>> from pier 3 in san francisco, welcome to the best of "bloomberg west," where we focus on innovation, technology, and the future of business. i'm emily chang. every weekend, we'll bring you the "best of west," the top interviews of the week with the power players in global technology and media. a massive hacking into sony warns the company of more headaches. emails depicting the death of korean leader kim jong-un was personally approved by the sony ceo. other e-mails are giving us a glimpse of politics.

producer scott rudin wrote to sony pictures -- and even railed against angelina jolie calling her a minimally talented spoiled brat and later apologized. i was joined by a consultant and veteran executive and i started by asking joe if it is the way hollywood does business. >> the main thing i would say is scott rudin, who is well-known have strong opinions and uses colorful languages and speaks in hyperbole, is about as newsworthy as it is cold and rainy in new york today.

the way that people speak this way in hollywood and act this way is well-known. i don't know if you're familiar with an industry column which was run by nikki finke, a notorious gossip columnists. this is the kind of fodder that would get into her column all of the time. will it have major impact on the world at large? probably not. will it provide inside people with inside information that can be used as leverage? yeah, maybe. as far as the public, i'm not sure what the revelation is other than hollywood is a very complicated business. >> i think i am glad i do not work in hollywood. i speak with the writer of the steve jobs movie and he told me how excited he is about the film as one the best things he ever written. take a listen.

>> this is the first time i felt at the end of the script like i wrote exactly what i wanted to write. i got to the end and managed to get from my head to the piece of paper. >> we know if that has been a lot issues surrounding the lead character, leonardo dicaprio, christian bale dropped out. we do not know who will definitely play steve jobs. catherine, is this movie ever going to get made? >> like all big movies, sometimes you have a long way. this is a movie that hollywood wants to make and it will be at matter of finding -- the movie with tom hanks, it took 12 years to get made. and other moves equally as long.

it is about finding the right combination. it will be a very important movie. they will find the actual writer, director and stars that will make sense. >> it's not unusual that a movie that is not a big popcorn movie based on a comic book or themepark ride is having a tough time getting made. today's hollywood is all about worldwide, pre-existing movie ideas that can be all over the world and make billions of dollars like "batman." aaron sorkin is a talented writer. eventually, somebody will figure out how to get the movie made. i have worked with executives and producers and i am in the middle of stuff and they're always called issues, is it is creatively strong? i am sure aaron did a great job. who is the audience for this movie? is it big enough to justify the expense it will take to make the

movie? how do you market and sell it all over the world? those are all kind of factors. financing is tight and having second thoughts about it doesn't necessarily reflect negatively. they are trying to make the best decision that works for them financially and creatively. they made a movie called "social network" and they had partners. those were challenging movies. i would not fault sony on the jobs movie. >> what about "the interview?" we are seeing the ceo of sony, very involved in the death scene of kim jong-un. seth rogan has said we have not dictated what it has to be. seth rogen follows up and said -- this movie, the potential reason why all of this information is out there. somebody is very upset.

catherine, how unusual is it for the parent company to get involved in specifics of a scene? >> most times, the corporate company hires people they are competent in and let the executive team make the

decisions on the creative options for the film. in this case, is a highly sensitive, highly politicized movie even though it's a comedy. we are dealing with a country that has the issues around the world. it is a unique situation. a situation that has bigger impact than just a creative movie choice. as we see, maybe the reason why the hack started. i do not think it is something corporate does all of the same. >> north korea has denied responsibility for the hack attack even though they praised it. the people behind the attack, they wanted the movie not to be released or is it any chance that sony would pull the film? >> i can't answer. there is a distinction that has to be made about what's behind the leak. if it was perpetrated by north korea, what can you say?

unfortunately, it is not surprising that would do something like this. i think what is more troubling is the leak is by an american citizen and for some reason is trying to get this movie or sony. this leak goes against the fundamental basis of our country which is everybody's right to privacy. whether somebody is making $20 or $20 million, it is not that big of a deal for the public to know. >> joe and katherine. up next, uber, the problems keep coming. we address the safety challenge, coming up. ♪

>> this is "best of west." i am emily chang. uber has suspended services in new delhi after a driver is accused of raping a passenger. the ceo called the incident an abhorrent crime.

