WEBVTT - Amazon Insiders Weigh in on CEO Jeff Bezos Stepping Down 0:00:01.400 --> 0:00:04.120 Welcome to the Bloomberg Markets Podcast. I'm Paul Sweeney, along 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:06.240 with my co host of Bonnie Quinn. Every business day 0:00:06.240 --> 0:00:10.360 we bring you interviews from CEOs, market pros, and Bloomberg experts, 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:13.600 along with essential market moving news. Kind the Bloomberg Markets 0:00:13.600 --> 0:00:17.000 Podcast on Apple podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts, 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:21.680 and on Bloomberg dot com. It is time to talk Amazon. 0:00:21.880 --> 0:00:25.959 It's the story of yesterday evening, today and for what 0:00:26.000 --> 0:00:28.840 will be the foreseeable future, at least in big tech. 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:31.560 Let's bring in somebody who knows a lot about the company. 0:00:31.600 --> 0:00:35.080 He was an early investor. Matt mclwaine is Group managing 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:40.960 director at Madrona Ventures. Matt, your reaction to Bezos's I 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:42.720 don't really want to call a departure. He's still going 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:47.080 to be executive chairman. What exactly will you be doing? Well? 0:00:47.120 --> 0:00:50.120 I think you'll get to keep being a pioneer and 0:00:50.120 --> 0:00:53.760 and thinking about the next major areas where you know 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:57.680 Amazon can find opportunity. Um. I mean I was surprised 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:00.520 that he's handing over the CEO job because I think 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:02.840 he got to do a lot of that pioneering and 0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:06.560 envisioning in the role today. But On the other hand, 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:10.800 I am highly confident that Andy Jassie, who's going to 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:13.960 be taking over as CEO, will do an incredible job 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:16.800 in that role. He is absolutely the most logical choice 0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:19.880 for all kinds of reasons. And man, any uh, anything 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:22.400 we should take away as it relates to timing. Why Now, 0:01:26.319 --> 0:01:29.319 you know, they really did have an exceptionally good year 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:35.400 in really tough circumstances, and Jeff leaned into the business 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:38.960 and helped them innovate, not only on uh you know, 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:41.200 how are we going to scale up to to support 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:44.039 all of this increased demand? And I think they spent 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:48.440 over ten billion dollars on COVID related you know, testing 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:51.400 and processes and protocols so that they could keep their 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:54.360 employees healthy while they're continuing to serve their customers. So 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:56.520 that must have been an exhausting year. I know how 0:01:56.520 --> 0:01:58.920 exhausting it's been for all the startups we work with, 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:02.080 and it mobi Jeff just said, look, you know, there's 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:04.320 there's certain aspects of that role that I think another 0:02:04.360 --> 0:02:08.280 person and and somebody like Andy, who was of course 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:10.880 Jeff's you know, technical adviser, think of that. It's kind 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:13.600 of like his chief of staff twenty years ago, early 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:16.680 in his tenure at Amazon, and then you know, Andy, 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:20.520 through that process, you know, helped identify and transform how 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:22.880 Amazon was going to scale of the business through you know, 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:26.040 kind of cloud based infrastructure. And then he went up 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:28.480 and started you know, Amazon Web Services. You know, I 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:33.240 remember hosting with Andy fourteen years ago, uh an event 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:36.520 at a warehouse in Seattle for startups and I got 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:39.200 up to make fond adventure capitalist and Andy got up 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:41.480 and said, hey, we've got this new service. It's called 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:44.079 you know, compute as a service and storage as a service. 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:47.240 We're calling it Amazon Web Services, and new startups might 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:49.880 want to give it a try. Fourteen years later, that 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:54.600 as a fifty billion in revenue business growing at almost 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:59.560 it's very hold and catch fire. So Amazon stock unchanged today, 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:03.040 and obviously people are quite fine with this change. But 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:05.760 I wonder, you know, what what does it mean for 0:03:05.800 --> 0:03:08.639 the future of Jeff Bezos. Does he want to concentrate, 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:12.240 for example, on Blue Origin is space company, and it's 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:15.880 maybe his philanthropic work. I mean, we know he does 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:19.080 philanthropic work. We're not quite sure where or was. But 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:21.160 he also of course owns the Washington Post or while 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:25.919 start at something new, do you think, Yeah, you know, 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:29.960 Jeff is fabulously curious, and so I wouldn't put it 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:32.519 passed him to start something new. But he has been 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:37.280 investing in several areas outside of Amazon. You know, you 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:40.680 mentioned Blue Origin. You know, it's probably less well known. 