Speaker 1: This is Wall Street Week. I'm David Western bringing you
Speaker 1: stories of capitalism. Saudi Arabia's Vision twenty thirty project to
Speaker 1: reshape its economy has a deadline only four short years away.
Speaker 1: We go to the Kingdom to see how it's coming on.
Speaker 1: An important part of the plan, tourism plus Israel's startup
Speaker 1: nation has been put to the test with the Warren Gaza.
Speaker 1: Has the conflict slowed down the tech juggernaut or actually
Speaker 1: sped it up? And more people want to ski, but
Speaker 1: they need snow and access to big mountains. We explore
Speaker 1: the pluses and minuses of one possible solution, so called
Speaker 1: Big Ski. But we start with the story of the
Speaker 1: week for the Federal Reserve with Chair J. Powell reacting
Speaker 1: forcefully to a grand jury subpoena looking into his testimony
Speaker 1: about renovations in the Fed's DC office building.
Speaker 2: The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the
Speaker 2: Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment
Speaker 2: of what will serve the public, rather than following the
Speaker 2: preferences of the President. Public service sometimes requires standing firm
Speaker 2: in the face of threats. I will continue to do
Speaker 2: the job. The Senate confirmed me to do with integrity
Speaker 2: and a commitment to serving the American people.
Speaker 1: Everyone from central bankers around the world to several Republican
Speaker 1: senators condemned the move, including Senior Senate Banking Committee member
Speaker 1: Tom Tillis, who spoke with Bloomberg on Capitol Hill.
Speaker 3: If suddenly the threat of a lawsuit can take a
Speaker 3: chair out of play, how can anybody think that that's
Speaker 3: anything more than a de facto ending the independence of
Speaker 3: the FED. And we all know what that does to
Speaker 3: markets worldwide. I will block any effort to name any
Speaker 3: member of the FED board until this matter is resolved.
Speaker 3: To move on would almost validate that this is a
Speaker 3: way that you can actually get the FED under heel.
Speaker 1: Bill Dudley is former president of the New York Fed
Speaker 1: and now a Bloomberg contributor. There was a lot of
Speaker 1: reaction to the news that there was a grand jury
Speaker 1: subpoena against the Federal Reserve and Chair Powell. A lot
Speaker 1: of reaction by politicians by the news media. There wasn't
Speaker 1: as much reaction actually in the markets. So is one
Speaker 1: of them right and one of them wrong?
Speaker 4: Well, time will tell, but I think the market view
Speaker 4: is Look, the issue is subpoena. It's a long way
Speaker 4: from issuing a subpoena to actually having a grand jury,
Speaker 4: indictment a trial, and that's going to take so long.
Speaker 4: Paul is already longer going to be Chair. So I
Speaker 4: think the market view is this is sort of a
Speaker 4: lot of noise.
Speaker 1: So it may not have the effects in the real world.
Speaker 1: But Chair Powell, who had repeatedly just sloughed off christ
Speaker 1: as the lass, had an entirely different reaction. It was
Speaker 1: a very I thought, forceful statement that he take.
Speaker 5: Oh very much so.
Speaker 4: And the contrast was how he behaved previously, where he
Speaker 4: was basically I'm not going to engage. I'm not going
Speaker 4: to engage, and this time he said, no, you crossed
Speaker 4: the line. You're accusing me of malfeasance and I'm not
Speaker 4: going to take it. And so I think it because
Speaker 4: because he was so measured before, this made it even
Speaker 4: more effective.
Speaker 1: So you've been in the room and whenever we ask
Speaker 1: somebody who's on the FED, they say, oh, no, no,
Speaker 1: we paid no attention to politics all absolutely not. Doesn't
Speaker 1: affect us. But you are human beings. I mean, it
Speaker 1: must play in the back of your mind somewhere, even
Speaker 1: if it's not discussed in the meeting.
Speaker 4: Look at the federals or transcripts of all the FMC
Speaker 4: meetings released lag of five years, and you won't see
Speaker 4: any discussion about political consideration. So I think that's actually true.
Speaker 4: But you know, you're certainly right in the sense that
Speaker 4: if the administration is putting tremendous pressure on the FED
Speaker 4: to do something, that makes it a little bit more
Speaker 4: difficult for the FED to deliver what the administration actually
Speaker 4: wants because it creates the idea of are they doing
Speaker 4: it because they think this is appropriate for the economy,
Speaker 4: or are they caving to the administration's pressure. So I
Speaker 4: think that's why it's actually counterproductive what they're doing. I
Speaker 4: can imagine Powell like thinking, should I do one more
Speaker 4: ray cut or not? Boy, Now, if I do a
Speaker 4: ray cut, it looks like I'm bending to this pressure.
Speaker 4: Maybe I better hold off. So it's actually making it
Speaker 4: more difficult for the feder cut rates.
Speaker 1: Frankly, as you say, chair pole is terribly up. In May,
Speaker 1: there will be a new FED chair. How much difference
Speaker 1: will the chair make in themselves?
Speaker 4: I think the chair is certainly important because one they
Speaker 4: control the agenda, the boards, Board of Governor's staff works
Speaker 4: mainly for the chairman, so that's a lot of authority.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, in terms of
Speaker 1: the votes.
Speaker 4: On the Federal Open Market Committee, the chair only has
Speaker 4: one vote, and so I think the influence of the
Speaker 4: chair really depends in part on how credible that person
Speaker 4: is in terms of making the case for the monetary
Speaker 4: policy that he wants to see implemented. So if someone
Speaker 4: comes in and says we should cut one hundred basis
Speaker 4: points and the economy doesn't suggest that that's appropriate, the
Speaker 4: committee is going to say, well, that's what you think,
Speaker 4: but we're going to dissent against that, and that's really
Speaker 4: you know, that would actually be quite bad for the
Speaker 4: chairman if the Chairman serve of lost a vote to
Speaker 4: the rest of the committee. So I think there's quite
Speaker 4: a few guardrails there. I think the broader question is
Speaker 4: can the Trump administration put enough loyalists into the Federal
Speaker 4: Reserve So it's not just the chairman, it's a majority
Speaker 4: of voting members of the Federal Open Market Committee. And
Speaker 4: that's why the LEAs of Cook case is so important,
Speaker 4: because if leeds a Cook can be dismissed for cause,
Speaker 4: So then maybe other people can be dismissed for cause
Speaker 4: and then you get a much more rapid turnover of
Speaker 4: the Board of Governors. Board of Governors has seven votes
Speaker 4: on the FMC. The presidents have five, So if you
Speaker 4: could take over the Board of Governors, you could actually
Speaker 4: start to get the monetary policy you wanted.
