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Jeff Bezos Talks Taxes. Kara and Scott Are Not Buying It | Pivot

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Jeff Bezos Talks Taxes. Kara and Scott Are Not Buying It | Pivot

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1871 segments

0:00

I started doing it and I'm sitting there

0:01

in the park and I'm like, do I really

0:03

need to be an [ __ ]

0:05

>> Not today. Yeah, tomorrow. Tomorrow.

0:13

>> Hi everyone. This is Pivot from New York

0:15

Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast

0:17

Network. I'm Cara Swisser

0:18

>> and I'm Scott Callaway.

0:20

>> We're going to do something a little

0:21

different today and start with a

0:22

voicemail from a listener who's going to

0:24

explain the situation. Let's play a

0:27

clip.

0:28

>> Hi. After listening to Pivot today, I

0:32

saw that James Murdoch is buying part of

0:35

Box Media and I was curious how that

0:38

might change the freedom you guys have

0:40

on your various podcasts. Anyway, love

0:43

your shows. Just finished burn book and

0:45

listen to all your podcasts. Keep up the

0:48

good work. Jenny from Texas.

0:50

>> Oh, that's a very good question. Jenny

0:52

from Texas. So, in case people don't

0:54

know what she's talking about, James

0:55

Murdoch's company, Lupa Systems, is

0:57

acquiring Vox Media Podcast Network, New

1:00

York Magazine, and the Vox site. Um, the

1:02

other parts of Vox Media, including

1:04

Eater, The Verge, SP Nation, are

1:05

becoming a a different company, a new

1:09

independent company. The deal is

1:10

expected to close in the coming weeks.

1:12

There's a few legal legalities and this

1:14

and that. From what I understand, Lupa

1:16

Systems has not disclosed the purchase

1:18

price, but it's reportedly around 300

1:19

million. the podcast network is the mo

1:21

the more attractive asset that we love

1:23

New York magazine and it does rather

1:25

well um and love docs uh and so explain

1:30

Scott people want to know what we think

1:32

about this because a lot of people have

1:33

bad information one first of all Jim

1:35

Bankov is staying as CEO of this unit um

1:38

it's a spin-off essentially uh of of

1:41

these assets and which have been fast

1:43

growing so explain Mr. business. Explain

1:46

the situation.

1:48

>> Well, about a decade ago, people

1:49

thought, wouldn't it be great to

1:50

aggregate kind of this alternative media

1:53

or build alternative media companies for

1:55

a new world? And so, Buzzfeed, Food 52,

1:59

CNET, Vice, was it called Mike,

2:03

Mashable,

2:04

>> Mike? Yeah.

2:04

>> And Vox. And back when they thought

2:08

probably six, seven years ago that if we

2:11

bring together sort of these good little

2:12

media assets, some digital, some not,

2:16

and group them together, we can spack it

2:18

and it'll go public at 1 23 billion. And

2:21

so Jim logically, the CEO of Vox thought

2:25

this is a good idea. bought New York

2:26

magazine, had a bunch of very, you know,

2:29

fast growing websites, Eater, Verge, you

2:34

know, Vulture, and then started some

2:38

naent podcasts, right? And then

2:40

essentially what happened was uh the

2:43

market never said, okay, there was never

2:46

the bloom came off the rose

2:48

>> of all these companies. But basically

2:50

they're competing against monopolies who

2:52

extract rents and then their margin was

2:56

you know the margin of all these

2:57

companies is Google and Meta and

2:58

Amazon's opportunity and they've slowly

3:00

but surely sucked the oxygen out of the

3:02

room and BuzzFeed from peak valuation to

3:04

sales price was off 86% food 52 lost 96%

3:08

of its value CNET lost 94% of its value

3:13

was I think uh basically went bankrupt

3:15

but sold some assets was down at least

3:18

93% % uh Mashable off 80%. I mean just

3:22

on and on and on and on. Tumblr, my

3:25

favorite, 1.1 billion to 3 million. Uh

3:28

if you're an investor in Union Square

3:30

Ventures, thank God that the guy with

3:33

the Caesar's haircut, I forgot his name,

3:35

was able to convince

3:38

probably one of the weaker CEOs in

3:39

digital history to buy his bag of [ __ ]

3:42

for 1.1 billion tons.

3:43

>> That was Marissa Mayer at Yahoo.

3:44

>> Marissa Mayor, right? So effectively

3:47

this has just not worked out. Now what

3:50

and what to be you know Jim our guy who

3:54

we like has always said Scott be honest

3:55

and always told us to be honest so let

3:57

me be honest. They spent a lot of money

3:59

to create a company with negative

4:01

synergy. There's some real assets there.

4:03

New York Magazine is a trophy iconic

4:05

asset. Um the the sites themselves, the

4:10

digital assets are actually do pretty

4:12

well, but again see above they're in

4:15

they're swimming upstream against

4:17

giants. And then the smaller division

4:19

that started out as an afterthought has

4:21

become the growth engine and the crown

4:22

jewel. And Jim is a smart guy and

4:25

realized that the whole was less than

4:27

the sum of its parts and basically

4:28

decided to break them up into what was

4:31

going to be three buckets. But my

4:32

understanding is, and I do not have

4:34

inside information here, and I don't

4:36

want it, is that Jim Murdoch or James

4:39

Murdoch, who wants to be in the media

4:40

business, said, "I'll take New York

4:43

Magazine because I think he likes it and

4:45

it's an iconic asset. And what I really

4:47

want is the podcast network, which is

4:50

growing. I'll stop there. Where did I

4:52

get that right?"

4:52

>> No, you got that all right. And I think

4:54

Jim of all of them has cannilally moved

4:57

that into a space. Obviously, Buzzfeed

4:59

uh just bought by Byron uh Allen. Um you

5:02

know, they've all Vice has had a much

5:04

less happy

5:06

situation. I don't know where that went.

5:08

Like there were a lot of them and it was

5:09

very exciting. And one of the reasons I

5:11

sold my tiny little site to Vox many

5:14

years ago, Recode, was cuz they were

5:17

ridiculously priced and were sort of

5:19

pricing me at I was even a smaller

5:21

minnow. And so when I got to Vox, um, I

5:25

I I understood the ad market was really

5:27

a problem here. Although we did great,

5:29

let me just The only thing you're

5:30

leaving out is so much great journalism

5:32

by so many of these sites and so much

5:34

really interesting independent media.

5:36

Absolutely. Um, all the Verge, Eater,

5:39

um, you know, all of them and New York

5:41

Magazine just won a the national the

5:45

general excellence award and the

5:46

national magazine awards. Wonderful.

5:47

>> It was punches above its weight class.

5:49

It's like the HBO of magazines is the

5:51

way I would describe it.

5:52

>> Right. Exactly. It's amazing. Um, and

5:55

so, uh, so anyway, so it it's it's

5:58

really nice parts. They're really nice

5:59

parts, but what happened was exactly

6:01

what Scott said and what I thought,

6:02

which is one of the reasons I went to

6:04

Jim 12 years ago and said, I'm going to

6:06

start this little podcast called um, uh,

6:09

was Recode Decode at the time or might

6:11

have been something else. I don't

6:12

remember what it was. and cuz I really

6:14

did have an interest in this area and

6:16

felt it was shifting and then they added

6:18

on the Ezra was on there. Um there's a

6:21

whole bunch uh today explained a bunch

6:22

of things and what essentially happened

6:25

after that after that I met Scott

6:27

Galloway and the rest is history like

6:29

we've done really well

6:30

>> bald man with the erectile dysfunction

6:32

Murdoch it just all makes sense

6:34

>> in Germany in the Murdoch

6:36

>> in the Murdoch and I worked for Murd so

6:38

rich isn't it how did this happen I know

6:41

right I know people are thinking it's

6:42

very funny for me especially because I

6:44

knew James from a million years ago when

6:46

he was actually around for digital stuff

6:49

um very early when I was covering the

6:50

early digital industry and he tried very

6:52

hard to move his family's company

6:54

digitally. But Rupert always did

6:56

something idiotic like whether it was

6:58

the way they handled MySpace or there

7:01

was so many I can't even tell you. I

7:02

just like Disney, they had 19 of these

7:05

things and especially the iPad news

7:08

thing that I thought was ridiculous. Um

7:10

and so I w I we left we left the Murdoch

7:13

Empire largely over um Rupert over

7:16

problems. He was he was doing all sorts

7:18

of nefarious things and we wanted to

7:20

come out on our own. Um and then ended

7:22

up selling to Vox and so everything

7:25

comes around essentially. I met Scott,

7:27

we built Pivot and we built each of our

7:29

other stuff on and all the prof stuff

7:32

which is wonderful. Um and over time in

7:34

our recent renegotiation we became

7:36

partners with Vox and they sell our

7:38

advertising. They help us mount the

7:41

events which they're excellent at and

7:43

Scott has his has his has his own way of

7:46

doing things. he just started a great

7:47

Substack and so it's a really actually

7:49

fertile time and but there's all these

7:51

different configurations and I would say

7:53

for people to understand they are we we

7:56

I have met with uh James Murdoch and uh

7:59

his uh wife um Katherine who is also

8:03

very involved in this uh I have nothing

8:06

but good feelings for them I don't have

8:07

good feelings for his father neither

8:09

does he um which has been well

8:11

documented um and so we have complete

8:13

freedom to do what we want we own these

8:15

podcasts s that we have. Scott owns his,

8:17

I own mine, and we own pivot together in

8:19

a in a um in a death grip to the end for

8:22

whoever which one of us survives. Um and

8:25

uh and so we'll be keep doing what we

8:27

want and we really like working with

8:29

Jim. We and now this other gym and uh

8:32

and the rest of it and we hope there'll

8:33

be more, you know, synergies between

8:35

them. We're we're not like a total

8:37

believer in all synergy, but they've got

8:38

some cool uh things like Art Basle and

8:42

um a number of number film festival,

8:45

which I'll be at uh interviewing Mark

8:47

Maron on stage. And so there's lots of

8:49

opportunities here, but most of the

8:50

mostly it's not going to change from,

8:53

you know, not going to change our deal.

