Speaker 1: From the heart of were Innovation, money and power, CALLI
Speaker 1: in Silicon Valley and Beyon this is Bloomberg Technology with
Speaker 1: Emily Jay. I'm Caroline Hyde in New York in Family
Speaker 1: Cha and this is Bloomberg Technology. Coming up in the
Speaker 1: next hour. Details on a report that Elon Musk's deal
Speaker 1: to buy Twitter is in serious jeopardy Washington Post saying
Speaker 1: that Musk's team has stopped engaging in some discussions around
Speaker 1: the forty four billion dollar deal. But also we're back
Speaker 1: at Sullen Valley. Of course, we will chat with event
Speaker 1: Bright chairman and co founder Kevin Hearts about the consumer
Speaker 1: demand of live events, as they've made a big return
Speaker 1: post pandemic. And we stay in sun Valley and chat
Speaker 1: with Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Gaba details about the
Speaker 1: new partnership between MLS and I'm g Arena to double
Speaker 1: down on sports. Adding later this hour Johnny us now
Speaker 1: Billie bergs Ed Ludlow out there in some valley where,
Speaker 1: of course Elon Musk is meant to be landing soon,
Speaker 1: right exactly, And the key thrust of that Washington Post
Speaker 1: report is that Elon Musk's team working on this deal
Speaker 1: do not believe that the data Twitter is providing about
Speaker 1: the level of bots on the platform is verifiable. According
Speaker 1: to the Washington Post reporting that they've stopped engaging with
Speaker 1: potential equity partners as part of the financing of the deal. Um,
Speaker 1: and this is you look at the after hours reaction
Speaker 1: we saw on Twitter stock down five or six percentage points.
Speaker 1: This does put the deal in serious doubt, with Elon
Speaker 1: Musk not yet here in some valley and us about
Speaker 1: the bots. I thought they just reiterated guidance about them.
Speaker 1: I mean this. The timing of this is bizarre and spectacular, frankly,
Speaker 1: because earlier today Twitter executives briefed that and reiterated that
Speaker 1: less than five percent of users on the platform are bots.
Speaker 1: Twitter beliefs, according to these executives, that a third party
Speaker 1: cannot verify it because it's a mix of publicly and
Speaker 1: private data that Twitter holes as the operator of the platform,
Speaker 1: and as has been reported by multiple media outlets, they
Speaker 1: have been going above and beyond it seems to give
Speaker 1: Elon Musk that extra data. Anyway, So if that Washington
Speaker 1: Post report is to be believed, um, it's going to
Speaker 1: make for an awkward situation here at the Allen and Co.
Speaker 1: Conference and an awkward situation end that could last year's right,
Speaker 1: because I mean, he can't just back out of a
Speaker 1: deal that he said he didn't need due diligence on anyway,
Speaker 1: I think this is really interesting. You know, have been
Speaker 1: speaking to a lot of folks in the on the
Speaker 1: mountain bike trails here of some valley, and you know
Speaker 1: the idea that they put forward is that the reverse
Speaker 1: termination fee on this deal one billion dollars in either direction,
Speaker 1: is not straightforward. It's relatively codified what they agreed. The
Speaker 1: concern would be that Twitter would say, we'll hold on.
Speaker 1: We're going to fight this in a legal battle. The
Speaker 1: other side of that argument is that could be a
Speaker 1: very long, drawn out, an expensive thing for Twitter to do,
Speaker 1: which you know, frankly doesn't have the most boastful or
Speaker 1: fantastic balance sheet or finances. Elon Musque has taken off,
Speaker 1: according to the jet tracker on Twitter. Sources here tell
Speaker 1: me that he was expected to come this change his
Speaker 1: arrival time multiple times. Parags All, the CEO of Twitter,
Speaker 1: is here, and Ned Seagal, the CFO, is here. Let's
Speaker 1: see what happens, Kara, Let's see what happens plenty to
Speaker 1: come from our own end. Lud Alone, We're pleased to
Speaker 1: say we're going to be going back to Sun Valley
Speaker 1: an event. Bright chairman Kevin Harts in a moment. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: I's get you up to speed with a verdict in
Speaker 1: for Remesh Sunny bel Wanni. You remember him, the former
Speaker 1: president of the ONUS and the ex boyfriend of one
Speaker 1: Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of that business. He was found
Speaker 1: guilty of fraud for his role in the collapse of
Speaker 1: the nine billion dollar blood testing startup. Thursday's decision comes
Speaker 1: six months after Holmes was convicted of defrauding investors in
Speaker 1: the company. It's been six months. Bal Wanni faces as
Speaker 1: long as twenty years in prison on charges. Let's get
Speaker 1: back out to Some Valley. The conference there in Idaho
Speaker 1: where many of the world's top business leaders are and
Speaker 1: d gathered to talk Dealsberg said, Ludlow is talking about them,
Speaker 1: about deals. We've got a special guest there, Yeah, I do.
Speaker 1: And you know, the conversation in and around Some Valley
Speaker 1: is is a big picture one about inflation, about recession,
Speaker 1: about private markets, public markets, startups, venture capitalists. So I'm
Speaker 1: delighted to be joined by Kevin Hart's of course event
Speaker 1: Bright co founder and chairman. Now in the world of
Speaker 1: venture capital, general partner and co founder of a Star Capital.
Speaker 1: So given that spiel I just gave explain where we
Speaker 1: are in the world right now. But will you know,
Speaker 1: what one would say about an entrepreneur and a in
Speaker 1: an investor is that I'm not a macro person, but
Speaker 1: you know have unfortunately I'm all enough to have been
Speaker 1: through a few cycles, yes, of of ups and downs
Speaker 1: in in you know, I think we're really just in
Speaker 1: the beginning act of of this UM process. I think
Speaker 1: we uh with with the FED stimulus and the action
Speaker 1: taken in March, we kind of delayed and pushed out
Speaker 1: UM and and then now amplified what's what's happening now
Speaker 1: and that's a very dire outlook on on the economy
Speaker 1: over the coming years. So let's pivot to your other role,
Speaker 1: your other life, chairman of event right, And there's there
Speaker 1: seems to be these two competing currents, right, and and
Speaker 1: some value kind of captures that we've come out of
Speaker 1: a pandemic and now we're concerned about a recession. Right.
