WEBVTT - New Tech, Partnerships in Healthcare Improving Access 0:00:01.760 --> 0:00:04.400 This is Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Carol Masser and I'm 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:07.240 Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stanibek. We're here every day bringing 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:09.760 you the latest news from the world to business and finance, 0:00:09.800 --> 0:00:13.640 clus technology, politics, economics, all harnessing the power of Business 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:17.119 Week reporters and editors, not to mention our journalists and 0:00:17.120 --> 0:00:19.960 analysts in more than one twenty countries. You can download 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:23.200 Bloomberg Business Week and iTunes, SoundCloud, or Bloomberg dot Com. 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:25.160 You can also listen to our radio show at two 0:00:25.160 --> 0:00:27.840 pm Eastern Time on Bloomberg Radio or watch us on 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:31.320 YouTube search Bloomberg Global News. Well. Earlier this year, the 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:35.199 World Economic Forum noting that in one alone, forty four 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:38.640 billion dollars was raised globally in health innovation that's twice 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:41.440 as much as and the acquisition of health and health 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:45.280 heap companies rose fifty percent. Here's another fun fact, the 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:47.640 World Economic Forum finding that up to eight percent of 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:49.880 providers in the US are planning to invest in tech 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:54.040 and technologies including digital health, AI, machine learning, as well 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:56.920 as tools to support clinical staff and caregivers over the 0:00:56.920 --> 0:00:59.000 next five years. And I feel like Tim, that plays 0:00:59.160 --> 0:01:01.560 so much in to what we're going to get into 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:03.440 with our next guest. Yea, our next guest Atman. L. 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:06.680 Rocky is the CEO of color Health. I'vemen joining us 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:09.800 this afternoon on the phone from San Francisco. Color Health 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:12.520 is based in the Bay Area. It's a health tech company. 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:16.920 It's focused on COVID nineteen testing and vaccine efforts for 0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:21.840 state governments, for local governments, particularly in California and Massachusetts. Atman, 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:25.000 it's good to have you with us. How are you hello, 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:26.959 good afteroon, Thanks for having me well, thanks so much 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:29.640 for joining us. Characterized, how would you characterize what you've 0:01:29.680 --> 0:01:31.360 been doing over the last couple of years as the 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:35.720 pandemic has well been ongoing. Yeah, it's been a really um, 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:38.559 you know, interesting evolution I think, and across the entire space, 0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:41.360 and in fact, actually for us, it really predated the 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:44.839 pandemic where we were working on a large population health 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:49.840 programs UM even a few years ago. UM and even 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:51.320 at the time, I think one of the things that 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:54.760 was quite apparent is that aside from like discovering new 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:58.920 therapeutics and you you know, diagnostics and so on, one 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:01.000 of the things that still room does a big challenges 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:03.880 making healthcare accessible, like often times. I think in the 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:06.360 US there is health care that's available but not actually 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:09.960 accessible to people. Question when you're talking about basic public health, 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:13.560 and I think with the pandemic has really forced our 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:17.640 entire industry too, you know, really shift hard to focus 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:21.079 on how do you deliver basic and essential services to 0:02:21.360 --> 0:02:24.240 very large populations in a way that takes a lot 0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:27.040 of the friction out of their out of their experience. 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:30.840 And and so we've seen that obviously through testing vaccines 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:34.320 UM and even now as well through tested treat programs, 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:38.760 and people are because they're getting diagnosed, making them able 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:41.800 to receive access to care in a way that's as 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:44.720 immediate as possible and takes away all the different bumps 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:47.480 in the road that usually impede access for for every 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:49.520 for people in their everyday lives. UM and take a 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:51.880 step back, tell us exactly what you guys are doing 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:57.600 specifically specificity sure so um so colors. So you know, 0:02:57.639 --> 0:02:59.880 as you mentioned, we're started off as a health tech company. 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:02.880 We do today is that we run UM public health 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:07.280 programs UM both for local state governments as well as 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:13.320 large employers to UM make available for their populations either 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:18.880 testing vaccinations or medication related services, whether in COVID or not. 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:21.560 But so to make it give you a concrete example 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:24.840 to Color today runs the biggest school testing programs in 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:31.120 the country across um over a dozen states in the US. 