0:03:41.400 --> 0:03:44.960 I think stylistically, Jeff and Andy and the Amazon folks 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:47.160 tend to kind of just go do things and make 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:49.119 a difference. You know. In Jeff's case, you know, there's 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:52.240 the Bezos. You know, you know therapy clinic at the 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:54.440 Fred hutch Cancer Research Center that I've been on the 0:03:54.480 --> 0:03:57.120 border for many years, and so there's a passion there 0:03:57.160 --> 0:04:00.560 around helping with the leading edgeways to to treat and 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:03.560 cure cancers. You know. You know, for that matter, Andy, 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:07.320 Jeff has been incredibly involved in education and educational opportunities 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:11.000 through organizations like Nier Scholars in Near Prep, where he 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:13.520 serves on the board and that donates his time. So 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:16.000 I think of the nonprofit world. They both share a 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:18.600 lot of passion around climate change, and you know, they 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:22.159 were very involved together in you know this the new 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:25.320 arena that our new hockey team that Andy's one of 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:28.640 the owners of is the kind of Climate Pledge arena, 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:32.000 so I think in the environmental areas and the commitment 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:35.000 by Amazon to be carbon neutral uh by some time, 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:37.960 and then theties I can't remember exactly the year, you know, 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:40.320 those are kinds of things that I think Jeff will 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:43.640 continue to be engaged with and involved with. And then 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:45.520 you know, to your point, you know, will he find 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:48.960 some other area. I think this whole broader area of healthcare, 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:51.800 with all that's happened with COVID this past year, I 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:54.560 think it's really caught the attention of Amazon and how 0:04:54.600 --> 0:04:57.000 they can take some of their you know, start with 0:04:57.040 --> 0:05:01.600 the customer, iterate, you know, learn and then scale up 0:05:01.680 --> 0:05:04.159 kind of approach and apply it to uh, to the 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:07.400 health care world. Matt, what do you think of philanthropy 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:10.279 real quick? Here? Jeff has been um, I guess criticized 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:13.440 by some by not being perhaps as aggressive as some 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:17.599 of his peers. Uh. You know, I think that there's 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:20.599 always gonna be you know, folks that that that could 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:24.920 keep you know, kind of high profile you know, uh, individuals. Uh. 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:27.679 You know, I think there's so much generosity of both 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:31.320 time and resources, and the senior folks at Amazon that 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:33.640 I've come to know over the last you know, twenty 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:37.000 plus years. UM, and I think that Jeff is amongst those. 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:38.880 And you know, you know, he's got a lot of 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:42.280 passion for education as well. UM. You know that's an 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:44.359 area with uh, you know, you know, some of the 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:47.320 foundation priorities that he has set up that I think 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:49.800 he'll probably be able to have more bandwidth to to 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:53.640 to do additional things in UM. But you know, you know, 0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:56.040 these are folks that are you know, deeply, I mean, 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:57.919 you know, it's interesting. Jeff and I went to rival 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:01.040 public high schools in Miami and we both you know, 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:04.000 did not come from you know, a lot and had 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:07.120 to work really hard. And I can completely empathize with, 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:09.560 you know, his desire and passion. I share it for 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:13.000 giving every person the educational opportunity that they deserve to have. Well, 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:15.200 we're looking forward to seeing all of that. And just 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:18.040 very quickly, did you get out of your Amazon position? 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:22.240 You still in? Oh? Well, we we were early investors 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:25.640 in Amazon, and so you know, from a Madrona perspective, 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:28.080 you know, we haven't been investors in Amazon. As a 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:30.599 venture capital firm, what we do do is invest in 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:33.599 a lot of companies that build on top of things 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:37.520 like Amazon's cloud business or work with the Amazon Alexa 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:40.960 and Echo platform. And so it's been very instructive over 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:43.760 the years to have those close relationships and think together 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:46.200 about how do you build out an ecosystem around some 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:49.360 of the successful investments that Amazon's made in different areas, 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:51.279 Like that story I told you back from two thousand 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:52.840 and seven. Well, Matt, we would love to hear more 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:55.039 about that very very soon, and thank you for joining 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:58.600 us today. One of Amazon's