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[music]

Bloomberg Tech is live from coast to

coast with Caroline Hyde in New York and

Ed [music] Lelo in San Francisco.

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This is Bloomberg Tech. Coming up, Open

AAI releases a slew of policy

recommendations to help navigate the AI

era. We'll discuss with its chief global

affairs officer, Chris Leane, later

[music] this hour.

>> Plus, Oracle names a new CFO to help the

company navigate massive data center

development plans and a cash crunch.

[music]

>> And NASA's Artemis 2 is set for the

first Luna flyby with astronauts on

board in more than 50 years. We'll

discuss what to expect. And all [music]

of this amid the context of global

instability, concerns about the Middle

East conflict, and indeed a market that

is on edge, hopeful that ceasefire could

be upon us, but still we're seeing the

latest rebuttals coming from Iran. We're

still holding on to gains up 4/10 of a

percent on the NASDAQ 100. I'm looking

at Bitcoin holding above that level of

two almost 3% higher, but just sub the

$70,000, but there is optimism in the

market. Is it right to be had at the

moment? And

>> the headlines on the terminal this

morning is about Iran rejecting a

ceasefire and wanting a permanent end to

the war in Iran. Let's bring in Bloom's

Tyler Kendall out of Washington DC.

That's where we're at. You know, there

is a back and forth between which each

side wants from the president's

perspective and from the United States

of America's perspective. What is the

latest, Tyler?

>> Hey, Ed. Well, at this point, it's not

necessarily surprising that we heard

from Iranian state media within the last

30 minutes saying that Iran has rejected

a ceasefire proposal because earlier

this morning, an Iranian official came

out and said that quote, "No rational

person would agree to a ceasefire,

accusing a short-term agreement of being

in favor of the US to give the US time

to regroup." But this is really raising

questions as we get closer to President

Trump's now extended deadline of

tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. Eastern for Iran

to make a deal amid US threats to hit

Iranian civilian infrastructure. So,

we'll have to watch where this goes from

here. President Trump is set to brief

reporters at 1 p.m. Eastern where we may

be able to get some more of our

questions answered because Axios is now

reporting that Iran has instead

submitted a 10-point plan to the US

which US officials are calling

maximalist in their demands. We don't

have the details quite yet on this

proposal, but we know previously Iran

has demanded, for example, to have

sovereignty over the Strait of Hermuz.

And that appears to still be the biggest

sticking point. We've heard from Iranian

state media over the weekend saying that

Iran needs to have payments for war

damages that they are seeking to be

repaid through tolls charged on ships

going through the straight. There has

been a little bit of progress as you

well know. Bloomberg News crunched the

data and are now saying that we have

seen the highest amount of traffic

through the strait this weekend, but it

is still falling well below those levels

that we saw before the war began. Most

Tyler Kendall with what you need to know

in terms of geopolitics. We thank you.

Look, as tensions in the Middle East

remain elevated to say the least,

investors are weighing what it means for

the markets for risk appetite and the

outlook of big tech for us on this show.

Jed Ell person person to talk to about

it. Argent capital management joins us

now. you help manage the large cap

equity fund over there and it's a tough

time for anyone trying to navigate these

markets. When will big tech managed to

go back on the upside? We had a strong

week last week, but will that last?

>> Yeah, I think that's probably the

biggest question facing the market today

um heading into earning season here in

two weeks. I think investors in big tech

uh the big capex spenders especially um

Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Google

investors want more confidence that

those humongous capex spending plans are

going to pay off you know in higher

revenue and higher profits and um there

are initial signs of that but not enough

to get investors over the hump and so um

this is a really big earning season for

them. they, you know, announced last

quarter, you know, humongous increases,

60, 70, 80% increases in capex for 2026.

Investors want to see, um, positive

revenue estimate revisions um, you know,

to follow that. And I think, um, AWS and

and Google's GCP in particular are going

to show us that in the first quarter

with more to come later in the year. Um

and then Microsoft is more of a um a

mixed picture because over the last year

they've kind of repprioritized

um their own model development within

the company after their openi agreement

was renegotiated. So a little bit of a

messy picture with Microsoft but I think

we're going to see clear signs of

acceleration for AWS and GCP

>> and that will be the catalyst enough to

put the geopolitical angst to the

sidelines for big fun managers. You

think

>> I I think it has the potential to be.

Investors have been disappointed in

Amazon and Google and Microsoft over the

last year because their free cash flow

estimates have been declining because of

those really big capex increases. I

think that trend is going to reverse

here as 2026 progresses and I hope that

the first quarter um is kind of the

first tangible sign of that.

>> Jed state of play is the NASDAQ 100 down

more than 4% modestly underperforming

the S&P 500. Chip stocks up 11% year to

date in part because of memory probably

earlier in the year. What I'm trying to

get a sense of is is how micro focused

investors in the technology sector are

are on the war in Iran or if they're

already looking past it anyway and other

structural um and spending issues that

you just outlined in part with the

hyperscalers.

