WEBVTT - Lyft's Record Earnings and Coinbase's BlackRock Pact (Podcast) 0:00:03.640 --> 0:00:06.920 From the heart of where innovation, money and power COLLI 0:00:07.760 --> 0:00:12.280 in Silicon Valley and beyond. This is Bloomberg Technology with 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:28.280 Emily Jay. I'm Emily changing San Francisco, and this is 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:31.160 Bloomberg Technology coming up in the next hour. Lift posts 0:00:31.160 --> 0:00:34.440 the highest earnings in the company history. As right hailing 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:37.920 companies near a full recovery from the pandemic, White supply 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:42.960 seems to be finally meeting demand. Plus coin based pops 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:45.879 after its deal with black Rock, reinforcing crypto status as 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:49.240 a serious player on Wall Street. Is the crypto winter 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:54.480 starting to thaw? We will discuss and an estimated food 0:00:54.520 --> 0:00:57.480 process in the U S goes uneaten. We will chat 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:00.160 with a startup using AI to help grocers to ave 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:03.840 up to thirty four million pounds of food from going 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:07.480 to waste. I want to get back to with results 0:01:07.480 --> 0:01:10.080 with our own Jackie Davalos, who covers the company for 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:12.960 us along with Uber and door Dash. So look, good 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:15.680 numbers from Lift, you know, is this the start of 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:19.160 a broader trend? Have left and Uber fully recovered from 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:23.120 the pandemic. They're certainly edging a lot closer now. Those 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:26.560 numbers for rides are still a little bit under pre 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:28.960 pandemic levels. But what we could see here is that 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:32.240 they're not sacrificing their profits in order to really boost 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:34.720 those numbers. And you saw that come through just st 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:39.000 even in the language that the CEOs were imparting to 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:42.840 analysts that look, you know, we went through really rigorous 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:44.959 cost cutting measures in the second quarter, and it was 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:48.600 tough to bear with employees being laid off and hiding 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:51.040 off that car rental business. But what we're seeing is 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:54.880 that airport travel is incredibly strong, a lot of that 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:58.639 coming from air trouble rebounding um and you're also seeing 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:03.520 you know, these markets a battles between Uper and Lift intensifying. 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:07.000 But I think a lot of the concern around Lift 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:08.800 was that they were going to see some of that 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:12.120 market share and their attempts to stay profitable, but we 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:14.960 were not seeing that come through so far. Well. I 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:18.320 did speak to Uber CEO Dar Causershi earlier this week. Again, 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:23.200 Uber's results strong as well and big positive investor reaction. 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:26.080 Take a listen to what causera he had to say. 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:30.120 The marketplace is more balanced. The number of new drivers 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:31.960 that we're adding in the US is up over se 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:36.040 on a year. On your basis surges down e t 0:02:36.240 --> 0:02:39.240 A s or down. Uh. So the business is really 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:41.519 hitting on all cylinders and it's reflected in the stock 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:45.320 prus which is great. So does a rising tide lift 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:50.600 all boats? You know, if it's it's certain seems to 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:54.840 be because if you think about this shared rebound, both 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:57.240 Uber and Lift are benefiting from that. But where we 0:02:57.320 --> 0:02:59.720 started to see some of the divergence was in the 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:02.840 adagies that they were taking to really get those drivers back. 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:06.720 That's really what's also driving the strong ridership because the 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:08.919 more drivers you have to meet the demand, the lower 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:10.920 your fares are going to go. More people are going 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:12.920 to get back to the platform instead of you know, 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:17.280 opting to take the taxi, a yellow cab or the subway. 