dollar deal,
Speaker 1: the acquisition will help the laptop maker further capitalize on
Speaker 1: the pivot to hybrid work. Plantronics sells phone, headsets, and
Speaker 1: audio and video accessories. They all cash deal give shareholders
Speaker 1: a premium to plant Tronics closing price Friday. Coming up,
Speaker 1: it went viral in seconds. Will Smith slapping Chris Rock
Speaker 1: at the Oscars. We'll have more details on why and
Speaker 1: what's next coming up. This is Bloomberg. It is what
Speaker 1: everyone is talking about. Dub simply on social media as
Speaker 1: the slap. Will Smith smacking Chris Rock on stage in
Speaker 1: the middle of the Oscar ceremony. This after Chris Rock
Speaker 1: made a g I Joe g I Jane kind of
Speaker 1: joke about Will Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who also
Speaker 1: suffers from alopecia and has been embracing it by going
Speaker 1: bald for the last several months. Let's dig into it
Speaker 1: all with Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw joining us straight from Hollywood
Speaker 1: and Lucas, I gotta ask you, twenty four hours later,
Speaker 1: are there any more details on what happened here? The backstory,
Speaker 1: what's next? No new details on exactly what happened on stage,
Speaker 1: and I think we we all saw. The real question
Speaker 1: is sort of what was happening behind the scenes, What
Speaker 1: did the Academy try to do or not try to
Speaker 1: do in the moment, and what is it going to
Speaker 1: do going forward? There have been some reports about how
Speaker 1: they had considered trying to intervene and maybe stop Will
Speaker 1: Smith's from speaking, or talk to him before he spoke.
Speaker 1: I think the question everyone has now is will he
Speaker 1: be punished in some way? Will they, you know, bar
Speaker 1: him from the Academy or suspend him for a couple
Speaker 1: of years. Normally, as the winner of the Best Actor Prize,
Speaker 1: he'd be at the ceremony next year presenting the Best Actress.
Speaker 1: Will they let him back for that, and we should know,
Speaker 1: probably not in the next day or two, but maybe
Speaker 1: in the next few weeks. The memes about this incident
Speaker 1: are insane. I'm pretty sure these will be going on
Speaker 1: for decades. This overshadowed Will Smith's own Oscar win. You know,
Speaker 1: in his own speech, he's he didn't totally apologize, he
Speaker 1: kind of apologized. Um, you know, what does this mean
Speaker 1: mean for Will Smith's career? Yeah, it is one of
Speaker 1: the most surreal moments in certainly in the history of
Speaker 1: the Oscars, arguably in TV history. Um, it marred what
Speaker 1: was supposed to be the culmination of his career. He's
Speaker 1: been one of the biggest movie starts in the world
Speaker 1: for years and you know, he tried to win Oscars before,
Speaker 1: but nominated a couple of times. His career had been
Speaker 1: on the downslope for a little bit, and he's really
Speaker 1: revived it in the last five or six years, and
Speaker 1: this was going to be the kind of the pinnacle
Speaker 1: of all that, and instead, to your point, we're just
Speaker 1: talking about this this one kind of unfortunate incident. Um.
Speaker 1: He's someone who's lived very much in the public eye
Speaker 1: over the last little bit, and I for one I'm
Speaker 1: curious to see how he tries to navigate this and
Speaker 1: what his response will be after he has some time
Speaker 1: to digest it. Meantime, Chris Rock had sort of remarkable
Speaker 1: composure in that moment. We still haven't heard from him yet, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, why hasn't he made a statement? I mean,
Speaker 1: he's probably waiting to see what will in the academy do.
Speaker 1: You're right? I mean, it's pretty amazing that he handled
Speaker 1: He handled it so well that there were a lot
Speaker 1: of people who thought that that was a bit including
Speaker 1: this morning. I got text messages at with people asking
Speaker 1: me um, But I don't expect he'll say a whole
Speaker 1: lot all right, Luca Shaw for us in l A. Lucas,
Speaker 1: Thanks for that update. This incident, of course, not the
Speaker 1: only thing of note that happened at the Asker is
Speaker 1: just the one that everyone is talking about. But my
Speaker 1: colleague Alex Webb points out there was a whole lot
Speaker 1: more to the ceremony. Take a listen. Much of the
Speaker 1: conversation around this is Oscars is focused on Will Smith
Speaker 1: hitting Chris Rock midway through the ceremony, but there was
Speaker 1: another really significant first from a business perspect The best
Speaker 1: picture Oscar went to Coda, which was the first film
Speaker 1: distributed by an online stream and it wasn't Netflix, it
Speaker 1: wasn't Amazon Prime, it was Apple. The reason that's significant
Speaker 1: is because it says a lot about the way the
Speaker 1: economics of film are changing. The upside for streamers to
Speaker 1: win awards is far greater than for the classic film studio.