>> Yeah, I think prior to the war breaking

out, tech was underperforming

meaningfully um from the start of the

year to the start of the war. since the

war broke out, you know, the last um you

know, 25 trading days or so, tech has

performed be better relative to other

sectors. Um so, you know, I I interpret

that as the market being more concerned

with AI and its really fast, you know,

adoption within our economy and the the

positives and negatives there more so

than the impact of war.

>> I have to ask you about um some of the

IPOs waiting in the wings. There was a

lot over the weekend on the social

medias about the relative performance of

some public names might be indicative of

investors getting themselves ready for a

SpaceX IPO in June. We reported just

last week that that the S1 filed

confidentially it's going to be June. Is

that something that actually happens in

markets where people are like I better

have some cash ready for this?

>> Yeah. Yeah. I think, you know, perhaps

the most fascinating tech question in

2026 is um where is the money going to

come from for the SpaceX anthropic and

uh and OpenAI IPOs? And I think an

obvious first thought is um the rest of

publicly traded tech. Um do investors

pre-trade that to the extent you're

you're suggesting? You know, trades

happening in March and April for an IPO

that will come in June and then perhaps

the fourth quarter in the case of

Anthropic? And

>> I'm not I'm not suggesting, Jed, I'm

asking. I've got no idea cuz I don't

participate in the market. So that's why

I want to ask you.

>> Yeah. Yeah. Um I doubt it personally. Um

we're not doing that at Argent Capital.

Um we will consider um Anthropic and uh

and OpenAI and SpaceX, but we wouldn't

pre-trade it by a couple months and get

that cash lined up with with that, you

know, duration. That's not necessary for

us. What's so interesting is they are

yes a space focused company and I know

you have exposure to space and and

aerospace more broadly in the fund but

we've got three of the biggest players

in AI all coming to the market at the

same time. Now, interestingly, Jamie

Diamond's been putting his very long pen

to paper or typing away for his annual

letter to investors. And today, he did

talk about AI in many ways, and I want

to focus in on the investment side

because he's saying it's not a

speculative bubble, but at the moment,

you can't see who the winners and the

losers are actually going to be in AI

related industries. Do you think that's

right? Can you not discern who the

winners are yet?

>> Yeah, I think those comments stuck out

to me and really spoke to me. I I think

that he gave a pretty accurate

description of what's happening in tech

today. I think that there, you know, in

any investing environment, there are

certain companies that fit in the too

hard bucket for investors. Um, there are

too many unanswered questions. Um,

there's too much uncertainty. Investors

decide, I'd rather be on the sideline. I

don't want to invest in this right now.

Um, today it feels like that too hard

bucket is really large, much bigger than

normal. And of course, software is in

the too hard bucket. Um I think

insurance brokers are in the too hard

bucket and a whole bunch of other

sectors and industries um where

investors are not sure if AI is going to

be a net positive for these businesses

and industries or if it will be a net

negative and so we've seen valuations

compress significantly for software most

you know most notably but many other

industries and sectors too. So his

comments today just uh you know I think

it was a good kind of description of

where markets at today that two hard

bucket is really big. his comments

indicate, you know, he sees a lot of

companies in that too hard bucket. And

um you know, me as an investor, um my

response to that is um I think that

smells like opportunity in many ways. Um

I think investors are starting to pick

through the rubble as it as it relates

to software in particular. And I think

there's a lot more of that to come in

the future. There are software companies

um whose competitive position will erode

because of AI and the reduced cost of

software development. But I think there

are other software companies that are

going to adopt AI, integrate it into

their product set, improve the offerings

for consumers and grow and thrive.

>> Right.

>> Jed Ellen Capital Management. Thank you

very much. Now, coming up, the world

faces an era of AI upheaval. But fear

not, Open AI is out with a set of policy

recommendations to put people, real

human people, [music] first. We'll

discuss that next. This is Bloomberg

Tech.

Open AI says it's working to quote

ensure AI benefits everyone and it's now

rolling out policy recommendations to

address the rapid social changes AI is

driving from jobs to regulation. For

more, Bloomberg's AI reporter, Seth

Figman joins us now. You're not a

reporter, you're an editor and you help

managing the team in many ways. Seth,

I'm really interested in on the why.

Now, this is a lot of proposals,

conversation starters, the intertwining

of public private partnerships, but why

are they putting it out now? Yeah, I

mean certainly the rhetoric from OpenAI

and elsewhere is that we are moving very

fast towards more advanced AI systems.

OpenAI specifically is supposed to be

working on a new model in the coming

weeks. So it could partly be a way of

getting ahead of that. Keep in mind that

what they're saying here is still

hypothetical. They're talking about a

more advanced form of AI called super

intelligence that would outperform any

person on Earth at any task. We're not

there yet. But these proposals are just

that. They're trying to shift the

discourse a little bit and trying to

incentivize bigger ideas, a new social

contract if you will, that they seem to

liken loftily to the New Deal. So, a lot

of open AI news over a long weekend in

the United States, a reshuffle in terms

of leadership and management. Two health

related um and one sort of strategic

just update us uh as as best you can.

