>> from pier 3, welcome to "bloomberg west." i am emily chang. every weekend we'll bring you the "best of west," the top interviews with the power players in global technology and media companies that are reshaping our world. it was one of the most talked about stories of the week, tom perkins apologizing for comparing the war on the rich in america to the persecution of jews. the kleiner perkins founder is defending his message saying wealthy americans are being demonized up by the 99%. he wrote it to an editorial in

the wall street journal and joined me. i asked if he regretted the comparison. >> yes. i talked to the head of the anti-defamation league, this morning following up on a letter i sent over the weekend apologizing for the use of the word "kristallnacht." it was a terrible word to have chosen. i like many have tried to understand the 20th century and in the incomprehensible and evil of the holocaust. it cannot be explained, even to try to explain is questionable. it is wrong. it is evil. i used the word because during the occupy of san francisco by the occupy wall street crowd,

they broke the windows into the wells fargo bank. they marched up through our automobile strip. and they broke on the windows in the luxury car dealerships. i saw that and i remember the police stood by frozen. i said, well, this is how kristallnacht began. i do not necessarily need to read from this letter. if you're interested, i can. well, i deeply apologize. this the letter i wrote to the anti-defamation league. i apologize to you and any who of mistaken my reference as a sign of overt or latent anti-semitism, this is not the case. my late partner, eugene kleiner, fled hitler.

we became the deepest of friends during our long association. and he taught me never to imagine the unimaginable cannot become real. he was never comfortable with the extreme of political current in america and never took our freedom from demonization for granted. i believe he would've understood my letter and would have agreed with the warning, and i apologize for using kristallnacht as i said before. i had a pleasant discussion with abe before i got here. i hope that at least that part. >> more than 90 jews were killed in kristallnacht and 30,000 were put into concentration camps. what were you going for in that analogy? >> the jews were only one percent of the german population.

most germans had never met a jew. and yet, hitler was able to demonize the jews and kristallnacht was one of the earlier manifestations. there have been others. of course, we know about the evil of the holocaust. i guess my point was that would you start to use hatred against a minority, it can get out of control. i think that was my thought. as the messenger, i been killed. at least read the message. >> you mention the word hatred. do you feel threatened? >> i do not feel personally threatened, but i think a very important part of america, namely the creative one percent are threatened.

i'm friends with al gore, who tells me that inequality is the number one problem in america. i'm friends with jerry brown and i voted for him and i will vote for him even though he raised my taxes 30%. he tells me the number one problem in america is inequality. and that is probably and possibly true. i think president obama will make the point tomorrow night. but, the 1% are not causing the inequality. they are the job creators. silicon valley -- i think kleiner perkins itself over the years has created close to one million jobs. we are still doing it. it is absurd to demonize the rich for being rich and doing what did the rich do which is get richer by creating

opportunities for others. >> how do you feel threatened? >> i said i did not feel personally threatened but i feel however as a class, i think we are beginning to engage and class warfare. i think the rich at a class is threatened through higher taxes, higher regulations. and so forth. and so that is my message. >> if this is the persecution happening to her 1%, or what is happening to the 99%? >> the 99% -- i did not originally come from the 1%. i grew up as one of the 99% first. i'm your classical self-made man if you will. i think the 99% is a struggling and really struggling to get along in america.

we have ever-increasing regulations. higher costs by more government than we need. small business is difficult to form and prosper in these days. difficult to hire. that in my view is what is hurting and causing the 99% and causing the inequality. so, i think the solution is less interference, lower taxes. let the rich do what the rich do which is a get richer. along the way, they bring everybody else with them when the system is working. >> you are a multimillionaire. >> no, i am not a billionaire. >> i said multimillionaire. >> i've created billionaires.