Speaker 1: In the old model, if you convince more people to
Speaker 1: go to the cinema to see your film after having
Speaker 1: one a few awards, you might get fift dollar spend
Speaker 1: on the cinema ticket. The studio might take home half
Speaker 1: of that, so maybe seven or eight dollars. In the
Speaker 1: new model, you might be encouraging someone to sign up
Speaker 1: for your streaming service, in this case Apple tv Plus
Speaker 1: now Apple tv Plus it's about five dollars a month.
Speaker 1: If you convince someone to sign up for it and
Speaker 1: they stick around for two years, once they see all
Speaker 1: the other content you have, that customer could be worth
Speaker 1: a hundred and twenty dollars to you, so rather than
Speaker 1: seven or eight dollars, you're getting a hundred and twenty
Speaker 1: at On top of that, the cachet that comes with
Speaker 1: being an Oscar winning studio and the ability to bring
Speaker 1: in and encourage other filmmakers to bring their talent to
Speaker 1: your studio. And it has a real snowball effects further
Speaker 1: down the line and can benefit your output. Bloomberg's Alex
Speaker 1: Web there all right, coming out. Huawei earnings out at
Speaker 1: a seventy plus percent jump in private despite tightening US sanctions.
Speaker 1: AIE party of Huawei joins US. Next, this is Bloomberg,
Speaker 1: Welcome back to bloom More technolog gam emily changing San
Speaker 1: Francisco shares a vv giant Tesla jumping eight percent after
Speaker 1: the company said it would seek a shareholder approval for
Speaker 1: another stocks plan, the news driving the stock higher despite
Speaker 1: other negative headlines. Bloomberg sources say Tesla has halted production
Speaker 1: at a Shanghai plant to comply with government lockdowns to
Speaker 1: combat COVID. Are at ludlow here with the latest and
Speaker 1: why another stock split? Yeah, it's interesting, you know. The
Speaker 1: street is hypothesizing that the rationale is same as the
Speaker 1: last stock split in August, which is to lower the
Speaker 1: barrier for entry. Right. Elon Musk has talked regularly about
Speaker 1: how Tessa investors on the retail side are often Tesla owners, Right,
Speaker 1: they own the cars, they own the energy products um
Speaker 1: and they have a better understanding of the company than
Speaker 1: institutional investors. But with the stock at the level that
Speaker 1: it is a thousand dollars a share, it might be
Speaker 1: inaccessible to them. So by doing a stock split, you
Speaker 1: lower that per unit price and it opens up the field,
Speaker 1: democratizes access to the stock. What more details do we
Speaker 1: have on how exactly this will work. Well, that's the
Speaker 1: whole problem, and we don't have details. You know, Tesla
Speaker 1: communicated this in a tweet right which we saw on
Speaker 1: your screen a few seconds ago. Then they put out
Speaker 1: a regulatory filing saying that they're going to ask investors
Speaker 1: to approve the additional shares that need would need to
Speaker 1: be offered for the stock split at their annual meeting.
Speaker 1: But we don't know the date of the annual meeting.
Speaker 1: Last year, it was in October. The year before, I
Speaker 1: believe it was in June. So this is classic Tesla,
Speaker 1: you know, they don't communicate like other public companies do.
Speaker 1: We don't know what the ratio of stock splits will be.
Speaker 1: We don't know if it'll be a five to one
Speaker 1: three for one one like Alphabet Google Parent did earlier
Speaker 1: this year. This is classic Testa and it's hard to track,
Speaker 1: but clearly the share reaction took Testa into positive territory
Speaker 1: for two and investors like the idea of another stock split. Now,
Speaker 1: what do we know about what's happening in Shanghai and
Speaker 1: how problematic is it? You know, it's problematic. Authorities in Shanghai,
Speaker 1: basically half a city at a time are doing testing
Speaker 1: because of a resurgence of COVID. The area east of
Speaker 1: the Huangpo River where the Tesla plant is is the
Speaker 1: focus of that testing. So according to sources, Teslas shut
Speaker 1: down through April one. We don't know how long it
Speaker 1: will go through until total. But look at your screen
Speaker 1: right now, Shanghai accounts for almost half of production. The
Speaker 1: difference is that the cars coming out of Shanghai and
Speaker 1: more profitable. They have higher margins because the supply chain
Speaker 1: is localized and it has advanced robotics compared to Fremont.