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:20.800 And so you know, Lift acknowledged that, you know, a 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:24.520 lot of that spend that really spooked investors last quarter 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:28.440 was really coming through in fairs to consumers. They were 0:03:28.440 --> 0:03:32.000 the ones bearing a lot of that cost burden. And 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:35.480 now that you're seeing way times coming down, you're seeing 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:40.720 fares come down. Uh, those ridership levels are recovering. Uh. 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:43.840 In following suit. Meantime, if you did look for a 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:47.320 weakness in ubernvers and you pointed this out to me, Jackie, 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:49.360 it was in food delivery. On the other hand, we're 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:53.040 seeing strong numbers from DoorDash. What is DoorDash doing better 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:56.880 than Uber in this case? You know, I think with DoorDash, 0:03:56.960 --> 0:03:59.480 they are just uh if. They started off as a 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:04.200 pure play core business that's focused on food delivery, and 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:07.040 they've refined that to a t and you can really 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:10.320 see that come through their convenience business. They projected is 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:12.760 going to be profitable by the end of the year, 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:16.120 and that's fairly impressive considering that they just launched it 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:20.440 less than two years ago. And so with Uber, you know, 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:24.039 it's taken time for them to really um tweak the 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:27.840 way they match, you know, certain orders with whoever is 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:29.800 on the road, and now that they're really trying to 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:33.520 cross sell the rides and the delivery to both drivers 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:35.360 and consumers, they've had a lot of work to do 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:39.080 on the algorithm side, but they're certainly catching up. All right, 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:42.400 Jackie Davilos, thank you so much for Evanus dig In. 0:04:42.520 --> 0:04:46.120 We'll be watching how these UH on demand companies fair 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:56.480 over the next quarter. Elon Muski is boysed to take 0:04:56.560 --> 0:05:00.000 questions at TESSAs annual shareholder meeting dubbed the Cyber Around, 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:03.000 taking place at his new plant in Austin, Texas. This 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:05.600 year's discussion is expected to focus on a potential stock 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:09.760 split and corporate transparency on everything from battery sourcing to 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:13.320 workplace diversity. Here to discuss saw that and more. Steve Wesley, 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:16.200 managing partner at The Wesley Group and a former TESTA 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:18.040 board member, Steve always going to have you back with us. 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:21.760 So what are you expecting this year? Well, first, I 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:24.599 think you're to see some awfully happy shareholders. Look. Test 0:05:24.680 --> 0:05:29.400 the share price up just this year alone. Second record 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:34.720 revenues sixty three point six or fifties six point three 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:37.880 billion dollars last year, growing to eighty seven billion dollars 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:40.280 this year. That's sixty year of a year of growth. 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:42.480 No one in the auto industry is coming close to that. 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:50.039 Second profitability, No one expected Tesla's gross or net margins. 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:52.920 The other majors like Volkswagen, Triota, people who are making 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:55.560 cars for years down at six percent. This would be 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:59.960 their twelfth consecutive quarter of profitability. That's awfully good news 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:03.800 for investors in five factories up running full bore so 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:08.200 it's no surprise to me the Testless flirting at trillion 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:10.720 dollar evaluation. We'll see if we can hold it. But 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:12.920 the big question today is going to be about corporate 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:16.480 governance e s g. How does Testla deliver on those issues? 