EVERY SPOKEN WORD
125 min read · 25,002 words- 0:00 – 6:46
Intro
- KSKara Swisher
Like, it's- it's sad, he's 53 years old.
- SGScott Galloway
I know, we talk about him as if he's a teenager. He's about to start getting AARP mail. (instrumental 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
I flew all night and boy are my arms tired. I did a joke, Scott.
- SGScott Galloway
Where- where'd you come in from?
- KSKara Swisher
DC to San Francisco.
- SGScott Galloway
DC to S- oh, you're- you're in your favorite place, San Francisco.
- KSKara Swisher
Yes, indeed. I'm so excited to be here.
- SGScott Galloway
And you're- you're collecting a bunch of awards, and you're also-
- KSKara Swisher
I am.
- SGScott Galloway
Look what I'm wearing.
- KSKara Swisher
I know, you're wearing the Bill Maher thing.
- SGScott Galloway
Look what I'm wearing.
- KSKara Swisher
It's very attractive.
- SGScott Galloway
I'm wearing a Bill Maher shirt because I know you're going on Bill Mah- Maher.
- KSKara Swisher
I am.
- SGScott Galloway
I'm hugely jelly, and I'm also wearing my Beverly Hills Hotel hat.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
And I need you to go down to the pool, go to the Polo Lounge, have a few Maker's and gingers, say hello to Jorge, the concierge there.
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
And any- any Russian woman that gives you eye contact, return her eye contact.
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
Um, e- e- it- you go down to the counter for breakfast, go to the pool-
- KSKara Swisher
(coughs) Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... put on a big pair of black sunglasses, and any modestly attractive woman that walks by, and put an unlit cigarette in your mouth and go, "Jackie, marry me. I make you very happy woman." And then they just-
- KSKara Swisher
I am doing none of this. I am in and out.
- SGScott Galloway
"Oh, it's so good there."
- KSKara Swisher
I am in and out. I come back to San Francisco 'cause I have to get a second award on Saturday- (laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
(sighs)
- 6:46 – 16:27
Musk’s Successor at Tesla?
- KSKara Swisher
fine. But first, uh, Tesla's board was reportedly looking for a successor to Elon Musk last month according to Wall Street Journal. Journal says the board got frustrated with falling sales and Musk's DC focus, you'd think, and told Elon he needed to publicly announce he would spend, uh, more time on Tesla. Tesla's board chair, Robyn Denholm, denies the reports, um, she has almost no credibility though, isn't- she just backs up her back, her trunk, her trunk and they fill it with money, posting on X that they are absolutely false. Not just false, but absolutely false. Meanwhile, Musk said goodbye to the, President Trump's cabinet on Wednesday claiming Doge has so far saved $160 billion. It's pathetic actually, and most people think that number is not even accurate. He did so wearing not one, but two Trump hats. It was so, so, so painful. Let's listen to the goodbye.
- NANarrator
You know they say I wear a lot of hats.
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- NANarrator
And as you can see-
- NANarrator
(laughs)
- NANarrator
... it's true. Even my hat has a hat.
- NANarrator
(laughs)
- NANarrator
Um, so, um, you know, the American people voted for secure borders, safe cities, and sensible spending, and that's what they've gotten. A tremendous amount has been accomplished in the first 100 days. As everyone has said, it's more than, eh, has been accomplished in any administration before, uh, ever. Period.
- KSKara Swisher
More lies. More lies, Elon.
- SGScott Galloway
Well- well I do agree that-
- KSKara Swisher
Must have happened.
- SGScott Galloway
... I do agree that more has been accomplished.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
It's just wh- how you would define accomplished. I think in 100 days, the entire world economy is being reshaped, uh, around, I mean, the kind of post World War II o- order has absolutely been, is being reshaped and you're gonna see, I mean, first off, Prime Minister Carney was elected because of Trump, and you're about to see the same thing happen in Australia because the other party has become associated with, you know, the other party went on kind of this DEI, they, they were trying to take a page out of Trump's notebook and then they realized, "Oh, this isn't working out well."
- KSKara Swisher
Right. Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
But-
- KSKara Swisher
Even though, you know, they would do well there, they have Murdoch there and stuff like that. So- so, uh, the Tesla, uh, uh, th- the hat thing, I just, it's so painful.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
He's worn sev- remember he wore the big hat, and then he had the goth-
- SGScott Galloway
It's a distraction.
- KSKara Swisher
Like, it's, it's sad, he's 53 years old, it's so sad. I mean he wore a very nice hat.