Speaker 1: In February, Tesla delivered fifty six thousand vehicles from that plant,
Speaker 1: which basically is indicative of them outperforming the factories in
Speaker 1: stall capacity. So if this holt does go on, it
Speaker 1: could really be disruptive for a company that has a
Speaker 1: lot of momentum in terms of scaling production. As you know,
Speaker 1: m Berlin's online and we expect the new plant in
Speaker 1: Austin's come on online again soon. So this is when
Speaker 1: we're watching closely. All right, Bloodlow, thanks for that update. Now,
Speaker 1: Huawei out with the company's annual report and seeing net
Speaker 1: profit surge see despite deep revenue declines as they navigate
Speaker 1: geo political sanctions. Andy Petty, Quawei Technologies at USA, chief
Speaker 1: security officer with US Now, so Andy curious how Huawei
Speaker 1: managed to pull this off and how the company will
Speaker 1: keep it up in such an uncertain economic and geopolitical environment. Well, actually,
Speaker 1: you know, backing up my last trip to China, I
Speaker 1: left January and attended meetings of four different business groups
Speaker 1: as the company was planning their strategy to try to survive.
Speaker 1: Frankly was what it was. So this is this is
Speaker 1: very heartening. So part of that work, given the limitations
Speaker 1: on our ability to buy a non sensitive technology from
Speaker 1: American semiconductor industry, we had to realign our business portfolio.
Speaker 1: We had to invest very heavily in R and D.
Speaker 1: You saw we invested over our revenue this year in
Speaker 1: R and D. We're emphasizing the importance of digitalization, the
Speaker 1: importance of cloud, the importance of carbon uh and we
Speaker 1: are pleased that we have over seven hundred cities and
Speaker 1: two hundred and sixty seven of the Fortune Global five
Speaker 1: hundred companies have chosen Huawei for their digital transformation. So
Speaker 1: we've had to modify what we do and how we
Speaker 1: do it. It's a long haul. We are making progress
Speaker 1: and we are going to work our way towards a
Speaker 1: flourishing future, and we can in the in the process,
Speaker 1: we're providing real value to our partners and customers around
Speaker 1: the world. Now we're facing another geopolitical crisis, and that
Speaker 1: is Russia's war on Ukraine. How will this impact Huawei.
Speaker 1: I know that Huawei has been known to increase its
Speaker 1: investments in Russia given US sanctions and has become Russia's
Speaker 1: largest equipment supplier. We are really upset about the about
Speaker 1: the invasion of Personally, in twenty nineteen, I went to
Speaker 1: Key of twice to visits and friends over there with
Speaker 1: the World Bank, and learning about the history, going to
Speaker 1: museums and seeing what they're going through now is just
Speaker 1: absolutely shocking and horrendous, and hopefully there can be to
Speaker 1: cease far and a withdrawal and they can return some
Speaker 1: of the children who are apparently taken from Ukraine right now,
Speaker 1: as you know, are rotating. Chairman earlier today said we're
Speaker 1: studying the various approaches of companies and governments around the
Speaker 1: world to try to come up with what our approach
Speaker 1: is going to be on this is very troubling issue.
Speaker 1: Does while we need to abide by sanctions imposed on
Speaker 1: Russia by other nations, and what if China imposes sanctions
Speaker 1: on Russia by your contingency plans. Well, that's part of
Speaker 1: what we're studying, is what the terms are. One of
Speaker 1: the things that we've been doing even before the pandemic
Speaker 1: was improving the diversification of our supply chain, not just
Speaker 1: for semiconductors, So if there's a destruction in certain areas,
Speaker 1: we can pursue other areas with our investment in R
Speaker 1: and D and some in pure research, having the ability
Speaker 1: to find value, to create value, and frankly working as
Speaker 1: part of the information and communication industry telecommunications industry to
Speaker 1: help move towards carbon negative and our work and digital
Speaker 1: power or uh so, we've got a lot of flexibility
Speaker 1: and different kind of products and different kinds of components.
