Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio. Hi.
Speaker 1: I'm Jason Kelley and I'm Carol Masser. Welcome to the
Speaker 1: weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week. Jason, it was our
Speaker 1: first full week of April. Some optimism regarding the virus
Speaker 1: and more talk about the possibility of the beginning of
Speaker 1: a turnaround in the fight against it. I think a
Speaker 1: big theme this week, we decided as a result of
Speaker 1: this fear versus greed, worries about COVID nineteen remain, but
Speaker 1: talk of reopening the economy was starting to push some
Speaker 1: to possibly take on risks well, And it really was
Speaker 1: a week of versus right, because the other thing we
Speaker 1: talked about was markets versus medical and this notion that
Speaker 1: there's enthusiasm in the markets. Part of that is owing
Speaker 1: to this notion of getting back to work, maybe the
Speaker 1: economy opening up, the administration certainly pushing that, but also
Speaker 1: just some really really grim statistics and real human stories
Speaker 1: coming out of our backyard, New York City especially which
Speaker 1: has remained the epicenter. But we did get to speak
Speaker 1: to a bunch of CEOs, investors, geo political experts, authors
Speaker 1: about how they're handling the coronavirus pandemic and maybe how
Speaker 1: all of us should be thinking about what lies ahead. Yeah,
Speaker 1: leaders from all walks of life, medicine, tech, streaming, media, sports,
Speaker 1: and more. These conversations with leaders in their fields happening
Speaker 1: in real time throughout our week as news concerning COVID
Speaker 1: nineteen and its impact continue to break and shape our
Speaker 1: daily lives. So who are we talking about. We're talking
Speaker 1: about Meg Whitman, she launched a new company this week.
Speaker 1: Susan Lyne, notable investor in the venture capital world, also
Speaker 1: a media mogul in her own right. Larry Murlough he
Speaker 1: is the CEO of CVS and John Wortheim. Love that
Speaker 1: guy talking sports. Yeah, we really touched on so many
Speaker 1: different aspects of our world. First up, though, we spoke
Speaker 1: with Bloomberg's Drew Armstrong. He is the team leader for
Speaker 1: US Healthcare at Bloomberg News. He is really the architect
Speaker 1: of the coronavirus coverage here at Bloomberg, working NonStop and
Speaker 1: really keeping us informed when it comes to the various treatments,
Speaker 1: the potential of vaccines, everything that we needed to know
Speaker 1: about the virus. Here's our update. I think the big
Speaker 1: thing that people are watching right now, and this has
Speaker 1: really been you know, the thing to watch all along
Speaker 1: is what are we seeing in new US cases in
Speaker 1: the various outbreaks here, And that's I want to be clear,
Speaker 1: you know, looking at the number of new cases is
Speaker 1: a leading indicator, but it's also a very imperfect one,
Speaker 1: just because of the significant problems in the US with
Speaker 1: broad comprehensive testing for this disease that you would like
Speaker 1: to do. I'm sure a lot of your listeners have
Speaker 1: read stories, none of them written by us, about some
Speaker 1: of the problems with getting enough test out they are
Speaker 1: getting everybody tested and who needs to be tested and
Speaker 1: so on and so forth. But you know, right now,
Speaker 1: as a leading indicator, it's kind of the best thing
Speaker 1: that we have right now. And we've seen a number of,
Speaker 1: you know, indications that in New York and New Jersey,
Speaker 1: which are two of the hottest outbreaks going on in
Speaker 1: the United States, that new infections imperfectly counted as they
Speaker 1: made be appear to be slowing, and that, you know,
Speaker 1: is overall good news in terms of when can somebody's
Speaker 1: restrictions on movement and on business being open and on
Speaker 1: people having to stay home begin to be loosened. There
Speaker 1: are a ton of caveats attached to that, but if
Speaker 1: you were looking for good news, this does feel to
Speaker 1: be a little bit of that, right. Global cases tapping
Speaker 1: one point thirty nine million death succeeding seventy nine thousand.
Speaker 1: Those are the latest numbers from Johns Hopkins. You know,
Speaker 1: you speak of um imperfect models, Drew is China the
Speaker 1: model from a health case basis the right model to
Speaker 1: be looking in terms of the trajectory. You know, I
Speaker 1: think there are some things that China tells us and
Speaker 1: some things that don't. There's there's two ways to think about.
Speaker 1: Like when we look at what happened in China and Wuhan,
Speaker 1: we've seen the exact same dynamic play out in other
Speaker 1: locations around the world. You know, I mean and I
Speaker 1: and I and I mean that from the standpoint that
Speaker 1: you know, there are some significant screw ups and then
Speaker 1: problems and then consequences that happened there, there's happened everywhere else.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, first in China, we had basically
Speaker 1: the authorities say, hey, this isn't that big of a deal.
Speaker 1: We have this well in hand. You know, I think
Speaker 1: they were even saying it doesn't appear to be human
Speaker 1: human transmission. And then we entered a period where they
Speaker 1: didn't really have enough testing capacity and so it seemed
Speaker 1: like cases will only rising a little bit. But in
Speaker 1: fact we had no idea how big the outbreak was
Speaker 1: there because they didn't have great testing capacity. Then all
Speaker 1: of a sudden they got it. Cases exploded, and then
Speaker 1: by the time that happened, the healthcare system in Wuhan
Speaker 1: got overwhelmed and they had to build immense new capacity.
Speaker 1: They had a lot of excess death. Um. Those that's
Speaker 1: exactly what happened in Italy. Um, that's that's that's very
Speaker 1: similar what happened in the United States. I mean, we had,
Speaker 1: you know, federal leadership here that was saying this is
Speaker 1: well contained, it's not that big of a deal, and
Speaker 1: then we had a massive problem with testing, and then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, this thing was out of a
Speaker 1: little I mean, we've seen the same exact dynamic play out. Um.
Speaker 1: What I think the lessons we can't take away from
Speaker 1: from China are you know, one, they did a lockdown
Speaker 1: that I think would never be allowed in a democracy period.
Speaker 1: I mean, people were physically unable to leave their homes.
Speaker 1: In many cases there were reports of house to house
Speaker 1: searches to find sick people and um haul them off
Speaker 1: to quarantine centers. Um. You know, it may look similar
Speaker 1: in some respects, but I think that there are some
Speaker 1: aspects of that that were much more um uh severe.
Speaker 1: And you know the other issues that we've seen reports
Speaker 1: from you know, the U. S. Intelligence community that they
Speaker 1: appeared to have significantly undercounted, um or underrepresented the severity
Speaker 1: of the of the outbreak there. And so I think
Speaker 1: we still have some missing pieces of information from China,
Speaker 1: uh that we really don't know how that it was
Speaker 1: that that may have influenced how the world thought about
Speaker 1: this disease as well. I mean, you know, academics and
Speaker 1: healthcare folks, they're they're early understanding this thing was really
Speaker 1: relied upon by what we heard coming out of China.
Speaker 1: And it's possible that we've got a very imperfect picture
Speaker 1: of that. And that's Bloomberg's Drew Armstrong, Carol, as you said,
Speaker 1: the architect of all of our coverage. You know that
Speaker 1: guy from his attic. He's doing everything from assigning editing, writing,
Speaker 1: going on our network and others to keep people up
Speaker 1: to date, because he is at the epicenter literally and
Speaker 1: physically and figuratively of our coverage here. Well, in such
Speaker 1: a big part of the stories treatment versus cure, treating
Speaker 1: those who have the virus while we're also fighting really
Speaker 1: hard to find a cure for it, and sometimes those
Speaker 1: are at war with one another. Right, you're listening to
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business Week. Coming up, We've got the president and
Speaker 1: CEO of CVS talking to us about how they are
Speaker 1: wrapping up virus testing. This is Bloomberg. You're listening to
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason Kelly from
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Radio. Well, today we're bringing you some of the
Speaker 1: most important and we hope in formative conversations we had
Speaker 1: on our daily Bloomberg Business Week radio show this week
Speaker 1: about the coronavirus. Carol, that's right, Jason, And this week
Speaker 1: CBS launched a new rapid testing site in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Speaker 1: We caught up with CBS Presidency el Larry Murlow about
Speaker 1: one week ago to talk about the crisis for our
Speaker 1: Business Week Talks. It's featured this week in the magazine.