>> Yeah, a lot of news right before the

holiday weekend. you know, Fiji Simo,

who has really been sort of a fast, you

know, growing influential figure in the

organization, stepping back for a

short-term medical leave. She was

previously the CEO of Instacart and has

been really instrumental in a lot of

their product and business initiatives.

Brad Lycap, who we've certainly had on

our air before, the COO of the company,

who had assumed some of the CEO

responsibilities over the last year and

change, is now stepping into a new

special role where he'll help oversee

partly the efforts to bring AI to more

businesses through a joint venture with

PE firms. And then their CMO is stepping

down permanently to deal with her

recovery from cancer. So, it's a mix of

factors here and stepping back. is a

meaningful shakeup at a time when we

understand this company is moving ahead

with plans for possible IPO and just

close the largest funding round that we

have ever seen.

>> All right, Bloomberg's AI editor, Seth

Figerman, thank you very much. Another

story out this morning. Oracle has

tapped former Schneider Electric EVP

Hillary Maxon as CFO and that's

effective immediately. For more on the

move, let's get out to Bloomberg's Brody

Ford who covers Oracle. Um, Hillary

Maxon, interesting appointment, but I

think that the bigger story is, you

know, Oracle has a new CFO at a

critically important time for managing

Oracle's finances. [clears throat] What

do we need to know?

>> We got to remember Oracle is going

through a pretty gnarly financial

situation, right? I mean, they are

transitioning from an asset database

company to one that is going through

tens of billions of dollars in data

center development and they've had to

issue equity. They're doing thousands of

layoffs. And so they're navigating a

pretty complicated financial picture and

it's not shocking to see a new leader

for those finances.

>> Yeah. The expertise that she brings in

particular, the background and and where

really her focus will lie. You think

Brody?

>> Yeah. Well, I think that's really

interesting because you know they didn't

pick a software CFO. They picked someone

with heavy industrial experience and

that's effectively how the biggest tech

companies are operating now, right? They

are heavy industrial companies with

massive capex books and it makes sense

that they would bring somebody kind of

outside the software world to navigate

that

>> Ford across all things Oracle as you

always are. Thank you very much indeed.

Now coming up SpaceX it prepares for its

launch into the public markets that has

more than $2 trillion valuation

potentially. We'll discuss expectations

for its listing and other mega public

debuts. That's next. This is Bloomberg

Tech. [music]

You know, Musk's SpaceX is meeting with

banks today, we understand, as the

world's most valuable startup gears to

pitch potentially biggest ever market

debut. Let's get the latest Bloomberg's

Bailey Lipshults. So, we understand much

is on the table. Much has been asked of

banks, not just only advice, it would

seem in some reporting. But what are we

likely to get in terms of a sense of

when they could come, how significantly

they're going to get to this two

trillion number?

>> Yeah. So, what you'll see play out over

the coming weeks is these so-called

testing the waters meetings. So,

basically bankers will meet with their

pitch decks, show investors and say,

"Hey, look at Terraab. How exciting are

orbital space uh data centers and what

the ultimate vision could look like?" It

won't necessarily [snorts] focus on uh

actual valuation just yet, but it'll

really center on the financials,

financial forecast, what 27, what 2028

could look like given the expectations

that this should price in June. So the

next kind of March forward would be

waiting for that formal flip public uh

which would then kickstart call it 22

days to going public. So that's the next

key milestone, but we're going to be

talking to investors, talking to

sources, trying to understand what these

meetings look like while the company

awaits a formal response from the SEC,

which would then kind of move this

along. We we reported right in the

middle of last week that the

confidential filings in. Then we

reported that the valuation being

targeted is climbing above $2 trillion.

But all of those little bits of

reporting would indicate what you just

talked about that June is happening. Um,

what else would give us confidence that

a June IPO is realistic? At this point,

>> the big thing, Ed, is that it'll take a

month typically for the SEC to give

formal comments. So, they filed uh the

middle of last week, call it the early

first few days of May is when they would

get that filing response from the SEC.

It would be up to the company and up to

its lawyers to address any qualms from

regulators to really set the stage for

what we call a formal public flip which

then kicks off again a 15-day waiting

period before a formal marketing could

take place and then the deal could be

priced. So the big thing to keep in mind

is if there's any hold up with the SEC

that could delay this process but from

our understanding the company wants to

move as quickly as possible which would

then mean a public flip where you

formally see that S1 uh on Edgar and

kind of being breaking news sometime in

mid to late May which would then set the

stage for an IPO2 price and the company

to start trading at some point in mid to

late June.

>> Obviously retail investors get excited

but who are the big players that are

likely to be talking to at the moment?

There has been reporting of big anchor

investors who are being looked for.

>> Anyone and everyone will be kind of

tasked with investing. When you're

looking to raise $75 billion, that's

more than double the largest IPO of all

time. And when you look at a book that

according to our reporting, they could

try to sell about 30% to retail. That's

more than $22 billion. So, you're still

solving for a $50 billion problem.