Speaker 1: UH and we operate in a hundred seventy countries in
Speaker 1: the world, so we're going to find a way although
Speaker 1: it can be very, very difficult. The idea of dealing
Speaker 1: with business disruptions, supply chain challenges, business continuity, they're all
Speaker 1: part of what major companies have to do. So let's
Speaker 1: talk about that way forward, especially with your overseas business strategy,
Speaker 1: given that you know your telecom your smartphone businesses have
Speaker 1: been really hard hit by US sanctions in particular, and
Speaker 1: it doesn't seem like this geopolitical uncertainty is going to
Speaker 1: end anytime soon. Yes, going from one kind of uncertainty
Speaker 1: to another. We're pleased that with our work, for example,
Speaker 1: in five G there was a recent study of the
Speaker 1: five G networks in Switzerland, Germany, Finland, nether On, South
Speaker 1: Korean and Saudi Arabia. They said the law it provides
Speaker 1: the best user experience. And as you know, our consumer device,
Speaker 1: our consumer business apart from the mobile devices, UH where
Speaker 1: doable smart screens, entertainment sort of tremendous surge in that business.
Speaker 1: So we're and we've got like six thousand partners in
Speaker 1: the world coming up with these digitalization solutions, and last
Speaker 1: year we had ten thousand, five G two b UH
Speaker 1: deployments working with our partners. So there are a lot
Speaker 1: of different ways that we can survive, and by heavily
Speaker 1: investing in research and working with our partners, we're finding
Speaker 1: ways to UH find our way what is while we're
Speaker 1: doing to address the security concerns raised by foreign countries,
Speaker 1: in particular the United States. I know you don't agree
Speaker 1: necessarily with all of them, but clearly these concerns remain
Speaker 1: well in light of the recent cyber attacks that demonstrated
Speaker 1: that an old axiom about trusted suppliers is no longer valid.
Speaker 1: We are working with our competitors, with the major carriers
Speaker 1: in the world, with the major standards bodies to try
Speaker 1: to strengthen and improve standards for five G and particularly
Speaker 1: standards for the telecom equipment, and working to create conformance
Speaker 1: programs and independent testing programs. We are very open to
Speaker 1: the US government recently emphasized the importance of greater information
Speaker 1: sharing when it comes to cyber incidents. In other words,
Speaker 1: don't just wait to really bad things happen. Try to
Speaker 1: share information more quickly and sooner so that dots can
Speaker 1: be connected. We're very open to having the US government
Speaker 1: come into our facilities and hopefully those of our competitors,
Speaker 1: to give advice about how we and other companies can
Speaker 1: be more transparent. How can we make sure that we
Speaker 1: are doing what's necessary to address real risk, to promote resilience,
Speaker 1: and helping to find ways to do that before really
Speaker 1: bad things happen, whether it's state of breaches or cyber attacks.
Speaker 1: We need a greater capabilities of global community to figure
Speaker 1: out where we stand in terms out comparedness so that
Speaker 1: we can avoid really bad things happening. And hopefully the
Speaker 1: United States is going to get much more active internationally
Speaker 1: in these efforts as well. Well. What about the Chinese government.
Speaker 1: We've seen the Chinese government crackdown on Chinese tech companies.
Speaker 1: How can you assure your your overseas partners, business partners
Speaker 1: that you can avert this kind of infravention intervention and
Speaker 1: that it won't negatively impact Huawei's business well, and that's
Speaker 1: one of the reasons we're partnered with so many different companies.
Speaker 1: We've got thirty thousand partners around the world covering every
Speaker 1: every different line of business. UH. We are continuing to
Speaker 1: strengthen the Global Assurance and Privacy Protection program that that
Speaker 1: we launched shortly before I joined WAWEIH almost almost ten
Speaker 1: years ago, and the idea of of internal testing, external
Speaker 1: independent testing, participating in these standards bodies where you have
Speaker 1: to have certifications of your products, of your requirements, and
Speaker 1: trying to find ways to be increasingly transparent so our
Speaker 1: customers and the customers of others know what we're doing.
Speaker 1: And so we've been one of the most tested companies
Speaker 1: in the world, and we believe that the folks that
Speaker 1: have been our customers and stakeholdness in those countries recognize
Speaker 1: that we are committed to following the laws in those countries,
Speaker 1: and we are committed to the best practices and cybersecurity
Speaker 1: and and we're open to ideas on how to improve.
