WEBVTT - Meta Platforms Banned & Serena Williams' Venture Fund 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:06.760 From the heart of where Innovation, money and power COLLI 0:00:07.600 --> 0:00:12.120 in Silicon Valley and beyond. This is Bloomberg Technology with 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:28.440 Emily Jay. I'm Emily Chack in San Francisco, and this 0:00:28.480 --> 0:00:31.360 is Bloomberg Technology coming up in the next hour. Facebook 0:00:31.400 --> 0:00:35.680 and Instagram officially banned in Russia. A Russian prosecutor calling 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:42.240 the meta platforms extremist organizations. The war on disinformation about 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:46.840 a war plus discontent at Disney a planned walk out 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:49.919 Tuesday over what some call Florida's Don't Say Gay Bill 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:53.040 is causing some to question the future of Disney CEO 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:57.120 Bob J. Peck and what Serena Williams takes from the 0:00:57.160 --> 0:01:01.000 court to investing the Tennis Are joins us to talk 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:04.040 about her first venture fund and talks about everything from 0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:07.520 Tom Brady to her own thoughts about retirement and what 0:01:07.560 --> 0:01:12.639 the Serena Slam of business might be. Russia is ramping 0:01:12.720 --> 0:01:16.120 up its ban on information of court, banning both Facebook 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:20.959 and Instagram. The metal platforms now officially blocked across the country. 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:24.880 This is the first time Russia's sweeping extremism law has 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:27.200 been used against a foreign tech company, joining me now 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:30.080 bluem Works. Kurt Wagner, as well as David Kirkpatrick, founder 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:32.800 and editor in chief of Teconomy. Kurt, I want to 0:01:32.840 --> 0:01:35.440 start with you here, Facebook and Instagram, we're already banned 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:38.920 in Russia. How is this different? Yeah, as you pointed out, 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:41.559 they were blocked, Um, I believe Instagram was just last 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:43.520 week and Facebook has been a couple of weeks now. 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:46.320 And and what this does, is my understanding, is that 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:50.040 makes it actually um an issue. It's a crime if 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:51.760 you are working for one of these companies, If you 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:54.760 were supporting one of these companies, you'd be considered supporting, 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:58.240 you know, extremist behavior or an extremist corporation. And so 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:01.000 I think it's clear if you're an employee that would 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:03.000 be a problem. Facebook says that they don't have employees 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:06.200 in Russia right now. UM. But I think that raises 0:02:06.200 --> 0:02:08.600 some questions around what happens if you're an advertiser on 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:11.000 one of these platforms, what happens if you're a an 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:13.320 investor who owned stock in one of these platforms? Is 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:17.160 that considered a financial support of of a meta um 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:20.080 in this case? And I think that's somewhat confusing still, 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:22.840 but ultimately, you know, it just makes these um the 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:25.880 band much more official than just a simple block. A 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:28.680 lot of interesting questions there, David, curious for your take 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:32.000 on this. It seems to be a rather rare example 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:37.639 of Facebook coming off looking like a good guy. It's true. Uh, 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:39.960 I think this is the first time I've been on 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:42.920 your show in a long time where fundamentally I have 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:47.200 to say Facebook is the good guy. Facebook was providing 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:51.000 genuine information in Russia. Yes it was banned, but this 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:55.320 new legal ruling is turning the screws even tighter. Although 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:57.600 we have to be aware, in Russia there really is 0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:00.800 no legal systems of the type that we know. The 0:03:00.880 --> 0:03:04.079 courts are simply a rubber stamp for whatever the government decides. 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:08.359 So yes, it's true that advertisers or even users or 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:11.840 Facebook could be in jeopardy, but given the nature of 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:14.680 the way Russia works, if the country, if the government 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:17.320 wanted to come down on those people, it could do 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:21.600 so for whatever reason it chose. But Facebook, look, the 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:23.480 best thing that could happen to them right now would 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:26.480 be another AIRBS ring, which would basically show the world 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:28.480 that they actually can be used for good things. Because 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:32.760 they're in the doghouse for all kinds of reasons. Otherwise, Karl, 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:35.720 what are the chances this could lead to criminal charges 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:40.760 against Facebook and Instagram employees? I think that's the idea. 