WEBVTT - Cathie Wood Talks Elon Musk, Tesla

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

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<v Speaker 2>One of the biggest bulls on this stock for quite

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<v Speaker 2>a while. On the street, our convest CEO Kathy Wood. Kathy,

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<v Speaker 2>thanks for making time for us this morning. Let's just

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<v Speaker 2>talk about what Dan I've said to us yesterday that

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<v Speaker 2>he believes Elon Musk is crossing a line and that

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<v Speaker 2>the board needs to step in. Do you share that

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<v Speaker 2>for you?

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<v Speaker 1>Well, I have to tell you we've been dealing with

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<v Speaker 1>controversy around Elon Musk in one form or another since

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<v Speaker 1>we first bought the stock when the company was founded

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<v Speaker 1>in twenty fourteen, and we owned Tesla in It's one

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<v Speaker 1>of the top holdings in three of our ETF so, arkk, W,

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<v Speaker 1>and Q. So we are watching this like a hawk,

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<v Speaker 1>no question about it. But with the experience over the

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<v Speaker 1>last eleven years, we turn around today and see Tesla

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<v Speaker 1>really not an EV manufacturer anymore. Moving into the robotaxi age,

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<v Speaker 1>we believe successful and we believe it will scale much

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<v Speaker 1>better than most of its competitors. We see SpaceX really

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<v Speaker 1>only ninety percent of all of the satellites out there

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<v Speaker 1>neurally transforming lives of paralyzed people, people with als and

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<v Speaker 1>probably most surprising of all XAI. Now we own all

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<v Speaker 1>of those again in our venture fund, following them very carefully.

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<v Speaker 1>Xai is on some benchmarks. It hit a point that

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<v Speaker 1>three pro hit in June, it hit it in February.

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<v Speaker 1>So you know, we are very focused on barriers to

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<v Speaker 1>entry technology moats and we believe that the moats that

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<v Speaker 1>Elon has built, And obviously this is not just Elon.

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<v Speaker 1>He's attracting the best and the brightest to help solve

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<v Speaker 1>some of the world's biggest problems. So again, we do

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<v Speaker 1>trust the board and the board's instincts here and we

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<v Speaker 1>stay out of politics.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, we'd love your opinion on the current situation just

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<v Speaker 2>on Tesla specifically. You mentioned some phenomenal companies doing some

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<v Speaker 2>incredible things for Tesla, though, do you believe that Elon

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<v Speaker 2>can pursue his political ambitions at the same time pursuing

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<v Speaker 2>the best interest of TENSA shareholders.

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<v Speaker 1>One of the announcements Elon made recently is that he

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<v Speaker 1>is going to oversee sales in the US and in Europe.

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<v Speaker 1>And when he puts his mind on something, he usually

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<v Speaker 1>gets the job done. So I think he's much less

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<v Speaker 1>distracted now than he was let's say in the White

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<v Speaker 1>House twenty four to seven, at what.

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<v Speaker 3>Point do you see sort of the political landscape shifting

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<v Speaker 3>though not just for Tesla, but for the haves and

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<v Speaker 3>the have nots in some of the big tech space.

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<v Speaker 3>I know you've had a complicated relationship, say with Apple,

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<v Speaker 3>which seems uniquely pegged by some of these tariffs. Is

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<v Speaker 3>there anything that you could see that would make you

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<v Speaker 3>like that stock again or do you think that really

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<v Speaker 3>it is going to fall out of magnificent seven.

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<v Speaker 1>Yes, we've been watching Apple for a long time with

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<v Speaker 1>an AI lens, and that started, I'm going to say

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<v Speaker 1>about seven years ago when it was becoming serious about

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<v Speaker 1>autonomous vehicles. If you think about the ultimate mobile device,

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<v Speaker 1>it's an autonomous vehicle, and that should have been Apples

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<v Speaker 1>to win. And what we've seen there is one turnover

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<v Speaker 1>of management teams after another, and it's all autonomous driving.

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<v Speaker 1>Is an AI project, just the largest AI project on Earth,

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<v Speaker 1>we believe, and so losing the talent that it has,

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<v Speaker 1>and as I understand it lost another one today to

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<v Speaker 1>Mark Zuckerberg's Top fifty. So they've had a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>trouble in this regard, and I think the burden of

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<v Speaker 1>proof is on them.

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<v Speaker 3>Do you think that it is time to follow the talent,

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<v Speaker 3>that this is going to work the gamble that you're

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<v Speaker 3>seeing over at Meta, and that that's the path of

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<v Speaker 3>travel for the other big tech companies that are going

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<v Speaker 3>to just eat some of the companies from the inside

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<v Speaker 3>out take the talent unnecessarily by the company.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, it's a very good question. We're trying to

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<v Speaker 1>figure out if what Mark Zuckerberg is doing today is

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<v Speaker 1>much like he did when he was pivoting hard to

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<v Speaker 1>the metaverse, which proved because he thought that was the

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<v Speaker 1>next big thing, and that was incorrect. AI is the

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<v Speaker 1>next big thing, no question about it, and you do

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<v Speaker 1>have to have the right DNA and you have to

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<v Speaker 1>move fast and break things, as he would say. So,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, it'll be interesting to see if he's able

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<v Speaker 1>to turn his open source strategy and we've admired that

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<v Speaker 1>quite a bit in terms of generative AI into a

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<v Speaker 1>leader again or as we were observing it, Apple's LAMA

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<v Speaker 1>three at the time was improving at a faster rate

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<v Speaker 1>than some of Openay's models, and that was true of

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<v Speaker 1>open source generally, and then that has stopped. So, yes,

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<v Speaker 1>he had to do something. Is this the right thing?

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<v Speaker 1>Why did that stop?

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<v Speaker 2>I don't know, Kathy. Next time you're with us, we'll

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<v Speaker 2>have a longer conversation. Two leaders, incredible men doing incredible things.

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<v Speaker 2>I confessed the Kathy word.