PivotSuper Bowl 2026: Scott Galloway Explains Why Anthropic's AI Ads Are "Genius" | Pivot
EVERY SPOKEN WORD
75 min read · 14,845 words- 0:00 – 10:46
Intro
- SGScott Galloway
This is going to be the moment when Sam Altman, quite frankly, shit the bed. [upbeat music]
- KSKara Swisher
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
To explain for listeners, Scott has a new background in his studio, and guess what? I'm not in it. [chuckles]
- SGScott Galloway
Okay, I have no idea what you're talking about. Oh, this!
- KSKara Swisher
[chuckles]
- SGScott Galloway
This.
- KSKara Swisher
Oh, look, it's-
- SGScott Galloway
The metaphor-
- KSKara Swisher
It's Ed.
- SGScott Galloway
[chuckles] The metaphor, the metaphor I would use is that you're my first wife, and these are Belarusian hookers who I have-
- KSKara Swisher
[chuckles] I don't see any pivot there.
- SGScott Galloway
[chuckles]
- KSKara Swisher
There's no, like, me going like this. What is happening?
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, do you want the honest truth, or am I supposed to be snarky around this?
- KSKara Swisher
Whatever. Either one.
- SGScott Galloway
Okay.
- KSKara Swisher
It's probably a bad explanation.
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, no, I'm very focused on enterprise value, and, um, uh, Prov-- Vox owns a piece of Pivot.
- KSKara Swisher
No, we do-
- SGScott Galloway
And-
- KSKara Swisher
But go ahead. Go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, we, we own it, but Vox... Everyone, uh, uh, the thing I hate about the corporate structure and ownership of Pivot is that everyone has veto authority, but no one has control. I like having control, and as you know, about five years ago, I started launching my own pods, and quite frankly, it's, uh, your Pivot has the biggest reach.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
Um, but-
- KSKara Swisher
My Pivot? Now it's my Pivot. It's like our children, your children. Go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, but I'm very focused on, um, trying to create distinct enterprise value that I have control over.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
So Pivot, Pivot is the biggest and the best and kind of your firstborn, and I-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm
- 10:46 – 19:07
Anthropic’s Super Bowl Ad
- KSKara Swisher
gonna talk about Anthropic, something really kind of fun. Um, it's taking aim at OpenAI and ChatGPT with a series of Super Bowl ads, poking fun. It, it is s-- the perfect satire at recent news that ads are coming to ChatGPT. I wanna play one of the Anthropic ads, all of which, there's four of them, I think, that feature a young man visiting a therapist to talk about his mom. Let's watch.
- SGScott Galloway
How do I communicate better with my mom?
- SPSpeaker
Great question. Improved communication with your mom can bring you closer. Here are some techniques you can try. Start by listening. Really hear what she's trying to say underneath her words. Build conversation from points of agreement. Find a connection through shared activity, perhaps a nature walk, or if the relationship can't be fixed, find emotional connection with other older women on Golden Encounters, the mature dating site that connects sensitive cubs with roaring cougars.
- SGScott Galloway
... What?
- KSKara Swisher
[chuckles] The tagline appears on the screen at the end that says, "Ads are coming to AI, but not to Claude." Uh, they've struck a nerve with Sam Altman, the CEO of, uh, OpenAI. Sam posted on X, the ads made him laugh, and then went on to share a novella-sized rant as TechCrunch put it. He argued the campaign was dishonest and misrepresented how ChatGPT would ever use ads. Oh, my God, fuck him if he can't take a joke. I, I, think these ads are brilliant. They actually-- The way they depict, um, chatbots is perfect. That pause, the smile, the kind of, mm, you know, lowest common denominator advice. But you-- These are great branding, as you told me. So tell me, as a Mr. Brands, what do you think about these?
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, this is genius, and this will be seen as the pivotal moment for when in twelve months, Anthropic is more valuable than OpenAI. This is a definition of intelligent branding, and one construct or vehicle for great branding is you ladder the competition. Well, the way you ladder the competition to try and zero in on the soft issues, you go, we're this, they're this, and then you say, okay, is this point of differentiation, uh, truly different? Are we really different this way? Two, does anyone care is irrelevant, and three, can we own it? Is it sustainable? So in this instance, they said, "All right, uh, we're not going to have ads." Is that different? Yes. ChatGPT is having ads. That's truly differentiated. Is it relevant? Yeah, it is relevant because you're providing your most intimate information. There's a memory around AI, and the idea that it's not giving you the best answer, but an answer it can monetize is really uncomfortable for people. And then, is it sustainable? Mostly, unless OpenAI, which is a non-zero chance, they might backtrack on this. But basically, this is the perfect branding. It's differentiated, it's relevant to consumers, and it's sustainable, and the execution here is just gorgeous.