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:21.280 It should be fascinating. Meantime, we are entering a really 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:24.760 tough phase potentially in the economy. Even Elon Musk has 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:27.080 said he has a super bad feeling about it. How 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:31.280 does Tesla fair in a recession? Are people necessarily dropping 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:35.159 money on new electric cars? Well, the fact of the 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:39.520 matter is Testless posting record sales. So if you want 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:41.479 to buy a Testa today, you're looking at a year 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:44.760 long wait. There is huge demand. The interesting thing is 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:47.839 how many can you actually manufacture? And that's where it 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:51.680 gets interesting. I think Tesla is gonna go from five 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:56.520 thousand vehicles sold in one to one point five million 0:06:56.800 --> 0:07:00.240 this year. Other firms GM Ford aren't selling a action 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:02.960 of that. So the real question is who's figured out 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:06.600 supply chain? Who has factories up and running again? Teslate 0:07:06.680 --> 0:07:12.120 five factories we know Fremont, California, Texas, Germany, China all 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:15.040 gearing up the full capacity, most of the others, and 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:17.239 yet to break ground, so there's a lot of ground 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:20.000 to catch up. We'll see how the others do so. 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:23.600 With production still the main challenge, you know, and and 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:26.360 how much does that have to do with continuing supply 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:31.440 chain issues. Well, they're all intertwined. And again I served 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:33.320 on the board it testsed ten years ago. I think 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:35.119 we made a lot of the mistakes in the book. 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:38.200 But they've grown up and they're hitting the ground running now. 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:41.640 Plus they have long term supply chain relationships in place. 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:45.280 That's why they're able to grow literally sixty seventy percent 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:48.080 a year. It's heartbreaking to watch firms like Lucid, and 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:51.240 I'm really pulling for They make a beautiful car, but 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:54.080 they said they would produce twenty tho units this year. 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:57.000 That's a pittance. Then they dropped it to twelve. Now 0:07:57.040 --> 0:07:59.840 they've dropped it to six, So tough news for Lucid. 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:02.840 Reminder fall of us, it's a little harder to make 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:05.560 electric vehicles than you might think. It took Tesla ten 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:08.000 years to get where they are today. It's gonna be 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:10.640 hard for others to catch up. We'll see how General Motors, 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:13.720 Ford and the others do. Well. Let's talk about the competition. 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:18.720 Which competitor are you most optimistic about? And you know 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:21.000 which of these companies are really going to give Tesla 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:25.200 potentially run for its money. Well, let's start at the beginning. 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:28.760 Mary Bar at General Motors said, we're going to catch 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:34.520 up with Tesla. By they're not. They've produced first half 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:39.000 of the year eight thousand electric cars. Uh, they're way behind. 0:08:39.760 --> 0:08:45.760 They're struggling with supply chain, struggling with manufacturing. Ford appears 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:48.520 to be rising for the ashes. They're going to sell 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:53.400 and sold twenty five cars already this year with the 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:57.319 E four one, fifties a great car, and the Mustang, 0:08:57.679 --> 0:09:00.480 So they're rising for the from the ash is well, 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:06.640 General Motors is literally and figuratively trying to put out fires. 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:09.240 So as much as I'm pulling for GM and four, 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:11.079 it doesn't look like they're going to be the real 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:15.080 challenger anytime soon. Volkswagen it's a whole head of steam up. 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:17.920 They're gonna go over two evs first half of the 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:21.480 year more by year end. They're producing about half what 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:25.880 Tesla is, but eight times more than Ford and GM combined. 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:29.640 So VW is in a strong place global supply chain, 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:34.240 manufacturing facilities on every continent deep pockets. If anybody has 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:37.720 a shot to catch Tesla in the short term, it's Volkswagen. 