- SGScott Galloway
And then we talk about him as if he's a teenager. He's about to start getting AARP mail. I mean, we-
- KSKara Swisher
I'm, honestly... Tell me about the le-
- SGScott Galloway
We-
- KSKara Swisher
... the Tesla board thing. Now they're denying it-
- SGScott Galloway
Oh... (sighs)
- KSKara Swisher
... but it makes, they have got to be open to lawsuits and everything else even if Elon runs the place. But the numbers don't lie. I mean, in-gravity is a thing. Like, what- what, do you, I don't, I believe they were looking for a CEO s- or I, I believe they told him he needed to publicly say he's gonna spend more time at Tesla.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, I don't, so I don't know if, uh, obviously we don't know if this is true or not, and if it is true, it, it reflects a couple things. One, there's someone leaking it. Um, two, it probably means the stock is, and don't, this isn't financial advice, is a really great short right now 'cause it means that they, uh, they're gonna cut this guy a lot of slack because he's built an incredible company and they've all made a shit ton of money because of Elon Musk. And so there's gotta be a ton of goodwill just based on what they've put up with so far. They have put up, m- with more aberrant, um, unacceptable behavior from a CEO than any board in history.
- KSKara Swisher
In history, yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
And so f- so for them to cross the line means that there's abso-fucking-lutely nothing in the product pipeline that is gonna, that is gonna stop this company from crashing. That it's about, it's gon- it's gonna go sometimes its darkest before it's pitch black. It feels like if they are in fact looking for, taking the bold step of looking for a CEO, it means that they look at this company like, "Wow, there is, we are, we are in really, um, big trouble." And it, uh, I mean, it just, uh, the, but the thing I didn't agree with is that people said, "Who would take that job?" A lot of people would take that job.
- 16:27 – 23:19
President Trump’s ABC Interview
- KSKara Swisher
Um, President Trump sat down... Speaking of flim-flammery, uh, President Trump sat down for a contentious interview marking 100 days in office with ABC News' Terry Moran, uh, who's n- who he's never heard of apparently. It was so ridiculous. Some highlights, "I gave you this chance, Terry, and you fucked me." Um, in regards to Pete Hegseth, the president remained optimistic, but when asked, he wouldn't say he had 100% confidence in him, calling it a stupid question, which is his go-to. Trump dismissed backlash to tariffs saying they were just what people voted for and everyone's going to be just fine. When discussing the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, this was a whopper, when the administration, who the administration sent to El Salvador in t- in error, Trump referred to a photoshopped image of MS-13 on Garcia's knu- knuckles. Let's listen.
- NANarrator
And you'll pick out one man, but even the man that you picked out-
- NANarrator
He's got a-
- NANarrator
He said he wasn't a member of a gang and then they looked and on his knuckles, he had MS-13.
- NANarrator
There's dis- there's a dispute over that.
- NANarrator
Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. He had MS-13 on his knuckles tattooed.
- NANarrator
He, he did say... Oh, he had some tattoos that are imp- interpreted that way. But let's move on.
- NANarrator
Wait a minute.
- NANarrator
I-
- NANarrator
Hey, Terry, Terry, Terry.
- NANarrator
He did not have the letter M-S-1-3.
- NANarrator
It says MS-13.
- NANarrator
That was photoshopped. Uh, so let me just-
- NANarrator
That was photoshopped? Terry, you can't do that. Hey, they're giving you the big break of a lifetime. You know, you're doing the interview. I picked you because frankly I never heard of you, but that's okay.
- KSKara Swisher
Oh my God, he's such a nagger. It's so amazing. Like nag, nag, nag. But let me say, it, it was photoshopped. He didn't... He doesn't know that that was trying to say the tattoos on there represented MS-13 and someone put those to give reference. And he, he's insisting that MS-13 was actually on there. It, uh, it was... Ah, total addlement. Like I... Or, or just, just lying almost continually. Everything he does, he breathes, he lies. Um, any thoughts on that interview?
- SGScott Galloway
The thing that stuck out for me was, first off, Terry Moran is a world-class journalist. He's been covering the Supreme Court and I believe the White House for a while. He's... In this-... I thought he put on a master class, and I think the big winner here was Terry. Because this is an impossible position. You, you have to maintain some decorum and dignity and respect for the office. And so, when the president says, "No, you got to trust me on this, it's this," it's hard, it's really hard to push back. And he was forceful yet dignified and attempted to show grace and not just say, "Okay, Mr. President, stop fucking lying. Stop lying, please."
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm. See, that's what I would have done.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, but-
- KSKara Swisher
I would have had the picture. I would have had the picture.
- SGScott Galloway
But that's why you'll never interview the president-
- KSKara Swisher
That's correct. (laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
... because... Uh, so these people have to, these people have to walk a very fine line, and that is, they get criticized if they don't push back on obvious lies. At the same time, they have to maintain a certain, they have to maintain a certain decorum that respects the office. Terry thread that needle perfectly. It reminded me of that interview on CNBC with Deidre Bol- Bolson and Keith Robboi, where basically Keith committed securities fraud over and over and over about Opendoor, claiming it was profitable. And she real time fact-checked him in a very kind of dignified, non-combative way. By the way, I think their stock, that stock is off like 70% or 90% since he went on. It- it, journalists who want to give people the benefit of the doubt, want to show some decorum, and you have to show the president a certain amount of grace. Otherwise, you're-
- KSKara Swisher
Here, here I'm gonna push back on you, 'cause I'm an interviewer.