- KSKara Swisher
Flawless.
- SGScott Galloway
It's just-
- KSKara Swisher
Flawless
- SGScott Galloway
... beautiful. This-- Occasionally, like, when Hyundai came out with their seven-year warranty ad, that changed the complexion of Hyundai. Occasionally, there's an ad campaign that literally changes everything. They're fewer and fewer because people don't take advertising as seriously. They take real-time innovation more seriously. This will be-- This already is the ad of the Super Bowl. This is going to be the moment when Sam Altman, quite frankly, shit the bed, and Dario became the new face of AI. Uh, but I believe this will be the pivotal moment, with also a focus on enterprise versus the consumer. They're going Dell versus, versus Gateway, going consumer, or they're going enterprise versus consumer.
- KSKara Swisher
This is a consumer play because it's all about people asking advice from these things. Let me tell you, one of the things that really struck me, and I don't know how you felt about it, was the tone of voice of these, and the, the-- one is better than that. I just saw another one, and it was, like, perfect.
- SGScott Galloway
They're fantastic. The execution is fantastic.
- KSKara Swisher
It was a woman talking to them about business plan and was offering her whatever, a web, like a s- like a, like a web space kind of thing. Um, but the voices and the, and the lack of emotion and the lack of empathy in their voices, and yet they're the robotic nature of people. This is what-
- SGScott Galloway
Well, and the shift in the tone?
- KSKara Swisher
... AI sounds like to people.
- SGScott Galloway
The shift in the tone, it goes from human to anodyne.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm. Exactly.
- SGScott Galloway
I- it is genius, actually. And the thing about-
- KSKara Swisher
And pauses-
- SGScott Galloway
You're-
- KSKara Swisher
... the pause until they answer. The-- Because no one would do that, right? Everybody jumps all up. When they talk, they have a normal interaction, but the pause is what got me. It was perfect.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, the Super Bowl is basically, the ads aren't worth it. Whatever they're charging, eight, eight million for thirty seconds, it's not worth it. The only way it's worth it, and you know r- you know if the ad was worth it before the ad ever airs, and that is how much plays are getting on YouTube. And, and already, Anthropic's ads are worth more than they're spending because everybody's talking about its buzz. Ben Stiller's ad for Instacart is going to be the silver medalist here. It's fucking hilarious.
- KSKara Swisher
It is. It's with, um... What's his name? Oh, that guy.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, he does flips and everything. But basically-
- KSKara Swisher
Don't do the flip.
- SGScott Galloway
This has nothing to do with the ad on the Super Bowl. It's about your permission-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm
- SGScott Galloway
... to be evaluated and go viral because you're advertising at the Super Bowl.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
And already, Anthropic has gotten a huge, huge return. And also, if you'll notice-
- 19:07 – 34:11
Latest Epstein News
- KSKara Swisher
moving from that, let's run through a rapid-fire update of all the Epstein news that's happened since we talked. I mean, seriously, this is just... First, let's listen to what President Trump had to say to CNN's Kaitlan Collins when asked about Epstein's victims. This was something else, and then J.D. Vance followed up with a really even worse version of it, but let's listen.
- SPSpeaker
Yeah, what did, what did you say? Go ahead, CNN. What would you say to the survivors who feel they've been- You are the worst reporter. No one to see-- CNN has no ratings because of people like you. You know, she's a young woman. I don't think I've ever seen you smile. I've known you for 10 years. I don't think I've ever seen a smile on your face. Well, I'm asking you about survivors of Jeffrey Epstein- You know why? You know why you're not smiling? 'Cause you know you're not telling the truth.
- KSKara Swisher
Uh, uh, that was something. Nick, uh, uh, that was something. Uh, let me say, I think the reason she got under his skin is 'cause what she was talking about was the survivors of Donald Trump. You know what I mean?
- SGScott Galloway
Well, you mean that he's mentioned fifty-seven hundred times in the Epstein files?
