WEBVTT - Snap Inc. EMEA President Talks UK Growth 

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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<v Speaker 2>Chancellor Rachel Reeves yesterday revealed her ambition to make the

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<v Speaker 2>UK the best place in the world to be an entrepreneur.

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<v Speaker 2>Surely she's also targeting tech entrepreneurs. The speech detailed the

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<v Speaker 2>government's plans has tried to spur economic growth, although they

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<v Speaker 2>are seen more as long term investments. She set out

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<v Speaker 2>plans to work with companies based here to deliver jobs

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<v Speaker 2>and investment in Britain. We will be hearing from Chancellor

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<v Speaker 2>Rachel Reeves in the coming few minutes. Before we hear

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<v Speaker 2>from her and the interview that she's giving to Bloomberg

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<v Speaker 2>Television today, we want to get reaction to the government's

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<v Speaker 2>plans with ronand Harris. Who is EMEA president at snap

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<v Speaker 2>which of course is the firm behind snapchat. Ronand thank

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<v Speaker 2>you so much for your time.

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<v Speaker 3>Good morning, Good morning.

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<v Speaker 2>What did you make of the Chances speech yesterday? Over

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<v Speaker 2>the summer her government acts one point three billion pounds

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<v Speaker 2>in tech funding. Do you think that this is a

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<v Speaker 2>pro business, pro tech administration.

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<v Speaker 3>I thought the Chancellor's comments were very encouraging. You know,

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<v Speaker 3>the UK has got one of the world's leading tech sectors.

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<v Speaker 3>It contributes one hundred and fifty billion a year to

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<v Speaker 3>the UK economy. It's got one of the largest startup

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<v Speaker 3>sectors across the region. It's got more unicorns being made

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<v Speaker 3>in the UK than in any other country around Europe.

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<v Speaker 3>So it's great to see the government getting behind that,

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<v Speaker 3>and I think infrastructure plays a really important role in it.

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<v Speaker 3>I think are comments around regulation and making sure that

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<v Speaker 3>regulation is balanced with the growth agenda are super encouraging.

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<v Speaker 1>On the regulatory front, Ronning and good Morning. There have

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<v Speaker 1>been some warnings around, of course, a constant kind of

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<v Speaker 1>hand ringing and concerns and many of those legitimate around

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<v Speaker 1>social media, the impacts on children and some of the

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<v Speaker 1>content out there the technology sectually be to Carl, he's

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<v Speaker 1>suggested that a ban on social media for the under

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<v Speaker 1>six things could be potentially on the table. Would what

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<v Speaker 1>would the snapchat reaction or the snap reaction be to

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<v Speaker 1>that kind of regulatory emphasis, to what extent with that

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<v Speaker 1>impact the business?

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, So I think listen. Regulation is important in order

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<v Speaker 3>to protect consumers across a whole host of different industries.

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<v Speaker 3>I think what's important is that the government makes sure

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<v Speaker 3>that it's efficient, it's not overlapping and that it balances

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<v Speaker 3>that consumer needs with the need for growth. You know,

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<v Speaker 3>at Snap, we have our platform Snapchat, which is available

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<v Speaker 3>to you know, tens of millions of people across the

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<v Speaker 3>UK that use it on a daily basis. We also

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<v Speaker 3>have a very important tech investment up in Oxfordshire around

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<v Speaker 3>the development of hardware in augmented reality, and the UK

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<v Speaker 3>is a leading innovator in that space as well. So

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<v Speaker 3>I think balancing the agenda around protecting consumers right across

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<v Speaker 3>the UK, but also ensuring that these new emerging technologies

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<v Speaker 3>in fields like augmented reality and artificial intelligence, where the

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<v Speaker 3>UK has, as you know, incredible talent, it's got world

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<v Speaker 3>leading research and it's now starting to see a whole

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<v Speaker 3>flew of tech startups and spin out companies starting to

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<v Speaker 3>emerge and the government needs to make sure that they're

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<v Speaker 3>behind that growth.

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<v Speaker 1>Rod are are you? Are you leading into that?

