1 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:07,000 Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. 2 00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:10,840 Speaker 2: Chancellor Rachel Reeves yesterday revealed her ambition to make the 3 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:13,920 Speaker 2: UK the best place in the world to be an entrepreneur. 4 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:18,320 Speaker 2: Surely she's also targeting tech entrepreneurs. The speech detailed the 5 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:21,160 Speaker 2: government's plans has tried to spur economic growth, although they 6 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:24,800 Speaker 2: are seen more as long term investments. She set out 7 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:27,720 Speaker 2: plans to work with companies based here to deliver jobs 8 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:30,960 Speaker 2: and investment in Britain. We will be hearing from Chancellor 9 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:34,720 Speaker 2: Rachel Reeves in the coming few minutes. Before we hear 10 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:37,880 Speaker 2: from her and the interview that she's giving to Bloomberg 11 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:41,599 Speaker 2: Television today, we want to get reaction to the government's 12 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:46,000 Speaker 2: plans with ronand Harris. Who is EMEA president at snap 13 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:49,279 Speaker 2: which of course is the firm behind snapchat. Ronand thank 14 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:50,080 Speaker 2: you so much for your time. 15 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:51,640 Speaker 3: Good morning, Good morning. 16 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:56,600 Speaker 2: What did you make of the Chances speech yesterday? Over 17 00:00:56,640 --> 00:00:59,800 Speaker 2: the summer her government acts one point three billion pounds 18 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:03,279 Speaker 2: in tech funding. Do you think that this is a 19 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:05,880 Speaker 2: pro business, pro tech administration. 20 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:10,080 Speaker 3: I thought the Chancellor's comments were very encouraging. You know, 21 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:13,480 Speaker 3: the UK has got one of the world's leading tech sectors. 22 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:16,319 Speaker 3: It contributes one hundred and fifty billion a year to 23 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:20,480 Speaker 3: the UK economy. It's got one of the largest startup 24 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:24,360 Speaker 3: sectors across the region. It's got more unicorns being made 25 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:28,200 Speaker 3: in the UK than in any other country around Europe. 26 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:31,120 Speaker 3: So it's great to see the government getting behind that, 27 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 3: and I think infrastructure plays a really important role in it. 28 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:38,080 Speaker 3: I think are comments around regulation and making sure that 29 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:41,320 Speaker 3: regulation is balanced with the growth agenda are super encouraging. 30 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:45,320 Speaker 1: On the regulatory front, Ronning and good Morning. There have 31 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 1: been some warnings around, of course, a constant kind of 32 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:51,200 Speaker 1: hand ringing and concerns and many of those legitimate around 33 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 1: social media, the impacts on children and some of the 34 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: content out there the technology sectually be to Carl, he's 35 00:01:57,280 --> 00:01:59,760 Speaker 1: suggested that a ban on social media for the under 36 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:02,960 Speaker 1: six things could be potentially on the table. Would what 37 00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:05,840 Speaker 1: would the snapchat reaction or the snap reaction be to 38 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:09,000 Speaker 1: that kind of regulatory emphasis, to what extent with that 39 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:10,079 Speaker 1: impact the business? 40 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:13,560 Speaker 3: Yeah, So I think listen. Regulation is important in order 41 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:17,120 Speaker 3: to protect consumers across a whole host of different industries. 42 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:19,880 Speaker 3: I think what's important is that the government makes sure 43 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:23,960 Speaker 3: that it's efficient, it's not overlapping and that it balances 44 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:27,560 Speaker 3: that consumer needs with the need for growth. You know, 45 00:02:27,639 --> 00:02:31,320 Speaker 3: at Snap, we have our platform Snapchat, which is available 46 00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:33,520 Speaker 3: to you know, tens of millions of people across the 47 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:36,080 Speaker 3: UK that use it on a daily basis. We also 48 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:40,119 Speaker 3: have a very important tech investment up in Oxfordshire around 49 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:43,519 Speaker 3: the development of hardware in augmented reality, and the UK 50 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 3: is a leading innovator in that space as well. So 51 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:51,080 Speaker 3: I think balancing the agenda around protecting consumers right across 52 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:54,799 Speaker 3: the UK, but also ensuring that these new emerging technologies 53 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 3: in fields like augmented reality and artificial intelligence, where the 54 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:02,680 Speaker 3: UK has, as you know, incredible talent, it's got world 55 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:05,440 Speaker 3: leading research and it's now starting to see a whole 56 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:09,600 Speaker 3: flew of tech startups and spin out companies starting to 57 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:11,560 Speaker 3: emerge and the government needs to make sure that they're 58 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:12,400 Speaker 3: behind that growth. 