Speaker 1: From the heart of where innovation, money and power COLLI
Speaker 1: in Silicon Valley and beyond. This is Bloomberg Technology with
Speaker 1: Emily Jay. I'm Emily Jack in San Francisco, and this
Speaker 1: is Bloomberg Technology. Coming up in the next hour, Snaps
Speaker 1: sell off shares plummeting as much on a disappointing forecast,
Speaker 1: catalyzing fresh turmoil in tech stocks. How much lower can
Speaker 1: they go? We will discuss plus Twitter's annual shareholder meeting
Speaker 1: coming up Wednesday, with Elon Musk still pressing pause on
Speaker 1: a deal he hasn't tweeted about it recently either, will
Speaker 1: preview what to expect. And California's landmark law requiring corporate
Speaker 1: boards to include women is ruled un constitutional. We're going
Speaker 1: to speak with California First partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom in
Speaker 1: an exclusive interview, her take on why we need more
Speaker 1: parity in the boardroom and the research that backs it up.
Speaker 1: We will get to all of that in a moment.
Speaker 1: The first stocks pairing their losses as a rebound in
Speaker 1: defensive companies offset a slide, and tech shares triggered by
Speaker 1: that profit warning from Snap shares plunging below the I
Speaker 1: p O price after cutting their revenue, profit forecast, taking
Speaker 1: other social media stocks and take more broadly down with it.
Speaker 1: Jasmine Edinburgh of Insider Intelligence joins us now with more So, Jasmine,
Speaker 1: just how bad does it get for Snap and the
Speaker 1: rest of social media? Well, we will be hard pressed
Speaker 1: to find any social platform that isn't struggling. In Q two.
Speaker 1: The headwinds that we were warned about in Q one
Speaker 1: have really turned into these gale force winds, and Snap
Speaker 1: along with Meta, are right in the path of this
Speaker 1: storm that is brewing now. Snap of course, is blaming
Speaker 1: macro economic conditions, and while that is certainly part of it,
Speaker 1: the reality is is that there is no shortage of
Speaker 1: challenges right now for the social media platforms, whether that's
Speaker 1: to do with ad targeting and online privacy, whether that
Speaker 1: is the war in Ukraine that is making advertisers wary
Speaker 1: of spending on social media, or whether that's the shift
Speaker 1: in social media usage that is really leaving these established
Speaker 1: players playing catch up to a newcomer called TikTok. So
Speaker 1: would you say TikTok is the one platform that's winning
Speaker 1: or are these dollars just going away across the board?
Speaker 1: You know, going back to this storm analogy, if there
Speaker 1: is one platform that is in the eye of the storm,
Speaker 1: I would say that that is TikTok. We've actually just
Speaker 1: released a new forecast at Insider Intelligence that shows that
Speaker 1: TikTok's AD revenues will more than double this year and
Speaker 1: in two it's ad revenues in the US is going
Speaker 1: to be more than Snapchat and Twitters combined. Would you
Speaker 1: say that this extends to not just Facebook and Twitter,
Speaker 1: but also YouTube for example? Will we continue to see
Speaker 1: what happened with YouTube last quarter again this quarter? Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, these struggles really extend across all of social media. Now,
Speaker 1: YouTube is a major competitor to TikTok as well. Um,
Speaker 1: it's really Shorts of course, which is it's TikTok clone.
Speaker 1: But we're seeing that even you know, time that would
Speaker 1: be spent on on YouTube, not within shorts, is going
Speaker 1: towards TikTok. So there's definitely some competition there as well.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I heard one of the skeptics today saying, look,
Speaker 1: why should I be worried about all of tech or
Speaker 1: really the rest of the markets just because Snap missed
Speaker 1: its guidance. How would you respond to that well, you know,
Speaker 1: it is a clear signal within the market that there
Speaker 1: are these real issues that these social platforms are challenging,
Speaker 1: are are are struggling with. You know, Snap is certainly
Speaker 1: not the only one that has to grapple with all
Speaker 1: of these problems. A lot of the larger ad players,
Speaker 1: including Meta, are also dealing with the same ones. And
Speaker 1: if it's impacting a platform like Snap, which has performed
Speaker 1: relatively well over the past couple of quarters, you know,
Speaker 1: it does show some warning signs for the rest of
Speaker 1: these social platforms as well. Speaking of the rest of
Speaker 1: these social platforms, we're looking ahead to Twitter's annual shareholder
Speaker 1: meeting coming up tomorrow. Twitter stuck between Snap and Elon
Speaker 1: Musk and this broader market meltdown. What are you expecting
Speaker 1: to happen at this meeting, Well, I think it will
Speaker 1: be a pretty tense meeting, you know. I mean the
Speaker 1: big two big topics, of course, are going to be
Speaker 1: Musk as well as the macroeconomic conditions that are really
Speaker 1: putting pressure on the social media platforms. Now, these two
Speaker 1: things are separate, but they're also related. The more that
Speaker 1: Twitter takes a hit, the more fuel Musk has to
Speaker 1: perhaps renegotiate his position, even walk away from the deal,
Speaker 1: and if he does that, he will take his lofty
Speaker 1: plans of making Twitter less reliant on advertising with him.
Speaker 1: And that's going to leave Twitter in pretty much the
Speaker 1: same position that it has been for a long time now,
Speaker 1: which is under performance, and it's going to be competing
Speaker 1: with all of these other social platforms, many of which
Speaker 1: have um larger ad businesses um and in an incredibly
Speaker 1: turbulent market. All right, Jasmine Enberg insider intelligence. Jasmin always
Speaker 1: appreciate how your thoughts here on the show. Thank you. Meantime,
Speaker 1: another story, we continue to watch Elon Musk's other company, Tesla,
Speaker 1: isolating thousands of workers in China to make sure they
Speaker 1: are COVID free. This is part of a large scale
Speaker 1: plan by the electric car maker to ramp up production
Speaker 1: at its planet in Shanghai after weeks of lockdown. These
Speaker 1: workers are being housed in unused factories and an old
Speaker 1: military camp, and they'll be allowed to join other workers
Speaker 1: inside the production bubble after a two to three day
Speaker 1: quarantine in accordance with government orders. Twitter's annual meeting kicks
Speaker 1: off Wednesday, and the company continues to find itself and
Speaker 1: quite the match. On one side of the ring stands
Speaker 1: Elon Musk, which with his offer to buy the platform
Speaker 1: on pause while he investigates the number of fake accounts.
Speaker 1: On the other, a tech market meltdown in the wake
Speaker 1: of Snap cutting its forecast to talk about what could
Speaker 1: come out of tomorrow's meeting. Joining us now Jason Goldman,
Speaker 1: one of the founding members of Twitter and former White
Speaker 1: House Chief Digital Officer under President Obama. Jason, I'm sure
Speaker 1: you've been through a few Twitter annual meetings and this
Speaker 1: will surely be unlike any other. What are you expecting. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this sort of feels like the Ragnarok of Twitter annual meetings,
Speaker 1: where there's there's only sort of one option that shareholders
Speaker 1: are looking for, which is to know that the deal
Speaker 1: is going to go through, because now the deal price
Speaker 1: looks like this amazing deal and the rest of the
Speaker 1: world has melted down, and I think the questions are
Speaker 1: just going to be can I get my money now?
