Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Carole Masser and I'm
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stanabek. We're here every day bringing
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Speaker 1: pm Eastern Time on Bloomberg Radio or watch us on
Speaker 1: YouTube search Bloomberg Global News. The US count them one
Speaker 1: to three. We've got three vaccines to Tim to fight
Speaker 1: COVID night. Three vaccines in under a year, just about
Speaker 1: a year. I think it's fair to say it's phenomenal.
Speaker 1: It's it is phenomenal. Nobody doubts that in terms of development.
Speaker 1: The problem is, though, I think there is some nervousness
Speaker 1: about this. J and J. Actually we talked about it
Speaker 1: with the CEO of North Will Health yesterday because there
Speaker 1: are concerns the lower efficacy rate. People can be like,
Speaker 1: I don't want that one. Yeah, I mean, look, people
Speaker 1: focusing on instead of But all the health x tell
Speaker 1: us that's not the right thing to focus on exactly.
Speaker 1: So let's get into this story, a great one by
Speaker 1: Bloomberg News healthcare reporter Angelica Levito on the phone in
Speaker 1: our New York City bureau. Um, Angelica, good to have
Speaker 1: you here with us. Listen. It's great to have another vaccine,
Speaker 1: but it's only great if people take it exactly. And
Speaker 1: you brought up some excellent points that we might see
Speaker 1: some hesitation. There are great benefits with this J and
Speaker 1: J vaccine. It's refrigerated, so that means that we can
Speaker 1: get it into rural areas, places that don't have access
Speaker 1: to these ultracold freezers that you need for Fightser's vaccine.
Speaker 1: It's also one shot, which is great. You know, you
Speaker 1: don't have to come back in for a second dose,
Speaker 1: so you're just in and out and you're done with
Speaker 1: your vaccination. However, we might see some people worried about
Speaker 1: this seventy two percent efficacy in the US trials versus
Speaker 1: that for Fightser for maderna. However, all the health experts,
Speaker 1: like you said, Um, they say that you can't compare
Speaker 1: these trials apples to apples because they were conducted at
Speaker 1: different times. Of course, J and Jay's shot had to
Speaker 1: contend globally with the variants we're seeing in South Africa, UM,
Speaker 1: Brazil and also jans zackis J and Jay's vaccine a
Speaker 1: little bit of an up right because it was playing
Speaker 1: with some of the variants. Correct, it does, and that's
Speaker 1: something that we have evidence of that it can work
Speaker 1: against these variants. And also it's worth noting that the
Speaker 1: J and J vaccine did provide complete protection against all
Speaker 1: COVID related hospitalization and death, which is what we're trying
Speaker 1: to solve for. So let's think back to just a
Speaker 1: couple of months ago when we're having the same conversation,
Speaker 1: not necessarily about efficacy, but about hesitation when it came
Speaker 1: to MODERNA and Fiser. What we saw then was Vice
Speaker 1: President Pence at the time getting his shot on TV,
Speaker 1: Anthony Fauci, nation's top infectious disease doctor, getting the shot
Speaker 1: on TV. The problem is all these people have had
Speaker 1: their shots already, so it's not like they can go
Speaker 1: and get the J and J shot. What I feel like, Angelica,
Speaker 1: what we need here is like this big pr campaign
Speaker 1: coming from leaders saying Hey, this is the shot that
Speaker 1: I want. But they've already been vaccinated. That's the problem.
Speaker 1: It's a really really good point. And we are hearing
Speaker 1: from Anthony Faucci, for example, who's telling people get out
Speaker 1: there and the first shot that becomes available to take it,
Speaker 1: especially if that's J and J, and the Biden administration
Speaker 1: has been unified in that message. But you're right, they're vaccinated.
Speaker 1: So we are going to need to see some new
Speaker 1: faces out there. Hey, I'll get the shot on the radio.
Speaker 1: How's that? I volt perfect? And we'll be able to
Speaker 1: see it on YouTube. So it's a good thing. I mean,
Speaker 1: whether or not you like it, it's coming the J
Speaker 1: and J vaccine because we are expected to hear from
Speaker 1: President Biden later on about kind of an unusual collaboration
Speaker 1: between two competing big pharma companies. We're talking about J
Speaker 1: and J Murk working together to produce it. Right, So
Speaker 1: Mark is going to help Jane J manufacture it's COVID
Speaker 1: nineteen vaccine. Um. They will equip two facilities to start
Speaker 1: producing these shots, and later today we will hear from
Speaker 1: President Biden about this collaboration. Of course, these two fierce
Speaker 1: rivals now coming together and sort of describing it as
Speaker 1: a wartime effort to get shots produced as quickly as possible.