8:54

We like the deal we got. Um we again own

8:57

our things and so uh we're happy to take

9:00

suggestions from, you know, the same

9:02

thing like Jim will suggest something.

9:03

will either ignore him or will not like

9:05

he might have a he just had a great idea

9:07

to this morning for me. Um and I'll take

9:10

it. Uh so and I really do think of James

9:13

Murdock has always been very smart

9:14

digitally. I think um uh I think I we I

9:18

like him. He's not you can't just put

9:20

Murdoch on it and say they suck. I I

9:23

would agree about Rupert Murdoch. I

9:25

would not be owned by Rupert Murdoch and

9:27

uh and we're not owned by anyone. So I

9:29

think that's it. Anything else? Well,

9:31

when Reuters called me, I said, "Look,

9:32

we like the gyms and we have, you know,

9:35

we have a lot of power here and we

9:36

didn't ask for anything. We just asked

9:37

for everything to stay the same. I sell

9:40

>> Pivot is a joint venture between

9:42

Swisser, Galloway, and Vox. You own on I

9:44

own PropG, but both on and PropG uses

9:47

Vox for we do a revenue split where they

9:50

sell our ads. And if we could have I

9:53

mean, this is going to sound

9:54

self-absorbed. We could have killed this

9:56

deal. And we didn't. And we just we

9:59

didn't ask for anything extra. We just

10:01

said, "Yeah, we just want things to stay

10:03

the way they are." And Jim Bangoff has

10:06

never once

10:08

asked me to tone it down, to stop the

10:10

dick jokes, to reconsider.

10:13

>> That doesn't work.

10:14

>> No, you have. But you're you're trying

10:15

to save me from myself, and you're also

10:16

posing for your woke friends.

10:18

>> Oh, stop it. You're so much woker than

10:20

No.

10:21

>> Anyways, I'm so much wer than you. I'm

10:22

the woke.

10:25

>> But let me go to just some of the the

10:26

learnings here. And

10:29

Basically, the business model for tech

10:31

has been find have great technology,

10:34

find a very compelling leadership team

10:36

that's able to craft a narrative to

10:38

raise more capital than anyone else,

10:40

deliver an unbelievable product at below

10:42

price and then consolidate the market

10:44

and then start sucking the oxygen out of

10:46

the entire ecosystem. So, let me give

10:48

you an example. And then everybody else

10:50

gets crushed. Google and Meta have been

10:53

increasingly pushing users away from

10:54

external sites in in favor of their AI

10:57

overviews which they can monetize. So

10:59

Huffpo

11:00

between 2022 and 2025, so basically the

11:03

last 3 years that we have data on this,

11:04

Huffpost's organic search traffic has

11:07

been cut in half. The Washington Post

11:10

down by nearly half. Business Insider

11:13

has seen their organic traffic cut in

11:16

half. NT organic search as a as a share

11:19

of their total traffic fell from roughly

11:21

44% to 36.5%.

11:24

And the Wall Street Journal's organic

11:26

search as a as a share of their total

11:27

traffic fell from 29% to 24%. And let me

11:31

just go back in history and pat myself

11:33

on the back in 2006 when I joined the

11:36

board of the New York Times and

11:37

literally my first meeting I said they

11:39

said okay you're the digital guy which

11:41

we do. I'm like shut off Google. Don't

11:43

let them crawl your content because

11:45

eventually they're going to commoditize

11:47

your content,

11:48

>> right?

11:48

>> Stop driving traffic to us and all

11:51

you're doing is building them into the

11:53

ultimate toll booth.

11:54

>> That's correct.

11:55

>> And Martin Nenholtz, who's a very smart

11:56

guy, said, "Well, if we can't figure out

11:58

a way to compete against Google and

11:59

we're making money from the traffic they

12:01

send us, then shame on us." I'm like,

12:03

"Yeah,

12:04

go to go to Murdoch, go to the New

12:07

Houses, go to the Financial Times and

12:10

consolidate and turn off Google and then

12:15

license your content to the highest

12:17

bidder." And at that point, Microsoft

12:18

had Bing and we would have been able to

12:20

get a lot of money and say, "Look, if

12:22

you if you want to crawl this gorgeous

12:24

content from Thomas Freiedman and from

12:27

Vogue and from the FT, you got to pay

12:29

us." But instead they said no, we like

12:32

the traffic. They were pursuing this

12:33

eyeballs thing and now it's way too late

12:36

and these companies are the internet and

12:40

very few people go directly to NY the

12:42

New York Times.com. They get served

12:45

stuff on Meta. That's how they decide

12:46

where they're going or the the Google is

12:49

now entirely they don't take you to the

12:51

best place. They take you to a place

12:53

they can further monetize. And Jim, you

12:57

know, Jim is managed to get on the last

12:59

helicopter out of Saigon.

13:01

>> Oh, wait. Do you want to hear some of

13:02

the threads I thought of? I thought I'll

13:04

be I'll test the limits of our new

13:06

ownership.

13:07

>> I was walking around Lisbon yesterday

13:08

and it was beautiful and I was bored.

13:10

>> So, as soon as I saw the announcement, I

13:12

thought, I'm going to test the limits of

13:13

my freedom. My first thread, my first

13:15

thread was alternative media is like a

13:17

vegan restaurant. Virtue signaling loses

13:20

money and a billionaire bails you out.

13:22

That was my first one. My second one was

13:24

that that picture of Jim Brooff and

13:28

James Murdoch where it looks like the

13:29

30-year reunion of Abbercrombie and

13:31

Pitch. They're both very handsome.

13:32

>> They're very handsome.

13:34

>> And I wrote Romeo and Michelle's high

13:35

school reunion 2 post transition. That

13:38

one I'm especially proud of. And

13:41

>> oh, okay, last one. And then we

13:43

>> What was What was my What was my third

13:45

one? Oh god. I wrote something about Oh,

13:47

no. It just, you know, late late stage

13:49

capitalism. But anyways, and and then I

13:53

started doing it and I'm sitting there

13:54

in the park and I'm like,

13:55

>> do I really need to be an [ __ ]

13:57

>> Not today. Yeah, tomorrow. I'm like,

14:00

give them their moment.

14:01

>> Give them their moment.

14:02

>> Give them their moment.

14:03

>> They'll be an [ __ ] later

14:04

>> before we start making their lives

14:06

difficult.

14:07

>> No, you know what? Let me let me just

14:09

end this because we got to end this. So,

14:10

two things. Jim B, he said, we don't we

14:13

can say whatever we want. I don't see

14:15

that problem from James Murdoch or

14:17

Katherine Murdoch at all. They might be

14:18

irritated by us, but there's no going to

14:20

be no change in that. And let me be I

14:22

hate to say this, but Rubert Murdoch

14:24

never asked me to change a thing. Like

14:26

that is one thing I never experienced

14:28

when I worked at the walls. I just don't

14:29

I think he's a heinous piece of well I

14:32

think he's heinous the way he he's done

14:34

Fox News and the other stuff, but and

14:36

has degraded democracy quite a bit, but

14:39

he's not James is not him. And so, but

14:42

but that said, and Murdoch never meddled

14:44

in my stuff and and he certainly could

14:46

have um for for my entire time there. I

14:49

just didn't like him. Um but um but one

14:52

of the things we have to say, we we get

14:53

to do what we want. We will do what we

14:55

want. And also just I know Scott was

14:57

sort of putting a sort of an ugly

14:59

picture on it, but actually New York

15:00

Magazine is uh profitable. So are the

15:02

pod the podcast networks are doing great

15:04

and very profitable. Uh a lot of these

15:06

websites are. So, it's not like it's

15:08

just not a like a it's not a crazy

15:11

business, but it's not these are not

15:13

suffering properties. And last of all, a

15:15

lot many of them most of them provide

15:17

amazing journalism. Uh, and I I think

15:20

David Haskell deserves all due credit

15:21

for New York Magazine winning that

15:23

award. And awards are one thing, but

15:25

they certainly they were up against some

15:26

amazing uh journalism this year from The

15:29

Atlantic and from ProPublican Wired. Uh,

15:31

so uh they're very good property. He's

15:33

bought some good properties here um in

15:35

that regard. It's not they're not

15:37

falling knife properties. Um, but we'll

15:39

see what we can do. Let's see what he

15:41

does.