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:33.600 California is the largest one, but across all of our sites, 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:37.000 we run over ten thousand different sites where people can 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:41.360 receive access to test store vaccines in a way that's 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:46.280 like extremely uh simple and direct, where the flad access 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:50.120 to a simple online sign up flow when they go 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:53.000 onto the sites. We handle all of the logistics and 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:56.440 um all the aspects of delivering the service so that 0:03:56.480 --> 0:03:59.120 people can just literally show up and within a couple 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:01.000 of minutes they show if they get the service, and 0:04:01.080 --> 0:04:03.200 then they can go about their day and so and 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:05.320 that's where really what Color has been, um you know, 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:08.440 our bread and butter has been to build the systems 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:10.960 that make it possible to deliver these simple services in 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:13.160 a way that actually simple in people's experience. Well, that's 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:14.280 what I wanted to say, because I think there are 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:17.000 simple services that many just take for granted and like yeah, 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:19.200 I'm going to get my flu shot, no big, no, no, 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:21.960 no big you know, no brainer, right, But for a 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:24.599 lot of Americans, you're saying that's not so easy. So 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:26.760 it's things like what flu shots is it for kids 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:29.120 in there? You know, in schools their typical vaccines. I 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:32.120 remember as a kid getting a lot of shots in schools. 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:36.160 Um is like, what, what specifically are you talking about? Yeah? Yeah, 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:38.600 so so vaccine is a great example. So actually, the 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:43.280 state of Massachusetts is one of our very close partners 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:46.359 and where we started off initially working with them to 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:49.680 do COVID vaccinations, but over time they expanded our program 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:55.200 to cover all public health immunizations and they're to your point. 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:57.680 The experience for people is like, how do you make 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:01.400 it possible to set up a vaccine in the in 0:05:01.680 --> 0:05:04.280 places where that are consistent with their lives. I think 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:07.159 what we realize is that when you need to go 0:05:07.240 --> 0:05:09.360 out of ben for your life, out of your life 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:12.800 to go get basic care, life gets in the way, right, 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:14.400 Like you need to take time off work, you need 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:17.839 to take you know, find find a clinician, so on. However, 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:21.680 one vaccine site shows up in a church or in ah, 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:26.600 in your children's school or at your workplace, that immediacy 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:31.080 makes it that much of an easier decision to make. Hey, Adman, 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:32.480 I want to get your thoughts on some of the 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:35.520 other companies that you work with, because you've you're based 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:38.440 in San Francisco, you're based in Silicon Valley. You've also 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:41.000 advised and invested in a lot of companies that are 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:43.960 not even in health tech, like Pinterest, Slack, instant cart. 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:46.800 What's the temperature right now? We've done a lot of 0:05:46.800 --> 0:05:49.160 reporting over the last couple of weeks about some belt 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:52.919 tightening happening in Silicon Valley. Give us your take. I 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:54.720 think it's a broader than Silicon Valley. I think it's 0:05:54.760 --> 0:05:57.039 pretty pretty extensive right now. But I mean, you know, 0:05:57.120 --> 0:06:01.200 I've I've I've started and run when company through uh 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:04.240 several downturns now through the dot com like downturn in 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:07.640 two thousand now into the two thousand a uh and now. 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:10.560 And you know, I think at times like this, you know, 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:15.840 these always operating cycles, and on the upswing, the market 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:18.840 really rewards and forgets that there's a discount rate on 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:22.120 the future, and really rewards growth and rewards kind of 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:25.280 just expansion. I think at times like this, what ends 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:27.520 up happening is that I think these windows of time 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:30.440 or once someone some of the best companies actually really 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:33.520 come into their own where you have to focus on 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:36.680 building a great business model and focus on actually, you know, 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:40.400 making a this model long term profitable and viable UM. 