- KSKara Swisher
Yes, exactly. I think he knows. Deep in his, i- in his incredibly narcissistic denial personality, he knows, right? And so he knows what happened. These people know what happened, and so, you know, it's typical old man, says, "I've never seen you smile." I've had that. Women have that happen to them all the time.
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, smile, sweetheart.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, you should smile more. [chuckles] You should put Kara Swisher on the back of your thing and say thank you. But, um, but, uh, it's really, it was really something. That was really something, and, uh, and then what was incredible is that J.D. Vance followed it in a really ridiculous interview with Megyn Kelly, in which he said: "Well, he just wants her to have fun, you know?" Oh, my God, he's, he's at the cringiest cringe of... He just takes something that's bad and makes it worse, which is really hard to do in this situation.
- SGScott Galloway
I thought- I see, it's funny, I had a different reaction there.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
I kind of expected it from J- what I thought was especially heinous was Megyn Kelly defending-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
The president referenced her menstrual cycle. I- I- there's a, there's got to be a line where, as someone has a certain level, a- and I go back, you know, uh, not just, not just men. Everyone should have a code and lines. You know, i- the key isn't to be likable. You-- Everyone deserves boundaries in a relationship and boundaries around the behavior they will accept and not accept. When the president insulted the looks of Senator Cruz's wife, that should have been a red line, and it should be like, "I'm never supporting you ever again." And when the president referenced Megyn Kelly's menstrual cycle-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah
- SGScott Galloway
... that should have been a line where she would, I would think, for the rest of her career go, "This guy has a problem-
- KSKara Swisher
Right
- SGScott Galloway
... when it comes to women." And I was, I was, uh, texting this morning with, uh, Molly Jong-Fast, and the, the thing I've been trying to wrap my hands around, I want to get your viewpoint here around the Epstein files, and the problem is, or I see the biggest problem, is that what we need is a, a thick layer of an institution that we trust, and that used to be the Department of Justice, to go through, and the FBI, these, these three million pages and say: Okay, our job is to use discretion in the rule of law to parse what is illegal criminal behavior that deserves public attention and what does not deserve public attention, like being on an invite list to a party in St. Barts that Jeffrey Epstein was gonna... 'Cause right now, we're over-punishing shit that is trivial and superfluous, and we're under-punishing child rape.
- KSKara Swisher
Yep, absolutely.
- SGScott Galloway
E- everything has been mushed together, and-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah
- SGScott Galloway
... it, because we don't trust an institution-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm
- SGScott Galloway
... to go through this and say, "This is criminal activity and warrants public scrutiny and legal scrutiny."
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
"And quite frankly, folks, we're not even gonna release this shit 'cause all it does is impugn people for no reason."
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
But the problem is, there's no arbiter, there's no institution that traditionally we've had trust in, that we're comfortable with doing it. So everyone's like, "Release the files." They release all three million. I don't even know if this is helping right now.
- KSKara Swisher
No, there's more. They're- they've released half. They've released half. They're not gonna release the-
- SGScott Galloway
What are your thoughts?
- KSKara Swisher
I, I just-- He's a pig. I'm sorry. He's just an old man pig, and J.D. Vance made it worse, and Megyn Kelly, forget it, she's a fluffer to all of them, and she's gonna put this on her show. So, hey, Megyn, good to give you content. You'll attack me and not Scott, who's appropriately critical of you, but that's fine. Whatever you want, girl. Um, next up, Bill Clinton-
- SGScott Galloway
I've been on Megyn's show. Have you been on her show?
- 34:11 – 36:26
Alphabet Earnings
- KSKara Swisher
Scott, we're back. On to some earnings. Alphabet beat earnings and revenue expectations, with a net income up almost thirty percent from the year prior. Well done, Sundar Pichai. Uh, the company expects twenty twenty-six CapEx spend to be, oh, this is incredible, one hundred and seventy-five, and, uh, uh, a hundred and sixty-five and a hundred and seventy-five billion, which could be more than double twenty twenty-five spending, and obviously, all in AI. Shares are down five percent in the last, uh, couple days, 'cause at the time of the taping. Very briefly, what do you think of these Alphabet earnings? 'Cause you've been focused on, on the Google, the owner of Google.
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, Alphabet was my stock pick for twenty twenty-five. The, the-- This is nothing short of staggering. Um, annual revenue's, uh, at four hundred billion right now, YouTube revenue up nine percent, Google Cloud up forty-eight percent, Kara. Oh, and by the way, OpenAI was supposedly gonna kill Google Search.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
Search is up seventeen percent.
