PivotKara Swisher Calls It Now: the Paramount Merger Won’t Go Through | Pivot
EVERY SPOKEN WORD
60 min read · 11,772 words- 0:00 – 0:22
Intro
- SGScott Galloway
Them spending $100 million to try and say, "We're likable and we're cool again," is like your uncle showing up with a Ferrari to convince everyone he doesn't miss his ex.
- KSKara Swisher
[upbeat music] Hi, everyone. This is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Kara Swisher.
- SGScott Galloway
And I'm Scott Galloway.
- KSKara Swisher
We've got a lot to get to today. Paramount
- 0:22 – 16:40
Paramount Pauses WBD Merger
- KSKara Swisher
Skydance is pausing a Warner Brothers Discovery merger until legal challenges are resolved or until June 1st, 2027. That's like a long-
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah
- KSKara Swisher
... time from now, folks, whichever happens first. The decision comes after a federal court granted a temporary restraining order preventing the merger from closing for at least 28 days. Paramount is calling the pause a significant win, which it is not, saying it provides a direct path to a trial based on evidence, but investors do not agree. Neither does Kara Swisher. Paramount shares hit a 52-week low on the news. The delay could get costly, $650 million per quarter ticking fee begins in October, and if the deal falls apart entirely, Paramount would owe $7 billion breakup fee. Uh, I, I... By the way, Paramount just, just brought on Beth Wilkinson, someone I know pretty well, as its lead attorney, very good attorney.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
She successfully defended Microsoft's Activision acquisition. She's also representing Nexstar in its antitrust case. Hmm, Beth. [chuckles]
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
The company you keep. Um, anyway-
- SGScott Galloway
She's gonna win. She'll win
- KSKara Swisher
... she, she-- Well, we'll see. We'll see. We'll see.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. I think she'll win.
- KSKara Swisher
Um, yeah, what's winning at this point, at, at this point? So talk a little bit about, uh, what you think. I have thoughts on it, uh, but I'd love to hear yours first.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, uh, I don't think they have a legal leg to stand on. What they have is delay, and delay costs shareholders, employees. It, it's effective, and they'll probably extract a pound of flesh because, uh, Para- in order to win the deal, one of the things that Paramount Skydance offered in, in the purchase agreement was a ticking fee of $650 million per quarter while this deal sits in limbo. That's roughly-
- KSKara Swisher
Right
- SGScott Galloway
... $7 million per wait. So these Democratic AGs who are probably sick of a Republican weaponized DOJ have said, "Fine, what's good for the goose is good for the gander," and they'll probably be able to extract something, whether it's guarantees of certain shooting within their state or spinning a certain thing. They're gonna... And, you know, no one, uh, all of a sudden, less than no one is gonna know who the California AG is gonna be, right? They'll start getting a lot of time on MS now. So this is political. They'll get some awareness. They might get a pound of flesh. But I kn- I think ultimately Beth will show, will bring up a bunch of expert witnesses in the form of economists who will say, "Yeah, emerged Warner Brothers Skydance is 8% or 6% of all viewing time versus Netflix at nine and YouTube at 13." The market has already voted. Um, Paramount, as you referenced, hit a 52-week low after celebrating what management called a legal win. This was such a Trump thing, trying to pretend this is anything but bad news. And investors understand something executives often don't, and that is winning in court can still mean losing economically. So th- again, the real competitor here isn't Skydance or Warner Brothers. It's YouTube, Netflix, TikTok, and increasingly probably AI-generated entertainment. And as usual, legacy media is fighting yesterday's war while to- you know, tomorrow's competitors are scaling. But this is, again, this cedes economic value and advantage from the legacy players to the new guys who aren't caught up in court right now, and YouTube can just scale.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. That's absolutely true. I don't think she's gonna win at all, actually. I think they-
- SGScott Galloway
Really?
- KSKara Swisher
Yes, I don't. And I-- Right, look at right now the price of Warner shares, $25. The delta between the 31 and 25, as Bill Cohen actually pointed out, is quite high. It's supposed to be about 4%. It's, it's a lot. That's a lot. The investors have decided this deal isn't happening. That's what I think s- is exactly what's occurring.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, they want a premium. So, so what you're referring to is merger arbitrage. There's a whole class of investors who, when a deal's announced at, say, I think that's announced at 31 bucks a share, whatever it is, if it's trading at 25, what is that? That's about a 22 or 23% premium.
- KSKara Swisher
They don't think the deal is happening.
- SGScott Galloway
That's right. But what merger arb guys do is they say, "Okay, I think it's gonna close. I buy the stock now. When it closes, I get my 31." And it's hard to find 22 or 23% return, but what you're saying is, to your point, the market is saying there's now approximately, if I'm doing my math correctly, a one in four chance this deal doesn't happen.
