WEBVTT - Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend-October 10, 2020 0:00:00.960 --> 0:00:04.480 This is Bloomberg Business With with Carol Masser and Jason 0:00:04.559 --> 0:00:09.400 Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. Hi, I'm Jason Kelly and I'm 0:00:09.400 --> 0:00:12.440 Carol Masser. Welcome to the weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week. 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:15.120 It is week thirty, mostly working from home and a 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:17.599 common thread to the week, Jason, Of course, the virus 0:00:17.640 --> 0:00:19.400 and whether or not more relief in the way of 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:21.960 stimulus was coming or not. That guided the trade in 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:25.079 the financial markets. It also guided the trade when it 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:28.320 came to one stock. We're talking about Eli Lily absolutely, 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:31.720 you know that company coming out with an antibody treatment, 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:35.279 putting it up for FDA emergency approval. We caught up 0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:39.040 with the CEO of Lily, David ricks on what his 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:41.800 company is working on, where he expected to be, and 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:45.720 where the broader pharmaceutical industry is in fighting the virus. Plus, 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:49.239 we need solutions that are larger than the problems that 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:52.560 we seek. Operation Hope founder and chief executive officer John 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:55.880 Hopebrien on the plight of America's middle class, particularly for 0:00:55.960 --> 0:01:00.320 people of color, and SAG after a President. Gabrielle card Harris, 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:02.440 you know her from nine oh to one oh. She 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:06.959 leads the massive union that's trying to get its folks 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:09.640 back to work in TV and film. But first let's 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:12.000 go to the cover story, A White House COVID outbreak 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:16.600 is America's pandemic failure in microcosm. That's right, Jason, they're 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:19.240 the remarks. They're written by Rob Langrath, who his healthcare reporter. 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:22.840 Earlier this year he wrote another cover story about ramdesse Vie, 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:25.160 and this week, as you said, he's taking a deep 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:27.520 dive into the White House COVID outbreak. We got more 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:30.840 from Rob and Bloomberg Business Week editor Joe Weber. Everything 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:36.520 basically started a week ago when Jennifer Jacobs, um wonderful 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:40.959 DC based White House reporter for Bloomberg News, actually broke 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:44.640 that hope pix had it had tested positive. And then, um, 0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:47.720 you know, basically a bunch of chaos started to ensue, 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:51.760 and you know, within a couple hours, um, we had 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:55.400 a positive confirmation that President Trump had tested positive. And 0:01:55.440 --> 0:01:59.600 then we just started to watch more and more people 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:03.480 to the president come down. Um, and so we turned 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:05.800 to Bob because you know, there's a political story there 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:08.600 to be sure, but you know, the one that really 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:12.080 stood out to us was this the the health side 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:13.839 of it, right, and the science side of it, and 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:16.480 the disease side of it, and all of those things 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:21.480 are things that Bob knows um incredibly well, and uh, 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:23.840 you know it, This disease, as he points out in 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:27.799 this remarks, make makes no exception of anybody. It does 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:30.640 not care what your statue is, like what what president? 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:34.120 What what country you're president of? It is just ruthless 0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:37.600 and relentless Um. And I think we've learned a little 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:40.119 bit along the way, and Bob like I wouldn't mind 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:42.080 actually just kind of opening up with that question, like 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:45.120 what did what did you learn over the past week 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:50.160 about COVID? Well, I mean, it's just emphasizes just very 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:53.560 clearly how how in sextuous and how easily it spreads 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:57.320 and how tricky of viruses is because what happens is 0:02:57.320 --> 0:02:59.639 is that people are very contagious, often a couple of 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:02.160 days before they get any any symptoms. That's one of 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:04.960 the peak contagious periods. A lot of the spread occurs 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:08.240 before people have symptoms symptoms at all, and that is 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:11.680 may that that may may be something that happened in 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:13.800 the White House, and that's you know, different from some 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:16.800 other diseases like stars are. Most of the spread occurred 0:03:16.800 --> 0:03:19.280 when people had symptoms. So what the White Hush did, 0:03:19.320 --> 0:03:21.640 and this is kind of emblematic of the whole way 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:25.400 the administration has approached this pandemic. They kind of relied 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:28.840 on kind of a single silverable quick fix, or relying 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:32.120 on a kind of Abbot Laboratory's rapid test, which is 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:35.360 a perfectly good test, but if you use it correctly, 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:37.520 but it's really supposed to be used for people with 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:40.320 symptoms to confirm a diagnosis and get them isolate them 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:42.480 as soon as possible. It's not supposed to be used 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:45.080 as the solene of defense to either to keep to 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:48.040 allow you to do crowded events without masking social distancing. 