15:41

>> They make money, but the the crown

15:43

jewel, shockingly, of all this is the

15:46

podcast. New York Magazine is a vanity

15:49

asset.

15:49

>> It is, but it does. Okay. It doesn't

15:51

It's not It does fine.

15:52

>> You become one of the sexiest men in

15:54

Soho when your rap is I own New York

15:56

Magazine.

15:56

>> We're going to stop there. It's a very

15:57

It does journalism, too. Anyway,

16:00

>> that's

16:02

So is NPR. It doesn't make any money.

16:04

it. Yeah, but this one does. So, anyway,

16:06

speaking of things not making money, we

16:08

have some IPO news to get to. First up,

16:11

SpaceX has filed an IPO prospectus, and

16:14

it is revealing the company brought in

16:16

$791

16:18

million in profit in 2024. It swung back

16:20

to $4.9 billion in losses in 2025. For

16:24

context, 200 companies in the S&P 500

16:26

had more revenue than SpaceX last year,

16:29

including Tesla. also revealed in the

16:31

file, by the way, they buy a lot of

16:32

stuff from Tesla. There's a lot of

16:34

roundt tripping happen at the these

16:36

companies. It also reve all all

16:37

controlled by Elon Musk. It also

16:40

revealed in the filing, Anthropic is

16:41

paying SpaceX and thank God for it,

16:43

$1.25 billion per month through uh May

16:46

2029 as part of the compute deal that

16:49

two signed, meaning Grock will not be

16:50

using that space in Colossus 1 and two.

16:53

SpaceX is reportedly targeting targeting

16:55

a $1.7 trillion valuation. I mean it

16:58

goes on and on and on. on a lot of these

17:00

a lot of words like um human I don't

17:04

know like connection there's AI

17:07

mentioned a lot just it's this business

17:10

is not economically and mass speaking

17:12

it's not worth 1.7

17:15

I mean it's just the Elon that that guy

17:17

gets a lot of uh credit for for for

17:20

using this number um because even the

17:22

stuff they're promising seems

17:24

problematic but he's not he hasn't done

17:27

it before he just moves from one lily

17:29

pad to the other in terms of from Tesla

17:31

to this. But the big the big winner in

17:33

this in that I read is Starlink does

17:36

great. The others Grock and um the

17:39

rocket company is not so much. Go for

17:42

it.

17:42

>> I got a lot.

17:44

>> Okay, good. I can't wait. I'm excited.

17:46

>> Yeah. What was

17:48

>> Spit it out, Scott.

17:49

>> At 3:00 a.m. I was reading the S1. What

17:51

were you doing?

17:52

>> I know you were.

17:53

>> First off, I have some notes here. The

17:54

first 14 pages of the S1

17:57

>> are pictures of rockets.

18:00

>> AI is mentioned 1,200 times in the S1.

18:03

There are 277 pages of the perspectives.

18:05

For context, it's longer than The Great

18:07

Gatsby and The Catch in the Rye. And

18:09

some direct quotes from the filing.

18:11

These are direct quotes. We do not want

18:13

humans to have the same fate as

18:15

dinosaurs. Well, thank God you're here,

18:18

Elon. For decades, a reality where

18:21

humanity travels between the planets and

18:23

the stars has felt tentalizingly close.

18:25

But still,

18:26

>> would you mind if I ate my protein bar

18:27

where you do this because I'm hungry and

18:29

I also am fascinated. Keep going.

18:30

>> For for decades, a reality where

18:32

humanity travels between the planets and

18:33

the stars has felt tantalizingly close,

18:36

but still locked in the pages and

18:39

screens of science fiction. The sun

18:41

contains approximately 99.8% 8% of the

18:44

solar systems energy. And as a result,

18:46

we believe it is the only truly scalable

18:49

solution to terrestrial energy

18:50

constraints in the age of AI.

18:53

Oh, Jesus [ __ ] Christ. All right,

18:55

hold on.

18:56

>> Woke.

18:56

>> We believe the next paradigm shift for

18:58

humanity is the creation of a resilient,

19:00

perpetually expanding, space fairing

19:02

civilization. Ultimately,

19:04

>> sexy voice, please. I mean, I need a

19:06

more sexy. ultimately preparing us to

19:08

Kardashev type 2 status defined as

19:11

defined in the filing itself as a

19:13

civilization that harnesses the full

19:15

energy output of the sun. Remember we

19:18

work its mission was to elevate the

19:20

world's consciousness.

19:21

>> Yes. No, this seems like he sounds like

19:22

a Mayan. He sounds like a Mayan but go

19:24

ahead.

19:25

>> So let's talk about the numbers here.

19:27

Headline valuation 1.8 trillion. He

19:29

they're whispering they can go out at

19:31

two. That's roughly the GDP of Canada.

19:35

So let that marinate. that the core

19:36

business is genuinely an excellent

19:39

business,

19:40

>> right?

19:40

>> Starlink generated 3.26 billion in

19:43

revenue in a single quarter with 1.2

19:45

billion in operating income. That's 36%

19:47

operating margin on a monopoly satellite

19:49

inner business, internet business with

19:51

no serious competitors in sight. It's a

19:53

great business. If this were the whole

19:55

company, it would be one of the great

19:57

businesses of our era. And then, but the

20:01

problem is it's not. Stapled to this

20:04

rocket ship is XAI, a business that is

20:07

clinically speaking a money furnace. In

20:11

2024, XAI lost 1.6 billion on 2.6

20:15

billion in revenues. By 2025, losses

20:17

ballooned to 6.5 billion on 3.2 billion

20:20

in revenue. So revenue revenue went up

20:24

20% but losses went up 310%. That's

20:27

>> Can I ask you quickly, these revenues

20:29

don't seem like killer? It's 30%. It's

20:32

not like wow. It's they're not wow

20:34

growth, right? Is it's sort of good

20:36

solid. Am I wrong there?

20:39

>> No, it's Well, let's just let's just

20:42

talk about SpaceX, the best business.

20:44

It's growing 20% a year and it's trying

20:47

to go out at 100 times revenue. When

20:49

Google went public, it was growing 240%

20:51

a year and went out at 10 times

20:52

revenues. So, just back to back to XAI.

20:57

XI is losing money on the way to losing

21:00

more money in in Q12 2026 alone the net

21:05

loss of 4.3 billion on 4.7 billion in

21:07

revenue total capex 10.1 billion in 90

21:10

days 7.8 8 billion of that uh for AI.

21:14

Cash on the balance sheet um cratered

21:17

from 25 billion to 16 billion in just 3

21:20

months. They burn 9 billion in cash in a

21:23

single quarter. That's a hund00 million

21:25

a day. That's not investing in the

21:27

future. It's it's the future billing you

21:30

in advance,

21:31

>> right? Can this anthropic thing is

21:32

critical. Do you think he's moving into

21:34

being the infrastructure player rather

21:36

than the AI player here? building and

21:39

providing infrastruure. Tim him having

21:40

spent too much capbacks thinking that

21:43

>> X AI his AI would need it and he woke up

21:45

and realized he didn't. It's like this

21:47

has happened to me a million. Every time

21:49

I start a company, I raise too much

21:51

[ __ ] money. I go get a giant office

21:53

base in Soho and before I know it, I'm

21:55

renting it out to a bunch of shitty

21:56

startups to try and recoup some of the

21:58

capital. That's what h happened here,

22:00

>> right?

22:00

>> Total debt is for that, right?

22:02

Presumably from the anthropic,

22:04

>> total debt on the balance sheet is 29

22:06

billion. Um, so just for context, that's

22:10

more debt than it's on the Delta

22:11

Airlines, United Airlines, and American

22:13

Airlines combined with all their planes

22:15

and and those they carry passengers.

22:18

SpaceX has Starship, which has cost over

22:21

15 billion in development and is still

22:22

on its 12th test mission. The bottom

22:25

line, you're being asked to pay 1.75

22:28

trillion for a great satellite internet

22:31

company, a rocket business that loses

22:33

money, an AI product losing 6 billion a

22:36

year and falling further behind its

22:38

competitors that has 29 billion in debt,

22:40

and a CEO who, and this is my favorite

22:43

part of the filing, purchased $131

22:46

million of his own recalled cyber trucks

22:50

with company cash.

22:52

>> Right. He's propping up Tesla. Propping

22:55

up Tesla. Right.

22:56

>> So, in some Starlink is the golden

22:58

goose, an amazing company. Everything

23:00

else is Elon's hobbies. And at this

23:02

valuation, you're paying full price for

23:06

all of them. So, you know, Snow White is

23:11

[ __ ] hot, but you gota if you marry

23:13

her, you're taking on these little

23:15

nonvalue ad weirdos. Uh this is so this

23:21

company you have an amazing company

23:24

buried in all of these other money

23:26

furnaces,

23:27

>> right? I like money.