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:43.520 I believe that if you are, you know, an employees 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:47.080 working at the company, um, you could then be accused of, 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:52.400 you know, aiding this extremist considered extremist activity right um. 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:55.640 Now again, I talked to someone on Facebook earlier this morning. 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:57.920 I was told that they don't have employees in the 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:00.360 country right now. But it does raise some questions around 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:05.080 perhaps Russian nationals who work for Meta or Facebook um 0:04:05.200 --> 0:04:08.240 in other countries right if they're seen to be working 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:10.800 for Meta, maybe they don't live in Russian now, can they? 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:12.880 Can they return to Russia at some point? Maybe they 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:15.520 have family there? What happens there? So it's definitely a 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:20.360 complicated issue, um that is creating, you know, some questions 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:24.560 at Meta today. So far, what's up met which is 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:28.000 another meta platform, doesn't appear to be blocked, and it 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:31.479 doesn't appear that that Twitter and YouTube have fallen under 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:35.800 this this law either. David, what do you make of that? Well, 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:38.480 I would probably say it's just a matter of time 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:44.039 probably in all three cases. Uh, certainly What'sapp has virtue 0:04:44.080 --> 0:04:47.760 of being invisible to the authorities because it's entirely encrypted, 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:52.320 so they can't really see what's happening inside it. Um 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:54.600 But I wouldn't be at all surprised if it were 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:59.760 later decided that What'sapp constituted a threat. All they have 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:02.960 to do was see evidence that it's causing problems for them. 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:06.000 Like I said before, the government of Russia can act 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:09.520 by FIAT on anything they want any time. And in 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:13.040 terms of YouTube in particular, there's been a lot of 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:17.839 speculation today that YouTube might be very shortly to experience 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:21.760 something very similar to what Facebook and Instagram I've seen Twitter. 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:27.080 You know, obviously Twitter would be a very logical candidate 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:30.120 for shutdown as well. Karl, what do you make of 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:33.880 the fact that Russia hasn't appeared to take official action 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:38.000 on these other platforms yet. I would agree with David. 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:40.920 I feel like this is just probably a matter of time. 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:44.239 But I think the fact that Meta has been so 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:49.120 kind of aggressive in policing and cutting off state backed 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:52.800 media from Russia. You remember, Emily last week they had 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:55.279 this kind of change in policy where if you're in 0:05:55.400 --> 0:05:58.240 Ukraine you can actually post things kind of wishing violence 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:02.279 upon invading Russia forces. I think that alone, that policy, 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:05.000 that kind of loophole where they said, hey, normally this 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:06.839 would be against the rules, but if you're in Ukraine 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:11.320 you can do this. Um. I think that really angered uh, 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:13.800 you know, authorities in Russia, and they pointed to that 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:15.960 as being a real issue that they seem to be 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:17.960 taking a firmer stance on Meta than they are in 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:22.240 these other companies. David. Obviously, the bigger question here is 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:25.000 what does Russia's Internet start to look like over the 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:28.080 long term? Does is this the beginning of a digital 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:32.159 iron curtain that will remain down for years? Will there 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:36.119 be a totally separate Russian Internet as we have seen 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:43.160 in China. Well, actually the answer to that is unequivocally yes. Um, 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:47.080 there is a digital iron curtain that has been slowly dropping. Anyway, 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:50.360 I think what could result would be even worse than 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:53.720 the kind of system that the China has, because at 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:57.760 least China is a digitally savvy country at the national level. UM. 