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:49.800 And that's what the White House is doing again and 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:52.960 again and and the problem with that strategy. Get one 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:56.720 case slips through, one false false negative, and you have 0:03:56.800 --> 0:03:59.240 a super spreader event and not sure what appears to 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:02.640 have happened. Yeah, and Bob, I mean it really is 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:06.480 amazing because I feel like all of us, even those 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:08.960 of us who you know aren't president or don't work 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:12.400 at the White House, have been putting maybe too much 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:14.560 emphasis or too much hope on this idea of like, 0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:16.440 well what if I could just get a rapid test 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:17.919 and then I could go to work, or then I 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:19.760 could go to a game, or then I could get 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:24.000 on a plane or whatever it is. It's trickier than that, right, right, 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:27.200 So the tests are very good and they're useful, uh, 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:30.320 and there there are part of this part of the strategy, 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:33.599 but they're not like a you know, a solution for 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:36.440 everything just in isolation, because there's just a moment of 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:39.200 time that will happen. Is you get infected with the 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:41.680 coronavirus and then there's an incubation pure and not much 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:43.960 is happening, and so you've been infected, there's a pine 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:46.080 of devirus and starting to grow and grow, and you 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:49.440 don't test positive, you know, uh, you know for several 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:52.120 days necessarily, and you know, so you could have a 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:54.520 rapid test in the morning it says you're negative, but 0:04:54.600 --> 0:04:56.840 you could be infecting people in the afternoon, and then 0:04:56.839 --> 0:04:58.520 you're effected a bunch of people and then like a 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:00.640 day or so later, the test turns positive, but it's 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:05.680 too late. Bob. We learned a little bit about how 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:10.279 a certain course of treatments can go if you're the 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:13.600 president of the United States. I suppose what what are 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:18.240 doctors and others scientists, people in farm out, what what 0:05:18.560 --> 0:05:22.159 are people saying about sort of the course of treatments 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:25.200 that President Trump was put on, because that's not something 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:28.840 that the rest of us probably have access to, right, 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:30.520 I mean, he may have been like the only one 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:31.840 of the only people in the world to get this 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:35.440 kind of combination of three treatments, including this one totally 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:38.600 experimental one from Regeneral, and uh, you know, in such 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:41.680 a rapid rapid time from he got this on a 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:45.480 quote compassionate use basis. He got this experimental antibody cocktail 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:47.839 from Regeneral in which they have you know, they're applying 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:50.120 for authorization, but they have you know, very few doses 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:52.719 of so most people couldn't get that. And then he 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:57.600 quickly I was moved airlifted via the White House helicopters 0:05:57.600 --> 0:06:01.120 to Walt to Read Medical Center where he hut from Desaviere, 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:04.400 which is a standard hospital treatment that's agilia drug drug 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:07.960 cover story on before and he got that right away, 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:11.760 and uh and uh, you know after he you know, 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:16.039 he was having some breathing difficulties on Friday, and then uh, 0:06:16.120 --> 0:06:18.480 like the next day they put them on the steroid 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:22.400 dexametha zone and after he had another bout of breathing difficulty. 