WEBVTT - Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend - April 24th, 2021 (Podcast) 0:00:01.080 --> 0:00:05.400 This is Bloomberg Business Week inside from the reporters and 0:00:05.600 --> 0:00:09.200 editors who bring you America's most trusted business magazine, plus 0:00:09.240 --> 0:00:13.160 global business, finance and tech news As it happened. Bloomberg 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:16.759 Business Week with Carol Messier and Bloomberg Quick Takes. Tim 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:20.480 Stinevik on Bloomberg Radio. Hi everyone, welcome to the weekend 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:23.840 edition of Bloomberg Business Week. It's week fifty eight. Working 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:26.079 from home still for many We both were in the 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:28.880 office this week, and I gotta say, Tim, New York City, 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:31.160 our home base, it felt like it was opening up 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:32.839 this week. It did. I think part of it has 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:35.440 to do with just how many people are getting vaccinated, 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:38.160 and then also the weather it does start to feel 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:40.959 like spring, right, Yeah, exactly made a big, big difference, 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:44.480 And investors are increasingly focusing on an economic recovery well, 0:00:44.640 --> 0:00:48.200 keeping a watchful eye on the COVID global case count. Also, 0:00:48.479 --> 0:00:50.839 corporate earnings were in the midst of them, yep. And 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:53.519 with that as our backdrop, this week, we are going 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:56.160 to hear from one CEO about the recent quarter and outlook. 0:00:56.320 --> 0:00:59.840 Tobotlee CEEO Brian Nichols stopping by. Plus the best electric 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:04.560 Vehicles you're gonna be surprised about one carmaker that didn't 0:01:04.560 --> 0:01:09.000 make the list. Hint it's Tesla. Given it away, all right. 0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:10.920 We're also going to take you inside the magazine a 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:13.119 look at the future of energy. Who has it right? 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:16.399 The head of Exxon or, speaking of Tesla, Elon Musk. 0:01:16.720 --> 0:01:18.560 All of that to come. We begin there with this 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:22.080 week's cover story, President bind him marking his one hundred 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:24.600 day in office this coming week. Well, the president taking 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:27.640 office a mid a health pandemic, a sagging economy, a 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:31.880 reckoning with centuries of racial injustice, and the existential threat 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:34.920 of climate change. He's made progress and taking action, and 0:01:35.000 --> 0:01:37.880 yet still faces some tough roads ahead. For all the details, 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:40.479 we spoke with Bloomberg News White House reporter Nancy Cook. 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:43.119 I think most people would say that Biden has done 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:46.560 a pretty good job. You know, he has a majority 0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:51.040 of Americans support him and pulling Democrats, even people who 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:54.120 wish that Senator Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders had won 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:57.760 the nomination. They're really happy with him. Um, and he's 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:01.320 even pulling well with Republicans. Feel like, you know, he's 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:03.960 done a pretty good job handling COVID and so what 0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:07.920 he walked into chiefly were you know, a pandemic and 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:13.280 low vaccination rates and schools closed and the economy really 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:16.400 in a slump. And the first hundred days has really 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:19.840 been about trying to solve those two crises. And they've 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:23.560 gotten a lot of that by ramping up the vaccine distribution, 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:27.160 by getting more people vaccinated, and then passing this sweeping 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:30.800 one point nine trillion dollar COVID relief bill which gives 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:33.600 money for things like testing and school reopening and so 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:35.680 so much of the first one days have just been 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:38.800 dealing with crisis and now becomes the hard part where 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:41.200 he's really trying to do something to cinvent his legacy. 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:43.400 What is the playbook for the next one days? What 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:45.040 does it need to be? What do people say it 0:02:45.080 --> 0:02:46.919 needs to be? Well, I think the playbook that they're 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:49.639 trying to do is now that they have I mean, 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:51.880 they still have to deal with the pandemic, and there's 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:54.320 still a lot of fallouts from the economic downturn, so 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:56.160 no one in the White House is discounting that. But 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:59.040 what they're trying to do now is sort of reshape 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:03.160 the economy and propose some big ideas that Democrats have 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:06.079 long wanted to do, and so that includes everything from 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:10.120 infrastructure to more money for childcare and elder care. And 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:13.240 that's the sweeping set of packages. President Biden is going 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:15.919 to unveil this the third one that he's talking about 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:21.119 um on Wednesday, and and those the most recent two packages, 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:24.480 the infrastructure and this upcoming families one. You know, that's 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:27.760 more than three trillion dollars in spending that they are proposing. 