>> you have owned fancy yachts and cars and other -- and underwater submersibles. it is basically an airplane that flies underwater. do you worry that you are divorced from reality? are you divorced from reality? >> i do not know if anybody can answer that truthfully. i do not think so. i give and have given and will give millions and millions of dollars to a long list of charities. i have in mind some more chairs at universities to give. i still want to leave my children something so that they can have even though upon my death, the government will take about 45%.

yeah, i think i am connected to reality -- yeah, i think i am connected to reality. i have a lot of friends that are younger and into the whole web-based twitter based world. and i think i know what they are thinking and talking about. >> what about silicon valley? is it divorced from reality? you mentioned you created billionaires. you have kids making six factor -- six-figure salaries and getting perks and taking shuttles down to the peninsula which regular residents do not have access to. is there something to be said about this idea that silicon valley is living in its own little bubble? >> yeah, i think there's something in that. on the other hand, a bubble that

has changed the world. it has created incredible wealth around america and the world. and maybe you have to put up with a little techno geek arrogance to get to the result of those sort of folks thinking. and so, umm -- umm -- >> how do you see this divide playing out? >> as the messenger, i have been shot. at least read the message. >> you said at the beginning your regret the way the message -- >> i regret the use of the word. a terrible misjudgment. i do not regret the message. >> what is the message? >> any time the majority starts to demonize a minority, no matter what it is, it is wrong and dangerous. and no good ever comes from it. >> what is the solution?

>> first to understand the problem and be aware. that is why a wrote the letter. and i do not apologize for writing the letter. i should not have used that awful word. the letter said was i believed and i believe we have to be careful that we do not demonize anybody and that we certainly do not demonize the most creative part of our society. >> up next, i was asked about the backlash he received from the firm he founded. that is next. ♪

>> this is the best of "bloomberg west." kleiner perkins has distanced themselves saying their founder has not been involved and they disagree with his views.

i asked tom perkins if he understood why. >> yeah. my letter was not about kleiner perkins and i did not mention kleiner perkins at all. they did not need to say anything, but they chose, i guess to throw me under the bus. and, i did not like that. they said they were shocked. and i sort of feel that he the guy is saying, look, do not go swimming because there are sharks. if you get shocked by that, you do not understand the warning. i was presenting a warning. i do not inc. they got that. and secondly, they made quite a point of me not having been involved for some years and that is true. i think as i distance myself from the firm am a there's been a corresponding decline in the firm that i will not go further than that.

in a way, i'm missing them and i hope they miss me. and we will bury the hatchet over this one. >> your name is on the door. when you say something, it does reflect on them to a certain extent or do you worry about it? >> i did not -- i did not have them in mind when i wrote this piece. it was not about to them. it had nothing to do with them. they are right. their philosophy and strategy hasn't diverged significantly from my own -- have diverged significantly from my own and my name probably does not mean anything anymore. >> should your name still be on the door? some say it should not.

>> it is a real decision for them, i do not care if it stays or goes. >> you said a decline in their performance, would be different if you were there? >> i will not talk about that. >> let's talk about the solution. you talked about your friend eugene kleiner, fled austria and hitler. do you think he would've agreed with you? >> i think so. i was not talking about the nazis but the persecution of the minority by the majority. kleiner always mistrusted those type of trends in american politics. not in connection with semitism or anti-semitism that in general. he would've understood my message and approved of it. >> there are conservatives out there calling you the leading a-hole in the state.

>> it was not nice considering i do not know him and he does not know me. i do not think he is entitled to his opinion. if he knew me, perhaps. paul krugman called me crazy. >> he pointed out that rising income inequality can have negative financial consequences and in the sense that if -- it could lead us to be more economic vulnerable. and the people who cannot pay, everybody suffers. >> it is such a contradiction of intermixed ideas. he won the nobel prize in economics. i cannot argue economics with him, but to demonize the job creators is crazy.

and to demonize the rich who spend and buy things and stimulate the economy is crazy. i heard on news hour with -- oh -- oh, gosh -- his name excuse me. they got into a discussion about the idiocy of a rolex watches and why any man it needs a rolex. and it is terrible values, etc., etc. well, i think there's a little silly. this is not a rolex but i could buy a sixpack a rolexes with this but so what? >> danielle steel perkins to speak out. ♪

>> welcome back. i am emily chang. in tom perkins original letter, he mentioned novelist danielle steel saying she has been unfairly treated. he did not mention she is his ex-wife. i asked him if the letter was personal. >> yes. i think the inspiration for writing the letter came from the most recent attack by the "san francisco chronicle" on danielle steel. it all started with complaints about the heights of her hedges around her high -- around her house and she writes potboilers and is a snob. we are no longer married but we are close. i felt sorry for her and she is being victimized. she's the number one author in the world.