Speaker 1: And can Twitter board really answer that question? I think
Speaker 1: the most important answer they can assert is that there's
Speaker 1: no such thing as the deal being on hold that
Speaker 1: they and this is what the g c F just
Speaker 1: said in a in a Twitter meeting, the contents of
Speaker 1: which was leaked that there's no such thing as the
Speaker 1: deal being on hold. We have a deal for the
Speaker 1: price that we agreed to, and we are going We
Speaker 1: are committed to executing this deal, and we will force
Speaker 1: compliance and execution of this deal if we have to.
Speaker 1: So is Elon Musk just blessing? Well, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think it's interesting that he's been quiet on Twitter
Speaker 1: for the last little while about this. I maybe, you know,
Speaker 1: losing seventy billion dollars of your own net worth by
Speaker 1: by posting about Twitter proved to be even a little
Speaker 1: expensive for the world's richest man. Or he just figured
Speaker 1: he was just creating more work for his lawyers in
Speaker 1: the inevitable litigation that comes out of this. But I
Speaker 1: think that he doesn't. I think sometimes folks think that
Speaker 1: there's these you know, plans within plans or faints within faints,
Speaker 1: and there's this five dimensional chess that people are playing.
Speaker 1: And I really think that Ellen realized that a lot
Speaker 1: of his argument about why he was buying the company
Speaker 1: just wasn't holding water, and he was taking heat from
Speaker 1: so many sides that he realized it would maybe just
Speaker 1: be better to be a little quiet about this uh
Speaker 1: and hope for a better position later. We've also learned
Speaker 1: more details about just how this deal came about, How
Speaker 1: it started with Ellen talking to Jack directly, then became
Speaker 1: a discussion about him joining the board fairly quickly. What
Speaker 1: do you find most significant about the timeline? I mean,
Speaker 1: this is all from Twitter's proxy filing. This isn't based
Speaker 1: on internal reporting or any sort of confidential sources. This
Speaker 1: is according to Twitter, Twitter's own executives and board and lawyers.
Speaker 1: What happened, and what happened according to them, was that
Speaker 1: Jack and Ellen initiate a conversation on March twenty six
Speaker 1: to pursue a strategy of Ellen says I'm interested in
Speaker 1: buying some shares. I wanna uh, and Jack says, okay,
Speaker 1: let's turn it over to the board and we can
Speaker 1: see about getting you on the board. He's puts them
Speaker 1: in conversation with Parrague and with Brett Taylor, the hand
Speaker 1: picked folks that Jack has said is going to lead
Speaker 1: the company to the next level of execution, and they
Speaker 1: agree to a standstill provision that prevents Ellen for acquiring
Speaker 1: more shares, and they agree to put Ellen on the board.
Speaker 1: They execute this agreement with Ellen on the fourth of April.
Speaker 1: The next day, on the fifth of April, they announced
Speaker 1: this deal. The very same day, Jack re enters the
Speaker 1: picture with Ellen and has a conversation with him in which,
Speaker 1: according to the filing, he shared his personal view that
Speaker 1: Twitter would be better able to focus on execution as
Speaker 1: a private company, and then the deal is completely off
Speaker 1: to put Ellen on the board, and Ellen says he
Speaker 1: wants to take it to be a private company. So
Speaker 1: that that, to me is just a clear backstabbing of
Speaker 1: the board by the founder when they had a deal
Speaker 1: in hand to come to a standstill. So do you
Speaker 1: think there should be any consequences to that if you
Speaker 1: believe that, as you're saying Jack backstabbed the board, what
Speaker 1: I'm saying is that we need to look at we
Speaker 1: need to look at the comments that Jack has made
Speaker 1: here previously. He's always been committed to this notion of
Speaker 1: Twitter should exist as a protocol and not a platform
Speaker 1: or a company, and that he's also said later that
Speaker 1: the board is the is the greatest dysfunction in the
Speaker 1: history of the company, and that there shouldn't be a CEO.
Speaker 1: But somehow he convinced himself that he's going to turn
Speaker 1: over this company to the world's richest man as a
Speaker 1: way of achieving this glorious decentralized transition to a protocol
Speaker 1: that to me, that to me just doesn't make a
Speaker 1: lot of sense. And there's nothing that Ellen has said
Speaker 1: that shows that he's committed to Protocol Future. In fact,
Speaker 1: he published this fairly ridiculous business plan that shows the
Speaker 1: type of product that he wants to build on the
Speaker 1: other side of this acquisition. And so I think the
Speaker 1: questions that I would ask if I were at the
Speaker 1: shareholder meeting is what was really going on in those
Speaker 1: conversations between Ellen and Jack and Ellen and the board,
Speaker 1: because I think that really affects the shareholder value here. Now,
Speaker 1: last time you joined us, you said you felt that
Speaker 1: Twitter faced a not good outcome either way. Do you
Speaker 1: still believe that, given that the price that Ellen and
Speaker 1: Twitter agreed on is actually much higher than the price
Speaker 1: at which Twitter is trading at today, it would be
Speaker 1: a great outcome for shareholders of Twitter. That's that's undisputed,
Speaker 1: And like you know, you can't. I thought Jasmine did
Speaker 1: a great job table setting sort of the vibe that's
Speaker 1: out here right now in the valley in terms of
Speaker 1: what we're headed into. It's very much a two thousand
Speaker 1: dot bust feeling in the air. And you know, graybeards
Speaker 1: like myself are sort of counseling younger folks talking about
Speaker 1: the last bust as though it was the dust bowl
Speaker 1: or something, and you know, like when we didn't have crawdad,
Speaker 1: we ate sand and here's how survive and all this
Speaker 1: like sort of received wisdom from the last of the
Speaker 1: last bus. And so there's a lot of there's a
Speaker 1: lot of feeling that this is would be a great
Speaker 1: outcome for shareholders. It's, however, not a great outcome for
Speaker 1: the product. It's not a great outcome for employees. So
Speaker 1: because Ellen's plans for what he would do with it
Speaker 1: have proven to be so un serious that he's just
Speaker 1: simply shut up about them on Twitter altogether. How worried
Speaker 1: about are you about the future of social media in general?
Speaker 1: Given what we just saw with Snap and what Jasmine
Speaker 1: had to say about slowing user growth, Is that coming
Speaker 1: for Twitter? Yes? I I think that's coming. I think
Speaker 1: that is a real macroeconomic effect, and I think there
Speaker 1: is some validity to the point that the social media
Speaker 1: moment that we've had for the last fifteen years is
Speaker 1: reaching some sort of endpoint, particularly in terms of how
Speaker 1: it's valued by the stock market, but maybe even just
Speaker 1: more generally in terms of what users want, and maybe
Speaker 1: folks migrate instead, and instead of being in these arenas
Speaker 1: of public combat where you have to contend with you know,
Speaker 1: just everyone all at once, maybe folks are looking for
Speaker 1: more private experiences, are semi public experiences, and maybe there's
Speaker 1: a new evolution of social media to come. As as
Speaker 1: someone who's not a shareholder and not employee, this is
Speaker 1: actually somewhat exciting to me because I think we've been
Speaker 1: in a frozen moment for social media and user experience
Speaker 1: and it would be great to see some new experiences
Speaker 1: come out of this. And as we know, a lot
Speaker 1: of the best companies have been built during these downturns
Speaker 1: have been built in the wake of these big corrections,
Speaker 1: so that is a potential upside to all of this.