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:42.040 Longer term, don't count out the Chinese. The world's largest 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:48.280 producer of batteries, Chinese government subsidizing their batteries, currently producing 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:50.400 more than half the evs the world, and it's the 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:53.520 biggest auto market. So Chinese are gonna come on quicker 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:56.040 than people think in the near term. I'm just hoping 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:59.080 as many American companies make the cut as possible. Don't 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:02.760 forget thirty new EV companies have coming to the market 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:06.559 in the last year, precisely the time the economy is 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:10.800 slowing down. Expect to shakeout in the marketplace. Be careful, 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:14.200 you're betting on winners, not the losers. Meantime, you've got 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:17.040 the Twitter side show going on for Elon Musk and 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:19.480 even you. When we when we last spoke about this, 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:24.040 we're not happy about his behavior. It's been a huge distraction. 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:27.880 Many Testa shareholders and Tesla owners aren't happy about it. 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:30.960 How much do you think that has hurt the brand? 0:10:30.960 --> 0:10:33.320 Has that hurt the Tesla brand hasn't hurt the Elon 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:37.079 Musk brand. Well, look, it's a deal of two cities. 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:41.400 On the way hand, you've got a nearly trillion dollar company, 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:45.319 the most powerful brand in the auto world, with zero 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:48.160 marketing budget. If anybody had told you that would happen 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:50.800 five years ago, they would have said that's a dream 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:53.840 come true. But I think it could be too much 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:56.400 of a good thing, and I think for many people, 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:59.119 including the SEC, it appears to be something of a distraction. 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:02.480 Uh and it's something that I think it needs to 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:06.400 be changed over time. People need to realize this is 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:10.920 a multi trillion dollar SmackDown. Who's going to control the 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:14.080 global EV market, not just for cars but trucks as well, 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:18.320 and who's going to control the next big thing, which 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:20.640 is the move to autonomous vehicles. This is going to 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:24.000 be cut throat competition. I think Tesla needs to throw 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:26.240 every ounce of focus they can and staying in the 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:29.840 driver's seat. Let me give you one example. Tesla's had 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:36.240 the best, longest range, least expensive, most reliable batteries in 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:42.480 the sector. They're now developing their new revolutionary eight battery composition. 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:45.719 It should be better at range, cheaper and greener than 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:48.160 anything ever made. But c A t L, the world's 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:51.040 biggest battery manufacturer in China claims to have some leap 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:54.439 frog advantages. This is going to be a fascinating SmackDown. 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:57.120 Tesla is going to need all the focus they can get. 0:11:57.360 --> 0:11:59.959 I'd keep the side shows to a minimum. Whoever win 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:02.400 this next round is going to have done something special. 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:05.559 If Tesla wins the autonomous race, it could be a 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:07.840 two trillion dollar company. That would be quite a trick. 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:11.520 All right, Uh, Steve Wesley, always good to have you here. 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:15.239 What's the group managing partner? Thank you for stopping by. Okay, 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:18.720 coming up Meta's brand new reward on global threats and 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:22.520 in particular, how the company is tackling a Russian troll farm. 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:26.040 Have more on that from a top Meta executive. Next, 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:46.280 Mrs Bloomberg. Meta says it just shut down a Russian 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:49.559 troll farm. The Facebook parent company releasing the quarterly report 0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:52.120 that outlines the actions it's taken against fake accounts and 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:55.520 hackers who tried to create the appearance of support for 0:12:55.600 --> 0:13:00.240 Russia's war on Ukraine. Vanemo, global threaten Intelligence strategy lead 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:02.360 out Meta joined us now from more on this, So 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:05.599 talk to us about this particular operation. Just how widespread 0:13:06.160 --> 0:13:11.559 and effective was it? Well in terms of being widespread, 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:13.840 it was really trying to hit everywhere across the Internet 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:15.960 pretty much all at the same time. What we had 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:18.280 was a troll farm, so an organization run from St. 