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:30.800 They want to offset it with tax increases, but again 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:33.080 it's a huge amount of money, and their goal is 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:36.000 to really not just bring the economy back to where 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:37.760 it was, but also sort of try to make some 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:41.320 tweaks to it and reshape it. So obviously it's really ambitious. 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:45.440 And the Biden administration and Democrats, well Biden administration, you know, 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:48.560 is the Biden Biden's president. Democrats control the House and Senate, 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:52.320 but barely uh and there are some modern modern Democrats 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:55.480 who don't support these plans as they are right now, 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:57.760 how does Biden sell this and and to what extent 0:03:57.800 --> 0:03:59.840 does it involve selling the plan to the American people 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:02.640 in a way that President Obama didn't do when it 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:06.440 came to Obamacare. That's a great question. So the way 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:08.760 that they sold the COVID Relief Bill, which is the 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:10.480 way they're going to try to sell these two bills, 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:13.720 was really to try to build public support outside of Washington. 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:16.040 So what they have tried to do is to find 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:20.920 unity or bipartisanship, not really as Democratic lawmakers and Republican 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:24.360 lawmakers on Capitol Hill a green but more to try 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:27.880 to promote policies and and put forward ideas that appeals 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:31.880 to the majority of Americans. And so with the infrastructure package, 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:35.599 for instance, you know, sevent of Republican voters are in 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:39.599 favor of rebuilding roads and bridges, more job training, increasing 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:42.279 broad brand access, and those are the things that the 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:44.719 Biden White House is going to keep focusing on. These 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:48.880 plans that appeal to Democratic and Republican voters, not necessarily 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:52.600 just lawmakers on Capitol Hill. That's really the political strategy. 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:55.039 Is it a smart strategy? Does it work? Will it work? 0:04:56.200 --> 0:04:58.880 It works With the COVID Relief bill, it worked very well. 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:01.920 And I think that they feel like based on what 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:06.280 they saw during the Obama administration and how much Obama 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:09.600 was tied up with trying to go with after Republicans 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:12.320 and wu Republicans who didn't really want to work with him. 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:15.159 I think that the Biden administration learned some lessons and 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:17.600 felt like they had to go another way and it 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:19.960 was a gamble, but it works for the COVID relief bill, 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:21.520 and I think they're going to try the same thing 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:26.200 with these next two packages. So enter two and that's 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:29.880 when you know, the mid terms are and I'm wondering 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:33.200 how the ambitious goals of the Biden administration has right 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:37.760 now I have to get done before and how that 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:42.880 can change the landscape in Washington. Well, really, they feel 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:46.200 like they, you know, the mid term elections, the party 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:49.320 in power typically loses, and so I think the White 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:51.320 House is very focused on the mid terms and they 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:53.200 feel like, you know, they have a window of time 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:55.600 to try to get these major things done and they're 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:57.839 going to go for it. And I think so much 0:05:57.839 --> 0:06:00.200 of the argument heading into the mid terms for the 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:03.240 Biden administration is going to be an economic one. Are 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:05.720 you better off financially than you were two years ago? 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:08.560 You know, are you making more money? Um? Is the 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:11.720 stock market in a good place where the kids schools reopening? 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:14.520 Are there more people in the middle class? And so 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:17.840 it's really it's interesting because it's a it's an area 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:23.080 where Republicans have so dominated. Typically Republican politicians get higher 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:25.760 polling for their handling of the economy. But what we've 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:28.560 seen in recent polling is Biden is getting very high 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:31.120 marks for its handling the economy, and so so much 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:33.520 of that political argument in two is going to be 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:36.760 around that. That was Bloomberg News White House correspondent Nancy Cook. First, 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:39.400 one hundred down. Now it's the next one. I can't 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:41.160 tell if it's if it felt like a hundred days 0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:43.000 or if it went by really slowly or really fast. 