Speaker 1: All right, well, we will be watching as it all
Speaker 1: goes down tomorrow at the meeting. Jason Goldman, one of
Speaker 1: the founding members of Twitter, former White House Chief Digital Officer,
Speaker 1: are always great to have your colorful metaphors here on
Speaker 1: the show, Jason, thank you. Meantime, Walmart and its partner
Speaker 1: drone Up plan to expand their drone delivery hubs to
Speaker 1: six states by the end of the year. The idea
Speaker 1: is that you can have anything you order, from toothpaste,
Speaker 1: diapers to hot dog buns delivered for three dollars and
Speaker 1: cents as long as it's under ten pounds. Still, there
Speaker 1: are big regulatory hurdles. Fa A rules to clear such
Speaker 1: deliveries have yet to be written. Coming up, Zoom is
Speaker 1: showing signs it can turn its pandemic boom into post
Speaker 1: pandemic growth. We'll talk to the company's CFO, Kelly Steckelberg. Next.
Speaker 1: This is Gloomberg, a rare bright spot in the markets today, Zoom,
Speaker 1: which reported progress on customer growth. The video conferencing giant
Speaker 1: projecting revenue will increase about ten percent in the current
Speaker 1: current period, better than analysis estimates, but still see its
Speaker 1: slowest quarterly sales growth. Joom CFO Kelly Stuckelberg joins us
Speaker 1: now and Kelly Zoom shares up on the day, which
Speaker 1: I'm sure is welcome news given almost everything else is
Speaker 1: in the red. How is it that Zoom has been
Speaker 1: April to weather these macroeconomic forces that Snap, for example,
Speaker 1: has not well. Emily, we are successfully transitioning from being
Speaker 1: this killer meeting app that everybody came to no one
Speaker 1: loved during the pandemic, to an indispensable platform that is
Speaker 1: comprised of not only Zoom Meetings, but also Zoom Phone,
Speaker 1: which had an amazing quarter. We crossed over the three
Speaker 1: million seats sold for Zoom Phone as well as Zoom
Speaker 1: contact Center, our new product it was just recently re
Speaker 1: released and had some great customer wins. And then Zoom Rooms,
Speaker 1: which is going to be a really indispensable part of
Speaker 1: organization strategy as they're navigating what the future of hybrid
Speaker 1: work flight looks like and trying to make that as
Speaker 1: inclusive as possible. So all of that together, um, you know,
Speaker 1: resulted in a strong quarter. So I wonder if it's
Speaker 1: time to get a little bolder. I mean, you did
Speaker 1: recently purchase Solvy, but you still have six billion dollars
Speaker 1: in cash on your balance She should we be expecting
Speaker 1: you to make more deals? Yeah, so we're really excited.
Speaker 1: Were recently close Solving which will bring conversational AI into
Speaker 1: our Contact center so welcome to that team. And this
Speaker 1: is absolutely a really important part of our strategy. As
Speaker 1: you said, we have a very strong balance sheet and
Speaker 1: are looking towards M and A to continue to accelerate
Speaker 1: both our technology as well as our talent acquisition. And
Speaker 1: then we also are in the middle of a stock
Speaker 1: repurchase program. Our board approved a billion dollars that we
Speaker 1: are executing against um huntering two million of stock with repurchase.
Speaker 1: Last quarter, you did say you're starting to see the
Speaker 1: impact of the war on Ukraine on sales in Europe,
Speaker 1: and I'm wondering if you can give us any more
Speaker 1: details on that. Sure, So, we certainly saw some headwinds
Speaker 1: in our online segment of our business, and largely related
Speaker 1: to the war in Russian Ukraine as well as FX
Speaker 1: and so combined we in our guidance we indicated that
Speaker 1: that's having about a one we sent impact of revenue.
Speaker 1: And you know this is due to the sanctions that
Speaker 1: we're seeing as well at in Russia specifically, as well
Speaker 1: as the overall impact in Europe I think due to
Speaker 1: uncertainty and that region is certainly having a dampening effect
Speaker 1: on our online sayingment of our business. Meantime, Microsoft teams
Speaker 1: seems to be gaining market share in video conferencing. What's
Speaker 1: the plan to continue to fend them off? So we
Speaker 1: have a natively built platform that brings together audio, video, chat,
Speaker 1: contact center, and all of that brings a lot of
Speaker 1: value to our customers. And every single day we're focusing
Speaker 1: on delivering happiness to them by bringing them a lot
Speaker 1: of value in this natively built platform. And we are
Speaker 1: continued to innovate. We are investing and hiring in R
Speaker 1: and D on a global basis and continuing to listen
Speaker 1: to our customers and build the products that they need,
Speaker 1: especially especially in this ever evolving world of work today.
Speaker 1: And you're also planning to incorporate more AI features, but
Speaker 1: privacy advocates seem to have a problem with some of
Speaker 1: these new ideas. What's been your response to that. So
Speaker 1: we're really focused on bringing AI into our products to
Speaker 1: do things like live transcripts, um also analysis after the meeting.
Speaker 1: And this is really helpful in terms of one of
Speaker 1: our new products as well, zoom i Q for sales,
Speaker 1: and this is really helpful the organizations as they're trying
Speaker 1: to make their sales teams more productive and make sure
Speaker 1: that they're focusing on the right things in their meetings,
Speaker 1: and we are very thoughtful we think about bringing any
Speaker 1: new feature to the market, and we'll continue to do
Speaker 1: so in the area of AI. All Right, Keli Steckelberg,
Speaker 1: CFO of zoom Kelly, thank you so much for joining us,
Speaker 1: and I want to give you an update right now
Speaker 1: on some breaking news coming out of Texas and that
Speaker 1: devastating shooting at an elementary school and you'll al d Texas.
Speaker 1: We've just been listening into a press conference by Governor
Speaker 1: Greg Abbott who confirmed, uh, fifteen people were killed, most
Speaker 1: of them children, elementary school children. The shooter in eighteen
Speaker 1: year old was killed by responding police officers. A couple
Speaker 1: of those officers were shot but not hurt. Seriously, We're
Speaker 1: continuing to cover the headlines as we get them coming
Speaker 1: in from Uvaldi, Texas at that elementary school and an
Speaker 1: absolutely horrific shooting. More come up next on the show.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg. Welcome back to Bloomberg Technology. We're continuing
Speaker 1: to cover this breaking news out of Uvaldi, Texas, where
Speaker 1: fifteen people have been killed by an eighteen year old shooter.
Speaker 1: Fourteen of those fifteen dead as we understand it at
Speaker 1: this point, our elementary school children in addition to a teacher.