Speaker 1: But people finally for the first time in a long
Speaker 1: time of getting back together through your event bright lens,
Speaker 1: how do you see the world? Well, we had in Julia,
Speaker 1: the CEO, did a brilliant job of navigating us event
Speaker 1: right through the downturn. We had sold almost five billions
Speaker 1: and tickets. Uh. In in March, we had negative ticketvolume,
Speaker 1: meaning there are more refunds uh and Uh Julia really
Speaker 1: moved insanely quickly to UH to shore up the business
Speaker 1: and and raise funding in the public markets. UH. So
Speaker 1: we feel we've kind of been through what's happened over
Speaker 1: the last six months back in in March of UH,
Speaker 1: and we're now seeing the kind of return of the
Speaker 1: live experience. People are just so hungry to get out,
Speaker 1: but they're not uh spending you know, we've we've got
Speaker 1: this inflationary cycle. They're not spending what they used to
Speaker 1: for like the large concerts that they've maybe traveled to
Speaker 1: or so on. Uh, they're going local. And that is
Speaker 1: really what event right primarily covers is the local events
Speaker 1: in once community, and they tend to be at a
Speaker 1: lower price point. And so we're really seeing a great
Speaker 1: surge based on on that. UH. Brian Testgate Airbnb has
Speaker 1: pointed out similar phenomenon, and that is that people are
Speaker 1: are going local. Now that was during COVID, but that
Speaker 1: habit has has stayed, especially in these inflationary times. Uh
Speaker 1: So staying local is is really what it's about, and
Speaker 1: we think our business as well positioned for it. It's
Speaker 1: interesting you bring up Airbnb, Brian Chesky. We've seen recessions
Speaker 1: and financial crises before two thousand, two thousand and eight,
Speaker 1: and startups, big names came out of that and went
Speaker 1: on has become giant companies. You know, how do you see?
Speaker 1: That is the other opportunities here for the next Google,
Speaker 1: the next Airbnb to emerge. I don't want to sound morose,
Speaker 1: but I get a little bit pleased. I get a
Speaker 1: little bit giddy during like these downturns because it it
Speaker 1: really separates out the you know kind of tourists, uh
Speaker 1: you know, those that could come to the valley or
Speaker 1: go before investors and raised five billion dollars off a plan.
Speaker 1: This is really when great businesses are formed, when uh
Speaker 1: you know, people thinking against the grain are starting companies
Speaker 1: and and will really endure in a capital efficient manner.
Speaker 1: And we'll see, absolutely see some great businesses. So putting
Speaker 1: on my eight Star Capital hats Um. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: just excited. I'm seeing a pickup of investments coming coming
Speaker 1: in and we are very excited to find that next Airbnb.
Speaker 1: I had the good fortune of being a seed investor
Speaker 1: in Airbnb back in two thousand nine. UM, you got
Speaker 1: to know Brian Naton Joe and they were scrappy and
Speaker 1: they were hungry, and it was a recession, and they
Speaker 1: had what it took to survive, had what it took.
Speaker 1: Talking about survival, I hear a lot of competing things
Speaker 1: over the last few days. Some say keep your power
Speaker 1: to dry, do not deploy capital because of volatility and
Speaker 1: public markets they're spooked. Others say, no, I'm going to
Speaker 1: go out there. I see opportunity. Are there any industries
Speaker 1: or is any sort of THEMATICUM direction that you're taking
Speaker 1: with your investment thesis. That's that's uh, that's a very
Speaker 1: important question. I've traditionally been really founder focused, so like
Speaker 1: a Bryan Naton Joe at Airbnb, for example, or a
Speaker 1: next straordinary team. UM was the investor in pinterest Ben Silverman,
Speaker 1: who who actually after a dozen years has just stepped
Speaker 1: down as CEO of it, has built a great business.
Speaker 1: UM so what what generally happens that the seed stages
Speaker 1: you you you invest in great people UM and they
Speaker 1: create these new industries. We are of course very excited
Speaker 1: about you know, this stage of aire. We're many chapters
Speaker 1: into the AI revolution and and there's much more to
Speaker 1: be done in that UM. Clean tech has risen so
Speaker 1: quickly UM, and it is very exciting to see something
Speaker 1: that that can actually drive a real business and and
Speaker 1: drive real results, but also really help us understand in
Speaker 1: UM kind of slow this this environmental issue we're facing today. Uh.
Speaker 1: So there's a there's a myriad of spaces and and
Speaker 1: you know, if you just look at back at uh,
Speaker 1: you know, Elon Musk, who would have ever thought that
Speaker 1: space would be a segment or there you had to
Speaker 1: go to Elon you know, I know, well we had
Speaker 1: to leave it there. Kevin Hart's general partner, co founder
Speaker 1: of a Star also bent Bright chairman and co founder
Speaker 1: of course Caroline Great Private Markets Taken What's going on
Speaker 1: in the world. It really was and it was a
Speaker 1: great interview Ed Ludlow, We thank you so much. Let's
Speaker 1: just for a moment before we of course returned to
Speaker 1: Ed with his interview on the Major League Soccer Commissioner
Speaker 1: Don Garba. That's going to be another key focus on
Speaker 1: the long term partnership with IMG Arena. We're good to
Speaker 1: be talking again, of course about one Elon Musk, and
Speaker 1: let's talk about the Musk deal. Apparently Twitter and serious
Speaker 1: jeopardy that deal, so says the Washington Post Twitter and
Speaker 1: our responding saying and it tends to close the deal
Speaker 1: with the Musque at a greed Terms said that all
Speaker 1: along of course rear traits. It will continue to share
Speaker 1: information with Musk, particularly around the bots comments and an
Speaker 1: email statement. And Judge is also confirming that it is
Speaker 1: indeed cutting jobs in its talent acquisition team. That was
Speaker 1: really previously reported by Reuters. Plenty more on that deal.