- KSKara Swisher
Didn't happen.
- SGScott Galloway
Google services revenue up-
- KSKara Swisher
They moved fast
- SGScott Galloway
... fourteen percent.
- KSKara Swisher
They finally moved fast.
- SGScott Galloway
The market was a little spooked by their CapEx expenditure.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
In this case, it's a feature, not a bug, 'cause they have the money to do it.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
And you want to talk about a comeback story for the ages? Back in twenty twenty-two, the market decided that Search had an existential threat with ChatGPT, and the stock was off forty percent. And guess where, guess where the stock is now, since it hit that low? It's up fourfold. And since the quarter that ChatGPT was released, Google Search revenues are up forty-eight percent. They get about ninety to ninety-five times the number of queries as ChatGPT. And the thing I took away from this, these earnings, were two things: one, staggering, and two, I think OpenAI is fucked. They're getting attacked from the side by Anthropic with incredible positioning, highlighting their, their soft tissue around advertising. They're getting attacked from above by Alphabet, which has more, probably, IP and a fire hose of two billion people a day to point at their own AI platforms. And they're getting attacked from below by these open weight LLMs out of China. I, I saw this, and I'm like, "Jesus Christ, this company is on fire and well-managed!" And then I thought-... There is no y-- I think we have seen the peak of OpenAI's valuation. They're supposedly raising money at eight fifty. I think that'll be the high-water mark.
- KSKara Swisher
All right.
- 36:26 – 44:33
Disney Earnings and New CEO
- KSKara Swisher
Oh, well, interesting. Are now on to Disney. The company topped earnings and revenue expectations with experience department reporting over ten billion dollars in quarterly revenue for the first time. That's the parks. Overall revenue for the entertainment segment of the company was up seven percent year over year. Not bad. He made another big announcement, uh, the CEO, Bob Iger. Josh D'Amaro will replace him. He has been at Disney for twenty-eight years and most recently served as chairman of Disney Experiences, which makes up roughly sixty percent of the profit last year. The company also promoted top television executive Da- Dana Walden to president and chief creative officer, and the-- I mean, she gets the, um, consolation prize, I guess. Once again, Scott, uh, Kara was right. Let's listen to who I predicted Disney would choose in the October of twenty twenty-four. [whooshing] Um, any idea who's, who's gonna be the next, uh, Bob Iger? Probably be someone internally. Prob-- I'm guessing either Josh or, uh, Dana Walden. One of those two. It just seemed like it's hard to run a company like Disney if you haven't been there a hundred and three years. Um, so, uh, we asked our friend and founding partner, Puck, Bill Cullen, for his thoughts on the transition. Let's just quickly listen to him, what he had to say. [whooshing]
- SPSpeaker
In many ways, it was the inevitable choice. Uh, in some ways, it was the most ironic choice. Uh, I say the ironic choice because, of course, uh, Bob Chapek, uh, ran the parks and events, uh, division of Disney when Bob Iger selected him to be his first successor, and we all know that that did not work out, uh, at all. And now he's got, uh, D'Amaro as his, uh, successor, uh, also from the parks division. And I say the inevitable choice because, look, let's face it, that's the division that's been hitting it, uh, out of the ballpark, uh, for the last few years. He's been monetizing, uh, the Disney IP, uh, beautifully. They were also very smart in keeping, uh, the people a-around, uh, at, uh, Disney, uh, who, uh, have the skills that he doesn't have, uh, including Dana Walden, promoting her, Alan Bergman, Jimmy Pitaro, uh, running ESPN. So he's got a good cast around him. If D'Amaro can keep up, uh, what he's done at, uh, in, in the parks department and, uh, increase the Disney stock price, which of course, is what everybody wants him to do because it's floundered for the last couple of years, uh, he'll be a success. If, if, uh, he can't do those things, then it's a big question mark still. Uh, he may go the way of Bob Chapek.
- KSKara Swisher
Uh, it's Chapek, actually. But, uh, what-- this is really interesting. I thought that was really smart. I mean, it, it, it's still... You-- Scott and I both think this company's gonna get bought for some reason. [chuckles] Just right? Correct? Are we still on that train?