- SGScott Galloway
Yup. Yup.
- KSKara Swisher
So, I, I feel like in that case, the constant lying, "This is Biden's, you know, GDP drop, this is this," uh, it's just, you, it's a, it's a, you cannot let him continue to make things up. It's, it's literally... Although, what I got the, the vibe was, as an old person, I, it literally brought me to an argument I had with my mom. Like, "No, it's this. No, it's absolutely this." And I was like, "It's not. It's not that." You know, it was-
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, but he got... Don't you think Terry made it clear to anyone with an IQ over, I don't know, 40, that he's, he is lying or uninformed?
- KSKara Swisher
He, he-
- SGScott Galloway
And he did it while maintaining some-
- KSKara Swisher
He did, he did. I was going back and forth on it. I think he should have pulled the picture out and said, "Mr. President, these numbers were put on by Photoshop to indicate..." and been polite that way. If this was not actually on his fingers, "Here's the picture of his actual fingers. Can we move on?"
- SGScott Galloway
Did you... You know, it's so interesting. It's interesting what the media focuses on. The media focused on him not... I thought by far, the most interesting-
- 23:19 – 26:58
Apple Violated Orders in Antitrust Case
- KSKara Swisher
a, a federal judge dismantling Apple's control of the App Store. The ruling said the Apple violated orders in a five-year antitrust case brought by Epic Games. In a previous ruling, the judge ordered Apple to allow apps to use external payments to avoid 30% commission charges. The judge accused executives of lying, saying Apple created a new system forcing external sales to be charged 27% commission. Now the judge says Apple may no longer take commissions from sales outside the App Store. Let me just say, I do not understand this, 'cause Apple won almost everything except this one thing, and they did not follow it along. Now the App Store is a large part of Apple's $100 billion annual services revenue. I, I don't imagine it's an enormous blow, 'cause it's difficult to do those outside external sales, but seemed like a real error on Apple's part here to do something like petulant like this, given how much they won.
- SGScott Galloway
Like, the, the biggest toll booths in the world are Google and arguably Apple's App Store. And to think, um, your buddy, um, Barry Diller summarized it perfectly. The, this is like a credit card company. The App Store provides infrastructure, payment technology, security, safety, a certain level of, of assurance that if, if something goes wrong, they vet the stores, they vet the consumers. Um, credit card companies charge between 1.8 and 3%. Apple charges 30 or 15, I think if it's recurring revenue. But-... they have such a lock, even though they have, I think, about, what? A 40 or 50% market share in the US. I think they have closer to 80 or 90% of actual revenue volume because anyone with any money has an iOS, or people with the most money have an iOS. So I've been saying this for a while, the best way to oxygenate the economy would be to, one, for China and the US to kiss and make up, 'cause everything would get 10% cheaper around the world. But two, to basically bust up these toll booths and have other toll roads or other players. I mean, I don't know if you saw, in the, in the wake of just monster earnings from Meta and Alphabet-
- KSKara Swisher
We'll talk about that in a minute, but go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
... Pinterest and Snap are just dying a slow death. I mean, no one can compete with their scale. So, uh, b- and the app store is just another example. I mean, you could easily break... A great company, in terms of a breakup, would be Apple Services, which would probably be the app store or media-
- KSKara Swisher
So why would they do this given they really did, sort of, win in this case, except for this one thing?
- SGScott Galloway
I don't, I don't understand. What, what do you think? I think it'll... You know better than I do.
- KSKara Swisher
I have no idea. It seems like, uh, uh, well, they just don't wanna do it. They just don't wanna do it. Like, they're gonna just challenge it. Um, and now, of course, the judge is saying, well, they'll appeal it. The, th- these people know how to appeal, I guess. I assume that's what they're gonna do. Anyway, it seems to be a real, uh, tip, uh, unusual error on their part to do so, being petulant. I can, I mean, I can see petulance from Mark Zuckerberg or, or Bezos, or any of them, but not Tim Cook, but here we are. Uh-
- SGScott Galloway
But another, a real winner though-
- KSKara Swisher
Go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
... and a player in this is, is, uh, and I have an investment in them, is Epic. I don't know if you... Uh, they're moving Minecraft.
- KSKara Swisher
I know their mo- Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
It's one of the highest-grossing-
- KSKara Swisher
That movie's killing it, FYI. That movie's-
- SGScott Galloway
It's one of the highest-grossing, it's one of the highest-grossing movies in history.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
I- and who would've thought? The Minecraft movie?
- KSKara Swisher
I would.
- SGScott Galloway
So...
- KSKara Swisher
My, my kids were obsessed with it. I could see that, yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. It's just... And, and they went up against Apple and sort of... I don't know if, I don't know if you'd say they won, but they didn't back down.
