Kara Swisher Calls Out Elon Musk and Big Tech’s “Petty, Angry" People | Pivot

1. 0:00 – 0:24

   Intro

   1. KSKara Swisher0:00

      These are the richest people on earth, and they're so manifestly unhappy. They just can't shut the fuck up. And what tiny, petty, angry, unhappy people they all are, every single one of them. [upbeat music] Hi, everyone. This is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Kara Swisher.

   2. SGScott Galloway0:22

      And I'm Scott Galloway.

2. 0:24 – 9:17

   Remembering Ted Turner

   1. KSKara Swisher0:24

      Ted Turner, the media mogul, CNN founder, who helped create the 24-hour news cycle, has died at 87. Turner was also a major philanthropist, making a record $1 billion in donation to establish the United Nations Foundation. He was a different kind of billionaire, you know, although he was also the... He was called the Mouth of the South. Um, beyond media and philanthropy, Turner pursued countless other passions, from his Montana Grill, his eco con- this is a eco-conscious restaurant chain, being y- named Yachtsmen of the Year multiple times. He was Larry Ellison before Larry Ellison. Uh, he announced he had Lewy body dementia, progressive brain disorder, in 2018. Jane Fonda, one of Turner's ex-wives who remained a close friend, remembered him saying, "Men like Ted aren't supposed to express need and vulnerability. That was Tr- Ted's greatest strength, I believe." And he was. And she, I recently interviewed her, and she had told me he was quite ill. Um, I, I talked to him a little bit for my books on AOL. He was real mad about the sale and everything else. Um, except that when he sold the company, he had that famous quote where, where he said, um, "This deal was better than sex." Do you remember that? He was, he always had something kooky to say-

   2. SGScott Galloway1:32

      Mm-hmm

   3. KSKara Swisher1:32

      ... at any one moment. And I, you know, a lot of people are like, "Oh, he's the reason we have terrible cable." His vision of cable was not this, what has happened. So I, I sort of push back against that because his idea was that you can get news to, to sort of democratize the news a little more from the big three. And so I consider him a real important, his legacy very important, even though, even though it sort of, you know, morphed into this scream fest that it has become. But his was, it was, you know, it was, it was real news. And, and I happened to be with Christiane Amanpour, who got there pretty early, not right away at the beginning, and she had nothing but great things to say about his tenure when he was sort of do- real entrepreneurial news, news and other things, you know, and a very, a very generous and charitable person at the same time, and also funny and weird and interesting. Your thoughts?

   4. SGScott Galloway2:25

      Yeah, this guy is, you know, he kind of defined the term that you don't hear anymore, a captain of industry, and the term captain. He was the, uh... Something people don't know about him is I think he may be the only billionaire who was also an elite world-class athlete. He won the America's Cup.

   5. KSKara Swisher2:42

      Yeah, he did.

   6. SGScott Galloway2:43

      And-

   7. KSKara Swisher2:43

      He was, yeah

   8. SGScott Galloway2:44

      ... there are just not very many billionaires who've reached the pinnacle of a sport. And, um, maybe Roger Staubach, is he a billionaire now? Anyways, but he built CNN from nothing. It, it's really interesting how it emerged. Uh, so news when we were growing up was a public service, and that is ABC and CBS sold a shit ton of ads from Tang and Chevrolet running against All in the Family and MASH and The Partridge Family and The Brady Bunch, and they felt that it was a public service to have 23 minutes of news and seven minutes of commercial in this money-losing thing called the local news. And he said he correctly figured out that there was money in a market for 24 by 7 news, and it was very scrappy. If you look, go back, it wasn't very well produced, and he s- he started the whole thing. Now, where it came off the tracks was, quite frankly, with Rupert Murdoch recognizing that the part of the news... They made an observation, and that is KABC News back in the '70s had something called Point/Counterpoint. And SNL-

   9. KSKara Swisher3:49

      Oh, yeah

   10. SGScott Galloway3:49

       ... used to mock it. You know, Jane-

   11. KSKara Swisher3:51

       Yeah

   12. SGScott Galloway3:51

       ... you ignorant slut.

   13. KSKara Swisher3:52

       Jane, you ignorant slut. That's our show pretty much, but go ahead.