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:26.400 And that is a drug that's basically mostly usually used 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:29.680 for severe cases, which you know suggests to a lot 0:06:29.800 --> 0:06:32.200 to doctors and some people that you know, the the 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:34.479 White House doctors may have been much more worried about 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:36.039 Trump and they have, you know, let on the fact 0:06:36.040 --> 0:06:37.719 that they put him on this third drug that's really 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:41.080 for severe cases. And that was Bloomberg News Healthcare reporter 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:44.880 Robert Langreth and Bloomberg Business Week editor Joe Weber coming up, Jason, 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:47.000 as the case is connected to the White House continued 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:49.520 to add up. A new addition to treating the virus 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:52.120 was made public by drug maker Eli Lily. We talked 0:06:52.160 --> 0:07:02.159 with that company CEO David Rix. This is Bloomberg is 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:06.120 Bloomberg Business with with Carol Masser and Jason Kelly from 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:09.440 Bloomberg Radio. So, Jason, there were a few important developments 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:11.600 when it came to COVID nineteen this week. One came 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:15.840 from Eli Lily asking US drug regulators to authorize emergency 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:19.600 use of its experimental COVID nineteen antibody therapy that after 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:22.520 some data show the treatment reduced hospitalizations. This was a 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:26.080 big deal. Absolutely. We caught up with the CEO of ELI, 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:30.480 Lily David Rex. We've submitted a request for an emergency 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:34.280 use authorization. That's the um vehicle that you can use 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:37.880 in the pandemic to get a quick approval without the 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:41.560 normal full data package, but having proof of safety and advocacy. 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:45.680 We're doing that on the on the monotherapy, the single antibody, 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:49.080 and then we also disclosed new data on the combination, 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:51.760 which also is shown to be quite effective and safe, 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:53.880 and we're saying we're going to submit that over the 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:56.960 coming weeks. We want to accumulate a few more patients 0:07:56.960 --> 0:08:00.800 on it to prove the safety. Based on decisions made 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:04.400 months ago to manufacture of risk, we would expect to 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:08.000 have something like a million doses available this fall of 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:10.680 the monotherapy, the single one that we're submitting for today. 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:13.360 So that's a big number of doses and could help 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:14.920 a lot of people. We want that to go to 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:17.200 work here in the US and around the world to 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:21.240 arrest the worst consequences of the virus. Right, so, so 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:24.040 let's talk about how that gets out there, because that 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:26.960 clearly is a key question. You know, we're also focused 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:29.760 on all the different things that we can throw at this, 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:32.880 but ultimately you got to get it to people. How 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:35.920 do you do that? What's the mechanism by which this 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:40.800 all works? Day? Right? So in the in this emergency situation, 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:43.920 we're not going to follow normal business course. What we're 0:08:43.920 --> 0:08:46.120 doing is partnering with governments and here in the US 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:49.679 with the Operation Warp Speed effort Um and the d 0:08:49.920 --> 0:08:52.599 D which is in charge of procurement during the pandemic, 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:57.560 and similar mechanisms in in other markets. And the reason 0:08:57.600 --> 0:08:59.800 we're doing that is we know we don't have enough 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:03.680 seerial to meet the demand, and what we don't want 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:07.560 is the product to either sit idle, be hoarded, or 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:10.720 go to the wrong patients who don't have the greatest benefit. 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:14.480 So we're partnering with governments to ensure a good allocation. 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:17.600 And then also we want to partner with governments to 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:21.640 reduce patient out of pocket costs to zero or something 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:24.960 very close to zero. Most of the developed world has 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:27.280 already announced those kinds of programs, and so by working 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:31.040 with governments, we can ensure that cost is not a barrier. Hey, 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:33.280 what think I'm wondering Dave is how much of what 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:38.040 happened to President Trump and his getting multiple treatments, um, 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:40.240 different types of treatments. How to do with your news 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:43.120 today and bringing up monotherapy out sooner rather than later 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:48.559 or waiting for the cocktail. Well, for us, this this 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:52.560 date was on the calendar long ago. Um. The data 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:55.719 locked on some of these studies just yesterday, and we've 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:59.040 been working with the career scientific professionals at the f 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:01.920 D a kind of hand and glove for the last 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:05.240 four or five months to get to this point. UM. 