- SGScott Galloway
If it, if it doesn't get, if it doesn't get bought, it's inviting an activist. They'll give the new CEO a twenty-four-month honeymoon period, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone is aggregating stock right now because if you look at the ten-year returns of the S&P, it's almost quadrupled. Disney, it's flat. And Bob Iger is the guy who decided after a successful tour of Vietnam to go back and basically has had his legs blown off. I mean, the, the one of the worst decisions in history, in corporate history, personally, was for Bob Iger to decide to shoot his successor and come back in like he was MacArthur. He wasn't. He-- anyways, um, this company will have an overhang on it until they do the following: I- it-- There should be good bank, bad bank. It should be, if you will, it should be, um, the streaming service, the studio, and the parks. They feed each other IP. There's synergy, and there's flywheels, and then they've got to get rid of, um, ESPN, A- ABC, cable networks, FX, Freeform, Disney Channel, Nat Geo, because these things are just an anchor, and the linear businesses... A- and the linear businesses are just awful, but the experiences, the parks and cruises and streaming are growing and getting profitable. And when you have a conglomerate like this, what the market does is they find the shittiest business, which is the linear business, and they assign that multiple to the entire company. So Disney is probably, in my view, is one of the few values or good buys out there right now because it has unmatched IP. The parks business, assuming that the tariffs are reversed and people start coming back to the US at some point, uh, is, uh, is singular. I don't care what anyone think. If you don't take your kids and spend fourteen hundred dollars a night in a shitty hotel three or four times before the age of ten, they call child services on you.
- KSKara Swisher
Yep. [chuckles]
- SGScott Galloway
They have a monopoly on children.
- KSKara Swisher
Not just that, not just that. It's toys-
- SGScott Galloway
Frozen. Dis-- You have to have Disney Plus.
- KSKara Swisher
They still haven't been like, you know, like... I don't think they-- they don't have Cocomelon. I think that's over at Netflix. They, they still haven't caught on to some trends. That's my worry for them, is they've got a lot of old trends, right? A lot of old stuff. Like, uh, K-pop Demon Hunters, for example, that was Netflix again. Like, a- and some of the other ones that are very popular with kids, the, the more cutting-edge ones, they don't seem to be on top of them. So I would imagine that, uh, Dana, and there has to really focus on that. Like, what is hot? Like, they, they, they have the traditionals and Frozen two, and, uh, I mean, three and four coming out, which, of course, we have to see, and then we'll have all the things. Um, but, you know, they've missed a lot of turns on the newest kind of v- viral phenomenas that are very lasting, too, right? And so that would be my thing, and b- but content isn't the point. It's the parks, it's the streaming, it's the IP, and what do you do with that? And so to me, they have to really, um, understand, maybe have a little more of a range in IP or something like that, like as if- as they're doing over at Netflix and other places. Just they could be a little more innovative, but you're right, it has to be spun off. Let Jimmy Pitaro run all of those. I've known him for a long time from Yahoo! and very smart executive.
- SGScott Galloway
Their, their experiences division in Q1-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm
- SGScott Galloway
... reported three times the operating income as the entertainment division.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
The entertainment division, the crown jewel there, the streaming services are actually getting some leverage. Their operating income was up seventy-two percent. So if you have this unbelievable singular business with enormous moats, called the experiences division-... and you have the studios which create IP for your streaming services, which is getting momentum. And right now, you know, Netflix is Walmart, and Disney is LVMH, in the sense that Disney has a singular positioning around family that will be very strong for a long time and command margin. Those two growth companies together, and then you shed the problem child, the linear networks, this company immediately, they could- I, I said this last year, I think they could sell, and they won't do this, ESPN, ABC, Entertainment, Global Networks, FX, all that shit, Nat Geo, I think they could sell it for a dollar, and the company would be worth more in six months-
- KSKara Swisher
[chuckles] That's interesting.
- SGScott Galloway
-because it's an enormous overhang on them.
- KSKara Swisher
It is, even though it makes a lot of profit, yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
Every analyst, every analyst report says the following: "Good, good, great, good," but there's always a but, and that is these huge cable companies... And by the way, that company, that Babec-
- KSKara Swisher
Why hasn't Iger just done it before he leaves? You know, done it.
- SGScott Galloway
I think he wanted a bigger number. He put a for sale sign on these things twenty-four months ago.
- KSKara Swisher
He did, yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
But private equity, and there's a c- a- and now it's like whatever the one is from Conca- Comcast, someone is gonna consolidate these things.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, Comcast.