Speaker 1: We're continuing to wait for more details as we have
Speaker 1: of them. The shooter was shot and killed by police,
Speaker 1: and we're going to continue to follow this developing story
Speaker 1: and bring you um more headlines. I do want to
Speaker 1: get back to the markets now with our Ridika Gupta.
Speaker 1: Ridika walk us through the movers on the day. Yes, Emily, well,
Speaker 1: you do have a down day for US stocks, but
Speaker 1: we really did see some of those losses start to
Speaker 1: be a raise towards the end of the session, So
Speaker 1: you saw the SMP five closing less than one percent
Speaker 1: lower that we saw some of those defensive sectors starting
Speaker 1: to perform higher. But of course then AzaC one hundred
Speaker 1: was the under performer today, being waved down by some
Speaker 1: of those heavyweights Tesla Apple. But we did see really
Speaker 1: that safe Hayden bid coming into the treasury space, so
Speaker 1: forty portfolio perhaps having a good day to day relatively
Speaker 1: as we start to see some normalcy coming back in
Speaker 1: between that correlation. But of course, really what was driving
Speaker 1: the sentiment surprisingly was snapped and I say surprisingly because
Speaker 1: it's not the biggest company, and it's not even in
Speaker 1: the SMP five hundred emily, but it did plunge some
Speaker 1: forty or more in fact on that session today. And
Speaker 1: I did warn about the ad revenues going forward, and
Speaker 1: it really is that macro environment that it was warning
Speaker 1: about profit margins, inflation, and of course fears of a
Speaker 1: slowdown lower consumer demand that could reduce the advertising spending
Speaker 1: because of course, in terms of recession, that's usually what
Speaker 1: companies are first to slash their budgets on. And you
Speaker 1: see that really seeping in into those social media stocks today.
Speaker 1: Pinterest down some twenty four percent in today's session, Twitter
Speaker 1: down as well, these companies social media stocks as a
Speaker 1: whole today wiping off more than a hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: billion dollars worth of the market value today. But it's surprising,
Speaker 1: and I say surprising how surprise investors were in fact,
Speaker 1: because if I look at all of these names on
Speaker 1: this board behind me there, they are all down in
Speaker 1: the double digits on a year to date basis because
Speaker 1: social media stocks haven't had the best start off to
Speaker 1: the year. And you flip up the board, I'll show
Speaker 1: you a chart really indicating that you see social media
Speaker 1: group here that is that white line on the chart here.
Speaker 1: It is now trading back at some of those pre
Speaker 1: pandemic levels that we saw. And this is quite the change.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's now trailing the SPA the thing back
Speaker 1: to the height of the pandemic. Stay at Homestock, social
Speaker 1: media was really soaring. It really was one of the outperformers,
Speaker 1: shall we say. But now with that reopening, with those
Speaker 1: fears of a slowdown what that could mean for advertising revenues,
Speaker 1: we see that invest invested sentiment has really started to sour. Emily, indeed,
Speaker 1: Ridika Kupta, thank you. Meantime, late last week, a Los
Speaker 1: Angeles Superior Court judge invalidated a California law that required
Speaker 1: gender parody on corporate boards set a bill eight to
Speaker 1: six was signed in the laween by then Governor Jerry Brown,
Speaker 1: making California the first state to require publicly traded companies
Speaker 1: to include women on their boards, a law that judge
Speaker 1: found to be unconstitutional. Here with me to talk about
Speaker 1: that and more is California's first Partner, Jennifer Siebelnusom, who
Speaker 1: was also the co founder of California Partner's Project, a
Speaker 1: nonprofit dedicated to promoting gender equality and which is tracking
Speaker 1: the progress and implementation of this bill. Jennifer, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for joining us. So, first of all, what
Speaker 1: has been your reaction to this, You know, a court
Speaker 1: in l A striking this down and a judge saying
Speaker 1: that this law is unconstitutional. Well, it's great to be
Speaker 1: with you. Thanks so much. Look, I mean the law
Speaker 1: has led to progress. We have around thirteen hundred seats
Speaker 1: filled in the past few years, um, with women on
Speaker 1: public companies in California. We've nearly doubled the numbers of
Speaker 1: women or we've actually doubled the number the percentage of
Speaker 1: women on public company boards from fifteen point five percent
Speaker 1: in to uh this in one we have nearly tripled
Speaker 1: the number of board seats held by women because we've
Speaker 1: increased the number of public companies in California as well.
Speaker 1: So the law has been a success, um. And you know,
Speaker 1: I'm a firm believer that policy change leads to shifts
Speaker 1: and hearts and minds and attitudes and behaviors, and so
Speaker 1: it's been working. But here you have this law now
Speaker 1: being overturned. Does this set progress back? And how much? Yeah? Well,
Speaker 1: first of all, we're appealing the overturn because it ignores
Speaker 1: the substantial discrimination against women in the selection process to
Speaker 1: be on public company boards. We all know and research indicates,
Speaker 1: UM that the board seats are are typically held by
Speaker 1: men who have been conditioned or have biases towards UM
Speaker 1: selecting women candidates for the board. So everything for misperceptions
Speaker 1: of risks UH to just insular networks and artificially narrow searches,
Speaker 1: so all of this contributes to UM a bar that
Speaker 1: is raised in the selection process for women and a
Speaker 1: bar that is lowered for men in the selection process.
Speaker 1: So again I'm I'm confident UM in this appeal UH
Speaker 1: that another UH court will will see the benefit of
Speaker 1: this legislation. And again, we only have three in our
Speaker 1: seats left to fill. And again I'm I'm confident that
Speaker 1: everyone already sees that when you have more diversity, more
Speaker 1: women in public company board seats, that there's greater profitability, sustainability, UM,
Speaker 1: and ultimately it's just better for business all around. I
Speaker 1: wonder though, if this is part of a disturbing trend
Speaker 1: where we're seeing women backsliding. We saw them backslide in
Speaker 1: the pandemic, you know, on the heels of of of
Speaker 1: the me too movement. Now we're seeing, you know, company
Speaker 1: is going through layoffs, heading into a tense macro economic environment.
Speaker 1: The markets are melting down. Are you concerned that women
Speaker 1: could be backsliding even more as we speak? So we're
Speaker 1: living in really strange times. And again if we look
Speaker 1: at you know, SMP, UM, uh C, e O, S
Speaker 1: and and and broadly speaking the board representation and public companies,
Speaker 1: so s of boards seats are held by men, and
Speaker 1: of CEOs are are male. And we're living in these
Speaker 1: times of crisis with incredible economic inequality, climate crisis, public
Speaker 1: health crisis, is war um, mental health crisis, etcetera, etcetera
Speaker 1: coming out of this pandemic um. And we're just there's
Speaker 1: so much um that women haven't had seats at the
Speaker 1: tables of power. And so all to me, all signs
Speaker 1: point to you put more women and with their prospectives
Speaker 1: and experiences decision making tables, and it's just better for business,
Speaker 1: and it's better for our society, it's better for the environment,
Speaker 1: it's better for everyone. All the studies again indicate that
Speaker 1: women invest in not just profit, but they'll focus on
Speaker 1: people and the planet at higher rates than men. Will
Speaker 1: UM the e s G outcomes of having women sitting
Speaker 1: on public company boards are substantially greater, so uh, and
Speaker 1: I'm happy to talk about those in detail. But again,
Speaker 1: I think this all points to the fact that what
Speaker 1: the past hasn't been working, and so we need to
Speaker 1: just keep um supporting and encouraging more women into leadership
Speaker 1: and giving them seats at the tables where they deserve
Speaker 1: to be. And I really think that women are primed
Speaker 1: to solve some of these complex issues that have um
Speaker 1: across our economy and society. Today, we're seeing companies increasingly
Speaker 1: facing pressure to take a stand, whether it's Disney on
Speaker 1: the don't say gay legislation, or companies in general on
Speaker 1: the new potential or Row versus Wade to be overturned.