- KSKara Swisher
That's correct. Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
And what would be interesting is what happens [chuckles] to the stock if it doesn't close.
- KSKara Swisher
Oh, collapse. Collapse.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. Well-
- KSKara Swisher
Here's what I think. This is-
- SGScott Galloway
Yep
- KSKara Swisher
... this is what I think. All right, let me go. Uh, this is someone sent me a very interesting legal, um, document which I thought was great. They chose financial hemorrhage over legal precedent. This tells you everything about how they assess their chances on August 3rd. This, they were gonna lose on the preliminary injunction. They were absolutely gonna lose on that, and that would have devastated the, the stock, devastated the stock, and it was-
- SGScott Galloway
Right
- KSKara Swisher
... you couldn't overturn it on appeal. It's called something called abuse of discretion standard, and the, the merger would have been over if they lost on August 3rd, so they're push-- This, this, this lawyer they had, a guy named Kessler, um, in hiring Beth, it's a great hire. She's great. She's terrific. I don't really care how terrific she is. This is, um, they have, I think they have decided, um, this is-- Let me read you this. Uh, "Paramount blinked. They looked at August 3rd hearing, two PI motions, two markets, A-list writer declarations, a judge who already tipped her hand, and decided that no ruling was better than another bad ruling. That's a rational li- litigation decision and a catastrophic business signal." Um, peace guy isn't just scared. They've entered a survival mode, and they're trying to control the bleeding. The question is whether the patient can survive long enough to reach the operating room. And as you said, other competitors are scaling, including all these tech competitors and also Disney and others. They have all kinds of freedom to do things. Um, they have this ticking fee that's very expensive, and at some point, the savings that they were gonna recognize in this deal are going to disappear, right? That they were gonna do through the coordination. And so- Oracle stock is way off. This is what's paying for part of this.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. Yeah.
- 16:40 – 24:15
The End of the WHCD?
- KSKara Swisher
White House Correspondents' Dinner took place. [laughs] Jesus Christ, this thing. Speaking of media, what a story. Three months after a gunman forced the original event to be cut short, Trump opened by saying, "The show must go on," and condemning political violence. That was good, but quickly shifted to an hour of attacks on Democrats, celebrities, and journalists, many of his jokes falling flat, and even Republicans didn't think it was good. Those attacks include personal jabs at CNN's Kaitlan Collins, how dare he, who was accepting an award for her White House coverage. Trump was also sat there as the Wall Street Journal accepted an award for its reporting on his ties to Jeffrey Epstein in that famous, uh, birthday greeting thing with the, with the lady's vagina. Um, this, I, I, you know how I feel about this Correspondents' Dinner. I think it's just repulsive, and, and I had offered to pay for the scholarships 'cause I hated it so much. But I covered it as a young reporter. I thought it was terrible 20 years ago. Uh, this was just bad and, you know, don't come for Kaitlan Collins, my friend. I thought she acted rather well, although I suspect nobody should've been there in the first place, but that's just me.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, let's bring this back to me. I need your advice.
- KSKara Swisher
Okay. All right.
- SGScott Galloway
So this is a picture, I'm holding this up for our viewers on YouTube.
- KSKara Swisher
You and Kaitlan.
- SGScott Galloway
This is me and Kaitlan. Notice what she's doing here?
- KSKara Swisher
Smiling. Smiling.
- SGScott Galloway
She's smiling.
- KSKara Swisher
She's sm- Oh, God. [laughs]
- SGScott Galloway
She's, in addition to being a very talented journalist, she's also a lovely person who smiles when appropriate.
- KSKara Swisher
She smiles when appropriate.
- SGScott Galloway
And-
- KSKara Swisher
That is correct
- SGScott Galloway
... I saw this thing, I mean, the clips are everywhere, and I just thought There-- I think about our brand, right? The US brand. There are a few things that have been worse for the brand than the White House Correspondents' Dinner
- KSKara Swisher
Never is the worst the worst.
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, well, first off, w-what better marks America than an event with our, you know, technically our most iconic journalist and the president, and a mentally ill man with guns manages t-to interrupt the whole thing. And then we reschedule it, and we have this eighty-year-old man making the creep-
- KSKara Swisher
Creepiest
- SGScott Galloway
This wasn't even about insults. It's like-
- KSKara Swisher
Ew
- SGScott Galloway
... this dude is just so fucking creepy.
- KSKara Swisher
Creepy.
- SGScott Galloway
It's like your grandfather, who's doddering shows up and won't stop talking about his grandson's girlfriend in a very uncomfortable way.
- KSKara Swisher
[laughs] Okay.