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:42.560 And we've color have been quite fortunate that, like we 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:44.680 had actually had that focus for quite a while. So 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:47.200 we're entering into this phase in a in a mode 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:50.440 that actually UM where for us it enables us to 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:53.200 kind of keep operating as we are. We've been profitable 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:56.080 for quite a while. UM. But the I think what's 0:06:56.200 --> 0:06:58.680 challenging right now is if you know, for companies that 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:01.960 are that came off momentum of last year with UM 0:07:02.080 --> 0:07:05.279 you know, a huge burn rate and also assuming that 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:08.800 cash was going to remain cheap for a very long time, 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:10.880 I think, you know, at times like this, everyone has 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:14.120 to really focus on profitability and you know, making UM 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:16.360 their models, you know, viable in the long term as 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:19.800 opposed to just being funded by by the by investors. 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:21.720 So true, I feel like that message is coming through 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:24.239 loud and clear. I mean, you guys just signed are 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:27.160 recently I guess a Series E financing and announced four 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:29.560 point six billion dollar valuation. You said you were profitable 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:32.520 at the Bloomberg New Economy in Panama talking with the 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:38.320 CEO of oft d Local forgive Me, and also of Loft. 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:39.800 I mean that was one of the things that came 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:42.840 out is that those who are established, either startups with 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:46.160 plenty of funding rounds and an established infrastructure or have 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:49.080 gone public, they're going to do much better than some 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:52.320 of the earlier startups, especially in what's going to be 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:55.880 a tighter and less liquid environment. Ahman, thank you so much. 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:59.120 I really appreciated Autman the Rocky. He's co founder and 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:01.679 CEO of our Health. It's a health technology and clinical 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:04.200 testing company. He was joining us on the phone in 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:07.480 San Francisco. He's also co founder of mixer Labs, which 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:11.360 was acquired by Twitter back into thousand nine. This is 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:15.320 Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:19.400 Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Well, we mentioned that we 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:22.040 had to focus on today on health and life sciences. 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:24.040 A lot of money going into that area. We mentioned 0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:27.720 also earlier from the World Economic Forum up to providers 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:30.680 in the US are planning to invest in technologies including 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:33.800 digital health, AI, machine learning, as well as tools to 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:37.000 support clinical staff and caregivers over the next five years. 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:40.079 Our next guest involved in this deal space. We're talking 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:43.280 to use of Saban, managing partner at Acuity, joining us 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:47.360 from London. Use Off, How are you good? How are 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:49.800 you doing? We're doing pretty well. Thanks. We've really got 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:53.679 a great healthcare theme with today's show, understanding biotech, especially 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:58.000 investments in the space. We've reported a lot in recent weeks, 0:08:58.160 --> 0:09:00.760 and big thank you to our team and Silicon Valley 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:05.720 about the belt tightening that we're seeing at startups, even 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:09.560 major tech companies like Meta Platforms and PayPal and Twitter 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:13.160 either announcing layoffs, freezing hirings, or in Twitter's off case, 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:17.440 rescinding offers. What are you seeing from from your position? 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:22.440 We get asked a lot if this downturn is different 0:09:22.480 --> 0:09:25.439 than than previous ones, and we believe it is, but 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:27.839 so were all other previous ones, and the keys to 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:30.199 focus what led to the recession right before it happened. 0:09:30.679 --> 0:09:33.440 There have been three recessions since in the last quarter 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:37.120 of years, since eight and more than double dot number before. 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:41.520 Only one lasted over a year. That was thirteen years 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:44.040 ago in two thousand and eight, and and that was 0:09:44.080 --> 0:09:46.760 the only one that was remotely comparable to the current 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:49.600 pull back. With respect to the VC industry, and and 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:53.720 and since then things have evolved materially. Banks have stronger 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:58.640 liquid teach LPs have hired dry powder, and the evolution 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:02.000 of technology is much faster than it was, so I 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:05.280 we personally believe that there will be a faster course 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:11.240 correction um and and healthcare is fairly uncorrelated to the 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:14.600 market as far as patient sickness, so we should see 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:18.000 a more rapid recovering becoming boss. Is the space different 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:21.200 than other traditional venture capital spaces because life sciences and 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:24.319 Caroline talked a lot about this, the resilience of life sciences, 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:27.160 especially