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:21.040 Petersburg and Russia that was hiring people off the street 0:13:21.080 --> 0:13:23.800 to run fake accounts kind of everywhere on the Internet. 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:28.200 They could think of those reports of fake accounts on YouTube, Telegram, TikTok, Twitter, 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:31.160 We found them on Instagram, UM, and what they were 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:33.240 trying to do was make it look like there was 0:13:33.320 --> 0:13:36.360 large scales support for the Russian innovasion of Ukraine. So 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:40.000 that's the widespread effect. But in terms of effect, all 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:41.800 we saw was that they weren't very good at what 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:44.360 they did. UM. A lot of their fake accounts kept 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:47.160 on getting caught by the automated systems before we even 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:50.080 investigated them and took them down. Real people kept on 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:52.560 calling them out as trolls UM. And there were even 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:55.640 cases when they would try to steer people towards celebrities 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:58.040 or influences on social media and then they put their 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:00.440 own account. So, for example, at one point they tried 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:03.240 to steer people towards the UK Foreign Secretary Liz Trust 0:14:03.600 --> 0:14:06.800 and instead of finding the Foreign secretaries favorite page on Facebook. 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:09.160 They found something that hadn't been used since twenty eighteen, 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:12.520 so they were trying to spread themselves wide. But nothing 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:14.200 we saw show that they were actually having much of 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:17.599 an impact this time. So it sounds like this particular 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:21.920 operation wasn't very sophisticated. How unique was this operation? Is 0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:28.360 this something that you've seen before. We've seen attempts like 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:30.960 this before in lots of different parts of the world. 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:33.520 So so we've taken down troll farms in the past, 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:37.960 for example in Nicaragua, in Albania, we've taken down other 0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:40.920 activity by Russian trolls as well. But there was an 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:44.120 interesting twist to this case, and it's that the operation 0:14:44.160 --> 0:14:46.800 was really working in two halves. It was running a 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:49.680 public channel on Telegram which was trying to, if you like, 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:53.280 crowdsource comments which were supporting Russia, and when it didn't 0:14:53.320 --> 0:14:56.320 get real crowdsource comments, it would use the fake accounts 0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:58.680 to go in instead, And it's the same operation running 0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:01.080 all these things. And then what the people behind the 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:03.880 operation would do would be they do in the interviews 0:15:03.920 --> 0:15:06.760 on Russian state TV and supportive media and say, look, 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:08.880 what a great job we're doing. So It's like there 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:12.440 were multiple layers of deception nestled inside one another, almost 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:15.040 like a Russian doll. But ultimately they were trying to 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:17.480 make it look like they were effective, but they were 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:19.520 using fakes to do it, and then the fake has 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:24.600 gone caught. In general, how effective has Russian have Russian 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:28.120 disinformation campaigns actually been. Over the course of the last 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:33.840 several months of this war on Ukraine, we've taken down 0:15:34.680 --> 0:15:37.200 I think about half a dozen different Russian operations that 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:40.320 have been targeting Ukraine recently, so since the war began. 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:43.520 In general, what we've seen is that they've been struggling 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:46.720 to get any kind of real engagement, but we've also 0:15:46.760 --> 0:15:49.120 seen that they keep on trying, and this is the 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:51.200 time to keep our foot on the gas. What we 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:54.520 really need to do is take these operations as a lesson. 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:56.440 We need to learn from them, and we need to 0:15:56.520 --> 0:15:58.680 keep looking because we know threat actors like this are 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:01.360 not going to go away. We need to take them seriously, 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:03.840 and each time we find something like this, we need 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:06.520 to explain to people. Here's what it was, Here's how 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:08.920 it worked, Here's the kind of content that they were pushing, 0:16:08.960 --> 0:16:11.600 Here's the way they were operating because this time around 0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:14.320 they weren't very good at what they did. But we 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:16.000 need to prepare for the next time. And that's what 0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:18.080 as threatning investigators we always have to be ready for. 