   14. SGScott Galloway3:54

       Anyways, so, um, uh, so they recognized something called Point/Counterpoint, and it was Bruce Herschensohn and Jim Tunney, and they would start yelling at each other. And someone did the analysis and s- and found out that's what people were tuning in for.

   15. KSKara Swisher4:13

       Yeah, I know.

   16. SGScott Galloway4:14

       And that was really the key, and arguably the most dangerous insight that Rupert Murdoch-

   17. KSKara Swisher4:21

       Yeah

   18. SGScott Galloway4:21

       ... made.

   19. KSKara Swisher4:21

       Yeah, of course

   20. SGScott Galloway4:22

       And that is-

   21. KSKara Swisher4:23

       With media with it

   22. SGScott Galloway4:23

       ... no, this isn't about balanced new- It's enough news to keep, to give, to create a halo of legitimacy. And quite frankly, CNN was guilty of it, too, Crossfire.

   23. KSKara Swisher4:33

       Yeah.

   24. SGScott Galloway4:33

       And CNN now has a show like that where they all just start-

   25. KSKara Swisher4:36

       Tucker Carlson

   26. SGScott Galloway4:36

       ... yelling at each other.

   27. KSKara Swisher4:37

       That's where it started.

   28. SGScott Galloway4:37

       And then Tucker-

   29. KSKara Swisher4:38

       That's where Tucker Carlson started. [laughs]

   30. SGScott Galloway4:39

       Yeah, and, and-
3. 9:17 – 21:40

   WBD, Paramount and Disney Earnings

   1. KSKara Swisher9:17

      the company reported a net loss of two point nine billion in the latest quarter. That's essentially a two point eight billion dollar termination fee tied to the Netflix deal. Paramount agreed to cover the cost, but the expense still sits on Warner's books until the deal officially closes. For people who don't see why that was that big of a loss, nonetheless, the first quarter revenue was down one percent year over year, and ad revenue slid seven percent. Total streaming revenue did rise nine percent, largely by HBO Max went international. Um, Paramount had slightly better news to report, beating revenue and earnings expectations. In the first quarter, Paramount added, uh, seven hundred thousand subscribers during the quarter, helping streaming revenue grow by seventeen percent year over year. The company's film studio did well, with revenue up eleven percent. Um, and they said they're making great progress on the Warner Brothers deal, with late Q3 closing still on track. There's still some pushback to it. Um, a-at the same time, I'm gonna add one more earnings. Disney's under the first new CEO, Josh D'Amaro. The numbers were strong, with revenue climbing seven percent to twenty-five, uh, billion. Operating income across Disney's entertainment, sports, and experiences division beat expectations. The company says it expects earnings per share to grow twelve percent. That's solid in the fiscal year. In one weak spot, um, a dip in attendance at its US theme parks, probably due to fewer international pro- travelers. They're gonna see repercussions from gas prices, I'm guessing, and other prices. But it's only down one percent. Maybe the next quarter is where you're gonna see it over the summer. That, that will be the real indicator there. Um, thoughts on, on the Warner and everything? They're just sort of bumping along, these companies.

   2. SGScott Galloway10:51

      So Warner Brothers, uh, uh, one seventeen adjusted GAAP versus estimates of nine cents, which is actually pretty good. They had a forty-five percent beat. Operating margin was down but are mostly flat. The linear networks continue to bleed. The revenue fell eight percent, uh, with domestic pay TV subscribers down ten percent, and free cash flow was four hundred seventy-six million, and net leverage sits at three point four x. Uh, the Paramount deal is expected to close Q3, which will form a company with sixty-nine billion in pro forma revenue. Like, if there's a book, if you wrote a book called The Worst Acquisitions in History, you could just call the book Time Warner. I- is-

   3. KSKara Swisher11:31

      Yeah

   4. SGScott Galloway11:32

      ... i-i- every-

   5. KSKara Swisher11:32

      True. [laughs]

   6. SGScott Galloway11:33

      They are at the center of the... I mean, three of the five worst acquisitions in history all involve Time Warner. It's just in-

   7. KSKara Swisher11:38

      Yeah, AT&T

   8. SGScott Galloway11:39

      It's just in-

   9. KSKara Swisher11:40

      AOL, right?

   10. SGScott Galloway11:41

       Yeah.