cory johnson i spoke with our contributing editor, paul kedrosky and sonia, a national organization for women chapter. >> rape is a problem everywhere, globally. we are talking about uber. will they put finding drivers in front of passenger safety? as they scale up, are they going to do it right? or will he be like other companies that will implode. you can open a cupcake shop and open too many and go out of business. we are talking about the safety of people. everybody should be aware. all consumers have to think about it. we open the door and get into any car, don't have a false sense of security. we have to hold them accountable.

uber, what kind of background checks are they doing? it can be what you decide it is going to be. if they decide to spend $10, it is not much of one. yellow cab services are regulated and they use a service called life scan, which is a background service that goes to the fbi. and it updates companies if crimes are committed. >> uber is facing criticism they do not do a good enough background. on the other hand, people are saying uber was able to give the authorities his name and his identity and where he was lived and it maybe safer than riding in a traditional taxi. how do you respond to that? >> an impossible situation. an abhorrent crime. of a other hand -- on the other

hand, looking at statistics is yesterday from a study in 2012 from the london metropolitan police showing in london, 22 sexual assault crimes by cabs in one of the most regulated cities. it is a widespread problem and the volume is horrific. uber's hardly alone. in india, it is essentially impossible because you can buy the reports you need. doing it in the scale that uber needs is very difficult. maybe they cannot grow as fast in india because you cannot use official channels for background checks. >> it makes me wonder if these issues are so different because the service involved people and a physical being in ways that google doesn't or facebook doesn't.

when we have businesses like google and facebook growing, where the country's values are different -- whether it's google being shut out of china or yahoo! deciding to do business in china despite censorship, that was more ethereal. this a physical person. a different kind of service. i wonder if the globalization of these technology companies are going to require u.s. values and standards and being impose on countries that are not comfortable having them. >> i think that is entirely likely. a suggestion i saw where someone was suggesting one way around the problem with respect to background checks for the services in india would be to go out and find friends and family and interview because you cannot trust the officials. it's a truly impossible problem. wayeems antithetical to the we think about background checks in this country. nobody is interviewing friends and family to see if you can be

a cab driver. the suggestion that maybe what is necessary in other markets. and it sounds almost condescending with respects to introducing a service. on the other hand, the consequences can be horrific. >> a business problem here. uber could make more money and spread more widely if they are to adopt local standards. on the other hand, that could adopt the highest in the world of background checks, making life safe for the customers in ways we would expect in the first world and spread of this global level of safety but her -- hurt their business prospects. is that the trade-off? a competitor would come in and say we use the method for checking backgrounds? and thereby gain market share? >> sure they could. after the end of the day, they have to answer to their customers. if the free market works, it will be customers that are holding uber and other companies accountable for the type of safety that they put into the

service. you cannot get away with it, saying we are just a platform , not when you are dealing with people's lives. uber has got a lot of things to think about. their next step syria are important. -- their next steps here are important. will they be able to compete with yellow cab or will they implode? this is a situation that could drive down customers by a big margin because women are going to think about this. a lot of times we do not think about this. at the end of the day, you are opening the door a getting into a car driven by a stranger. >> talking about real people in the real world, getting into real cars. it's a lot different from using facebook or google from your computer. how they handle this moving forward, moving fast, versus moving smart?

it is a different kind of problem that companies like facebook or google. we had a driver charged in the death of a six-year-old girl. that was right here in san francisco. she was walking in a crosswalk. >> uber has become a lightning rod for many people's dissatisfaction for these services. as a result, almost any issue that comes up that may not be widely publicized maybe a giant story when it involves uber because they have a halo. we don't talk about the ongoing problem of sexual assault with yellow cab. i give the example of this tightly regulated and controlled market in london, but i don't see stories popping up about the two dozen sexual assaults. it is a species of double standard but uber brings that on themselves. it has breast knuckle tactics.