Speaker 1: From the outside, the job of Chair of the Federal
Speaker 1: Reserve looks pretty hard for anyone anytime. Is President Trump
Speaker 1: making it harder for the next chair with what he's
Speaker 1: saying and doing, including his grand jury subpoena?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think he is, because I think it's it's
Speaker 4: when the new chair comes in, people are going to
Speaker 4: be wondering, so are you President Trump's lackey or are
Speaker 4: you going to be on the side of independent monetary
Speaker 4: policy based on what the economy calls for in terms
Speaker 4: of inflation, unemployment, what what what interest rate? Pastoul we
Speaker 4: follow And so there's gonna be a question about are
Speaker 4: you supporting the idea of an independent central bank or not?
Speaker 4: And so the new incoming chair is caught in a
Speaker 4: very difficult place. Frankly, I mean it's almost like they're
Speaker 4: going to get someone mad at them if they if
Speaker 4: they side on the side of independence of Monterrey. Pauls
Speaker 4: let's set the right monetary policy. That might run into
Speaker 4: conflict with the president. And obviously if he tries to
Speaker 4: push the president's agenda and the and the FMC thinks
Speaker 4: that's inappropriate, then he's going to get out on the
Speaker 4: wrong side of the FMC. So I wouldn't want to
Speaker 4: be the new chair.
Speaker 1: Frankly, it strikes me when it comes to the Supreme Court,
Speaker 1: the President typically goes out of his way to say
Speaker 1: I didn't ask, for example, how they would vote on
Speaker 1: this particular issue. I didn't ask that question of ask.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure President Trump would have the same reticence
Speaker 1: with the next FED chair of not asking them specifically,
Speaker 1: what are you going to do?
Speaker 4: I wouldn't be surprised if you asked them what to do.
Speaker 4: And I think if I was a FED schaer, I'd
Speaker 4: say it depends on the incoming economic data and what's
Speaker 4: wanted to keep the economy on a smooth clude path.
Speaker 4: I mean, look, I think President Trump, you know, is
Speaker 4: coming at it from a real estate development perspective, and
Speaker 4: which is lower rates are always good. But the reality
Speaker 4: is lower rates aren't always good, because if you set
Speaker 4: rates too low, the economy will overheat and you'll have.
Speaker 1: An inflation problem.
Speaker 4: It's sort of ironic in an environment where people are
Speaker 4: worried about affordability that inflation is the thing that really
Speaker 4: resonates with voters that you're pressing so hard for lower
Speaker 4: interest rates, which would actually probably make inflation worse.
Speaker 1: President Trump has said repeatedly I have the right to
Speaker 1: express my views. I think I'm pretty sure this, and
Speaker 1: there is a first men right. Even with the resident
Speaker 1: United States expressive views. Is there a point where that
Speaker 1: expression of views actually starts to do long term damage
Speaker 1: to the institution.
Speaker 4: I think how it depends on how you're expressing the
Speaker 4: point of view. You could say, my view is that
Speaker 4: the federshar Raser should interest rates more. Fine, that's just
Speaker 4: an impression of view. Powell is an idiot. He better
Speaker 4: lower interest rates by one hundred basis points or I'll
Speaker 4: fire him. That's a totally different expression of a point
Speaker 4: of view. One is saying what I think interest rates
Speaker 4: should be. The other thing, not only is what do
Speaker 4: I think introduce rate should be? This should be the
Speaker 4: consequence of my decision. So I think there are two
Speaker 4: different things. So I don't think anyone quarrels with the
Speaker 4: President having a view on interest rates.
Speaker 1: The latter is what the President has done, yes, which
Speaker 1: would imply there is some damage being done. How long
Speaker 1: lasting is that? I mean, there will be a new
Speaker 1: president at some point, and let's assume a new person
Speaker 1: comes in say no, I'm not going to criticize the
Speaker 1: FED anymore. Does it restore the credibility or is there
Speaker 1: lingering damage?
Speaker 4: I mean, I think it depends on how the Federals
Speaker 4: are behaves over the next couple of years. You know,
Speaker 4: if the Federals are basically sticks to his knitting, he
Speaker 4: touch monetary policy independent way, keeps the economy on a
Speaker 4: smooth dijectory lasting damage. The President Trump's were swarted in
Speaker 4: his attempts to take over the FED.
Speaker 5: But if President.
Speaker 4: Trump is somehow successful in taking over the FED and
Speaker 4: getting a very accommodative monetary policy of the consequence that's
Speaker 4: not appropriate for the economic outlook, then of course there'll
Speaker 4: be more lasting damage to the FED.
Speaker 1: Take us inside the room when the f OBC meets,
Speaker 1: because historically it's sort of been like secret, we don't
Speaker 1: know what's going on.
Speaker 4: Well, you have the transcripts, and I think the transcripts
Speaker 4: tram trips are pretty accurate about what the meetings are like.
Speaker 4: You know, basically what happens at a meeting is typically
Speaker 4: you have a briefing from from the from the system
Speaker 4: open the manager about what's going on in markets. Then
Speaker 4: you have a briefing from on the economy from the staff,
Speaker 4: and then briefing on international staff, and then you have
Speaker 4: a go around and everyone talks about their views on
Speaker 4: the economic outlook. It's a pretty collegial place. I mean,
Speaker 4: you know, if you you know, people want to understand
Speaker 4: the views of others. People aren't yelling and screaming and arguing,
Speaker 4: you know, vociferously. It's it's very respectful and you know,
Speaker 4: people spend you know, quite a bit of time, you know,
Speaker 4: when the meeting is not in place actually you know,
Speaker 4: you know, talking in the hall, the coffee, you know,
Speaker 4: having a cup of coffee on the break or at
Speaker 4: the breakfast or lunch. So I would say, you know,
Speaker 4: I find it to be quite collegial, you know, and
Speaker 4: I think that's and I think that makes the institution
Speaker 4: function better.
Speaker 1: A collegiate place where one in Lisa Cook and now
Speaker 1: two in the chair J Powell are under very public attack,
Speaker 1: a personal attack, and I think.
Speaker 4: People are feeling there, you know, that could be me.
Speaker 4: So I think, you know, there's quite a bit of
Speaker 4: sympathy for what those two people are going through. So
Speaker 4: I think, yeah, I think the federal reserves of leadership,
Speaker 4: you know, including you know, all the FO ANDC participants
Speaker 4: are pretty you are very sympathetic to where Paul's coming from.