Speaker 1: When you say as quickly as possible, when they say
Speaker 1: as quickly as possible, what are we What are we
Speaker 1: thinking here as far as timeline goes, Because Drew Armstrong
Speaker 1: was on Quick Take earlier today and he said, look,
Speaker 1: this is the type of thing that takes a long
Speaker 1: time to get going. Yes, that is a very good
Speaker 1: point to make, because UM, as soon as possible could
Speaker 1: be a few months. And obviously that's not what we
Speaker 1: think of when we think of as soon as possible,
Speaker 1: So it could be a while. However, the companies are
Speaker 1: indicating that this could help J and J quickly deliver
Speaker 1: on its promise to UM to distribute a hundred million
Speaker 1: doses in the US by the end of June. So
Speaker 1: perhaps this helps us get to that goal faster. But
Speaker 1: tvd Angelica, what I don't understand is UM, why was
Speaker 1: it J and J Ramping up production to begin with?
Speaker 1: Like you knew it was coming, They had high expectation
Speaker 1: it was going to get through in in terms of
Speaker 1: FDA emergency authorization. What the heck was going on? It's
Speaker 1: a really great question. And I think it's something that
Speaker 1: a lot of people are wondering because J and J
Speaker 1: is a massive company with tremendous resources. However, I've seen
Speaker 1: their manufacturing, I've spent some time with them. It's pretty impressive.
Speaker 1: But vaccines, as Alex Scorski, the CEO of Johnson Johnson,
Speaker 1: told our Bloomberg Colleigue colleague Riley Griffin yesterday, vaccine production
Speaker 1: is hard. It takes a lot of energy, and it
Speaker 1: takes everything going exactly right. However, they are saying that
Speaker 1: they are still on pace to deliver the twenty million
Speaker 1: shots they've promised by the end of March, which would
Speaker 1: be a pretty significant ramp up in just a few
Speaker 1: short weeks. So how quickly do we start to see
Speaker 1: I mean, I know the shipments have arrived today, How
Speaker 1: quickly do we start to see these showing up? And
Speaker 1: where do they show up? And we only have about
Speaker 1: thirty seconds left. It's um a great question, and it depends.
Speaker 1: We've heard from states saying this will go to health departments,
Speaker 1: mass vaccination clinics, the armacies will get them. I talked
Speaker 1: to CBS this morning, and they'll start actually putting these
Speaker 1: shots into arms Friday, so I think it depends on um,
Speaker 1: you know, different paces across the country. But we'll see
Speaker 1: these shots going to arms this week. All right, Gonna
Speaker 1: live with there and Delica, thank you so much. Angelica
Speaker 1: Levito healthcare reporter joining us from our bureau right here
Speaker 1: in New York City. Don't you wonder though, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: because we knew, I mean months ago, you know, so
Speaker 1: only having four million ready to go seems like a
Speaker 1: small number. We're spoiled because we've seen these numbers in
Speaker 1: the millions all the time. And I do wonder, like,
Speaker 1: are you gonna go up to a vaccination site and
Speaker 1: be like what am I getting? Remember, I will say
Speaker 1: one shot. It's one shot, So one dose is one inoculation.
Speaker 1: That's a big deal, and it's a big step forward
Speaker 1: in terms of I think herd immunity helping us get
Speaker 1: closer to that. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol
Speaker 1: Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic from Bloomberg Radio. So, Tim,
Speaker 1: we've got an update on the current Bloomberg Business Week
Speaker 1: cover story. Uh, it's about the sneaker heads that have
Speaker 1: turned Jordan's and Yeezy's into a Nasset class It profiled
Speaker 1: Joe Hebert, whose West Coast Street where was buying and
Speaker 1: reselling sneakers. His story, you might recall us we get
Speaker 1: a little bit of a twisted it. It did. We
Speaker 1: didn't give away the ending, but it's kind of like
Speaker 1: a spoiler alert now, yeah, and that twist leading to
Speaker 1: an abrupt action. Let's get the update with us as
Speaker 1: Blueberg business wee get it or Joe Webber on the
Speaker 1: access line in Brooklyn along with Bloomberg Business Week freelance
Speaker 1: writer Josh Hunt, who wrote the story. He's with us
Speaker 1: from Portland, Oregon. Joe'll talk about an impact. Well, I
Speaker 1: just feel like saying like when last we left her
Speaker 1: hero because special when seems get transpired then and really
Speaker 1: that the story took a took another turn yesterday when
Speaker 1: Nike announced the resignation of Ann Hebert, who was Joe's mother.