Speaker 1: Andy per Huawei Technologies USA Chief Security Officer, Good to
Speaker 1: have you, Andy, thank you for joining us. Coming up
Speaker 1: how crypto markets are continuing to be impacted by the
Speaker 1: War on Ukraine and how they can recover one that
Speaker 1: next to school work, time for our crypto report now,
Speaker 1: and let's take a look back on the crypto market
Speaker 1: since the start of the War on Ukraine. Bitcoins and others.
Speaker 1: Bitcoin and others have been fluctuating ever since, caught in
Speaker 1: the crosshairs between Russian sanctions abroad and rising interest rates
Speaker 1: in the United States. Let's bring in our own crypto
Speaker 1: contributors n Ali Bassik now for more on this. Quite
Speaker 1: an interesting pattern, quite an interesting pattern. But I think
Speaker 1: what's important to note here is that even when the volatility,
Speaker 1: Bitcoin has erased his losses for the year and since
Speaker 1: the war has started, you see that Bitcoin has raised
Speaker 1: risen really significantly, more than twenty five percent over the
Speaker 1: last couple of weeks. Of course, we know there's been
Speaker 1: a really big buyer. The Luna Foundation has confirmed to
Speaker 1: Bloomberg that they have been buying about more more than
Speaker 1: one billion dollars worth bitcoin since last January, including millions
Speaker 1: worth of purchases on Monday. So that's that's a steady
Speaker 1: rise for bitcoin. Certainly in the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: It really does emily outpaced the SMP five hundred since
Speaker 1: the war started, which only rose about six percent in
Speaker 1: that time frame. And if you take out a theory um,
Speaker 1: take a look at the theoryum, it's risen even further
Speaker 1: than Bitcoin has. Of course, we know that's around the
Speaker 1: excitement around the merge among other things. However, we're seeing
Speaker 1: if you take a look there, about a thirty percent
Speaker 1: rise or so in the theory um now over the
Speaker 1: last twenty four hours. Yes, we've seen a big jump,
Speaker 1: but that has started to level off both with theory
Speaker 1: um and with bitcoin, so we'll see how much room
Speaker 1: it has to run. People who are watching the space
Speaker 1: closely are waiting for it to get to fifty for bitcointe.
Speaker 1: One of the biggest hurdles that remain for for bitcoin,
Speaker 1: obviously there's a major regulatory one. Yeah, that is one
Speaker 1: of the biggest things. The SEC has not yet approved
Speaker 1: a spot bitcoin e t F. Even with the the
Speaker 1: futures based ETFs really taking off here that pro shares
Speaker 1: bitcoin et F again, not a huge rise since it
Speaker 1: first really started, but we do see it coming back
Speaker 1: up along with the rise in bitcoin for the year.
Speaker 1: Something interesting, Emily, you can look at it both ways.
Speaker 1: The big banks, Goldman Sachs among other big market makers
Speaker 1: as well, have started to make a lot of bitcoin
Speaker 1: derivative products that help institutions get exposure to bitcoin without
Speaker 1: holding it itself. My sources say every day that there's
Speaker 1: not a spot e t F. More people get into
Speaker 1: these derivative products to get exposure to bitcoin while they
Speaker 1: can't get exposure to a more direct body t F.
Speaker 1: And what about n f T s We saw n
Speaker 1: f T sales sputter a bit. Are we seeing any
Speaker 1: kind of recovery there? You see a little bit of
Speaker 1: a recovery there. As you saw in that last chart,
Speaker 1: it's down significantly from the highs Emily and that's according
Speaker 1: to n f T go dot io. But you're seeing
Speaker 1: that then this is by volume to be certain, if
Speaker 1: you look at by market cap it's still quite high.