Speaker 1: Here is our conversation. Well, Carol, we are in a
Speaker 1: unique position to help address the pandemic, given our physical
Speaker 1: presence in communities all across the country and the ability
Speaker 1: to reach millions of consumers with local solutions. There's no
Speaker 1: question the health and safety of our colleagues and the
Speaker 1: customers that we serve is our number one priority, and
Speaker 1: you know, we're taking the necessary steps to ensure their
Speaker 1: well being and I could not be more proud of
Speaker 1: the work that they're doing. There is a strong purpose
Speaker 1: in our colleagues wanting to play an important role in
Speaker 1: helping their communities managed through this, and every day we
Speaker 1: ask ourselves a question, you know, is there more that
Speaker 1: we can do? And in that mindset has led to
Speaker 1: several actions focused on access solutions as well as the
Speaker 1: safety and health of those were serving well. Larry, tell
Speaker 1: us about some of those, because, as you alluded to,
Speaker 1: and as we all know, this is a fast moving situation.
Speaker 1: Feels like every day, as you say, presents new challenges.
Speaker 1: What are some of the steps that you've taken in
Speaker 1: the more recent days to sort of ensure worker safety specifically. Yeah, certainly,
Speaker 1: as I just mentioned, none of this happens without the
Speaker 1: extraordinary commitment of our employees, and you know, we have
Speaker 1: done a number of things to provide some peace of
Speaker 1: mind and help them navigate through these times. And you know,
Speaker 1: we're providing cash bonuses to our pharmacists and other healthcare
Speaker 1: professionals who are on the front lines, our store associates
Speaker 1: and managers and other individuals that you know are are
Speaker 1: important in terms of their work being site based. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, we have been launching a new offering to
Speaker 1: help employees that you know have dependent care needs while
Speaker 1: providing sick leaves to part time employees for the duration
Speaker 1: of the pandemic. And like many others, we have been
Speaker 1: working around the clock to provide ppe and other safety
Speaker 1: measures in including protective panels at our pharmacies and our
Speaker 1: front store checkouts. Uh, you know, just to name a
Speaker 1: few things. And uh, and again, I couldn't be more
Speaker 1: proud of the work that they're doing. Yeah, and and um,
Speaker 1: from what I'm hearing is because I know you guys
Speaker 1: are going out, um, Larry as well, and you're looking
Speaker 1: to hire I think about fifty thou full of part
Speaker 1: time workers just to meet demand, because you've got delivery
Speaker 1: in store distribution jobs that need to be filled because
Speaker 1: of the rise in demand that you're seeing well, Carol,
Speaker 1: that that's right. We announced a goal of fifty thousand
Speaker 1: full time, part time and temporary roles across the country.
Speaker 1: That that includes some open job requisitions that we had,
Speaker 1: you know, but it also includes making sure that we're
Speaker 1: providing our frontline workers the relief that they need. And
Speaker 1: you know, we've been working with with companies, uh, you
Speaker 1: know across the country, you know, companies largely and travel
Speaker 1: hospitality uh, in terms of transitioning employees. Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: that makes up a lot of the temporary staff. And
Speaker 1: we've expedited our hiring as well as our onboarding process.
Speaker 1: And you know, we've gotten tremendous cooperation from those employees.
Speaker 1: And look, it's it serves a need for us during
Speaker 1: this period of time. Uh. You know, they want to
Speaker 1: continue to work, and you know, and I'm sure as
Speaker 1: their companies, uh, we get past this pandemic and their
Speaker 1: companies get things back online, I'm sure there'll be an
Speaker 1: opportunity for you know, those temporary workers to go back
Speaker 1: to the companies that you know that they're committed to
Speaker 1: and Larry, it sounds like then for all of your
Speaker 1: existing workers going into this virus that you are keeping
Speaker 1: everybody employed and there, and so you're taking care of
Speaker 1: those workers. They will continue to get a salary um,
Speaker 1: they will continue to get paid, they will continue to
Speaker 1: get healthcare. These are your workers, These are our workers, Carol,
Speaker 1: and that's absolutely right. You know, our workforce is approximately
Speaker 1: three hundred thousand across the country. About a hundred thousand
Speaker 1: of those colleagues work uh in office based locations. And
Speaker 1: you know, our technology team has also done a wonderful job.
Speaker 1: We have about eight of those you know, office based
Speaker 1: workers who were working remotely. The balance, you know, they
Speaker 1: make sure that the lights are staying on for you know,
Speaker 1: our call centers as well as our stores. And you
Speaker 1: know that leaves about two hundred thousand colleagues who are
Speaker 1: you know, frontlines. And again they're doing terrific things in
Speaker 1: in in supporting the needs of our clients and customers.
Speaker 1: And so Larry, just staying with the workers for a second,
Speaker 1: what what have you What are you hearing back from
Speaker 1: them in terms of what they're seeing in the stores?
Speaker 1: You know, as as you have mentioned, I mean, you
Speaker 1: guys have eyes on this in ways that that many
Speaker 1: don't mean. There are numerous cbs is in my community,
Speaker 1: I think in Carol's as well. What are they saying
Speaker 1: back to you in terms of what they're seeing in
Speaker 1: the stores. Well, Jason, there, first of all, they're greatly appreciative,
Speaker 1: you know, of the role that you know that we're playing.
Speaker 1: And I think you touched on this just a minute ago.
Speaker 1: You know, one of the things that we've done for
Speaker 1: our customers is, you know, to increase access to medication.
Speaker 1: We have waived charges for home delivery of prescriptions and
Speaker 1: related products, as well as relaxing the limitations in terms
Speaker 1: of you know, people getting prescriptions refilled early, especially those
Speaker 1: with chronic disease who were on maintenance medications. And you know,
Speaker 1: we've seen a tremendous increase in the utilization, uh in
Speaker 1: the need for home delivery. You think about you know,
Speaker 1: seniors not wanting to go out of their home, and
Speaker 1: you know they're appreciating that service. And larry on on
Speaker 1: the point of pharmaceuticals and and folks stocking up on prescriptions.
Speaker 1: We certainly have heard about that anecdotally. Are you experiencing
Speaker 1: any shortages on that front in terms of medicine specifically,
Speaker 1: we all know about shortages of toilet paper and other sunduries.
Speaker 1: But when it comes to medicines, are you seeing any
Speaker 1: shortages in the system at this point? Now, it's a
Speaker 1: great question. And with respect to the pharmacy supply chain,
Speaker 1: we have not experienced any disruption to date. You know,
Speaker 1: we have been in in constant contact with our suppliers.
Speaker 1: You know, they tend to carry about a three to
Speaker 1: six months supply and you know, you think about prescriptions
Speaker 1: that are dispensed today across the country, about of all
Speaker 1: prescriptions are generics. And you know, we have the size
Speaker 1: and scale with our partnership with Cardinal Health in the
Speaker 1: creation of a company that is called Red Oak Sourcing,
Speaker 1: And as a result, we have been able to diversify
Speaker 1: our generic supply chain so that we are not dependent
Speaker 1: on any single manufacture for a product. So I think
Speaker 1: Americans can be reassured that you know, the pharmaceutical supply
Speaker 1: chain is in good shape and that CVS CEO Larry Murlow, obviously,
Speaker 1: if you think about leaders at the center of this,
Speaker 1: this is someone who's been in touch with the White House.
Speaker 1: Obviously a front law line of front lines in terms
Speaker 1: of dealing with consumers who are worried about getting tested
Speaker 1: and probably still worried because those testing sites not exactly
Speaker 1: spreading across the country, but having to take care of
Speaker 1: employees and customers alike. Care. Yeah, exactly two front lines right,
Speaker 1: both of its consumers and its workers. And you know
Speaker 1: they're thinking about the first responders, the healthcare workers so
Speaker 1: much going out. So I'm glad he was able to
Speaker 1: carve out some time for us. You're listening to Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Business Week. Coming up, Quimby CEO Meg Whitman, and we
Speaker 1: talked about the launch of the Quimby mobile only streaming platform.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with
Speaker 1: Carol Masser and Jason Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. We're bringing
Speaker 1: you some of the most important and informative conversations that
Speaker 1: we have from all walks of life, so many different
Speaker 1: industries on our daily radio show, and of course all
Speaker 1: of it related back to the coronavirus this week, Jason
Speaker 1: well and even new companies launching in the midst of
Speaker 1: this their plans radically changed by the virus, its outbreak
Speaker 1: and all of the social behavior that changed. That was
Speaker 1: certainly the case with Quimby. We caught up with Meg Whitman.
Speaker 1: She of course well known to many of our listeners
Speaker 1: out there. She ran HP, she ran eBay. Now she's
Speaker 1: got quimby partnership with Jeffrey Katzenberg. Here's what she had
Speaker 1: to say about the big launch. You know, listen, it
Speaker 1: was a hard decision to decide to launch, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: this is a terribly you know, disruptive time for everybody.