Speaker 1: Um so, so talk to us about the implications of
Speaker 1: what all has gone down and what it what it means. Josh, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, coming into this story, you know, one of
Speaker 1: the one of the big questions was was what is
Speaker 1: this all mean? You know, from from the moment that
Speaker 1: I first learned, uh that Joe's mother that you know,
Speaker 1: my my main sneaker reselling character was had a mother
Speaker 1: who was a top executive at Nike. Um, you know
Speaker 1: what did that mean? It's a very gray area. And
Speaker 1: and you know, readers of the story will note that
Speaker 1: we didn't accuse them of any wrongdoing because it's a
Speaker 1: it's kind of an it was very unclear, um what
Speaker 1: this meant. And uh, now we have a little bit
Speaker 1: more clarity what this means now that Nike has taken well,
Speaker 1: Nike hasn't taken any action now that and Hebert has
Speaker 1: decided to resign. Um. But uh, Frankly, I have to
Speaker 1: say I'm a little bit surprised because Nike uh defended
Speaker 1: Hebert's very strongly in the piece, you know, when we
Speaker 1: went to to them for comments prior to publications, and so,
Speaker 1: you know, for is to happen so soon after the
Speaker 1: story landed, I have to think that, uh, maybe there
Speaker 1: was something in the story more than they expected. Um
Speaker 1: uh And I still wonder what that might be to
Speaker 1: be perhaps determined, Josh, I mean, you've got your work
Speaker 1: cut out for you. In the meantime, can you talk
Speaker 1: a little bit about the conversation that that that's happening
Speaker 1: on Twitter right now, Like, what are you hearing from people?
Speaker 1: Because I've seen that you've been interacting a little bit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a very interesting time in the sneaker world. I'm
Speaker 1: hearing uh, you know, not just from people on Twitter,
Speaker 1: but another uh you know, there's this black owned um
Speaker 1: sneaker resale platform called Another Lane, run by aDNA Jones
Speaker 1: and her husband Chad Jones and um and I uh,
Speaker 1: you know, in my interview with a Dina when she
Speaker 1: learned about this twist and the story, her quote was,
Speaker 1: that's the height of privilege and um and you know, um,
Speaker 1: they've been here, they've been getting a lot of positive feedback,
Speaker 1: you know, from people who have read the story, and
Speaker 1: a lot of support and things like that, and and
Speaker 1: so on one side of the you know, inside the
Speaker 1: sneaper community, those sorts of conversations are going on and
Speaker 1: on Twitter. It's uh, it's really running the gamut from
Speaker 1: people who you know, people who have as they you know,
Speaker 1: so many people are tweeting, uh quote tweeting my tweet
Speaker 1: with pictures of Joe's warehouse and saying, so this is
Speaker 1: why I can't get Jordan's up so this is why
Speaker 1: I'm this is why I'm always this is why I'm
Speaker 1: always taking an l on the sneakers app, you know,
Speaker 1: And so you know, part of it is is um,
Speaker 1: obviously people are happy to have some clarity about how
Speaker 1: this world works. Uh. Some people are just uh you know,
Speaker 1: kind of luxuriating and blind rage over all the sneakers
Speaker 1: they haven't been able to buy UM. Well that I mean,
Speaker 1: it's totally right. There's even a little bit of conspiracy
Speaker 1: theorizing happening. You know, some people are taking it farther
Speaker 1: than we've actually said in the story. Yeah, well as
Speaker 1: the Internet is wanting to do. Um. You know, I
Speaker 1: think it shows the nature of just like how fraught
Speaker 1: this world actually is. And I think we we we
Speaker 1: hinted at some of that without really realizing how much
Speaker 1: we were going to stir the pot or kick the
Speaker 1: hornets nest or whatever, Josh. But because ultimately, like there
Speaker 1: are there's some class undertones that I think people are
Speaker 1: talking about. There's clearly the racial ones, which you indicated,
Speaker 1: and like that, I think like we we only scratch
Speaker 1: the surface of what all that meant. And I think
Speaker 1: that's been sort of part of the fallout, And I
Speaker 1: think what it really shows now is, you know, we
Speaker 1: effectively our story was about the ecomoics of this, and
Speaker 1: you know, obviously it plays into the tech side of it,
Speaker 1: how bots can be unleashed to sort of like squirrel
Speaker 1: away help squirrel away inventory and all of that kind
Speaker 1: of I think gets back to this challenge that it
Speaker 1: actually does face corporate America, or at least parts of
Speaker 1: corporate America, where you have products like this that can
Speaker 1: really galvanize attention, and also employees who are put in
Speaker 1: sort of perhaps sometimes uncomfortable positions or positions that could
Speaker 1: be you know, fraud, I guess. Um, So, Josh, when
Speaker 1: you think about that, I mean, obviously you've been head
Speaker 1: down in the sneaker world here, but like when you
Speaker 1: think about the extrapolations of that through corporate America, can
Speaker 1: can you kind of theorize like who else is probably
Speaker 1: dealing with some of these same fraud conversations? And Josh,
Speaker 1: we just got about sure what I can say, I
Speaker 1: mean without theorizing too much. What's what's clear to me? Um,
Speaker 1: The part of why this touched such a nerve is
Speaker 1: that the sneaker world is kind of at the at
Speaker 1: the nexus of you know, it's a little bit like
Speaker 1: the game stop stuff and the Bitcoin stuff in the
Speaker 1: sense that it's both a subculture and a market. And
Speaker 1: so you've got all these people from different class backgrounds,
Speaker 1: from different racial backgrounds, these these uh, this you know,
Speaker 1: big mix of people coming together trying to be involved
Speaker 1: in the market and um and you know all kinds
Speaker 1: of kind of watches happening. Well, it's incredible. The story
Speaker 1: goes on, as we said, another another edition of this story.