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:23.280 Are you speaking directly with other big tech companies Apple, Google, TikTok, 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:28.040 Twitter about coordinating efforts on this front. Whenever we do 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:31.000 a threat report like this, we share with industry partners, 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:34.280 we share with researchers, we share with we share with 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:36.840 the public. Right we report these things and that's because 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:39.720 we found that that influence operations. They're a bit like 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:42.520 mold growing in your house. They grow best in dark places, 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:44.480 and so when you find them, there's two things you 0:16:44.480 --> 0:16:46.320 really need to do. You need to clean them up, 0:16:46.640 --> 0:16:47.920 but the on you need to shine a light on 0:16:47.960 --> 0:16:49.320 them as well. You need to move them into a 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:51.760 bright place. And we've always found that the more we 0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:54.080 can share information about these operations, the more we can 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:57.440 make people aware of how they behave it's harder for 0:16:57.480 --> 0:17:01.520 them to come back. What keeps you up at night? 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:04.320 I mean we're heading into the U S mid terms 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:07.879 here in the United States? Have you seen activity rising 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:13.960 on that front. I'm a threat investigator, so investigations keep 0:17:13.960 --> 0:17:15.760 me up at night. It's it's what we all do 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:19.040 on the team. UM. In terms of the mid terms, sorry, 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:24.960 we haven't seen any upticking activity so far. For example, 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:28.360 this Russian operation that we've taken down was really focused 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:30.320 on the war in Ukraine and it was all about 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:33.720 pushing the Russian point of view. But again, operations like 0:17:33.800 --> 0:17:35.200 this are a lesson and one of the big things 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:37.800 from the Russian operation was that what they were trying 0:17:37.840 --> 0:17:40.760 to do was use a fake operation to make a 0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:43.639 more public operation look like it was working. And this 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:46.280 is something we call perception hacking. It's trying to fool 0:17:46.320 --> 0:17:48.199 people that there's something big going on, if you like. 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:50.400 It's like dropping an ice cube into the water and saying, 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:53.159 look as an iceberg underneath. And that's the kind of 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:57.120 tactic which could be very easily transferred to other areas. 0:17:57.520 --> 0:17:59.879 So we have to take threat actors like this serious. 0:18:00.200 --> 0:18:02.680 Just because they were ham fisted this time around doesn't 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:04.239 mean that they will be the next time. And so 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:06.679 what we're looking out for as investigators, and the thing 0:18:06.760 --> 0:18:08.960 that's keeping us up at night is making sure we 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:12.440 keep ahead of whatever trends are out there. Meantime, we've 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:17.360 been following this story about TikTok and the Chinese government 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:20.719 or an entity supported by the Chinese government trying to 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:24.080 set up a stealth account on TikTok to target Western 0:18:24.119 --> 0:18:29.959 audiences with propaganda. You know, is this something that concerns you? 0:18:34.359 --> 0:18:36.000 If you look at our FRET reporting over the last 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:38.480 few years, we've taken down operations from around the world. 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:43.639 We have seen operations from China, Iran, India, um. I 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:45.880 think it's more than fifty different countries that we've We've 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:49.320 seen operations coming in from more than two dozen different languages, 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:51.879 and it seems like the idea is out there that 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:54.520 influence operations are a thing. There's something that many different 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:57.960 countries come run. And our job is threatned investigators, is 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:00.800 to go and find them, and particularly really to shine 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:03.159 a light on them and to share information about them 0:19:03.000 --> 0:19:05.280 as widely as we can, because the more different lies 