-- brass knuckle tactics. >> cory johnson and our contributing editor, paul kedrosky and sonia, with the national organization of women. what do uber's early investors think? i speak with one of them up next. ♪

>> welcome back to "best of west." bill gurley invested in uber before they raised their first round of funding.

today, he is one of a handful of outside directors on the company's board. i spoke to him on my show and asked him which tech ceo travis is more like? >> if i look along a vector, he's most like bezos. the business is much more like amazon. it's not a facebook. i find him to the like bezos. the thing to be understood about travis is he is an insanely good recruiter. jeff was always going to walmart and getting their cio and getting the best people he possibly can. that is what travis has done. >> gurley has not commented on allegations of uber targeting journalists. i asked him about the four horsemen. who does he think is the most

dominant? take a listen. >> i would say amazon's position with prime is pretty remarkable. i would put them in the safe camp. google will with the profitability and search business and in same footprint, i would put them in the safe camp. on facebook, i think they are working through a challenge. that lost the trust of their user. if you ask someone, do you know who is seeing your facebook content? 90% of the people would say no. it creates anxiety. that lack of trust limits what you can do next. >> and apple? >> apple's only problem is android and google and google's willingness to be aggressive. apple should've paid anything, flat out.

if you are going to pay $2 million for a maps company, no-brainer they should've found a way to buy nest. >> should they have bought twitter? >> i don't know if they would know what to do with it. >> twitter is one of your companies? >> yes. they have the most important people in almost any field in the world. remarkably committed to their own persona within the system. >> a venture capitalist called it a horribly mismanaged company and probably a lot of pot smoking going on.

how do you respond to that? >> i think he is on a book tour. taking it publicly and it grew revenues to $1 billion, i think you lose all credibility your self. >> you recently sounded the alarm about fundraising saying silicon valley is taking on an excessive amount of risk. "unprecedented since 1999." >> it is an abundant amount of capital at the late market. pushed into startups. the problem is it's much easier to run a company that's losing money than one that's profitable. we have a lot of companies that raise money at high valuations that everyone says, these companies are going to make it. the breakout winners.

i'm not so sure because they have not passed the test approval to the business model. >> which companies are you not sure about? >> a lot of the e-commerce is dangerous. no one really gives up. no one says our numbers aren't working and we should take off. they keep hoping it will get better. >> what are you most worried about? >> bad actors in that ecosystem. maybe not have long-term economic models that are out there perverting the rents that people pay and the cost for employees. the markets they may be in against the competitor where they may try to spend. >> you can catch more of my interview with bill gurley on thursday. paypal, why would david take a coo role again? he tells us why again.

♪ . .

>> you're watching the best of "bloomberg west." i'm emily chang. this is when the fastest growing startups in silicon valley. the new ceo is david sacks, the founder of yammer. i spoke with david sachsen asked why zenefits?

>> i just got introduced to parker. he was raving about the company. i met parker and he got me more excited about what he was doing. his vision for the company and his ambition around it is unlike any company i've seen in the last 15 years. >> i know you've been thinking about this, what will your next move be? now you are going back to your startup roots. why? >> i'm an addict, and hypergrowth is the drug. the times of my career that were the most fun were when i was dealing with fast-growing companies like paypal and it yammer. i was going off and becoming a vc, i liked startups better. it was more fun. zenefits has done in one year

what it took yammer three years to do. this is been an extraordinary and unique company. >> the highlight of my day was a picture of david sacks being compared to lebron james. really? why the comparison? >> there are so few people out there who have seen what it's like to scale a company that is growing as quickly as we've been growing, who run businesses and built them in $2 billion companies. david was the first person out there who saw that enterprise software could be approached

with a consumer software finish. this is been a unique higher and someone uniquely talented. we needed great people like that in the company for us to take on the challenges that we are taking on. >> somebody compared you to jay-z and jt. >> i have no athletic ability whatsoever. i have no musical ability. >> what are you going to do? what is number one your list? >> whatever parker once me to do. the company is growing so fast there is more than enough to keep us busy. >> i see david as a partner in the business and someone who is going to go wherever the fire is hottest. initially, he will take on our operations organization and product and finance. over time, that will change. >> is david here to take this company public for you? >> we haven't even thought about

it. >> oh, come on. >> nothing seriously. there are no plans. >> we've had one conversation about that. >> people say that zenefits is a rocket ship. there really isn't a comparison. there are smaller competitors. where'd you see your niche in the market? >> we take all of these systems related to hr, there are 20 of them that a lot of companies have. there is payroll and insurance, we connect them and give the employer and employees the single place to do everything. that saves them a ton of administrative work so they can focus on people rather than the paperwork. that is an integrated approach. nobody is taking this all-in-one approach for small businesses the low thousand employees in the united states.