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:44.960 But time is just really weird right now, Carol, for 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:47.440 so many people. I totally agree. All right, coming up, 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:50.640 how doctors are working on building public trust and acceptance 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:53.280 of vaccines. This is really important. It is especially as 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:56.159 we get to the second half of American adults getting 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:59.520 the vaccine. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week. This is Bloomberg. 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:10.960 This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:15.960 Quick Takes Tim Stinovik from Bloomberg Radio. Earlier this week, 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:18.640 President Biden had some good news regarding the pandemic. He 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:21.440 announced that America reached his goal of two hundred million 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:23.920 shots on day ninety two of his presidency, so ahead 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:27.240 of schedule. I'm proud of the American people, the volunteers 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:31.440 who showed up two staff vaccination sites in their neighborhoods, 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:36.520 drove senior citizens who get their shots. FEMA, the military, 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:40.560 the National Guards, state and local health departments, and providers 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:45.000 running sites safely and efficiently ahead of schedule. But Carol 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:48.320 now comes the hard part that second half of Americans, 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:50.640 more than of the U S population, has received at 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:53.040 least one dose of the vaccine. And for more on 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:55.880 the vaccine rollout in America, we turned to Dr Chris By, 0:07:56.400 --> 0:07:58.520 professor of Public Health and Human Rights at the Johns 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:01.880 Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public It is supported by Michael R. Bloomberg, 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:05.320 founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies. The good news 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:08.400 here really is that we have two very safe and 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:13.600 effective vaccines, the two Messenger RNA vaccines UM, the MODERNA 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:16.480 and the Visor UH. Those, of course, are both two 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:19.640 dose vaccines. They have not had some of the same 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:23.920 problems that have emerged with the with the Jansen, the 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:27.840 Johnson and Johnson vaccine where the astra Zeneca vaccine. This 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:33.040 is the challenge that has been rare, but nevertheless, UM, 0:08:33.360 --> 0:08:36.720 significant complication and blood clots. We don't see those with 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:40.960 either the Visor or the Maderna. So our vaccine rollout 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:44.840 is going really very well. UM. We're over you know 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:49.720 now three million adults being immunized every day. UM, and 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:54.800 we're expecting emergency used authorization for the Visor vaccine to 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:57.240 go down to twelve to seventeen year olds as well. 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:00.559 That may happen fairly soon. Can we get out of 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:03.400 the pandemic though, If people under the age of twelve 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:10.280 cannot be vaccinated, well, about of the American population is 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:14.719 children under aged eighteen TI, so it is very important 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:17.920 that we learn as quickly as we can uh, if 0:09:18.040 --> 0:09:21.800 these vaccines are as safe and effective in children as 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:27.160 they are in adults. UM. That process is mostly being 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:32.560 led right now by the companies themselves. The trials are underway. UM. 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:35.600 We have the data, as I said, from the twelve 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:39.480 to seventeen year old. UH. The we really need to 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:42.800 accelerate the research effort for the five to twelve year 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:45.680 old and of course they're so important for them for 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:48.480 you know, getting back to seeing their friends and getting 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:51.640 back to school and and getting back to acted life, 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:54.240 which so we really need for our kids, right getting 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:57.400 back to you know, a so called normal life. The 0:09:57.480 --> 0:10:00.440 thing is, I mean, bottom line, vaccines are the way 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:05.360 out of the pandemic done right, no question, no question. 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:10.800 So if we don't get to her immunity, what does 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:15.560 our world look like? Well right now we have a 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:19.160 couple of very specific challenges. People have described this as 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:23.600 a race between the vaccine rollout and the emergence of 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:26.960 these new variants, the mutants that you were mentioning, and 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:30.800 that really is a challenge. Some of these new variants 0:10:31.160 --> 0:10:35.760 are more infectious than the viruses we first encountered, um, 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:39.480 some of them have more resistance to the broadly neutralizing 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:42.959 anybody's that we've been using. And at least one for sure, 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:47.160 the variant that was first identified in South Africa, does 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:49.760 appear to be a challenge for at least the astros 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:54.360 Ennica vaccine. The good news is that they both the 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:59.040 Messenger RNA vaccines, Biserne Maderna, and as far as we 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:02.600 can tell, that Inson and Johnson vaccines do appear to 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:07.040 provide good, robust protection against the variants that are circulating now. 