in the context of real estate. Carol, because we've 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:29.520 seen a lot of investment in real estate around the 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:31.400 country when it comes to life sciences, because it's one 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:34.560 area where that perhaps I mean that advocates would say 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:36.520 is is recession proof. But you said, do you see 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:39.880 it differently than than other areas where you where venture 0:10:39.880 --> 0:10:44.080 capitalists you invest. We do, indeed. And as far as 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:47.680 your port on real estate, it is uh incredibly tough 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:51.240 today to find lab space for interesting for the computes 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:54.120 in that that we're looking at, especially in the Boston 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:57.240 area where most of them are faced. UH, lab space 0:10:57.559 --> 0:11:01.920 is getting increasibly expensive to get increasing these cars and 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:04.960 they have to get significantly out of Boston to to 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:07.000 be able to find lab space. So yes, we see 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:10.240 quite a few issues with really stayed. But looking at 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:13.280 the broader VC industry, I mean, in the first quarter 0:11:13.320 --> 0:11:16.400 of two thousand twenty two, ten point four billion dollars 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:20.400 was invested in globally tech startups, which is off from 0:11:20.400 --> 0:11:23.440 the previous quarter where we had a little over sixteen 0:11:23.440 --> 0:11:28.240 billion invested. And we saw huge health take deals that 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:31.960 saw their their evaluation half quarter lobal quarter and and 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:35.800 the Q one two mega round fundraising tally for healthcare 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:38.199 what's much smaller than any single quarter going back to 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:41.480 Q two twenty. So as far as health care, we 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:44.400 believe that that mental health and telehealth segments will continue 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:47.800 to generate strong demand and investor interest, but also as 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:51.800 a defensive sector, pioneering therapeutics will rebound faster given the 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:56.840 uncorrelated relationship between thickness and market sentiments. So, you know, 0:11:56.840 --> 0:11:59.520 it's interesting when I was looking at your website earlier 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:02.959 on today and for our interview, you know, you guys 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:07.600 talk about new science um and voids in the new 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:10.800 science and tech space, what what are the voids in 0:12:10.840 --> 0:12:12.440 new science and tech space. You just talked a little 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:14.520 bit about it, because I sometimes think when we're talking 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:19.920 about disruption innovation in healthcare and and science in the 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:24.360 science space, we're thinking like metavers is in the in 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:30.679 the medical community, as we talked earlier. But when we 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:33.679 talked earlier with the head the CEO of color right, 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:37.760 you know this is about shots and vaccines and just 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:41.640 something that sounds so basic, But that's innovation and disruption 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:44.880 if you think about making sure it's all accessible. So 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:47.640 how do you think about new science and the voids 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:49.600 and new science and where you want to put your 0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:54.560 investment dollars. So for as ASPIS, we're concerned and less 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:58.120 with the technology is truly disruptive. We believe that commercialization 0:12:58.160 --> 0:13:01.760 will continue to be challenging. We will see significantly reduced 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:04.640 interest rate into ME two technologies that which is an 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:08.600 area that we try to actively avoid. We look at 0:13:08.600 --> 0:13:11.120 health care from a much broader perspective than a pure 0:13:11.120 --> 0:13:14.439 life science is fund were focused on five subsectors, which 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:18.800 are biopharma, devices and diagnostics, digital health, sensors and wearables, 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:21.920 and consumer health. And so we look at healthcare not 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:24.400 just as a way to try and find the last 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:28.240 the latest UH biotech firm that will develop the latest 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:31.559 f aproved drug that but more as a way to 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:35.040 keep healthy people healthy, to improve health care access, to 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:38.560 lower the cost of health care. And so those white 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:40.880 spaces that you've seen on our website is something that 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:43.959 we actively look for to to try and improve outcomes. 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:45.720 And for instance, I'll give you the example of one 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:48.640 of our portfolio companies, which is a Boston based company 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:52.960 called just got about thirty seconds, go ahead, yeah, please, yes, yes, 0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:55.920 which is a company that has developed a new process, 0:13:56.040 --> 0:13:58.240 new design, and new pathway to reduce the cost of 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:02.480 biologist manufacturing by over and so this is this is 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:05.800 going to change the game as far as UM disrupting 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:08.600 a three billion dollar industry that's dominated by the same 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:10.880 four companies, and that's indicated for the last forty years. 