- SGScott Galloway
And by the way, that'll probably be a good stock, 'cause someone will come in-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah
- SGScott Galloway
... and start cutting costs faster than revenue declines, and people usually overestimate the speed of revenue declines. That'll be a good business. It'll be a totally different business.
- KSKara Swisher
There, there's gonna be a lot of activity because, look, if Paramount doesn't get, uh, doesn't get Warner, that's gonna be someone on the lookout. You've got Comcast sort of waiting in the wings. I went to an Olympic party last night. Boy, they have a great month coming up. They've got the Super Bowl, they've got the Olympics, and they've got the NBA, something or other. Uh, they're calling it legendary February. Um, uh, you know, they've got to do something, so there's gonna be a lot of activity here. And you're right, the spin-off of ABC provides an opportunity for any of these players, uh, going forward. Anyway, let's go on a quick break. When we come back, uh, we're gonna talk about the Washington Post layoffs,
- 44:33 – 59:51
Washington Post Layoffs
- KSKara Swisher
and I'm gonna get some advice from Scott Galloway. Scott, we're back with more news. The Washington Post has laid off about thirty percent of its employees. The cuts impact both business and newsroom roles, including over three hundred of roughly eight hundred journalists. I- interestingly, I looked at old memos. Uh, Bezos had added up to a thousand. He really grew it, and now he's ungrowing it. Um, in all sections, the company had been impacted with a focus on sports, local news, and international coverage. Executive editor Matt Murray told the staff the company had lost too much money for too long and will now be focused on national news and politics, business, and health. Uh, maybe they can hire Peter or Tia. Um, I want you not to say people are precious right now. I wanna talk about this 'cause I've gotten dozens of- you know, I had been interested in looking at figuring out a way to buy it. Um, I've gotten lots of calls this week from both employees, very wealthy people, people who are civically minded here in Washington, rich people. Um, what do you think's gonna happen here? I mean, let me just very briefly, since I worked there, again, I started in the mailroom. The way they did this, Bezos hasn't said a word. The CEO didn't talk to any employees, hasn't been seen since they did this. They, they handed the bag to Matt Murray to deal with it, um, which to me was just cowardly. Um, you know, I put on threads, uh, Bezos has twice the muscle, and he's half the man from when I met him. Um, but, a- a- and that was a personal insult. I meant it in a really very significant way. Um, uh, uh, what do you do with this? What do you do, and what do I- when I get all these calls, like, I'm doing great with the podcast, although apparently you're leaving me. Um, and-
- SGScott Galloway
No, I'm not. I'm just banging Belarusian whores.
- KSKara Swisher
Um, okay. It's fine. Uh, I don't care.
- SGScott Galloway
Consensual.
- KSKara Swisher
But, you know, I just co- cool on everything-
- SGScott Galloway
By the way, who w- w- who would have thought Hunter Biden would come across as so wholesome?
- KSKara Swisher
[chuckles]
- SGScott Galloway
All these prostitutes are on TikTok saying he was respectful. He likes-
- KSKara Swisher
I can see it.
- SGScott Galloway
They're all like, they're all like, "He likes crack and having sex with grown women"-
- KSKara Swisher
Yes.
- SGScott Galloway
- "and he looks wholesome right now."
- KSKara Swisher
[chuckles] He does.
- SGScott Galloway
He's not in the Epstein files.
- KSKara Swisher
Not surprising.
- SGScott Galloway
He's nowhere in the Epstein files.
- KSKara Swisher
I have to say, yeah, I agree. Someone-
- SGScott Galloway
He looks like Richard Thomas from The Waltons right now.
- KSKara Swisher
Who else did I talk to?
- SGScott Galloway
I'm sorry, go ahead.
- KSKara Swisher
Maybe Gavin Newsom. I'm like: How did you not get me out? Anyway, um, uh, tell, tell me what to do here. Tell me what you think. Obviously, let me just tell you, thanks, Jeff. Really, the economics have changed. Everybody knows this. Stop lecturing us on things they know. They definitely had to cut costs. If I took it over, I, I'd cut costs, not in this nasty, prickish way while I'm appearing with Pete Hegseth, uh, looking like I've had way too much Botox. But, uh, and I would say something to them if I was doing this, given how rich I am, and I certainly could afford it. I don't mean to say he has to lose money, but boy, the look is so bad. It's such a bad look, him swanning around Paris while he's done this, and then not even speaking to them. The whole thing just stinks, the way he handled this, of really good people who will find, who will find jobs at some point, and but it's a lot of people in the market all at once. So what to do here without insulting [chuckles] journalism? Go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
Okay, so this is Kara Swisher calling me at eleven pm or midnight, asking my advice around the Washington Post, and if and how you should get involved. Is that accurate?