23:28

>> He's asking you to pay essentially 100

23:31

times revenue.

23:32

>> People will so talk about that because

23:35

look it is not I I read it. I'm like,

23:37

"Wow, this is not a there's one good

23:39

business in there, right? Really good

23:41

business." And and by the way, easy to

23:44

disrupt that business by the people will

23:46

come into this business and there'll be

23:47

more competitors. Um and uh and so that

23:51

that's my worry about Starlink is like

23:53

sure he has the win for today. It

23:55

doesn't mean he will have the win

23:56

forever just like Tesla. Um, the second

23:58

thing is it will it doesn't matter

24:01

because people will just buy into this

24:03

and run it up because it's him and these

24:05

promises which you left out a little bit

24:07

here is there's going to be all these

24:08

robots in your home. There's going to be

24:10

he he made a lot of promises in this in

24:13

this perspectus too about the future

24:16

like you have to assume he's going to

24:18

kill it in robots and by the way I have

24:20

heard from many people his robot

24:22

technology is really advanced but it has

24:24

to get to people right it's got to it's

24:27

got to get to people it's got to become

24:28

a product um and so just hand it feels

24:32

very hand wavy this entire thing but I

24:34

don't think it's going to matter I mean

24:35

be be a Wall Street person and say you

24:38

know what would you do as an investor

24:39

faster here.

24:40

>> Uh you might want to play it for the

24:41

pop, but I actually think that there's

24:43

going to be a ton of bill people and

24:45

analysts that will look at this thing.

24:47

The more scrutiny on this thing, the

24:49

worse it's going to be for the IPO and

24:52

does it go out at 1.8 trillion? I

24:54

wouldn't be surprised if the bankers try

24:55

and manufacture scarcity and it gets a

24:58

small pop, but I think by the end of the

25:00

year it's well below a trillion dollars.

25:02

There's just no there's no way to

25:04

justify this thing is a cash

25:06

incinerator.

25:08

And also certain components of the

25:09

business feel very weiworky in the fact

25:11

that as they grow they burn more cash.

25:13

There's no operating leverage.

25:14

>> Yeah. Yeah. Even with even with this

25:16

entropic deal because that's all he can

25:18

sell. That's right. It's like he's

25:19

selling the chairs or something. Right.

25:22

I mean

25:23

>> he built out infrastructure for that he

25:25

doesn't need because his his AI is not

25:27

growing the way.

25:28

>> Right. Exactly. And he's got it. He's

25:29

got this colossus and of course he's

25:30

facing lawsuits all over the place

25:32

because he's going to buy more of these

25:34

methane engines. That's going to and

25:36

trust me that they're going to put a

25:37

stop to that eventually. Um, so so what

25:41

would you how would you do it here?

25:42

People are listening. What would you do

25:44

here?

25:45

>> I won't tell you what to do because I

25:47

have been wrong about Tesla. I thought

25:49

Tesla was a sell in 2017 and it's gone

25:51

up 8x.

25:52

>> No, you were right. But you were wrong

25:53

about what people would do.

25:54

>> I think we have to squarely say I was

25:56

wrong.

25:56

>> Okay.

25:57

>> So what I'm going to do is if someone

25:59

called me and no one's going to call me,

26:01

but if Elon Musk called me and said, "Do

26:02

you want allocation in the IPO?"

26:04

I would probably say sure and I'd sell

26:06

it on the first trade. They will

26:08

manufacture scarcity. Goldman and

26:11

everybody will tell him, "Okay, this is

26:12

what it looks like." Put out press

26:13

releases saying you're 30 times over

26:15

subscribed. It'll get a pop and then get

26:18

out again. An amazing business can be a

26:21

shitty investment even at some

26:24

valuation. And a shitty business can be

26:25

an amazing investment at a certain

26:28

valuation. This is an amazing business

26:31

surrounded by businesses that are not

26:33

scaling where he's trying to play

26:34

catchup and at a valuation that makes

26:37

just abso fuckingutolutely no sense.

26:40

>> Yeah.

26:40

>> So what I would do X AI in here was a

26:44

way to save his ass, his own ass.

26:46

Correct.

26:47

>> It's a it's it's the cheapest form of

26:50

capital he could find by attaching it to

26:52

an amazing business such that he could

26:54

try and catch up. And even the business,

26:57

even the amazing business on its own

27:00

which is doing 16 billion in topline

27:02

revenue and 8 billion in IBIDA

27:04

>> this is Starlink.

27:05

>> Yeah. I don't know give it 25 you know

27:10

give it a 100 times IDA it's worth 800

27:13

billion. 100 times I zeba is no you know

27:16

no one trades at that. But you not only

27:19

are trying to to get it out at 1 and a

27:22

1.7 to 2 trillion, you've attached onto

27:25

it all of these businesses that look to

27:28

have negative leverage.

27:30

>> Andy's using the business to help Tesla

27:32

out by buying shitty Cyber Trucks and

27:34

everything else.

27:34

>> Well, that was the most that was the

27:36

most eye popping thing.

27:37

>> I know. I agree.

27:38

>> Was that it reminded me of and this is

27:41

the argument against when corporate or

27:43

when governments decide to get start

27:45

cosplaying business. the the Irish

27:47

government or the UK government said

27:49

Delorean is the future and they give

27:50

them a bunch of loans and then these

27:52

pictures came out of a ton of Deloreans

27:55

sitting in a warehouse in Ireland

27:57

unsold.

27:58

>> So

28:00

the the worst product arguably the worst

28:03

tech product maybe than the Oculus or

28:06

Siri, the worst tech product of the last

28:08

decade is hands down the Cybert truck.

28:10

>> Cyber Truck. So he went out, a bunch of

28:12

them recalled, and he used money from

28:14

this organization to buy to buy back

28:16

Cybert trucks. You're not supposed to do

28:18

that. You're supposed to say, "Okay,

28:20

Tesla Tesla has a a a turd of a product

28:24

and we're going to take a right down."

28:25

And you just take your, you know, you

28:27

take your pain. This is Elon brings a

28:31

level of awareness, magic. People have

28:34

done investing with him. He is an

28:36

unbelievable visionary.

28:38

But uh you know this goes to something

28:40

broader and that is this is all part of

28:45

an entity that will cement where I

28:47

believe we are now and that is I finally

28:49

believe we are squarely in 1999.

28:51

>> Yeah I would agree with you. That's what

28:53

I felt after looking at I didn't look at

28:55

over as carefully but I thought oh no no

28:56

no this is not good. This is you know

28:59

all I don't really care about the

29:01

luminous humanity [ __ ] and flying to

29:03

the stars and the sun is going to power

29:06

our world. Like that's all his I I I've

29:08

had to listen that nonsense from him for

29:10

many years and great. I'm glad you think

29:13

that. I mean, I don't really care if

29:14

everyone if that's what turns him on.

29:16

That's great. But it was the the Tesla

29:18

thing. There was a several things in

29:20

here that were very speaking of

29:23

latestage capitalism. I felt it was late

29:25

Elon, right? That's what that's what it

29:28

felt like to me. But just we'll see.

29:30

>> Look, it his job is to get capital as

29:33

cheaply as possible. He's going to do

29:35

that. Yeah. I think it's smart for him

29:37

to do this.

29:38

>> That's good for him. Yeah.

29:39

>> But I think investors in some if you

29:42

look at what happened.

29:44

>> So there was a really interesting

29:45

analysis done in the FT and that is at

29:47

the peak of the dotcom boom about 60% of

29:51

GDP growth was coming from capex related

29:53

to telco infrastructure and the

29:55

internet. It's now 93% is coming from AI

29:59

including and I'm loosely and also these

30:01

companies will be grouped into that. In

30:02

addition, the total capex

30:06

inflation adjusted was about 850 billion

30:09

in 99 up until that point. Now we're at

30:12

about 1 and a.5 trillion.

30:14

>> And every time you have over 2 or 3% of

30:17

GDP going into the buildout or capex or

30:19

something, whether it's railroads or

30:21

highways or the telco infrastructure of

30:23

the late '9s, two years later, there's a

30:26

crash. Two to three years later, there's

30:28

a crash. Railroads, all of it.

30:30

>> We are there. and and one of these

30:32

companies or more of them is going to

30:34

experience what every big tech company

30:35

has experienced when they're get out

30:37

over their skis and that is you're going

30:40

to see a 70 to 95% decline in the value

30:42

of one or more of these companies.

30:44

Nvidia, I mean all these companies are

30:47

there's the the expectation

30:50

of they're increasing their capbacks 20%

30:53

a year while increasing their revenues

30:55

optimistically 15% a year. That's

30:58

negative operating leverage. And

31:00

eventually the music's going to stop

31:02

here.

31:02

>> Yeah, I felt drunken sailors had a feel

31:04

of this. I don't know. I just like

31:06

>> Well, the way I would describe it is I

31:07

think Nvidia is a casino

31:09

and we're all drunk people at the

31:11

blackjack pay table and

31:13

>> it will affect very good businesses and

31:15

then along with the tariffs and all the

31:17

other corruption around Trump. It just

31:19

gets to be a real problem here.