Speaker 4: And I think they feel really good about what he
Speaker 4: did and said it had to say in his video
Speaker 4: message this past weekend.
Speaker 1: Up next competition in the Gulf between Saudi Arabia and
Speaker 1: the UAE. This is a story about transforming a brand.
Speaker 1: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has long been associated with
Speaker 1: the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and perhaps
Speaker 1: even more so with oil, but the country's rulers have
Speaker 1: been trying to diversify. What if it could become a
Speaker 1: favorite vacation spot as well. Our colleague Jamana Bressecci brings
Speaker 1: us the story.
Speaker 6: Many countries seek to transform their economies, but few do
Speaker 6: it with such a centralized approach and such vast amounts
Speaker 6: of capital. Through its vision twenty thirty, Saudi Arabia wants
Speaker 6: to shed its image as just an oil nation and
Speaker 6: modernize its economy. Its goal that comes from the very top,
Speaker 6: with the crown prints meeting President Trump and foreign business
Speaker 6: leaders in the United States. At the end of twenty
Speaker 6: twenty five, more than forty percent of Saudi Arabia's GDP
Speaker 6: comes from oil, but by twenty thirty, the kingdom wants
Speaker 6: that number to be closer to thirty five percent, with
Speaker 6: around two thirds of GDP coming from non oil sources.
Speaker 6: Just this month, the country started opening its property market
Speaker 6: to foreign investors and announced plans to do the same
Speaker 6: with its equity markets. After a year of poor returns,
Speaker 6: in twenty twenty five, Saudi Arabia's benchmark index dropped thirteen percent,
Speaker 6: despite strong stock performance in much of the rest of
Speaker 6: the world. Stephen Cook is a Senior Fellow of Middle
Speaker 6: East and Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Speaker 7: Saudi economy has been a commercial economy, but it hasn't
Speaker 7: really had genuine institutions of a market economy. Independent core,
Speaker 7: which he hasn't even tackled yet, but rational investment laws
Speaker 7: and the things that investors really really need in order
Speaker 7: to operate outside of the hydrocarbon industry, you know.
Speaker 8: With the Virgion twenty thirty, His Royal Highness the Crown
Speaker 8: Brands said, we have to diversify the economy. We don't
Speaker 8: want to continue relying on one source of income, which
Speaker 8: is the oil. In a time where we have a
Speaker 8: vast number of other things like mining natural resources, forest, fat,
Speaker 8: gold and nature. We can do a lot in its
Speaker 8: board culture and entertainment and tourism.
Speaker 6: His Excellency ahmedal Fatib has been serving as Saudi Arabia's
Speaker 6: Minister of Tourism since twenty twenty.
Speaker 8: Tourism was one of the main pillars of Virgin twenty thirty,
Speaker 8: and since then we have been working to modernize the country,
Speaker 8: build a new destinys, new airlines, read airlines, new airports
Speaker 8: including King Salman Airport, and the new hotels.
Speaker 6: Leisure tourism might be relatively new to Saudi Arabia, but
Speaker 6: for centuries millions of Muslims have come to Mecca and
Speaker 6: Medina for the Hajh religious pilgrimage.
Speaker 5: We are pleased to have the two holy cities.
Speaker 8: They use to represent sixty percent of our international arrivals
Speaker 8: back in twenty nineteen and last year they dropped to
Speaker 8: forty six percent and the LEDGER increased, And therefore we
Speaker 8: will continue pushing and promoting travel for Ledger to Saudi Arabia.
Speaker 5: Travel to enjoy your holidays in.
Speaker 8: Saudi Arabia, and in the same time the religious tourism
Speaker 8: will grow to a much bigger number than what we
Speaker 8: are having today.
Speaker 6: But now Saudi Arabia wants to put a new foot forward.
Speaker 6: It might look like the Maldives, but that's the Shabbara
Speaker 6: Sorts Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea.
Speaker 9: Well, we were born out of Vision twenty thirty. Vision
Speaker 9: twenty thirty is trying to accomplish a number of different
Speaker 9: things for the country, amongst which obviously creating a vibrant society,
Speaker 9: opening up the kingdom and diversifying the economy.
Speaker 6: John Pegano is CEO of Red Sea Global, a real
Speaker 6: estate development company founded by the Crown Ference himself to
Speaker 6: create the real estate that will become part of Saudi
Speaker 6: Arabia's tourism offerings.
Speaker 9: We have a beautiful, pristine environment which in the world
Speaker 9: today doesn't exist. I mean, we've exploited our nature and
Speaker 9: our environments globally. When I first came to Saudi Arabia,
Speaker 9: I was shocked at how beautiful and pristine this environment was.
Speaker 9: We had beautiful islands, a coastline that was largely untouched.
Speaker 6: Pegano's shock is exactly the image that the kingdom wants
Speaker 6: to change. Stephen Cook said, there's a long road ahead.
Speaker 7: I was there before the opening up of Saudi Arabia.
Speaker 7: It was extraordinary because nobody had been there. But in
Speaker 7: terms of tourism, I think that yes, there'll be tourism
Speaker 7: from you know, major Muslim countries, Indonesia, Malaysia, India which
Speaker 7: has the second largest Muslim population in the world, even
Speaker 7: though it's not a Muslim country. But also I think
Speaker 7: there is a genuine interest in attracting people from the
Speaker 7: West Americans and Europeans, and not just the kind of
Speaker 7: you know, adventure tourism that they may have seen so far.
Speaker 6: Beach res words attract wealthy tourists, but the kingdom is
Speaker 6: also leaning into its rich history to combine luxury and
Speaker 6: culture for what it hopes will be a unique experience.
Speaker 10: Iloid that is an incredible place, a place like no other.
Speaker 10: It's a region in northwest Saudi Arabia with incredible natural
Speaker 10: and cultural significance. It's located on the ancient and since
Speaker 10: route and many civilization has passed through four thousands of years.
Speaker 6: Abiri Lakil is the CEO of the Royal Commission for Alahala,
Speaker 6: which means glory in Arabic. The city is one of
Speaker 6: eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Saudi Arabia and the
Speaker 6: kingdom has big plans to make the destination a central
Speaker 6: part of its tourism initiative.
Speaker 10: Aloola is not just a historical site. Illola is a home.