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:07.599 We had the data matured and we thought it was 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:10.840 appropriate to request a submission at this for for an 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:14.920 emergency use authorization at this time that was in motion 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:18.640 well before the news from last week. Of course, UM, 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:21.280 we're all we've all learned in society more about aniboty 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:23.400 therapy and their utility, and that's probably a good thing 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:26.960 to raised the awareness, UM, so that it maybe seems 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:29.599 beneficial in the moment. But this this was preordained some 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:31.920 time ago in terms of when we would be pushing 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:35.600 forward for the use well and and in some ways 0:10:35.640 --> 0:10:38.400 building on on what Carol was talking about in terms 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:40.840 of what we saw with the President Obviously that's one patient, 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:44.280 and he's a special patient in many ways. But I 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:46.640 do think people are trying to understand and maybe you 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:51.200 can help us understand what what's the effective way or 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:53.680 what do we know about this virus in terms of 0:10:54.040 --> 0:10:56.760 what we need to throw at it when, and what 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:59.480 do we need to be taking and thinking about is 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:03.160 as individuals, especially since this is, as I understand, at least, 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:05.600 sort of a bridge to a vaccine, right Like, so 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:08.559 as a it's just a normal guy, like, how should 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:11.480 I be thinking of a drug like this? Yeah, this 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:14.439 is it's a very important question. We're studying this medicine 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:17.760 in three settings. One is the one we announced today, 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:21.040 which is UM patients who are newly diagnosed, the so 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:24.600 called mild to moderate UM that's their current state. But 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:27.840 a portion of the patients and it's hard to predict 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:30.840 which ones, but we we think age and obesity are 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:35.080 two contributing factors. A portion of those patients never resolve 0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:37.640 the virus themselves or have a struggle to do it, 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:41.839 and so by giving early, particularly in those high risk 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:44.800 patients who are over sixty five and what's called the 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:47.640 body mass index over thirty five, which is the definition 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:53.240 of clinical obesity that they can benefit by avoiding hospitalization. 0:11:53.679 --> 0:11:56.280 And what the this medicine does is it knocks down 0:11:56.280 --> 0:11:59.320 the virus, kind of gives your body a jump start 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:03.040 on its own immune response, and so that patients um 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:06.520 don't get into this challenge where the virus is spreading 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:08.440 faster than they can conquer it in sort of a 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:13.000 turbocharger for your own immune system, that's an appropriate place. 0:12:13.080 --> 0:12:16.080 We believe. That's why we've pushed for the emergency use authorization. 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:19.160 But we're also studying it earlier in disease and what's 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:23.360 called primary prophylactus, where we're actually doing a study in 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:25.920 nursing homes, where we know the tragedy of nursing homes 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:29.840 in this country, of of all deaths due to COVID 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:33.880 nineteen happen in nursing homes, and in these these settings 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:37.520 where people are close together, all very high risk, the 0:12:37.559 --> 0:12:41.200 disease spreads quickly and with horrible consequences. So what we're 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:43.280 doing is a study where if there's one infection in 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:46.720 a home, we swoop in. We actually retrofitted r vs 0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:50.480 to be mobile research units. We swoop in, we we 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:53.400 treat everyone with the antibodies, and then we watch like 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:56.480 a vaccine study to see if we can knock down 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:59.960 the reinfection rate and spread of infection in a home. 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:02.560 And then finally there's a big study going along with 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:06.560 NIH in hospitalized patients. But the general theory here would 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:10.480 be earlier better for this kind of medication, you know, 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:11.920 Dave one of the things, and we were kind of 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:14.320 kicking this around in our newsroom UM and certainly with 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:17.120 our healthcare team that's been covering UM the virus day 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:19.400 in and day out NonStop. You know, I think one 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:21.880 of the questions came up, like why focus on making 0:13:21.880 --> 0:13:24.200 the LOWD dose if it's the middle dose or the 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:28.319 cap cocktail that has better results in the trial? Well, 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:31.800 I think that was the headline from the first UM 0:13:31.960 --> 0:13:34.240 study we announced two weeks ago that the middle dose 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:37.959 hit the primary endpoint. We showed all the data today 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:40.200 because we wanted to make a point that probably that 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:43.520 was just by chance that the primary endpoint we chose, 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:47.840 which was the day eleven average VIRA load reduction, was 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:50.720 not a informed choice when we when we made it, 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:53.560 we probably wouldn't choose that endpoint. Again, it turns out 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:57.280 most people, including on placebo resolved the virus by day eleven, 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:00.000 and here day eleven actually is something more like day 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:03.640 fifteen because patients appeared in the study on average four 0:14:03.720 --> 0:14:07.560 days after symptom onset. So um, that's pretty long, and 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:09.720 we know that from CDC guidance, which says if you 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:13.120 feel sick, quarantine for fourteen days. Most people resolve it. 0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:16.240 But it's a disease of outliers and a few people 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:20.400 don't clear the virus themselves and have persistent symptoms and 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:23.480 show up to the hospital. So a better metric for 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:26.520 viral load, we think, would be this idea of those 0:14:26.560 --> 0:14:30.040 who have persistent high viral load or even using it 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:33.360 day three or day seven would be much more meaningful. 