31:21

>> Nvidia is an amazing business. SpaceX is

31:23

an amazing business. They should, oh my

31:25

god, they should be worth they should be

31:27

worth a trillion dollars and 300 billion

31:29

respectively. So down about 50 to 80%.

31:34

And the technology I think the

31:37

technology will live up to its

31:38

expectations more on the optimistic side

31:40

than the pessimistic side, but the

31:42

valuations won't.

31:43

>> Yeah. All right. Well, speaking of

31:44

which, OpenAI is preparing to

31:45

confidentially file a draft of its IPO

31:47

perspective as soon as Friday. I expect

31:48

you to read it over the weekend and tell

31:50

me about it next week. Um, as you're

31:52

listening to this, the company is valued

31:54

at over $850 billion by private

31:56

investors. The things I'm looking at

31:58

there is all the cross investments with

32:00

Altman involved. I'm probably interested

32:02

in that. Um, where the where their where

32:05

the trends are in terms of their

32:07

subscriptions. Um, and where their spend

32:09

is. I think those are the things I'm I'm

32:12

looking at. What are you looking at

32:13

there very briefly? Well, just to

32:15

distill it, to justify the $1 trillion

32:17

valuation that OpenAI is pursuing at its

32:19

IPO, it needs to grow from 13 billion in

32:22

revenue to the to the size of today's

32:24

Microsoft in four years. So, they're

32:27

saying they're going to be the size of

32:28

Microsoft in four years. And I just

32:30

don't think revenue did triple to 13

32:32

billion, but the company burned 9

32:34

billion. And right now, it has negative

32:36

momentum relative to Anthropic. And what

32:39

they have said is get out right away. We

32:41

need the perception that we're the

32:43

leader. And also Sam Alman looks at

32:45

SpaceX and says there's not room for

32:49

there's only so much retail money that's

32:51

going to come into the ecosystem. Get

32:54

out because it's going to dry up because

32:56

if SpaceX goes out of pop and comes

32:59

down, retail investors are going to

33:01

start to get queasy and then when you

33:03

have these enormous IPOs,

33:05

in other words, at some point retail

33:07

investors are going to run out of money

33:08

to invest in these things. So he's like,

33:10

"Get out." And the CFO, Sarah Frier, who

33:12

I'm shocked still has a job because

33:14

she's not towing the company line. She

33:16

worked at Goldman and Mckenzie, has

33:18

reported previously that colleagues uh

33:21

to colleagues at OpenAI saying, "We're

33:23

not ready for an IPO because the risk

33:25

from its spending commitments."

33:27

>> Yeah, I know her. She's a very She's

33:29

like that. She's

33:30

>> like a Ruth Barrett. She's an adult.

33:31

Yeah.

33:31

>> The the company is committed to spending

33:33

600 billion over the five years across

33:35

vendors and their Oracle deal alone

33:37

requires 60 billion a year starting in

33:39

2027. nearly five times OpenAI's entire

33:41

2025 revenue.

33:43

>> So

33:43

>> again, this is we are squarely a 99

33:47

>> 99. All right. Well, we'll go with that.

33:49

All right, Scott, let's take a quick

33:50

break. When we come back, Jeff Bezos, so

33:52

good God. Speaking of billionaires

33:54

behaving badly, speaks out on all sorts

33:56

of things.

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35:02

>> Scott, we're back. Jeff Bezos sat down

35:04

for an interview with Andrew Ross

35:06

Sorcin, our favorite Canadian on

35:07

Wednesday. Let's talk about some of the

35:08

things he said. First up, Bezos said

35:10

that Trump was more mature and more

35:12

disciplined in his second term. The

35:13

Washington Post owner defended massive

35:15

cuts he made to the newsroom earlier

35:16

this year, saying he doesn't want a post

35:18

to be a charity. I have some things to

35:20

say about that because I think he's the

35:21

one that drove it into a wall. Bezos

35:23

also backed the idea of eliminating

35:25

income taxes for the bottom half of US

35:27

earners. Let's hear what he said to say

35:29

about his own taxes.

35:31

>> People sometimes say that uh that you

35:34

know I don't pay taxes. So true. I pay

35:37

billions of dollars in taxes and it's a

35:39

per again if people want me to pay more

35:42

billions, right?

35:43

>> Then let's have that debate. But don't

35:45

pretend, you know, that this that that's

35:47

going to solve the problem. You could

35:49

you could double the taxes I pay and

35:52

it's not going to help that teacher in

35:53

Queens. I promise you.

35:55

>> Let's try.

35:56

>> Let's try.

35:56

>> Let's try. Let's see what happens.

35:58

>> Let's see what happens. Jeff,

35:59

>> if we take his effective tax rate from

36:01

16 or 17% to 32 or 34 like the rest of

36:04

us, I don't know. Let's just give it a

36:06

whirl.

36:06

>> Let's just give it a whirl. Let's see

36:08

what happens.

36:09

>> So disingenuous in this interview. Let

36:11

me let me start and then I'll let you

36:13

go. First up, the more mature. Come on,

36:16

Jeff. Like seriously. Like, I get that

36:19

there's a lot of face work going on and

36:21

a lot of other enhancements, but it's

36:23

gone to your [ __ ] head. Like, I get

36:25

what he means. It's good for me. Instead

36:27

of saying more mature, more disciplined

36:29

is he's more focused on giving me the

36:31

[ __ ] I want. That's I I would just

36:33

prefer that if he wouldn't mind like

36:35

saying that. Whatever. He can say what

36:38

he wants. He's never been a particularly

36:40

liberal person, but now he's just he's

36:42

just now being just as disingenuous. The

36:44

Washington Post thing drove me crazy

36:46

because he's the one who kept the same

36:48

management in place then hired an

36:51

incompetent like Will Lewis uh did

36:54

nothing that the New York Times took

36:56

moves after Trump left office to do

36:58

something. He he created all manner of

37:01

situations where people just just left

37:04

cut their subscriptions which were which

37:06

were slightly growing but they were

37:08

definitely stabilizing. And then after

37:09

he put his dirty little fingers in the

37:12

editorial process, he messed it up. A

37:14

huge exodus of talent blaming the talent

37:17

which then went to successful properties

37:19

like the Atlantic and many other and the

37:21

Wall Street Journal and other places

37:23

which are doing okay. They're doing

37:25

they're they're making businesses. New

37:26

York Times, Wall Street Journal, The

37:28

Atlantic, everything else. So, every

37:30

time he says this, I'm like, why don't

37:32

you look over at Lorraine Powell Jobs,

37:34

who's managed to do a very nice job over

37:36

there at the Atlantic by not meddling

37:39

and supporting and not losing money. Um,

37:42

the income tax thing I'll let you take,

37:44

but it was so full of disingenuous

37:46

stuff. And again, let's try Jeff. Even

37:49

if you pay billions, you have billions

37:51

and you pay the fact that I pay more of

37:53

a percentage of my taxes than you. And

37:55

then the corpor Don't even get me

37:57

started with corporations. So anyway, uh

38:00

the whole thing was and also he didn't

38:03

look well in my opinion and since he

38:06

spent so much time on cosmetic stuff, I

38:08

feel like I can comment upon this. Go

38:10

ahead.

38:11

>> Jeff Bezos pays himself $82,000, just

38:14

enough such that he can claim a child

38:15

tax credit, which by the way he takes,

38:18

and then he puts all of his additional

38:20

money and such that the value of his

38:21

shares go up. He borrows against those

38:23

shares, not not triggering a taxable

38:25

event. likely has a lot of those shares

38:27

in a trust. And then after leveraging

38:29

the unbelievable infrastructure and

38:31

culture of the great state of

38:33

Washington, he then

38:34

>> post office everything

38:36

>> takes his $120 billion in shares and

38:39

moves to Florida to spend more time with

38:41

his father and then starts selling

38:44

shares. Now granted, just as every

38:48

prisoner has an obligation to escape, I

38:50

think every individual has an obligation

38:51

to avoid taxes. I don't blame him for

38:53

tax evasion. I blame our government for

38:55

letting him engage in it. But quite

38:58

frankly, Jeff, when you start trying to

39:00

wallpaper over the tax avoidance of

39:02

billionaires by claiming you care about

39:04

nurses,

39:04

>> teachers,

39:05

>> sit the [ __ ] down. Just sit down. This

39:09

is a misdirect.

39:11

And it's like when Jensen talks about,

39:13

"Yes, tax me more." Okay,

39:17

thanks guys. But I just don't think

39:19

they're in a position when a guy has

39:21

when a guy has so optimized the dynamics

39:25

of supply and demand of labor such that

39:28

his delivery drivers have to pee in

39:30

bottles to make their correct

39:31

>> quotas. You're just not the person to

39:34

pretend to have empathy for that nurse

39:36

in Queens. So, I'm not even going to

39:39

I'll talk about his idea, but give me

39:42

the mother of all eye rolls when Jeff

39:44

Bezos

39:46

claims to be concerned about the tax

39:48

rates of the nurse in Brooklyn. What I

39:53

when I've advised or when I was talking

39:54

to Andrew Yang when he was running for

39:56

president mayor, I said, "You [ __ ] up.