Whether that's sovereign wealth funds

around the world, whether that's

institutional investors and also, oh by

the way, probably being pitched to some

of the largest strategic investors just

given the propensity for XAI orbital

data centers and kind of the grand

vision that Elon Musk is pitching.

>> Bloomberg's Bailey Lip Schultz, thank

you very much. Let's stick with

expectations for a SpaceX IPO and other

possible mega listings this year. Lease

Fire is with us. She's the founder and

partner of IPO advisory firm class 5

Group. Bailey was just talking about the

test the waters meetings and one of the

things we've tried to report on in some

detail over a number of years it's not

new is the revenues breakdown at SpaceX

right there was a point where it went

from mostly launch to mostly Starlink

what I'm seeing and hearing right now is

Starlink at the top end tracking to

maybe 20 billion of revenues this year

you know if they exceed how do you um

price an IPO on that data

>> it's it's the perfect question um and

thanks for having me here. Um, first of

all, all the numbers we've seen so far

are leaked numbers or rumored numbers or

through the grapevine. Until they flip

that document public, we aren't really

going to know what any of the numbers

are. And then until they go out, as you

just heard, and meet with investors and

to test the waters, we're not going to

know what the expect the bank's

expectations are for 2027 2028. I

presume they'll go out much further.

But none of the numbers that are being

bandied about in any way fundamentally

correlate to a trillion dollar or a

trillion half dollar or a2 trillion

dollar

>> right

>> valuation. It's all it's all hope. It's

all do we believe the vision. It's all

do we believe believe [clears throat]

that they will have limited competition

which we know there's more coming. Uh so

it's it's a leap of faith and there's

going to be a lot of FOMO here and the

um the best way to look at how to value

it is to go way back to 1934 where you

look at Graham and Dodd who wrote the

book on fundamental securities

valuations and they had a great comment

that was applicable during the internet

phase and it's applicable now and it's

hey look there are times I'm

paraphrasing but there are times when

there are new fields of endeavor new

companies in areas we've never seen

before. And investors can in fact make a

lot of money if they are involved early

enough. But everybody needs to

understand it is not a fundamental

investment. It is a bet. It is a

speculative bet. And that's what money

at these valuations will be going into

SpaceX. You roll a dice and you say,

>> you know, Starling's pretty cool.

>> Really? You think Lisa this is rolling a

dice situation? That's certainly not

what's going to be being discussed with

banks talking to investors today.

>> There is no math that correlates the

current revenues to $2 trillion. None.

So yes, it's a bet on the future and

it's a um compelling and potentially

fascinating and enormous and also very

uncertain future. lease typically before

a big IPO of a late stage startup they

would raise a big round right largely to

bring in the crossover investors in this

case SpaceX merged with XAI which

changed the valuation dynamic brought

debt onto the balance sheet etc what was

your assessment of that transaction pre

IPO

typical Musk I would say um I think

again until we know what the math looks

like it's very hard to make any sort of

a sound assessment. It's clearly

bundling things together and heaven

knows he's done uh pretty astonishing

things in the past that have worked out

and some that haven't. Um so it's we

don't yet know and again I've not been

on the test the waters meetings. Maybe

they're explaining that maybe they're

explaining this but how the two are

going to interact such that one and one

equal eight. Is does this have read

across to any of the others in the

pipeline, Lisa, or is this very much

your view on Elon Musk and this bet on

SpaceX because there's also a bet on XAI

and we have plenty of other AI companies

potentially waiting in the wings.

>> So, from a general sense, when you have

a very large IPO, and we've never seen

one like this before, but we've had

Alibaba, we've had Facebook, we've had

other big, we had Saudia Ramco, although

kind of a very different industry. When

you have a big IPO that goes goes well,

as Alibaba did, usually a number of the

companies in the wings put the foot on

the gas and say, "We're going to take

advantage of the fact that investors are

feeling good about IPOs." And you see

much more activity. When you see a

larger IPO that stumbles out of the

gate, as Facebook did, people and

companies go back into hibernation for a

while. So, this could be the opening of

the door that certainly bankers would

love to see, but we have to see how it

plays. He's

a buyer. It's been fascinating talking

to you, partner and founder at Class 5

Group about the lineup in that's

currently happening with all things

public markets. Let's have a quick recap

on the public markets right now as to

what's happening when President Trump

has been speaking. Some headlines have

been coming out moments ago, part of the

White House Easter egg role. But of

course, conversation has moved into the

world of Iran. We understand that

President Trump currently is saying that

Iran has some missiles and drones left

and the Iranian people will fight the

regime when it is safe for them to do

so. But more broadly, he's talking about

Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Ed,

he's also talking about his popularity

right now, the American people wanting

the US to win and to come home and more

broadly that he'd like this end to the

current conflict ahead.

>> [music]

>> Okay, coming up on the program, we speak

with Chris Leane, Open AAI's chief

global affairs officer as the company

releases social and economic policy

proposals for the AI era. It's halftime

in the program. We'll be right back. And

this is Bloomberg [music] Tech.