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:08.000 we can get on this, the more we can try 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:10.000 and catch them. With the Russian troll Farm, it was 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:12.840 really interesting the way it was exposed was the troll 0:19:12.880 --> 0:19:14.800 farm was trying to hire people off the street and 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:16.879 telling them, Hey, come and work for us. One of 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:18.399 the first people they hired turned out to be an 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:24.560 undercover journalists to expose the whole operation. Fascinating Meta executive 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:28.679 Bennimo Global Threat Intelligencely, thank you Ben for sharing all 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:39.000 that with us. Welcome back to Bloomberg Technology. I'm emily 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:42.040 changing San Francisco legacy names and streaming and media out 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:44.480 with more earnings results are and Ludlow back with the 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:48.280 latest and Warner Brothers Discovery. Yeah interesting, I mean doesn't 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:50.920 look great right down in after hours. They had a 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:53.520 net loss in the quarter, which they attribute the costs 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:57.159 relating to the merger between Warner Media and Discovery. Of 0:19:57.200 --> 0:19:58.920 course that closed in April, and this was the first 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:00.800 time investors really got a look under the hood of 0:20:00.800 --> 0:20:05.600 this combined entity. And I'm zeroing in on subscribers across 0:20:05.760 --> 0:20:09.080 HBO Max other properties like Discovery Plus. They added one 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:12.560 point seven million subscribers net new subscribers in the quarter. 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:15.480 So let's compare and contrast, because they weren't the only 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:19.280 streaming name to report earnings this Thursday. Paramount up one 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:22.120 percent in regular trading. Actually, Warner Brothers are almost five 0:20:22.119 --> 0:20:26.320 percent before its earnings. But Paramount across Paramount Plus added 0:20:26.480 --> 0:20:30.120 three point seven million subscribers in the quarter, so actually, 0:20:30.359 --> 0:20:32.440 even though it's a relative minnow in what we call 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:36.119 the streaming wars, it's seeming to get some traction in 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:38.320 its user based and adding new users. What they both 0:20:38.320 --> 0:20:41.600 had in common was the ad business is really underperformed, 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:44.159 which is interesting given what we've heard in the mixed 0:20:44.160 --> 0:20:47.640 picture of the global advertising market in recent weeks. Where 0:20:47.640 --> 0:20:49.840 do we stand here today, m with all these different 0:20:49.920 --> 0:20:52.159 names with zeroed in on who's doing well who's doing not? 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:54.560 If you look at the share prices, actually Paramount is 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:58.119 the relative outperformer, down just sixteen percent year today. But 0:20:58.320 --> 0:21:02.399 Netflix still really ug down sixty two percent year today. 0:21:02.440 --> 0:21:04.600 Of course, they had a shock in the first half 0:21:04.600 --> 0:21:07.600 of this year with the shock loss of its subscribe 0:21:07.600 --> 0:21:09.440 It based a more positive outlook for the second half 0:21:09.520 --> 0:21:11.639 this year. But there's still a big questions right in 0:21:11.680 --> 0:21:14.720 the face of great inflation, what's the consumer of doing? 0:21:14.960 --> 0:21:17.320 That's a lot of option. Personally, I got a lot 0:21:17.320 --> 0:21:19.040 of choices. I subscribed to all these. I don't know 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:22.080 if you saw a top gun great movie that boosted Paramount, 0:21:22.800 --> 0:21:25.680 Can we have them all forever? I haven't seen it 0:21:25.760 --> 0:21:27.359 yet and I don't have time to go to the 0:21:27.400 --> 0:21:30.640 movie theater, But I will try to make it. Thank you. Okay, 0:21:30.760 --> 0:21:34.560 let's continue this conversation with Julia Alexander, director of Strategy 0:21:34.680 --> 0:21:37.400 at Parrot Analytics. Juliet, look, you know there's a lot 0:21:37.440 --> 0:21:40.040 to talk about here. Let's start with Warner Brothers Discovery. 0:21:40.400 --> 0:21:44.399 You know clearly they're they're making changes, planning to make 0:21:44.400 --> 0:21:47.920 a lot more changes, and there's you know, some uncertainty 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:50.960 about where this is all going. What's your take, right, 0:21:51.119 --> 0:21:52.720 I mean, the first thing we have to do is, 0:21:52.880 --> 0:21:57.000 I think almost stepped back from the amount of subscribers gained. 0:21:57.200 --> 0:21:58.880 So we look at the subs gained, right, they gained 0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:01.680 one point seven million. It's not much. They actually, according 0:22:01.720 --> 0:22:04.280 to their new way that they report, they lost about 0:22:04.280 --> 0:22:06.760 three hundred thousand in the domestic market. But I think 0:22:06.800 --> 0:22:09.119 we have to look at and what David Zaslab CEO 0:22:09.200 --> 0:22:12.240 David zas Laws real game is is what is the 0:22:12.280 --> 0:22:15.000 actual value of this content? How do we go through 0:22:15.119 --> 0:22:18.080 HBO Max and call some of it and Discovery Plus 0:22:18.080 --> 0:22:20.200 and call some of it in order to really ensure 0:22:20.240 --> 0:22:23.040