WEBVTT - Monologue: Is Oracle Screwed?

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<v Speaker 1>Media. Greetings and salutations, traveler. I'm your host ed Xetron

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<v Speaker 1>and this is your better offline monologue for the week. Also,

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<v Speaker 1>blood is running through the stock market as everybody realizes

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<v Speaker 1>that once shit I've been saying since twenty twenty four,

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<v Speaker 1>the generative AI costs too much, loses everybody money, and

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't have the growth potential to make any of this

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<v Speaker 1>shit worth it. Yet this has been a week for

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<v Speaker 1>the more sophisticated haters, with Oracle stock plummeting on the

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<v Speaker 1>news that it had to raise another forty five to

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<v Speaker 1>fifty five billion dollars to fund data centers for open Ai,

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<v Speaker 1>which timed poorly with a story running that in video

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<v Speaker 1>was no longer doing its one hundred billion dollar investment

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<v Speaker 1>in open Ai, something you will know was the case

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<v Speaker 1>because it was on this podcast months ago and has

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<v Speaker 1>been multiple times since. To catch you one. Last September,

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<v Speaker 1>Oracle announced the three hundred billion dollar, five year long

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<v Speaker 1>deal to provide compute to open Ai, powered by four

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<v Speaker 1>point five gigawatts of compute capacity that at the time

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<v Speaker 1>and at this time did not and does not exist

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<v Speaker 1>as far as I can tell, only two hundred megawats

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<v Speaker 1>of Stargate Abilene, a project that's been a work in

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<v Speaker 1>progress since twenty twenty four, appears to be complete, and

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<v Speaker 1>to my knowledge as well, there's only like two hundred

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<v Speaker 1>megawats of power out there. They need a lot more

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<v Speaker 1>than that. That's meant to be a one point two

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<v Speaker 1>gigawat center. Not great now. Several other data center projects

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<v Speaker 1>are allegedly in the works too, Stargate Shackleford, Texas and Wisconsin,

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<v Speaker 1>Stargate New Mexico, and theoretically at least Stargate Michigan through

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<v Speaker 1>Blue Owl, who invested in basically every Stargate project and

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<v Speaker 1>pulled out of Michigan due to financing conditions. Souring Oracle

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<v Speaker 1>had previously raised fifty six billion dollars in bonds and debt,

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<v Speaker 1>with thirty eight billion of that specifically yearmarked for Shackleford

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<v Speaker 1>and Wisconsin. That debt is payable over four years, with

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<v Speaker 1>two one year extensions and payments for interest only until

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<v Speaker 1>construc duction is complete. One little problem, I'm afraid. According

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<v Speaker 1>to Jerome Darling at TD Cohen, it's upwards of forty

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<v Speaker 1>two million dollars in megawatt to build a data center.

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<v Speaker 1>Completing these data centers is going to cost at least

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<v Speaker 1>one hundred and eighty nine billion dollars for the four

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<v Speaker 1>and a half gigawats an Oracle was and is short

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<v Speaker 1>by quite some measure, so it sold twenty five billion

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<v Speaker 1>dollars more in bonds and plans to sell another twenty

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<v Speaker 1>billion dollars of stock in an at the money share sale,

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<v Speaker 1>literally printing new shares and dumping them onto the market

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<v Speaker 1>in intervals set by the bankers behind the deal. Mathematicians

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<v Speaker 1>in the audience have likely run the numbers at this

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<v Speaker 1>point and worked out that this is only one hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and one billion dollars, which is less than one hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and eighty nine billion dollars. May seem obvious, but I

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<v Speaker 1>don't know. The fucking markets don't appear to be able

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<v Speaker 1>to count. Now. The other problem Oracle has is that

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<v Speaker 1>the only way it can pay these loans off is

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<v Speaker 1>if open Ai is able to pay them, and I

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<v Speaker 1>need to be clear how difficult that will be. That

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<v Speaker 1>three hundred billion dollar, five year long compute deal guarantees

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<v Speaker 1>that at least one year will be over eighty billion

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<v Speaker 1>dollars in payments. For some context, the entire revenue of

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<v Speaker 1>MICROSOFTS as your cloud in twenty twenty five was seventy

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<v Speaker 1>five billion dollars. How does open ai pay that, especially

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<v Speaker 1>when Oracles' build capacity but they don't have the money.

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<v Speaker 1>They only allegedly made thirteen billion dollars last year and

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<v Speaker 1>lost nine billion dollars on top of that. How the

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<v Speaker 1>hell do they pay this? I don't know, but everyone

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<v Speaker 1>seems to think they will, or at least they did now.

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<v Speaker 1>In video, of course, went out to say that they

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<v Speaker 1>would absolutely be investing a lot of money in open

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<v Speaker 1>AI's supposed upcoming round, this one hundred billion dollar one.

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<v Speaker 1>Different to this one hundred billion dollar deal they were

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<v Speaker 1>talking about. Open ai is currently raising one hundred billion

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<v Speaker 1>dollars allegedly, but in video is only putting twenty billion

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<v Speaker 1>dollars in. And Jensen went on CNBC with Jim Kramer

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<v Speaker 1>and had the most bizarre conversation I'll link to it

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<v Speaker 1>in the episode notes. He was just saying, oh, yes,

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<v Speaker 1>open ai is wonderful, cutting over Jim Kramer's Jim Kramer

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<v Speaker 1>just said they going, well, you know, we love your deal.