Welcome back to Bloomberg Tech. In an

era of artificial intelligence upheaval,

OpenAI is proposing ways to spread the

benefits of the technology and put

people first. To start, it's published a

set of policy recommendations ranging

from a public wealth fund and expanded

safety nets to shorter work weeks and

faster electrical grid development. For

more, OpenAI's chief global affairs

officer, Chris Leane, is with us here on

Bloomberg Tech. I mean, they they are

proposals. They are not formal

proposals. But what I'm trying to

understand with this Chris, if we get

the idea, is how everyday people would

participate in it? Who enacts it? Open

AI or government? But you you're talking

about people whose lives are impacted

themselves by AI participating in it.

Explain it.

>> Yeah, that that's exactly right. Let me

take a step back and and Caroline,

thanks for having me. Uh so first and

foremost what this document really

reflects is the work and thinking of

open AAI's researchers the folks who are

really building and innovating this AI

technology and I think they understand

and recognize that this is technology

that's on par with historic general

purpose technologies of the past. the

wheel, the printing press, the

combustion engine, electricity, you

know, each of those ultimately drove the

human condition forward by driving

economic progress. Uh, but every time

one of these technologies came along,

there was obviously challenges that came

with it. Uh, and so what this document

really is attempting to do is to put out

some concepts and ideas that are really

as transformative

>> as the actual underlying technology. Uh,

and so it's divided into two sections.

One section really deals with an open

economy which is what you are talking

about. How can we make sure AI is free,

fair, safe? How can people participate

as much as possible? And you know the

sovereign wealth fund idea you know is

something that we really took from what

we had seen uh in Alaska with the Alaska

permanent fund where the entire

population of Alaska gets to participate

in the economics of the uh fossil fuel

extraction in Alaska. Uh but ultimately

there's a whole range of ideas. One of

the I think at the core of all of this

though particularly on the economic

opportunity piece is the understanding

that AI needs to be understood as a

right that everyone in this country

everyone in the world has at least the

opportunity to be able to participate in

and that's really what's fun this

>> I mean Chris a public or sovereign

wealth fund is a very specific proposal

have you discussed that idea with anyone

within the administration who who within

the administration Have you discussed

that with?

>> Yeah, I'm not going to get into specific

names which may be a shock to you, but

um we have certainly had those

conversations with folks both in the

administration. Uh you obviously have

the Trump accounts um you know, which is

a version of some kind of a fund. Uh I

think in the last 2 or 3 weeks, I've

probably met with a dozen, two dozen

actually, as I think about it, uh

members of the United States Senate

where we've been talking about these

types of concepts. And I think what's

really going on right now is that there

is a growing awareness from policy

makers particularly in Washington DC of

just how fast this technology is

accelerating the scale that it's going

to be impacting all of us and an

interest and desire to really uplevel

the nature of the policy conversations.

You know to date the conversations have

really been almost binary. On one hand,

there is, you know, an approach, keep

your hands off. Don't worry,

everything's going to be great. On the

other possible extreme, there is the

doomer view, which is that this is

technology that's so powerful only a

small number of people should control

it. uh we're really trying to put out a

different approach and this approach is

based on actually offering solutions

that are going to meet the technology

where the technology is but doing it in

a way that's inherently small D

democratic working through the

democratic process to actually identify

the ideas that will allow this

technology to benefit as many people as

possible. Um and that's that's really

what we're trying to put out here today.

And this is a conversation starter as

you were alluding to. Uh we don't

pretend to have all the answers. Uh

certainly people have smarter ideas,

people will pressure test these, but we

do think we need to open up that

proverbial Overton window so that we

begin having these conversations now so

that we can identify the solutions

quickly given where the technology is

going.

>> The now is interesting.

>> Yeah. Was it now prompted by this

growing awareness that this isn't very

popular with the general public right

now or is it a now because you've got

something coming? The models are

updating. An IPO is on the diverge and

therefore you need to get ahead of the

policy perspective too. It

>> it's it's really the the the the latter,

not the former. Um I mean certainly when

you talk about and you look at the

underlying data, those who use AI tend

to have a pretty positive to very

positive perspective on it. And you know

we're nearing uh a billion folks who are

using this on a regular basis. So as

more and more people use AI obviously

perceptions of it understanding how it's

going to impact education, healthcare,

their daily lives grows. But this is

really uh at the core and again this

came from our researchers who are really

understanding where this technology is

going and how quickly it's moving in

that direction. um that we do need to

begin to identify those ideas, those

solutions, those concepts that are going

to meet the technology where it is. I

said this, but this technology is

transformative. We're going to need

policy ideas that are equally

transformative. And if I could, I mean,

maybe an analogy here [snorts] is the

New Deal. And I don't mean the New Deal

in a sense that we believe that there's

big government solutions for this. But

what the New Deal ultimately recognized

was that as technology drove

industrialization,

there really needed to be a calibration

or perhaps a recalibration between the

allocation of capital and labor to make

sure that the social contract was really

in balance.