Speaker 1: Hey Josh, thank you so much. Freelance writer Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week from Portland and Joel Webber, Editor Bloomberg Business Week.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week brought to you by a s c I. Since
Speaker 1: it's founding fifty years ago, SEI has provided investment managers
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Speaker 1: So what is going on in the hallowed halls of
Speaker 1: old time Wall Street, Tim stanebec That's the big question.
Speaker 1: It is and it's our top story at this hour.
Speaker 1: Several stories actually in the last few days, people coming
Speaker 1: and going, mostly going, especially from Goldman. Sachs. Yeah, that's right, Um,
Speaker 1: Wall Street poaching is heating up with fintech funds on
Speaker 1: the hunts. Yeah, exactly. So let's get more from unders Melon.
Speaker 1: He is executive compensation reporter at Bloomberg News, wealth reporter
Speaker 1: at Bloomberg News, and Tree natarajan finance reporter at Bloomberg News.
Speaker 1: Both are on the phone in New York City. Unders
Speaker 1: in our New York bureau and shere. I gotta start
Speaker 1: with you because that news today, another very senior Goldman
Speaker 1: executive leaving. Uh. We just heard John Tucker talk about it.
Speaker 1: Karen Seymour Goldman senior, our general counsel. What's going on
Speaker 1: with Goldman. It's a great question, Carol. Look at the backdrop.
Speaker 1: Goldman had a phenomenal They've had a good start to
Speaker 1: beg their stock is ripping ever higher all time highs,
Speaker 1: and yet you're seeing some high profile departures. It's not
Speaker 1: unusual to see people leading from a big Wall Street
Speaker 1: film at this time of the year. Que the bonus noise.
Speaker 1: But what is unusual. Here is the profile of the
Speaker 1: kind of people leaving at a time when you would
Speaker 1: expect calm seas a place like Gooman. So surely, when
Speaker 1: when so many high profile people leave in such a
Speaker 1: short period of time, is there any concern about the
Speaker 1: type of message that that sends to the firm? Oh? Absolutely,
Speaker 1: and and and in the way it's that in the
Speaker 1: case of Karen sim Or, she leading off to three years,
Speaker 1: which might seem like she's been there for a while,
Speaker 1: but you typically just do not see great turnover in
Speaker 1: a seat like that. A general council role at the
Speaker 1: sound like Boman tax is one of the most plumb
Speaker 1: assignments but also the most challenging assignments in in in
Speaker 1: in the corporate world when it comes to legal jobs.
Speaker 1: Predecessor wasn't that seat for twenty six years, and that
Speaker 1: might have been unusually long. U Karen Semer is out
Speaker 1: in three y is because this role is tied to
Speaker 1: who the chief executive officer prefers, and the sense that
Speaker 1: we are getting is he wants to install of his
Speaker 1: own person, which is why I Karen say orders leaving.
Speaker 1: But look at some of the other departures. The head
Speaker 1: of Gorman's consumer bank. That is the big new fledgling
Speaker 1: business at Goldman sax On which they have been their future.
Speaker 1: They have said it will become a very part of
Speaker 1: what Goldman Facts will be in the future. So it's
Speaker 1: not a good look when the head of that business
Speaker 1: is and a top deputy of face, who are two
Speaker 1: of the four partners in the business. The only one
Speaker 1: left is an executive who joined three weeks ago and
Speaker 1: another one who was already moved into this chairman sort
Speaker 1: of role because it was the original face of Marcus.
Speaker 1: And then you have the asset management head that is
Speaker 1: another big focus area for Goldman Sachs under David Solomon,
Speaker 1: and just six months ago he promoted Eric Lane to
Speaker 1: cohead this expanded asset management business. Surely he would not
Speaker 1: have expected that he would get up and leave, and
Speaker 1: he has done just that, and not to retire or
Speaker 1: go off into the sunset, but go and work any
Speaker 1: large in this big investing wheel out there, which is
Speaker 1: Chase Goldman's Tagger Global Rights. Not they're buying a big
Speaker 1: sailboat and sailing the world. Um so Andre's melon, come
Speaker 1: on in because you've got a great story on the
Speaker 1: Bloomberg about Wall Street poaching going on by fintech in
Speaker 1: the fun world, talk like kind of broaden this out here,
Speaker 1: what are we seeing, because it does feel like a
Speaker 1: lot of people are leaving those plum jobs on Wall
Speaker 1: Street to go to startups or to start up a
Speaker 1: business for a Walmart. Yeah, So like like sure, you're saying,
Speaker 1: you know, partly this might be chalked up to a
Speaker 1: bit of shuffling that happens after bonus season. But what
Speaker 1: people that I spoke to yesterday also told me is
Speaker 1: that it's it's sort of indicative of the just a
Speaker 1: mess of ripe opportunities that are to be handed by
Speaker 1: top people, especially if you're a specialized in areas like
Speaker 1: syntech or crypto or something that has a heavy fin
Speaker 1: show components to it in terms of tech, and there's
Speaker 1: a lot of money sloshing around to lead them away.