- SGScott Galloway
It's like, dude, just take your limp dick and just take it somewhere else.
- KSKara Swisher
Get out of here. Ugh.
- SGScott Galloway
It's so-- The air, I don't know, the clip, the, the air in that room was like, "Oh, fuck, God. This is just the worst thing." And, and let's go macro. The White House Correspondents' Dinner is like Blockbuster holding an award show for who has the best DVD.
- KSKara Swisher
[laughs]
- SGScott Galloway
No one gives a shit. It's, it, it's like, come on.
- KSKara Swisher
Oh.
- SGScott Galloway
The institutions here, there's a theme across all of this. The through line is the institutions are ceding power to, to individuals, and to individual journalists who go on social media. This shit, this thing needs to be buried, or at a minimum-
- 24:15 – 37:08
Meta’s AI Optimism Ad
- SGScott Galloway
Meta just launched a new campaign in making the case for AI optimism with an ad showing Meta products as tools for human connection. The video is set to David Bowie's "Five Years," which is a song about the end of the world. Now, let me be fair, t- [laughs] Bowie, Bowie did say later that he wrote it to, in hopes people would be optimistic, just so you know, just so you know. I, like, I wanna correct that. A lot of people are like, it's, it wa- it was about the end of the world, but he, he was hoping to turn that around. But let's listen to a clip first.
- SPSpeaker
Some people will have you believe AI will make us less connected, that it's gonna leave us behind. We couldn't disagree more. [upbeat music] Call us optimists, call us dreamers. Just as we've always done, we're betting on people.
- SGScott Galloway
Make it stop.
- SPSpeaker
[upbeat music]
- SGScott Galloway
Jesus Christ, make it, seriously, make it stop. Mark Zuckerberg shared the ad on Facebook, writing, "As we enter the next wave of AI, we continue to believe the future is for everyone." The message comes months after Meta told staff it was cutting 10% of its workforce and scrapping 6,000 open roles to offset AI spending. Uh, I would like your marketing-- Let me just tell you, I'm just telling you, M- this says midterms all over it. It's like, "Now we believe in people. Before we believed in giving Donald Trump money, but now people." Thoughts, marketing professor? Put your hat on and tell me what works and doesn't work here. I know exactly what's going on here. Somebody really attractive who wears black has shown up and talk about intangible associations and emotion, and they have so much fucking money, and then Mark and the CMO there has convinced themselves this was a good idea. This goes back to the notion of, don't these people have friends? I mean, Mark, can you, can you tell us how connecting people fits into, uh, teen girls self-harming? Or are you hiding evidence that one in eight, uh, British teens cite Instagram as a, as a catalyst for their mental health? I sat next to the woman you know, Dina Powell, and she wrote- Yeah. She's been involved with this ... she tweeted a thing and said, "It's always been about connecting people. Call us optimists." And the only thing I could think of was, "Sit down." I'm an AI optimist. Y- you're... I, I mean, [laughs] Meta's new ad- Come on, marketing professor. Yeah ... Meta's new ad has this incredible soft focus family using AI glasses to connect more meaningful, meaningfully. The stalker glasses, yeah. Yeah. Uh, okay, nothing says intimacy like a $300 pair of glasses beaming your kid's birthday party back to a fucking server farm so Zuck can, can serve the moment back to you as a Nissan ad. It's just, this is so cynical. They are the last people to be talking about- Humans. Yeah ... the upside of AI. I would agree. They're gonna invite so much criticism. I don't know who the CMO of Meta is. You're a fucking idiot for approving this thing. What would you do here? Because they have other ones. They have another, uh, uh, video I saw about data centers. They're trying to turn that idea around, that it does help people, it creates jobs, et cetera. They're, they're now moving. And again- That's a good one. That ad is smart. Uh, uh- Yeah ... PR and talent, just very adroit. No ethnically ambiguous people pretending they're happy wearing these glasses. None of that shit, just communications around what is, uh, trying to call balls and strikes. Their program around vocational training and investing in vocational training, that is a great program. That is great branding. It shouldn't be an ad. It should be their PR team, which are some of the most talented people in the world, getting that, that thing placed everywhere, but not running ads on it. This thing is so to-- It's gonna invite so much scrutiny around, okay, this is Jeffrey Dahmer running a Jack in the Box commercial. It's just, you just don't do this. [laughs] You d- What are you thinking approving an ad saying that you're AI optimist and you're connecting? What the hell? They also cursed in it. I don't like when they curse in ads. I don't like it. Yeah. Uh, uh, so I don't, I find... And, and I just, when, when Dina... And s- she seemed like a lovely woman, and she put out the ad. She's terrific. Yeah. I just, the first thing I thought, I'm, "I can't do this 'cause she's friends with Kara." I thought, "Sit down. You're the last people that you should be claiming that you're AI optimists." So, but