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:10.760 But what we're learning with this virus is that mutations 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:14.200 keep happening UH, and we really have to get ahead 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:17.840 of those mutations. The big challenge right now is that 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:21.120 the vaccine rollout is sold in much of the rest 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:23.520 of the world. That's because the rest of the world 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:27.160 doesn't have the same access to the messenger RNA's they 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:31.480 were relying on astras Enka and Johnson and Johnson UH. 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:35.520 And we are seeing huge surges of infection in places 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:40.160 like India and Brazil UH, much of South America in fact. 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:43.800 And if we can't do better with getting control of 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:48.920 those epidemics and getting those populations immunized UH, the current 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:53.080 generation of vaccines may be undermined by these new variants. 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:56.760 That's a real threat and we're working very hard to 0:11:56.800 --> 0:12:01.680 prevent that scenario. Dr Bira, a listener are listening in 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:04.920 on our conversation, has a question for you, and basically 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:07.360 is asking, how can we, as parents and good conscience 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:10.520 ask our kids to get shots when we have no 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:14.360 data to support the side effects on kids. Furthermore, this 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:16.440 disease is not a real risk for anyone under thirty. 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:19.480 Deaths under the age of eighteen represent point zero zero 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:23.360 zero seven. Basically, they're saying that kids are going to 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:27.360 be okay, So why are we going to maybe potentially 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:29.840 put them at risk by giving them a shot. How 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:33.040 can we do this in good conscience? Well, the first 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:35.000 thing could say is, of course, that we wouldn't ask 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:38.200 anybody to have their children be immunized until we have 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:42.320 the data. And so those trials are underway UH And 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:45.360 as I said earlier, the twelve to seventeen year old 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:50.000 data from the Fiser UH trial is going to the 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:54.320 f d a M and being reviewed. So so I 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:57.200 think the caller is absolutely right that we need to 0:12:57.240 --> 0:12:59.079 see those data, and parents are going to want to 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:02.760 see that before they imman oz. I think it's a 0:13:02.760 --> 0:13:08.280 common misconception to compare COVID nineteen UH disease and deaths 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:11.440 in children with those and adults. The real question is 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:15.440 comparing COVID nineteen disease and deaths and children with other 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:18.679 vaccine preventable diseases and children. And when you do that, 0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:22.360 there close to three children who died already of COVID 0:13:22.360 --> 0:13:25.840 in the United States. UH. Looks actually like quite a 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:30.720 severe UH number of cases and a vaccine preventable infection. 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:34.840 We hope so I think that's more compelling. UM. It's 0:13:34.920 --> 0:13:38.720 also the case that UM, while children have had much 0:13:38.800 --> 0:13:43.040 lower rates of illness and death from COVID, they've had 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:47.000 a very high burden of non health issues. The social 0:13:47.160 --> 0:13:51.439 isolation is hard for kids, to developmental issues, the educational 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:54.520 issues that parents are so concerned about. And we think, 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:58.559 particularly for the twelve to seventeen year olds, that vaccination 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:01.320 is really going to help them be able to engage 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:04.760 again in sports and after school activities and being with 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:08.199 their friends. So those those all get weighted in. The 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:12.960 non medical complications of COVID for kids have been severe. 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:15.360 Talking about vaccines for kids, this is a big issue, 0:14:15.360 --> 0:14:17.800 and I think we need to really understand everything we 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:20.360 can from the medical community because parents have lots of questions. Yeah, 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:22.000 look at something that my family thinks a lot about 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:24.240 because my wife and I, you know, are going to 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:26.400 be fully vaccinated in the next few days, but are 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:28.640 toddler won't be, So what does that mean for what 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:30.800 we can and can't do well? We always love checking 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:32.680 in with the folks over at Hopkins. One note that JOHNS. 