Speaker 1: Some other stuff were to this Bloomberg. Tech giants, including Apple, Microsoft, Google,
Speaker 1: whe they're actually all facing questions about whether their handover
Speaker 1: uses personal data to authorities pursuing evidence on abortion seekers,
Speaker 1: each company bracing for the multi state legal quagma that
Speaker 1: will govern privacy in a post row world. Bloomberg's Dina
Speaker 1: Bass wrote all about this in a fabulous piece for Bloomberg,
Speaker 1: and we just want to dig in, Dina, and really
Speaker 1: what are some of the issues legal labyrinth that you're
Speaker 1: expecting to crop up here. Well, first of all, we
Speaker 1: have to remember what's different now than pre row. Now
Speaker 1: everybody keeps everything online, So there's this digital trail of
Speaker 1: breadcrumbs that investigators could use if they wanted to get
Speaker 1: to someone who had had an abortion or someone who
Speaker 1: help them in any way, which is you know, increasingly
Speaker 1: becoming illegal in U. S. States. So the problem is
Speaker 1: all of these different tech companies, these different apps have
Speaker 1: little bits of data on you and actually not a
Speaker 1: little bit of volumes, and the data is in all
Speaker 1: sorts of different places, and it's going to be governed
Speaker 1: by a patwork of laws. Because imagine you have a
Speaker 1: patient who's potentially in Texas. Maybe they're trying to secure
Speaker 1: abortion drugs from New York. Now, maybe they get an
Speaker 1: email receipt to their to a Microsoft email account, maybe
Speaker 1: they search for those drugs using Google. Those companies are
Speaker 1: in two different states, and they sort their data in
Speaker 1: tens of different data centers and other states in the US.
Speaker 1: The question then becomes if an investigator, if a court
Speaker 1: wants to get a hold of that data, whose laws
Speaker 1: take precedence from a previous reaction function. Now this is
Speaker 1: a have to reiterate once again an incredibly politically divided
Speaker 1: and charged conversation that we're having, Dina, and of course
Speaker 1: about one third of those that answer peace surveys do
Speaker 1: indeed degree that we should have anti bullshit laws. So
Speaker 1: we understand basically the division hand. Does it stop and
Speaker 1: restrain these sorts of tech companies from responding and how
Speaker 1: they would have done previously? Uh, you know, we don't
Speaker 1: know what they're going to do. That's that's part of
Speaker 1: what we're waiting for. The major tech companies have not
Speaker 1: been willing to comment to to me or other reporters
Speaker 1: who have asked them as to whether they'll fight these
Speaker 1: sorts of data requests. We have some amount of history
Speaker 1: of what they've done with other types of data requests.
Speaker 1: Each of these major companies publishes every six months a
Speaker 1: report on government data requests and how many they've complied
Speaker 1: with where they've come from or the national security So
Speaker 1: we know that the companies like Facebook, like Apple, like Microsoft, Uh,
Speaker 1: they do comply, like Google, they comply with the majority
Speaker 1: of requests that they get, but they do fight some.
Speaker 1: So we've had very high profile cases of both Apple
Speaker 1: and Microsoft fighting data requests they considered to be unlawful.
Speaker 1: What we don't yet know is whether they'll do that
Speaker 1: in these cases with with women who have abortions or providers.
Speaker 1: But also what data is protected DNA and like on
Speaker 1: the HIPPA. I think a period track is on on apps?
Speaker 1: Is that yet being identified to something that's protected? So
Speaker 1: a period tracker is does not, as far as I know,
Speaker 1: qualified for Hippa. So I think that's part of what
Speaker 1: people need to realize a lot of things that people
Speaker 1: consider health data and they think, well, I go to
Speaker 1: my doctor and I have to sign that form about
Speaker 1: who it can be released to. A lot of your
Speaker 1: health data is not under hip, but what Hippo governs
Speaker 1: health plans and the providers who accept those health plans.
Speaker 1: Lawyers I spoke to said it may probably also cover
Speaker 1: a cloud provider if they're providing cloud services storing data
Speaker 1: for that health plan. But a period tracker and your
Speaker 1: your Apple Watch, your fitbit, that's not a Hippo data.