Speaker 1: So UM obviously prominent example, as Free mentioned is Omer
Speaker 1: his Mail, who left um Goldman's consumer bank Marcus to
Speaker 1: lead a new Walmart venture that we don't know a
Speaker 1: ton about yet UM, but clearly an interesting opportunity, I'm
Speaker 1: sure for him to build something that has the backing
Speaker 1: and the resources by a brand of Walmart and then
Speaker 1: potentially the ability to touch tens of millions of customers
Speaker 1: through the stores that that um that Walmart has and
Speaker 1: Goldman Sachs as we know, don't really have that kind
Speaker 1: of footprint. So what does a company like Goldman Sachs
Speaker 1: have to do in order to retain top talent. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's also something I ask people, and it's you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's a little tough. One thing that was pointed
Speaker 1: out to me was that, you know this decisions like
Speaker 1: this isn't necessarily about money. It's about building new things
Speaker 1: you get to be part of of of making a
Speaker 1: big impact. But in these situations, you know, money tends
Speaker 1: to not be an issue until it is an issue. Um,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of money slashing around and and in
Speaker 1: new ventures like this, perhaps at Walmart, you tend to
Speaker 1: be able to sometimes see creations of special classes of
Speaker 1: stock and privately held ventures or profit sharing plans that
Speaker 1: can be extremely lucrative. It can be a bit controversial
Speaker 1: to set something like that up at a at a
Speaker 1: big public company where you have at a publicly traded stock,
Speaker 1: and that can create some discord internally. So money could
Speaker 1: be be a factor, that's for sure, but it is
Speaker 1: an opportunity to lead something and kind of that's all
Speaker 1: your own, Heytree, last question, Um, does David Solomony to
Speaker 1: be worried at all? Are people questioning like, hey, David,
Speaker 1: what's going on at Goldman? Just quickly? One would have
Speaker 1: to assume that shouldn't be the case. You've just come
Speaker 1: off when let's be honest, the pandemics lan from Lum
Speaker 1: for most people proved to be extremely possible for Goldman set.
Speaker 1: But in the same time you had a slew of
Speaker 1: departure and Carrol, you and I have talked about this
Speaker 1: so many times in the past and the first couple
Speaker 1: of years of David Solomon's reign as the CEO, and
Speaker 1: that was choked up to redeem change. When you have
Speaker 1: a new management, people of the old garden are automatically
Speaker 1: flushed down, and that is to be expected. But then
Speaker 1: what explains what's been happening over the last three months,
Speaker 1: even before this little chunk of exist that we've heard about.
Speaker 1: Just in this past three or four days, we had
Speaker 1: Greg Lenco, the well liked UH investing bank boss and
Speaker 1: Goldman leaving and he went to work at another firm
Speaker 1: that was totally unexpected and that has started with people.
Speaker 1: So these moves are certainly reverberating inside the film. As
Speaker 1: long as the money is good and the start is
Speaker 1: doing well, it isn't a problem. But when the good
Speaker 1: times end on that front, all attention will focus to
Speaker 1: what's happening with your work for common chairs up so
Speaker 1: far this year? Alright? Three not urage and financial part
Speaker 1: a Bloomberg News. Thank you and our thanks to Andre's
Speaker 1: mell and well for patter a Bloomberg News. This is
Speaker 1: Bloomberg business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes
Speaker 1: Tim Stinovic from Bloomberg Radio. So in this week's Bloomberg
Speaker 1: business Week Small Business Survival Guide a story about a
Speaker 1: small business owner helping other small businesses. More specifically, we're
Speaker 1: talking about Minneapolis distillery. It's owned by Chris Montana. He
Speaker 1: has been on the front line of the dual pandemic
Speaker 1: of COVID and racism. Chris is the owner of du
Speaker 1: Nord Craft Spirits and he joins us on the phone
Speaker 1: from Minneapolis, along with Bloomberg business Week contributor Nick Lieber,
Speaker 1: who wrote the story. And he joins us on the
Speaker 1: phone in Brooklyn and Nick, first of all, I have
Speaker 1: to tell you we've been talking about Chris in the newsroom.
Speaker 1: We feel like this guy has just done so much good.
Speaker 1: How did Chris come to your attention? You know, I
Speaker 1: was very curious about how businesses areferring in the in
Speaker 1: the recovery or the sort of uneven recovered small businesses.