early investors, early early investors 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:03.200 want Michael Wayne, group lunging director at Madrona Ventures, and 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:04.680 so now we want to bring in somebody with a 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:07.559 little bit of a different perspective. He wrote the book 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:12.280 Working Backwards Insides, Stories and Secrets from Inside Amazon. He 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:15.440 was a former Amazon VP. His name is Colin Ryer, 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:18.160 and he joins us now. So Colin excited to hear 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:20.560 some of the secrets from inside Amazon. Haven't had a 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:23.320 chance to read your book, very definitely will now. But 0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:26.240 it tell us something about Jeff Bezos that we may 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:31.680 not know well. So I worked with at Amazon started 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:34.960 and I worked for two years as Jeff Bezes as 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:38.640 chief as staff right after Andy Jossy left that role. 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:41.960 And moved on to to start web services. And at 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:45.080 that time it was a pivotal time for Amazon. We 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:50.680 were creating and launching Amazon Web Services, the kindle fulfillment 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:53.560 by Amazon, know, things that would eventually go to be 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:56.920 very very large businesses at Amazon. But one of the 0:07:57.000 --> 0:08:00.440 things that isn't really talked about too much side of 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:03.800 the company is Jeff and Andy and the management team 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:06.480 spent a whole lot of time figuring out how to 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:10.440 build and enduring company and create really created a set 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:15.160 of principles along with some scalable, repeatable processes on how 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:19.200 small groups and large groups can build and operate, uh, 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:23.320 and create new businesses that are really customer obsessed, long 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:26.240 term thinking, uh, you know, have a spirit for invention 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:30.120 and then really take pride on operational excellence. And that's 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:33.599 what we what we call the Invention Machine. And and 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:36.320 it's a set of its leadership principles in a set 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:39.720 of scalable processes. And I think that's going to be 0:08:39.760 --> 0:08:43.720 one of Jeff's and Amazon's enduring legacies that will last 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:47.000 after you know, well, some day we're gonna look at 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:49.640 these hockey pucks and cylinders we have in our kitchen 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:52.800 and and and think that, Hey, can you believe we 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:55.400 thought two day and one day delivery was a premium 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:59.240 express experience. You know, the customer experience is going to 0:08:59.320 --> 0:09:01.520 evolve over time, and I'm excited to see how that 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:04.040 happens and what Amazon is going to do. But an 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:08.240 enduring legacy for Amazon that they've given everyone at Amazon, 0:09:08.280 --> 0:09:09.960 and also what we talked about in the book for 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:12.720 that other organizations can use is how to build these 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:15.480 types of companies. And it's a new way of building 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:19.400 and operating and management science, if you will. Colin talked 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:24.840 us about the culture, the work culture within Amazon. There's 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:27.640 been lots of stories writing about how it's so demanding, 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:30.360 it's perform or get out. Talk to us about the 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:34.720 culture that Jeff Bezos created at Amazon dot com. So 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:37.560 if you had to encapsulate, well, what the culture is, 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:40.040 you know, and Jeff has described it this way, he 0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:44.320 would say customer obsession instead of competitor obsession. M a 0:09:44.360 --> 0:09:47.480 willingness to think long term and being misunderstood for long 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:51.080 periods of time, and just an eagerness to invent. And 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:54.040 part of that is also you have to um if 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:56.040 you're going to invent an experiment, you have to have 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:59.320 some processes in place on how you fail and how 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:01.880 you can learn from failures and move forward. And then 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:04.880 the last thing is really taking pride in operational excellence. 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:07.319 And you know, most of the work that a lot 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:10.360 of these teams do don't see the light of day, 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:13.520 but even outside of your team. But you have to 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:16.120 get the little details right. And you know, one of 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:20.640 Amazon's leadership principles is and it's just on the highest standards. Um. 