over one billion books in print. she was awarded the french legion of honor for literature and humanitarian activities. none of that was reported. i thought since i am a knight, a literal knight of norway, i would get on my horse and charge. >> you mention your watch and it could buy a sixpack of rolexes. >> it was a gift from people -- >> what is the brand? >> it is a gift from a company because i built this big boat. >> you mentioned you were from the 99%. this is something you never would've expected that you would one day be able to wear. tell me more about where you came from. >> well, i am a nerd.

a geek. i went to a high school which in those days was not a particularly good high school. it was very athletically oriented and i was not an athlete. and then i got a scholarship to m.i.t. where i became captain of this swim team. i went from a geek in a school of jocks to a jock in a school of nerds. how quickly your life can change. >> here we are decades later. you have made millions and created billionaires. what is the responsibility of those companies to the city of san francisco to the people who live in the city? >> i think we are talking about the leadership of the companies. i do not like the idea of companies giving money to political campaigns even though it is legal. i do not like that.

>> what about the polities -- policies? i'm talking about the company's themselves. companies that offer free perks for their employees. >> it is a competitive industry. i do not know what they have to offer to keep the employees. obviously, free lunches keep people working during the lunch hour and so forth. it is not all just love and honey buns. >> somebody like mark at salesforce said i do not want to offer too many free parks because i want my employees to spend on market street. >> i think is a good sentiment. i do not disagree with that. i think the leadership of these companies should be political and engaged in politics. my partner has been a very political and deeply engaged with the obama administration. he has been a various task forces and i think that is great.

i think politics is very, very important. we cannot ignore it. and we cannot ignore the direction it is going. i think the 99% across america should a attention to politics -- pay attention to politics and follow what is going and read the newspaper. do not to get every off of twitter and facebook, it is not there. and worry about the future. right now, i think america faces a very troubled future. i feel that sometimes, i feel we have gone down the point of no return. i hope that i am wrong. >> and do you feel their frustrations? >> absolutely, i do. i have members of my own family that are living in trailer parks. not my immediate family, but relatives.

sure i do, of course, i do. >> you were called to the king of silicon valley at one point. how would you describe yourself? >> i have enough arrogance to be royal. i am an old man. i look back upon my career with great happiness. i think i've accomplished a lot. if i had to do it again, i do not know what i would change. and i am at peace with myself. and the fact that everybody now hates me is part of the game. and i am sorry about that. that is not what i meant to do. >> my interview with tom perkins, founder of kleiner perkins. facebook is turning 10. an exclusive interview with mark zuckerberg.

♪ . .

>> welcome back. i am emily chang. it is an exclusive story about the future of facebook. they are celebrating their 10th birthday on february 4. mark zuckerberg is turning 30 in may. i sat down with brad stone who conducted the buisness week interview. >> it's not just the two anniversaries, it hass been 10 years since his first date with his wife. he spent last fall typing things.

one of the things that jump that is me a surprising, and a new kind of mobile strategy. they put a lot of emphasis on the social networking site. going forward, they have creative labs and they will be doing more apps. he wants to be more flexible about the way people use facebook's product. >> is a twist on clipboard? >> didn't want to consider it a clone. it has some unique features. they're doing some editing -- interesting things with it. it is a way to look at friend updates and articles in visually interesting ways. it is a newsreader like clipboard. it has no the clutter of other facebook features. >> you have to be a facebook user to use these apps?

>> that was a larger point that jumped out to me. there was so much emphasis on real identity. they watched as rival services got a lot of momentum and allowed users to use pseudonyms and not their real identities. there is some flexibility on instagram. he was very passionate and once told an author that being anonymous online was at the form of duplicity. they are being more flexible about that. >> other services like snap chat, you don't have to login with your real identity. >> going forward, some of them won't be branded facebook. some you can log on to anonymously. one of the quotes that jumped out at me, he said it is

important for me, i see how things can be better. i am generally not happy with the level of service we are providing. everyone is their own worst critic. you don't normally hear a ceo saying that. >> it is very much in the vein of a steve jobs or jeff bezos. they want to push the boundaries and get better. they are relentless at pushing their own crews. it is one of the reasons why facebook just announced great earnings. mark drove the company. if you walked into the demo room, he ended the meeting if you did not show mobile first. he is a tough boss.