Speaker 1: And I reached out to Chris and he was kind
Speaker 1: enough to talk to me about UM, everything he's been
Speaker 1: up to, which is a lot, but I was surprised
Speaker 1: by what, you know, by history. I didn't realize how
Speaker 1: much he was doing UM. And he you know, he's
Speaker 1: sort of given dozens and dozens of grants to local UM,
Speaker 1: local mainstays in the community, local businesses. He set up
Speaker 1: a food bank, UM, and he has this vision for
Speaker 1: an incubator UM. I think it's really interesting. Hey, Chris,
Speaker 1: come on in here. Uh take us back to just
Speaker 1: about a year ago when the pandemic hit. What did
Speaker 1: you have to do? Well? First of all, thanks for
Speaker 1: having me on UM. Yeah, I mean it seems like
Speaker 1: ages ago, but right when the pandemic hit, we the
Speaker 1: first step was our staff didn't feel safe and so
Speaker 1: our business model at that point was, we've got most
Speaker 1: of our revenue from a cocktail room, when uh less
Speaker 1: so in distributions. Very hard for small companies to make
Speaker 1: money and distribution, and so we decided to shut down
Speaker 1: the cocktail room, and with that we kissed goodbye to
Speaker 1: most of our revenue. And you know, we're a small
Speaker 1: family owners for my wife and I company, and we
Speaker 1: really we thought that was the end um and but
Speaker 1: the thing that we did have is we had some
Speaker 1: booze laying around. We knew that there wasn't enough hand sanitizer,
Speaker 1: and so we decided that we'd take what we had,
Speaker 1: we'd make some sanitizer, and we'd give it away to
Speaker 1: first responders and other people who needed it well. And
Speaker 1: I mentioned on the introduction, Chris, that you were really
Speaker 1: dealing with the dual pandemic because first the pandemic hits,
Speaker 1: and then of course what happened to George Floyd in Minneapolis,
Speaker 1: which we all saw and we've talked often here at
Speaker 1: Bloomberg about kind of the dual pandemic of health crisis
Speaker 1: and also racism across our society. You actually took a
Speaker 1: blow as a result of it because of the protests
Speaker 1: and the violence that happened to Minneapolis. Um, something that
Speaker 1: happened to your warehouse. Yeah, I mean, we we had
Speaker 1: some damage. We had some folks break in and set
Speaker 1: some fires in our in our warehouse, and you know,
Speaker 1: it took out, you know, our a lot of inventory
Speaker 1: and we had some machines in there. We had mistakenly
Speaker 1: thought that that would be the safer place. Beforehand, we
Speaker 1: had moved a lot of things into the warehouse, thinking
Speaker 1: that would make them safer than the other side of
Speaker 1: the building, which had a lot of windows. Um. And
Speaker 1: you know, and that's unfortunate, and it was very hard.
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not going to try to paper over
Speaker 1: that at all. I mean, I definitely shed more than
Speaker 1: more tears than I have in a very long time.
Speaker 1: It's hard to watch something that you've worked on burn.
Speaker 1: But go ahead, no, no, no, Well, I was gonna say, Nick,
Speaker 1: what is it that you you wanted to find out
Speaker 1: about Chris Um? I was. I was curious how you
Speaker 1: sort of how you reinvent something in the midst of
Speaker 1: also trying to make have your business be able to survive,
Speaker 1: and this idea of sort of stepping back for a
Speaker 1: second and saying what what what does my community need
Speaker 1: as opposed to what does my business need? UM? Was
Speaker 1: it was something that Chris sort of taught me about
Speaker 1: and and and Chris, you recognized what your community needed.
Speaker 1: You raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in a go
Speaker 1: fund me UM. But what did you do with it? Well,
Speaker 1: we we didn't think we're going to raise as much
Speaker 1: money UM. And it's really started because people were raising
Speaker 1: money for us and we had some insurance. We didn't
Speaker 1: want to get a windfall from this, and so we
Speaker 1: set out to raise thirty dollars and then we ended
Speaker 1: up raising a million bucks. And what we did with
Speaker 1: it is we created a foundation. That foundation had three goals.
Speaker 1: One was to run this food bank because we had
Speaker 1: food insecurity. But the second one, and where most of
Speaker 1: the money went, was to grant to other small businesses
Speaker 1: because many, particularly black and brown owned businesses, were uninsured underinsured,
Speaker 1: and it would be a double injustice if George Floyd
Speaker 1: would be murdered in the aftermath, we would also lose
Speaker 1: a few businesses that we have that we're starting to
Speaker 1: bring the business community to black and brown communities. And
Speaker 1: so we gave out grants up to fifteen dollars. We
Speaker 1: helped out seventy four different businesses, many of whom are
Speaker 1: back up today. It's so great. And I know you're
Speaker 1: you're trying to buy and renovate a big building to
Speaker 1: serve as an incubator for Neasson entrepreneurs to use rent
Speaker 1: free to launch food and beverage businesses. Man, you are
Speaker 1: giving back on multiple levels. Um, it's really wonderful and
Speaker 1: an honor to talk with you, Chris, and we really
Speaker 1: wish you well. And Nick, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: bringing the story to us. And I highly recommend folks
Speaker 1: will put it on on Twitter, but go to Bloomberg
Speaker 1: dot com for more. Nick liber contributor to Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week with us from Brooklyn, and Chris Montana, owner of
Speaker 1: du nord Craft spirits on the phone from Minneapolis the Journal.