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:23.040 You know, if you go and work at Amazon, you 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:25.040 need to bring your a game every day. You have 0:10:25.080 --> 0:10:28.040 to hold yourself first and foremost account vote to those 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:31.280 high standards, and then those around you and those around 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:33.440 you will do the same to you. So it's a 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:38.440 culture that I personally liked it. You made me want 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:40.920 to be a better person and work with teams and 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:45.000 produce something that sometimes we didn't even think were possible. Um, 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:48.160 it's not for everyone, you know, they're luckily there are 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:51.400 many different company and corporate cultures. But you know the 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:56.040 one Amazon has is is really customer obsessed. And I 0:10:56.040 --> 0:10:58.520 mean even with them Amazon, I presume Colin you're talking 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:01.000 about the Whier color job. I mean, we know, you 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:04.880 know stories coming out constantly. For example, just a couple 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:07.720 of months ago, we wrote a story about how four 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:11.400 thousand employees are on food stamps in nine states. We 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:14.920 also know that Alabama is trying to unionize and Amazon 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:17.960 is ratcheting up anti union pressure on a worker is there. 0:11:18.200 --> 0:11:20.680 Do you think that Jesse will be a better boss 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:26.679 to those employees? You know, I think Amazon now has 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:31.120 one point three million employees, give or take UM. The 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:34.920 vast majority of those do work in UH fulfillment centers 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:39.240 and the logistics armament, and so it is a key 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:43.360 component of Amazon success. And I do think that Andy 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:47.120 is going to continue to focus on creating a safe environment, 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:51.320 leaving the charge in some respects about career choice or 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:55.679 military veterans coming back to Amazon, UM and UH, you know, 0:11:56.240 --> 0:12:00.120 with fifteen an hour minimum waves stepping up before or 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:02.520 other a lot of other companies have. I think you'll 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:05.040 see some of that continue that have e been said. 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:08.880 Amazon does occupy a different place in society than it 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:12.720 did five or even ten years ago, and UM, it 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:17.160 can and should be scrutinized the company practices just because 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:20.720 of the impact that has in society, and UM, you know, 0:12:20.800 --> 0:12:25.079 be part of the scital dialogue on how a company 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:31.240 that large interacts with its employees and business partners. So, Colin, 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:36.520 would you expect Andy Jesse to do, uh anything different? 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:40.200 Do you expect him to maybe pivot the company in 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:46.800 any way? New products, new services, new verticals. I think 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:50.439 that there will be some surprises along the way inventions. 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:54.240 But in terms of you know, how Jeff and Andy are, 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:58.680 I think they have many more similarities than than than differences. Um. 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:01.960 You know, Andy does have an inventive spirit. He created 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:05.600 Amazon Web Services that went from zero to ten billion 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:09.040 dollars faster than Amazon dot Com itself did, and you 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:11.280 know it's now about a fifty billion dollar business. So 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:15.239 and he's got experience working both with small teams creating 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:18.240 you know, taking ideas and creating them from scratch and 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:22.440 making them uh very viable products and services for customers, 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:27.600 as well as managing large, multi billion dollar businesses. So um, 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:30.640 I think, um, you know, in terms of what will 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:32.760 happen in in your term, it's going to be more 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:35.200 of the same. And part of that is just simply 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:38.000 because of Amazon scale. A lot of the seeds that 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:42.000 uh we're planted, you know, they take years to develop 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:43.959 and you know to reach the scale that it will 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:46.480 be noticed outside of Amazon. So the things that we'll 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:49.000 see over the next twelve or eighteen months likely will 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:53.360 have started before. You know, Andy took the CEO roll. 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:57.280 But I would expect how Amazon operates, it's gonna be 0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:00.880 not changed too much. But Amazon will surprise us with 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:04.000 new products and features as they always have. Yeah, that's 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:06.400 certainly the case. Colin Brier, thank you so much for 0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:09.880 joining us. We really appreciate your insight. Colin Brier, former 0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:14.880 Amazon Vice president and author of Working Backwards, Insights, Stories 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:17.960 and Secrets from Inside Amazon, is also co founder of 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:24.640 Working Backwards LLC, based in Seattle, Washington, Well. New York 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:28.120 State has an aggressive commitment to source sevent of its 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:31.960 energy from renewable sources by next guest is part of 0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:35.120 the effort to achieve that goal. Clint Plumber, he's CEO 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:37.560 of Rise Light and Power to Holy own affiliate of 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:40.160 LS Power based in New York City. Clint, thanks so 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:42.320 much for joining us here. This is a fascinating story. 