   11. KSKara Swisher11:42

       I mean, it's-

   12. SGScott Galloway11:42

       And this one I think will go down as-

   13. KSKara Swisher11:44

       Mm-hmm

   14. SGScott Galloway11:44

       ... in terms of shareholder, uh, value destruction. Um, Paramount posted a clean beat, and streaming turned its first real profit. Revenue of seven, uh, point three five billion versus seven point two eight. EPS of twenty-three cents versus fifteen cents expected. I mean, companies are just, it's just incredible. Companies are just blowing away their earnings. Their direct-to-consumer revenue was up eleven percent.Paramount Plus revenue up 17%. I wonder how much of that is Landman. They added 700,000 net subscribers to reach, um, 79.6 million, uh, in total. Direct-to-consumer EBITDA improved to 251 million. Uh, TV media revenue fell 6% to 3.7 billion as cord cutting continues. And Paramount has nearly doubled its film slate for 2026 versus 2025 since closing the Skydance deal last August, which to their credit-

   15. KSKara Swisher12:34

       Yeah, he's been promising that. He's been promising that.

   16. SGScott Galloway12:36

       Yeah, everyone's been saying, "Oh, they're gonna gut Hollywood," and they're coming out swinging, and they're doubling their film slate.

   17. KSKara Swisher12:41

       The thing is, is it gonna make money, right? That's the issue. Let's see what happens-

   18. SGScott Galloway12:44

       What happens, yeah

   19. KSKara Swisher12:45

       ... when they're making these movies. So let's just wait until they... You can, you can spend the money. I mean, that's what rich people do, but let's see if they make it.

   20. SGScott Galloway12:52

       A-

   21. KSKara Swisher12:52

       If they have some hits, if they have some hits.

   22. SGScott Galloway12:54

       And so Josh Demaro's first earning call as CEO reported a, a really strong beat. Shares gained roughly 7% after the report. But here's the thing, a, a, a hundred percent of this beat, the credit goes to Bob Iger. [laughs] You-- Someone doesn't impact earnings two weeks after they take the CEO job. This beat was really ringing the bell for, for Bob Iger. Revenue at $25.2 billion versus $24.8 expected. Earnings a buck fifty-seven versus one forty-nine expected. Streaming operating income jumped 88% to $582, uh, uh, uh, million. And Disney's streaming margins broke into the double digits at almost 11%. Their streaming revenue hit five and a half billion, up 13%, driven by price hikes. And Disney's no-- Disney no longer reports subscriber numbers, which is a shame. But, um, their experiences that you reference, uh, was up 7%, b- which must be an increase in prices, 'cause as you mentioned, um-

   23. KSKara Swisher14:01

       Yeah. Yeah. Numbers are down in the parks

   24. SGScott Galloway14:02

       ... attendance is down. And they also have raised their buyback target, similar to what Apple did last week, and guided for tw- I think Disney, I think Disney is a, is a buy. And Demaro is... You know, he came out of the, the parks, um, and which grew nearly 40% in revenue under his watch. And he called Disney Plus the digital centerpiece of the company. On Wednesday's earnings, he flagged fuel and consumer spending. Dana Walden, who I know you know, named president and chief creative officer in-

   25. KSKara Swisher14:33

       That was an important keep for tho- that company, the keeping her, 'cause she was the CEO. She was the top contender.

   26. SGScott Galloway14:38

       Well, not only that, they're all... I mean, quite frankly, a lot of these people are probably... I mean, this is the challenge when your stock is below where it was ten years ago. You have to get the most talented people in the room and say, "I'm gonna issue new options, and please stick around." 'Cause you gotta think a lot of these people are looking at-

   27. KSKara Swisher14:57

       So what is their option?

   28. SGScott Galloway14:59

       Uh, yeah, like, because-

   29. KSKara Swisher15:00

       Producers. That's a lot harder now. You can't be as good a pr- you can't do those sweet, sweet deals anymore.