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:02.320 Russia actually had been re searching in recent years the 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:06.640 possibility of changing the way that you are l's actually 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:10.840 work so that you wouldn't necessarily be able to type 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:12.840 in the same thing. You could type in here and 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:15.600 have it go to the same place. That would really 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:18.119 be the ultimate example of a different sort of Internet, 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:20.280 because even in China, the U r L is all 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:25.040 work the same way. But that is where Russia is headed. 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:29.000 You can't completely shut down information and still have an 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:32.280 Internet as we know, and they are shutting down all 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:35.480 information flow to their people. Kurent What are the business 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:38.680 implications of this? Obviously, China is such a massive market. 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:42.960 Russia is a much smaller market, but certainly still an 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:47.440 important one. Yeah, I believe the CFO of Meta, Dave Wayner, 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:50.800 said last week at a conference that the total business 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:54.960 in Russia between you know, advertisers in the country but 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:57.120 then also advertising out of the country trying to reach 0:07:57.200 --> 0:08:00.560 people within Russia was something about one point five percent 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:04.520 of Facebook's total advertising revenue. Now, that's a lot of money, 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:07.800 but it's not a massive amount of money. And I 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:09.840 wrote in our newsletter last week that I don't know 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:13.440 if Meta has the financial incentives to try and you know, 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:17.960 bend over backwards to get back into Russia, right whereas uh, 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:19.960 you know, they might be willing to make concessions in 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:21.960 other parts of the world. I just don't think they're business. 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:24.680 Their business is big enough there for them to sacrifice 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:26.080 a lot of the stuff that they've been willing to 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:27.840 do up till now, and so that's one of the 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:30.520 reasons I again agree with David. I'm not sure if 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:33.040 if this might be the beginning of a totally different 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:37.520 version of the Internet for Russian citizens moving forward. Certainly 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:41.240 a fascinating and evolving situation. Kurt Wagner for Bloomberg to 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:54.360 Economies David Kirkpatrick, thank you both. Tuesday, Disney employees planned 0:08:54.400 --> 0:08:57.480 to put their discontent on full display, planning to walk 0:08:57.480 --> 0:09:01.000 out in protest of Florida's Don't Say Gay Bill, or 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:04.240 so It's called, which Governor Ron De Santis hasn't signed 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:08.800 yet but is expected to. This bill essentially bands schools 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:13.080 from discussing gender issues with children. Disney CEO Bob Kapec 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:16.079 initially refused to release an official statement on the bill 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:19.560 until last week. Many cast members have been doing mini 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:23.280 walkouts every day during their breaks. This will be a 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:27.400 much bigger walk out Tuesday, however. Disney hosting a town 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:30.840 hall today to try to quell some of this anger internally. 