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:45.160 I look you start by just saying having you describe 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:48.160 what Rise Light and Power rate is and how you're 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:52.000 part of this renewable effort with the State. Hey, thanks 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:54.400 so much for having to y on Um. We are 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:57.840 the largest power generating station in New York City. We 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:02.200 have about of all the generating capacity in New York City, 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:04.760 and over the course of the last several years, we've 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:08.640 been making aggressive investments in retooling our facility to help 0:15:08.640 --> 0:15:12.280 achieve the state's goal of transitioning to clean energy by 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:15.920 So can't explain what that means to those of us 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:20.200 who should know more about this area but don't. New 0:15:20.280 --> 0:15:23.240 York City uses a great deal of power, and that 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:26.720 means it's very important that we're able to transition that 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:31.280 from its conventional mix of mostly fossil fuels to cleaner 0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:35.440 sources like wind and solar. Our site is a gateway 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:39.720 for bringing capacity into New York City. So we've been 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:42.200 making investments over the last several years in building out 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:44.840 battery storage on our site so we can store energy 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:47.960 that's produced at night that's cleaner and cheaper, and deliver 0:15:48.040 --> 0:15:51.720 it during the daytime. We've also been developing a series 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:54.960 of new transmission facilities that will allow us to connect 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:57.200 New York City to other points in the grid, like 0:15:57.320 --> 0:16:00.400 upstate New York, where power is cheaper, where power is cleaner, 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:03.200 and in so doing, we're able to reduce the cost 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:05.360 of energy in New York City, and we're able to 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:08.440 improve the air quality around our plant and others. Clint 0:16:08.440 --> 0:16:11.400 tell us about the Tax Skills Renewable Connector. That sounds 0:16:11.400 --> 0:16:15.200 interesting to me. Yeah, that's the project I was referring to. Pull. 0:16:15.400 --> 0:16:20.000 It's a um it's a big buried transmission line. It 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:22.840 will start at our site in Queens on the East 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:25.720 River and traverse the East River, the Harlem River, and 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:28.160 the Hudson River to a point that about a hundred 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:30.520 and twenty miles north of New York City, just south 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:33.480 of Albany. It will connect to the bulk transmission system 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:38.040 there that gives us access to abundant wind and solar 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:42.360 energy resources across Upstate New York, both existing and new. 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:46.280 There's a tremendous amount of potential to build new wind 0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:49.840 and solar across upstate New York, but those projects are 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:52.120 shut in because they don't have access to the same 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:55.440 type of customers that are in New York City. So 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:57.760 we see this project is one that will give New 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:01.800 York City energy users access to clean, cost effective renewable 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:05.080 energy made right here in New York State, and it 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:08.960 will help spur economic development, job creation, and new tax 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:12.280 base for communities across upstate New York that will build 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:16.600 and host those facilities to deliver power down state. Now, 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:20.720 as CEO Rise Light and Power, your CEO of an 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:25.520 energy asset manager and developer. It's wholly owned by l 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:28.119 S Power. But I'm curious as to where you get 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:30.199 your funding in general for all of these projects, and 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:33.760 whether it's all state funding and what a new administration 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:36.879 might mean given how focused you are on clean energy 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:40.920 and renewable energy. Yeah, absolutely so. LS Power is a 0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:43.960 privately held company that manages about ten billion dollars in 0:17:44.000 --> 0:17:48.280 private equity funding. Um So, we're very well capitalized. As 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:51.440 you also mentioned, we own and operate the largest generating 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:53.840 station in New York City, so we have a steady 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:58.000 stream of cash flow to fund these development activities. Um So, 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:02.520 all of our investments are privately funded. Um We do 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:07.080 see the new federal administration taking aggressive actions in support 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:11.720 of new clean energy, both onshore and importantly offshore. I 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:14.879 spent thirteen years in the offshore wind business before coming 0:18:14.880 --> 0:18:17.359 to this job. I'm very proud to be part of 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:19.720 the team that developed and built the first offshore wind 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:23.080 farm in the United States. We see the Biden administration 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:26.720 making aggressive moves to help grow the offshore wind sector. 