Speaker 1: And also if you get a court order signed by
Speaker 1: a judge, that can allow a Hippa entity to release
Speaker 1: the data anyway, even if it's governed by Hippa. So
Speaker 1: one of the issue that we're facing here is that
Speaker 1: we don't really have precedence here, and lawyers that I
Speaker 1: spoke to, advocates people the Electronic Frontier Foundation think we're
Speaker 1: in for a number of years of lawsuits to try
Speaker 1: to figure out how this is going to go. Dana Bass,
Speaker 1: we thank you so much as a great story, and
Speaker 1: let's get to someone who's thinking an awful lot about
Speaker 1: these sorts of issues. Atlanta Echoitz, founding partner at spring
Speaker 1: Bank Collective. It invests in early stage companies building the
Speaker 1: very infrastructure to enable working women families to thrive across
Speaker 1: the careers. And Alanta, of course, you were former Ofbarma administration,
Speaker 1: technology policy official across Obarma, Biden transition team, the SEC
Speaker 1: and sectary Clinton's office of the State Department. You have
Speaker 1: a lot of interaction with administration. But now in the
Speaker 1: funding environment, this is difficult, right, Yeah, and from a
Speaker 1: difficulty perspective, thanks for having Yeah, so you know, it's
Speaker 1: difficult than a whole bunch of ways. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: with the with the following row, we already had the
Speaker 1: digital health care companies stepping in kind of overnight to
Speaker 1: fill in some of the care gap created by these policies,
Speaker 1: So we thought companies like kill Club with a demand
Speaker 1: for emergency contraceptions spiked by five thousand percent within just
Speaker 1: a couple of days of the overturning of ROW. Patients
Speaker 1: are clearly worried about being denied access to care, and
Speaker 1: we've seen some hoarding behavior UM with some of the
Speaker 1: emergency contraception. You know, we're seeing companies like Hey Jane,
Speaker 1: a telehealth medication abortion provider, with huge spikes of interest,
Speaker 1: and we're also needed. We're also starting to see women's
Speaker 1: health tex players who are UM not necessarily in core
Speaker 1: reproductive health, also needing to adapt. So, for instance, maybe
Speaker 1: a women's health Unicorn that is a digital health platform
Speaker 1: for women's soldier employers. UM added a wallet app to
Speaker 1: help users calculate the cost of reproductive procedures and actually
Speaker 1: facilitate reimbursements. And at the same time, employers are facing
Speaker 1: a tremendous amount of uncertainty, not just tech employers, of course,
Speaker 1: given the US is fragmented health SCARECESM employers have always
Speaker 1: played a major role in healthcare for American workers, and
Speaker 1: that's only going to grow. Since fifty percent of Americans
Speaker 1: get their health insurance through their employers. So what company
Speaker 1: you work for has always mattered for your health care,
Speaker 1: and now where your job is located and where that
Speaker 1: employer is located, it's gonna have really outside role in
Speaker 1: the kind of kind and quality of care you can receive,
Speaker 1: especially as a woman. And for a lot of these companies,
Speaker 1: they're just in the earliest days of figuring out what
Speaker 1: the actual implications are of actually implementing policy to support
Speaker 1: to support these workers across HR, across healthcare, across their
Speaker 1: legal team and on the has been of handwringing and
Speaker 1: concerns and worry and lack of charity. But it feels
Speaker 1: like there is innovation there as well at this moment um. Absolutely, so,
Speaker 1: you know, I think women's healthcare companies are going to
Speaker 1: continue to innovate. Frankly, they have to innovate in this moment.
Speaker 1: Over the last couple of years, we've seen an increasing
Speaker 1: interest in digital health companies that are serving the healthcare
Speaker 1: needs of women. In one those kinds of companies raised
Speaker 1: one point four billion, That was two x a year prior.
Speaker 1: So I think we're gonna keep seeing that energy. You know,
Speaker 1: I will say, just also follow on on what the
Speaker 1: reporter who preceded me with discussing. In terms of these
Speaker 1: data issues, I still believe there's a tremendous amount of
Speaker 1: room for innovation. I also think that uncertainty creates a
Speaker 1: real challenge for innovation. And right now we have really
Speaker 1: really deep uncertainty around how these policies are going to
Speaker 1: play out at the state level. Um. And I think
Speaker 1: that you know, this is something I've seen both in
Speaker 1: the government and now as an investor, is an enormous
Speaker 1: uncertainy around regulation and policy enforcement can really stifle innovation
Speaker 1: for new players who are trying to solve really important
Speaker 1: women's health and population help health problems. And of course
Speaker 1: it creates lots of costs and burdens for consumers, you know,
Speaker 1: for instance, the Googles and the Apples of the world. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, when it comes to challenging potentially some of
Speaker 1: these data requests undoubtedly have the money and the lawyers
Speaker 1: to do so. But one imagine, you know, especially if
Speaker 1: you're a smaller startup, that that could you know, an
Speaker 1: enormous sort of legal burden, legal liability to put you
Speaker 1: out of business. One of course, that you yourself backing
Speaker 1: certain companies unicorns like Chief for example. You know you've
Speaker 1: been trying to look, I'm sure, across the US, but
Speaker 1: now suddenly are we going to see pockets of health
Speaker 1: innovation suddenly just become in New York, in California rather
Speaker 1: than perhaps in the Austin's or all the new areas
Speaker 1: of technology. Yeah. Absolutely, you know, I think that the
Speaker 1: Jobbed ruling and some of the subsequent implications at the
Speaker 1: state level, which of course you're just beginning to play
Speaker 1: out right now, might make employment and or investment in
Speaker 1: certain states more or less appealing. So right now, for instance,
Speaker 1: you know, we're we're always excited about innovations and fertility
Speaker 1: care to make it more affordable, more accessible for for
Speaker 1: anyone to build the kind of family that they would
Speaker 1: like to build. UM. And right now, if you're an
Speaker 1: innovator building a venture back company and fertility care, frankly,
Speaker 1: probably just makes sense to build your company a state
Speaker 1: like California and New York which will continue presumably to
Speaker 1: support these business and then not create a lot of
Speaker 1: uncertainty around the treatment of embryos, the treatment of fertility care. UM.
Speaker 1: You know, that's just one one example but I think
Speaker 1: we're going to see that play out across the board
Speaker 1: study seconds. You still bullish on the space though, UM,
Speaker 1: I am absolutely permanently bullish about improving the lives of women,
Speaker 1: and I will always be bullish about the opportunities in
Speaker 1: women's health. And one of the important things to remember
Speaker 1: that when we talked about women's health, that doesn't just
Speaker 1: equal reproductive health. It never has. Um you know, women,
Speaker 1: there's all sorts of health conditions that are enormous, multibillion
Speaker 1: dollar markets where it impacts women much differently than men,
Speaker 1: whether it's all time or it's heart disease, type you, diabetes.