   30. SGScott Galloway15:05

       Yeah, but if you're a Disney, if you're a talented Disney executive-
4. 21:40 – 26:40

   Anthropic’s Deal with SpaceX

   1. KSKara Swisher21:40

      Scott, we're back. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says the company planned for 10X growth this year but is now seeing growth closer to 80X, creating a massive need for more computing power. Enter SpaceX, or rather SpaceX AI. SpaceX acquired xAI back in February, but Elon Musk has just revealed xAI will be dissolved, and its AI products will be part of the SpaceX AI brand, of course, 'cause everybody left, and he, he didn't, it didn't have quite the traction that he had hoped, so he's, as I said, folding it right in. Everything's gonna get folded. Tesla's next. Under the new deal, Anthropic will get compute power with, uh, SpaceX AI data center in Memphis, the one that's polluting people, as it works to keep up with surging demand. Everybody needs power. Get real turnaround for Elon, who earlier called Anthropic evil. He's now saying he was impressed after meeting with senior executive, adding, "No one set off my evil detector." [scoffs] Again, look in the fucking mirror, dude. Um, so i- is this the enemy of my enemy is my friend because of ChatGPT? This is an interesting thing. I mean, obviously Elon's, has not had the success he had ho- he'd hoped to dominate, and it's all about his beef with Sam Altman, but in this case, he's, this is what he's doing. I would, I would be careful if I was Dario in general, but, um, I, I think he's savvy enough to deal with Elon, though. Um, and he seems to have, have enough pushback. Um, any thoughts on this?

   2. SGScott Galloway23:03

      Uh, I'd rather talk about me in the aughts and reminisce a little bit longer. Is that okay?

   3. KSKara Swisher23:07

      [laughs] Just for a second.

   4. SGScott Galloway23:09

      So, so I started-

   5. KSKara Swisher23:10

      Okay, but I want thoughts on this.

   6. SGScott Galloway23:11

      In 2000, I had... So I'm moving to New York from San Francisco. I had just been abused, ridden, ridden hard, and put away wet by Sequoia Capital, kicked off the board of the, kicked out of the band I started, kicked off of the board of the company I started, just, like, g- got divor- just, like, I, I just wanted, I wanted to never go back to San Francisco the rest of my life.

   7. KSKara Swisher23:33

      Yeah.

   8. SGScott Galloway23:33

      And I moved to New York.

   9. KSKara Swisher23:34

      Can I ask you a question?

   10. SGScott Galloway23:34

       Yeah.

   11. KSKara Swisher23:34

       Did you deserve it just a little bit?

   12. SGScott Galloway23:36

       Did I deserve what?

   13. KSKara Swisher23:38

       What happened? What happened with Sequoia? I'm just asking. I'm just curious.

   14. SGScott Galloway23:40

       Oh, I, I, I was an obnoxious, aggressive entrepreneur that was arrogant and reckless.

   15. KSKara Swisher23:46

       Okay.

   16. SGScott Galloway23:46

       Uh, but also Mike M- Moritz is a small, vindictive man.

   17. KSKara Swisher23:49

       [laughs] Okay. Got it.

   18. SGScott Galloway23:50

       Um, so-

   19. KSKara Swisher23:51

       Thank you.

   20. SGScott Galloway23:51

       Uh, so yeah.

   21. KSKara Swisher23:52

       Just checking.

   22. SGScott Galloway23:52

       I, I don't... I think there's enough blame to go around for everyone.

   23. KSKara Swisher23:54

       Okay. Yeah.

   24. SGScott Galloway23:55

       And also the board was a bunch of-

   25. KSKara Swisher23:56

       Tough sell

   26. SGScott Galloway23:57

       ... a bunch of obsequious people getting... Anyways, um-

   27. KSKara Swisher24:01

       [laughs] It doesn't hurt

   28. SGScott Galloway24:01

       ... I'm still not triggered. I'm clearly over it.

   29. KSKara Swisher24:04

       [laughs] Okay.

   30. SGScott Galloway24:04

       I'm clearly over it.
5. 26:40 – 37:24

   OpenAI vs. Musk Trial

   1. SGScott Galloway26:40

      this a week ago. Kalshi had Musk winning at 51 or 52%. Now it's all of a sudden fallen to 38.

   2. KSKara Swisher26:48

      Winning at what? Winning?

   3. SGScott Galloway26:49

      Winning the case.

   4. KSKara Swisher26:50

      Oh, the case. Yeah.

   5. SGScott Galloway26:50

      That Musk wins the case.