- KSKara Swisher
Yes, correct.
- SGScott Galloway
Okay, first thing I say is, "Hold on a second. I gotta take my dogs out to pee 'cause I just took edibles, and I'll forget, and if they pee on the stone, I'm, I'm gonna be in a world of hurt."
- KSKara Swisher
[chuckles]
- SGScott Galloway
That's the first thing I say.
- KSKara Swisher
All right, so now you're back.
- SGScott Galloway
I take the dogs on a walk, and I think about it.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
This is what I would say to you: Don't touch this thing with a fucking ten-foot pole.
- 59:51 – 1:01:28
Savannah Guthrie Mother Disappearance
- KSKara Swisher
Um, I, I'm going to, um, take a moment, though, uh, before you do that, uh, to say, uh, Savannah Guthrie's family, uh, with their mom missing, I know... I've met her mom. She's amazing. I, I hope, hope, hope they find her alive, and it's so sad what's happening. It's getting far too much, like, m- media is sort of jumping all over it in kind of an untoward way, but if that helps get her back, I'm all for it. Um, but I just wanna send my love out to her family. She, she- they're wonderful people.
- SGScott Galloway
It's really interesting, isn't it, how some stories really kind of... I mean, 35,000 people have supposedly been murdered in Iran.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
And the, but this story really hits you because, A, people really, really appreciate and have a lot of fondness for Savannah.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
... But occasionally there's a story, and it just, it grabs you, right?
- KSKara Swisher
It does, yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
I mean, this story, this story has really grabbed people-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm
- SGScott Galloway
... because this is kind of everyone's nightmare-
- KSKara Swisher
Nightmare
- SGScott Galloway
... not knowing what's happening, not knowing what's going on.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
But I, I was really struck at how, and it, it's nice that occasionally people slow down, and when they hear an individual story, it really moves them.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
And I think, actually, I think the attention being brought to it is probably a good thing.
- KSKara Swisher
Probably is.
- SGScott Galloway
I think there's a lot-
- KSKara Swisher
Probably is.
- SGScott Galloway
If anyone sees her mom, they're gonna know it.
- KSKara Swisher
That's right.
- SGScott Galloway
Right?
- KSKara Swisher
That's right.
- SGScott Galloway
And so I think it's... Anyways, I, I, I-
- KSKara Swisher
There's a surprising not big number of kidnappings, too, like, in this country.
- SGScott Galloway
It's very rare.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, so-
- SGScott Galloway
We all talk about the fear of kids and kidnapping.
- KSKara Swisher
It's all over TV, but it's not true.
- SGScott Galloway
It's, it's, it's very, it's very, very rare.
- 1:01:28 – 1:09:01
Predictions
- KSKara Swisher
from you.
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, effectively, I don't know if this is really good news, but essentially, um, there are social media bans breaking out all over the world. Norway has a complete ban under 13. Belgium requires children under 13 to have parental permission. Germany requires parental consent for users aged 13 to 16. Italy requires parental consent at sign-up for users under the age of 14. And Spain just announced that it's going to, um, it, uh, it's the latest country. They're banning social media kids under 16. Eighty-two percent of Spaniards support banning social media for kids under 14. Greece is also nearing a social media ban for children under 15. Australia's implemented a similar ban. Also, just a shout-out to my colleague, Jonathan Haidt. I think this would've happened anyway, but he's expedited it, and I think he deserves a lot of credit for this. Um, I mean, if you-- for those of you thinking about going to academia, you can go into academia, study social science, get a PhD in psychology, and someday get entire nations to ban phones in schools. So to think that academics don't matter, it's-- you can have a lot of impact. Anyways, that's not my prediction. Um, my prediction is that this is essentially not only common sense around our children, but this is the beginning of reciprocal tariffs. What do I mean by that? Other nations are sick of the sclerotic, irrational, punitive economic warfare that the Trump administration has levied on them with tariffs, and their tariffs are the following: They're gonna start banning our social media platforms. Uh, the UK is already going after X. You are gonna start to see, over the course of the next twelve to twenty-four months, entire nations say, "You know what? Maybe we don't need YouTube here. Maybe Meta should not be here. Maybe..." And they'll, they'll blanket it in-
- KSKara Swisher
Maybe we won't use Zoom. I think France is stopping using Zoom in the government.