Speaker 1: What do you think companies should do in the situation,
Speaker 1: knowing that these are very polarizing issues. So you're talking
Speaker 1: to someone who has always sort of believed in the
Speaker 1: b court model or the as I said, the triple
Speaker 1: bottom line model. UM that a successful company invests in
Speaker 1: its employees and provides, you know, family friendly policies and
Speaker 1: benefits to its employees, and pays its employees equitably. UM
Speaker 1: A successful company. Uh, make sure that it's not harming
Speaker 1: the environment and it's actually leaving the environment and the
Speaker 1: local community in a better place than it found it.
Speaker 1: Um so, and it's profitable. Um and so I think
Speaker 1: that companies need to be bold and lean into their values,
Speaker 1: just like we're leaning into our values in California. And
Speaker 1: part of that is, as we all know, the greater
Speaker 1: the diversity you have around its table, the greater the creativity,
Speaker 1: productivity in the better bottom line. And so again, I
Speaker 1: think Disney needs to be bold. All these companies need
Speaker 1: to be bold, similar with Whew, we wait. They have
Speaker 1: to lead and lean in with their values. Governor Newsom,
Speaker 1: your husband is taking steps to make California kind of
Speaker 1: a safe haven for abortion, recently proposing allocating a dwive
Speaker 1: million dollars in the budget toward we productive health. What
Speaker 1: more would you like to see California do? Probably speaking,
Speaker 1: I want California to be the state where working moms
Speaker 1: want to raise their families. UM. I really, and I
Speaker 1: think that we're actually taking great strides um in that direction.
Speaker 1: I'm really proud of the work again that we've been
Speaker 1: doing with regards to pay equity and women in public
Speaker 1: company boards. Again, UM, we're leading the nation and now
Speaker 1: we're world leader when it comes to women in public
Speaker 1: company boards. I mean, the strongest people pay laws in
Speaker 1: the nation, UM. Just as I think we have incredible
Speaker 1: um UM laws related to sexual harassment and assault, and
Speaker 1: so I do think that we're creating environments where women
Speaker 1: can thrive. And we're also so invested in ensuring that
Speaker 1: kids get the best start in life. So part of
Speaker 1: my work is also around UM children's mental health and
Speaker 1: ensuring kids get the best nutrition and spend time outdoors
Speaker 1: in our states parks. And I'm also cheering the physical
Speaker 1: fitness and mental health counsel and so there's a lot
Speaker 1: coming out of there. Really Again, I'm just really excited
Speaker 1: for California to be a leader UM in terms of
Speaker 1: centering women's perspectives and experiences and making sure that their
Speaker 1: families really thrive. Well, speaking of children, I have to
Speaker 1: ask you before you go about this absolutely horrific shooting
Speaker 1: in Uvaldi, Texas where uh an eighteen year old shooter
Speaker 1: gunned down fifteen people, fourteen of them we believe to
Speaker 1: be elementary school students in addition to their teacher. What
Speaker 1: is what is your reaction to this. Uh, I want
Speaker 1: to cry. UM, it's horrifying. I'm a mother of four. UM.
Speaker 1: We guns are a major, major, major problem in our country.
Speaker 1: Toxic masculinity is a major, major, major problem in our country.
Speaker 1: Misinformation is a major major problem in our country. Mental
Speaker 1: health is a major problem. But guns and ammunition kill people,
Speaker 1: and they don't belong in the hands of people that
Speaker 1: UM have extreme beliefs, have a lot of hate. UM
Speaker 1: are our bigots, are racists, are sexists, are violent offenders.
Speaker 1: They don't belong in their hands. And semi automagmatic weapons
Speaker 1: definitely do not belong in their hands. So I'm a
Speaker 1: firm believer in common sense gun laws. And again, I
Speaker 1: think California has been leading the nation, and some conservative
Speaker 1: judges have been challenging us. But I'm really proud of
Speaker 1: what we've done and what the governor has done with
Speaker 1: regards to common sense gun legislation. And I my heart
Speaker 1: goes out to every child and family member, UM who
Speaker 1: has been impacted. Uh, it's horrible, Indeed, it is. It
Speaker 1: is absolutely horrifying. UM. Jennifer Siebel Newsome, California's first partner
Speaker 1: co founder of the California partner's project. Thank you for
Speaker 1: sharing your thoughts here with us, and will continue to
Speaker 1: bring you more details as we have them. This is Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: I do want to move on to some of the
Speaker 1: other stories of the day and our crypto rapport Crypto
Speaker 1: keeping a low profile in midst of this broader market meltdown,
Speaker 1: Bitcoin falling to a daily average below dollars. Bitcoins moves
Speaker 1: showcasing a fairly strong correlation between cryptocurrencies and other equities,
Speaker 1: even more so uh than between the coin and tech stocks.
Speaker 1: This is institutional investors still spooked by that Tara Luna collapse.
Speaker 1: Kristin Smith from the Blockchain Association Join My colleague Can
Speaker 1: the Lines earlier in Davos talked about what it all means.
Speaker 1: I think there are two primary issue shoes that get
Speaker 1: the most attention for regulators. The first is having a
Speaker 1: way to regulate the spot markets. Today crypto exchanges in
Speaker 1: the US have money transmitter licenses, which isn't exactly directly
Speaker 1: related to what they do most um. Instead, I think
Speaker 1: what we need to see as a single uniform federal regulator. Uh.
Speaker 1: The other issue is stable coin regulation, and there are
Speaker 1: many different types of stable coins and having disclosures around
Speaker 1: what are in those reserves, having audits of those and
Speaker 1: making that information available to consumers would go a long
Speaker 1: way towards preventing something like the U s T collapse. Kristen,
Speaker 1: to what extent do you think that blockchain technology cryptocurrencies
Speaker 1: at large have a reputation problem on Capitol Hill? I'm
Speaker 1: just wondering how much is about perception versus real understanding
Speaker 1: of how these ecosystems, or what is your sense on
Speaker 1: how how great the level of understanding really is among lawmakers.