59 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:14,320 Speaker 1: Rod are are you? Are you leading into that? 60 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:14,520 Speaker 2: Then? 61 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:17,760 Speaker 1: Is Snap adding investment expanding investment in the UK? Is 62 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:19,160 Speaker 1: that part of the plan this year? And what are 63 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:20,760 Speaker 1: you doing in terms of headcount? What does that look 64 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:22,760 Speaker 1: like by the end of twenty twenty five here in 65 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:23,119 Speaker 1: the UK? 66 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:27,960 Speaker 3: Yeah? Absolutely, So we are investing. We are increasing our 67 00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:31,400 Speaker 3: investment in the sales and the commercial side of the business, 68 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:34,520 Speaker 3: but very importantly on the engineering side as well. So, 69 00:03:34,639 --> 00:03:37,760 Speaker 3: as I mentioned, we have a world leading research and 70 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:43,080 Speaker 3: snap on hardware around augmented reality and a lot of 71 00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:47,560 Speaker 3: that is based out of our location up in Abingdon 72 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:52,080 Speaker 3: in Oxfordshire, and we're aggressively expanding that. So we believe 73 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:54,920 Speaker 3: that augmented reality is on the precipice of a kind 74 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:58,200 Speaker 3: of a paradigm shift and it's going to land in 75 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:00,200 Speaker 3: the hands of consumers over the next two or three 76 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 3: years and we're very excited to be leading in that 77 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 3: space and the UK is the home of that innovation 78 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:06,600 Speaker 3: and research for us. 79 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:12,720 Speaker 2: Okay, that's interesting. The issue is, though surely based in Oxford, 80 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 2: you know, I'm sure you welcome the Oxford Cambridge Arc, 81 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:19,919 Speaker 2: the issue that that has been more than twenty years 82 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:23,760 Speaker 2: under consideration, and that the kind of investment that the 83 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:27,240 Speaker 2: government is talking about will take years, maybe even decades 84 00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:30,599 Speaker 2: to improve the road rail connections, to build out houses 85 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:34,320 Speaker 2: in the area. And that compared to the short term 86 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:38,359 Speaker 2: hit that the Chancellor is put onto businesses by increasing 87 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:42,280 Speaker 2: taxes on employers, you know, short term, the hit remains 88 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:44,120 Speaker 2: how optimistic can you be. 89 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:48,400 Speaker 3: Well. Listen. We know that the Chancellor's job is to 90 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:51,479 Speaker 3: balance the economy and make sure that they're covering the 91 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:54,960 Speaker 3: national core space as well as fuel and growth. And 92 00:04:55,680 --> 00:04:59,640 Speaker 3: we think that the opportunity here of investing in infrastructure 93 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:04,080 Speaker 3: as these new industries grow and propagate, that there's places 94 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:06,760 Speaker 3: for people to live, they can get in and that work, 95 00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:09,839 Speaker 3: but also that the infrastructure is there to be able 96 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:12,680 Speaker 3: to fuel startups and ideas that are coming out of 97 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:15,960 Speaker 3: the great academic institutions and research institutions and turning them 98 00:05:16,279 --> 00:05:19,080 Speaker 3: into commercial enterprise. I think there's still work to be 99 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:23,200 Speaker 3: done about how we improve the flow of capital into 100 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:26,960 Speaker 3: some of these scale up opportunities in the UK, and 101 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:28,840 Speaker 3: I think there are things that we'd encourage government to 102 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:31,280 Speaker 3: continue to look at and see if they can accelerate. 103 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:33,640 Speaker 1: Where are we do you think rown in terms of 104 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:36,120 Speaker 1: the competition around talent, do we need to make it 105 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 1: easier to attract talent to the UK? 106 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:44,120 Speaker 3: Listen? In some of these cutting edge fields, whether it's AI, 107 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:47,640 Speaker 3: augmented reality, it's definitely a war on talent, and globally 108 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:51,279 Speaker 3: a lot of the talent is very mobile, but the 109 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:53,760 Speaker 3: UK is already quite attractive in terms of again the 110 00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:57,839 Speaker 3: quality of the institutions that we have here, the world's 111 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:00,560 Speaker 3: leading research in some of these fields, and we've got 112 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 3: some of the world leading companies in these fields as well. 113 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:07,560 Speaker 3: So making sure that the brand around that is understood 114 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:10,839 Speaker 3: internationally I think is very important. And as and when 115 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:13,520 Speaker 3: we're finding that world's leading talent, we should be encouraging 116 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:15,599 Speaker 3: them into the UK so that we can build teams 117 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:18,200 Speaker 3: around them and build businesses around them. 118 00:06:18,279 --> 00:06:20,200 Speaker 2: Is there anything in the offer from government that is 119 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:22,920 Speaker 2: going to do that? And I would add, I mean, 120 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:26,520 Speaker 2: I think our universities are fantastic too, and was educated 121 00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:29,400 Speaker 2: through the UK system. Having said that, the Office for 122 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:33,640 Speaker 2: Students has previously said that forty percent of UK universities 123 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:36,640 Speaker 2: are operating at a financial deficit during the twenty twenty 124 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:39,839 Speaker 2: three to twenty four academic year. They are under enormous 125 00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:42,960 Speaker 2: financial pressure. We know that probably some are going to 126 00:06:43,279 --> 00:06:45,839 Speaker 2: find it immensely difficult in the coming year. There's pressure 127 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:49,880 Speaker 2: to increase fees, you know, that's what the industry is 128 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:53,360 Speaker 2: relying on, is actually a resource that is hugely under pressure. 