- KSKara Swisher
They didn't. They, they-
- SGScott Galloway
And it doesn't appear-
- KSKara Swisher
They didn't really win. It was, it was more in Apple's favor, but in this case, now they're able to do what they want. We'll see how much that sticks. I mean, I think Apple's playing the very long game with Trump and everything else, the quiet long game. Okay, Scott, let's go on a quick break. When we get back, Microsoft and Meta earnings, which we will discuss 'cause they were pretty fantastic, and why Trump is getting compared to the Grinch who stole Christmas.
- 26:58 – 35:32
Microsoft and Meta Earnings
- KSKara Swisher
Scott, we're back. Me- Microsoft and Meta shares are up both, uh, after companies reported quarterly earnings that beat Wall Street expectations on Wednesday. And, and how? Microsoft's sales surpassed $70 billion, up 13% from a year ago. The company's Azure cloud unit posted a 33% revenue gain. Meta sales grew by 16% year over year to $42 billion net income with 16 billion. The company isn't slowing down on CapEx spending either, boosting its forecast as high as 72 billion. This is mostly around AI. Of course, the weak spot continues to be that first shift that Mark made. Uh, Meta reported $4.2 billion in losses from its Reality Labs division, and that's why they call themselves Meta. Um, it also announced the launch of Meta AI this week. It's a standalone AI app, sort of to compete with ChatGPG. Makes sense. So far, the company's avoided getting dragged down by tariff chaos, which is interesting. We'll see if it, it goes on. Mark Zuckerberg addressed the concerns about tariff impact in his earnings call, saying, "I think we're well-positioned to weather the economic uncertainty." I think advertising is, is an open question. Just for people who know Amazon and Apple earnings coming in, after we record, so we'll dig into those next week. But talk a little bit about these earnings, each company. Let's start with Microsoft.
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, staggering. Um, y- you know, revenues on a big base, up 13%. Their cloud revenue is up 20%.
- KSKara Swisher
It's 33.
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, uh, uh, Microsoft... I have Microsoft Cloud revenue as up 20 and-
- KSKara Swisher
Hmm, okay.
- SGScott Galloway
... 33 up in Azure. Anyways, uh-
- KSKara Swisher
Oh, Azure. Sorry.
- SGScott Galloway
Up a lot.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
And, uh, what you have here... And also Microsoft is probably... I don't wanna say it's a defensive stock, but it's least... It's kind of most recession-proof, and also it doesn't seem to be subject to real damage other than a slowdown in the economy from, from these tariffs. And keep in mind, the majority of their biggest customers are global. So even if the US gets hit, they're pretty well-insulated. You know, Apple is gonna take a hit if the tariffs continue, you know, continue to, um, escalate. Amazon will absolutely take a hit. Uh, Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet are more insulated 'cause they're digital marketing. But Microsoft has exposure to cloud. It's a very diversified, robust business. It's really well-managed. I mean, it's just, it's staggering. And then going from better to amazing-
- KSKara Swisher
Can I just say, with, with Microsoft-
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
... um, it's Sat- Satya Nadella, I think, even though he's the quietest of them... And by the way, if you've noticed, he hasn't sucked up to Trump. He's doing, he's c-, he's, he's, he's just doing his job, like, kind of thing. And try... And of course, his job doesn't have that much... The interaction they have has to do around national security and everything else.
- SGScott Galloway
Mm-hmm.
- KSKara Swisher
And they do have... Let me tell you, that's where their big weakness is, is around security issues, around their software, et cetera. But, um, but I have to say, he deserves much more credit than almost any CEO in terms of really making this, uh, this company shine. I, I, I, I, I'm always impressed with him and especially how he handles things. Um, he manages not to lose his soul every five minutes. Um, but go ahead on, on M- M- M- Meta, which I think is hugely impressive. Mark Zuckerberg really knows how to run a company. He really does.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, revenue increased 16%, and even, I think even more impressive, their price per ad was up 10%. If you're looking for how AI is impacting our economy, their ability to tar- I mean, having... Don't you increasingly have more of those moments where you're thinking... My shoulder's been bothering me, and all of a sudden on Reels, I'm getting served ads for, like, ch- uh, for bands to help with my shoulders? I'm like, "How the fuck did they figure that out?" The an- the amount of time, uh, in terms of serving you up incredible, um, ads. Uh, their recommendation engine is contributed to a 35% increase in time spent on Threads, a 7% increase in time spent on Facebook, 6% on Instagram.... uh, he predicted, or Zuck predicted, AI would be able to handle half of Meta's developer work. Um, so he's able to maintain, you know, other than capex around data storage and AI, their human capital costs, uh, have decelerated and aren't, aren't growing nearly as fast as their top-line revenues, meaning that, um, meaning that, quote-unquote, um, "Earnings are gonna explode." And just to give you a sense, I do this deck on AI. I think the AI company of 2025 will, is Meta because first off-
- KSKara Swisher
Best data.