Speaker 1: It wasn't until six that women were even allowed to
Speaker 1: participate in clinical research and trial. So I just think
Speaker 1: reproductive health is obviously a core component of where we
Speaker 1: can be investing in women's health, but it is so
Speaker 1: much bigger than that, and we're gonna keep investing and
Speaker 1: founders are going to keep building amazing hard things. Coming
Speaker 1: from one of the coolest looking bonds in New York,
Speaker 1: we thank you at Anna Oh. It's taking time out
Speaker 1: of a vacation to spend some time with us in
Speaker 1: Springbank Collector. Fascinating. Thank you Sam, you for having me.
Speaker 1: This is putting technology. I'm Caroline Hand in New York.
Speaker 1: Now the Sun Valley Conferences under way, of course, and
Speaker 1: I to with many of the world's top business leaders,
Speaker 1: gathering that to talk deals, to talk you know, masks.
Speaker 1: And he's also expected that this weekend, of course, when
Speaker 1: said Ludlow joins us, Now you've got another special guest,
Speaker 1: and this one, well, people say socco, you and I
Speaker 1: would call it football. Oh, we call it football, and
Speaker 1: that's I get to talk about my two favorite things.
Speaker 1: Technology and football will call it soccer. Don Garba, major
Speaker 1: League MLS Commissioner, you struck a deal with Apple, ten
Speaker 1: year deal stream direct to consumers around the world that
Speaker 1: want Major League Soccer MLS. Why Apple, Well, you know
Speaker 1: they're the perfect company for us, you know, innovative, aggressive, ambitious,
Speaker 1: really thinking hard about what their future is going to
Speaker 1: be in the sports streaming place. For us, every game
Speaker 1: anywhere in the world, on any device is perfect for
Speaker 1: young and very digitally native fan base or radio percent
Speaker 1: of our fans are streaming soccer or football anyway, So
Speaker 1: we couldn't have really picked a better. Well, let me
Speaker 1: ask you this, why not an Amazon or why not
Speaker 1: a linear TV package with some of the names you've
Speaker 1: been associated for the last decade. Well, we'll still have
Speaker 1: some linear deals, will announce those soon. So it's the
Speaker 1: combination of linear and then games that will have in
Speaker 1: front of the Apple paywall, games on Apple TV Plus,
Speaker 1: and then most exciting for us, you know, the first
Speaker 1: global directory consumer subscription channel, as you've mentioned, which is
Speaker 1: really going to break new ground for how we'll connect
Speaker 1: with our fans. Whether it's somebody that's watching a game
Speaker 1: here in Sun Valley, or they're watching it in you know, Spain,
Speaker 1: or they're watching it in South America. They're they're the
Speaker 1: perfect partner to be thinking about how do we become
Speaker 1: a global league in the most global sport. Apple reportedly
Speaker 1: paid two fifty million dollars. I don't know whether you
Speaker 1: can confirm that's accurate. But what are they getting out
Speaker 1: of this? Is there actually a belief that Apple will
Speaker 1: grow it's Apple TV Plus or is own subscription audience
Speaker 1: because there's a demand for mls. Well, you know, it's
Speaker 1: a multibillion dollar deal over time, and I mean for them, uh,
Speaker 1: this is the perfect way for them to be thinking
Speaker 1: about the live sports experience. For their consumers. Uh so
Speaker 1: what it meant to them is a is a good
Speaker 1: question for Apple. As I've mentioned for us when we
Speaker 1: were thinking about aggregating, all of our content are local games,
Speaker 1: our youth matches are Second Division which is called MLS
Speaker 1: Next Pro. Every game that we have, whether it's in
Speaker 1: market or out of market, you now have an experience
Speaker 1: for a fan that is unprecedented, and that for us
Speaker 1: is really really exciting. Does it bring you a global audience?
Speaker 1: Without doubt? So, as you know, we we just signed
Speaker 1: Gareth Bell comes over from Real Madrid. He's playing in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, and maybe there's some small Argentinean guy that
Speaker 1: might come to our league at some point. So you
Speaker 1: could think that you'd have as many subscribers and fans
Speaker 1: in Buenos Aires, or in Barcelona, or in Madrid or
Speaker 1: in Wales when you sign global players. Were a global
Speaker 1: league needing a global platform, and this will give us
Speaker 1: that opportunity to expand the breath and scope of our
Speaker 1: media business. Football or soccer his corisand soccer. Soccer is
Speaker 1: very enormously in North America. Right You've gone from a
Speaker 1: situation where you're almost at twenty nine teams with the
Speaker 1: expansion three stadiums dedicated to soccer to now twenty six
Speaker 1: something like that. Where do you invest next? Is there
Speaker 1: another deal to be done? What is that? How do
Speaker 1: you grow to the next It's a great question, you know.
Speaker 1: It's ten to fifteen billion dollars an investment in the
Speaker 1: league over the last number of years. A lot of
Speaker 1: that is in these unique almost cathedrals for the sport,
Speaker 1: these twenty six stadiums that you mentioned. We opened up
Speaker 1: a brand new one in in Nashville, Tennessee, thirty thousand fans.
Speaker 1: It's sold out every game. Now the move is on content.
Speaker 1: So how do you invest in delivering the right exp
Speaker 1: variants with our local UH teams in many ways being
Speaker 1: content delivery producers for our news service. How do you
Speaker 1: now think about the next development generation of development of
Speaker 1: our player pool so that when we have the ability
Speaker 1: to develop young players sell them overseas. Big announcement of
Speaker 1: two XMLS players going to the Premier League today, bringing
Speaker 1: in young players in their prime that are playing overseas.
Speaker 1: Being a global player in both the purchasing and selling
Speaker 1: of players, there's going to be an enormous amount of
Speaker 1: investment out in the years to come. Two quick questions.