what do you do if you're trying to get back the... You know, look, I'm telling you, this is so motivated by what's coming in to, in November, and the, and the payback. Right? The pay- Wh- what, what do you mean by that? Same one? Because I think they're all... Like, let me just tell you, I, there isn't a tech company that suddenly hasn't hey girled me recently. All of them. All of them. They're like, "Kara, we haven't talked in a while." Like, after the Trump thing, 'cause I'm like, "You fuckers for, like, throwing in with Trump, you corrupt pieces of shit," like, essentially. And now they're like, "We need to talk 'cause we believe in safety." Like, I'm getting a lot of safety. We should have a meeting. You know, "What you've been saying has really resonated with us. Like, what you're saying about, like, corruption." I was like, "Uh, aren't you paying the bribes?" Like, it, it's really, I just feel like there's an understanding that there's gonna be payback right now. That's one. Two, what would you do? Like, at some point, like, I know people hate when I say this, but, you know, how do you turn it around? Is there a world in which Mark Zuckerberg could do something to not seem, like, so villainous? Or maybe not, maybe not. I don't know. I mean, I recall when Gates was villainous, and then until the Epstein stuff, he was non-villainous, right? So what does he, what do they have to do to g- What would you, what would the ad that you would do here? Let's help them. Let's help them in their thing. Say they're genuinely saying, "We made a mistake. We want back into humanity." What would y- Or they can't be, or they can't come in back into humanity 'cause they're doing all this other damage. I, I hate to say it, but it's a Rupert Murdoch brand strategy. Rupert just owns it. He's like, "I am who I am. I work behind the scenes." He doesn't run ads trying to make the Murdochs more likable. He doesn't run ads trying to say, "Fox, we're good for America." Yeah. He's like- Well, there was fair and balanced, if you recall, [laughs] for a minute there. Well, okay. But they just, uh, quite frankly, they just, they just own it. And, uh, the reality is, is that the Zuckerberg brand and the Meta brand is, for the most part, a very strong brand for the following reason: America has opted for shareholder value over competence and the well-being of the commonwealth. We really respect and admire a company that's able to create this sort of shareholder value. Their products are amazing. I, I hate to admit this. I am addicted to Instagram Reels.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm. You are.
- SGScott Galloway
I think it is incredible. I think it's incredible.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, I like Threads-
- SGScott Galloway
But for the-
- KSKara Swisher
... as you know
- SGScott Galloway
... their performance, their shareholder returns, the fact that they have, they hire a ton of talented people and create economic security for them, the fact that housing prices are up 28%, large, in large part because Meta's making so many people wealthy. A lot of people have registered enormous shareholder gains. Do your thing, go on background, try and defend yourself, fine. This, I think the vocational investment, I think it's $150 million, is absolutely genius. But having an ad where the tagline is, "Presence Reimagined," that to me feels like them saying, "We already have your face, your friends, and your location. Now we'd like to own your depth perception." I mean, I don't want... Uh, uh, they should not bring attention-
- KSKara Swisher
They have a, they have a need to be liked. They do. You know, also-
- SGScott Galloway
Shouldn't be running these ads
- KSKara Swisher
... yeah, they have a need to, like, "We're not villains," and, uh, I, I don't know what they could do. I mean, do t- you know, admit to some of their big problems, admit to it? If they wanna be liked, like, that's what I mean. If, I think wanting to be liked is part of this, and look at, like, look at that interview Elon did with, uh, with the financial, with the, um-
- SGScott Galloway
The Economist
- KSKara Swisher
... The Economist, uh-
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. They can't help it
- KSKara Swisher
... uh, uh, Bellow- Bettos. He ke-
- SGScott Galloway
They feel like they're misunderstood, and if they only had the chance-
- KSKara Swisher
He couldn't shut the fu-
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah
- KSKara Swisher
... I kept thinking-
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah
- KSKara Swisher
... "Stop talking."
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, 100%.
- KSKara Swisher
You are, like, you know, and she's so adept. She's amazing, and I was like, "Stop talking. Oh my God, like, stop talking." At some point I was, like, wanting to get him off the stage 'cause I thought he doesn't even know how awful he is, right? And the, I think in, in the case of Meta, I think they do want... They do understand there's a, a shift happening, a vibe shift, rather significant, and they're trying to figure out how to be liked again. I'm not so sure they're ever gonna be liked. I think you're right. I don't, I don't know.
- SGScott Galloway
But the, the advice-
- KSKara Swisher
I don't know. Yeah
- SGScott Galloway
... the advice is the same.