>> the stock is going crazy today. you cover facebook. they said that mobile ad revenue has surpassed, 53% of ad revenue. for the first time it is the majority. do you feel like they have figured mobile out? >> they distant early on and -- they missed it early on and they were missing, but they have figured out. they pivoted. it is of the most interesting pivots we've seen in the internet space in the last five years. that took five or six quarters and made this their primary product entry point and it is the majority of their revenue and will get bigger. they needed to do this because the biggest trend is mobile adaption. if you were not there up front

like twitter was, facebook has caught up and now they are ahead. >> what grade do they get? >>b. that depends on how good those products are with become out. we have seen a few reviews of paper. the very clear use case. are we going to use facebook in the future as a primary communication tool? are we going to use as a primary way of getting news on the internet? maybe. >> the facebook of the future will be like your cable provider, your wireless company. everybody has it, but it is not necessarily fun. >> i think that is a sentiment that captures the feelings of the younger users. feeling of the engagement numbers for facebook, on mobile in particular, they are so high. they're the highest in the industry. there's something about the service that is engrossing to many of its users. that is why they were able to

make the pivot into mobile ad revenue so quickly. people are addicted to that app. >> coming up, yahoo chairman on the next skills tech ceos must have. ♪

>> this is the best of bloomberg west. i am emily chang. time now for our office hours at segment. maynard webb is the ceo of yahoo. he sits on many boards. we spoke about the next generation of tech ceos. i asked him what the next gen ceo looks like. >> there are a lot of attributes. if things like integrity, meg whitman was great at that. having great results.

marc benioff, look at what he has been able to accomplish at salesforce. inspiration is very important. having a big vision of where things are going to go. think of what steve jobs had an apple or jeff bezos is doing at amazon. at the end of the day, every ceo both historically and going forward, they just have to work hard. 100 hour work weeks are probably the most famous. >> what is most different about the ceo of the next generation? >> i think the world is going social. the consumer experience has changed so much, you have to be much more visionary about where things are going. you have to be more in tune with how fast everything is moving and growing and evolving.

richard branson and the way he runs his enterprises in a social way, mark many off with the cloud our examples of people who get it. >> how you balance that with having a great business? >> having a great business -- vision without great numbers is not that's gullible. -- not that scalable. and if you don't make money, you have to grow share and revenue. you have a great vision and no execution and that is not appealing. >> we talked about how easy it is to start your own business. it is easier than ever to be your own ceo. some people might be worried the next generation ceo looks like snap chat. he has made some mistakes along the way. >> i do not know a ceo who is

made -- not made mistakes. the issue is how fast you learn from them and correct them. i think a lot of our next generation ceos are going to be entrepreneurial and inspiring. the days of just the good manager, professional manager, are fading fast. the leaders have to be visionary, the have to be inspiring and the workforce has changed dramatically. people want to work for somebody with a great vision. the workforce of today is much different. >> we have talked about income inequality over the last few days. it was comport -- compared to not see germany.

-- to nazi germany. he came on the show earlier this week and apologized for using the analogy, up it -- but did not up -- apologize. you have been in the bay area for a long time. you know about the protests against google buses and san francisco. what is the responsibility to the local community? >> i think it is big. i think first of all, anybody that is a ceo has to realize they are blessed and that there are a lot of people who help them on their journey and when you get to the top of the company, you worked hard to get voted on the team and you give back. mark benioff has been a great example of somebody who eats that every day. he created salesforce from the beginning, he made sure that there was a foundation where he gave up one percent of his stock to charity.

one percent went to employees time and one percent of the software went to help nonprofits. it is been fascinating. a lot of the big execs come in and they assemble bikes for needy children. i have been there a couple of times. that is what we should be doing is helping people. >> salesforce is an interesting model. he said we are not going to have free lunch. i wanted to spend your money on market street. if you have other companies that have free perks, free trips to the peninsula. i know that there is a war for talent and the perks attract talent. heidi ceo's balance that? >> perks are nice but not sufficient. you need to be the place they grow the most and learn the most

and their challenge the most. no matter how much free food they get, if they are not challenged or not learning, they will not stay with you. >> you have many portfolio companies. when you see a ceo that has a problem, how do you address it? a management problem? >> my job is not to judge. one of the models is that we are here to help you. i want to help provide advice and help. when somebody is running into trouble and they reach out, we give them insight and advice and help them on their way. i think a lot of the ceos actually have more runway. you surround them with help so they can get to the next age. >> bill campbell was steve jobs executive coach. his approach was a lot of tough love.