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<v Speaker 2>Then?

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<v Speaker 1>Is Snap adding investment expanding investment in the UK? Is

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<v Speaker 1>that part of the plan this year? And what are

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<v Speaker 1>you doing in terms of headcount? What does that look

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<v Speaker 1>like by the end of twenty twenty five here in

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<v Speaker 1>the UK?

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah? Absolutely, So we are investing. We are increasing our

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<v Speaker 3>investment in the sales and the commercial side of the business,

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<v Speaker 3>but very importantly on the engineering side as well. So,

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<v Speaker 3>as I mentioned, we have a world leading research and

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<v Speaker 3>snap on hardware around augmented reality and a lot of

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<v Speaker 3>that is based out of our location up in Abingdon

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<v Speaker 3>in Oxfordshire, and we're aggressively expanding that. So we believe

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<v Speaker 3>that augmented reality is on the precipice of a kind

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<v Speaker 3>of a paradigm shift and it's going to land in

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<v Speaker 3>the hands of consumers over the next two or three

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<v Speaker 3>years and we're very excited to be leading in that

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<v Speaker 3>space and the UK is the home of that innovation

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<v Speaker 3>and research for us.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, that's interesting. The issue is, though surely based in Oxford,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, I'm sure you welcome the Oxford Cambridge Arc,

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<v Speaker 2>the issue that that has been more than twenty years

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<v Speaker 2>under consideration, and that the kind of investment that the

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<v Speaker 2>government is talking about will take years, maybe even decades

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<v Speaker 2>to improve the road rail connections, to build out houses

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<v Speaker 2>in the area. And that compared to the short term

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<v Speaker 2>hit that the Chancellor is put onto businesses by increasing

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<v Speaker 2>taxes on employers, you know, short term, the hit remains

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<v Speaker 2>how optimistic can you be.

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<v Speaker 3>Well. Listen. We know that the Chancellor's job is to

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<v Speaker 3>balance the economy and make sure that they're covering the

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<v Speaker 3>national core space as well as fuel and growth. And

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<v Speaker 3>we think that the opportunity here of investing in infrastructure

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<v Speaker 3>as these new industries grow and propagate, that there's places

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<v Speaker 3>for people to live, they can get in and that work,

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<v Speaker 3>but also that the infrastructure is there to be able

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<v Speaker 3>to fuel startups and ideas that are coming out of

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<v Speaker 3>the great academic institutions and research institutions and turning them

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<v Speaker 3>into commercial enterprise. I think there's still work to be

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<v Speaker 3>done about how we improve the flow of capital into

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<v Speaker 3>some of these scale up opportunities in the UK, and

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<v Speaker 3>I think there are things that we'd encourage government to

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<v Speaker 3>continue to look at and see if they can accelerate.

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<v Speaker 1>Where are we do you think rown in terms of

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<v Speaker 1>the competition around talent, do we need to make it

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<v Speaker 1>easier to attract talent to the UK?

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<v Speaker 3>Listen? In some of these cutting edge fields, whether it's AI,

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<v Speaker 3>augmented reality, it's definitely a war on talent, and globally

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<v Speaker 3>a lot of the talent is very mobile, but the

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<v Speaker 3>UK is already quite attractive in terms of again the

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<v Speaker 3>quality of the institutions that we have here, the world's

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<v Speaker 3>leading research in some of these fields, and we've got

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<v Speaker 3>some of the world leading companies in these fields as well.

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<v Speaker 3>So making sure that the brand around that is understood

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<v Speaker 3>internationally I think is very important. And as and when

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<v Speaker 3>we're finding that world's leading talent, we should be encouraging

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<v Speaker 3>them into the UK so that we can build teams

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<v Speaker 3>around them and build businesses around them.