Speaker 1: You know, we've made a tremendous amount of progress if
Speaker 1: you compare where we're a year ago to where we
Speaker 1: are today. The overall basic level of education and policymakers
Speaker 1: have about this asset class has written quite a bit
Speaker 1: the challenges that this is such a fast moving industry
Speaker 1: that's constantly evolving and constantly changing that it takes a
Speaker 1: lot of work for these policymakers to keep up. But
Speaker 1: I think what policymakers on Capitol Hill realize is that
Speaker 1: they have constituents in their district that are investing in
Speaker 1: these assets that are building on top of these block chains,
Speaker 1: and they're very passionate when it comes to public policy
Speaker 1: in this space, and so I think we've caught as
Speaker 1: an industry and as an ecosystem, we've caught the attention
Speaker 1: of Congress, and with the exception of a few outliers,
Speaker 1: most of them are, if not already crypto champions, they
Speaker 1: are crypto curious and they want to learn about this.
Speaker 1: So I think incumbent upon us in the industry and
Speaker 1: in the crypto ecosystem to make sure that they continue
Speaker 1: to grow and learn and understand. And that's a lot
Speaker 1: of what we do here at the Blockchain Association. Christ
Speaker 1: And Smith of the Blockchain Association there with my colleague
Speaker 1: Kaylee Lines, will have much more on Bloomberg technology. Next
Speaker 1: this is Bloomberg. I do want to move on to
Speaker 1: Amazon Web Services. There's an AWS summit underway now in Washington,
Speaker 1: d C. Taking a deep dive into how public sector
Speaker 1: organizations are using and can use the cloud to innovate
Speaker 1: and enhance their digital transformations. Here to talk about that
Speaker 1: and more, AWS Vice President of Worldwide Public Sector Max Peterson.
Speaker 1: Max give us a status check or a report card
Speaker 1: of sorts on how companies are managing this this digital transformation,
Speaker 1: especially as we come out of the pandemic. That's a
Speaker 1: great question, Thanks Emily. We've had over seventeen thousand people
Speaker 1: registered to attend the Public Sector Summit here in Washington,
Speaker 1: d C. To understand exactly that question and a couple
Speaker 1: of significant ways that people are transforming um public sector
Speaker 1: business is in terms of speed. Let me give you
Speaker 1: one quick example. At the in the UH University of
Speaker 1: British Columbium, they were working to solve the COVID pandemic
Speaker 1: problems that we've all had. They had to turn to
Speaker 1: AWS to be able to provide some immense computing power,
Speaker 1: and what they were able to do was take six
Speaker 1: million public records about health information, put him into AWUS
Speaker 1: where they were able to take these records and take
Speaker 1: what would have been a lengthy process compressor to eleven
Speaker 1: days and be able to identify seven new coronavirus variants.
Speaker 1: That's the sort of power that AWS gives researchers to
Speaker 1: understand and solve big problems. You're also announcing a new
Speaker 1: healthcare accelerator that will look at specific healthcare star ups.
Speaker 1: What are the goals for AWS when it comes to
Speaker 1: the healthcare sector specifically. Yeah, that's a great question. The
Speaker 1: Healthcare Accelerator is really designed to help small businesses who
Speaker 1: are really innovative get a four week intensive on AWS.
Speaker 1: We give them cloud credits, we give them technical assistance,
Speaker 1: we connect them with others in the healthcare industry, all
Speaker 1: to create new solutions. We find that these startup accelerators
Speaker 1: are the things that really generate tremendous new opportunities and
Speaker 1: solve really big problems in very innovative ways. We're excited
Speaker 1: to announce it here. This accelerator is focused on health
Speaker 1: equity in particular, and it's open for applications for now
Speaker 1: until July one. So you know, I'm so curious for
Speaker 1: your thoughts on the labor market and how it's shifting now,
Speaker 1: especially as so many companies are now competing for talent
Speaker 1: and companies in the clouds specifically. Are what are the
Speaker 1: interesting trends that you're seeing. Yes, well, I would start
Speaker 1: about by saying that there is a well recognized shortage
Speaker 1: and tech skills, and it's one of the reasons why
Speaker 1: Amazon took action back in nineteen to announce our program
Speaker 1: to skill up twenty nine million people with free cloud skills.
Speaker 1: By of course, as a result of the pandemic, there
Speaker 1: was a temporary increase in the difficulty of obtaining and
Speaker 1: retaining focus, but as we've come out of the pandemic,
Speaker 1: we're starting to see these return to more normal circumstances.
Speaker 1: But I think the key for all of us is
Speaker 1: to focus on continued skilling, whether it is UH early
Speaker 1: age like our get I T program which targets UH
Speaker 1: thirteen fourteen year olds, largely targets women to be able
Speaker 1: to get them into tech skills, whether it's at the
Speaker 1: university level thing AWS Academy, or whether it's with states
Speaker 1: that worked upon workforce training programs. Okay, Max Peterson AWS, Max,
Speaker 1: thank you for your views across all of that. At
Speaker 1: late last week, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge invalidated
Speaker 1: a California law that required gender parity on corporate boards.
Speaker 1: Set A Bill eight to six was signed into law
Speaker 1: in eighteen by then Governor Jerry Brown, making California the
Speaker 1: first state to require publicly traded companies to include women
Speaker 1: on their boards, a law that judge found to be unconstitutional.
Speaker 1: Here with me to talk about that and more is
Speaker 1: California's first partner, Jennifer Siebelnusom, who is also the co
Speaker 1: founder of California Partner's Project, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting
Speaker 1: gender equality and which is tracking the progress and implementation
Speaker 1: of this bill. Jennifer, thank you so much for joining us. So,
Speaker 1: first of all, what has been your reaction to this,
Speaker 1: You know, a court in l a striking this down
Speaker 1: and a judge saying that this law is unconstitutional. Well,
Speaker 1: it's great to be with you. Thanks so much. Look,
Speaker 1: I mean, the law has led to progress. We have
Speaker 1: um around thirteen hundred seats filled in the past few
Speaker 1: years UM with women on public companies in California. We've
Speaker 1: nearly doubled the numbers of women or we've actually doubled
Speaker 1: the number the percentage of women on public company boards
Speaker 1: from fifteen point five percent in eighteen to uh this
Speaker 1: in one we have nearly tripled the number of boards
Speaker 1: seats held by women because we've increased the number of
Speaker 1: public companies in California as well. So the law has
Speaker 1: been a success, um. And you know, I'm a firm
Speaker 1: believer that policy change leads to shifts and hearts and
Speaker 1: minds and attitudes and behaviors, and so it's been working.
Speaker 1: But here you have this law now being overturned. Does
Speaker 1: this set progress back and how much? Yeah? Well, first
Speaker 1: of all, we're appealing the overturn because it ignores the
Speaker 1: substantial discrimination against women in the selection process to be
Speaker 1: on public company boards. UH. We all know, and research indicates,
Speaker 1: UM that the board seats are are typically held by
Speaker 1: men who have been conditioned or have biases towards UM
Speaker 1: selecting women candidates for the board. So everything from misperceptions
Speaker 1: of risks UH to just insular networks and artificially narrow searches,
Speaker 1: so all of this contributes to UM a bar that
Speaker 1: is raised in the selection process for women and a
Speaker 1: bar that is lowered for men in the selection process.