- SGScott Galloway
... if you look at it-
- KSKara Swisher
Best data.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, e- 80% of people in the world, outside of China, are on a Meta platform. In addition, um-
- KSKara Swisher
But can I, can I just note something?
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
It's the best data.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
Like, think about Twitter data.
- SGScott Galloway
Mm-hmm. Right.
- KSKara Swisher
It's not good data. Like, you know, it's kind of all noisy, but this is all people moving and using and relatively behaving. I mean, there's all kinds of problems on this platform, obviously, but go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
The peanut butter and chocolate, or chocolate and peanut butter of AI is, loosely speaking, the chips, the processing power. They're the second-biggest purchaser of chips. They're in, they're in line with the second-biggest purchase order of NVIDIA chips. And then the chocolate is the actual data, the input, the coal in the furnace, whatever you wanna call it, right? Grist to the mill. And just to give you a sense of just how much data is produced on Meta platforms, Reddit, which is unbelievably, uh, accelerated, has the fifth most traffic of anyone in the US, any site in the US. Reddit is the source of roughly 1.3 trillion tokens of text, right? 1.3 trillion tokens of text. Meta, 180 trillion tokens. So Meta has more coal to throw into the furnace to process and learn from, and they're gonna have the second most, um, NVIDIA chips. In addition, they not only get the benefit of saying, "All right, we're gonna use that to have a consumer-facing product." Instead, or in addition to, "We're gonna use AI to give advertisers such extraordinary targeting at the right time for the right person in the right place," that advertisers are gonna be helpless not to just reallocate more and more of their budgets to Meta.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
I mean, it's just, uh-
- 35:32 – 43:40
Trump The Grinch
- KSKara Swisher
Apple with them. But speaking of economic uncertainty (laughs) , um, President, uh, Trump is blaming former President Biden for the US economy contracting in the first quarter of 2025, suggesting in this cabinet, his ridiculous cabinet, meaning that Q2 will be, also be tied to Biden. He's gonna blame Biden, like, he mentioned Biden like 912 times. Or not that many, but a lot. Um, he's taken the same stance on markets, writing on Truth Social on Wednesday, "This is Biden's stock market, not Trump's." Even though he had claimed it was Trump's stock market back in 2024 when he wasn't president, the market was doing well and he was calling it Trump's stock market. Um, he's also telling Americans to be patient, but acknowledged there will be some consequences from his, uh, his tariffs. Let's get to the doll situation.
- NANarrator
You know, somebody said, "Oh, the shelves, they're not gonna be open." Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, you know?
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- NANarrator
And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more.
- KSKara Swisher
Oh my God. Huh, it's true, whoever said that. Well, this idea that, uh, I mean, uh, look, that may be true. I agree, I have too many fucking toys in my house and I wish I had like a m- many less. But it's none of his business if people want 30 dolls. Americans are used to products on the shelves and open, whatever open means. Empty is the word he's looking for. Um, toy manufacturers are already warning about a Christmas toy shortage. Factories in China produce nearly 80% of all toys and 90% of Christmas goods sold in the US. Uh-... I, I, th- it, it's, I, I, I don't... Like, he's making a point. Yes, we shouldn't consume as much. The man who consumes more than anybody, who is just like a giant maw of consumption is lecturing people. His whole, um, administration is doing this. They're very on-message, "Well, you don't need that stuff. You don't need it." Y- and that may be, but what, how do you think it's going to hit with people? Especially if there are empty shelves, not open shelves, but empty shelves.
- SGScott Galloway
From, from a guy that golfs every third day and bangs porn stars, he's talking to us about consumption?
- KSKara Swisher
I know, and then shows off his gold in that Terry Mor- Moran interview, by the way. He showed off-
- SGScott Galloway
Look, I, Americans, we are the most conspicuous consumers in history. America's sort of an- it could argue an insurance company with a military, but really what it is, it's a platform for prosperity where people get material and hopefully emotional (sighs) you know, gains from an incredible operating system. And w- you could argue that Biden was kicked out of office because the price of eggs went too high, but he doesn't (laughs) think people are gonna notice. 90% of America is on a fixed budget, and if toys go up in price 30%, 40%, 50%, that means a third to a half fewer toys. You don't think that's gonna hit h- home emotionally? When the kids start noticing, "Wait..." You know, that, that just really hits you hard. It hits on an emotion where you f- (sighs) when you feel like you're not providing for your kids on key moments, it really rips at your soul.
- KSKara Swisher
Yep.
- SGScott Galloway
And they're, people are gonna get angry. Just the notion that, oh, Americans... That these people that him with his-
- KSKara Swisher
Suck it up.