Speaker 1: The men soccer team going to the World Cup? Does
Speaker 1: that boost the MLS? Oh, without doubt. You know, the
Speaker 1: interest in our league grows with our national team playing
Speaker 1: in the World Cup. We see those boosts of of
Speaker 1: interest and energy. Our league was born out of the
Speaker 1: World Cup. And imagine the rocket fuel that will have
Speaker 1: leaving leading up to the World Cup. Up beyond the
Speaker 1: fact that we have so many young American players, forty
Speaker 1: or fifty of our players will play in for national
Speaker 1: teams that will be in the World Cup. So we
Speaker 1: have players from seventy different countries playing in Major League
Speaker 1: Soccer more than any other league in the world. The
Speaker 1: World Cup is the showcase and platform for that. Before
Speaker 1: I run out of time, there's a chap called Todd
Speaker 1: Bowley who bought a club called Chelsea, which I've supported
Speaker 1: for the majority of my life. As you know, he
Speaker 1: says that the Premier League is undervalued. Our clubs in
Speaker 1: the MLS undervalued. Do you know, listen, I think the
Speaker 1: value in sports has driven by ultimately, you know, what
Speaker 1: the opportunity is, what people are willing to pay and
Speaker 1: how have have owners if you will. League has been
Speaker 1: able to exploit their intellectual property. I do believe our
Speaker 1: teams are undervalued, and Todd could speak better about what
Speaker 1: he thinks about the Premier League. What I'll say is
Speaker 1: that the future of our league and the future of
Speaker 1: the sport of America is is so bright and there's
Speaker 1: so many endless opportunities with the just the overall diversity
Speaker 1: of of our consumer base, the fact that we'll have
Speaker 1: more teams in more stadiums our best years, particularly with
Speaker 1: a new partnership with Apple. I just saw that you
Speaker 1: now you you've mentioned the new IMG arena sports exactly
Speaker 1: what we did. There's so many great inaugural property opportunities
Speaker 1: that we've not yet even fully exploited. So best days
Speaker 1: are still ahead. All right, all eyes on American football
Speaker 1: or soccer and mols commastionon a dongaba. It's just a
Speaker 1: pleasure to have you here on this show talking football
Speaker 1: in tech. Caroline, if you're Stafford Bridge right now, ed,
Speaker 1: what would you sing? We will follow that? No, I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna do it on it, Caroline next time, beautiful,
Speaker 1: So as if you transported us, they're bloodly We thank
Speaker 1: you so much. Meanwhile, let's talk about a bit more sport,
Speaker 1: but athletes within it an Apple Watch with a bigger display,
Speaker 1: larger battery, and a rugged metal casing. Maybe in the
Speaker 1: works Apple is seeing well, it's said to be building
Speaker 1: a new version of the smart Watch for extreme sports athletes. Begsmart.
Speaker 1: German joins us. Now, no singing, but certainly let's talk
Speaker 1: about the watch and how big is this market? You know?
Speaker 1: I think I want to take a step back and
Speaker 1: figure out why would Apple do something like this. Right,
Speaker 1: If they're going to create a new high end Apple Watch,
Speaker 1: a sports edition, they probably want it to not only
Speaker 1: appeal to that specific market you're mentioning, but everyone, right,
Speaker 1: So they have the iPhone pros now, the iPad pros,
Speaker 1: the AirPods pros, MacBook pros. That lets them charge more money. Right,
Speaker 1: So what we're gonna see with this extreme sports edition,
Speaker 1: to your point, is we're going to see more revenue.
Speaker 1: We're going to see a sp s, We're gonna see
Speaker 1: the average sales price of the Apple Watch go up
Speaker 1: for this product. So I think that's why they are
Speaker 1: doing this, because that market is not so big. Right.
Speaker 1: But if you look at it more as an Apple
Speaker 1: Watch Pro than as an Apple Watch Explore or Extreme
Speaker 1: Sports edition. Not only are you going to appeal to
Speaker 1: the market you mentioned, but you're going to appeal to
Speaker 1: the affluent Apple customer who's willing to spend more on
Speaker 1: the more advanced product. So talk to us about sort
Speaker 1: of what features, what areas it's really going to be
Speaker 1: trying to exploit to lead people in. So you're gonna
Speaker 1: see a bigger battery, right, So you're gonna have the
Speaker 1: longest battery life ever on an Apple Watch. You're gonna
Speaker 1: have a bigger display, so the biggest display ever on
Speaker 1: an Apple Watch. You're probably gonna have a titanium case
Speaker 1: which they use, and what's called the Apple Watch Edition today,
Speaker 1: so something far more durable, right, three to four times
Speaker 1: more durable than the normal stainless steel Apple Watch and
Speaker 1: probably five to seven times more durable than the normal
Speaker 1: aluminium Apple Watch. Right. You're gonna see more shadow resistant screen.
Speaker 1: How many times have people knocked their Apple Watch into
Speaker 1: a door knob or something else and cracked that screen? Right,
Speaker 1: So you're gonna see that as well as a new
Speaker 1: body temperature sensor so you can take your temperature on
Speaker 1: the watch. It won't give you an exact number based reading,
Speaker 1: but it may be able to indicate if you have
Speaker 1: a fever or other type of condition going on that
Speaker 1: you should might you might want to look more into
Speaker 1: Mount Gammon, always there with the latest and greatest hits
Speaker 1: for what's coming next to the Apple pipeline. We thank
Speaker 1: you co being up as investors remain pretty gaucious on
Speaker 1: digital assets. As of course, Crypto Winter. Since we're setting
Speaker 1: settling in, we are going to be speaking with at
Speaker 1: least Colleen still Mark on the state of bitcoin startups
Speaker 1: in particular. This is Bloomberg. It feels like Crypto Winter
Speaker 1: settling in. Bitcoin higher twenty one thousand on the day,
Speaker 1: but really, where are we in terms of the nuances.