   6. KSKara Swisher26:52

      Yeah. Yeah, he's gotta make some moves. Yeah.

   7. SGScott Galloway26:54

      Going from... There is no moves. He does not-

   8. KSKara Swisher26:56

      Yeah

   9. SGScott Galloway26:56

      ... have a legal leg to stand on. You can go from a nonprofit to a for-profit. You're allowed to do that. This is regret and a messiah complex cosplaying a legal argument. Judges and courts aren't concerned or aren't moved by anger and indignance and buy, and seller's regret. They're moved by evidence and argument, and there's none here.

   10. KSKara Swisher27:19

       Though I will say, this trial, I was thinking, I, you know, you're watching the texts go back and forth, and Mira Murati doesn't like Sam really, even though she pretended she did, and the girlfriend, uh, who was on the board, I'm blanking on her name, I don't really care, 'cause, uh, Siobhan Zillis, um, who was at-

   11. SGScott Galloway27:35

       Isn't that his girlfriend?

   12. KSKara Swisher27:37

       Well, it's his partner, and then they had four children, and she didn't manage to tell the OpenAI people that she had two children with him. And obviously she was-

   13. SGScott Galloway27:45

       That's not a conflict, Kara.

   14. KSKara Swisher27:47

       [laughs] Uh-

   15. SGScott Galloway27:48

       That's-

   16. KSKara Swisher27:48

       She's like a spy in there. Like, right?

   17. SGScott Galloway27:50

       That's not a conflict.

   18. KSKara Swisher27:50

       They're accusing him of being a spy. Like, you might give that piece of information-

   19. SGScott Galloway27:54

       That's not a con-

   20. KSKara Swisher27:54

       ... if you're in a beef with someone.

   21. SGScott Galloway27:55

       If you're a fiduciary-

   22. KSKara Swisher27:56

       Oh

   23. SGScott Galloway27:56

       ... for all shareholders, making decisions around someone's compensation, and you're having-

   24. KSKara Swisher27:59

       Yeah

   25. SGScott Galloway27:59

       ... their children, that's just like-

   26. KSKara Swisher28:01

       Yeah. Yeah, yeah

   27. SGScott Galloway28:01

       ... she probably just forgot to mention it.

   28. KSKara Swisher28:02

       She wasn't doing compensation. Anyway, so the whole thing, and they're like going back and forth in this trial, and I thought, "This is a soap opera," but the most boring people, most awful, boring people in it. I'm like, "I could give a fuck that whether Mira Murati likes Sam Altman or not. I don't care. I don't care." Like, oh, he was manipulative? I don't care. Like, what does that have to do with anything? Like, I, you know, honestly, I, I force... You know, you hear that, of course, about Sam being manipulative and telling one person one thing and another. And as I'm reading it in the trial, I'm like, "So? But does this... Is this illegal? Is, he's just a jerk, or you didn't like him, or he was deceptive? Did he do anything illegal?" 'Cause otherwise, your internal corporate hijinks, I don't, you know, care. I do think she should've told people she had his babies, my, in my opinion. But the whole thing is like a bad soap opera that you wanna, like, turn off. Like, and it's just bad for AI, it's bad for the companies, and therefore, he's gonna do another deal like this. That's where we, that's why we're where we are. He's trying to glom himself onto a successful thing.

   29. SGScott Galloway29:05

       Ron Wayne-

   30. KSKara Swisher29:06

       Yeah
6. 37:24 – 48:18

   ChatGPT Stock Management

   1. KSKara Swisher37:24

      with just one more quick story. Over the past few months, I'd love to know what you think of this. A Wall Street Journal reporter asked ChatGPT for investment advice to see if AI could really realistically manage a stock portfolio. It's a- it actually makes sense. There's, uh, speaking of, uh, of, um, of, uh, Anthropic, they just did an interesting deal where it would make decks and pitch decks and things like that working... It's called, it's a company, I can't remember the name, but it's interesting though. Um, uh, ChatGPT, uh, there's a lot of interesting smaller AI companies being made that actually sound useful, and so this is what the reporter did. ChatGPT generally identified market risks, but also made simple math mistakes, suggested questionable market timing strategies, and sometimes veered into overly complex ideas like options trading. The chatbot often told the user what they seemed to want to hear, highlighting a bigger concern that AI could sound confident and persuasive even when its advice may be flawed or risky. Sounds like a lot of brokers I know. About 30% of everyday investors report using AI for their portfolios. So apparently not so good yet, not, a- and in lots of really problematic ways that you... I mean, with a person you're looking at, you sort of have a sense when they're sort of trying to sell you something you don't want. Um, so it's curious. It's just like with law or medical, it's not there. It's not there, and this personalized investment advice is just the latest wrinkle. I don't mind them making, you know, decks, pitch decks, and things like that, but, um, huge risk for lawsuits, I would assume, just the same with legal or medical or anything else. Any thoughts?