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:13.480 Those are the kind of like the paces that we 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:16.559 look to to to film talked to a lot of 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:18.720 Americans who are paying for the cost of drugs and 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:20.760 they would argue that that is one here that has 0:14:20.760 --> 0:14:23.840 not been disrupted really and and could use it UM 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:26.680 really fascinating. Look forward to catching up with you again. 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:29.960 Usef Saban I, managing partner of Acuity, joining us on 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:34.360 the phone in London. This is Bloomberg Business Week with 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:39.880 Carol Masser and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stenovic on Bloomberg Radio. Well, 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:42.720 the summer Blockbusters season already underway thanks to the long 0:14:42.760 --> 0:14:45.320 waited sequel to Top Gun. We're talking about Top Gun. 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:48.680 Maverick with Tom Cruise, hit the big screen this past weekend. 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:53.000 Everyone here is the best there is. Who the hell 0:14:53.040 --> 0:15:01.480 are they going to get to teach us? Captain Pete 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:06.040 Maverick Mitchell, let me be perfectly blocked. You are not 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:08.280 my first choice. If you were here at the request 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:11.720 of Admiral Kazanski a k a iceman. He seems to 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:13.520 think that you have something left to offer the Navy, 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:19.680 but that is I can't imagine you'll have do respects her. 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:25.200 I'm not a teacher. I just want to manage the expectations. Yeah, 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:26.520 that's what I would say to my bosses. I'm just 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:28.880 trying to manage expectations. So't I'm just kidding. Get on 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:31.600 your motorcycle and go a hundred. I just want a 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:33.520 nickname like Maverick. I just gotta tell you a top 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:35.800 Gun Maverick took in a hundred and twenty seven million. 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:37.520 I think that was one of the latest numbers I saw. 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:40.000 And it's three day opening and an estimated a hundred 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:41.960 and fifty six million over the four day holiday weekend 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:45.680 for a record Memorial Day take. It did well. It 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:47.280 did well. Part of that had to do with Kelly 0:15:47.320 --> 0:15:50.120 gil Blam, our entertainment reporter here at Bloomberg News. She 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:52.000 joins us on the phone from Los Angeles many times 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:54.640 did she see She's seen it twice already, Kelly, how 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:58.120 are you twice? Was that for work or just because 0:15:58.120 --> 0:16:02.200 you loved it? You know? Part of it is my 0:16:02.480 --> 0:16:04.880 you know, terrible task of work in which I have 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:08.800 to see the greatest movies, um in the world. Uh. 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:11.360 And then also just you know, I had to also 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:14.040 see if my husband, the biggest top guns fan, you 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:16.920 really enjoyed it. I gotta go see it. I'm waiting 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:19.280 for my dad. We're going to see it this summer. Okay, 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:22.680 So is it a good movie? First of all? Oh, yeah, 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:26.520 it's really good. It's um, you know, a very classic blockbuster. 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:30.840 You know, there's big stunt that you can only really 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:33.320 get the full enjoyment of on the big screen and 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:37.800 the uh classic Hollywood movie star and Tom Cruise, who 0:16:37.920 --> 0:16:41.240 is still in top form at nearly sixty years old. 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:43.840 What's remarkable to me is, given how long his career 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:46.760 has been, how well this film did, and how it 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:49.120 blew his other records out of the water. I was 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:52.320 surprised to see that his opening weekends haven't been as 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:56.240 high as I thought they would be. Kelly, No, I 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:59.440 think a lot of reporters, when they started to write 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:02.040 their story is about this, looks through the old data 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:04.480 and we're shocked that he's never had a hundred million 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:07.880 dollar domestic opening. He's not even had close to one. 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:10.919 The closest that he ever had was in two thousand 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:14.080 five with More of the Worlds, which made sixty five 0:17:14.160 --> 0:17:17.480 million dollars, and this has doubled that, not even risky 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:23.000 business going way back. So the one that made him star. Yeah, 0:17:23.200 --> 0:17:26.600 although you know there's some inflation that is working in 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:29.200 the favor of top Gun Maverick too. Alright, so tell 0:17:29.280 --> 0:17:32.720 us you know, um this movie. First of all, I mean, 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:36.320 how did it compare with other pre summer summer blockbuster 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:40.280 openings pre pandemic. I guess I would say I think 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:44.840 what you're seeing is something that's like what we would 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:47.600 see before the pandemic. So I would say it is 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:50.800 just comparable to that, which is great news because it's 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:53.879 been a really long time, uh since we've seen a 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:58.840 film that wasn't based on something to do with comic books. Uh. Really, 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:03.280 you know, a cold of people's attention, get people to 0:18:03.359 --> 0:18:06.359 get off the Netflix and get off whatever streaming service, 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:09.080 get out of the house and buy a movie ticket. Um. 