Speaker 1: So again I'm I'm confident UM in this appeal UH
Speaker 1: that another UH court will will see the benefit of
Speaker 1: this legislation. And again, we only have three in our
Speaker 1: seats left to fill. And again I'm I'm confident that
Speaker 1: everyone already sees that when you have more diversity and
Speaker 1: more women in public company board seats, that there's greater profitability,
Speaker 1: sustainability UM, and ultimately it's just better for business all around.
Speaker 1: I wonder though, if this is part of a disturbing
Speaker 1: trend where we're seeing women backsliding. We saw them backslide
Speaker 1: in the pandemic, you know, on the heels of of
Speaker 1: of the Me too movement. Now we're seeing you know,
Speaker 1: companies going through layoffs, heading into a tense macro economic environment.
Speaker 1: The markets are melting down. Are you concerned that women
Speaker 1: could be backsliding even more as we speak? So we're
Speaker 1: living in really strange times. And again, if we look
Speaker 1: at you know, SMP, UM, C, e O S and
Speaker 1: and and broadly speaking the board representation and public companies,
Speaker 1: so of boards seats are held by men, and of
Speaker 1: CEOs are are male. And we're living in these times
Speaker 1: of crisis, this with incredible economic inequality, a climate crisis,
Speaker 1: public health crisis, is war, um mental health crisis, etcetera,
Speaker 1: etcetera coming out of this pandemic um and we're just
Speaker 1: there's so much um that women haven't had seats at
Speaker 1: the tables of power, and so all to me, all
Speaker 1: signs point to you put more women and with their
Speaker 1: perspectives and experiences a decision making tables, and it's just
Speaker 1: better for business, and it's better for our society, it's
Speaker 1: better for the environment, it's better for everyone. All the
Speaker 1: studies again indicate that women invest in not just profit,
Speaker 1: but they'll focus on people and the planet at higher
Speaker 1: rates than men will. UM the E s G outcomes
Speaker 1: of having women sitting on public company boards are substantially greater.
Speaker 1: So uh, and I'm happy to talk about those in detail.
Speaker 1: But again, I think this all points to the fact
Speaker 1: that what the past hasn't been working, and so we
Speaker 1: need to just keep um supporting and encouraging more women
Speaker 1: into leadership and giving them seats at the tables where
Speaker 1: they deserve to be. And I really think that women
Speaker 1: are primed to solve some of these complex issues that
Speaker 1: have um across our economy and society. Today, we're seeing
Speaker 1: companies increasingly facing pressure to take a stand, whether it's
Speaker 1: Disney on the don't say gay legislation or companies in
Speaker 1: general on the new potential for a row versus Wade
Speaker 1: to be overturned. What do you think companies should do
Speaker 1: in the situation, knowing that these are very polarizing issues.
Speaker 1: So you're talking to someone who has always sort of
Speaker 1: believed in the b court model or the as I said,
Speaker 1: the triple bottom line model. UM that a successful company
Speaker 1: invests in its employees and provides you know, family friendly
Speaker 1: policies and benefits to its employees, and pays its employees equitably.
Speaker 1: A successful company, uh make sure that it's not harming
Speaker 1: the environment and it's actually leaving the environment and the
Speaker 1: local community in a better place than it found it.
Speaker 1: Um so, and it's profitable. Um. And so I think
Speaker 1: that companies need to be bold and lean into their values,
Speaker 1: just like we're leaning into our values in California. And
Speaker 1: part of that is, as we all know, the greater
Speaker 1: the diversity you have around its table, the greater the creativity,
Speaker 1: productivity in the better bottom line. And so again I
Speaker 1: think Disney needs to be bold. All these companies need
Speaker 1: to be bold, similar with Row we way, they have
Speaker 1: to lead and lean in with their values. Governor Newsom,
Speaker 1: your husband is taking steps to make California kind of
Speaker 1: a safe haven for abortion, recently proposing allocating a million
Speaker 1: dollars in the budget toward reproductive health. What more would
Speaker 1: you like to see California do? Probably speaking, I want
Speaker 1: California to be the state where working moms want to
Speaker 1: raise their families. UM. I really, and I think that
Speaker 1: we're actually taking rate strides um in that direction. I'm
Speaker 1: really proud of the work again that we've been doing
Speaker 1: with regards to pay equity and women in public company boards. Again, UM,
Speaker 1: we're leading the nation and now we're a world leader
Speaker 1: when it comes to women in public company boards. I mean,
Speaker 1: the strongest equal pay laws in the nation, UM, just
Speaker 1: as I think we have incredible um UM laws related
Speaker 1: to sexual harassment and assault, and so I do think
Speaker 1: that we're creating environments where women can thrive. And we're
Speaker 1: also so invested in ensuring that kids get the best
Speaker 1: start in life. So part of my work is also
Speaker 1: around UM children's mental health and ensuring kids get the
Speaker 1: best nutrition and spend time and outdoors in our states
Speaker 1: parks and UM. I'm also cheering the physical fitness and
Speaker 1: mental health counsel and so there's a lot coming out
Speaker 1: of there. Really. Again, I'm just really excited for California
Speaker 1: to be a leader UM in terms of centering women's
Speaker 1: perspectives and experiences and making sure that their families really thrive. Well,
Speaker 1: speaking of children, I have to ask you before you
Speaker 1: go about this absolutely horrific shooting in Yuvaldi, Texas, where
Speaker 1: uh an eighteen year old shooter gunned down fifteen people
Speaker 1: fourteen of them we believe to be elementary school students
Speaker 1: in addition to their teacher. What is what is your
Speaker 1: reaction to this? Uh? I want to cry. Um, it's horrifying.
Speaker 1: I'm a mother of four. UM. We guns are a major, major,
Speaker 1: major problem in our country. Toxic masculinity is a major,
Speaker 1: major major problem in our country. Misinformation is a major
Speaker 1: major problem in our country. Mental health is a major problem.
Speaker 1: But guns and ammunition kill people, and they don't belong
Speaker 1: in the hands of people that UM have extreme beliefs,
Speaker 1: have a lot of hate. UM are are bigots, are racist,
Speaker 1: are sexists, are violent offenders. They don't belong in their hands,
Speaker 1: and semi automagmatic weapons definitely do not belong in their hands.
Speaker 1: So I'm a firm believer in common sense gun laws.
Speaker 1: And again, I think California has been leading the nation,
Speaker 1: and some conservative judges have been challenging us. But I'm
Speaker 1: really proud of what we've done and what the governor
Speaker 1: has done with regards to common sense gun legislation. And
Speaker 1: I my heart goes out to every child and family member,
Speaker 1: UM who has been impacted. Uh, it's horrible, indeed, it is.
Speaker 1: It is absolutely horrifying UM. Jennifer Siebel Newsom, California's first
Speaker 1: partner co founder of the California Partner's Project, thank you
Speaker 1: for sharing your thoughts here with us, and I just
Speaker 1: want to lay out what we know again about this
Speaker 1: shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Fifteen people killed so far, fourteen
Speaker 1: of them children in addition to their teacher. According to
Speaker 1: the Governor of Texas UH, the shooter was an eight
Speaker 1: teen year old person who was shot and killed by police.