- KSKara Swisher
I-
- 37:08 – 41:09
4Trump Launching EU Investigation
- KSKara Swisher
$1 billion antitrust fine. In a Truth Social post, Trump accused the EU of robbing American tech companies. Uh, Trump claimed the latest fine was issued without explanation, even though the EU regulators said it stemmed from failure to comply with the Digital Markets Act, which we've known about for a long time. Regardless, Trump said the US is not a piggy bank for Europe and is threatening to hit the EU with substantial tariffs. What his usual go-to is his tariffs, because those just expired and he's trying all manner of ways to put new tariffs on. Um, you know, listen, Obama released a similar thing at the time of the original Digital Markets Act and the other act. Um, so I, you know, a lot of presidents do this, but a bill- you know, the tariff way, he never did anything about it. He complai- Obama complained about it, as I recall. But, um, and was a bit defending US tech companies, but thoughts on this?
- SGScott Galloway
[sighs] I'm so exhausted by all of it 'cause I have trouble understanding it, and usually the stuff that's boring is the important stuff. So like I, uh, two decisions, uh, half a billion fine for self-preferencing its own search. I, I, I... The, the EU has essentially become the de facto regulator for American tech because America won't do it itself. So I'm a little bit, I'm, I'm of two minds here, and that is when the primary form of tech innovation coming out of the EU is regulation, that's not a great sign. It, it reflects poorly on both of us, quite frankly. I, I don't have a lot to say here, Kara. What are your thoughts? By the way, the new, the, I do have the new Meta tagline, though. "We're not the same Facebook that ruined Thanksgiving."
- KSKara Swisher
[laughs] This time. We won't drink this time. We promise not to drink this.
- SGScott Galloway
I, I got, I got a new job as an agency. I'm literally starting the new Meta agency, whether they like it or not.
- KSKara Swisher
Oh my God.
- SGScott Galloway
I'm the new Meta agency.
- KSKara Swisher
We need the Gulfie brought us in. Bring us in, Mark. Bring us in. We can help you.
- SGScott Galloway
Put us in. Put us in, coach.
- KSKara Swisher
Put us in. Put us in. Pay us enormous amounts of money to insult you. Um, anyway-
- SGScott Galloway
Meta, we're not just ruining Thanksgiving anymore.
- KSKara Swisher
[laughs]
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
We won't [chuckles] If you saw your-
- SGScott Galloway
There's so many.
- KSKara Swisher
All right, listen.
- SGScott Galloway
If you thought your drunk uncle practicing karate at Thanksgiving was creepy, wait till you see what, what the algorithm's gonna feed you.
- KSKara Swisher
All right, I'm gonna very quickly dispense of this, and I'm gonna say one thing. Let me just tell you, Meta, you really should have us in. You should 100% have it. That would show you understand the problem that you have. I think it would be really good to have us in.
- SGScott Galloway
Do you know how you get your, "Hey, girls"? You know what I get?
- KSKara Swisher
What? What?
- SGScott Galloway
I don't get, "Hey, girl." I get, "Hey. Hey..." And, and by the way, they don't call me. Their PR representative, their comms person who shadows them call going, "Hey, so and so's gonna be in town and would love to grab a drink with you." Everyone thinks [laughs] that if anyone offering me a drink, I'm there. [laughs]
- KSKara Swisher
Yes, he is. He shows up.
- SGScott Galloway
They're, they're-
- KSKara Swisher
I do not-
- SGScott Galloway
... literally like, uh, "He's an alcoholic."
- KSKara Swisher
[laughs]
- SGScott Galloway
"Invite him out for drinks."
- KSKara Swisher
No. Um, you know what?
- SGScott Galloway
And like the less in- the less intelligent Christopher Hitchens.
- KSKara Swisher
I'll tell you what I do when I get the, "Hey, girls." I go, because I'm like, "Okay. Sure."
- SGScott Galloway
No way.