- SGScott Galloway
... that with his tacky retrofitted 757, that somehow Americans, you know, don't need all this stuff. Well, okay folks, Americans love their stuff. American- America is the land of stuff. We love our shit, there's nothing wrong with it. Our Nespresso, our Netflix, we love stuff. And, uh, uh, loosely speaking, actually if you were to pick one thing that impacts th- the majority of elections in America for the last 50 years, it's kind of your safety and security around your ability to buy more stuff. It's the economy. And so, that's just a ridiculous statement that-
- KSKara Swisher
So why did he make it? I mean, he just, he, uh, yeah, and then it was echoed by all his people. And then blaming Biden, obviously he's gonna use Biden as, you know, 10 years from now he's gonna say Biden was the reason. Um, what is... I mean, I don't think people are thinking of Biden anymore, you know, or mentioning... Although his voters have a very astonishing... They are now echoing this. There was a lot of interviews I saw where they're like, "Yeah, we gotta buck up. Like, we're in the middle of the World War II and the Nazis are headed our way." Like, that kind of mood of something like that.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, I think most people now see this. Or m- (sighs) I think, uh, more and more people see this as a, a self-inflicted injury. And it's just not... I, I think consumers, uh, the idea that you're not gonna just remind consumers every day... W- let me back up. There is some truth to the notion that this GDP, this... So GDP was off. First negative quarter since I think 2022, first in three years we had a contraction. I don't think it's fair to lay that at the feet of the Trump Administration. GDP is a lagging indicator, the surge in imports because of these ridiculous tariffs-
- KSKara Swisher
That's correct.
- SGScott Galloway
... took, you know, took a large portion of the GDP down. You're going to-
- KSKara Swisher
Consumption is down too, they're both things together, but go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
Right. But next quarter, there's just no excuses, he owns it, and you're going to see a contraction. I don't like GDP, I don't think it's a good measure, but you're going to see the economy contract and it's on its way. I, I'm doing a lot or a decent amount of... I have a lot of friends who are impacted by the tariffs, and essentially, like, business has come to a standstill. And they're sitting around trying to guess, "Do we try to move? Do we, do we go to our bank, borrow a shit ton of money, cut 20%, 30% of our workforce and spend the next three years trying to reroute our supply chain through Vietnam or Indonesia? Or do we hope this guy pops up, wakes up tomorrow morning and goes, ‘Just kidding'?" But in the meantime, they're in a state of paralysis. They have stopped all shipments from, most of my friends, from China. Shipping volume is off anywhere dep- uh, depending on how you account for it, between 35% and 65%. The Port of Los Angeles is less crowded than it's been in recent memory and it's the largest port in the Western hemisphere. And there's a lag effect, but when the ships coming into the port are empty or they're not coming in, that means in about-
- KSKara Swisher
Workers.
- SGScott Galloway
... four to 12 weeks, the stores are gonna be empty and also-
- KSKara Swisher
Not just that.
- SGScott Galloway
... you're gonna start to see layoffs.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, because... I just interviewed Wes Moore, he's the governor of Ma- of, of, um, Maryland, um, and a very handsome man, as you would say. Um, (clears throat) Wes Moore, he's gonna be a president, I just said it.
- SGScott Galloway
He is handsome.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
Agreed.
- KSKara Swisher
And, uh, he was talking about the, the, the, the knock-on effects in Baltimore, uh, in, in terms of, like, truckers, unloaders, people around it, restaurants around it. It's just gonna i- reverberate all over, um (clears throat) , these economies, um, in California, in Maryland, uh, New York. Uh, you know, of course, these are all blue states but still, it will have so much reverberations around the country and then it just keeps having knock-on and knock-on effects. Anyway, uh, I don't think you can keep blaming. I agree with you, he can blame them for a short time, but this is just nonsense lecturing people on how many dolls they should have. I, I agree that we shouldn't have so many choices, but that's my personal opinion and it- he's the president of the United States, it's none of his business to tell people what to buy.
- SGScott Galloway
Americans love... Uh, it's like a, it's like that Borat film, you know, 33 different types of cheeses, that's just who we are.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
The weird thing is, just going back to the earnings for a moment-
- 43:40 – 49:09
Trump vs. Amazon
- KSKara Swisher
Trump is calling Jeff Bezos very nice and a good guy after phoning Bezos to complain about a report that Amazon was gonna show how much of an item's cost comes from tariffs. The White House initial reaction was a press secretary, Carolyn Levitt, also known as Tracy Flake, calling Amazon's plan h- a hostile and political act. And while Amazon first said the pricing plan was only being considered for its budget site, Amazon Hall, um, in a subsequent statement, the company noted the plan was never approved and it was not gonna happen. They kept changing their story. Uh, Trump later told reporters that Bezos solved the problem very quickly, so it clearly was on deck to happen, who knows where and which part of Amazon. Uh, they have their credibility has declined rather significantly with this incident. Bezos has, of course, been making nice with Trump for a while now, and back in December at the Times' Deal Summit, he said he was optimistic about Trump's behavior in his second term, and, uh, completely wrong. Let's listen.
- NANarrator
What I've seen so far is that, um, he is calmer than he was the first time, and more confident, more settled.