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:32.800 For more on what it all means for the future 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:35.360 of Disney CEO Bob Kapeck. I'm joined by Lightsheed Partners, 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:39.000 Rich Greenfield Rich. Disney is now holding this meeting today 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:43.360 to try to cut some of the tension here. What 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:47.280 do you make of the fact that Disney employees have 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:52.680 been so vocal about their their unhappiness with how Disney 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:56.520 CEO Bob Kapec has handled this. Look, We've seen a 0:09:56.520 --> 0:10:00.240 lot of voicing of feelings among employees of over the 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:01.840 course of the last couple of years. I mean, if 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:04.920 you think about sort of the furloughing of employees and 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:08.080 sort of the layoffs that occurred around the pandemic, I mean, 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:10.480 this has been a very difficult couple of year period 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:15.080 um for all consumers, are all employees around the world, 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:18.840 but certainly for Disney employees, this has been especially challenging. Look, 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:22.040 I think the reality is executives and management teams are 0:10:22.040 --> 0:10:25.000 going to make mistakes. I think the real um hallmark 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:29.040 of long term success is whether they recognize those mistakes 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:31.280 and pivot quickly. And I think that's what you're seeing 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:34.760 here by Disney is pretty rapid change. You know, this 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:37.800 is not letting this drag on and sort of addressing 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:40.640 the issue very quickly. I can't speak to why the 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:43.600 original decision was made and what the logic was, but 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:47.040 I think it is comforting that the speed of changing 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:49.960 their minds what was swift, because I think that's what 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:53.480 really matters. And again, Disney is at this really critical 0:10:53.520 --> 0:10:56.160 crossroads as Tiger has left at the end of last 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:58.920 year and now shape because in full control. I think 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:02.280 we're all waiting to see who is Bob Chapick? What 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:05.600 is his long term Disney plan? And I guess to 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:08.880 your question, Emily, will we get to see it because 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:10.880 he's got a year left on his contract, will we 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:14.600 get to see Schapick really put in in motion his 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:18.839 long term plan? Well? And I guess what I wonder 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:22.319 what your answer to that question is, Are these staffers 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:27.040 upset enough that this should should should should should give 0:11:27.040 --> 0:11:31.080 Bob Speck some serious concerns about his job. Look, I 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:34.840 think the he must have heard loud and clear how 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:38.080 broad based the fear was or concern was around this 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:41.120 issue for them to reverse course so publicly, so quickly. 0:11:41.800 --> 0:11:44.480 Um not to mention the internal meetings and everything that 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:48.200 you've seen, but look, Bob Schapick's long term future is 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:51.800 going to be most likely judged on the big strategic 0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:55.920 decisions he makes. What is their plan for Disney Plus? 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:58.560 Is it being merged with Hulu? Are they creating one 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:01.840 service and really going after or Netflix and trying to 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:05.640 become a massive streaming company. Are they really going to 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:09.680 focus on just Disney content? Might they sell ESPN and ABC? 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:12.240 Like why are they in the sports business? You know, 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:14.800 sports is not a business that you can scale. You 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:18.080 can't own the content. You know, the NFL owns the NFL, 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:21.080 not Disney. Uh. You know, if you think about the UFC, 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:24.800 which has been the biggest piece of of ESPN Plus 0:12:24.840 --> 0:12:27.959 that's owned by Endeavor E d Er public company. So 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:30.920 you sort of get back to, like, why is Disney 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:33.160 in some of these businesses and what is this long 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:35.680 term strategy? There is no doubt Bob Iger set in 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:40.800 motion and tremendous you know, ramp in Disney Plus subscribers. 