- 41:09 – 48:13
The Rise of Peptides
- KSKara Swisher
in wellness, peptides. I'm so tired of hearing about peptides from people after my show. People take them for everything from weight loss to anti-aging to muscle growth. They're the miracle drug. By the way, GLP-1s are peptides. Right now, people are getting on these, uh, so-called gray market online through longevity clinics, even TikTok, outside of the FDA approval process. But last week, a panel of doctors and pharmacists, all of whom are in the tank, voted to recommend the FDA ease access to several peptides that are popular with influencers, celebrities, and RFK Jr. That's in spite of government scientists warning about the lack of data showing these drugs are safe or effective. It's, like, nuts. Um, the FDA isn't saying the drugs are dangerous. They're saying they don't have enough information, which, uh, which they should get, and it, it not, maybe not a good enough reason to restrict access, but approval would benefit telehealth companies, compounding pharmacies, and frankly, RFK's agenda. Um, uh, uh, I will say one quick thing since I, I didn't cover them in my show, but I, I, there's, the gray market is so dangerous, and you could... They are mostly made in China. It's a very dangerous thing to be putting in your body, and there still are very unclear studies on whether these things work, and there should be. By the way, there should be studies, um, paid for by the government, which we use to fund these scientists to do these things. But just letting them out there among the people is such a mistake if we don't have... And I understand slowing things down is a problem, but sometimes it's for the best, and these things can be very, very dangerous without, um, i- in terms of where they're coming from and the, the, the, whether they're, they're safe for use. Scott, go ahead. Peptides.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, peptide's an overused term. GLP-1 is a peptide, and my understanding is peptide is just a series of molecules. The, I agree with you that the Again, it's the same through line. It's a lack of trust in our institutions. We used to trust our institutions to tell us what we should put into our body or what we shouldn't, or that we had a smart FDA or a smart CDC that would help protect us. I had dinner, uh, with two, um, actors on... When was that? Thursday, I think, or Saturday. Anyways, and they're both on this Wolverine stack peptide, and I like this stuff. I like... I take supplements. I'm on testosterone therapy. I was doing NAD for a while. I'm abs- I like to be out. I, I do believe there's something to this stuff, but I, I wait till there's a decent amount. I guess NAD is the most. And, and I also do creatine th- uh, creatine. But I, as someone who does a decent amount of research, the peptide jury is not in. Uh, or these peptides, I should say.
- KSKara Swisher
GLP-1, they are. They... Or they're getting there.
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, GLP-1 is, uh, it's FDA approved. I mean, most, many of these GLP-1s are FDA approved, and by the way, every piece of research that comes out, the externalities are positive, which is the most unique thing about that-
- KSKara Swisher
And we're getting real-time data with people using them. Usually, they're now done by doctors, much more so than at the beginning. But go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, by the way, the same ad agency that's helping Meta is rebranding Marlboro as a wellness startup, just so you know. Um...
- KSKara Swisher
[laughs] Anyway, so finish your thought, your peptide thought.
- SGScott Galloway
I, I, again, I think it's just people deciding to do their own medical research and come to their own conclusions because an influencer tells them that, you know, Leo is on this thing, and I... Actually, I don't know if he is or isn't.
- KSKara Swisher
No. Right. Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
And I do think-
- KSKara Swisher
No, I get your point. Yeah
- SGScott Galloway
... I do think there's something. All the stuff I've done, I have never done it without medical supervision, meaning my, I, I, I have my blood drawn all the time now, and I do all these crazy analyses of it, and they'll say, "You are low on these omegas. Take fish oils." Fine. You know, uh, uh, I'm, I'm a fan of intervention and being thoughtful about, about plussing up the gaps in your nutrition or whatever it might be, especially as you get older. And I'm, I'm-- my view is between the ages of 20 and 50, your body's pretty goddamn good at figuring out what it needs. Unfortunately, it starts to die 'cause the majority of us are supposed to be dead by now, so some intervention, I think, makes sense. This stuff feels cutting edge to the point of buyer beware.
- KSKara Swisher
Yep, I would agree. I have a lot of people that are like, "It works." I'm like, "Does it? Do you know? Do you know there's, there are studies?" I'm like, "Actually, no. No, there aren't." Like, they're, they're not... They're very inconclusive. And where they're, where... My most, my worry about them, and they should be studied, absolutely, is where they're coming from and where you're getting those things. And you wouldn't... Like, it's sort of like getting, like, here's some milk from a guy on the corner. Like, it might be good. It might be bad. And so a lot of it does come from China, especially these compounding agencies, and there are no strictures on how they are. It's like eating poop lettuce. Like, you might have a good meal. You might have di- exploding diarrhea. And it, it's, it's... I just... It's too dangerous to do it. But everybody, every... I get so yelled at. That's the one thing of peptides. And I'm like, "I'm sorry. I wish it w- I, it would be great if they worked the way they say they do." They also are ascribing far too many. Like, it's, it's a solution for everything, which is all these supplements. They're not. Sometimes they're a very small, little addition to your life. Sometimes, like GLP-1s, they are truly groundbreaking. Um, but they, they, to say they do everything is just unproven, and you have to stop pretending so. Um, uh, so, you know, everyo- every person who comes up to me, I'm sorry, you're incorrect, but, and you shouldn't be putting things like this in your body, uh, without medical supervision or, or scientific proof. Uh, sorry, I'm, I'm on the scientific proof. Anyway, uh, that's the way it is. That's the way it is. Um, but you know, Meta now with more peptides. All right, Scott, one more quick break.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, hold on, hold on.
- KSKara Swisher
[laughs] Okay, do that.