39:57

It shouldn't be universal basic income.

39:59

It should be basic income." And to get

40:01

Republicans on board, you need different

40:02

frame it. Don't call it universal basic

40:04

income because it sounds like socialism.

40:06

call it a negative income tax.

40:08

Republicans love tax breaks. I do

40:11

believe there's something to the notion

40:13

of saying anyone who makes below $50,000

40:17

should not only not get taxed, but maybe

40:19

get a tax credit in the form of services

40:23

or maybe just cash quite frankly because

40:25

most of the studies show that when you

40:27

create a government infrastructure to

40:28

deploy social programs, they're

40:30

inefficient and never go away.

40:31

>> Just give them the money. Just give them

40:32

>> just give them the money. Just cut them

40:34

a check. You're in a household, you have

40:36

kids, whatever. They did a bunch of

40:39

studies in Africa, and quite frankly,

40:40

I'm going to be a sexist here. When they

40:42

give money to the men, the prostitutes

40:43

in the bars do well. When they give

40:45

money to the women, the kids get taller

40:46

and fatter. You couldn't do that in

40:48

America and just give money to single

40:49

mothers, which is what I would like to

40:51

see happen. But if you gave just gave

40:53

money, nationalized healthcare, there's

40:55

a lot of good taxation ideas. What he

40:58

said was very accurate is that if you

41:01

had a tax holiday for people under the

41:02

age of 30, he didn't say this, but if

41:04

you gave a tax holiday, which is what

41:05

he's saying, or cut the taxes of people

41:06

making less than $75,000, you don't lose

41:09

that much tax revenue. Because it is

41:11

true that only 1%, the top 1% in New

41:14

York pay 48% of the taxes and the bottom

41:17

25% really don't pay much. So, he's

41:19

right they wouldn't be giving up much.

41:21

But he is just not. We need an

41:24

alternative minimum tax on people like

41:25

Jeff Bezos. of I believe 60%.

41:30

Because the earner that's making 2

41:32

million bucks working her ass off as a

41:34

baller partner at Scatterenarps in

41:36

Manhattan is paying 54. And fine, maybe

41:39

she pays maybe the person making 10

41:42

billion or 10 million a year pays makes

41:44

60%, because here's the whole objective

41:47

of taxation.

41:49

You want the least taxing tax. If you

41:53

start attacking education and food and

41:56

housing, you end up

41:58

>> with homelessness. Yep.

41:59

>> Less educated people, people who put off

42:01

their mammogram and die of metastatic

42:04

breast cancer. Those are taxes that are

42:06

too taxing. An alternative minimum tax

42:09

on corporations making above a billion

42:11

dollars and people say making over 3

42:13

million a year. They don't lose any

42:15

happiness. The Baso and also do away

42:18

with the estate tax exemption. If the

42:20

Bezos children inherit 20 billion

42:22

instead of 30, no loss in happiness. But

42:26

that 10 billion that could potentially

42:28

be divided amongst the million the

42:31

$10,000 to the million poorest

42:33

households, a lot of incremental

42:35

happiness.

42:35

>> You know what the the contrast was? His

42:37

ex-wife. Like she doesn't say a word.

42:40

She doesn't do an interview. She gives

42:42

money.

42:44

No ribbon cutings, no cosplaying, no

42:47

whatever weirdness you're doing to your

42:48

body, Jeff. uh just and doesn't lecture

42:51

us. That's the tone was what was crazy.

42:54

I I I know I got like Ben about the post

42:56

stuff, but all of it had this tone. The

42:58

post stuff was disingenuous in the

43:00

extreme. He's the worst media owner of

43:02

any media owner and it's a low [ __ ]

43:04

bar. Let me tell you, I take Rupert

43:06

Murdoch twice every day of the week and

43:08

twice on Sunday to Jeff Bezos. At least

43:10

he understands media and likes it. Um,

43:13

you know, this the tone was so obnoxious

43:18

and this is why this general, you know,

43:20

he talked about people demonizing

43:22

billionaires. Well, stop stop talking.

43:25

stop appearing like I I honestly it it

43:28

the the the damage these people are

43:30

doing to the brand of capitalism, brand

43:33

capitalism and brand AI and brand tech

43:36

is so vast that you can see why these

43:40

polls are showing up like this way. I

43:42

know my own sons who both are incredibly

43:45

hard workers

43:47

and it has nothing to do with me. They,

43:50

you know, they often don't listen to me.

43:52

um they don't listen to anything I do at

43:53

least and and I'm fine with that. But

43:56

they have these feelings, right? It's

43:59

just it I don't know. It just and then

44:01

it gives rise to too much demonization,

44:04

right? Because of the way these people

44:06

behave. So I don't know.

44:08

>> So I have stories about McKenzie Scott

44:11

and Melinda French Gates. I'm involved

44:13

in two nonprofits. I'm involved in

44:15

something called the Jed Foundation that

44:17

tries to train high schools around how

44:19

to identify what is kind of normal

44:21

strange adolescent behavior and

44:22

adolescent behavior that should raise

44:25

red flags around depression and suicide

44:27

and they leverage the infrastructure of

44:29

public schools and educate them and they

44:31

are they are amazing. It was started by

44:33

a couple that lost their son Jed. It's

44:34

run by this wonderful management team.

44:36

They do a great job. Right after I sort

44:39

of got involved, they called me and said

44:40

they did a big thing event and they got

44:42

they go we got great news. I'm like

44:43

what's that? and he goes, "We got a $10

44:44

million wire yesterday and we're trying

44:46

to figure out who it's from." Mackenzie

44:49

Scott

44:50

didn't didn't want an RFP, didn't want

44:52

to meet with them, didn't want her name

44:54

on anything. She just wired 10 million

44:56

bucks. And then another association I

44:59

love, the American Institute for Boys

45:01

and Men, which focuses on the struggles

45:02

and mental health of young men and boys,

45:04

run by one of my role models, Richard

45:07

Reeves. Melinda French Gates, $10

45:10

million. recognizing the majority of her

45:13

funds are focused on the struggles in

45:15

gender equality and struggles of young

45:16

women. But she she said without thriving

45:19

young men, women aren't going to

45:21

continue to flourish. And she just sends

45:24

10 million bucks. And then someone who

45:25

shall remain nameless contacted the firm

45:28

and I get it. He's trying to be or

45:30

contacted one of these companies and

45:32

said, "Can I meet with so- and so and

45:34

Scott? I want to hear about the

45:35

strategy." And I'm like, typical [ __ ]

45:37

rich dude. We got to go sing for our

45:39

supper. We got to like

45:42

>> go talk to him as if it's a business and

45:44

return on investment. Whereas these

45:46

these women are just like you're doing

45:48

good work.

45:49

>> Yeah. Excellent. Here you go.

45:50

>> Get back to work.

45:51

>> You don't hear from him. They definitely

45:53

check you out. But it's not It is It's

45:56

such a different way of giving. I

45:58

>> It really is. There's something

46:00

>> I couldn't dislike Jeff Bezos more after

46:03

this interview. I thought I honestly

46:04

thought

46:06

could have pressed him harder. Honestly,

46:07

I didn't think Zoro pressed him hard

46:09

enough on this stuff and let him get

46:10

away with some stuff that I wish he had.

46:12

But I that said, we got to see him the

46:15

way he is. And that is the way he is.

46:17

Folks,

46:17

>> let me make the conservative or at least

46:19

give some sunshine to conservative part

46:20

of this. I can't stand it when people on

46:23

the far left say Jeff Bezos didn't earn

46:24

his money.

46:25

>> Oh, he did

46:26

>> because he was born to a single mother

46:28

at the at the age when she was 17.

46:32

I believe he deserves to have earned

46:34

$120 billion. I think we deserve to

46:37

elect people who have the backbone to

46:38

tax him at 60 or 80%.

46:41

But don't slow him down. He's not a bad

46:44

person,

46:45

>> right?

46:45

>> He's doing he's doing what we all do.

46:47

He's optimizing for his own

46:48

self-interest. You may you may just you

46:50

may say he's more self-interested than

46:52

some people. Fine. We're not doing our

46:55

job. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie

46:57

Sanders, you've been in Congress for

46:59

[ __ ] ever and the taxes keep going

47:01

down under your watch.

47:02

>> Yeah. Let's do something.

47:03

>> You want to demonize them? No. Tax him.

47:05

>> Tax him. That's the best way like to say

47:07

take look you whatever you want to do.