- KSKara Swisher
I guess he wants him to go to his fancy wedding in Venice in June, I guess. Um, what do you think of this? Um, obviously he's gonna do what you predicted last week, the Fortune 500 CEOs and businesses were gonna start standing up to Trump. This is not what happened here, and it looks like Paramount's, um, is gonna do the same thing, Shari Redstone, um, uh, oh, to settle a ridiculous baseless lawsuit, um, uh, in order to make nice, to get that merger through. Um, was the initial Amazon plan a good idea? Should companies be transparent about these prices and put them on... Some companies are doing this, and, um, there's an antitrust trial coming up, uh, obviously for A- uh, Amazon. Uh, it didn't work so well for Mark to kiss up, because it's still going forward. Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to Bezos on Wednesday asking whether he received any promises or favors from Trump in exchange for scrapping Amazon's plan. Uh, thoughts?
- SGScott Galloway
Well, when the White House, um, press secretary, she immediately said this was a hostile and political act, and why didn't they put what the prices were because of the Biden, um, inflation. I mean, that's just such a ridiculous statement. One, in terms of Biden and inflation, that's so intellectually dishonest, because of all the G7 countries, our inflation was the lowest. There- there was tremendous supply chain shocks from the invasion of Ukraine and COVID. Uh, and two, these guys all claim they're such free speech warriors, putting what the tariff... Uh, Airbnb and, and Amazon have all come under criticism for not putting on... When I order from Caviar, which I love, in New York, it used to piss me off that I wouldn't see up front how much delivery charge and service fee and all that. Airbnb came under fire, so Airbnb said, "Okay, we're gonna put the true cost." And they started breaking it out. That's transparency, and it's also free speech. It is entirely reasonable for Amazon to say, "All right, this is what (laughs) this is how much the tariffs are costing." It is a bit of a political statement. It's also called free speech. And two, when you start having... Biden came under fire for having one-off conversations with Meta about misinformation around COVID, and he got huge criticism. And there's some veracity to the notion that the president should not be having one-off conversations and putting pressure on individual companies. That's supposed to have systemic solutions and laws that'll impact the whole industry. Otherwise, it just ends up being corruption, as it is now, where, I don't know if you saw the latest, auto companies are now gonna be exempt from a lot of these tariffs. So if you're a big company that's on his lunch calendar or you have a popular brand or you're gigantic or you're... You get to have lunch with him, you get exemption from this ridiculous behavior. And the problem is is that small and medium-sized business, which account for 98% of the companies that depend upon export and import, are shit out of luck, because they can't afford lobbyists and they're never gonna go to Mar-a-Lago. So these individual one-off conversations are corrupt. You're not supposed to have them. And also, I gotta be h- I mean, you saw me. I was so excited about Bezos. I went out with all these threads saying, "Good for him. Good on him."
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, you did. I waited.
- SGScott Galloway
And I was so excited. And then you texted me and you're like, "He caved. (laughs) He caved." And I'm like, "Oh, fuck." And I had to go back and was like, "Well, false alarm."
- KSKara Swisher
No way. He's such a caver. He's a caver. He wants all the Trumps to be at his wedding. Like, are you kidding? He's gone. Jeff Bezos never was there, but he's gone now. He's down the Mar-a-Lago highway and he's living down there, you know?
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
Much more so even than Elon, I think. I don't know.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. I don't know. I'm, I'm actually excited and we'll talk about it maybe next week, but I'm excited about, um... he's about to put a competitor into space with, um-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... uh, the-
- KSKara Swisher
I'm good with his blank slate. I'm good with the, the rocket stuff that he's competing with, but oh, it's, it... whatever. They never, they never fail to disappoint, these people. They really don't. They just don't. I just expect disappointment. You're like that-
- SGScott Galloway
I do think we're gonna see it, though. It, it just-
- KSKara Swisher
This time... You're like, "This time, my boyfriend's gonna behave and show up and pick me up." (laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. He's changed. He's sent an Uber for me.
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs) He's sent an Uber. The stripper loves me, I swear. I swear she loves me. You can go to a strip club, Scott-
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
... but she doesn't love you.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, I haven't been to a strip club in 20 years. I don't like strip clubs.
- KSKara Swisher
We should go. We should go. We should do a tour.
- SGScott Galloway
No, we shouldn't.
- KSKara Swisher
We should do Pivot, live Pivots-
- SGScott Galloway
No, we shouldn't, we shouldn't.
- KSKara Swisher
... in a strip club.
- SGScott Galloway
No. No.
- KSKara Swisher
Right? Hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
Not into strip clubs.
- KSKara Swisher
All right. One more quick break. We'll be back for predictions, Scott. So have a good one.Okay,
- 49:09 – 58:39
Predictions
- KSKara Swisher
Scott, let's hear a prediction, and listen up, uh, uh, time for something new. We wanna hear your predictions. Send us your predictions, 30 seconds or less, and we'll play them on this show if they're good. And if they're... well, if they're dirty, we'll probably play them too. Go to nymag.com/pivot to submit a prediction for the show, or call 855-51-PIVOT. I wanted to create some competition for Scott. So Scott, up your game today. Let's go.