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<v Speaker 1>Is to base to bash this deal ever, sounding like

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<v Speaker 1>Sylvester the Cat, and Jensen is just cutting over him

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<v Speaker 1>saying what open a ey is amazing. No drama, no

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<v Speaker 1>drama at all. And let me tell you something. The

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<v Speaker 1>reason he's saying no drama is because open ai also

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<v Speaker 1>leaked a thing saying that that Sam Altman and open

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<v Speaker 1>Ai were unhappy with in video chips, it's all so good.

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<v Speaker 1>This is this is the kind of stuff that happens

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<v Speaker 1>when things are going well and well. Oracles saw this,

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<v Speaker 1>and Oracles saw this back and forth, and they thought,

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<v Speaker 1>we need to help, we need to help the markets.

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<v Speaker 1>So they put out a tweet and I'm just going

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<v Speaker 1>to read it to you. The in video open Ai

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<v Speaker 1>deal has zero impact on our financial relationship with open Ai.

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<v Speaker 1>We remain highly confident in open aiy's ability to raise

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<v Speaker 1>funds and meet its commitments. Sadly, Oracles, the in video

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<v Speaker 1>open Ai deal has zero impact on our financial relationship.

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<v Speaker 1>T shirt appears to have people asking them a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of questions already answered by the shirt jokes aside, that's

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<v Speaker 1>the kind of thing that Alex Wilhelm tech reporter said.

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<v Speaker 1>It's bank run language. You don't that will always have

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<v Speaker 1>the opposite effect saying, well, it's I said this on

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<v Speaker 1>an interview recently. It's like walking into the room and

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<v Speaker 1>saying I didn't fucking kill anyone. People are gonna people

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<v Speaker 1>are probably gonna ask why you need to bring that

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<v Speaker 1>up at this time. The other part of that statement

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<v Speaker 1>that got me was we're highly confident in open AI's

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<v Speaker 1>ability to raise funds. They're not paying this out of

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<v Speaker 1>cash flow, so Oracle is just depending their entire existence

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<v Speaker 1>on open AI's ability to raise some venture capitalists, it's

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<v Speaker 1>all very good, it's all very very good, and it

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<v Speaker 1>all times very very poorly, with a TD Cohen analyst

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<v Speaker 1>letter that suggested Oracle would have to fire upwards of

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<v Speaker 1>twenty five thousand people and potentially sell its valuable set

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<v Speaker 1>SNA healthcare IT infrastructure just to make it through. And

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<v Speaker 1>again they paid twenty eight billion dollars with Serna, and

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<v Speaker 1>TD Cohen said that would be eight to ten billion

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<v Speaker 1>dollars worth of cash flow, again nowhere near one hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and eighty nine billion dollars. Look, look, I need people

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<v Speaker 1>to realize that Oracle cannot afford this out. It's committed

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<v Speaker 1>to building ten gigawats of capacity for open Ai, meaning

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<v Speaker 1>that on top of the one hundred and eighty nine

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<v Speaker 1>billion dollars it needs already. Oracle needs another two hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and thirty one billion dollars just to build those data centers.

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<v Speaker 1>And on its last earnings, Oracle had a cash flow

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<v Speaker 1>of negative thirteen billion dollars. It's it's not looking very positive.

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<v Speaker 1>And yes, Oracle also just bought TikTok, a business that

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<v Speaker 1>also but it loses billions and billions of dollars. And yes,

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<v Speaker 1>Larry Ellison's wealth is almost entirely tied up in Oracle stock,

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<v Speaker 1>which is currently hurtling towards hell with a velocity reserve

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<v Speaker 1>for Thatcher and Reagan, I know you're gonna listen to this,

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<v Speaker 1>and I hear from a lot of you. No matter

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<v Speaker 1>how many times I say this, everyone's like, oh, the

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<v Speaker 1>two deals are not about it's not about making money.

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<v Speaker 1>It's about political influence. Wow, you're the first fucking person

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<v Speaker 1>to tell me that. No one has ever told me

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<v Speaker 1>that other than the first one hundred and fifty fucking people.

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<v Speaker 1>Not an original thought and also not a particularly effective one.

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<v Speaker 1>The algorithm on ticketok is already shitting its pants because

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<v Speaker 1>Oracle can't stop messing with it because they want to

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<v Speaker 1>do the propaganda thing. And guess how TikTok makes money

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<v Speaker 1>ads and how does TikTok show ads? Well, they keep

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<v Speaker 1>you on the app with the algorithm. How do you

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<v Speaker 1>think this is gonna work? I know it all feels

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<v Speaker 1>a little ridiculous, but there really is a future in

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<v Speaker 1>which Oracle collapses. Larry Ellison's stock is entirely tied up

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<v Speaker 1>in Oracle, and I just did a story called the

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<v Speaker 1>Hater's God to Oracle in my premium newsletter that goes

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<v Speaker 1>through this. But this is a company in a company,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm just keeping it a company in decline, and they

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<v Speaker 1>are really looking quite shaky. And even if they weren't

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<v Speaker 1>in decline, the amount of money they're trying to spend

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<v Speaker 1>here is genuinely impossible for them to afford. They are

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<v Speaker 1>going to have to stress the debt markets the levels

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<v Speaker 1>they've never seen, and even then they cannot afford the

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<v Speaker 1>payments unless open Ai can pay them more than anyone

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<v Speaker 1>has ever paid for Cloud ever. Ah nah, I'm excited.

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<v Speaker 1>I own to hold stock, and until we know more,

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<v Speaker 1>I really only have one question. Is that good? H