47:09

Now let me switch to another billionaire

47:11

because this was something that

47:13

happened. I we have not said a lot. Our

47:14

listen some of our listeners are not

47:16

going to like what I have to say here

47:17

and I don't really care but I do care

47:19

but I don't care. Um unexpected sighting

47:22

in DC this week. Mark Cuban standing

47:24

alongside President Trump. Cuban

47:25

endorsed Kla Harris was a big supporter

47:27

in 2024. It's been one of Trump's most

47:30

vocal critics, but the two appeared

47:31

together as the Trump announced a major

47:34

expansion of Trump RX's administration's

47:37

online drugstore. The site is adding

47:39

more than 600 lowcost generic

47:41

medications through partnerships with

47:42

Cuban's Cost Plus Drugs, Amazon

47:44

Pharmacy, and Good RX. At this event,

47:47

Trump was asked about his new alliance

47:49

with Cuban. It's only on this issue,

47:51

just for people to be clear. Let's

47:53

listen. It's pretty remarkable seeing

47:55

you and Mark Cuban up there and the fact

47:57

that obviously Mark endorsed Kla Harris

48:00

back in 2020.

48:00

>> Well, he made a mistake. It was a big

48:02

mistake.

48:04

But

48:04

>> what does this say about what you two

48:06

are building here? The important

48:07

>> Well, it says we love people. We love

48:09

our country. He wants to he's got a a

48:11

good company and he's going to do a lot

48:13

of business with this and uh I'm going

48:15

to get drugs out through Amazon through

48:17

the whole group and we're going to get

48:18

drugs out and uh Mark wanted to be a

48:21

part of it and I think Mark was very

48:24

gracious. He said this is something that

48:25

really works.

48:26

>> Cuban later posted on X, if anyone

48:28

thinks I'm going to put politics ahead

48:29

of helping Americans reduce their cost

48:31

of healthcare and pharmaceuticals, they

48:32

are a [ __ ] idiot. He took that down

48:34

because he thought swearing undercut his

48:36

argument. He's probably right. Um, let

48:38

me just say a few things. The stuff out

48:41

there about him making a bank or he's

48:44

mobbing up with Trump is it's just not

48:46

true. You don't have to like that he

48:48

stood there. I get it. I get it. I get

48:51

it. But he this this business is to get

48:54

drug prices down. He does not make a ton

48:57

of money here. He This is more It's not

49:00

a charity either. He's trying to build a

49:02

business. But this the the stuff that's

49:04

out there about what he's doing is just

49:07

inaccurate and it's not if you don't

49:09

like him standing there and you think he

49:11

betrayed you and I saw a lot of these I

49:13

now can't like him. I thought he was a

49:15

good guy. He is a good guy. He is doing

49:18

something that I'm sure makes him deeply

49:20

uncomfortable for a very good thing

49:22

which is to bring lower prices. He's got

49:24

to get in this Trump RX. He essentially

49:26

took control of Trump RX in a weird way

49:30

because you've got to get these things.

49:31

If Trump is doing this site and I hate

49:33

that Trump's name is on it, I hate it.

49:36

But look, he's an ego mana who puts his

49:38

name on every [ __ ] thing and there's

49:39

nothing we can do about it. And if he he

49:42

sat up there with Biden, you'd love him

49:43

for it or whoever a Democratic

49:45

president, he would sit up with anyone.

49:48

The only thing I would say was that I'm

49:51

not sure he got grretched. I sent him a

49:53

note. I said, "You just got gretched."

49:55

When he when he first he started talking

49:57

about this this $1.776

50:00

trillion slush fund for people who

50:02

criminals who attack the capital, I

50:05

don't know. He got grretched. He was

50:06

sitting there when Trump was going on

50:08

about something that's obviously

50:11

illegal or and also a slush fund. I

50:13

don't know what would he should he walk

50:15

out? Should he leave? I don't know. He

50:17

did laugh at the you voted for Kla

50:19

Harris. I'm not sure what you do in

50:20

situ. Should he have sat there and said

50:22

I still would? I don't know. He would

50:24

have gotten lost out this deal. I don't

50:27

know. And it's not great to have to

50:28

stand with Trump. We get it. We get it.

50:30

I wouldn't do it. But if I had something

50:33

that mattered a lot, I might. And the

50:35

only other thing I would say is Zoran

50:38

Mandani went there and stood right next

50:40

to Trump and everyone praised that. And

50:43

I the difference was is but he didn't

50:45

insult Trump and he didn't like slap him

50:48

or do anything rude. He also didn't say

50:51

much and he didn't get gratched. And so

50:54

he he needed something for New York and

50:56

he got it from Trump. And so I'm not

50:58

quite sure what the difference here is

51:00

because that's what I think was

51:01

happening here with Mark. And you can

51:03

hate on me all you want saying I love

51:05

the billionaires, but I think what he's

51:07

doing is an important thing for bringing

51:09

drug prices online and you cannot wait

51:11

for 3 years to do so. Your thoughts,

51:13

Scott? If your emotions and political

51:16

partisanship trump the health of

51:18

Americans, then the problem is you, not

51:20

Mark Cuban.

51:21

The partnership between Trump RX and

51:25

Cuban's cost plus drugs will unlock

51:29

millions of Americans

51:31

in terms of cheaper prices or unlock

51:33

cheaper prices for millions of

51:35

Americans. Uh, this week's expansion

51:38

adds 600 generics, nearly seven times

51:40

the previous catalog. They'll be

51:43

available to anyone regardless of

51:44

insurance status and in many cases the

51:46

cash price through cost plus is actually

51:48

lower than what insured pay uh insured

51:50

people pay at the pharmacy counter after

51:52

co-pays. Cost plus Drugs sells the

51:55

cancer drug I believe it's called a

51:57

tanamibanib

52:00

for $17. The same drug runs over $2,000

52:03

at conventionalies.

52:05

three PBMs um uh Optim RX, CVS Caremark

52:09

and Express Scripts control roughly 80%

52:11

of the US drug access and are untouched

52:13

by this deal. It look something has to

52:16

change. And I respect and the US

52:20

government has a scale and capital that

52:23

no one can match. And if you have

52:24

something that's good for America that

52:25

requires that scale and that capital,

52:28

then you act like a [ __ ] adult.

52:31

I shouldn't have said [ __ ] You act

52:32

like an adult and you go there. So, you

52:36

know, you know, if if you think that

52:39

Mark Cuban sold out, then all right, you

52:44

go buy people's cancer drugs, I this I

52:48

can't imagine Mark enjoyed this, but

52:50

helping people get access to life-saving

52:52

drugs at a reasonable value is more

52:55

important than him getting dragged by a

52:57

bunch of bots and people virtue

52:59

signaling and and applying purity tests

53:03

from their keyboard.

53:04

>> Right. I would agree. You just didn't

53:06

have the right information. The

53:07

inaccuracy is what I as always

53:09

inaccuracy desires me. And to say that

53:11

that he's going to make bank at this is

53:13

just not true. It's just absolutely not

53:15

true. And and you again, I I wouldn't

53:18

want to have to do this. I don't know if

53:20

I could stand next to him, but he's

53:23

there for the next three years. And if

53:24

someone needs these drugs now, and if he

53:28

has to take the reputational hit, that's

53:30

fine. I guess that's fine. The fact that

53:32

you're dragging him is a pro I I

53:36

understand the the and I don't want to

53:38

in this case for the first time I

53:40

thought derangement. Don't be so [ __ ]

53:42

deranged that you don't understand what

53:45

Mark just did which is he had to like

53:47

put his like ego in a in his pocket. He

53:50

remains by the way Mark is not I would

53:53

say he's liberal or conservative. He's

53:55

quite it can vary all over the place,

53:58

but there is absolutely no way Mark

54:01

Cuban would vote for Trump. I at this

54:04

moment in time or support Trump in

54:07

politically. So, I don't know what you

54:09

want from him, but to me, I thought it

54:11

was just a bad a bad um look for for the

54:14

left. I thought I really did. I just was

54:16

sort of disappointed. Very disappointed.

54:18

So, but they're going to drag us for it.

54:19

So, too bad. I don't care. All right,

54:21

Scott. Let's go on a quick break. When

54:22

we come back, we'll talk about Nvidia's

54:24

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56:40

Scott, we're back with more news. Let's

56:42

talk about Nvidia's latest earnings. You

56:44

just called them a casino. The company's

56:45

profit for the quarter was over 58

56:48

billion. They're benefiting from what's

56:50

happening now, which is up 211%

56:52

from a year earlier. That is a number.

56:54

It's not 30%. It's a lot. 3 years ago,

56:56

profit was 2 billion. Nvidia projected

56:59

sales in the current quarter would reach

57:01

91 billion and it would uh as spending

57:05

on AI infrastructure would reach 2 to

57:07

three trillion in 2030. This is an

57:09

insane growing streak, but like you

57:11

said, they're benefiting from this huge

57:14

spend by all these other companies. Uh

57:17

thoughts very quickly.

57:18

>> Well, not a casino. They're the house.

57:20

>> Okay.

57:21

>> All of these companies spending just a

57:23

crazy amount of money on 1.6 trillion on

57:25

capex are kind of drunk gamblers is the

57:28

way I would describe it. And they're

57:29

benefiting from it. They're the house.

57:30

They're the house when billionaires show

57:33

up, sharks with who are drunk and have

57:36

unlimited credit at the casino. That's

57:37

the way I would describe it. But just in

57:39

terms of the earnings, the revenue was

57:41

81 billion, up 85% year-on-year, which

57:44

was a beat. Earnings per share was a

57:46

beat. Data center revenue 75 billion, up

57:48

92% as you said, year-on-year accounting

57:50

for 92% of total revenue. Again, a beat.