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:42.640 But as you look at where we are now and 0:12:42.679 --> 0:12:44.440 look out over the course of the next five to 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:47.480 ten years, the question is is what does Disney want 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:49.400 to be when it grows up in streaming? Does it 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:52.040 want to be something for everyone? Like Netflix, or does 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:55.440 it really want to stick to its core franchises and verticals, 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:58.720 which is probably a smaller but also very successful and 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:02.560 very profitable busines. This if you scaled that, what do 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:06.240 you make of the Eiger side of this story? You know, 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:10.120 the fact that Iger doesn't disagree with doesn't agree with this, 0:13:10.240 --> 0:13:14.480 this position, that SHAPEC initially took that thing, reportedly no 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:19.280 longer talk Oiger and Spec. I mean, the speculation going 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:21.720 so far. You know, some I'm saying I could replace 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:25.280 Bob Speck, which I believe Bob Iger has has said 0:13:25.320 --> 0:13:28.800 that's ridiculous. Um, But you know, we're in a rapidly 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:33.520 evolving situation here. Look, this has been a relatively challenging, 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:35.959 you know, couple of years, I think for any executive 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:38.920 going through the pandemic, a lot of layoffs, a lot 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:41.640 of change, closing down operations. I mean, look even I 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:45.120 think Shanghai Disney World just closed down again just today. 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:47.800 I believe, so this is sort of a never ending 0:13:47.880 --> 0:13:50.800 saga that impacts employees and creates a lot of emotion. 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:53.080 We're obviously living in a social media world where people 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:57.520 can express their views about how they feel very visibly. 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:00.680 Look in terms of Iger verse a pick. You know, 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:04.200 I don't really know what to say other than you know, 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:07.800 Bob Iger's gone, Shaping is now in charge, and the 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:10.320 question is going to be I don't think what Bob 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:13.080 Iger feels or doesn't feel anymore matters. I think what 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:15.800 really matters is what does the board think and what 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:17.760 does shareholders think? You know, at the end of the day, 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:21.000 the stock obviously is down a lot. Investors are concerned 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:25.640 that they don't really understand what the strategy is. You know, 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:29.120 are they going after Netflix or is this more of 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:31.840 a Disney focus service. I mean, we've been Disney has 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:35.400 effectively been dragging its feet on Hulu. Comcast owns a 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:38.480 third of it. What is the Hulu plan? Is it 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:41.520 all about being rolled in and creating one mega service 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:44.240 or are they going to continue to run three streaming service? 0:14:44.280 --> 0:14:48.000 Remember there's Disney plus, there's Hulu, and there's the ESPN plus. 0:14:48.400 --> 0:14:52.120 It seems from a consumer standpoint, having multiple log ins, 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:56.520 multiple different interfaces seems suboptimal. Obviously part of that is 0:14:56.560 --> 0:15:00.200 Comcast fault and sort of battling over price. But if 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:02.080 you think about what I did when he came in, 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:05.360 he made a very important strategic decision that shaped the 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:09.480 entire future of his run as CEO. He bought Pixar, 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:14.080 and that was a tremendous acquisition that completely changed how 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:17.080 investors thought about the Walt Disney Company and the content 0:15:17.160 --> 0:15:19.440 and the I P and the rest is obviously history. 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:23.120 The question for Shapeck is, you know, do you KEEPSPN? 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:24.760 Do you keep ABC? Do you want to be in 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:28.120 the general entertainment business? Do you emerge huluin with Disney plus? 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:30.880 The KEEPESPN plus? Like, all of these are these big 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:33.440 strategic decisions. I think we're gonna get a lot of 0:15:33.480 --> 0:15:35.480 answers about all of this over the course of the 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:38.560 next nine months. But I think the stock is somewhat struggling, 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:41.000 and I think we're struggling with the stock not knowing 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:44.800 exactly what Shape's gonna do. So we'll be seeing just 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:47.800 how big this walk out from employees is Tuesday. But 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:51.400 do you think this blowback could spread to consumers? Obviously 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:55.040 there's been some discontent with the Genie reservation system, the 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:59.000 sky high pricing um, the star Wood Star Wars hotel. 