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, I don't know if mine's very good, but, uh, basically, one of the wonderful things about our economy is once a company establishes something resembling or supposedly monopoly power and can start implementing those rents on consumers, there's so much profits that that's like chum in the water and other sharks show up. That's the basis of competition. And hopefully if a company gets too far ahead of another, um, the FTC and the, FTC and the DOJ move in, break it up such that it can inspire more competition, lower prices, more innovation, et cetera. Competition really is one of the secrets to America's success. And my internet went out in London. I have to have crazy fast broadband, and I spent... I'm not exaggerating, I think I spent $50,000 or $60,000 to have fiber run across Regent's Park-
- KSKara Swisher
Wow.
- SGScott Galloway
... to get the kind of broadband I need.
- KSKara Swisher
You're that guy.
- SGScott Galloway
And it went out. Yeah, I'm that guy. Uh, it went out. I didn't... I don't have satellites. Um, and I went out... It went out this weekend. And so everyone's scrambling, including Drew, to try and figure out a, a solve. And they went out and they bought one of those portable Starlinks.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
And they set it up in about four hours. It's an incredible service. I've used Starlink on a plane before. You can do FaceTime. It really is an amazing product.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
I think now close to two thirds of the lower s- satellites are owned by, um, Starlink, uh, or SpaceX. I guess it's Starlink. And it really is an incredible product, and I'm just thrilled to see, and I think another reason why I think Amazon's gonna continue probably to outperform is that they launched their first, uh... I don't even know how you s- uh, pronounce it. Is it Kuiper? K-U-I-P-E-R?
- KSKara Swisher
Uh, uh, Kuiper. I think it's Kuiper. Uh, yeah-
- SGScott Galloway
Kuiper?
- KSKara Swisher
... I met with the CEOs. It's, uh, it's, uh, they've been at it the same way they've been at the rocket stuff, but Kuiper. I think it's Kuiper.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. Kuiper. So the first batch of a planned 3,300 Kuiper satellites launched from Florida. Uh, the mission kicks off a race to rival SpaceX's massive Starlink network, and Amazon could launch, uh, five more Kuiper missions this year. I think the promise of that is gonna take their stock up, because Starlink is just such an incredible company that essentially has monopoly power right now.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. That was run-
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
I forget who used to run that company. I met with them several times. Um, uh, they've, they've been trying it, like everyone's been trying to catch Starlink obviously, and it's a great opportunity to do so.
- SGScott Galloway
Anyways, the brand, the... We talk a lot about in brand strategy the first kind of kiosk in a brand strategy is awareness. About 98% of our purchases, at least until... is that true recently? I'd like to redo this data. But up until, up until the social graph, 98% of your purchases are from brands you've heard of before. Just think about you're, you're just less inclined to return the email of someone you don't know. Just having heard of somebody or having heard of a brand makes you much more... Your purchase inclination or your purchase consideration goes up exponentially. And so I would often say the first step in any brand is just to be known. And unfortunately, we live in a society as, uh, the philosopher, Italian philosopher Umberto Eco said that being famous and having awareness is more important than what you're famous or, or have awareness for. So awareness is enormous, and it's a, it's a decent proxy for future value to be monetized. And I think the brand that's about to go from zero to 100 in the next six months is Kuiper. Uh, because there are... the... it's a $10 billion project that was unveiled in 2019. It's had a lot of delays, and it's finally starting to get its kind of mojo, and I think you're gonna see... uh, they're gonna start doing a good job of showing real-time footage of every launch, and then when you think about if Amazon can offer a Starlink-like service with their interface, I mean, at some point, you know what they're gonna do? They're gonna roll it into Prime. Anyways, Kuiper from Prime is about to become one of the biggest brands and also be the most formidable competitor to the most valuable private company in the world, I think, right now, which is SpaceX.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
So anyways-
- KSKara Swisher
Interesting.
- SGScott Galloway
... my prediction is the b- the brand you haven't heard of as of May 1, 2025 is gonna be ubiquitous in the investment and consumer landscape by the end of the year, and that is, uh, Project Kuiper-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... which is a $10 billion satellite effort from the good folks at Amazon.
- KSKara Swisher
You know what? I've touched a Kuiper. They brought one to show it to me once.
- SGScott Galloway
That was in high school, right?
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
Oh wait, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. (laughs)
- KSKara Swisher
Uh, yeah. It's an interesting-
- SGScott Galloway
And then you decided-
Episode duration: 58:39
Install uListen for AI-powered chat & search across the full episode — Get Full Transcript
Transcript of episode MWWz7L8QFBA
Get more out of YouTube videos.
High quality summaries for YouTube videos. Accurate transcripts to search & find moments. Powered by ChatGPT & Claude AI.
Add to Chrome