   2. SGScott Galloway38:55

      Well, it, I- I think it was tempting to believe in the '90s you could l- use Lotus, you know, 123 to-

   3. KSKara Swisher39:03

      Oh, yeah

   4. SGScott Galloway39:03

      ... uh, beat the market by doing all sorts of-

   5. KSKara Swisher39:06

      Calculations

   6. SGScott Galloway39:06

      ... analysis and calculations, and you might have had an edge for a minute. But what I would argue is that, uh, the, the, the individual thinking they can use, uh, Claude, and I'm guilty of this. I've been asking Claude like crazy using Cowork to come up with different options and hedging strategies and to identify stocks. I'm guilty of it. I, I love the markets. I like to gamble. It's my means of gambling.

   7. KSKara Swisher39:29

      You do. That's why I'm asking you this.

   8. SGScott Galloway39:30

      And I find it interesting what it says, but here's the bottom line or what I think. Ken Griffin will hire 2,000 PhDs, and he will weaponize them with AI, and they will outperform the market. But you believing with your $20 a month Claude Cowork weapon can compete against these folks, you are showing up with a very elegant squirt gun, and they have a fucking howitzer. So this is what you do. You invest in low-cost ETFs like Vanguard, and people who know and understand technology can use, you know, understand how to use AI. But this will further, this will further diminish or create or widen the delta between individual investors and institutional because institutional investors will have the capital. The bottom line is every time you, you place a trade, you got to keep in mind on the other side of that trade is likely someone smarter than you [laughs] that has broader technology. So what you want to do, in my view, unless you... I get a lot of, I get a lot of psychic income around playing the market. So 30% of my net worth, I-

   9. KSKara Swisher40:38

      But you like doing it. You like doing it

   10. SGScott Galloway40:39

       ... I, I enjoy it. You know, it- it's fun for me.

   11. KSKara Swisher40:42

       It's a thrill point.

   12. SGScott Galloway40:42

       Occasionally, I have access to a deal that other people don't have access to, so fine. But the retail investor would be better off finding low-cost ETFs-

   13. KSKara Swisher40:51

       Agreed

   14. SGScott Galloway40:51

       ... where the management team there is really technically competent.

   15. KSKara Swisher40:55

       Yeah.

   16. SGScott Galloway40:55

       But the notion-

   17. KSKara Swisher40:56

       That's what I do.

   18. SGScott Galloway40:57

       Yeah.

   19. KSKara Swisher40:57

       That's what I do.

   20. SGScott Galloway40:57

       That's ex-

   21. KSKara Swisher40:57

       I just put it in there.

   22. SGScott Galloway40:58

       Exactly the right way to do it.

   23. KSKara Swisher40:59

       And I don't want to... I'm not interested in it. I know I could do slightly better if I... I'm, I'm a little smarter than most people and I'll have a little more insight.

   24. SGScott Galloway41:05

       No, you're smarter, you're smarter in an area that has nothing to do... That- that's Donnie Kruger.

   25. KSKara Swisher41:10

       No, what I mean is-

   26. SGScott Galloway41:10

       Be careful thinking that.

   27. KSKara Swisher41:11

       No, what I mean is I have some thoughts on, on some things that I prob-

   28. SGScott Galloway41:15

       Mm-hmm.

   29. KSKara Swisher41:15

       I'm talking about the average bear.

   30. SGScott Galloway41:17

       Right.
7. 48:18 – 56:24

   Predictions

   1. KSKara Swisher48:18

      hear a prediction. Do you have a prediction for us?