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:36.400 That was Dave ricks Eli, Lily chairman and CEO, So 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:38.560 good to catch up with him and Jason really getting 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:40.200 into the weeds for us there when it comes to 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:44.040 understanding the efficacy of COVID nineteen treatments. Definitely another step 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:46.760 forward as we wait for a vaccine. Yeah, a step 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:48.640 in a long road, that's for sure. We also know 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:51.720 it's been tough across the business world. The founder and 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:53.920 CEA of Noonday Collection, she caught up with us and 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:57.400 talked about how even after some of the darkest days 0:14:57.520 --> 0:15:01.000 in that company's history, they're actually doing better than ever. 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:08.040 That's coming up next. This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:12.400 Business with with Carol Masser and Jason Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:14.600 So we're bringing you some of the highlights of our 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:17.680 daily broadcast and podcasts. That included definitely a friend of 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:20.000 our show, Jason's who we talked with back in March. 0:15:20.120 --> 0:15:22.920 Caught up with her again this week, Jessica Hanager, founder 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:26.520 and CEO at Noonday Collection. They work with entrepreneurs artisans 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:29.640 all around the globe. It's all about providing female lead 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:33.240 in women oriented businesses some help and she pivoted and 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:35.600 made it work better than ever before. But it didn't 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:39.120 feel that way seven months ago. When we spoke in March. 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:41.440 I thought it was the beginning of the end of 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:48.200 Noonday after building a decade long company. But we crashed 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:52.480 in March, and then we quickly rallied back and we're 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:56.680 back on track with our sales projections meeting what our 0:15:56.720 --> 0:16:02.240 original projections were pre COVID. Wow. So tell us about 0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:04.280 that moment, I mean, tell us what happened? Tell us 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:06.760 about the moment when it looked Sorry to take you 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:08.800 back there, but like when it looked the darkest, what 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:12.920 was going on? Well, when it looked the darkest. We 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:17.440 are built around women physically gathering and inviting women into 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:21.280 their homes. So we had thousands of those in person 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:25.120 gathering scheduled in March, and those all quickly canceled. So 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:29.520 obviously our March revenue plummeted. But we quickly pivoted to 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:34.440 online businesses. So we empowered all of our entrepreneurs, our 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:37.800 New Day Collection ambassadors, who are creating a marketplace for 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:40.200 our artists and businesses that we work with around the 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:45.800 globe to run online businesses. We pivoted to do gathers 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:48.760 for good trunk shows where it would be a give 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:51.800 back to anyone who was impacted by COVID nineteen in 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:56.600 their communities. And so these women rallied And I've always 0:16:56.600 --> 0:17:00.280 believed that women on a mission are unstoppable, but at 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:05.640 was proved correct because we rallied and we three months 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:08.359 later in July had our biggest July in ten years. 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:11.600 So it's been very humbling, but I have to say 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:14.840 it is because our business model is not dependent upon 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:18.560 brick and mortar stores. We are dependent upon woman who 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:21.640 are at home and who need to earn income from 0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:25.640 their homes, and that ended up being a really good 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:29.880 thing in a global pandemic. But one thing I wondered too, 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:32.360 and Jason and I've talked to a lot of CEO 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:36.840 s leaders of small, medium, large companies, and a lot 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:39.000 of what happened because of the pandemic is things that 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:40.560 they were planning to do, but all of a sudden 0:17:40.560 --> 0:17:42.439 the had to do it much more quickly because of 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:44.080 the pandemic. And a lot of it was a pivot 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:47.840 to digital. You know, you guys were