Speaker 1: We're worried a lot about the crypto lenders out there,
Speaker 1: but what about when you drill down from coin to coin,
Speaker 1: from ecosystem to ecosystem. Let's talk the bitcoin one in particular.
Speaker 1: Right now, at least Colleen's with us, founder and managing
Speaker 1: partner of still Mark, and remind us you're a bitcoin
Speaker 1: VC firm, You're very much focused on that particular part
Speaker 1: of the crypto sphere. How is your area, how are
Speaker 1: your startups faring at the moment? Well, bitcoin founders tend
Speaker 1: to be very financially responsible, and so folks have prepared
Speaker 1: long in advance for the crypto bit coin bear market.
Speaker 1: In fact, what they're doing now is finding ways to
Speaker 1: take advantage of it. And so there's two things that
Speaker 1: are important. One is just to build and follow the
Speaker 1: established roadmap. A bear market is a time where you
Speaker 1: get more resources to dedicate to building because you're not
Speaker 1: struggling to just keep your head of water with growth.
Speaker 1: But the second thing that we can do in a
Speaker 1: bear market is to take time to really dive into
Speaker 1: the engagement and adoption metrics from the bowl market or
Speaker 1: from really any part of the market cycle, and start
Speaker 1: to understand what users are saying about the product and
Speaker 1: the protocols that will be the experience of this market
Speaker 1: for really tough founders in the space, and what we're
Speaker 1: seeing from our founders and so word of that data earlier,
Speaker 1: though it might be what is that data telling you
Speaker 1: about as and when we exit some sort of crypto winter,
Speaker 1: what people are going to want, what sort of a
Speaker 1: shouldn't see, what sort of real use cases are going
Speaker 1: to be built? Well, frankly, people want the space to
Speaker 1: continue to mature, So some of the collapses that we're
Speaker 1: seeing in companies that were making promises that they couldn't
Speaker 1: keep around yield product or otherwise, UM is starting to
Speaker 1: drive home the points to folks holding digital assets that
Speaker 1: there needs to be more accountability. That's possible in bitcoin,
Speaker 1: and in fact, Bitcoin was to allow for transparency in
Speaker 1: the ecosystem because as you know, the Bitcoin blockchain is
Speaker 1: a public ledger. As an example of something that customers
Speaker 1: are starting to demand or should you can ask for
Speaker 1: folks holding your bitcoin to be able to prove those reserves.
Speaker 1: We know that some of the platforms that had promised
Speaker 1: these UM lending based yield returns, we know that some
Speaker 1: of those platforms are now telling their customers that in fact,
Speaker 1: they don't have the funds that they said they had.
Speaker 1: Now with bitcoin, you can and other digital assets, you
Speaker 1: can actually demand of exchanges or other platforms holding your
Speaker 1: assets to prove that they do so. And so prooper
Speaker 1: reserve software is available and customers are beginning to demand it.
Speaker 1: The first company to launch to introduce a SAS product
Speaker 1: and SMB and enterprise SAS product here is so secky
Speaker 1: out of fidelity and that's fortunately for US, a still
Speaker 1: marked portfolio company. But we're also seeing another trend, and
Speaker 1: that's something we see in every bear market, which is
Speaker 1: folks look about look at the option to be their
Speaker 1: own bank. That was one of Bitcoin's core promises that
Speaker 1: you wouldn't have to rely on third parties to custody
Speaker 1: or to store your funds. You could do it yourself.
Speaker 1: That's also very difficult, but we now see in the
Speaker 1: market the acute pain um and realization of what's at
Speaker 1: risk if you're not holding your own funds. And so
Speaker 1: we're seeing consumers recognize the value of that and send
Speaker 1: funds to companies like, for example, Causa, another still marked
Speaker 1: portfolio company. And this space is a bit more mature,
Speaker 1: and so there's many there's several options that you can
Speaker 1: use when you have being your own funds. What about
Speaker 1: those lending protocols were broadly at least and what about
Speaker 1: yield farming? I mean, is that sort of idea as
Speaker 1: it stands dead? What ends up being the flourishes out
Speaker 1: of that well? I think the concept of producing yield
Speaker 1: from a black box or making promises that can't be
Speaker 1: backed up um with frankly economic activity that drives the yield.
Speaker 1: I think, I hope that that is dead. What we
Speaker 1: saw in this last full market was the concept of
Speaker 1: yield generated with a complete lack of economic activity, and
Speaker 1: in fact, we saw leaders in the defise space explain
Speaker 1: it as putting money into a black box and taking
Speaker 1: out more money. This you know, of course, this is
Speaker 1: sort of a fantastic proposition that we're now seeing as
Speaker 1: just something that can't be secured over the long term,
Speaker 1: and so yield in that way, um, you know, sort
Speaker 1: of like the hopes and dreams based yield I hope
Speaker 1: is dead. We will see products mature that can offer
Speaker 1: real yield based off of economic activity, and an example
Speaker 1: of that would be the ability to create yield on
Speaker 1: Lightning network by lending out your position in the network
Speaker 1: to others that need it. Of course, it was Sam
Speaker 1: maguin Freed who referenced that black box on our very
Speaker 1: own podcast with our own joy Wise and Thal and
Speaker 1: Tracy Alloway about odd Lots, and and he's gone on
Speaker 1: to be the white Knight of many of these lending
Speaker 1: protocols and platforms that have sort of taken a tumble
Speaker 1: at least more generally. Are you worried? I know, you've
Speaker 1: seen bare markets before, but with the lack of activity
Speaker 1: that we're seeing on the space with does that warry
Speaker 1: you in any way or are you just still feeling
Speaker 1: that this is a matter of time in terms of
Speaker 1: in terms of entrepreneurial activity, we're seeing a flourishment actually,
Speaker 1: and so we have these really lovely tail ones in
Speaker 1: the bitcoin space provided by Lightning Network now which is
Speaker 1: growing in adoption, as well as something on Lightning Networks Roadmap,
Speaker 1: which is entered auction of other digital assets to the
Speaker 1: Lightning network. Most importantly the introduction of stable coins to
Speaker 1: Lightning Network. That's a tailwind for entrepreneurs in general, including
Speaker 1: folks that haven't even gotten started yet. I think of
Speaker 1: it as I think of it as a similar opportunity
Speaker 1: as cloud and mobile introduced in two thousand and eight,
Speaker 1: which we know curried companies like WhatsApp or Uber even
Speaker 1: to great success through two thousand and eight and beyond,
Speaker 1: And so that opportunity exists today for innovators at least.