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:06.120 Could assumers revolt? Look, you know, my partner Brandon Ross 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:09.480 at Lightshed covers the live entertainment in business, you know, 0:16:09.640 --> 0:16:11.840 like you think I think you had. Michael Roupino's been 0:16:11.880 --> 0:16:15.360 talking pretty openly Live Nation about just the incredible demand 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:19.400 for concert tickets even with rising you know, gas prices. 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:23.000 I mean, you've just seen incredible demand for experiences. Disney 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:26.480 World is literally packed to the gills. Margins are moving 0:16:26.520 --> 0:16:29.960 to levels we haven't seen in years, if ever eventually, 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:33.040 and so like, look, there's always risk. I think if 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:36.760 Disney probably hadn't reverse course and sort of addressed the 0:16:36.800 --> 0:16:41.200 concerns of employees very quickly, sure, I think anything was possible. 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:45.440 I think the real issue is going to be right now, 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:50.200 they're raising pricing and taking advantage of this environment. I mean, 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:53.360 inflation is obviously rising, and I think they're literally looking 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:57.560 at demand. They can't keep the parks, they can't handle 0:16:57.560 --> 0:17:00.240 the demand, and I think that's partly why they're taking 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:03.280 advantage and raising price. But investors, they're not worried emily 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:07.119 about the parks. Investors have one concern. They're only worried 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:11.000 about Disney Plus and what is the streaming long term strategy. 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:13.080 And that's what we're gonna be hoping to hear from 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:16.680 Shape when he holds an analyst meeting later this month, right, 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:19.440 and of course we'll see how long of a chance 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:23.200 he gets to prove himself rich. Greenfield of Light Shed Partners, 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:34.760 thank you as always for Wayne. And now to a 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:38.160 MC flipping the script, the entertainment Giant announcing it's buying 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:42.159 of a golden silver mining company, an unorthodox move for 0:17:42.200 --> 0:17:45.280 the world's largest movie theater chain and a past darling 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:49.200 of meme stock investors, bloomber Quick takes aux Web explains 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:55.720 why is Cinema Chain investing in gold During the AMC 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:58.440 it was a big meme stock last year. The market 0:17:58.480 --> 0:18:01.320 capitalization jumped from a four billion dollars to more than 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:04.680 thirty billion dollars in the space of just a few weeks. Well, 0:18:04.880 --> 0:18:07.520 the CEO Adam Artan has just announced plans to invest 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:10.080 about thirty million dollars in a gold mine, and it 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:13.120 says something quite interesting about how he perceives his own 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:16.400 company's prospects. You see, the role of CEO is often 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:19.719 to do with capital allocation. In other words, how you 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:22.159 spend your investors money in a way that will generate 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:25.240 the best possible returns for men. And usually you can 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:27.320 do one of three things. You can either invest in 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:31.080 the existing business by opening new locations, investing in innovations, 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:34.160 adding new headcount. You can think about acquiring a company 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:38.280 that will then play well with your existing companies and 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:40.719 the two firms work better together than they would on 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:45.400 their own. Thirdly, you can just return that money to investors. 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:47.720 Now he's not opting to do any of those things. 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:50.800 Returning money to investors would be a strange choice because 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:53.800 he only raised from them last year. And besides, a 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:57.200 MC trades at a considerable premium to its competitors, so 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:02.080 it's not necessarily buying shares at a sable christ when 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:06.080 it comes to investing adjacent dials or the existing business. 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:08.679 He's sort of telling investors that I can't find a 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:11.200 way of generating as good a return as I could 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:14.240 by investing in this gold mine. In other words, the 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:18.320 implicit suggestion is cinema business is not very good and 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:20.960 you should put your money elsewhere. He's just cutting out 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:24.560 of the middleman and doing it himself. Are Alex Web. 