what is your approach? >> my approach has evolved over the years. right now, i spend a lot of my time asking questions and helping people think about what can be. painting a picture of success. helping them get self-aware. it is not tough love so much as it is inspiration and coaching and painting a picture of what is possible. >> is tough love the wrong way? >> i had a lot of tough love growing up. >> yahoo chairman maynard webb. google is selling its handset business. we will discuss next. ♪

>> you're watching the best of

bloomberg west. i am emily chang. google is selling its handset business less than two years after buying it. they sold for less than $3 billion. they bought motorola for $12.4 billion. >> we think lenovo has the expertise. if they can make it into a major player. they have a lot of experience. >> we know larry page has been dealing with problems of his voice. it is raspy there. for more on what this acquisition means, i spoke to cory johnson and asked him to do some math and find out how much they paid for the patents. >> i'm going to go with the chalkboard. they get nearly $3 billion in cash.

they sold it for $2.4 billion. they are selling everything else but the patents for 2.9 billion. they paid four $.2 billion for a a pile ofllion for patents they want to use offensively to sue apple and microsoft claiming patent violation. none of the suits have led to any injunction. no one knows what the true value of the patents is. >> what is a slave google? -- where does this leave google? were walking a fine line. >> how do you think samsung felt? suddenly they were in the business of selling phones in a major way.

to suddenly become competing head-to-head with samsung, samsung made some waves suggesting that maybe on of the operating system stuff that google wants included in android would not be in samsung phones. 25% of the android phones of have the full google suite of products. whatever headaches they thought they had in the hardware business, it got worse by having a business. the headaches they took on were massive losses every quarter for motorola. hundreds of millions of dollars. we have big losses from google in that motorola handset business. then you have a questionable value of these patents. i think google takes on the chin

here, squandering billions of dollars in shareholder assets. >> i want to bring in brad stone. what are the google and samsung had a broad licensing deal. the you think there's anything more to that deal? is google going to ask samsung to use the android operating system? >> i think they gave samsung intended to do that by selling motorola. i love the cory's math. they spent $4 billion in cash and they gave themselves a hedge for patent protection on android. the patent fights were more than they are now. all that has been said and done, this worked out well for google. they probably overstretched themselves in thinking they could redefine the mobile phone industry.

they got patent protection and they moved on. investors are happy that they got rid of what looked like a tangential investment area. >> is this a misstep? >> i agree with mark. they deactivated a bomb in the form of some destructive litigation. they did have ambitions around turning motorola into a preeminent android handset manufacturer and turning google into a hardware maker. they hired somebody to run it. they were staffing up in sunnyvale. it did not work out. it created a lot of conflict in the android ecosystem. i think in that respect, it was a misstep. they got some value out of it.

they keep the patents. >> madison square garden company is looking west tom up winning $100 billion in revitalizing a concert venue. we go inside la's for him next. ♪

>> welcome back. i am emily chang. the l.a. forum just reopened. we have a tour. >> the forum has hosted every big busy like you can think of.

it is had to compete with the staple center. it just got a massive makeover. let us check it out. you have some of the eagles equipment. and they will be the first new performers. the madison square garden company spent $100 million in renovation. >> it is the most important music venue in the world at one time. he saw the opportunity to return it to its original splendor. >> we ripped everything out, took the seats out. we gutted the building. >> if there is one thing that makes it the prepare concert venue, >> the sound.

don henley says this is the best sending building in the world. -- best sounding building in the world. >> they put sound everywhere. it was already a great sending building anyway. >> there is a highly stylish hangout room. there is a fitness room. you're at the top of the forum. you can walk along star wars like. i also noticed you have your own mood lighting. >> we have over 600 leds. >> that is cool. >> that does it for this edition of the best of bloomberg west. you get all the latest headlines

of the top of the hour on bloomberg radio and on bloomberg.com. we will see you next week. ♪ . .

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