Speaker 10: Many families has left there for generations, and I would
Speaker 10: say that an example would be Aliveela old town where
Speaker 10: it was inhibited by the families starting from the twelfth
Speaker 10: century until late ninety eighties. Now, if you bring all
Speaker 10: of this together, the ancient past, the incredible nature, protected nature,
Speaker 10: and the living culture and you know, living community, this
Speaker 10: basically gets you a complete picture of Ilola. It's important
Speaker 10: to say that Aliola is Saudi Abas treasure, but it's
Speaker 10: also the gift for the world.
Speaker 6: Which year did Alerala open for international tourists.
Speaker 10: We started our efforts back in twenty nineteen. Today we
Speaker 10: have received around three hundred thousd and guests visitors to
Speaker 10: eleven thirty percent of which our international visitation. So we're
Speaker 10: try getting around two million visitors by twenty thirty five.
Speaker 6: If Lalas planned to bring in two million visitors by
Speaker 6: twenty thirty five, sounds ambitious when it attracted only fifteen
Speaker 6: percent of that last year. That's because it is. It
Speaker 6: echoes the kingdom's big target of getting fifty million foreign
Speaker 6: visitors a year by the end of the decade, in
Speaker 6: addition to one hundred million local tourists. It's a goal
Speaker 6: that is even more stunning considering the kingdom only opened
Speaker 6: its borders to leisure tours in twenty nineteen. Do you
Speaker 6: feel like you're on track to get there?
Speaker 5: I'm very comfortable.
Speaker 8: The fifty million will puts out Arabia among the top
Speaker 8: ten most visited countries around the world.
Speaker 5: And how much of a.
Speaker 6: Draw are those big mega events the World Expo potentially
Speaker 6: FIFA World Cup. How much of a draw is that
Speaker 6: going to be in terms of bringing in those international
Speaker 6: tours and where does it fit in to your broader plan.
Speaker 8: It is very important for us to the rebeat the
Speaker 8: visitors who will come again and again, to spend their
Speaker 8: holidays in Saud Arabia, not to come only for business
Speaker 8: or to visit their families and friends.
Speaker 6: Adding leisure tourism to its offerings requires a big capital outlay.
Speaker 6: The government plans to spend almost one trillion dollars in
Speaker 6: all to transform its tourism industry. Private investment in tourism
Speaker 6: rose to three point eight billion dollars in twenty twenty four,
Speaker 6: and about forty percent of that comes from foreign capital.
Speaker 6: How important is it to get private sector involvement with
Speaker 6: all of these events and projects that you're putting together.
Speaker 8: It's very important. It is part of Vision twenty thirty.
Speaker 8: We want the private sector to drive. We are a
Speaker 8: regulator when we open the sector. The government started to
Speaker 8: stimulate the sector, but down the road this sector has
Speaker 8: to be run by the private sector. The private sector
Speaker 8: and the tourism build the hotel, build the shopping mall,
Speaker 8: and build the restaurants, et cetera.
Speaker 5: And they operated.
Speaker 8: They are the investor, they are the operator, but they
Speaker 8: have to The private sectors in Saudi Arabia is contributing
Speaker 8: heavily and building new destinations and the new experiences.
Speaker 5: We cannot do it.
Speaker 8: Alon the private sector rule is very vital to the
Speaker 8: success of this sector.
Speaker 6: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also has stiff competition from
Speaker 6: its neighbor, the United Arab Emirates and beach destinations in
Speaker 6: Africa and Asia.
Speaker 7: This is a dynamic throughout the region. There is competition
Speaker 7: among all of these countries in cities actually and even
Speaker 7: within them. You know, there's a competition between Abu Abi
Speaker 7: and Dubai, even though they're both in the UAE. And
Speaker 7: I think that that the Saudi has always looked themselves
Speaker 7: as the big dog in the region, but they lagged
Speaker 7: behind in terms of the kind of ability to attract
Speaker 7: businesses and firms and bilbies gleaming gleaming cities.
Speaker 6: International visitors account for almost eighty percent of the UAEES
Speaker 6: tourism expenditure, and right now Dubai offers tour is something
Speaker 6: that much of the rest of Saudi Arabia doesn't alcohol,
Speaker 6: but even that is changing.
Speaker 7: Well, you can get alcohol in the diplomatic core. You
Speaker 7: could always get it through diplomatic pouch, but now there's
Speaker 7: actually a shop. And so Saudi's proclaim, not officially, but
Speaker 7: they would say, you know, this is a precursor. This
Speaker 7: is the first step towards legalizing alcohol in the kingdom.
Speaker 7: I don't think anybody knows when that's going to happen,
Speaker 7: and from I think the Saudi perspective, that's not make
Speaker 7: or break. People will want to come to Saudi Arabia.
Speaker 7: They'll want to see Jidda and Riad and al Ula
Speaker 7: and other places, and it won't deter them if they
Speaker 7: can't get a glass of wine, but it certainly would
Speaker 7: be a nice addition if they could.
Speaker 6: A growing tourism industry is also changing things at home.
Speaker 9: Look, I think that the transformation has been breathtaking. I
Speaker 9: first came to Saudi Arabia for the very first time
Speaker 9: in twenty seventy, and you know the changes in society,
Speaker 9: the changes I mean simple things like cinemas and music,
Speaker 9: women driving, and you know you're walking around today in
Speaker 9: a western business suit, which back then you probably didn't see.
Speaker 10: The local community as are basically the heart of our vision.
Speaker 10: Since the beginning, we ensured that we have set in
Speaker 10: case an approach that ensures empowering our local community through education,
Speaker 10: seward shop and opportunities.
Speaker 6: Is Saudi infrastructure ready to accommodate this potential influx of
Speaker 6: future tourists.
Speaker 5: Oh, yes, we're ready.
Speaker 8: Today we have catered for one hundred and sixteen without
Speaker 8: any issue. But definitely we are We're building new destinations,
Speaker 8: new experiences. I believe we are ready to cater for
Speaker 8: the with the projects in the pipeline and construction, whether
Speaker 8: read Airlines or King Salman Airport that will happen, and
Speaker 8: many other airports like Abha Airport, Asier Airport, which is important,
Speaker 8: and the hotel rooms that are under constructions in the
Speaker 8: a year and many other destinations or location.
Speaker 5: We will be absolutely fine.
Speaker 8: I don't think we will have a challenge to achieve
Speaker 8: the one hundred and fifty billion.
Speaker 6: The irony is that to change the world's impression of
Speaker 6: Saudi Arabia, it needs foreigners to come see what it is.
Speaker 6: But it's also foreign capital that will help fund the
Speaker 6: success of its new image.