Speaker 1: But this all goes to say bitcoin itself has taken
Speaker 1: a rise. All of these other products follow on the
Speaker 1: heels of how fast Bitcoin can rise. Let's see if
Speaker 1: n f T sales in the next couple of we
Speaker 1: start to catch up. Should bitcoin keep its bid? Okay,
Speaker 1: our crypto contributor, thank you, come up. The future of
Speaker 1: biotech investing and of the crisper gene editing technology in
Speaker 1: a post pandemic world. Biochemist and Nobel Prize winner Jennifer
Speaker 1: Downnutt joins us to talk about all of that and more. Next,
Speaker 1: this is Bloomberg. As we come out of the pandemic,
Speaker 1: what the future of the biotech industry holds well? UC
Speaker 1: Berkeley professor and Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Down is trying
Speaker 1: to level the playing field by launching a new program
Speaker 1: to help women founders in biotechnology. Joining us now to
Speaker 1: talk about all that and more, Professor Down herself and
Speaker 1: Dr Down, I think the world most people would probably
Speaker 1: agree we need more Jennifer down as in this world.
Speaker 1: Talk to us about this new program and what the
Speaker 1: impact would be. Hi, Emily, we are so excited about
Speaker 1: this program. At the Innovative Genomics Institute, we launched a
Speaker 1: WISE program, Women in Entrepreneurial Science, founded by anerful female
Speaker 1: entrepreneurial philanthropist. We have a incredible opportunity to recruit the
Speaker 1: best female entrepreneurs to the institute, give them a head
Speaker 1: start to get their ideas launched, and then found companies
Speaker 1: off of those ideas. It's a It's an extraordinary opportunity.
Speaker 1: I'm delighted to be part of it. Why do we
Speaker 1: need more women in biotechnology in particular? I'm a big
Speaker 1: believer that the best science gets done by a diverse team.
Speaker 1: We have to have people from all walks of life
Speaker 1: contributing to the future of biotech in genome engineering. With
Speaker 1: Cristper technology, we've seen over the last decade the extraordinary
Speaker 1: advance is made both on the innovative side and also
Speaker 1: on the applied side. And I think that, you know,
Speaker 1: going forward, we just want to have the most opportunity,
Speaker 1: you know, the largest opportunity to recruit people from everywhere
Speaker 1: to come into this field and work on opportunities and
Speaker 1: geno medity. What's your assessment of where we are at
Speaker 1: this phase of the pandemic, moving into hopefully post pandemic
Speaker 1: and the role that CRISPER engene editing will play in
Speaker 1: preventing the next pandemic from happening. Crisper is such an
Speaker 1: extraordinary technology, I think, as you know, it came out
Speaker 1: of a study of a bacterial immune system, so it
Speaker 1: naturally works in nature as a as a way of
Speaker 1: protecting cells against viral infection. And going forward, we're using
Speaker 1: it not only as a way to detect the presence
Speaker 1: of infectious agents, but also to use it to uh,
Speaker 1: you know, make the kinds of changes in the genome
Speaker 1: that could be protective against future infection. I think those
Speaker 1: are the two ways that we'll see Crisper having an
Speaker 1: impact in the future to prevent the kind of pandemic
Speaker 1: that we've just been through. Now, there's been some controversy
Speaker 1: in the crisper world recently. Berkeley recently lost a long
Speaker 1: and drawn out patent battle with M. I. T. And
Speaker 1: Harvard's Broad Institute over the ownership of this technology. What's
Speaker 1: been your reaction to this, Oh, Emily, you know, I
Speaker 1: think this this is a common theme in areas of
Speaker 1: technology where there is extraordinary opportunity, there are always disputes about,
Speaker 1: you know, intellectual property, and Cristper is no different in
Speaker 1: that regard. I'm proud of the fact that U. C.
Speaker 1: Berkeley University, California retains more than forty five issued patents
Speaker 1: that are not part of the interference. So we have
Speaker 1: a very strong intellectual property suite around Cristopher and we
Speaker 1: continue to do our our work at the Innovative Genomics
Speaker 1: Institute and with our partner companies. Were not impeded in
Speaker 1: any way by that ongoing dispute. So on that note,
Speaker 1: how does this impact your efforts too, and your dream
Speaker 1: really to commercialize this technology and apply it to hard
Speaker 1: problems for generations to come, not at all, you know,
Speaker 1: I recently I was. I had a wonderful conversation just
Speaker 1: last week with Victoria Gray. She was the first United
Speaker 1: States uh resident who received a Crisper therapy for her
Speaker 1: sickle cell disease. UM just incredible to talk with her
Speaker 1: and hear about the impact on her family, her life.
Speaker 1: She's now enrolling in business school, something she couldn't have
Speaker 1: imagined doing when she was dealing with the ongoing impacts
Speaker 1: of sickle cell disease. And I think that's the future
Speaker 1: for Cristper. We're going to see more and more opportunities
Speaker 1: to change people's lives in better way, for for the best.