129 00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:59,400 Speaker 3: It's incredibly important that we support our academic institutions. We 130 00:06:59,920 --> 00:07:02,520 Speaker 3: know I've talked about the fact that we're continuing to 131 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:05,960 Speaker 3: invest with growing our teams in the fields of augmented reality, 132 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:09,360 Speaker 3: also in the work that we do around artificial intelligence. 133 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:11,720 Speaker 3: So far we've been able to find all of the 134 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:13,880 Speaker 3: talent that we need in the UK, so we're not 135 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:17,360 Speaker 3: suffering from a shortage, but we know it's incredibly competitive 136 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:19,680 Speaker 3: out there, and I think anything we do in particular 137 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:24,240 Speaker 3: to fuel the talent flow into early stage companies and 138 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:26,800 Speaker 3: into small and medium enterprises across the UK, I think 139 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:29,920 Speaker 3: that's going to be incredibly important. One of the things 140 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:32,760 Speaker 3: that I hear from the small and medium sized businesses 141 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:34,960 Speaker 3: that we work with on the advertising front across the 142 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:38,720 Speaker 3: UK is you know they have felt pressure around a 143 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 3: burden of regulation. They've also found increase in course of 144 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:46,360 Speaker 3: employment and finding the right talent to do some of 145 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:49,800 Speaker 3: these more advanced roles has been challenging, and we need 146 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:52,720 Speaker 3: to think about ways about how we fuel that. The 147 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:56,200 Speaker 3: education sector very important that we keep high quality and 148 00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 3: high volume of people coming out but into our industries, 149 00:07:59,040 --> 00:08:02,520 Speaker 3: but I think also going out, is there international talent 150 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:04,680 Speaker 3: that we can attract into the UK as critical as well? 151 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:06,320 Speaker 1: If we just soum out of the UK and look 152 00:08:06,360 --> 00:08:08,880 Speaker 1: more broadly, and particularly with an eye on the US 153 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:12,760 Speaker 1: given the pressure on TikTok now and the policy that 154 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:15,760 Speaker 1: affects potentially potentially closure of that business. Maybe in a 155 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:18,120 Speaker 1: few as sixty days, we'll see what happens in terms 156 00:08:18,120 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 1: of the deal making around that business. Are you nap 157 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:24,239 Speaker 1: seeing any creators come moving over to your platform from TikTok? 158 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:27,480 Speaker 1: Are you're attracting creators who are kind of migrating away 159 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:29,280 Speaker 1: from a TikTok and if so, can you give us 160 00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:30,440 Speaker 1: some numbers on that front. 161 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:37,680 Speaker 3: Yeah, so, we're definitely seeing creators wants to diversify, But 162 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:39,720 Speaker 3: I think this has always been a path for any creator, 163 00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:43,440 Speaker 3: whether whatever platform they start their career on and garner 164 00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:46,720 Speaker 3: their first audience on, they very quickly want to develop 165 00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:50,199 Speaker 3: audiences across multiple platforms. And He's been offline as well, 166 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:54,560 Speaker 3: going into books or traditional media as an example. On 167 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:56,640 Speaker 3: the back of the recent youths, we've definitely seen an 168 00:08:56,640 --> 00:08:58,520 Speaker 3: increase in interest. There are a lot of people who 169 00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:01,679 Speaker 3: are looking at developing fan based on Snapchat as well. 170 00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:04,520 Speaker 3: What they're finding is the fan bases and the audience 171 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:07,280 Speaker 3: is that they're garnering on Snapchat tend to be it's 172 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:09,480 Speaker 3: a much more authentic and much more personal, much more 173 00:09:09,480 --> 00:09:12,920 Speaker 3: engaging type of audience. It's a different type of content 174 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:16,000 Speaker 3: that they need to create, but they are finding that 175 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:19,240 Speaker 3: the monetization, the ability to earn an income on Snapchat 176 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:23,040 Speaker 3: tends to be significantly more stable and better than some 177 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:25,160 Speaker 3: of the other platforms they've been working on. So we're 178 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:27,080 Speaker 3: very excited about the work we've done over the last 179 00:09:27,080 --> 00:09:30,840 Speaker 3: eighteen months to be able to fuel that. And who 180 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:33,440 Speaker 3: knows what happens with TikTok over in the US. I 181 00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:36,760 Speaker 3: haven't heard anything happening in Europe, but we're still seeing 182 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:39,200 Speaker 3: an influx of creators in this region as well.