Speaker 1: But we ultimately said, you know, we're not medical professionals,
Speaker 1: we're not first responders, but maybe we can bring a
Speaker 1: little joy and levity to people's lives with the content
Speaker 1: that we have. And so we decided to go for it,
Speaker 1: and we had to change everything about the launch. As
Speaker 1: you can imagine. We had a physical um launch event
Speaker 1: with a big red carpet. But guess what Our biggest
Speaker 1: TV buy was launch week the n C Double A Finals,
Speaker 1: so we had we had all bought everything on March madness. Okay,
Speaker 1: that all have to be scrapped. So there's been challenges, um,
Speaker 1: but but we've you know, the team has been great,
Speaker 1: and our production partners have been amazing because many of
Speaker 1: them are daily essentials, are all being produced you know
Speaker 1: from home. Well, and I've been remiss you're doing well,
Speaker 1: your family, your colleagues, everybody doing okay, Yes, yes, very much.
Speaker 1: So when I have, um, you know, I live in
Speaker 1: l A now, but my husband is a medical professional.
Speaker 1: He's a neurosurgeon, and so I'm sheltered in place in
Speaker 1: Sacramento where he's at u C. Davis and Sacramento. Wow,
Speaker 1: So I decided to come up here because he's you know,
Speaker 1: he's on the front lines every single day. How he's
Speaker 1: doing great. But it's you know, it's pretty tense out there, honestly,
Speaker 1: it really is. And what do you you know, Meg,
Speaker 1: You you've obviously been very politically active in a candidate
Speaker 1: for high office before you understand the collision of political
Speaker 1: and economic and business and all of that. What do
Speaker 1: you make for from that perspective as a leader of
Speaker 1: some of the responses that we've seen, I mean, Governor
Speaker 1: Newsom is you know, getting some some decent reviews, more
Speaker 1: than decent reviews there in California and do you look
Speaker 1: across the country and we're a little loft topic here,
Speaker 1: but what do you make of the response? Yeah? Well, listen,
Speaker 1: this is unprecedented, right, No one, no governor, no president,
Speaker 1: no one has had to deal with something quite like
Speaker 1: this before, well maybe in venteen or something. Um, so
Speaker 1: it's a completely different and I think, you know, they're
Speaker 1: feeling their way. I think Governor Newsom was doing a
Speaker 1: very good job. He jumped on this early. He had
Speaker 1: us all, you know, sheltering in place. The curve appears
Speaker 1: to be flattening here, but but we'll see. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: I think it's a very challenging environment for leaders, you know,
Speaker 1: in the pot atmosphere. Well, and you know what's interesting is,
Speaker 1: you know, we talk a lot meg um about how
Speaker 1: things are changing. Like I think about you were really wonderful.
Speaker 1: I did a breakfast of Corporate Champions with you about
Speaker 1: the breakup of HP and your panel, the panel, your
Speaker 1: colleagues that helped in that breakup and and what went on.
Speaker 1: And I just think, remember, yeah, and I think you
Speaker 1: know how things change, right and who would have thought
Speaker 1: HP the breakup, but it did happen, and we been
Speaker 1: a different environment. I do wonder how you see today's environment, um,
Speaker 1: how it will impact the virus, how it will impact
Speaker 1: our world going forward maybe longer term. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: that's a really very interesting question. I mean, don't you
Speaker 1: wonder whether work from home has changed from forever. Yes, Um,
Speaker 1: I think it may have. We've all learned how to
Speaker 1: do this. I mean I've been going into an office
Speaker 1: for forty years and all of a sudden I've had
Speaker 1: to figure this out, which, you know, it's been pretty easy.
Speaker 1: I'm happened to be a tech exect. But still, you know,
Speaker 1: and it's pretty efficient. So I wonder if that will
Speaker 1: have changed. I wonder if this will have changed how
Speaker 1: families communicate. I mean every weekend, now we're on with you,
Speaker 1: both my husband's family and my family for an hour
Speaker 1: and a half, you know, doing a zoom call if
Speaker 1: you never did that before, right, So no, I think that.
Speaker 1: I think that's totally true. Well, and and Meg, you
Speaker 1: know you've been, you know, elbow neck deep in the
Speaker 1: creation of a new media company. How do you think
Speaker 1: media changes going forward, both in terms of this inflection
Speaker 1: point but also wrapping at in you know, the whole
Speaker 1: notion of this virus. Well, I think, um, listen, you know,
Speaker 1: Hollywood is a surprisingly um uh, entrepreneurial place. Think about it.
Speaker 1: Every time you start a movie. Okay, a movie is
Speaker 1: a startup. It's not different from a startup in Silicon
Speaker 1: Valley and uh so they are adapting really fast to
Speaker 1: um this entirely new environment. And I think you may
Speaker 1: see different kinds of content. I think how it's consumed
Speaker 1: maybe different. Um. You know, you wonder where everyone comes
Speaker 1: pouring back into the movie theaters or you know that's
Speaker 1: fundamentally changed. I don't know, but people are exploring new
Speaker 1: ways to consume content. Um. We were excited because we thought,
Speaker 1: you know, if we could make watching um holiday Hollywood
Speaker 1: quality content on your phone, UM terrific. You know, that
Speaker 1: would be something that hadn't been done before. It was
Speaker 1: technology enabling a new way to tell stories. And I
Speaker 1: think you're going to see a lot of that, you know,
Speaker 1: in part because the situation in which we find ourselves,
Speaker 1: but also the normal march and time of technology and
Speaker 1: its advancement. And that's Meg Whitman, the CEO of Quicky.
Speaker 1: Good to catch up with her. I was glad she
Speaker 1: took my curveball when I asked her about other response
Speaker 1: there in California, because listen, she has sat right at
Speaker 1: that nexus of politics and business. She ran for the U. S.
Speaker 1: Senate there, and it was just great to catch up
Speaker 1: with her and just you know here about their plans
Speaker 1: and how their plans were changed rather dramatically. Absolutely, you're
Speaker 1: listening to Bloomberg Week. Coming up, we hear from an
Speaker 1: old friend, Jamie Metzel. He's a senior fellow over at
Speaker 1: the Atlantic Council. Also has his book out in paperback,
Speaker 1: Hacking Darwin. We're trying to hack everything these days. This
Speaker 1: is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol
Speaker 1: Masser and Jason Kelly from Bloomberg Radio, and today we're
Speaker 1: bringing you some of the most important and informative conversations
Speaker 1: we had on our daily Bloomberg Business Week radio show,
Speaker 1: all about the coronavirus again, all walks of life, everyone
Speaker 1: dealing with this crisis. Carol, that's right, And Jason, we
Speaker 1: had the opportunity to catch up with really a friend
Speaker 1: of our show, Jamie Metzel. He's a technology futurist, former
Speaker 1: director on the U s. National Security Council and the
Speaker 1: State Department and on the Foreign Relations Committee. He's now
Speaker 1: senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. He really gave us
Speaker 1: a snapshot of how our world might change as we
Speaker 1: know it. Yeah, So that's this crazy experience that we're
Speaker 1: having now, is that all of these trends that we
Speaker 1: thought would play out over ten twenty years are happening
Speaker 1: now because we're in this crisis. So you and I,
Speaker 1: Carol were both said, Jason, we're all here in New
Speaker 1: York and we the number of cases is overwhelming our
Speaker 1: health care system, and not only that, our healthcare providers
Speaker 1: are in themselves being infected. So we're relatively quickly going
Speaker 1: to come to a point we have more patients and
Speaker 1: not enough doctors, and so we're going to have to
Speaker 1: shift so that at least the first point of care
Speaker 1: is going to have to be artificial intelligence, so that
Speaker 1: if you have a symptom um, you you go online
Speaker 1: and you have an artificial intelligence agent basically a program,
Speaker 1: and everybody will have a home kit of a thermometer
Speaker 1: and a scale and a blood pressure cuff and a
Speaker 1: few other simple things, and you'll put in your symptoms
Speaker 1: and you'll put in your readings from home, and then
Speaker 1: you'll get a differential diagnosis. And if it's just um,
Speaker 1: here are some things you should just stay home and
Speaker 1: have chicken soup and liquids and rest a. I will
Speaker 1: tell you that if you need to be escalated, then
Speaker 1: the AI will refer you to a telemedicine general consult
Speaker 1: and then perhaps to a specialist telemedicine consult and only
Speaker 1: then to a human. So this whole thing now where
Speaker 1: you feel a symptom and go to the doctor, it's
Speaker 1: great for normal times, but it's probably not going to
Speaker 1: be possible in crisis times likeness. And so I guess
Speaker 1: one of the questions, Jamie, is what of crisis time
Speaker 1: will become normal in normal time. It's such a great question,
Speaker 1: and people, a lot of people have this feeling that
Speaker 1: what we're experiencing now is kind of like a snowstorm,
Speaker 1: that it's a big storm. We sit home, the plows
Speaker 1: come out, plows gets rid of the snow, the sun
Speaker 1: comes out, everything melts, and then we just go back
Speaker 1: to our lives. Old lives that we've had are never
Speaker 1: coming back in so many big ways. And so this
Speaker 1: shift to virtualization that we're all experiencing, it's going to happen.