online, right and 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:50.720 you had a business online, but I'm guessing that everything, 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:54.760 as you said, kind of ramped up. We were online, 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:58.840 but really about ten or fifteen percent of our sales 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:02.920 were e commerce based. And our social entrepreneurs are New 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:06.360 Day collection ambassadors. Their primary way they were running their 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:09.480 business and their local context was to go into other 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:13.640 women's tones where women would gather their community and sell 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:16.760 the product. So now that homes were no longer open, 0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:22.160 we opened up Zoom shows, and we opened up Facebook 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:28.359 and other digital platforms, and people wanted to rally. I 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:30.880 think people more than ever wanted to do something good. 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:33.800 They wanted to use their purchasing dollars for good. And 0:18:34.200 --> 0:18:38.000 this being a global pandemic, our customer base is really 0:18:38.040 --> 0:18:42.119 cares about the globe and I think that really showed 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:45.679 during the last few months. And so, and we're going 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:48.320 to talk about in a minute, talk more in a 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:50.439 minute about sort of what you've seen across your global 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:55.040 network to um Jessica, because obviously you have a window 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:59.040 far beyond even what we do here in this country. 0:18:59.080 --> 0:19:01.720 But I do want to ask you like that, did 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:05.160 the did you have to change the economics for your 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:07.879 ambassadors at all owing to this, or were you able 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:10.800 to just sort of carry over effectively the same business 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:14.600 model but just sort of keep it online. It was 0:19:14.640 --> 0:19:18.840 the same business model, the same commission structure. We did 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:22.760 some things to instent them to ask other women to 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:27.200 launch their own businesses because we realized that people were 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:30.800 needing additional income in a very flexible environment, and that 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:34.840 is what New Day Collection offers. But the only economics 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:38.880 that really changed about our business is we canceled a 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:43.840 ton of our international travels happen and so and then 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:48.360 in person conferences and all of those things. So our 0:19:49.000 --> 0:19:55.120 actual profitability increase this year because of all our expenses 0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:59.480 that are normal are now not there anymore. I believe 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:02.280 that we are actually going to have our strongest year 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:07.119 ever in one because as we begin to gather again, 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:11.080 women now know how to run a digital business and 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:14.320 how to reach outside of just their local context. So 0:20:14.400 --> 0:20:17.760 now they have become highly attuned at how to do 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:21.280 email campaigns and how to harness all of the different 0:20:21.280 --> 0:20:24.400 digital platforms to gather people and run their business that way. 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:27.000 But I do believe there is a day when people 0:20:27.040 --> 0:20:30.080 are going to gather in person again, and that's Noonday 0:20:30.119 --> 0:20:35.040 Collection founder and CEO Jessica Haniger back with us. She's 0:20:35.080 --> 0:20:38.440 doing incredibly important work, and what a seven months it's 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:40.840 been for her, Carol. I love her optimism, and she's right. 0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:42.920 We're social creatures. We're all going to be gathering again 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:46.159 real soon. All right, still to come. Even if you 0:20:46.200 --> 0:20:49.720 want to distribute money, money like a socialist, you've got 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:52.520 a first collect money like a capitalist. Operation Hopes founder 0:20:52.520 --> 0:20:56.119 and CEO John Hope Bryant with a reality check on racism. 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:58.159 He's got a new book. It's called Up from Nothing. 0:20:58.320 --> 0:21:09.800 This is Woomberg. This is Bloomberg Business With with Carol 0:21:09.840 --> 0:21:13.800 Masser and Jason Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. So Jason, common 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:16.040 themes through many of our interviews throughout the week on 0:21:16.080 --> 0:21:18.280 our daily radio show continue to be about the two 0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:20.440 pandemics facing our country. We've talked about this a lot, 0:21:20.480 --> 0:21:23.640 the virus, of course, and then racial injustice. And one 0:21:23.680 --> 0:21:25.919 voice that's been a guiding light for us, especially on 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:28.800 that is John Hope Bryant. He's founder, chairman and CEO 0:21:28.840 --> 0:21:32.280 of the Atlanta based global nonprofit Operation Hope. He created 0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:35.000 that in the aftermath of l A Rights. I mean, 0:21:35.119 --> 0:21:36.760 every time we talked to him, we just love it. 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:38.920 He's also got a new book at he does. It's 0:21:38.920 --> 0:21:41.880 called Up from Nothing, and he reminds us that all 0:21:41.960 --> 0:21:45.040 of this is intertwined, that so much of what we're 0:21:45.040 --> 0:21:51.679 facing is ultimately economic, but also intensely personal, also intensely 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:54.720 historical in many ways. And I know every time you 0:21:54.760 --> 0:21:57.280 and I talked to him, were madly scribbling down the 0:21:57.280 --> 0:21:59.199 things that he's saying, because he spends a lot of 0:21:59.200 --> 0:22:02.199