   2. SGScott Galloway48:21

      There was a really interesting story this week that I think kind of indicates or portends, portends what it m- might be in store for us around, um, potential acquisitions, and I made a similar prediction a few years ago, but it didn't pan out, and that is a 32-year-old TikToker just crowdfunded 132 million in non-binding pledges to buy a bankrupt, uh, Spirit Airlines. Did you see this?

   3. KSKara Swisher48:45

      Mm. No, I didn't.

   4. SGScott Galloway48:45

      He said, he said, "Look, Spirit helps keep airline prices down. Let's do what we did with the Green Bay Packers, and let's mutualize it." And y- he's very talented.And Spirit said it was gonna shut down at 2:00 AM on Saturday, and this guy, Hunter Peterson, had a TikTok up the same day, a website by the next, and 6 million views within days, and more than a hun- get this, Kara, more than 133,000 people have pledged on average about 1,000 bucks each, totaling, uh, $132 million. And essentially what he's saying is that, okay, 20% of American adults paying the average Spirit fare of $30 to $40 equals enough to buy an airline, and they say it's unli- it, okay, listen, it's unlikely to close, but the idea with in an era of AI and compliance AI, where you could spin up the legal documents and have people sign them, and with PayPal, I think you're gonna see in the next 12 to 36 months someone pull this off, where they say, "Hey, who wants to buy Estée Lauder?" Or, "Who wants to buy" [chuckles] you know, the... And it'll start with a small stock. It wouldn't be Estée Lauder 'cause that's too big a company, but it'll start with a small company that goes out of business. They'll say, "Okay, Dick's Sporting Go-" whatever it is, and someone talented who's very charismatic who will weaponize social media and AI to collect legal pledges for funds and will buy something. I think crowdfunding, I think crowdfunding is gonna, um, is gonna, is gonna happen. And re- a- and also retail participation in US equities has risen by nearly 20% of average daily trading volume, which by the way is usually a sell signal, um, up from low single digits before COVID, and-

   5. KSKara Swisher50:30

      So it's like when everybody got in one of those accounts.

   6. SGScott Galloway50:33

      That's right.

   7. KSKara Swisher50:34

      Trading accounts.

   8. SGScott Galloway50:34

      And rather than fading, retail flows hit fresh records in 2025, new ex-

   9. KSKara Swisher50:38

      Well, it's 'cause the stock market's up and everybody's like, "I'm missing."

   10. SGScott Galloway50:39

       That's right. Everyone thinks they're a genius now. Everyone's like, "Oh, I'm, I'm-"

   11. KSKara Swisher50:42

       All right. Okay, I like that. Why don't you do it? Why don't we buy something?

   12. SGScott Galloway50:45

       Well, that's what I used to do for a living between 2000 and 2008.

   13. KSKara Swisher50:48

       I know, but why don't we like try all kinds of stunts? What could we buy? What would we buy?

   14. SGScott Galloway50:51

       All kinds of stunts?

   15. KSKara Swisher50:53

       Like Chipotle or something. [laughs]

   16. SGScott Galloway50:54

       Chipotle is expensive.

   17. KSKara Swisher50:56

       [laughs] All right.

   18. SGScott Galloway50:56

       Chipotle is expensive.

   19. KSKara Swisher50:58

       I don't wanna buy an airline.

   20. SGScott Galloway50:58

       Do you know they sent me... I used to tell you, I was in the original, uh-

   21. KSKara Swisher51:01

       Isn't that the plot of-

   22. SGScott Galloway51:02

       They sent me a card

   23. KSKara Swisher51:03

       ... Lawsuit? Mm-hmm.

   24. SGScott Galloway51:04

       This is the most impressed my sons have ever been with me. I got a card for free lifetime Chipotle, and I sold it, or I didn't sell it, I've lost it, but I love Chipotle.

   25. KSKara Swisher51:13

       Oh, you want one again. That's what this was about, a little call for help.

   26. SGScott Galloway51:15

       I didn't get paid. They sent me a card. No, if they do it again, I want, I want serious cabbage.

   27. KSKara Swisher51:19

       Yeah.

   28. SGScott Galloway51:20

       But-

   29. KSKara Swisher51:20

       Yeah.

   30. SGScott Galloway51:21

       Yeah.

Episode duration: 56:24