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:35.640 Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, supported by Michael R. Bloomberg, 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:38.720 founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropy. We'll still ahead 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:40.640 on Bloomberg Business Week. We're going to hear from the 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:44.320 CEO of Bowerie Farming. It's a vertical farming company that's 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:46.720 backed by Google, blacked by Google and a few other 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:55.440 interesting investors. This is Bloomberg broadcasting from the financial capital 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:58.560 of the world, Bloomberg Eleve in Rio in New York 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:02.960 to Washington, d C, bog to Boston, Bloomberg one oh 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:06.080 six one does San Francisco, Bloomberg nine sixty to the 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:09.200 country Sirius XM Chadal one nine team and around the 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:13.280 globe of Bloomberg Business app and Bloomberg Radio dot Com. 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:17.920 This is Bloomberg Business Week. So a big focus on 0:15:18.000 --> 0:15:20.640 the climate. This past week President Biden hosting a virtual 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:23.880 Global Climate Summit with world leaders. Also of course Earth 0:15:23.960 --> 0:15:26.000 Day and in keeping with that, and we decided to 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:28.680 catch up with Irving Fain, the founder and CEO of 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:31.000 Bowery Farming, and you know Tim if you haven't heard 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:34.160 of it, Barry build Smart Indoor Farms and counts g 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:37.800 V formerly Google Ventures. Also Henry Kravis of KKR and 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:41.480 leaders and food including David Barber, a blue hill, Tom 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:45.640 Colleckio and Jose Undress as investors, and here's some of 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:48.480 our conversation with Irving Fain of battery farming. What we 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:52.760 do with Bowery is build smart indoor farms that we 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:55.480 locate very close to the cities and the communities that 0:15:55.520 --> 0:15:57.600 we serve. And so inside of the farms, we actually 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:00.680 stack our crops from the floor are all the way 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:03.760 up to the ceiling, and we grow under lights to 0:16:03.840 --> 0:16:06.800 mimic the spectrum of the sun. And it's totally controlled 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:10.520 and contained environment, and so we can grow fresh, protected 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:14.120 produce three hundred sixty five days of the year, independent 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:17.640 of weather and independent of seasonality. But what makes it 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:21.560 even more interesting is we go completely pesticide free, completely 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:25.200 agro chemical free food, so no herbicides, no fungicides, no 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:29.200 one's exicides, no pesticides. And whereas when you do that 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:32.440 in the field, your quality suffers and your yield suffers. 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:35.360 In our case where over a hundred times pluts more 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:37.760 productive than a square foot of farmland, and we use 0:16:37.840 --> 0:16:41.880 a very small fraction of the water compared to traditional agriculture. 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:46.520 What about lighting, lighting meaning meaning we use lighting or 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:49.280 what well, what what are the problems that you know, 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:51.840 I've done, you know, some some research and some work 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:54.600 and reporting on some of these indoor door farming is 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:57.440 that the lighting that's needed is a lot of electricity. 0:16:57.440 --> 0:16:59.720 And so when you're looking for sustainable ways, right, you've 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:01.680 got to get the complete picture. And I'm just curious 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:04.120 what's involved in making sure because you say you take 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:07.119 the seasonality out of it, and I'm looking at a 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:10.119 lot of video are was earlier on your website and 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:12.399 there's a lot of light obviously that's needed for plants. 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:13.879 So tell me a little bit about that part of 0:17:13.880 --> 0:17:17.840 the equation. Got it make? It's a great question, Carrol, 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:19.720 and I think it's something we think a lot about 0:17:19.760 --> 0:17:23.080 from a few different funds. Most importantly, in number one, 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:27.679 we power our farms with renewable energy. And so the 0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:31.199 farm that I'm actually in right now in Maryland uses 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:35.359 low impact hydro power its power will continue to do 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:38.320 that as we continue to build farms. So the power 0:17:38.400 --> 0:17:42.399 that we go source is from renewable sources. The second 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:44.640 piece that I think is important to understand is we're 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:47.960 as you look at what we're building, is what we're 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:52.040 really doing at Bowery isn't just innovating farming, we're actually 0:17:52.119 --> 0:17:56.040 reinventing the entire fresh food supply chain. And so we 0:17:56.119 --> 0:17:59.320 do that because we control the entire supply chain from 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:02.359 seed all the way to store. So if you compare 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:05.320 what we're doing at Bowery and Agriculture, you actually just 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:07.919 can't just compare it to a farm. You have to 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:10.719 compare it to the entire supply chain from the harvesting 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:15.040 to the transportation of processing and packing and then storage 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:18.200 across the supply chain and all the trucking miles that 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:21.880 are required to do that. And so we're eliminating thousands 0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:25.040 of food miles, a number of different steps where food 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:29.720 is