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<v Speaker 2>Is there anything in the offer from government that is

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<v Speaker 2>going to do that? And I would add, I mean,

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<v Speaker 2>I think our universities are fantastic too, and was educated

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<v Speaker 2>through the UK system. Having said that, the Office for

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<v Speaker 2>Students has previously said that forty percent of UK universities

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<v Speaker 2>are operating at a financial deficit during the twenty twenty

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<v Speaker 2>three to twenty four academic year. They are under enormous

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<v Speaker 2>financial pressure. We know that probably some are going to

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<v Speaker 2>find it immensely difficult in the coming year. There's pressure

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<v Speaker 2>to increase fees, you know, that's what the industry is

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<v Speaker 2>relying on, is actually a resource that is hugely under pressure.

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<v Speaker 3>It's incredibly important that we support our academic institutions. We

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<v Speaker 3>know I've talked about the fact that we're continuing to

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<v Speaker 3>invest with growing our teams in the fields of augmented reality,

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<v Speaker 3>also in the work that we do around artificial intelligence.

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<v Speaker 3>So far we've been able to find all of the

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<v Speaker 3>talent that we need in the UK, so we're not

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<v Speaker 3>suffering from a shortage, but we know it's incredibly competitive

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<v Speaker 3>out there, and I think anything we do in particular

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<v Speaker 3>to fuel the talent flow into early stage companies and

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<v Speaker 3>into small and medium enterprises across the UK, I think

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<v Speaker 3>that's going to be incredibly important. One of the things

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<v Speaker 3>that I hear from the small and medium sized businesses

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<v Speaker 3>that we work with on the advertising front across the

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<v Speaker 3>UK is you know they have felt pressure around a

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<v Speaker 3>burden of regulation. They've also found increase in course of

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<v Speaker 3>employment and finding the right talent to do some of

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<v Speaker 3>these more advanced roles has been challenging, and we need

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<v Speaker 3>to think about ways about how we fuel that. The

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<v Speaker 3>education sector very important that we keep high quality and

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<v Speaker 3>high volume of people coming out but into our industries,

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<v Speaker 3>but I think also going out, is there international talent

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<v Speaker 3>that we can attract into the UK as critical as well?

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<v Speaker 1>If we just soum out of the UK and look

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<v Speaker 1>more broadly, and particularly with an eye on the US

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<v Speaker 1>given the pressure on TikTok now and the policy that

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<v Speaker 1>affects potentially potentially closure of that business. Maybe in a

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<v Speaker 1>few as sixty days, we'll see what happens in terms

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<v Speaker 1>of the deal making around that business. Are you nap

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<v Speaker 1>seeing any creators come moving over to your platform from TikTok?

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<v Speaker 1>Are you're attracting creators who are kind of migrating away

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<v Speaker 1>from a TikTok and if so, can you give us

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<v Speaker 1>some numbers on that front.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, so, we're definitely seeing creators wants to diversify, But

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<v Speaker 3>I think this has always been a path for any creator,

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<v Speaker 3>whether whatever platform they start their career on and garner

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<v Speaker 3>their first audience on, they very quickly want to develop

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<v Speaker 3>audiences across multiple platforms. And He's been offline as well,

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<v Speaker 3>going into books or traditional media as an example. On

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<v Speaker 3>the back of the recent youths, we've definitely seen an

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<v Speaker 3>increase in interest. There are a lot of people who

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<v Speaker 3>are looking at developing fan based on Snapchat as well.

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<v Speaker 3>What they're finding is the fan bases and the audience

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<v Speaker 3>is that they're garnering on Snapchat tend to be it's

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<v Speaker 3>a much more authentic and much more personal, much more

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<v Speaker 3>engaging type of audience. It's a different type of content

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<v Speaker 3>that they need to create, but they are finding that

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<v Speaker 3>the monetization, the ability to earn an income on Snapchat

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<v Speaker 3>tends to be significantly more stable and better than some

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<v Speaker 3>of the other platforms they've been working on. So we're

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<v Speaker 3>very excited about the work we've done over the last

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<v Speaker 3>eighteen months to be able to fuel that. And who

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<v Speaker 3>knows what happens with TikTok over in the US. I

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<v Speaker 3>haven't heard anything happening in Europe, but we're still seeing

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<v Speaker 3>an influx of creators in this region as well.