57:53

Their Q2 guidance 91 billion above the

57:55

86 billion expectations. Another beat.

57:58

And their shareholder returns dividend

58:00

was raised 25x from 1 cent to 25 cents

58:03

per share. 80 billion in new buybacks

58:05

authorized. And I mean the reason he's

58:08

on that plane to China is there's no

58:10

shipments right now and he he's like he

58:12

looks at the stock price and thinks I

58:14

have got to continue to be

58:15

>> continue.

58:16

>> Yeah. And the only thing that's I found

58:18

really interesting here was despite

58:19

beating on every every conceivable

58:22

metric, the stock was flat, which says

58:26

to me that so the expectations of the

58:28

stock price are so enormous now that

58:32

they don't they people don't expect

58:34

Nvidia to beat, they expect them to

58:35

massively beat, which says to me that

58:37

the first time Nvidia even whispers

58:39

things might be slowing down, it it

58:42

craters. So unbelievable company, 15th

58:46

beat in a row, but I just think so the

58:49

expectations that are built into this

58:51

valuation. I think it's the most

58:52

valuable company in the world now.

58:54

>> Yeah.

58:55

>> Um are pretty significant as evidenced

58:57

by the fact that it beat on every

58:58

conceivable metric and the stock didn't

59:00

move.

59:01

>> Right. Right. That's interesting. That's

59:03

a really good point. Anyway, we'll see.

59:05

We'll see what happens. There's a lot.

59:06

It's it's precarious

59:09

is what I fragile.

59:10

>> By the way, stocks off 2% today.

59:11

>> Yeah. But let me see a lot. Several

59:12

different Wall Street people call me in.

59:14

They said, "Everything feels so

59:16

fragile." So, we'll see. All right,

59:18

Scott. One more uh quick break. We'll be

59:20

back for predictions.

59:22

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60:56

Okay, Scott, bring your predictions in a

60:57

second. I just want to note we're going

60:58

to be off on Memorial Day uh for

61:00

Tuesday. would not be we'll be taping a

61:02

show on Memorial Day for Tuesday.

61:04

>> All right. Oh, I'm sorry. Um, so I have

61:07

one

61:09

we talked about late state or 99, but I

61:12

I'm I'm going to I just can't help it. I

61:15

don't think SpaceX is going to price

61:17

near $2 trillion.

61:19

>> Okay.

61:19

>> The financial suggest

61:20

>> I think you're going for it.

61:22

>> Well, you're going to have so many

61:24

people pouring over this S1 and it's

61:28

just pretty ugly. You just read this

61:30

thing and you start thinking, okay, this

61:33

feels

61:34

this feels a little bit, you know,

61:37

Iawasa. It just it it's a lot. And if

61:41

and if you take each of the three

61:42

business lines, space, connectivity and

61:44

AI, and apply a comparable price to

61:47

sales multiple to each, Rocket Lab for

61:49

space, VSAT for connectivity, and

61:52

anthropic for AI, which are very

61:54

generous, you know, health healthy

61:57

valuations and you add them up, you end

61:59

up with a valuation of 547 billion. My

62:03

my hero on this stuff, Asat Motorin,

62:06

valued the thing at 1.1 trillion. And if

62:08

you double each of those price to sales

62:10

multiples,

62:12

um, you assume that each business will

62:13

command a valuation that is two times

62:15

the typical market rate, you are still

62:17

about $750 billion away from SpaceX's

62:20

projected valuation.

62:21

>> Yeah.

62:22

>> So

62:22

>> that's being kind. You're saying that's

62:24

being

62:25

>> if you just get very aggressive and

62:26

value every piece of this as a leader in

62:28

its respective field

62:29

>> and add the Elon plus,

62:31

>> you add you get 600 billion and then you

62:33

go, okay, Elon effect, double it, 1.2

62:36

trillion. So, I've I've always been

62:38

wrong around Elon, but I'm saying I

62:40

think it's going to I think two China is

62:41

a real stretch for here and it's going

62:42

to price below that.

62:43

>> All right.

62:44

>> And then the other one is just boring

62:45

one. There's I think you can expect a

62:47

deal between the US and Cuba in the

62:49

coming months.

62:50

>> Cuba is currently in a fullblown crisis.

62:53

I absolutely think the smartest thing we

62:55

could do is be providing humanitarian

62:56

aid and let people decide that they want

62:58

to be the 51st state or at least get

63:00

along with us.

63:01

>> Yeah, I agree.

63:01

>> The collapse is comparable. Well, it's

63:03

not getting any news because of

63:04

everything else going on. But the

63:05

collapse is literally comparable to the

63:06

1990s crash that followed the fall of

63:08

the Soviet Union.

63:09

>> Yep.

63:09

>> Between December of 2025 and April of uh

63:12

26, Cube received just one of the eight

63:14

monthly fuel shipments its economies

63:16

required requires to function.

63:18

>> And blackouts are now, get this, 20

63:21

hours a day.

63:22

>> I mean, it's crazy. No, we should just

63:24

help them

63:25

>> 100%.

63:26

>> part of the world again. And uh and but

63:29

there's going to be a deal here because

63:31

Rubio is reportedly having secret talks

63:34

with Ral Castro's grandson, bypassing

63:36

official Cuban channels. Trump told

63:39

reporters in February, Cuba wants to

63:40

make a deal. Just yesterday, Rubio sent

63:43

video message to the Cuban people,

63:44

proposing 100 million in aid, and

63:45

blaming Cuba's leaders for shortages of

63:47

electricity, food, and fuel. Uh Rubio

63:50

was born to two Cuban immigrants, and

63:51

this is a deal that he has personal

63:53

investment in. He sees this as his run,

63:55

his next

63:55

>> his

63:57

president.

63:58

>> All the people

63:59

>> sets him up well for a 2028 run. Cuba is

64:02

in a deep dark corner. And also Trump,

64:05

he doesn't want another military

64:06

excursion. There's just there's no

64:08

[ __ ] way.

64:08

>> There's a way to do this. Just let it

64:10

fall apart and we come in and help pick

64:11

up the pieces.

64:12

>> It's already Well, it's falling apart,

64:13

>> right? You know what I mean? It's like,

64:15

you know, interestingly, I agree with

64:17

you here because I do think it should be

64:18

welcomed back into the nations. It's

64:21

I've always wanted to go there. You

64:22

know, my my actually everyone in my

64:25

family has been there but me, which is

64:26

interesting.

64:26

>> I've been there. It's great.

64:27

>> Yeah. That's I just feel like it's it's

64:30

a wonderful people and it'll help Rubio

64:32

immeasurably. This is at the heart of

64:34

his presidential camp. You understand

64:35

that? Like it's very clear for at least

64:37

for Florida. Um and uh and one of the

64:40

things that speaking of collapse, I've

64:42

heard from so many foreign affairs

64:45

people who I really trust and think are

64:48

smart that Russia is very in much

64:52

distress. Putin is under much stress

64:54

right now because of the situation in

64:57

that that in Ukraine, the economy,

64:59

everything else. And that they had

65:02

thought this is the first time they see

65:03

a light at the end of the tunnel,

65:04

Putin's rule. Just saying that. Just

65:07

putting that out there which was

65:08

interesting and

65:09

>> I gonna say it as a lie at the end of I

65:10

think the end is nigh.

65:12

>> The end is nigh. Yes. Whatever. Anyway,

65:14

so it's just interesting and we should

65:15

do this you know there let me let me

65:18

quote that more on Brendan Carr. We can

65:20

do this the easy the hard way or the

65:22

easy way. Let's do it the easy way with

65:23

the Cubans, right? Let's show them the

65:26

bigness of the United States and really

65:28

help them. And then Scott and I will

65:30

open our hotel there and retire.

65:33

Okay. Uh okay.

65:35

>> Great mojito. Great,

65:36

>> great cigars, everything else. Uh, in

65:38

any case, we want to hear from you. Send

65:40

us your questions about business tech or

65:41

whatever's on your mind. Go to

65:42

nymag.com/pivot

65:44

to submit a question for the show or

65:46

call 85551 pivot. Okay, that's the show.

65:50

Thanks for listening to Pivot. Be sure

65:51

to like and subscribe to our YouTube

65:53

channel. We, as I said, will be back

65:55

next week.

Interactive Summary

In this episode of Pivot, Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway discuss the acquisition of the Vox Media Podcast Network and New York Magazine by James Murdoch's Lupa Systems. They delve into the broader challenges of the digital media landscape, focusing on the difficulty of competing against tech giants like Google and Meta. The hosts also provide an in-depth analysis of SpaceX's recent IPO filing, comparing the successful Starlink division with other business lines like XAI, which they characterize as capital-intensive ventures. Additionally, they critique Jeff Bezos's recent interview comments regarding taxes and the Washington Post, and discuss Mark Cuban's partnership with Donald Trump on an online drugstore initiative, framing it as a pragmatic approach to healthcare affordability despite political polarization.

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