Speaker 1: Yeah but you let me drive? Oh no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: all right, please, I want to drive, per question. Try job.
Speaker 1: This is the drive to the globe. Give me thanks,
Speaker 1: We'll try us Dawn on Bloomberg Radio. All right, so
Speaker 1: it is the drive to the close. Just about eleven
Speaker 1: minutes left in today's trading session. Bouncing around, uh, tim higher, lower, higher, lower,
Speaker 1: back and forth. Right now is John Tucker mentioned OWT
Speaker 1: about twenty one points on the SNP, a decline of
Speaker 1: about seventy six points on the data. That's just a
Speaker 1: quarter of a percentage point lower. Uh SMP down about
Speaker 1: half a percent Nastik though those tech names continuing to
Speaker 1: take the most heat, down about one point four points.
Speaker 1: But I think it's safe to say we continue to
Speaker 1: have these conversations about overvaluation, taking a little money off
Speaker 1: the table when it comes to these names. But even
Speaker 1: when that happens, it seems like investors often have a
Speaker 1: tendency to come back in when they can get in
Speaker 1: at a lower price point. Yeah, that's kind of what
Speaker 1: we have been seeing over the past few weeks. By
Speaker 1: the dip. Investors don't want to miss out on what
Speaker 1: we saw over the last few months, and they see
Speaker 1: any opportunity, especially with the high flying tech companies, to
Speaker 1: come in when there is any sort of decline. And
Speaker 1: I think it'll be interesting as we go along further,
Speaker 1: as we continue to see and fingers crossed that the
Speaker 1: economy continues to gain more ground, we get to see
Speaker 1: we'll get a big number on Friday, the monthly jobs reported.
Speaker 1: It's backwards looking, but it gives us a good gut
Speaker 1: check on where we are in the US labor market.
Speaker 1: If we continue to see that repairing fingers cross because
Speaker 1: there are still millions out of work at this point,
Speaker 1: and whether or not we continue to see certainly the
Speaker 1: equity trade evolve. We keep talking about the reflation trade
Speaker 1: as investors are looking into those sectors of the economy
Speaker 1: that will do better as the economy does better. So
Speaker 1: let's broaden out and talk a little bit about the market. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Ron Carson is chief executive officer of the Carson Group,
Speaker 1: joining us on the phone from Scottsdale, Arizona. The Carson
Speaker 1: Group has more than billion dollars in asset under management. Hey, Ron,
Speaker 1: great to have you on the show. What are you
Speaker 1: keeping an eye on in today's market? Well, I think
Speaker 1: it's interesting. You know, the volatility in the market, um
Speaker 1: is well what we've grown used to. But what's really
Speaker 1: impressive is this economy. I mean, we are clearly we've
Speaker 1: got profits back above pre COVID levels or pre pandemic levels. Um.
Speaker 1: We have you know, two one is probably gonna come
Speaker 1: in GDP around ten percent. That's the best. It's almost
Speaker 1: I started in the business on top of that. But
Speaker 1: it's a bounce back. It's a bounce back. We have
Speaker 1: to be smart about how we read that number. Okay,
Speaker 1: and it's it's a bounced back, but there's a lot
Speaker 1: of stimulants. It's continuing to come. And we have the
Speaker 1: one point nine trillion just go we you know, on
Speaker 1: behind that, we've got a two trillion dollar infrastructure spend
Speaker 1: that I think we'll juice the economy for some time.
Speaker 1: And then on top of that, um, this the pent
Speaker 1: up demand, I mean the amount of money the consumers. Say,
Speaker 1: currently Americans have almost four trillion dollars not two and
Speaker 1: a half trillion more then we had prior to UM
Speaker 1: the pandemic. And so what I'm what I'm really watching
Speaker 1: is inflation so interesting, it's really move up. Um. We've
Speaker 1: had pal signal we're going to be ultra dubbish. I mean,
Speaker 1: he basically said full employment two average, not to percent
Speaker 1: inflation two percent average. So that means it's got to
Speaker 1: happen over a period of time, and then we have
Speaker 1: to have projection showing two or more. So we've got
Speaker 1: the said definitely in here going to support the market
Speaker 1: we've got. The average consumer has got a ton of cash,
Speaker 1: they've had nowhere to spend it. They've got a lot
Speaker 1: of desire to spend it. And so if I wanted
Speaker 1: to really pick something to worry about, I think we're
Speaker 1: headed for, you know, some real inflation in the future.