Speaker 1: Coming up amid signs that the ceasefiring guys and may
Speaker 1: be more fragile than ever. We go to Israel to
Speaker 1: see what the fighting has done to the tech industry
Speaker 1: on which the country depends. This is a story about
Speaker 1: success born of adversity. Israel is known as the startup nation,
Speaker 1: because of all the successful tech companies it has hatched,
Speaker 1: accounting for more than one half of the country's annual exports.
Speaker 11: There are more Israeli companies listed on the Nasdaq than
Speaker 11: any country in the world outside of China, in the
Speaker 11: United States and maybe Japan.
Speaker 1: One might have thought that the Israeli tech juggernaut would
Speaker 1: slow down during the nation's war against Hamas, but it
Speaker 1: turns out that it's done the opposite. Since the war
Speaker 1: began in twenty twenty three, Israeli high tech companies have
Speaker 1: raised more money than ever, some fifteen point six billion
Speaker 1: dollars in twenty twenty five, up from twelve point two
Speaker 1: billion in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 11: The entire tech sector, despite war, has actually grown considered
Speaker 11: record number of exits. This year, For instance, Google made
Speaker 11: its largest acquisition not just of an Israeli company, but
Speaker 11: its largest private acquisition of any company in its history,
Speaker 11: for over thirty billion dollars, where it bought the cloud
Speaker 11: security company Whiz in the middle of this post October
Speaker 11: seventh attack on Israel.
Speaker 1: Dan Senor is the author of Startup Nation and The
Speaker 1: Genius of Israel, and hosts the Call Me Back podcast.
Speaker 11: Israel's number of exits from the tech sector in twenty
Speaker 11: twenty five will be about three hundred percent higher than
Speaker 11: twenty twenty four. In the defense tech sector, which is
Speaker 11: an area of considerable growth, there are some fewer than
Speaker 11: three hundred defense tech startups on October sixth, twenty twenty three.
Speaker 11: In terms of the number of startups, the amount of
Speaker 11: private funding coming into Israel, and then the number of exits,
Speaker 11: it's all kind of multiples higher than we've seen in
Speaker 11: a couple of years.
Speaker 1: Israel's tech sector has become one of the largest in
Speaker 1: the worldcounting for seventeen percent of the country's GDP, compared
Speaker 1: to thirteen percent for South Korea, ten percent for the
Speaker 1: United States, and less than five percent for the EU.
Speaker 11: So for some time now, Israel has been punching above
Speaker 11: its weight. Highest density of multinationals that have set up
Speaker 11: operations in Israel, countries that don't set up R and
Speaker 11: D shops outside of the United States anywhere in the world,
Speaker 11: and they're setting them up many tech companies in Israel.
Speaker 11: So for some time now, Israel has been what we
Speaker 11: call the startup nation, this innovation ecosystem that much of
Speaker 11: the world is depending on. The big changes. Most recently
Speaker 11: is more and more cooperation with the Golf with the
Speaker 11: Golf States, some in very public ways like the UAE
Speaker 11: and Bahrain, some in not so public ways like Saudi Arabia,
Speaker 11: where you're seeing more and more investment from these countries
Speaker 11: into the Israeli tech ecosystem because they realize to really
Speaker 11: thrive they need to coinnovate with another tech ecosystem.
Speaker 12: There's four hundred and fifty multinationals that have set up
Speaker 12: shop in Israel, so when you talk about the maturity,
Speaker 12: it's not just the companies, it's the overall ecosystem has
Speaker 12: become so powerful because we've all been working together and
Speaker 12: figuring out how to develop things that benefit Israel and
Speaker 12: the world through this ecosystem.
Speaker 1: Ellie Raisin is the chief strategic Officer at our Crowd,
Speaker 1: an online investment platform based in Israel that connects investors
Speaker 1: from around the world.
Speaker 12: We've set up at our Crowd a Super Interesting Fund,
Speaker 12: which is a three part fund, or what we call
Speaker 12: the tree Pont Fund, between the US, Israel, and Korea
Speaker 12: for not just developing or designing deep tech, but being
Speaker 12: able to produce it in partnership with strong partners in
Speaker 12: Korea and in.
Speaker 1: The US and why Korea particularly so.
Speaker 12: Korea is a super energetic, highly technologized ecosystem and economy.
Speaker 12: To begin with, it's less well known because it's somewhat insular.
Speaker 12: At the same time, though the US looks at Korea
Speaker 12: is an incredibly strategic ally all all sorts of crossovers
Speaker 12: for our goals and our capabilities. Among the three countries
Speaker 12: where we really see that union is being incredibly powerful.
Speaker 13: Israel is a good partner for the Korean startup ecosystems
Speaker 13: because they are very known for the startup colindations.
Speaker 1: Yun Jun Kim is the CEO of NH Ventures, a
Speaker 1: subsidiary of non Here Financial Group. In July, NH joined
Speaker 1: forces with Our Crowd to create an eighty million dollar
Speaker 1: fund to invest in Israeli startups in Korea.
Speaker 13: We have a lot of interest about the technology in Israel,
Speaker 13: but we don't have a lot of chance to visit
Speaker 13: each other and how to communicate each other. Fortunately, we
Speaker 13: can establish the CLNCIER fund between Israel and our Crowd
Speaker 13: and NH That makes a lot of information for from
Speaker 13: Israel to Korean Korea to Israel. We think Israel can
Speaker 13: be the good partner to support expand the Korean statsop
Speaker 13: go to the US market Israel also they can find
Speaker 13: a pattern to manufacturing. Korea can provide the quick quality
Speaker 13: and leads theable price.
Speaker 1: Israeli tech startups run the gamut from defense to cybersecurity,
Speaker 1: to biotech to AI, but whatever the technology, it often
Speaker 1: traces back to Israel's mandatory military service.
Speaker 12: The military is sort of a bedrock of all Israeli
Speaker 12: innovation because of a couple of things. One is there
Speaker 12: many really fascinating technologies that are both defense in nature
Speaker 12: but also civilian in nature that are brought up through
Speaker 12: the military. And the other, less spoken about but highly impactful,
Speaker 12: is the incredible development of leadership and teamwork that happens
Speaker 12: in the military, and those teams and those leaders transition
Speaker 12: into roles leading civilian companies. We invest in defense companies certainly,
Speaker 12: and cyber but most of our investments are most of
Speaker 12: our investments are in things that are commercial or civilian use.
Speaker 1: Has that line between civilian and defense become blurrier as
Speaker 1: we talk about dual.