Speaker 1: It's going to going to continue, not just in healthcare
Speaker 1: but in everything else. And our companies are taking a beating.
Speaker 1: They're not going to bring all these employees back. In
Speaker 1: expensive real estate across the economy that we're going to
Speaker 1: see big, big changes that are going to change the
Speaker 1: way we live and the way we work, and certainly
Speaker 1: the way we experience healthcare. Yeah, I mean we you know,
Speaker 1: we've had so many conversations about what will be lasting.
Speaker 1: It's interesting because here we have gone through this phase. UM.
Speaker 1: You know, we certainly have it in our office as
Speaker 1: you know, these open environments where all teams can walk
Speaker 1: into one another, you know, conversations across different parts of
Speaker 1: the business, UM, and that has seen as an advantage.
Speaker 1: But we are finding to some extent that we can
Speaker 1: do a fair amount of that through our virtual world,
Speaker 1: right absolutely. And on top of that, we're not going
Speaker 1: to go back toward anything that even feels normal until
Speaker 1: there's a vaccine. And I know we're hearing this, uh
Speaker 1: this twelve months as a as a possibility, but that's
Speaker 1: the ultimate dream scenario. That's everything going right with an
Speaker 1: order of magnitude better performance than we've ever had in
Speaker 1: the history of healthcare. UM. So it could be that
Speaker 1: it's eighteen months two years until we're able to be
Speaker 1: in those same kinds of physical environments. I was doing
Speaker 1: a Denver radio interview the other day and I told
Speaker 1: them that I didn't think it was very likely there
Speaker 1: was going to be a full stadium NFL football game
Speaker 1: anywhere in this country until and these guys they were
Speaker 1: planning on going going to the opening day later this year.
Speaker 1: And it's it's it's really, this is really big change.
Speaker 1: It's so hard to fathom where we're heading. So, Jamie,
Speaker 1: when you hear the president or other officials or even
Speaker 1: business folks start to talk about reopening the economy, you say,
Speaker 1: what not even close? Well, it depends on what we mean.
Speaker 1: We can't have we can't be totally hunkered down like
Speaker 1: we are now forever um. But we're not going to
Speaker 1: be able to just say everybody goes back, because again,
Speaker 1: until there's a vaccine, if we all go back to normal, um,
Speaker 1: we're going to have this same kind of explosion. What
Speaker 1: we're talking about is with is this exponential growth. So
Speaker 1: do I how will it work? Maybe some people will
Speaker 1: go back, Maybe we'll have some groups of kids who
Speaker 1: will go in small numbers to schools, maybe Monday, Wednesday,
Speaker 1: Friday group and a Tuesday, Thursday Saturday group, and and
Speaker 1: businesses will have to work that way. And somebody in
Speaker 1: the government very tragically is going to be doing a
Speaker 1: calculation about how much we opened the economy versus the
Speaker 1: number of people who at least until there's better treatments
Speaker 1: and a and a vaccine are going to die. And
Speaker 1: that's I mean that that's the you know, I'm sure
Speaker 1: you've had cast Sunstein on your on your your program,
Speaker 1: but that kind of calculation. The government does it all
Speaker 1: the time when they say, well, what should the speed
Speaker 1: limit be? They increase the speed limit, people go faster,
Speaker 1: but you'll have more fatalities. And sadly this calculus that
Speaker 1: we're going to tragically have to do. You know, Jamie,
Speaker 1: I wanted to pose a question to you that that
Speaker 1: came to me earlier when we were talking to our
Speaker 1: colleague Andy Brown, who runs our New Economy program, a
Speaker 1: New Economy forum that happened last year over in Beijing
Speaker 1: or just outside of Beijing. You are a China expert.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're an expert on men any things as
Speaker 1: we have laid out, um, but you know so much
Speaker 1: about China and specifically the relationship between the US and China,
Speaker 1: and I do think this has thrown that thrown that
Speaker 1: relationship which already was to say the least complicated over
Speaker 1: the trade war into a whole other category. What do
Speaker 1: you make of it right now, especially at a time
Speaker 1: when man and I know I'm being a little pollyannish
Speaker 1: about this, but if those two superpowers could get together,
Speaker 1: I do feel like we could make some progress on this,
Speaker 1: right Yeah. So, well, the good news is on the
Speaker 1: scientific level, our scientists are actually working pretty closely together,
Speaker 1: and that's positive. But I was on a big, a
Speaker 1: big global call where we had scientists from China, scientists
Speaker 1: from Italy, and scientists from the United States and elsewhere,
Speaker 1: so that that is happening. But in terms of big
Speaker 1: power politics, I mean, this is really really dangerous. I mean,
Speaker 1: first there was all the name calling, and I think
Speaker 1: that it's just undoubtedly true that China's massive failure at
Speaker 1: the beginning of this, you know, helped exacerbate this, uh,
Speaker 1: this problem in a very very big way, and we're
Speaker 1: all suffering as a result. Um. But the total failure
Speaker 1: of the Trump administration to prepare, even when we had
Speaker 1: the warning signs out of China in January and US
Speaker 1: intelligence was raising the alarm that the reason why so
Speaker 1: many people are dying here in New York and elsewhere.
Speaker 1: Is not just because of China, it's also because of
Speaker 1: the total failure of the U S response. That's the
Speaker 1: starting point, but we have to work together to get
Speaker 1: there from here. I was just hearing and when I
Speaker 1: was waiting to come on about Tim Cook having supplies made,
Speaker 1: uh and Apple having supplies made that are going to
Speaker 1: save people's lives here. Where are those supplies being made?
Speaker 1: You didn't mention in your report, but I would bet
Speaker 1: anything They're not being made here in the United States,
Speaker 1: are being made in China that has figured out a
Speaker 1: better way than we have to address this problem. And
Speaker 1: if we don't learn from China, in spite of all
Speaker 1: of the problems that we have in our relationship, we're
Speaker 1: going to harm ourselves. So I totally agree with you, Jason.
Speaker 1: We have to find a way to collaborate well. And
Speaker 1: I think you know China in particular, um, Jamie, they
Speaker 1: have had to deal with other health issues before, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, this was a society a country
Speaker 1: that has dealt with similar things, whether we go back
Speaker 1: to stars and some other you know, health situations, even
Speaker 1: just dealing with their air, you know. So I feel
Speaker 1: like they were certainly well ahead of us in kind
Speaker 1: of understanding, you know, how this can disrupt kind of
Speaker 1: your life as you know it. That's exactly right, and
Speaker 1: that that was one of the problems. You mentioned. My
Speaker 1: background in China and Asia. So when this thing first
Speaker 1: started happening and I was seeing the alarm bells coming
Speaker 1: out of China, I talked to my brother, who's a
Speaker 1: doctor here in New York, and I said, look, this
Speaker 1: is really big deal. Found the alarm and he went
Speaker 1: and spoke to to the one of the doctors, the
Speaker 1: infectious disease guy in his hospital, and that guy said,
Speaker 1: oh no, this is all overblown. This is just the flu.
Speaker 1: And I think the problem was in China and in
Speaker 1: across Asia, when they had this experience, they fought stars
Speaker 1: and they mobilized right away because they knew how scary stars.
Speaker 1: We were spared a lot of the pain of stars,
Speaker 1: so we thought flu, and because flu was our paradigm,
Speaker 1: we weren't. We weren't ready for it, and that's I
Speaker 1: think we're still suffering as a result of it. That's
Speaker 1: Jamie Metzl, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, catching up
Speaker 1: with him. He was in New York. Jason He's often
Speaker 1: our go to person when it comes to things in
Speaker 1: the government, uh technology, watching how our world is changing,
Speaker 1: and I really felt like he had some really big
Speaker 1: ideas about what it looks like on the other side
Speaker 1: of the virus. Well and timely too, because his book
Speaker 1: out in paperback this week. You want to pick that up.
Speaker 1: It's a good quarantine in many ways, Hacking Darwin all
Speaker 1: about artificial intelligence sort of where we're going because we
Speaker 1: are trying to figure out the human body, of the
Speaker 1: human genome, all sorts of things to cope with crises.