>> And you want labor to have more of a

voice.

>> I'm sorry.

>> You want labor to have more of a voice,

Chris. And what's interesting is others

are speaking to this too. Jamie Diamond

putting out his letter to shareholders

today also talking about his view that

this is moving quickly. It could

eliminate some jobs and his firm is got

definitive plans on how we can support

and redeploy our affected workforce. How

is other business going to play a role

Chris? And also what other governments

are doing? You look at this from a

global perspective. Where is doing this

right versus the US?

>> Caroline, it's a great question and I

think you can see interesting pockets

around the world. You know, when I

travel to Asia or Japan [clears throat]

or a Korea, you see a real focus on

driving up um AI literacy, raising the

amount of people in those countries who

actually understand how to use AI. I

think Japan has a goal of 80% of its

country are graduating students literate

by 2030. You go to places like Estonia,

which has always been a digital forward

country. They're building AI into their

actual government infrastructure. At

Greece, we've spent a lot of time with

the prime minister of Greece and his

government. He's in the process of

building AI into their public education

system. And so, you're seeing pockets of

this. Um, but again, I think part of

what's behind this release of this

particular document is our belief that

we really do need to scale up the kinds

of conversations that are taking place

um so that we're actually able to meet

this technology where it is and more

moreover where it's going.

Chris, there's been some reporting from

the information that your CFO Sarah

Frier has some concerns about the

spending plan over the next few years

and the reality of a timeline to IPO

this year in disagreement with Sam

Alman, your CEO. The report also details

that Sarah Fry was excluded from some

finance or investor meetings as a result

of that disagreement. What can you tell

us, please?

So, first of all, I'm actually blessed

and privileged to work with an

incredible team. Uh, not just in terms

of the talent, but how well everyone

really works together. Um, you know,

perhaps the greatest validation of both

the team, our researchers, and really

our overall strategy is that last week,

as you all covered, right, we announced

the single largest raise in history,

$122 billion. And at the core of that, I

think was the validation of our of our

focused or really laser focused strategy

which is on compute. Compute is really

Sam's insight. He deserves enormous

credit for this. He was there long

before anyone else. That it is the most

finite and most precious resource when

it comes to the intelligence age. And we

have focused a lot of our work on making

sure that we have access to that

compute. That compute drives a flywheel.

Right? For every quantum of compute we

get, we effectively get a 3x in revenue.

And it works the following way. Compute

drives innovation. What our researchers

do that then leads to more tools. Those

tools use lead to more users. Right? We

were the first to 10 million, first 100

million approaching.

>> I think we've lost

>> Chris, you're fine. Your uh your zoom

froze for a moment there, but I'm gonna

go back to my question. Sarah Frier was

or was not excluded from meetings

because of a de disagreement on strategy

with Sam Alman.

>> We just raised $122 billion and Sarah

Frier was at the center of all of those

meetings pulling all of those

conversations together. Uh it's awesome

to see the teamwork that exists between

her Sam Fiji um you know our our head of

applications. Uh, and as I said, it's uh

I get to work with a dream team um

[clears throat] in terms of the talent

and how well everyone works together.

>> And again, $122 billion. It's not the

amount of money, although that is a

large amount of money. It is the fact

that you've had probably one of the most

impressive cap tables in the world, take

a look at our business strategy, take a

look at our leadership, take a look at

our researchers, and really uh give us a

huge vote of confidence. I mean, think

about where we are from a revenue

perspective in 2024. I'm doing this off

the top of my head. Can I

>> We had a billion dollars in revenue a

quarter. We're now doing $2 billion in

revenue a month. I mean, you just

haven't seen growth numbers like that

historically.

>> Let's talk about the talent because it

it's got bigger and there has been

reshuffleling and our our thoughts go to

those with health issues, particularly

Fiji, as he she takes a step back,

Chris, but TBPN

that's coming under your leadership.

>> Yeah.

>> Why?

>> I'm so excited for this, Caroline. I am

so excited for this. Um I'm excited for

it for two reasons. Um, on one hand, you

know, these guys, Jordy and John and

their whole team do as good a job as

anyone out there in unpacking the why

and the how behind technology and

explicitly uh AI. I think folks come on

to other media outlets. I mean, you guys

do an incredible job of breaking news

and scooping news. What these guys do is

really break down ideas and scoop out

what's behind those ideas. And at a time

and you know this even relates to the

beginning of this conversation on the

document that we put out today at a time

when we really need to be scaling how

the world understands AI these folks do

one of the best jobs out there we want

to give them the resources so that their

audience grows and the second point here

is that I'm able to bring inhouse really

in my view what is the leading agency

when it comes to being content forward

and digital first. um you know a lot of

analogies have been used. I mean

Bloomberg is obviously owned by a

financial services company and then has

a media entity uh in terms of you know

analogies out there. I think there's

actually a different analogy here that's

a little bit more applicable and that is

you think about Apple uh under Steve

Jobs in the in the 1980s and early '90s

they actually brought in Shia Day which

had been their outside marketing agency

and created something called the Apple

Media Lab and it really became a model

for how to build in-house marketing uh

in an age when a lot of that that

marketing was done through what we would

now call traditional advertising. We're

in a different age today. uh digital is

at the center of the conversation. Uh

and I see this as an analogist to that,

but for the digital age, we're bringing

in really I think the best agency in the

world to help us do the best job we

possibly can do as we continue to grow

uh in terms of how we market and

communicate. So I I I'm totally pumped

for this. I'm really excited.