Speaker 1: A couple of police were also injured, but they were
Speaker 1: not killed. UM. We're continuing to follow everything that UH
Speaker 1: is happening at this UM, the site of this shooting
Speaker 1: in Uvaldi, Texas, and will continue to bring you more
Speaker 1: details as we have them. This is Bloomberg. We're continuing
Speaker 1: to cover breaking headlines out of the shooting scene in Uvaldi, Texas,
Speaker 1: where fourteen elementary school students have been killed in addition
Speaker 1: to their teacher. The shooting suspect and eighteen year old
Speaker 1: man also killed by police. Again, we'll bring you more
Speaker 1: details as we have them. I do want to move
Speaker 1: on to some of the other stories of the day
Speaker 1: and our crypto rapport. Crypto keeping a low profile In
Speaker 1: midst of this broader market meltdown, Bitcoin falling to a
Speaker 1: daily average below d dollars. Bitcoins moves showcasing a fairly
Speaker 1: strong correlation between cryptocurrencies and other equities, even more so
Speaker 1: uh than between the coin and tech stocks. This is
Speaker 1: institutional investors still spooked by that Tara Luna collapse. Kristin
Speaker 1: Smith from the Blockchain Association Join My colleague Kayley Lines
Speaker 1: earlier in Davos talked about what it all means. I
Speaker 1: think there are two primary issue shoes that get the
Speaker 1: most attention for regulators. The first is having a way
Speaker 1: to regulate the spot markets. Today crypto exchanges in the
Speaker 1: US have money transmitter licenses, which isn't exactly directly related
Speaker 1: to what they do most um. Instead, I think what
Speaker 1: we need to see as a single uniform federal regulator. Uh.
Speaker 1: The other issue is stable coin regulation, and there are
Speaker 1: many different types of stable coins and having disclosures around
Speaker 1: what are in those reserve is. Having audits of those
Speaker 1: and making that information available to consumers would go a
Speaker 1: long way towards preventing something like the Ust collapse. Kristen,
Speaker 1: to what extent do you think that blockchain technology cryptocurrencies
Speaker 1: at large have a reputation problem on Capitol Hill. I'm
Speaker 1: just wondering how much is about perception versus real understanding
Speaker 1: of how these ecosystems work. What is your sense on
Speaker 1: how how great the level of understanding really is among lawmakers.
Speaker 1: You know, we've made a tremendous amount of progress if
Speaker 1: you compare where we're a year ago to where we
Speaker 1: are today. The overall basic level of education and policymakers
Speaker 1: have about this asset class has written quite a bit
Speaker 1: the challenges that this is such a fast moving industry
Speaker 1: that's constantly evolving and constantly changing, that it takes a
Speaker 1: lot of work for these policymakers to keep up. But
Speaker 1: I think what policymakers on Capitol Hill realize is that
Speaker 1: they have constituents in their district that are investing in
Speaker 1: the assets that are building on top of these blockchains,
Speaker 1: and they're very passionate when it comes to public policy
Speaker 1: in this space. And so I think we've caught as
Speaker 1: an industry and as an ecosystem, we've caught the attention
Speaker 1: of Congress, and with the exception of a few outliers,
Speaker 1: most of them are, if not already crypto champions. They
Speaker 1: are crypto curious and they want to learn about this.
Speaker 1: So I think it's incumbent upon us in the industry
Speaker 1: and in the crypto ecosystem to make sure that they
Speaker 1: continue to grow and learn and understand. And that's a
Speaker 1: lot of what we do here at the Blockchain Association.
Speaker 1: Christ And Smiths of the Blockchain Association there with my
Speaker 1: colleague Kaylee Lines, will have much more on Bloomberg technology next. UM,
Speaker 1: I do want to move on to Amazon Web Services.
Speaker 1: There's an AWS summit underway now in Washington, d C.
Speaker 1: Taking a deep dive into how public sector organizations are
Speaker 1: using and can use the cloud to innovate and enhance
Speaker 1: their digital transformations. Here to talk about that and more.
Speaker 1: AWS Vice President of Worldwide Public Sector Max Peter Sin
Speaker 1: Max give us a status check or a report card
Speaker 1: of sorts on how companies are managing this digital transformation,
Speaker 1: especially as we come out of the pandemic. That's a
Speaker 1: great question. Thanks Emily. We've had over seventeen thousand people
Speaker 1: registered to attend the Public Sector Summit here in Washington,
Speaker 1: d C. To understand exactly that question and a couple
Speaker 1: of significant ways that people are transforming. UM public sector
Speaker 1: business is in terms of speed. Let me give you
Speaker 1: one quick example. At the in the uh University of
Speaker 1: British Columbium, they were working to solve the COVID pandemic
Speaker 1: problems that we've all had. They had to turn to
Speaker 1: AWS to be able to provide some immense computing power,
Speaker 1: and what they were able to do was take six
Speaker 1: million public records about health information, put him into AWS
Speaker 1: where they were able to take these records and take
Speaker 1: what would have been a lengthy process, compress it to
Speaker 1: eleven days, and be able to identify set the new
Speaker 1: coronavirus variants. That's the sort of power that AWS gives
Speaker 1: researchers to understand and solve big problems. You're also announcing
Speaker 1: a new healthcare Accelerator that will look at specific healthcare startups.
Speaker 1: What are the goals for AWS when it comes to
Speaker 1: the healthcare sector specifically, Yeah, that's a great question. The
Speaker 1: Healthcare Accelerator is really designed to help small businesses who
Speaker 1: are really innovative get a four week intensive on AWS.
Speaker 1: We give them cloud credits, we give them technical assistance,
Speaker 1: We connect them with others in the healthcare industry, all
Speaker 1: to create new solutions. We find that these startup accelerators
Speaker 1: are the things that really generate tremendous new opportunities and
Speaker 1: solve really big problems in very innovative ways. We're excited
Speaker 1: to announce it here. This accelerator is focused on health
Speaker 1: equity in particular, and it's open for applications for now
Speaker 1: until July one. So, you know, I'm so curious for
Speaker 1: your thoughts on the labor market and how it's shifting now,
Speaker 1: especially as so many companies are now competing for talent
Speaker 1: and companies in the clouds specifically. Are what are the
Speaker 1: interesting trends that you're seeing. Yes, well, I would start
Speaker 1: off by saying that there is a well recognized shortage
Speaker 1: and tech skills, and it's one of the reasons why
Speaker 1: Amazon took action back in to announce our program to
Speaker 1: skill up twenty nine million people with three cloud skills.
Speaker 1: Of course, as a result of the pandemic, there was
Speaker 1: a temporary increase in the difficulty of obtaining and retaining focus.
Speaker 1: But as we've come out of the pandemic, we're starting
Speaker 1: to see these return to more normal circumstances. But I
Speaker 1: think the key for all of us is to focus
Speaker 1: on continued skilling, whether it is UH early age like
Speaker 1: our get I T program which targets UH fourteen year olds,
Speaker 1: largely targets women to be able to get them into
Speaker 1: tech skills, whether it's at the university level than at
Speaker 1: a WS academy, or whether it's with states that worked
Speaker 1: upon workforce training programs. Okay, Max Peterson AWS, Max, thank
Speaker 1: you for your views across all of that. This is
Speaker 1: Bloomberg