Speaker 12: Use, Absolutely so. We see that all the time now,
Speaker 12: both because some inventions are inherently dual use and because
Speaker 12: many of the entrepreneurs are seeing a real opportunity now
Speaker 12: to serve the incredibly impactful defense needs that are experienced
Speaker 12: not only in Israel but all around the world for
Speaker 12: the reasons that we all understand.
Speaker 1: So perhaps it should come as no surprise that the
Speaker 1: onset of the war also opened a new front for
Speaker 1: startup technologies, including those that may have been developed for
Speaker 1: civilian or dual use.
Speaker 14: From day one, we wanted to bring innovation to the
Speaker 14: battery sector, the battery industry. We wanted to integrate our
Speaker 14: technology into every battery in the war. That's still our vision,
Speaker 14: but I think the vision is now even bigger as
Speaker 14: we see the potential in other markets.
Speaker 1: CEO Moshel Biton so a clear potential for growth for
Speaker 1: his battery parts company once that Israel Hamas war started.
Speaker 14: It's not a way we wanted to deploy our technology
Speaker 14: or if you'll ask me, what where Our vision or
Speaker 14: dream is not to be on the defense sector. But
Speaker 14: we understand now that this is also on obligations kind of.
Speaker 14: This is our service. That's one of the things that
Speaker 14: actually shifted and changed during October seven.
Speaker 1: War is never a good thing, and the Israel Hamas
Speaker 1: war has been particularly horrific, starting with the attacks on
Speaker 1: Israeli civilians and followed by the devastation of much of Gaza.
Speaker 14: Most of the investors, they were very They empathy and
Speaker 14: a lot of supports and asked how we actually manage
Speaker 14: and when we ask if we need anything. Of course,
Speaker 14: there are investors that were silent, and some investors even
Speaker 14: ask like direct questions about the situation in the war.
Speaker 14: And sometimes it's failed a bit accord when you know, fum,
Speaker 14: foreigner's blaming you on things that are not in your
Speaker 14: control a private company, business company, or not part or
Speaker 14: represent any government, and I'm blaming you.
Speaker 12: The war definitely had impact in terms of which companies
Speaker 12: essentially were newly created or like we discussed where they
Speaker 12: leaned into in terms of their customer base or defense
Speaker 12: use cases. We also did see through the war investors
Speaker 12: sort of in some cases take a little bit of
Speaker 12: a step back because mostly because of optics, not because
Speaker 12: of anything substantive. And now that the war's over, I'll
Speaker 12: tell you that we've seen this huge pickup in foreign
Speaker 12: investor interest in Israel. So in the last few weeks,
Speaker 12: I personally have hosted Japanese, Korean, and I'm about to
Speaker 12: host the Taiwanese delegation minutes before you and I joined
Speaker 12: this call, hosted as a large group of Canadian entrepreneurs
Speaker 12: here in our office. So what we're seeing is a
Speaker 12: real pickup in four or an investor comfort with investing in.
Speaker 1: Israel out of adversity has come at least some success
Speaker 1: for the startup nation, success involving businesses from halfway across
Speaker 1: the world.
Speaker 13: I think most important thing is Israel always try to
Speaker 13: go global because their domestic market is not so big,
Speaker 13: and Korea also need to expand the market horizon to
Speaker 13: the global market, but they have their own strength point.
Speaker 13: We try to combine those strengths points we can raise
Speaker 13: the global success. It's a very piscically separated, but our
Speaker 13: idea with NAG Investments and our Crows is making the
Speaker 13: same thing. So that is a very important thing. Israel
Speaker 13: and Korea also a very good relationship with the US.
Speaker 11: We need to be opening up cooperation with Israel. So
Speaker 11: that was already starting to happen Beforetober seventh, and then
Speaker 11: obviously since October seventh, you've seen this incredible flourishing in
Speaker 11: ways that were completely unexpected in areas related to defense
Speaker 11: tech and cybersecurities that has just gone to another level.
Speaker 11: So many of those same players, the Gulf States in particular,
Speaker 11: want to piggyback onto Israel's strength in these areas even
Speaker 11: more because they've seen how successful Israel has been. And
Speaker 11: then this startup nation that was buzzing long before October seventh,
Speaker 11: twenty twenty three, continues to do so.
Speaker 1: Up next, skiing is more popular than ever, despite the
Speaker 1: lack of snow in some of America's top ski areas.
Speaker 1: We take a look at the ups and downs of
Speaker 1: big ski. This is a story about what you gain
Speaker 1: from joining a team and what you lose when you
Speaker 1: stopped flying solo. In the last twenty years, two major
Speaker 1: players came to dominate the ski industry, turning the sport
Speaker 1: from a local pastime into a global portfolio. Scarlet Food
Speaker 1: brings us the story.
Speaker 15: This is the view open winter Park. I mean we
Speaker 15: are in desperate need of snow. You can see how
Speaker 15: fit in that snowpack is.
Speaker 16: In the past year, skiers have dealt with record high prices,
Speaker 16: record low snow, and disruption on the slopes caused by strikes.
Speaker 16: Despite the challenges, the industry is booming, with the number
Speaker 16: of skiers rising almost seventeen percent from twenty sixteen, and
Speaker 16: for the sixty million plus skiers visiting US resorts each winter,
Speaker 16: there is a choice to make buy a megapass before
Speaker 16: the season starts. That gives you access to up to
Speaker 16: eighty mountains around the world, but leaves you at the
Speaker 16: mercy of seasonal conditions.
Speaker 17: Our job is really to have a long term relationship
Speaker 17: with our guests and so that they feel like they're
Speaker 17: making a commitment to us year in and year route good weather,
Speaker 17: bad weather.
Speaker 16: Or go school by a less expensive pass at your
Speaker 16: favorite resort, preserving that hometown feel.
Speaker 18: It's been a great thing, I think for our industry
Speaker 18: because it's a challenging industry that we have.
Speaker 16: Ski mountains have to make a similar decision. Are they
Speaker 16: in with the megapass or are they out.
Speaker 19: The one thing that hasn't changed is you get people
Speaker 19: to come here. They get out on the hill, they
Speaker 19: go skiing, they have a great time, and they want
Speaker 19: to come back.
Speaker 16: Whatever they decide, they have veil resorts to think or blame.
Speaker 16: CEO Robcats introduced the Epic Pass eighteen years ago, offering
Speaker 16: a deal to skiers and shaking up the business of
Speaker 16: skiing in the process.