>> When you came on to talk about that

communication, that potential of policy

initiatives as well. Chris Leane, we

always wish we had another 10-15 minutes

with you. Chris Hane of

>> I thought we get to talk about the NCAA

championships tonight.

>> Next time we'll go a fair for that chief

global affairs officer. We so appreciate

you tuning in today and joining us.

Meanwhile, coming up, a new show. Well,

it's making fun at the Silicon [music]

Valley so-called bubble. We sit down

with the creator and star of the new AMC

show, The Audacity. That's the blue

tech. [music]

Genius is not about figuring out the

solution.

It's about being unhinged enough to do

something outrageous with it. Fear

impedes innovation.

I call that self police brutality. Tech

lives [snorts] matter.

>> Exactly.

>> That was a bit of the trailer for the

audacity. It's a new, should I say, dark

comedy coming to AMC set inside the

bubble of Silicon Valley. Pleased to say

the show's executive producer, Jonathan

Glats, is with us as well as one of the

stars, Billy Magnus, who had slightly

longer locks. Great to have you,

gentlemen.

>> Confirmed. Thank you so much.

>> Let's poke some fun or let's have some

reality check as well. What a time to be

writing about what maybe you're

presenting as masters of the universe in

some way here. How did this come to

bear? How relevant is it for our time? I

think it's extremely relevant, but it is

one of these funny things with

television. You write it a year or so

before it actually airs. So, you're

guessing at what might be relevant. Uh,

and it's a difficult thing to chase.

Obviously, with tech, it's just moving

way too fast to try to anticipate what

the next thing is going to be. I think

we managed to do that. It's it's kind of

like sometimes the defense department

brings in screenwriters to say like what

would what would a great weapon be that

that of the future. In a lot of ways,

that's what we did in terms of like

where we thought tech was going. The

therapy bot, things like uh even even

aspects that were major news items like

what happened with the VA and Doge and

everything like that is a major story

point for us, but we wrote it before

that actually happened. life imitating

art.

>> Indeed.

>> Uh but what's interesting is well the

X-P prize actually is going out there at

the moment wanting people to come up

with more positive views of how

technology is going to change cuz they

want the next phone in the way that was

inspired by Star Trek. But for you, how

did you get into character? How did you

think about this tension that we have of

utopia versus well dystopia?

>> Oh, that's uh quite I you know basing as

an actor you know you take in you

decipher what you see out there. We know

all the people in the headlines. We know

who is in the tech titans of uh

>> who are you who are you most fascinated

by?

>> I all of them to tell you to tr I don't

want to put names out there but we know

who they are. And then you just take the

good, the bad, the ugly and then you try

to build a character through through all

that and make this mlange of a character

that I was like, okay, what's

interesting to me? What's scary to me?

Um yeah, it's just they're out there. We

see them. We know who we are. And the

best part about Jonathan Glatzer making

the story. Yeah. There's the tech

titans, but Duncan Park is right under

them and he is hungry for it. And it

just kind of shows a little bit the the

toxic nature that can seep into these

guys who probably genuinely when they

started they had hope and and had hope

to build something positive for the

world and then greed, corruption, all

the beautiful things that we see out

there seeps in.

>> So beautiful. Yeah. And I think it was

important also for there to be for him

to be a wannabe

>> titan for that desperation to be there

>> to to to fuel the story, but also to not

necessarily

be influenced by the fame and the

spotlight that the people at the very

top of the ladder, we we we see them be

like rock stars. And I feel like that

desire to be amongst them was so

important, but not actually being one of

them was was uh I guess

>> it's a fun world he's created. Actually,

it's not it's just again our job is to

show a little bit of a mirror to

reality. Oh, hey, I I hear you.

>> No, I know I I know you don't want to

name names, right? So, your your

character is an audacious data mining

CEO. I can tell you having a decade

that's like the the oil of that

industry.

>> So how do you prepare for that

character? So there are some real world

examples out there um of the audacious

data mining CEO

>> go through the process

>> the process of it um honestly it's just

looking regarding uh what's out there

and then you slowly just pull back each

little layer of it and you make a

beautiful dish out of it and I think

that's the fun part. Again, the world

was created in Jonathan Glatzer's mind

and like to have one of the most, you

know, profound writers of our time. And

I'll quote me on that. I think he is

absolutely exceptional. That playground

then is created for me just to dance on.