Speaker 1: You know, it's so interesting you talk about how strong
Speaker 1: the economy is and how strong you projected to be,
Speaker 1: because yes, we do see a recovery happening in stocks
Speaker 1: that happened, corporate profits are are are strong as we're
Speaker 1: learning from earnings. But there are still millions of Americans
Speaker 1: who are unemployed right now. Um, that has a serious
Speaker 1: economic effect. It does. We have ten million people that
Speaker 1: are unemployed, and I believe and when we especially as
Speaker 1: economy is starting to open up, I think we just
Speaker 1: had Texas come out and said, hey, we're gonna lift
Speaker 1: the mask mandate. UM and our own community in Omaha, Nebraska,
Speaker 1: and I'm out in Arizona right now. I mean, people
Speaker 1: are starting to live again, and I think we're gonna
Speaker 1: start seeing job creation. And you know, when you look
Speaker 1: at the infrastructure spend that the current administration is gonna,
Speaker 1: I believe, gonna get through that's gonna that's gonna mean
Speaker 1: a lot of jobs over the next decade. So, um,
Speaker 1: I think, I think, and not to mention, I think
Speaker 1: another piece of being missed here is this massive shift
Speaker 1: to a digital economy, and there's gonna be a handful
Speaker 1: of people that are going to try to hold onto
Speaker 1: those you know, all them old rold jobs that just
Speaker 1: aren't going to translate into the future. So there's also
Speaker 1: going to need to be an element of retraining in here. Well,
Speaker 1: that's a good point. I feel like we've been talking
Speaker 1: about retraining though for a long time. As the economy
Speaker 1: and the world continues to innovate and we continue to
Speaker 1: see disruption. How uncomfortable that might that make though the
Speaker 1: economy as we see that kind of dislocation, Carol, I
Speaker 1: think it's very uncomfortable, and I've witnessed it, you know,
Speaker 1: in my own life. Um grew up on a farm
Speaker 1: and watch farming farmers have to make that transition, which
Speaker 1: was a very difficult transition. And then you know, if
Speaker 1: you look at the you know, the the old skills
Speaker 1: that you had to have as a worker versus which
Speaker 1: you have to have today. And when we were handling
Speaker 1: rollovers for a lot of people that were getting you know,
Speaker 1: their jobs eliminated. They really just didn't have the skills
Speaker 1: for the next job. It's uncomfortable, but it's the reality.
Speaker 1: I mean change and if you're not prepared for it.
Speaker 1: Um we Adaptability is going to be key as we
Speaker 1: move forward as a society into the future. We're gonna
Speaker 1: have to be more adaptable than we've ever been in
Speaker 1: the past. Well, a couple of companies that you're keeping
Speaker 1: an eye on that you are bullish on include Microsoft
Speaker 1: and United Healthcare. Let's talk Microsoft here. Why is there
Speaker 1: still room for Microsoft to go higher? Yeah? You know,
Speaker 1: Microsoft were at one point six trillion dollar market cap.
Speaker 1: They were I was just talking about this a few
Speaker 1: days ago. You know, we use UM you know Microsoft
Speaker 1: Office teams. You know, they it's enabled the company to
Speaker 1: early transition from the heart of operations to a launch
Speaker 1: pad for you know, their enterprise cloud workflows Azure. And
Speaker 1: you talk about UM a company that has adapted. You know,
Speaker 1: look at Microsoft, I mean they've gone there there to me,
Speaker 1: They've they've apple ized right, the things that they do,
Speaker 1: They've made them so simple that anybody can can use
Speaker 1: them and be productive and we've seen a tremendous productivity
Speaker 1: left even in our own organizations through Microsoft. So we
Speaker 1: think that, um, they're gonna take advantage of that, and
Speaker 1: this shift to the cloud computing is going to drive
Speaker 1: even greater business efficiency in the futures. So we're bullish
Speaker 1: on Microsoft. And you're just quickly twenty seconds, so you're
Speaker 1: comfortable with the levels. I mean, it had quite a
Speaker 1: run last year. It had quite quite a long run there, curl.
Speaker 1: But I think what we're with the markets having a
Speaker 1: hard time catching up to write, what we thought would
Speaker 1: take a couple of years in a decade happened literally
Speaker 1: in a year, you know, with the migration to the
Speaker 1: digital world. Yeah, Microsoft is in the center of that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's those companies that you know, are in the spot
Speaker 1: of right as things, you know, pick up a lot
Speaker 1: of momentum in terms of those changing trends. If they're
Speaker 1: in the right place right there, just gonna benefit from it. Yeah, Amazon, Microsoft, Appleflix. Right,
Speaker 1: this momentum, you know, plays that everybody gets a little
Speaker 1: concerned about. All right, Ron Carson, thank you so much,
Speaker 1: CEO of Carson Group, on the phone from Scottsdale. Lovely Scottsdale.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Bloomberg Business Week. Download the podcast
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