>> a lot of people out there have sounded the alarm about startups saying valuations are too high and companies are operating at burn rates that are too high and they could vaporize disappear. you just raised money. given your long history in silicon valley, how are you concerned about valuations and becoming one of those companies? >> i think it depends on the company. in this case, the company has real revenue. i have never seen anything like it. >> david sacks is the new coo of zenefits. the best places to work in technology, we will tell you which ones are on the list and which ones fell off it next. ♪

>> welcome back to the best of "bloomberg west." i am emily chang. glassdoor is out with its list of best companies to work for. this year's winner is google. they are known for their perks. other companies include facebook, apple, and linkedin. noticeably off the list was twitter. i asked him why twitter fell off the list. >> twitter was the top ranked tech company last year. they are still a great place to work very and they are well above average in terms of their ratings. they did not make the top 50. they were ranked really high in the year that they went public. that's common.

there is a big halo in the employee base. the year after, it's not uncommon to see some fall off. twitter has had more than most. they have a new ceo and new vps. employees point to new things. satisfaction has fallen. twitter is going through adolescence. dick costolo is a greatly to her. we will see them back next year. >> you mention people who a been turned over. i speak to a lot of twitter employees who seem happy. how did you put the list together? how many people did you survey? >> tens of millions of people visit glassdoor. we collect reviews and ratings from employees who work at these companies. they tell us how much confidence they have in their senior leadership. they also write in words what it's like at these companies.

the rankings this list are based mostly on the quantitative analysis of it. we exercise no discretion. it's really the people's choice awards for companies. >> google is on top. why? >> they are building agile hr. they are serving the employee base very free in trying to respond rapidly to things that they need. what is standing out this year is as the workforce has aged, people more support for a work life balance, as ashley families. they have stepped up maternity and paternity leave. i have day care. >> i wish. >> they have managed to make google a place where you can both have a life and give your best to google.

employees have responded well. >> facebook has dropped a few spots. >> it's still an amazing place to work. they have fallen about 10 slots. employees point to the ability to impact one billion people around the world and they point to iconic leadership with zuckerberg. >> you are seen more non-tech companies. tech companies of been known for the massages and the free food and ping-pong tables. other companies are wising up. >> it's true. one of the most interesting things as we have more diversity than ever. the number of tech companies is down and we have more pharmaceutical companies and retail companies. we have more consulting companies. we have two auto companies on the list. ford and toyota both made the list this year. >> what are they doing? >> they are borrowing concepts from tech as the economy has recovered.

they have introduced free food. they've introduced flexible work hours. we are seeing flexible work hours at places like ford, which previously was the germaine of tech companies. >> what are the issues that will defined the list next year? >> that's a good question. as the war for talent heats up, we will continue to see this trend where companies will go to the mat for the best talent. then it's going to be about retention. there is only so much great talent to go around. we have seen this intact and we will see it in other industries. it's going to be about how you can go from the surface level perks like dry-cleaning to the meaningful deep perks like a real work life balance. that is what causes retention. >> that was the glassdoor ceo.

he is the forgotten cofounder of apple. i get the inside story on what apple artifacts he is putting up rocks in. ♪

>> welcome back to the best of "bloomberg west." i am emily chang. you know steve jobs and steve wozniak, but there is a third player responsible for getting apple off the ground. he is ron wayne and the reason he is not a billionaire is he sold his 10% stake in apple for $800, 12 days after the company started up. he is selling memorabilia like this apple i user manual. i spoke with him about the auction. >> what is up for sale is a set of documents which is in two parts.

one are the galley groups of the original apple i manual. they consist of the drawings and pages that i made and the graphics i made for the manual. the second part is actual documentation of the first apple ii, which was the first production unit made by apple. the documentation was something that steve jobs asked me to put together. he wanted me to design and and closure for the apple ii. this includes drawings and sketches and prints of the assembly drawings that were used for the apple ii, the first production unit. >> what was it like working with steve jobs and steve wozniak for

those first 12 days and why did you sell your stake? >> it was an absolutely fun time, particularly working with somebody like wozniak, who is a very whimsical character. he did everything he did because he enjoyed it so thoroughly. at the beginning, i was in my 40's and they were in their 20's. i worked with steve jobs for two years at atari. we had become rather chummy and he wanted me to help them set up the original apple environment. i did. there were several reasons why i separated myself from the company. not the least of which was the

fact that i was a product of standing in the shadows of giants. i would never have project of my own to work with. steve jobs seen me set up the documentation system at atari and was very impressed with it. i'm sure he would have wanted me to run the documentation department. i couldn't see myself spending the next 20 years in a back room shuffling papers. i had my own passions. >> you've admitted that you are not a wealthy man. you aren't peace with the decision that you made. how many times over the last 30 years have you thought, what would my life be like if i didn't sell that stake? >> to be candid, there were many reasons why i separated myself from the company, all of which seemed good. i've never regretted it. to be quite candid with you, i was in my 40's and they were in their 20's.