And I I couldn't be more grateful to be

a collaborator with this this fine

gentleman to my right. Likewise,

>> Jonathan, I um I I want to respect the

the specifics of the audacity and and

the distinction in genre almost, but I

came to San Francisco in 2018 with

several seasons of Silicon Valley under

my belt, right? And that show so closely

aligned with the culture, satirical,

poked fun at at what it is to be maybe

the lower end of the spectrum, the

startup, small scale, early stage.

How conscious of that were you that that

that exists out there and and how much

you wanted Audacity to to be

representative of all of the capital

that's here, intellectual and financial

capital that underpins the technology

industry.

>> I I think that uh I I was a huge fan of

Silicon Valley myself. It's brilliant uh

brilliant satire. It definitely is uh

about a time in the valley that was a

little bit more optimistic. the garage

>> incubator type of culture and that that

striving to uh you know make it to to to

a place um which is as I said before is

is part of what what Duncan is is going

through but Duncan already Duncan Park

the character that Billy plays so

brilliantly um

um he um he he's he had a company prior

to this called Fafa which was about

bringing people together and uh you know

they would be trading candles and canoes

and stuff like that and then he became a

data merchant

third party type of uh uh data merchant

and I think that what we're showing in

our you know it's it's a very different

show it's a much more uh of a families

interacting the psychiatrist is the

second lead of the show um but the idea

that everybody body back in the day was

truly optimistic in a genuine way that

they were going to be bringing people

together. They were going to lower the

barriers uh in terms of tolerance and uh

people communicating together and and

and um the idea that information is is

going to be something that's reliable

and accessible. And that all kind of

went in the opposite direction for for

the most part for the most part. And um

but they made a lot of money doing it.

And so it was kind of like wait are we

we're sort of tearing at society in a

lot of ways here and communication is

been completely um bifurcated and and uh

people are don't seem to be uh any more

tolerant let alone all the other uh

things that they that they talked about

but we're making so much money doing it

>> and maybe this is what people want you

know and so that sort of cynicism and

that that um I think it just imbued

a different chapter in the Silicon on

Valley story and um and hopefully

there's a a chapter coming up. I don't

know when, but hopefully there will be

one um where they realize that the power

that they that they have uh is is also

the power to do good.

>> We'll see.

>> But also, I love the the characters he's

created. It is the culture. You're

examining the culture that lives with

inside Silicon Valley now. And I love

that that that dynamic of the whole

whole project. I I feel lucky to be part

of this project. Honestly,

>> gentlemen, we appreciate having you here

on Bloomberg Tech and I think I'm right

in saying it's already been renewed for

a second season as well. The Audacity

premieres April 12th on AMC. Jonathan

Glatzer, Billy Magnus, thank you for

coming by. NASA's Artemis 2 is set to

pass at the closest distance that humans

have come to the lunar surface in 50

years. 7:00 p.m. New York time tonight

as the crew does its flyby of the moon.

Let's bring in Bloomberg's Lauren Grush.

Uh, just back from first Florida, then

Houston. Big moment. 7:00 p.m. What do

we need to know?

>> There are quite a a few big moments

today. Actually, one thing that'll start

before even 7:00 p.m. is around 2:00

p.m. Eastern, the crew will actually

break the distance record previously set

by Apollo 13 of the farthest any humans

have traveled from Earth. So, that will

kind of be a nice little leadin to the

flyby. And then, yeah, this is today is

the day what the Aremis 2 mission is all

about. It's getting close to the moon

and being able to see the far side of

the moon, parts of the far side that

humans have never seen before. So, it's

a really exciting day and it's been so

exciting to watch this minuteby minute,

tick by tick as this journey continues.

Lauren, you've got some fascinating

reporting on what's working well out

there and also what's not working well.

>> Right. So, actually, I've been blown

away by how smooth this mission has

gone. Obviously, there's little glitches

here and there that they'll be reporting

to mission control, but overall it seems

to be a relatively smooth mission. I one

thing that we have all noticed is that

the biggest headache might be the

onboard toilet. So, it kind of started

acting up that first day of flight. They

were able to fix it by helping to prime

the pump, but then on uh the next day or

a few days after, they uh had an issue

with maybe some ice blockage uh from the

vent line. you they dump the contents

overboard periodically uh and there was

kind of some blockage there. So, but

they seem to get it working again. So,

it's just been um it's been a nice

comedic moment. You know, if that if the

only issue is your toilet, obviously,

it's probably not something the

astronauts want to be malfunctioning,

but at least that's the only thing that

seems to be a real problem. [laughter]

Laura Grush. It's been some beautiful

writing, some incredible reporting

[music] throughout the weekend and we so

appreciate you joining us ahead of

today's really important day of space.

Ed, that does it for this edition of

Bloomberg Tech back together again.

[music] Yeah, strong start to the week.

A lot to recap. Check out the podcast.

You know exactly where to find it on the

Bloomberg terminal as well as online on

Apple, Spotify, and on iHeart. From New

York and from San Francisco, this is

Bloomberg Tech.

>> [music]