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:14.560 So this feels very much like and maybe even before 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:18.040 that in terms of a start of summer movie going. 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:23.119 Was that an Avengers diss that you just did not 0:18:23.240 --> 0:18:27.280 at all? But it's it's just we're so used to 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:29.840 seeing those. Uh, you know, the Hulk is at your 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:33.880 door as we speak, Kelly. I'm just going to tell you, Kelly, 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:37.840 we have some interesting data from Bloomberg Intelligence about the figure. 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:40.359 You know, the latest data, so a hundred sixty point 0:18:40.440 --> 0:18:43.120 five million dollars in the US and Canada from its 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:46.840 opening day through Monday. That's what uh, Paramount Pictures, the 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:48.919 producer said, So they just updated it. This is according 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:51.560 to your latest story, this figure you write raises the 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:54.479 prospects for the first real summer movie going season, and 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:57.000 it suggests that the industry could actually recover to eight 0:18:57.200 --> 0:19:00.399 five of its previous high annual tickets, all more than 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:04.200 eleven billion dollars. That's according to Bloomberg Intelligence, So we 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:07.919 could eventually get back to what we saw pre pandemic, 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:12.280 partly thanks to top Gun. The question is, does does 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:15.480 this film after people see it, get people who've been 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:17.840 avoiding theaters for two years back to see other films. 0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:22.560 I think it does. Um, you know, it's hard to 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:26.200 say whether that's still going to be a very male 0:19:26.359 --> 0:19:29.720 dominated trend because it has been mostly men that have 0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:33.520 been going, uh, you know, through the past two years. 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:37.040 And also for this movie. Um, and the word of 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:39.560 mouth of this was so strong and people were so 0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:42.359 excited about it. I think, you know, in the demo 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:45.480 that it was trying to reach. It definitely reminded them 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:47.919 of why the theater is different from your home. And 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:51.320 I do think they'll keep coming back. Um. You know, 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:54.520 the actual theater stocks kind of didn't do that well today. 0:19:54.600 --> 0:19:57.479 You think they would have had a bigger boost. And 0:19:57.520 --> 0:20:01.240 I think there's still some question about other audiences because 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:04.760 you know, as excited as we were after this weekend 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:07.600 with the performance of Top Top Gun. You know, a 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:10.080 week ago we were talking about a new film that 0:20:10.119 --> 0:20:13.840 came out down to Nabby, Uh, sequel to a pre 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:17.800 pandemic movie that was kind of a surprise hit, and 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:21.439 that was the primary demographics about as older women, and 0:20:21.480 --> 0:20:25.479 they did not turn out they were not really that interested. Um, 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:29.160 so you know, can they have a really broad appeal 0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:31.680 because it's not just men that you know, we're going 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:34.159 to the theater before the pandemic. It was families and 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:38.240 women and people of all ages. Uh. That's kind of 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:40.600 the question now that we need to answer, right, although 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:42.440 I think I know in your stories is almost six 0:20:42.560 --> 0:20:45.720 percent The audience was male. Fans were over age fifty 0:20:45.760 --> 0:20:48.960 five likely meaning they called the they recalled the first 0:20:49.000 --> 0:20:51.000 Top Gun, so it was kind of nostalgia at playing. 0:20:53.119 --> 0:20:55.960 We got listened a minute, Kelly. Um, I am curious 0:20:56.040 --> 0:20:59.600 about the Taiwanese and Japanese flags. I mean they got 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:05.000 politic call. Yeah, this was a fascinating wrinkle and um 0:21:05.080 --> 0:21:07.199 shout out to the Wall Street Journal for some of 0:21:07.240 --> 0:21:10.359 the reporting they did. Um kind of documenting. There was 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:14.200 a breakdown. Initially had a big investor, ten Cent, which 0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:16.840 is a Chinese tech company that was like, yeah, this 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:18.840 will be great for US. Um, you know, this is 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:21.800 a sure fire hit. But as kind of relations between 0:21:21.840 --> 0:21:27.280 the US and China got more difficult. Um being a 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:31.040 part of this really pro kind of US military or 0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:35.840 US power film caused him to have to pull out. 0:21:36.040 --> 0:21:37.720 And then you know this kind of thing about the 0:21:37.760 --> 0:21:42.120 flag on on Tom Cruise's bomber jacket erupted. So there 0:21:42.200 --> 0:21:46.560 was some interesting underpinnings here in the political world of 0:21:46.560 --> 0:21:48.919