- SGScott Galloway
New tagline. Facebook, where nuance goes to get beaten to death with a folding chair.
- KSKara Swisher
[laughs] Oh, I feel so bad for being-
- SGScott Galloway
But isn't literally, isn't this ad-
- KSKara Swisher
Oh, my God
- SGScott Galloway
... isn't essentially this ad just the, the broadcast embodiment of an abusive ex-husband Zuckerberg seeing you and whispering in your ear, "Baby, I've changed."
- KSKara Swisher
Maybe I've changed.
- SGScott Galloway
"Baby, I've changed."
- KSKara Swisher
Maybe I've changed. Here's the thing. Why don't our listeners write in their taglines for Meta to help them? Why don't, why don't we have a-
- SGScott Galloway
Well, it's also, you know what's disingenuous as a-
- KSKara Swisher
What?
- SGScott Galloway
... as a brand guy? These ads, these ads are absolutely beautiful, but the thing is, their actual product in terms of design, it feels like Craigslist fucked QAnon.
- KSKara Swisher
[laughs] QAnon.
- SGScott Galloway
It's like... QAnon. QAnon. QAnon.
- KSKara Swisher
QAnon. [laughs] Let's rebrand that.
- SGScott Galloway
Baby, I've changed.
- 48:13 – 58:10
Wins and Fails
- KSKara Swisher
hear some wins and fails. I think I'll go first. I, I, first fail was the story came out in the Post, which I was thr- Post, some, the Post news side is doing a great job, I have to say. Um, the police vetted, this is the headline, police vetted dubious allegation only after Buttigieg was separated from children. The people, this is the Pete Buttigieg kids were taken away from him for a time and questioned in a really un- terrible way by, by authorities. They were, uh, investigating, um, uh, these allegations made, and h- the cabinet, the former cabinet secretaries was separated from his four-year-old twins. Um, and now the Michigan attorney general is investigating how the accusation Led to it, and it turns out that The Post talked to the woman who did it, and she seems unhinged, um, from what I can tell from the interview, and didn't really understand it, and basically, I think, made it up. And nobody was che- like, the... I think it started in Indiana, and then he was supposed to be in Alabama. But none of the authorities, before they took the kids away, checked on the source of the information. I, I ha- I have said this again and again, uh, uh, Chasten and Pete should sue these people [chuckles] for what they did. And, and the damage is done to their kids. Like, unnecessarily, without any checking, uh, because of these ideas around gay parenting, d- where-- which you know was part of it 'cause this woman es- es- essentially did not think gay parent-- gay people should be parents, um, from what I can tell from this interview. And I have to say, it's just, uh, uh... It's, it's mind-boggling that our author-- They-- I get it, one crazy lady's gonna make some allegations. That happens all the time in this world now. That fact that the police and others didn't vet it is really-- It's just such a incredible indictment of mission authorities. So I just, uh... It's such a fail, such a massive, enormous, uh, repulsive fail, I have to say. Um, and my win is, is, I have to s- th-this beautiful show, this "Cats" Jellicle Ball. It's closing soon. I recommend people go see it. Just beautiful. It's so kind and, and human-forward, speaking of something that is human-forward, um, and funny, and i-it... just, just everything Broadway's great at. And I just, uh... Clara dressed herself up in this beautiful spangled Fierce dress and this wonderful fascinator hat, and it was just a wonderful thing. So, um, I just love when people are out at the theater and in theater, in movie theaters and things like that. And so I can't recommend these, like, lovely, joyful, beautiful, artistic, human-centered stuff that's coming out lately, and it's really... It does-- There seems to be a shift where people just wanna get together or, or celebrate real humanity, not in meta ads, but in that way. So I would, I would say get out and do something with a lot of people and have some fun. All right, that's my win.
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, well, my loss is the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Um, it should be canceled or they should-- they need to reinvent it. It, it's, i-it was the one night built to fake a truce, and it couldn't hold for two hours, or it hasn't been able to hold for two hours. And the, the tell here was during this ridiculous, weird, creepy rant on a, on a respected journalist. The whole room just went so silent. It felt like you could cut the air with just ick. And, uh, it, uh... terrible, terrible for our brand. Anyways, we covered that. That's my loss. White House Correspondents' Dinner, whoever the governing organization is, has to realize, like, this is over. It, it should be canceled or not done for a couple years, and they need to reinvent something else. My win is... It, it's not getting very much coverage, but, uh, what's gotten a decent amount of coverage is, is, uh, Ukraine, with their incredible supply chain and drone and AI technology, has been going after oil infrastructure. What they've done, which I thought was genius, is they've gone after something that has hit Russia perhaps even harder, and that it was they blew up the Wildberries factory. [chuckles] And it ends up, basically Wildberries is the Amazon of Russia. And this supposedly has caused more rage about the war than a million deaths and casualties. 'Cause the reality is the majority of the soldiers and the fatalities have-- are, uh, that, that toll on families has been levied against kids and families from, lack of a better term, rural Russia. And the, the, the elites don't really care. But you start fucking, you start fucking with their ability to sell their fashion into people in St. Petersburg... Supposedly this has just outraged all these creators and all these small business people, and also has had an i-impact on the front lines 'cause a lot of people were buying kind of basic military equipment and gear. And I thought it was just so, um, interesting.