Speaker 1: Just like this. All right, that wraps up the first
Speaker 1: hour of the weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week from
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Radio. I'm Jason Kelly and I'm Carol Mass. Are
Speaker 1: plenty coming up in our next hour, including we hear
Speaker 1: from Susan Line, longtime media executive. She's now investing in
Speaker 1: female run companies. Will catch up with her, talk to
Speaker 1: her about her portfolio, and just also about the world
Speaker 1: at large, how media might change as a result of
Speaker 1: the virus. Absolutely in, Peter Gleistein may be lesser known
Speaker 1: to many of our listeners, but if you know anything
Speaker 1: about Wall Street, you know this is a guy who
Speaker 1: has been in the midst of crises before. He was
Speaker 1: a right hand man to Jimmy Lee at JP Morgan
Speaker 1: through so many amazing moments in Wall Street, right in
Speaker 1: the midst of the credit crisis that we're experiencing right now.
Speaker 1: And then, of course, if you know anything about the
Speaker 1: world of sports, you got to know John Wortheim, he's
Speaker 1: executive editor, senior writer for Sports Illustrated, contributing correspondent for
Speaker 1: CBS sixty minutes. What he had to say about how
Speaker 1: our world changes. That really stayed with me. All of
Speaker 1: that coming out. This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Business Week from Bloomberg Radio. Hello, I'm Carol Masser and
Speaker 1: I'm Jason Kelly. Today we're bringing you some of the
Speaker 1: most important, we hope informative conversations we had this week
Speaker 1: on our daily Bloomberg Business Week radio show, Carol and Jason.
Speaker 1: One of the conversations both of us we're looking forward
Speaker 1: to was John Wortheim, he's executive editor, senior writer for
Speaker 1: Sports Illustrated, contributing correspondent for CBS sixty minutes. We both
Speaker 1: wanted to ask him how the world's going to change
Speaker 1: when it comes to sports. Also, Susan Lyne. We loved
Speaker 1: catching up with her as well. She ran ABC Entertainment.
Speaker 1: Now she's investing in startups around technology, a little bit
Speaker 1: of media and man, uh, that world has changed. But
Speaker 1: first up Peter Glystein. He's the CEO and c I
Speaker 1: O over at a g L Credit. They are in
Speaker 1: the midst of the credit piece of this crisis. But
Speaker 1: he's also a guy who's worked on Wall Street for
Speaker 1: four decades. He's seen some things and he has some
Speaker 1: lessons to share. Listening in the business that we're in,
Speaker 1: in the asset classes that that we manage is designed
Speaker 1: to write it out and and has historically. But we
Speaker 1: don't know what this storm is going to be like.
Speaker 1: I do think it's in In over the four decades
Speaker 1: that I've been in credit UM, nothing remotely approaches the
Speaker 1: extent of the crisis that we're facing. And and and
Speaker 1: that's I think mainly because it's being driven by human behavior.
Speaker 1: It's not being driven by UM a manufacturing plant laying
Speaker 1: laying off expercent of its employees and demand being curtailed,
Speaker 1: or the FED rising interest rates. This is behavior driven
Speaker 1: and we don't know how far this is the pandemic
Speaker 1: is going to drive behavior, how it's going to change behavior.
Speaker 1: And we also don't know how how um deep and
Speaker 1: long the recession will be UM So those are huge unknowns.
Speaker 1: And I would just add that unlike prior recessions and
Speaker 1: market crisis, this is much more multifaceted in terms of
Speaker 1: what's happening and what could happen. I mean, we've never
Speaker 1: really faced the situation where whole industries are confronting revenue evaporation,
Speaker 1: not revenue decline, but evaporation. So it's quite serious, right, Peter,
Speaker 1: to make the comparison to the financial crisis isn't accurate,
Speaker 1: is it? I don't think so at all. Um. The
Speaker 1: the financial crisis was stimulated by engendered by a lack
Speaker 1: of liquidity and financing. So the global financial system was
Speaker 1: in the financial crisis rapidly decapitalized money. Capital was sucked
Speaker 1: out of it by so many assets being on a
Speaker 1: market value basis and and losing their value, and banks
Speaker 1: and other institutions being overextended and they were threw credit.
Speaker 1: And there's a lot of forse selling, a lot of leverage,
Speaker 1: and a lot of force selling. Here we have the opposite,
Speaker 1: we don't have in the sense of the strength of
Speaker 1: the financial system and the banks, UM, they're in a
Speaker 1: very strong position. UM. But every kind of person, business entity,
Speaker 1: including not for profits, are confronting, UM a huge curtailment,
Speaker 1: if not cessation of activity for an unknown yet unknown
Speaker 1: period of time. So what the what added the surface level,
Speaker 1: what I'll call what the kind of traditional recessionary effects
Speaker 1: of that are remain unknown. But even more seriously I
Speaker 1: think is what what longer term including structural um damage
Speaker 1: and change UM you know, will be wrought by all
Speaker 1: of this. UM. I do think clearly that we'll get
Speaker 1: through it and there will be some maybe long term,
Speaker 1: some some good effects, some good things might come out
Speaker 1: of this trauma. But between now and then, there'll be
Speaker 1: a huge amount of change disruption, right uh. And and Peter,
Speaker 1: would you say structural change? Are you talking about sort
Speaker 1: of economic structure in terms? Because I feel like that
Speaker 1: goes back to your initial point about human behavior, Like
Speaker 1: we don't know exactly what the structural changes are going
Speaker 1: to be because so much of it is going to
Speaker 1: be dictated by how we act as consumers and businesses,
Speaker 1: right exactly. So I'm not the first person to make
Speaker 1: this point. But UM, a couple of things could happen.
Speaker 1: First of all, it's possible that people will love sports
Speaker 1: and entertainment even more than before, but they may only
Speaker 1: they may decide in the future of the only experience
Speaker 1: that virtually as Yeah, for we're all learning how effective.
Speaker 1: So a g L is working fully remotely and very effectively,
Speaker 1: and um they're terrific tools that enable that. So we
Speaker 1: all may think of offices differently, and if we do that,
Speaker 1: what's going to happen to commercial real estates? So there's
Speaker 1: just so many unintended consequences that we don't understand yet.
Speaker 1: And I'll lead on to say that, UM, I think
Speaker 1: the all the markets will continue to be very volatile
Speaker 1: because with this degree of unprecedented uncertainty one UM analysts
Speaker 1: and others can't really create the dimensionality around which you
Speaker 1: can create models to valuation purposes. They're just there's just
Speaker 1: too many variables and interacting differently and they defy they
Speaker 1: defy being modeled. So we will have will have instability
Speaker 1: until things settled down and we can reach reach that stage.
Speaker 1: And that's Peter Gleiston, the CEO and c i O
Speaker 1: at a g L credit it and Carol, this is
Speaker 1: a guy you just want to hear from at a
Speaker 1: time like this. Very calm, He's seen some things. He's
Speaker 1: got great perspective, and I really appreciated some of the
Speaker 1: comparisons that he made to crises that we've seen before.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week. Coming up, we're going
Speaker 1: to hear from longtime media executive Susan Line. She now
Speaker 1: runs her own shop BYBG Ventures. She's investing in a
Speaker 1: portfolio of companies run by women. So what she had
Speaker 1: to say about the media landscape and also check in
Speaker 1: with how her businesses are doing. A smart conversation that's
Speaker 1: coming up. This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week with Carol Masser and Jason Kelly from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: We're bringing you some of the most important and informative
Speaker 1: conversations that we had throughout the week on our daily
Speaker 1: radio show. Of course, all of it relating back to
Speaker 1: the coronavirus, and we were really pleased to catch up
Speaker 1: with Susan Line. Carol, someone you've spent a lot of
Speaker 1: time with. She's the founder managing partner over at BBG
Speaker 1: ventures a long history in the media space. She ran
Speaker 1: Martha Stewart's Empire, she ran ABC Entertainment. She's done a
Speaker 1: lot out there in the world, so she understands media certainly,
Speaker 1: but also a good conversation about how life may change
Speaker 1: on the other side of this, you know, this is
Speaker 1: the giants question out there. UM. I think we know
Speaker 1: the near term impacts, I think uh, and I'm happy
Speaker 1: to talk about some of the things we're seeing. I
Speaker 1: think the the more interesting piece of this is whether
Speaker 1: it will create UM behavior changes over time. How much
Speaker 1: of what we are are being forced to do now
Speaker 1: will actually become part of our work lives or as
Speaker 1: you say, learning lives or um or just the way
Speaker 1: we live UM. And that I think will take time
Speaker 1: to really understand. But there are certain things that that
Speaker 1: I have to believe will never or completely go back.