Speaker 17: So it was a massive discount when we offered it
Speaker 17: at yeah, five hundred and seventy nine dollars, But the
Speaker 17: thinking was is that we could at that low price point,
Speaker 17: we could put many more people in the product, and
Speaker 17: all of a sudden that would start to create more
Speaker 17: of a subscription model to the ski business rather than
Speaker 17: just this kind of daily feast or famine model, which
Speaker 17: was the lift ticket business.
Speaker 16: This relationship with Veil Resorts, now the largest ski resort
Speaker 16: operator in the world, goes back to the nineteen nineties
Speaker 16: when he oversaw a deal that rescued what was then
Speaker 16: Vail Associates. Katz joined the board and became CEO in
Speaker 16: two thousand and six. He left the company in twenty
Speaker 16: twenty one and returned in twenty twenty five. During his
Speaker 16: first go round, he grew the company from five resorts
Speaker 16: to a portfolio of thirty seven.
Speaker 17: I think initially the pitch was just, hey, we thought
Speaker 17: that there was an opportunity for us to really apply
Speaker 17: better management techniques to these other resorts that we bought,
Speaker 17: And the two resorts that we bought initially were Keystone
Speaker 17: and Breckenridge, which were right down the road from Vale
Speaker 17: and Beaver Creek, and so the thought was also we
Speaker 17: could start actually managing them and doing it more efficiently.
Speaker 17: We could also offer some things so people could go
Speaker 17: to these different resorts and market to that in a
Speaker 17: more unified way.
Speaker 16: Vail initially targeted other neighboring resorts in Colorado.
Speaker 19: The first group of founders that are Rappo Basin hung
Speaker 19: onto the place till seventy two, and other dependent guy
Speaker 19: owned it till nineteen seventy eight. And then in the
Speaker 19: late nineties what was called Ralston Resort, which was Rapo
Speaker 19: based in Keystone and Breckenridge, merged with Veil Associates, forming
Speaker 19: Veil Resorts.
Speaker 16: It wasn't long before Vale controlled roughly forty three percent
Speaker 16: of Colorado's ski areas by count. In nineteen ninety seven,
Speaker 16: the US Department of Justice forced a sale on a
Speaker 16: Rapa Ho Basin, citing Vale's excessive market concentration. Still a Basin,
Speaker 16: as locals call it, chose to continue partnering with Vail,
Speaker 16: which meant it was included in the first iteration of
Speaker 16: the Epic pass.
Speaker 17: The view at that point was that the company's multiple
Speaker 17: was well below a lot of other travel companies, and
Speaker 17: there was a real sense that the ski industry was
Speaker 17: really a feast or famine business where if it snowed,
Speaker 17: you did well. If it didn't snow, you didn't do well.
Speaker 17: And actually, ski resorts had been declining in the United
Speaker 17: States from like, you know, seven hundred and twenty ski
Speaker 17: resorts I think in the late seventies to five hundred.
Speaker 15: And fifties resorts.
Speaker 17: So the business was really struggling, and the focus was
Speaker 17: that there was not the stability and the confidence in
Speaker 17: the future of the industry because of the ups and
Speaker 17: downs of weather. So the thinking was, how could we
Speaker 17: stabilize that, And so what we came up with was
Speaker 17: really offering an incredible value to our guests by giving
Speaker 17: them a huge discount on this season pass and trading
Speaker 17: with them right essentially giving them this great discount, this
Speaker 17: great value, but then also our guests taking some of
Speaker 17: the risk of weather for the rest of the season.
Speaker 16: Before EPIC was introduced in two thousand and eight, a
Speaker 16: season pass at Veil Resort would cost you around eighteen
Speaker 16: hundred dollars. With an EPIC pass. Today, an adult skier
Speaker 16: has unlimited access to forty two veil owned or partner
Speaker 16: mountains around the world for just over one thousand dollars.
Speaker 16: How did this pass model change how you plan capital expenditures,
Speaker 16: how you assess risk overall?
Speaker 17: It made a big difference. So you know, historically in
Speaker 17: the ski industry, you would wait to see how the
Speaker 17: ski season was, and if it snowed and you had
Speaker 17: to go to year, then you'd make commitments for the
Speaker 17: following year for capital. But as we started to do
Speaker 17: well with our season pass business, we all of a
Speaker 17: sudden started to move back when we were willing to commit.
Speaker 17: So we started saying, hey, wait, we could commit to
Speaker 17: things in December, or in September or in March the
Speaker 17: year before.
Speaker 16: Then came competition. In twenty eighteen, Altara brought together Mammoth
Speaker 16: Resorts and Squaw Valley now known as Palisades Tahoe in
Speaker 16: California and Deer Valley in Utah. Soon Altara launched the
Speaker 16: Icon Pass, its version of the Epic Pass. Here's Jared Smith,
Speaker 16: CEO of Altera.
Speaker 15: The premise or the thesis for the business was really
Speaker 15: that there was some space in the industry for another
Speaker 15: large player. The introduction of epic Pass by Veil was
Speaker 15: a game changer for the industry, no doubt about it.
Speaker 15: It's one of those unique products that is truly win win.
Speaker 15: What we were able to do at icon Pass was
Speaker 15: take that core model, which was for Veil of its
Speaker 15: owned and operated resorts largely, and take that and put
Speaker 15: together a network of people that didn't have to be
Speaker 15: owned by the same corporation to enjoy those same benefits,
Speaker 15: and in turn, to give consumers the opportunity to have
Speaker 15: that same exposure in that same cost benefit analysis across
Speaker 15: a whole variety of other resorts.
Speaker 16: The two dominant megapasses ushered in a new demographic of skiers.
Speaker 18: The new megapass is really what it did initially was
Speaker 18: drive the prices down. It's just that there are ski
Speaker 18: areas out there, there are companies out there that do
Speaker 18: want to drive guests to that mega resort pass or
Speaker 18: that multi resort pass, and in doing so, they're trying
Speaker 18: to entice you with that great price point.
Speaker 17: It's kind of a membership, right. So I think people
Speaker 17: historically said the only, you know, the only kind of
Speaker 17: person who could buy a season pass has to be
Speaker 17: a local. So the fact that we made the product
Speaker 17: price competitive for the destination skier, Somebody coming from New
Speaker 17: York or Florida or Texas, all of a sudden, they
Speaker 17: start to feel like they were a local as well.
Speaker 16: For resorts, unpredictability reinforce the case for the megapass as
Speaker 16: the industry depends more heavily on capital intensive snowmaking equipment.
Speaker 17: As we started to acquire resorts in different regions, all
Speaker 17: of a sudden, the pass provided access to different regions
Speaker 17: who all have different weather patterns, and so that made
Speaker 17: the pass even more attractive.