0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:32.679 As a coastal metropolis, New York City is prime to 0:18:33.119 --> 0:18:37.120 take advantage of the abundant offshore wind energy resources near 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:39.639 our city and so at Rise Light and Power. In 0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:43.040 addition to the cat Skills project, we're also working on 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:46.520 a number of initiatives to help bring clean, cost effective 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:50.720 offshore wind energy into our site as well. So, Clint, 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:52.359 just give us a sense of how New York State 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:55.960 is relative to some other states in terms of renewable energy. 0:18:56.000 --> 0:18:57.720 If I drive up state the next or the next 0:18:57.720 --> 0:18:59.480 time I drive up state, should I be on the 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:04.280 lookout for wind farms solar farms. Yeah. New York has 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:07.680 a long history of being out on the forefront of 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:11.919 thinking about UH clean energy technologies. In fact, it really 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:15.719 is a story of two different grids. The upstate power 0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:18.960 grid in New York is very very clean and very 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:22.600 very cost effective because going back a hundred years, we've 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:26.040 been building hydropower and in addition to that, we now 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:29.320 over the last decade or so, we've been very aggressive 0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:31.800 in building out wind and solar facility. So it's a 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:34.640 very clean grid, it's very cost effective grid. The challenges 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:37.439 when you get to a densely populated urban area like 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:41.480 New York City, it's difficult and expensive to build large 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:44.920 scale renewable energy in a place like this, and the 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:47.439 unique geography of New York and that we've got this 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:51.280 pinch point coming down the Hudson River Valley, it's very 0:19:51.280 --> 0:19:55.720 difficult to build transmission lines there. So New York has 0:19:56.160 --> 0:19:59.960 very aggressive policies that are progressive and that are move 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:02.560 bing us in the right direction. It's simply a meet 0:20:02.720 --> 0:20:07.600 a a challenge of the bottlenecking our ability to access 0:20:07.840 --> 0:20:10.480 that was cleaning a bunch of resources upstate and at 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:13.600 the same time getting access to the clean resources that 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:16.560 are offshore. Our focus at Rise Light and Power is 0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:20.960 being a hub for bringing in both offshore and onshore 0:20:21.280 --> 0:20:24.320 renewables and breaking through that log jam to get it 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:26.760 in New York City. You know, we can talk old 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:29.800 day and it gets more interesting the deeper we get 0:20:29.840 --> 0:20:32.520 into subjects like this. And we appreciate your time, so 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:36.159 do come back soon please. Clint Plummer is CEO of 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:40.320 Rise Light and Power and uh, I don't know about you. Poll, 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:43.320 but I'm probably certainly getting some of my power from them. Yeah, 0:20:43.480 --> 0:20:44.800 you know, I just you know, I'm one of those 0:20:44.800 --> 0:20:47.000 that just flips the switch and just expects it to work, 0:20:47.000 --> 0:20:48.960 and I don't only think about where it comes from. 0:20:48.960 --> 0:20:51.439 But Clint was just you know, explaining the economics of 0:20:51.480 --> 0:20:53.919 upstate versus downstate. This is a project that makes a 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:58.880 lot of sense to me, at least, absolutely a lot 0:20:58.920 --> 0:21:01.200 to talk to our next guests about. Let's just get 0:21:01.240 --> 0:21:03.920 straight to David Garrity, chief market strategist for a laid 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:07.560 Law and Company and partner at bt Block, huge expertise 0:21:07.800 --> 0:21:11.600 in tech, really across the spectrum of tech. So we 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:14.800 want to talk about Bezos moving to executive chairman in 0:21:14.840 --> 0:21:17.119 a few moments, but I have to start with the 0:21:17.119 --> 0:21:22.320 game stop saga and basically the Reddit swarm. David, you 0:21:22.320 --> 0:21:24.400 know what's going to happen next? Who are the heroes 0:21:24.440 --> 0:21:27.360 the redditors are going to anoint? Obviously they've annointed Mark 0:21:27.359 --> 0:21:30.439 Cuban to Mouth and a few others, people who clearly 0:21:30.440 --> 0:21:36.560 have everyone's best interest at heart. So who who's next? Um, clearly, 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:40.520 looking at the Reddit mom I mean, certainly champions have 0:21:40.600 --> 0:21:43.399 come forward, Arguably Mark Cuban has always been something of 0:21:43.400 --> 0:21:47.199 a controversial figure, has always been out there representing himself 0:21:47.240 --> 0:21:51.359 as working for the little investor. UM. But nevertheless himself 0:21:51.400 --> 0:21:56.119 has made a fabulous amount of money being a billionaire. UM. 0:21:56.160 --> 0:21:59.359 But I would argue that the Reddit mom itself is 0:21:59.440 --> 0:22:01.760 going to have to be schooled. We're looking at the 0:22:02.280 --> 0:22:06.880 upcoming testimony before Congress I think in February nineteen with 0:22:06.920 --> 0:22:11.920 respect to robin Hood's CEO U. There are questions clearly 0:22:12.240 --> 0:22:15.480 with respect to how social media is being used to 0:22:15.560 --> 0:22:19.920 disseminate investment advice. UM. You know, from the standpoint that 0:22:21.080 --> 0:22:23.880