Speaker 1: You know, I can't imagine that companies are going to
Speaker 1: go back to spending as much on business travel, for example,
Speaker 1: because everyone has been forced to figure out how to
Speaker 1: do business across country using Zoom or whatever, uh, whatever
Speaker 1: video product your company h uses. UM, And there's a
Speaker 1: ton you can get done, There's no question, and it
Speaker 1: can be very intimate in fact, so uh, things like that,
Speaker 1: I think you're going to have, um, a much bigger
Speaker 1: impact than just keeping us in for a couple of months.
Speaker 1: And what do you Let's let's continue to talk about that,
Speaker 1: because this is the most fascinating piece of this to
Speaker 1: to me. Honestly, Susan and Carol and I talked about
Speaker 1: it on air off air all the time. We talked
Speaker 1: about it within our company because we are seeing things differently, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, working from home candidly, spending more time with
Speaker 1: our families in many cases, I I hope, you know,
Speaker 1: more balanced parenting in some ways, they'm not so tired anymore.
Speaker 1: So what's the net effect of that, you think? I
Speaker 1: think that, Look, I hope it's going to have um
Speaker 1: uh lasting impact on things like co parenting. That would
Speaker 1: be a beautiful thing. UM. And certainly I think there's
Speaker 1: a lot of men out there who are realizing, UM,
Speaker 1: there's great pleasure in doing a lot more with their
Speaker 1: their families and maybe they were able to do when
Speaker 1: they were working sixteen hours a day. UM. I do
Speaker 1: think that there will be more working from home, just
Speaker 1: no question about it. There's a um there's value in it.
Speaker 1: For companies. Uh, maybe not full time and certainly not
Speaker 1: for your entire team as who are forced to do
Speaker 1: right now. But there's a lot of job that can
Speaker 1: be done remotely, and there are a lot of days
Speaker 1: in the week I think when you could organize things
Speaker 1: to do your work from a home office. So I
Speaker 1: do think that is going to have um uh runover
Speaker 1: effect um and I think there's going to be demands
Speaker 1: on both sides of the table for it. I think
Speaker 1: there are our companies who's who are going to realize
Speaker 1: they can be more efficient by doing this, and I
Speaker 1: think there are people in all levels of jobs who
Speaker 1: are going to say, you know what, I want to
Speaker 1: work from home two days a week. Well, listen, like
Speaker 1: I think even you know, TV, television, radio, who would
Speaker 1: have thought you mean, Jason and I are both you
Speaker 1: know where a state apart, where forty miles apart, and
Speaker 1: we're doing you know, a co anchored show and television.
Speaker 1: We've all seen people from their homes who would have
Speaker 1: thought that we would be able to do. I'm not
Speaker 1: saying that the you know there were the most important
Speaker 1: into tree hardly, but it would have been one of
Speaker 1: those things you're like, no, you can't do that from home? Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: we can. Yeah, absolutely, And I think it's um. Someone
Speaker 1: said to me the other day that that they've seen
Speaker 1: the inside of people's homes and apartments so much more
Speaker 1: frequently in the last three weeks than they ever had
Speaker 1: in their lifetime. So there's there's definitely things you learn
Speaker 1: about your coworkers too, when, uh, when you're operating like this.
Speaker 1: So Susan line back with us. Susan, thanks for hanging on.
Speaker 1: Gotta ask you, you know, given all of your experience
Speaker 1: in the media world, what do you make of the
Speaker 1: media world right now? We're at such an interesting inflection
Speaker 1: point and we're testing all these different things given everybody
Speaker 1: streaming and consuming in a different way, what do you
Speaker 1: see out there? Yeah? Look, I think this is a
Speaker 1: really interesting moment um, certainly for as you said, streaming media.
Speaker 1: I think it's obviously much tougher for for scripted media.
Speaker 1: For entertainment, Um, there's tons of it being consumed right now,
Speaker 1: but until and unless they can get back to actually producing, um,
Speaker 1: it's going to be far more difficult. But there's no
Speaker 1: question moments like this, uh make people hungry to understand
Speaker 1: what's going on. In the world and hungry too, you know,
Speaker 1: be entertained to laugh. And there are so many options
Speaker 1: for for viewing at this moment. I think the mainstream media,
Speaker 1: what you can see just by the ratings numbers, UM,
Speaker 1: they've doubled their audience in some cases even more than
Speaker 1: that for what we consider mainstream media, things like cable
Speaker 1: news UM. And I think that will continue for a while.
Speaker 1: But I think the issue is is how do you
Speaker 1: keep that kind of UM. I would say, solution to
Speaker 1: what people need, what people want on a daily basis,
Speaker 1: once they're not completely isolated and uh and once they're UM,
Speaker 1: they're no longer concerned about the immediate health threat and
Speaker 1: that Susan Line, founder managing partner of BBG Ventures. Man,
Speaker 1: I just really got a lot of that conversation. I
Speaker 1: have to say I was thinking about it a lot afterwards.
Speaker 1: Carol Well, and she's so thoughtful, she really thinks before
Speaker 1: she answers her questions. I mean, this is someone who,
Speaker 1: as we said earlier, president of ABC Entertainment to Ran
Speaker 1: Martha Stewart Omnimedia oversaw a o L directed the board
Speaker 1: of Guilt Groups. She's now investing, you know, venture capital
Speaker 1: into companies that are built by women. She said some
Speaker 1: thoughts about Quimby. We caught up with Meg Whitman earlier
Speaker 1: about how you monetize these streaming services, but again I'm
Speaker 1: so glad we got more time with her. You're listening
Speaker 1: to Bloomberg Business Week. Coming up Joe Lonsdale, partner at
Speaker 1: eight VC, co founder of Palinteer. We talked with him
Speaker 1: about how Silicon Valley is trying to rise to the
Speaker 1: challenge of the coronavirus pandemic. This is Bloomberg. You're listening
Speaker 1: to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason Kelly
Speaker 1: from Bloomberg Radio. We're bringing you some of the most
Speaker 1: important and informative conversations that we had throughout the week
Speaker 1: on our daily radio show. Of course, all of it
Speaker 1: relating back to the coronavirus. And we were really pleased
Speaker 1: to catch up with Susan Line. Carrols someone you've spent
Speaker 1: a lot of time with. She's the founder managing partner
Speaker 1: over at BBG Ventures. A long history in the media space.
Speaker 1: She ran Martha Stewart's Empire, she ran ABC Entertainment. She's
Speaker 1: done a lot out there in the world. So she
Speaker 1: understands media certainly, but also a good conversation about how
Speaker 1: life may change on the other side of this. You know,
Speaker 1: this is the giant question out there. UM. I think
Speaker 1: we know the near term impacts, I think, UH, and
Speaker 1: I'm happy to talk about some of the things we're seeing.
Speaker 1: I think the the more interesting piece of this is
Speaker 1: whether it will create UM behavior changes over time. How
Speaker 1: much of what we are are being forced to do
Speaker 1: now will actually become part of our work lives or
Speaker 1: as you say, learning lives or UM or just the
Speaker 1: way we live UM. And that I think will take
Speaker 1: time to really understand. But there are certain things that
Speaker 1: that I have to believe will never completely go back.
Speaker 1: You know, I can't imagine that companies are going to
Speaker 1: go back to spending as much on business travel, for example,
Speaker 1: because everyone has been forced to figure out how to
Speaker 1: do business across country UM using zoom or whatever, uh,
Speaker 1: whatever video product your company h uses UM, and there's
Speaker 1: a ton you can get done. There's no question, and
Speaker 1: it can be very intimate in fact. So uh, it
Speaker 1: seems like that I think you're going to have UM
Speaker 1: a much bigger impact than just keeping us in for
Speaker 1: a couple of months. And what do you Let's let's
Speaker 1: continue to talk about that, because this is the most
Speaker 1: fascinating piece of this to to me. Honestly, Susan and
Speaker 1: Carol and I talked about it on air off air
Speaker 1: all the time. We talked about it within our company
Speaker 1: because we are seeing things differently, uh, you know, working
Speaker 1: from home candidly, spending more time with our families in
Speaker 1: many cases, I hope, you know, more balanced parenting in
Speaker 1: some ways, I'm not so tired anymore. So what's the
Speaker 1: net effect of that, you think? I think that. Look,
Speaker 1: I hope it's going to have um uh lasting impact
Speaker 1: on things like co parenting. That would be a beautiful thing. Um.