they were whirlwinds. it was like having a tiger by the tail. i would've wound up the richest man in the cemetery. it was that high-speed enterprise that i was not prepared to be part of. it's true that i have never been a monumental success in my lifetime. i've never been rich, but i've never been hungry either. i'm not going to waste my tomorrow's worrying about my yesterdays. >> apple cofounder ron wayne. baby got bucks? access to free music is forcing musicians to explore new revenue streams. sir mix a lot gives us a look at the new frontier. ♪

>> welcome back to the best of "bloomberg west." i am emily chang. sir mix a lot's 1992 hit "baby got back" is in the limelight again after nicki minaj sampled the lyrics. with the rise of itunes and streaming services, the music industry has changed dramatically since the 90's. how much of the revenues will artists ever see? cory johnson spoke with sir-mix-a-lot about the changing world of the music biz. >> a record label is nothing more than a fat wallet. it's true. if you are an artist, you are a brand. if you don't subscribe to that, you will not succeed. >> james brown would've said that in the 60's.

>> i came up on that model. you create a record and you run warner bros. and you tell me it's time to go on tour. >> you came up with deaf jam with your first records. >> my deal was with rick when he splintered off. he signed me. it was fun. it was cool. >> what do the labels not do now? >> they did all of your marketing and pr work. i had people that scheduled tours for you and were on the road with you. they paid for your videos to be shot. >> now they are companies that -- let's talk about spotify for a bit.

the ceo of spotify came out and said some strong words about why artists need spotify. he said they started spotify because they love music and piracy was killing it. you see spotify is something protects the artist? >> i do agree with that point, fans that grew up with free music don't expect to start paying for it. i support with taylor swift is doing. it's not about her making another $10,000. she is doing fine. she is trying indirectly support and indie band. >> you think she is really not thinking about making money for herself? >> how much money would she make? let say she had 2 million plays, is that worth it? could she leverage that

elsewhere? i'm only saying that for a small band, i know one that i produce, there's not a lot of money. they can't put gas in the car to go on tour. >> without working with major labels, how can you do it? >> a perfect example is macklemore. we are from the same hometown. he is his own brand. he has a huge loyal fan base that he engages with daily. >> he is very active in social media. >> he understands that the song is not the and run anymore. a song is added advertisement for something else. he will surround a song with all kinds of merchandise.

imagine owning a corporation and being able to engage with potential buyers daily. >> t-mobile is using macklemore to get their message out. look at the revenues. it's not at the music and selling a track, where are the big bucks in it music going forward? >> content creation is huge. nicki minaj has over 340 million views on youtube. i don't know what her cpm rate is, maybe $20? >> that's a big number. that is the rate that advertisers are paying to be on that video. that anaconda video that samples your track is getting huge play. >> even though youtube is going to take some ungodly number, she

is going to make huge revenue from that some people are going to get product placement. instead of looking at a 30 second commercial that they hate, they will place the stuff in the video. >> beats is featured prominently. >> she also has miss godot. >> talk about sampling and where that is going. you came up when sampling was beginning. now you are being sampled in a postmodern way. >> i don't worry as much about selling music anymore as i do licensing. >> that is cory's interview with rap icon sir-mix-a-lot. that doesn't for this edition of the best of "bloomberg west." you can catch us monday through friday on bloomberg television.

we will see you next week. ♪

>> progress isn't always linear. sometimes it is exponential. >> this is entirely something new. >> new innovations create even newer breakthroughs. >> it is very exciting to think we might change someone's life someday. >> ensuring the pace of change only accelerates. >> being able to make devices that are thousands of times more thinner and millions of times more powerful. >> in 2015, our race for the future continues, from the food we eat -- >> we are talking about feeding the planet. we need a new paradigm of how we grow our food. >> to the way we interact with