Speaker 1: So it's great to catch up with you. Let you
Speaker 1: get back to the l a sun at last, Colleen,
Speaker 1: thank you a still monk back to some valley now,
Speaker 1: Blue Bass, But with Anthony not Is the CEO so
Speaker 1: far started asking what about the current economic climate? Take
Speaker 1: a listen. It's a year that's atypical from the standpoint
Speaker 1: that equity values have come down quite meaningfully. Inflation is
Speaker 1: obviously on the rise. You also have a very on
Speaker 1: certain marketplace, and so cash is really king and people
Speaker 1: we're on to really conserve their cash. I think it's
Speaker 1: much more year about partnerships and a year about extending
Speaker 1: new you know, having partnerships that get extended and deeper,
Speaker 1: as well as finding new partners to try to advance
Speaker 1: the business. There's never been a time like this in
Speaker 1: the last thirty years, and we've had so many you know,
Speaker 1: conflating factors um so the desire to partner and have
Speaker 1: more conversations as higher than ever. What is the investor
Speaker 1: tone here into such a tough knock for economic environment.
Speaker 1: Remember you yourself has had or so stock decline in
Speaker 1: so far, but so have many of the fintech players here.
Speaker 1: You are recently doing acquisitions yourself. How do you navigate
Speaker 1: that turmoil and public markets giving you very recently also
Speaker 1: decided to go public. Yeah, we have to control on
Speaker 1: what we can control, so we're sticking to our strategy.
Speaker 1: You know, we found great success in the last three
Speaker 1: years despite the fact that our student loan business has
Speaker 1: been negatively impacted by the more tournament paying federal student loans.
Speaker 1: We've been all to grow fifty percent last year. We'll
Speaker 1: grow fifty end this year to one point five billion
Speaker 1: of revenue and increase our profitability on an ibadad basis
Speaker 1: from thirty million to a hundred million and seeing really
Speaker 1: strong growth in member and products per members. So that's
Speaker 1: what we can control and ultimately that we'll get valued
Speaker 1: based on the investors appetite for risk and their long
Speaker 1: term orientation. Right now, it's hard for investors to see
Speaker 1: out beyond the next six to twelve months because they're
Speaker 1: not really sure if we're gonna have a soft landing
Speaker 1: or more challenging economic environment. And so we're making sure
Speaker 1: they understand how we're planning our business, what we're prioritizing,
Speaker 1: and that we're delivering. Again, what about another area of
Speaker 1: the market here, I want to pick your brain a
Speaker 1: little bit on cryptocurrencies. You have a lot of young
Speaker 1: customers who are looking at new ways of both borrowing, saving, spending,
Speaker 1: investing and you'd recently announced new crypto products yourself. In
Speaker 1: the market, we see other brokerages uh pausing withdrawals or
Speaker 1: other ways that have impacted their consumers really deeply. As
Speaker 1: a CEO of fintech company, how do you think about
Speaker 1: consumer protection in this space and things to watch out for. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: the first thing I'd say is our strategy is to
Speaker 1: be at one stop shop for consumer financial services. So
Speaker 1: we have everything from loans to one five interest on
Speaker 1: checking and savings in addition to investing as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: as well as a credit card and investing. We also
Speaker 1: want to be one stop shop, so we offer fractional shares,
Speaker 1: shares without commissions, our own ETFs, six robo accounts, and
Speaker 1: the ability to buy thirty currencies and when we launched
Speaker 1: thirty cryptocurrencies. When we launched them, we literally put every
Speaker 1: time you go to buy cryptocurrency on our platform a
Speaker 1: warning that says, this is an unproven asset, it's highly risky,
Speaker 1: and you can lose all of your money. Because while
Speaker 1: there is an appetite to want to invest in these
Speaker 1: more risky assets, we have an obligation to inform people
Speaker 1: about the risks of them, and we do that every
Speaker 1: time they buy ourselves. What about plan old stocks, given
Speaker 1: that consumers are really feeling the pain right now, do
Speaker 1: you think that this a mean stock frenzy is over
Speaker 1: and even just that general interest from that marginal buyer,
Speaker 1: the the young person looking to invest in that market
Speaker 1: for the first time. The invest members that we have
Speaker 1: are really long term rining invest or is. They're focused
Speaker 1: on dollar cost averaging through the ups and downs of alatility.
Speaker 1: They do recurring investments. We offer the six et s
Speaker 1: that we have so they can actually buy what they
Speaker 1: like in a diversified way at a low price point.
Speaker 1: So we do have people that are continuing to invest
Speaker 1: in the marketplace despite the fact that markets down. Over
Speaker 1: of our members say they'll continue investing more about thirty
Speaker 1: sent of them because they haven't invested enough in their
Speaker 1: life and the other call it thirty because the market
Speaker 1: being so attractive. Now that was Bloomberg Shnati bast they're
Speaker 1: speaking with so far Ceo Anthony not to al right,
Speaker 1: that was it for this edition of bloom Bag Technology
Speaker 1: to not forget to check out our podcast though you
Speaker 1: can find it on the terminal as well as online
Speaker 1: on Apples, Spotify, and I heart radio. This is bring
Speaker 1: back