Speaker 1: And certainly I think there's a lot of men out
Speaker 1: there who are realizing, um, there's great pleasure in doing
Speaker 1: a lot more with their their families and maybe they
Speaker 1: were able to do when they were working sixteen hours
Speaker 1: a day. UM. I do think that there will be
Speaker 1: more working from home, just no question about it. There's
Speaker 1: a UM there's value in it for companies. Uh. Maybe
Speaker 1: not full time and certainly not for your entire team
Speaker 1: as who are forced to do right now, but there's
Speaker 1: a lot of jobs that can be done remotely, and
Speaker 1: there are a lot of days in the week I
Speaker 1: think when you could organize things to do your work
Speaker 1: from a home office. So I do think that is
Speaker 1: going to have um uh runover effect um and I
Speaker 1: think there's going to be demands on both sides of
Speaker 1: the table for it. I think there are our companies
Speaker 1: who's who are going to realize they can be more
Speaker 1: efficient by doing this. And I think there are people
Speaker 1: in all levels of jobs who are going to say,
Speaker 1: you know what, I want to work from home to
Speaker 1: day to week. Well, listen, like I think even you know, TV, television, radio,
Speaker 1: who would have thought you mean, Jason and I are
Speaker 1: both you know where a state apart, where forty miles apart,
Speaker 1: and we're doing you know, a co anchored show and television.
Speaker 1: We've all seen people from their homes who would have
Speaker 1: thought that we would be able to do I'm not
Speaker 1: saying that, you know there were the most important industry hardly,
Speaker 1: but it would have been one of those things you're like, no,
Speaker 1: you can't do that from home, Well yeah we can, yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: And I think it's um Someone said to me the
Speaker 1: other day that that they've seen the inside of peoples
Speaker 1: homes and apartments so much more frequently in the last
Speaker 1: three weeks than they ever had in their lifetime. So
Speaker 1: there's there's definitely things you learn about your coworkers too when, uh,
Speaker 1: when you're operating like this. So Susan line back with us. Susan,
Speaker 1: thanks for hanging on. I got to ask you, you know,
Speaker 1: given all of your experience in the media world, what
Speaker 1: do you make of the media world right now? We're
Speaker 1: at such an interesting inflection point and we're testing all
Speaker 1: these different things, given everybody streaming and consuming in a
Speaker 1: different way, what do you see out there? Yeah, look,
Speaker 1: I think this is a really interesting moment um, certainly
Speaker 1: for as you said, streaming media. I think it's obviously
Speaker 1: much tougher for for scripted media. For entertainment, Um, there's
Speaker 1: tons of it being consumed right now. But until and
Speaker 1: less I can get back to actually producing, um, it's
Speaker 1: going to be far more difficult. But there's no question
Speaker 1: moments like this, uh make people hungry to understand what's
Speaker 1: going on in the world, and hungry too, you know,
Speaker 1: be entertained to laugh. And there are so many options
Speaker 1: for for viewing at this moment. I think the mainstream
Speaker 1: media what you can see just by the ratings numbers. UM,
Speaker 1: they've doubled their audience in some cases even more than
Speaker 1: that for what we consider mainstream media things like cable news. UM.
Speaker 1: And I think that will continue for a while. But
Speaker 1: I think the issue is how do you keep that
Speaker 1: kind of UM. I would say, solution to what people need,
Speaker 1: what people want on a daily basis, once they're not
Speaker 1: completely isolated and uh and once they're UM, they're no
Speaker 1: longer concerned about the immediate health threat and that Susan Line, founder,
Speaker 1: managing partner of BBG Ventures Man. I just really got
Speaker 1: a lot of that conversation. I have to say I
Speaker 1: was thinking about it a lot afterwards. Carol Well, and
Speaker 1: she's so thoughtful. She really thinks before she answers her questions.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is someone who, as we said earlier,
Speaker 1: president of ABC Entertainment to Ran Martha Stewart Omnimedia oversaw
Speaker 1: a o L directed the board of Guilt Groups. She's
Speaker 1: now investing, you know, venture capital into companies that are
Speaker 1: built by women. She said some thoughts about Quimby. We
Speaker 1: caught up with Meg Whitman earlier about how you monetize
Speaker 1: these streaming services but again, I'm so glad we got
Speaker 1: some more time with her. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week.
Speaker 1: Coming up Joe Lonsdale, partner at eight VC, co founder
Speaker 1: of Palanteer. We talked with him about how Silicon Valley
Speaker 1: is trying to rise to the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with
Speaker 1: Carol Masser and Jason Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. We're bringing
Speaker 1: you some of the most important and informative conversations that
Speaker 1: we had on our daily radio show about COVID nineteen
Speaker 1: this week. And we were so excited Carroll to check
Speaker 1: in with John Wortheim. You know, normally would be a
Speaker 1: few months kids before we talked to him. We'd be
Speaker 1: out on the grounds of the Billy Jene King Tennis
Speaker 1: Center there in Queens. But we had to get to
Speaker 1: him sooner because the world of tennis, the world of sports,
Speaker 1: it has changed. Check it out. Well, we're not in
Speaker 1: a great place, honestly. I mean, one of tennis's great
Speaker 1: virtues is it's global cast. But in this case that
Speaker 1: is a liability, and so this is a sport where
Speaker 1: everyone's on a plane almost every week, and players come
Speaker 1: from all over and it's really been tough. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's no guaranteed contracts, there's no players union. Um, Roger
Speaker 1: Federer's gonna be just fine, Serena Williams is going to
Speaker 1: be just fine. But there are a lot of players
Speaker 1: who are run of the mill, you know, very respectable,
Speaker 1: serviceable pros, that are really feeling the pinch right now.
Speaker 1: And I think the big question too, and I think
Speaker 1: we see this in all sports, is just the uncertainty
Speaker 1: and if you blow out your knee, the doctor will say,
Speaker 1: here's your rehab schedule, and if everything goes well, you'll
Speaker 1: be back by September. And if you have a rain delay,
Speaker 1: you can look at the weather map and you can
Speaker 1: prepare when the baseball game is going to resume. I
Speaker 1: think just the fact that there is no endpoint here
Speaker 1: has really been something that's been very destabilizing to to
Speaker 1: a lot of athletes who I think have lost some
Speaker 1: some sense of purpose here and they're just not quite
Speaker 1: sure how hard to train. It's it's been very strange time,
Speaker 1: and certainly uh ted tennis players among them. So what
Speaker 1: kind of assistance could be coming their way is being
Speaker 1: asked for. I think about you know, each of these
Speaker 1: individual athletes to some extent are kind of a mini
Speaker 1: small business potentially, and I do wonder. You know, we've
Speaker 1: certainly got gotten small business assistance, you know, from the
Speaker 1: federal government, but I'm just curious if there's any kind
Speaker 1: of assistance, you know, coming their way. It's certainly I'm assuming,
Speaker 1: is being asked for. It's a great question. I've thought
Speaker 1: about that too. You're absolutely right. I mean, these players
Speaker 1: are basically that they're independent contractors, and you're right, there's
Speaker 1: they're basically small business owners, and I wonder about their eligibility.
Speaker 1: There has been talk about setting up some kind of
Speaker 1: a fund for players. I mean, the good news is
Speaker 1: that they're not incurring expenses. So it's very expensive to
Speaker 1: fly all over the world and employ a coach and
Speaker 1: a trainer and a physio and get massages and rackets strong.
Speaker 1: I mean, the good news is that none of them, none,
Speaker 1: none of the players really have those expenses right now.
Speaker 1: But it's unclear. I mean, both both tours, the a
Speaker 1: t P, which is the men's tour, in the w
Speaker 1: T which is the women's are allegedly coming up with
Speaker 1: some sort of a relief program. There's also the question
Speaker 1: of how deep does this go. I mean, there are
Speaker 1: more than a thousand players that have rankings. Do you
Speaker 1: fund the guy rank number five hundred or do you
Speaker 1: limit this to just the kind of players that you
Speaker 1: and I would see at the US Open. Uh, so far,
Speaker 1: it's been a lot of discussions and not a lot
Speaker 1: of check being cut right, And and I guess one
Speaker 1: of the questions sort of kind of synthesizings of this
Speaker 1: together is we don't know what what the endpoint is.
Speaker 1: We saw the French Open come out and sort of
Speaker 1: make their move, We saw Wimbledon get canceled all together.
Speaker 1: We're still waiting, I believe, to hear from the US Open.