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:27.840 They're coming up from the tennis court to VC. We're 0:19:27.840 --> 0:19:31.240 gonna hear from Serena Williams about how she plans to 0:19:31.280 --> 0:19:42.240 find the next generation of startup Champ, Welcome back to 0:19:42.240 --> 0:19:44.600 Bloomore Technology and Emily Changes in San Francisco. Let's get 0:19:44.600 --> 0:19:47.080 back to the markets enter at Ludlow's taking a look 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:51.000 at Chinese tech companies, which have had another rough day 0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:53.520 in US trading. I take it away, Yeah, I think 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:56.119 if there was a pocket of pain on Monday, it 0:19:56.200 --> 0:19:59.119 was in the US listed shares of Chinese technology companies, 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:01.159 in other words, a d R S. And for everything 0:20:01.200 --> 0:20:03.080 going on in the world right the outlook for the 0:20:03.119 --> 0:20:06.320 Federal Reserve and rates, what's happening in Ukraine and the 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:09.200 conflict with Russia, and global commodity prices, you have to 0:20:09.240 --> 0:20:11.400 remember you have a bit of sympathy for those investors 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:14.040 out there that like Chinese tech companies because they've also 0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:17.240 got a track what's going on with policymakers in China. 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:19.800 These stocks have been fluctuating all over the place. Another 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:24.560 down day Monday, down four percent, really underperforming broader indices 0:20:24.640 --> 0:20:28.199 here in the United States, broadered moves in technology. So 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:30.159 where we've been left, Mrs Director, to bring up the 0:20:30.160 --> 0:20:33.080 next table, please, is a situation where Wall Street and 0:20:33.119 --> 0:20:36.760 Cellside analysts aren't getting it right on their forecast for 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:40.040 the price of these US listed Chinese companies. We're talking 0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:42.560 about big names here, right, Ali Barbera, j D dot Com, 0:20:42.720 --> 0:20:45.600 Billy Billy, ten Cent Music. And what this board shows 0:20:46.080 --> 0:20:49.359 is the percentage difference from the current price where the 0:20:49.359 --> 0:20:52.960 share prices are actually right now, versus the highest price 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:55.200 target and the lowest price target on the street. So 0:20:55.240 --> 0:20:57.919 let's just take Ali Barbara as one example, versus the 0:20:57.960 --> 0:20:59.879 price of where we are on our on Monday. The 0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:03.280 highest street target is a hundred and sixty three above 0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:07.560 where those shares closed, the lowest below where we are now. 0:21:07.840 --> 0:21:10.720 And it was all about a change of tone from policymakers. 0:21:10.800 --> 0:21:12.400 And you and I have been talking for a year 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:17.320 about Chinese regulators clamping down on technology and internet companies 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:20.239 in that country. What happened last Wenday Wednesday? Bring up 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:23.200 the next board that the Golden Dragon Index, that kind 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:26.119 of basket of U S s is Chinese stocks massively 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:30.800 underperforming and then wash thirty gain in a single day. 0:21:30.800 --> 0:21:33.680 Why because policymakers came out and said that they were 0:21:33.680 --> 0:21:35.919 going to be more supportive these companies and make a 0:21:35.960 --> 0:21:38.159 real downward push in the stock market. So I have 0:21:38.200 --> 0:21:40.240 a bit of sympathy and have some sympathy for these 0:21:40.280 --> 0:21:42.640 Wall Street names that are really struggling to get it right. 0:21:43.040 --> 0:21:46.640 I'll try to muster something sympathy and thank you, Tennis 0:21:46.680 --> 0:21:50.080 legend that Serena Williams has raised a hundred eleven million 0:21:50.119 --> 0:21:53.080 dollars in her inaugural venture capital fund, the goal to 0:21:53.160 --> 0:21:58.840 find the next generation of champions from underrepresented backgrounds. Williams 0:21:58.880 --> 0:22:01.480 has been investing in earliest start up for nine years, 0:22:01.520 --> 0:22:04.520 but this is the first time she has raised outside capital. 0:22:04.840 --> 0:22:06.720 I caught up with Williams and her partner Alice and 0:22:06.800 --> 0:22:10.080 Rappaport Stillman to talk about where they think a new 0:22:10.280 --> 0:22:14.080 class of startup stars can be found. Take a listen, 0:22:15.960 --> 0:22:18.320 we don't check just one box. We really are looking 0:22:18.359 --> 0:22:22.240 forward to well well health and wellness, film tech as 0:22:22.240 --> 0:22:25.359 well as fintech. Obviously we're the crypto space and the 0:22:25.400 --> 0:22:27.560 Web three space and n f t s are something 0:22:27.600 --> 0:22:31.160 that is on everyone's mind. And um, I don't think 0:22:31.160 --> 0:22:33.399 you can really have a VC firm and not have 0:22:34.119 --> 0:22:39.080 some really big part of that into into big car 0:22:39.200 --> 0:22:41.960 your fum into that part of the Web three space. 0:22:42.040 --> 0:22:46.120 So um, we're kind of like looking in those particular areas. 0:22:46.640 --> 0:22:49.520 Now you've been the greatest of all time in tennis 0:22:49.680 --> 0:22:51.840 for so long, but in venture capital, you've kind of 0:22:51.880 --> 0:22:54.199 been in stealth mode or under the radar, and a 0:22:54.240 --> 0:22:57.600