Speaker 1: Talk to us about your near term goals and your
Speaker 1: long term goals on the therapeutic roadmap. Well, near term,
Speaker 1: I think we're we're on a path to continue expanding
Speaker 1: the kinds of applications that Cristopher will be used for,
Speaker 1: not only for very rare disease, but I think in
Speaker 1: the future using it as a way to protect against disease.
Speaker 1: And they're already our companies, for example, Verve comes to
Speaker 1: mind that are on that same path. And I think, then,
Speaker 1: you know, further down the road. I think crisper eventually
Speaker 1: becomes a standard of or for certain types of disease.
Speaker 1: I think that's something that you know, I I can envision.
Speaker 1: You know, it will only happen if it's developed with
Speaker 1: an eye towards sustainability. It has to be affordable. You know,
Speaker 1: Victoria Gray's treatment was close to two million dollars, So
Speaker 1: clearly we need to bring down the cost. And we
Speaker 1: think that one way to do that is to do
Speaker 1: the kind of research that we have ongoing at the
Speaker 1: Innovative Genomics Institute and then partner with companies when it
Speaker 1: makes sense. And what's your outlook on the future of
Speaker 1: biotech returns? I mean, for so many years this was
Speaker 1: and under invested in part of the tech landscape, certainly
Speaker 1: when you compare it to consumer and enterprise technology. Do
Speaker 1: you see a new era for biotech investing being ushered
Speaker 1: in over the next decade. I do. And part of
Speaker 1: the reason, one thing I think is driving that actually
Speaker 1: is the intersection of biotech with other kinds of technology.
Speaker 1: Is hard tech for example, uh, computer science. You know,
Speaker 1: I think we many of us see that there are
Speaker 1: amazing opportunities when these areas of technology converge and that's
Speaker 1: what we're seeing right now. So I think the next
Speaker 1: decade in this area will be very, very exciting for
Speaker 1: scientists and also for investors. So where the next big
Speaker 1: bets wish and investors be putting their money quickly, Well,
Speaker 1: one area I would I would recommend looking into is
Speaker 1: is agriculture and synthetic biology. These are these are areas
Speaker 1: where you know, we need crisper and we need other
Speaker 1: technologies to address the challenges of climate change, of a
Speaker 1: growing population on our planet. How do we keep people
Speaker 1: fed with the you know, high nutritional value crops. Christopher
Speaker 1: will play a big role there, all right. Dr Jennifer
Speaker 1: dowdnat Nobel Prize winner, UC Berkeley Professor, always get to
Speaker 1: have you here on the show. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1: And that does it for this edition of Bloomberg Technology.
Speaker 1: Tune in tomorrow for my exclusive interview with Uber CEO
Speaker 1: Dara Kaswa Shahy. I'll be speaking with him at Shop
Speaker 1: Talk in Las Vegas. We will be live with the
Speaker 1: show Bloomberg Technology on the shop Talk floor and allays
Speaker 1: at all tomorrow. And don't forget to check out our
Speaker 1: new podcast. You can find it on the terminal, as
Speaker 1: well as online at Apple, Spotify, our Heart Radio and
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast. I'm Emily checking in San Francisco.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg. Yeah. Yeah. Every art institution I know
Speaker 1: I want you to serve on their board. And you're
Speaker 1: very involved in the art world. What is it about
Speaker 1: art that attracts you? Well? Art is essential in the democracy, David.
Speaker 1: Art is so important. We know what our does to
Speaker 1: young people. We know that exposure to art brings about
Speaker 1: higher levels of empathy. Um. It helps people understand how
Speaker 1: other cultures, other people live, um. And it just brings
Speaker 1: out the kind of humanity and all of us. There
Speaker 1: are times when I have observed leaders uh use um
Speaker 1: language that is inhumane while talking about other human beings,
Speaker 1: while while talking about the world. UM, And I think
Speaker 1: to myself, this person has clearly never engaged in beautiful poetry.
Speaker 1: They've never listened to the words of a great play, right,
Speaker 1: They've never um sat and reflected on a beautiful painting
Speaker 1: or picture. Because if they had been really educated, had
Speaker 1: they really been exposed to the arts, UM, they wouldn't
Speaker 1: find it possible to use this kind of language.