Speaker 1: How much did the French kind of to put not
Speaker 1: to find appointent sort of mess this up for everybody. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we should point out that the French Open, which is
Speaker 1: traditionally uh starts around Memorial Day. The French Open said
Speaker 1: we're canceling, and then a few days later they said, oh,
Speaker 1: and by the way, we're going to grab this date
Speaker 1: on the calendar in late September and early October, and uh,
Speaker 1: everybody else in tender said wait a second, you can't
Speaker 1: do that, and the French open said we're going to
Speaker 1: offer fifty million dollars in prize money. Um, it's interesting.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know if you saw the UFC,
Speaker 1: how's this mystery I land where they're gonna hold Kate.
Speaker 1: I said that it's fascinating because it's honestly, yes, sort
Speaker 1: of say this is crazy, this is borderline irresponsible, and
Speaker 1: by the way, why not. And I think tennis actually
Speaker 1: is in a position. Look, you've got two players are
Speaker 1: on the other sides of the net. You don't have
Speaker 1: the social distancing issues you have with contact sports or
Speaker 1: sports like basketball. You need about five cameras to cover tennis.
Speaker 1: And I'm taking tennis actually lends itself to some creative
Speaker 1: problem solving here. So I don't know if we're gonna
Speaker 1: see Roger Federer on a private island, but I wouldn't
Speaker 1: be surprised if people got sort of entrepreneurial about tennis
Speaker 1: here pretty fast. So we talked tennis, we talked a
Speaker 1: little bit of UFC there, John, the whole world of
Speaker 1: sports though, I mean, we think about the NFL, we
Speaker 1: think about the NBA, we think about Major League Baseball,
Speaker 1: all sorts of contingency plans being made, the President speaking
Speaker 1: with the big commissioners last weekend. What I mean, you're
Speaker 1: talking to people all the time about this. What happens next?
Speaker 1: When it comes especially to professional sports, it's a great question.
Speaker 1: I mean, usually in times of crisis, sports bring us together,
Speaker 1: and whether it's nine eleven or Katrina or war, sports
Speaker 1: have this sort of unifying quality. In this case, I
Speaker 1: can't think of anything worse since but I mean, you've
Speaker 1: got this communicable infectious disease, You've got this terrible virus,
Speaker 1: and what could be worse in putting sixty people in
Speaker 1: one place and telling them to all stand uh in
Speaker 1: tight quarters and then all go down the same escalator
Speaker 1: when the game is over. Um. So it's really problematic.
Speaker 1: I mean sports are sort of about about the worst
Speaker 1: thing you can do for this virus. UM. I think
Speaker 1: the big question is just how creative are sports willing
Speaker 1: to get? And somebody said, hey, we should play the
Speaker 1: NBA playoffs on a cruise ship. Well, I don't know
Speaker 1: if that's such a ridiculous idea. I mean, the sports
Speaker 1: f really been moving towards the viewer at home. The
Speaker 1: viewer on their phone and away from the family arena.
Speaker 1: The media rights matter more than ever. Maybe this will
Speaker 1: accelerate that, But I think this, I think sports are
Speaker 1: going to sort of have to decide how creative they're
Speaker 1: willing to get. And we keep hearing about this closed
Speaker 1: door scenario where games are played, um, not in front
Speaker 1: of fans, but just so that they're TV cameras and
Speaker 1: we can all watch these at home. I think sub
Speaker 1: sports are sort of lending themselves to that more than
Speaker 1: other sub sports are. Pre the NFL, they're only eight
Speaker 1: home games though, Yeah, but put the put the games
Speaker 1: on TV, and doesn't matter if they're fans in the
Speaker 1: stands are not. There's some logistical you know, there's some
Speaker 1: logistical challenges there, but I just you know, we keep
Speaker 1: talking about flattening the curve and when we're gonna get
Speaker 1: back to some symbols of normalcy, I think sports are
Speaker 1: gonna be about the last thing, uh to resume, just
Speaker 1: because the idea of packing twenty fans into an arena
Speaker 1: to watch a basketball game is about the worst thing
Speaker 1: you can imagine. So it's it's really interesting and I think, um,
Speaker 1: you know, we we've obviously never had anything like this.
Speaker 1: But I think sports are going to have to figure
Speaker 1: out sort of how how creative they're willing to get
Speaker 1: because you know, the the NFL starting the first Sunday
Speaker 1: in September doesn't seem particularly likely right now, right So, John,
Speaker 1: so this is something in terms of the sports world,
Speaker 1: at least in your view. Do you anticipate that in
Speaker 1: one easily We're still dealing with the after effects of
Speaker 1: it on the sports world. You know, I'm reluctant to
Speaker 1: sort of speculate too much. I mean, I feel like
Speaker 1: we all need to kind of respect the unknown here. Ideally,
Speaker 1: you know, when when there's a vaccine, I think it's
Speaker 1: a different ballgame. But I don't know. I mean, we
Speaker 1: would you let me, let me turn this on you guys,
Speaker 1: would would would you guys go to a game or
Speaker 1: game in the fall? Yeah? A lot of people have
Speaker 1: to say yeah, exactly. And you know, and we we
Speaker 1: know this, We know this from how we got into
Speaker 1: this message. It only takes one person, and you know,
Speaker 1: the idea of of standing in road twenty three for
Speaker 1: three hours thousands of other It's just I don't know,
Speaker 1: even if the games are held, I'm not sure how
Speaker 1: many people actually show up anyway, But I think, you know,
Speaker 1: it's who knows what's going to happen, But I think
Speaker 1: could be a wash basically. Yeah, well it's been interesting
Speaker 1: to see you know, we talked about tennis, but also
Speaker 1: to see golf trying to deal with this, which I
Speaker 1: feel like it goes back to something you said at
Speaker 1: the top of the conversation, which is, you know, very
Speaker 1: international sport. You think about putting something on like the Masters,
Speaker 1: the concern is as much for the players right as
Speaker 1: the fans, So you play it without fans, but you've
Speaker 1: still got people coming from from all over the world,
Speaker 1: and while you're not you know, like doing a lot
Speaker 1: of physical interaction with each other, and there're still you know,
Speaker 1: there is still is some sense of proximity. But I
Speaker 1: guess there's also a huge amount of money on the
Speaker 1: line here, and the economics get pretty complicated. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I think this is a sort of a classic struggle
Speaker 1: right between between health and and finan I mean, we
Speaker 1: see this in our our daily uh you know, in
Speaker 1: our daily presidential press briefing, tension between public health and
Speaker 1: this this economic crisis and health crisis. But I I
Speaker 1: think you made a sport linked golf, a sport like tennis.
Speaker 1: There's only one locker room. And a tennis player made
Speaker 1: this point to me, and I think it's a really
Speaker 1: good point, which is, listen, we all want to get
Speaker 1: back out there, we all want to be making money.
Speaker 1: This has been financially devastating. But it takes one player's
Speaker 1: racket stringer who is on the back of a flight
Speaker 1: from Slovenia. I mean, it's just the flukiest interaction, and
Speaker 1: you're talking about dozens and dozens of players all in
Speaker 1: one locker room, and you know it, it just takes
Speaker 1: one positive. And we saw this with you know, with
Speaker 1: with the soccer game in northern Italy. It just takes
Speaker 1: one positive. And I think you're right. Even if there
Speaker 1: are no fans in the stands, you still have You've
Speaker 1: got players, you've got officials, someone's kind of operates those cameras,
Speaker 1: someone's got to be in the broadcast. And suddenly, even
Speaker 1: in this this closed door scenario, even without selling a
Speaker 1: single ticket, you're still talking about hundreds and hundreds of
Speaker 1: people on the ground. Um. So yeah, I think that
Speaker 1: the threshold for when is it healthy enough and when
Speaker 1: are we economically desperate enough to something that's gonna be
Speaker 1: really interesting the Monitor, and that's John Wortheim, executive editor
Speaker 1: of Sports Illustrated, also a contributing correspondent to sixty Minutes.
Speaker 1: We were so excited to catch up with him, and
Speaker 1: man did he deliver, Carol, really thought provoking. That was
Speaker 1: one of those conversations that I got off air. I
Speaker 1: went down, I had dinner with my family and said,
Speaker 1: all right, I've got some thoughts. Well, I have to
Speaker 1: say when he was talking to us, I was jotting
Speaker 1: all these notes about how could be a wash when
Speaker 1: it comes to sports, and then he just said, our
Speaker 1: world at large, it's a pivot point in history. And
Speaker 1: that really stayed with me as well. Alright, pivot point
Speaker 1: in history. That's a good way to wrap up the
Speaker 1: weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for joining us. I'm Jason Kelly and
Speaker 1: I'm Carol Masser. Be short of tune into Bloomberg Business
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