Speaker 15: Where we're able to make some of the investment in
Speaker 15: the physical plants here, combined with the technology advancements that
Speaker 15: you've seen in the quality of things like snowmaking, which
Speaker 15: uses less energy and uses less water to produce actually
Speaker 15: more yield and what we're able to put on the hill.
Speaker 16: But as demand for the Epic Pass grew, it became
Speaker 16: kind of a victim of its own success. Two seasons
Speaker 16: ago they al sold a record number of passes. It's
Speaker 16: too early to tally up this season's past sales, but
Speaker 16: Vale said the total number of skiers is down twenty
Speaker 16: percent from the same time last year.
Speaker 20: The locals don't love the whole epic situation because of
Speaker 20: the crowds, because of the prices, because of the concentration
Speaker 20: on just finances and money.
Speaker 15: I think there's no doubt that anytime you make something
Speaker 15: more accessible and more affordable, there's an opportunity that you
Speaker 15: have too much of a good thing right and you
Speaker 15: have some people who come, or lots of people who
Speaker 15: come as a result of that affordability, and they want
Speaker 15: to come at the peak times. So I think there
Speaker 15: are there are lots of examples in the ski industry
Speaker 15: of you know, peak windows on high holidays with great
Speaker 15: snow conditions where lots of people want to come out
Speaker 15: and do the thing that they love. That can lead
Speaker 15: to longer lines.
Speaker 16: In twenty nineteen, A Basin ended its partnership with Vail,
Speaker 16: cutting off ties with the epic.
Speaker 19: Pass Arapobasin opened early. It was one of the first
Speaker 19: resorts in the country and the concept of ski resorts
Speaker 19: was very different back then.
Speaker 1: I was a scale.
Speaker 16: Alan Hensroth is president and COO of A Basin.
Speaker 19: By twenty nineteen twenty eighteen, we felt we could really
Speaker 19: do this better. Not being part of vale Veil was
Speaker 19: a great company for us in a lot of ways,
Speaker 19: but we've kind of outgrown that and we're looking for
Speaker 19: something different. We just thought we needed more control over
Speaker 19: our passes, more control of people coming here, more control
Speaker 19: of the actual experience that all our guests were having.
Speaker 19: And Veil was such a big successful company that they
Speaker 19: brought really more people here than we could handle at
Speaker 19: one time, So we made a change in our past relationships.
Speaker 16: In twenty twenty four, A Basin completed its journey from
Speaker 16: being an independent resort to a partner of Veil, to
Speaker 16: independent again to now a partner of Alterra. For a
Speaker 16: ski area that's passed through the hands of companies big
Speaker 16: and small, A Basin is hoping for the best of
Speaker 16: both worlds, an independent feel on a megapass.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 19: Of course, when the sale went down, you know, and
Speaker 19: it was almost a year leading to the closing of
Speaker 19: the sale, people were concerned. But as last year went
Speaker 19: on and they realized we weren't turning into a bunch
Speaker 19: of monsters, I think more and more people are accepting
Speaker 19: that A Basin's going to be okay and we're going
Speaker 19: to do just fine. One thing about being part of
Speaker 19: a family of more resorts is, you know, there are
Speaker 19: some people that are committed skiers and they want to
Speaker 19: buy a season pass to one place and they're satisfied
Speaker 19: with that. But I think there's another group of people
Speaker 19: that like some diversity. They want to try different resorts,
Speaker 19: they want to ski at different resorts, they want to
Speaker 19: have choices. And you know, when we decided to leave Vail,
Speaker 19: we could have been independent, but we thought people really
Speaker 19: wanted choices, and we thought we'd have the best future
Speaker 19: when there were opportunities for people to take advantage of
Speaker 19: those choices.
Speaker 18: Today, you know, we have I think it's roughly two
Speaker 18: thirds of our resorts fall into that independent category. Like
Speaker 18: last year, independent resorts did see an uptick in visitation,
Speaker 18: which was great to see, and we saw a little
Speaker 18: bit of a little bit of decline in some of
Speaker 18: our larger extra large resorts. You know, just the way
Speaker 18: the aendulum swings is that if you're not happy in
Speaker 18: one aspect of the sport, maybe you're going to go
Speaker 18: find something a little bit different.
Speaker 16: While Abasin joins a new team and navigates another chapter,
Speaker 16: there's still the choice to skied the old fashioned way
Speaker 16: at smaller independent resorts like mad River Glen in Waitefield Vermont,
Speaker 16: which runs on a skier owned co op model and
Speaker 16: is the last remaining slope in the continental US to
Speaker 16: operate a single chairlift.
Speaker 21: We really are known for our black tails.
Speaker 16: Matt Lillard is the general manager.
Speaker 21: The co op has three thousand shares, but there can
Speaker 21: only be twenty five hundred owners of those shares, so
Speaker 21: everybody that has a share gets a vote. You can
Speaker 21: only own a maximum of four shares, but that's still
Speaker 21: only one vote. So that's one of the key things
Speaker 21: about a cooperative is you can't have somebody come in
Speaker 21: and buy up a bunch of shares and have an
Speaker 21: outweighted say, like you would a normal corporation.
Speaker 16: What problems do the co op ownership structure solve that
Speaker 16: traditional ownership did not.
Speaker 21: I think what it does is it was able to
Speaker 21: pull the passion that the skiers have for the mountain
Speaker 21: into an entity that can take care of So it
Speaker 21: enabled those people to have a say in what was
Speaker 21: going on here and support it with financially and with
Speaker 21: their visits. The shareholders have a bigger say in a
Speaker 21: cooperative than they will, you know, at a publicly traded
Speaker 21: place like Vale Resorts or something private like Alterra. So
Speaker 21: they get to say that we want low skiered nsity,
Speaker 21: and that's one of their primary goals. It's written into
Speaker 21: the bylaws, it's written into the articles of the corporation.
Speaker 21: So that's basically saying that when you're on the mountain,
Speaker 21: they don't want it to be crowded. They want to
Speaker 21: be all the ski They want their own people whizzing
Speaker 21: by them.
Speaker 16: He says. The co ops sold out of shares this year,
Speaker 16: even if that means bring skiers up one chair at
Speaker 16: a time. So I sit down, yep, So.
Speaker 5: I sit down, and then what's our get going. You'll
Speaker 5: close the safety bar and that's it.
Speaker 6: That's it.
Speaker 1: That does it for us here at Wall Street Week,
Speaker 1: I'm David Weston. See you next week for more stories
Speaker 1: of capitalism.