actually wasted. And because we're centralizing everything in one place, 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:32.960 we can power it all, as they said, with renewable energy, 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:36.160 whereas to try to put renewable resources against the entire 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:39.040 existing agricultural supply chain today will be really difficult. So 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:42.119 are you a profitable company? So we we don't. We 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:46.160 don't disclose our financial publicly because we are a private company, 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:49.159 but we do think a lot about sustainability, not just 0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:52.240 from an environmental perspective, but also from an economic perspective 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:55.679 as well, because to create the greatest impact. You need 0:18:55.760 --> 0:18:58.640 to create a sustainable, long term viable business, and that's 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:03.640 a really important focus about okay, and are you creating 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:06.560 a long term viable business? Listen, you know we're Bloomberg, 0:19:06.560 --> 0:19:07.879 and I know you're not going to open up your 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:10.560 books and show me everything. I assume you wouldn't be 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:13.200 doing it, and you wouldn't have investors like Henry Kravis 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:18.000 or you know, GV involved if they didn't see UM 0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:21.040 a profitable path at some point. So I'm just curious 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:23.680 kind of where you guys fit in and and what's 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:26.560 the math on this, what's the business metrics on this, 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:29.520 and and where does it go? So you're you're absolutely 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:32.920 right that we are incredibly fortunate. You know, to date 0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:36.320 we raised a hundred and seventy five million from really 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:40.479 incredible partners, Google Ventures, General Catalyst, TOMASI, folks like Henry 0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:43.000 and you mentioned a lot of great people who supported 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:45.600 us to date. And as you said, you know, folks 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:47.760 like that don't don't support a company that they don't 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:50.240 see a path towards becoming a large company and a 0:19:50.320 --> 0:19:53.639 large business, which requires one to build a sustainable business. 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:55.919 But I think the other side of of what your 0:19:56.000 --> 0:19:59.400 question was that the interesting economic component of what we're 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:03.040 doing is really in that reimagination of the supply chain 0:20:03.119 --> 0:20:05.760 that serving fame the founder and CEO of Barry Farming. 0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:07.399 I love all the stuff that's going on when it 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:12.640 comes to farming, whether it's on rooftops, whether it's um hydroponic. 0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:14.720 I mean, we're really trying to figure out better and 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:17.080 more productive ways to do it and really a lot 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:19.800 more closer to actually to the people who need it. Yeah. 0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:21.920 And oftentimes when you think of food, you don't necessarily 0:20:21.960 --> 0:20:24.359 think of venture capital and tech companies like you know, 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:27.960 the venture arm of Google. But you marry those companies 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:31.399 with people like Tom click e oh and people involved 0:20:31.400 --> 0:20:34.080 at Blue Hill, it Stone Barns. That's a big deal. Yeah, exactly, 0:20:34.080 --> 0:20:37.119 because they aren't listen thinking about this NonStop. You're listening 0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:39.760 to Bloomberg Business Week. Coming up next another company that's 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:43.640 interested in farming and food production. We're talking about Chippotle Burrito's. 0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:45.639 We got an update on the business with CEO of 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:57.040 Brian Nicol. This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg Business 0:20:57.080 --> 0:21:00.840 Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes. Tim Stinovik 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:05.000 from Bloomberg Radio this past week. One of the best 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:07.399 known names in the fast casual restaurant space. To be 0:21:07.520 --> 0:21:09.800 fair to him, they really kind of created the fast 0:21:09.800 --> 0:21:13.399 casual space. We're talking about Chipotle Mexican Grill. The company 0:21:13.400 --> 0:21:16.119 reported a jump in profitability thanks to a rebound in 0:21:16.240 --> 0:21:19.840 sales and hire menu prices. Digital once again a big, 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:22.920 big driver. Digital absolutely took off during the pandemic. Even 0:21:22.920 --> 0:21:24.919 thinking about my own experience, the first time that I 0:21:25.000 --> 0:21:27.959 downloaded Chipotle's app and used it to order ahead was 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:31.119 in March of last year, at the height of the pandemic. 0:21:31.480 --> 0:21:33.639 The company has been featured in the magazine before on 0:21:33.680 --> 0:21:36.840 the Bloomberg Fifty list in twenty nineteen for the company's turnaround, 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:39.880 engineered by its CEO, Brian Nicol. Brian joined us once 0:21:39.880 --> 0:21:42.440 more to talk about the business and the company's outlook. Look, 0:21:42.480 --> 0:21:46.200 I think we've got our company and our people focused 0:21:46.200 --> 0:21:48.600 on the right things. So I talked about this in 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:51.240 the earnings call, which is you know, obviously we're a 0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:55.359 restaurant company, so we have to be hiring, training the 0:21:55.400 --> 0:21:58.919 best people, creating the right culture in the restaurants so 0:21:58.960 --> 0:22:01.680 that we provide a great ulminary experiences that we can 0:22:01.840 --> 0:22:05.520 at our restaurants, and so we started there and from 0:22:05.520 --> 0:22:07.800 there we wanted to make sure we had more accessibility 0:22:07.920 --> 0:22:10.040