- KSKara Swisher
And Putin's on the run, it looks like. He looks like he's hiding away too, at the same time.
- SGScott Galloway
People... Uh, he, he... Well, A, supposedly he's paranoid, and B, he's very, he's very scared. Um, uh, but this is... [sighs] I-I-I-I... The, the... This is so-- I thought this was so interesting. They want... What are they doing? They're saying, "Okay, we've shown we can kill 1,000 people a day. Russians don't seem to care." The Russia's-- Arguably Russia's core competence, it's, it's an incredibly educated populace, an incredible, incredible appreciation of culture and the arts and technology. A lot of very redeeming qualities about the, about Russian culture. But their core competence, quite frankly, is they're willing to endure more suffering than any, than any society in history. We lost 400,000 people in World War II. They lost 20 million, and they were ready to keep fighting. And, but what they've said is, "Okay, we're gonna hit you where we think it hurts most for you, and that is [chuckles] going after your ability to order shit overnight." And I thought it was just such genius there, and I think Ukraine is not only showing... I mean, they're t- they're-- essentially they've said, "Okay, we're bringing the war to you." And it's just interesting how they've decided to bring it to the Russian populace. Uh, so i-instant visible pain versus sanctions kind of year-long, you know, year-long impact, if you will, or years-long impact. I thought it was very innovative.
- KSKara Swisher
You know, this would happen-- This would be like if we, we declared war on Canada. They would get us eventually. [chuckles] You know what I mean? Like, they're right, right next to each other. They've proven very, um, strong. Although there's, you know, there's been some back and forth with the... He fired, fired one guy, one def-- drone guy, and then everyone got mad about that, and then he ended up firing another defense minister in Ukraine. There's a little bit of back and forth there. But can I note something else that he was doing that I thought was rather clever? So he's now going to the MAGA right to talk to people. Did you see Laura Loomer, who is so anti-Ukraine and pro-Putin? Went there and interviewed him is suddenly his biggest follower. Like, he- he's so great kinda thing. I think that's also very clever. His, even though he has his own issues internally with corruption and everything else, he's been very adept at also appealing to the MAGA base here, which I think is probably very smart.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. It's a, a, I mean, you get mixed emotions. You're like, why-
- KSKara Swisher
Sure
- SGScott Galloway
... why should anyone care what Laura Loomer thinks? But at the same time-
- KSKara Swisher
But it matters
- SGScott Galloway
... anything that gets press that highlights even the crazies have recognized that it's in our best interest to support Ukraine, I'm, I'm here for.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
So yeah, have at it, Laura. And next, may- maybe next you can do a segment on how-
- KSKara Swisher
[laughs] I wish it was helpful
- SGScott Galloway
... the greatest innovation in history is vaccines.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
That's the one I'm waiting for.
- KSKara Swisher
She suddenly is gonna be pro-vaccine. Anyway, um, those are, those are good ones. Those are excellent ones. Oh, by the way, I have one more quick win. Everybody go see Ride or Die with Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham. Oh my God.
- SGScott Galloway
What's that?
- KSKara Swisher
It's a, it's a show on Amazon, and it's hysterical. It's two ladies, it's so ridiculously, it's such a ridiculous conceit that they run around and they're spies, but these two couldn't be the be- best pair, and they look so different, and they're so different in general, and I have to say, it's hysterical. Ride or Die.
- SGScott Galloway
It's called Ride or Die?
- KSKara Swisher
Ride or Die.
- SGScott Galloway
Hmm.
- KSKara Swisher
And I love Hannah, and I love O- I, I love Octavia.
- SGScott Galloway
Is Hannah from Hacks? Is that the Hannah from Hacks?
- KSKara Swisher
It's Hannah from Ted Lasso. Um, and she's amazing. She's amazing. She's... I love her. I love them both.
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, the one, the Hannah that was in Game of Thrones?
- KSKara Swisher
The tall, the, the... Yes, she was in Game of Thrones too. Yes, that's right.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. She's amazing.
- SGScott Galloway
She's very good.
Episode duration: 58:11
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Transcript of episode 3UMSQFf3bAE