- SGScott Galloway
They're gonna blanket in, "Okay, Meta is bad for children," which is true, but the real motivation, [chuckles] in my view, is gonna be like, "You know what? We're kinda sick. If you're gonna start making it harder for Americans to buy our Mercedes and our Vuitton, we're gonna make it harder for people to watch YouTube and be on Instagram." I think European nations and the rest of the G7 are sick of big tech coming in, sucking billions of dollars out of their economy in exchange for opening a Facebook office in Milan. Their newspapers are going out of business, their media companies are going out of business, their manufacturers are going out of business, and this is essentially the thing that is tipping these companies over and giving them the backbone to start banning these things, and it's gonna go up the food chain. Pretty soon, you're going to see a large nation say, "You know what? I don't think we need Google." So this is, while it's being done under the very righteous and worthwhile cause of protecting children, which I celebrate and I think is important, effectively what this is, is a reciprocal tariff, and pretty soon it's gonna start creeping up. You know what's gonna happen? Big countries are gonna decide: "You know what? We no longer want to use Goldman Sachs and McKinsey to do our banking. If you're gonna start fucking with us, we're gonna start fucking with you."
- KSKara Swisher
And they say that, speaking of consumers, they're consumers, so they can speak with their... They can walk, they can walk. That's the thing.
- SGScott Galloway
I love the idea-
- KSKara Swisher
And there, there are alternatives
- SGScott Galloway
... of consumers speaking with their, with their spending power. [chuckles]
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
I think it makes all the sense in the world.
- KSKara Swisher
I know you do. That's why you look like a, like a unsuccessful pimp this week. What's your outfit for next week? [chuckles]
- SGScott Galloway
I don't know. I'm thinking, I bought-
- KSKara Swisher
Do it to a charm.
- SGScott Galloway
I'll, I'll give you a hint. I'll, I'll give you a hint.
- KSKara Swisher
Okay.
- SGScott Galloway
I have a hockey jersey, and I'm not wearing any pants.
- KSKara Swisher
Oh, nice. That's good. Good. Be on brand.
- SGScott Galloway
That's good.
- KSKara Swisher
That's perfect.
- SGScott Galloway
That's good.
- KSKara Swisher
That's perfect. On trend and on brand. Uh, that's a really, that's really important, Scott, and I think you're right. This is, there are... Before, when, when these com- Europe was not innovative the way the US has been on all these services, there are alternates right now. There are so many alternates to everything. If the, if Silicon Valley thinks they hung the fucking moon, well, they did. They might have, but no longer, and there are alternates in every single category now, that you don't have to put up with the ridiculous midlife crisis antics of Jeff Bezos or whatever, whatever fresh hell Meta is gonna le- unleash upon us. There are choices now, and some of them might be China, by the way, and that's, that's saying a lot if they're, that's where they're going. So I agree with you. I think it's really important. Um, just so you know, everyone, we will talk about Malt Book and Open Claw next week. It's fine. Agent to agent was always the plan, but, uh, we'll talk about that. It's interesting. And we also will talk about, um, uh, Section 230. There's been a new bill to overturn and replace it. Um, oddly enough, I ran into, uh, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, uh, this week, and he was here helping. We'll talk about that next week 'cause Section 230 is really interesting. I had some really interesting discussions with him and others about it. Uh-
- SGScott Galloway
Can I just say, I love the image of you being e- barely able to see over the mail cart going around-
- KSKara Swisher
[chuckles]
- SGScott Galloway
... and people mistaking you for a fifteen-year-old boy. Can I just say I love that image? [chuckles] I love that you started the Washington Post mailroom. That is really cool.
- KSKara Swisher
It was, I, I reorganized it.
- SGScott Galloway
That is really cool.
- KSKara Swisher
It was so messy. I reorganized all the boxes 'cause I'm so anal retentive. I remember doing that.
- SGScott Galloway
That is really cool.
- KSKara Swisher
They're like: "What are you doing?" I'm like: "This is inefficient." [chuckles] And I was, like, in college. It's true. I was slightly taller than-
- SGScott Galloway
Hey, little fella, don't worry, you'll grow. Oh, wait.
Episode duration: 1:09:01
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