tv Bloomberg West Bloomberg February 23, 2015 6:00pm-7:01pm EST
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[bell rings] >> live from pier three in san francisco, welcome to "bloomberg west," where we cover innovation, technology, and the future of business. i am cory johnson. the clock is ticking down to the ending of the department of homeland security. here is the president earlier today. >> these are folks who, if they do not have a paycheck are not going to be able to spend that money in your state. it will have a direct impact on
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your economy and it will have a direct impact on america's national security because their hard work helps to keep us safe. >> the president speaking to the nation's governors. 30,000 employees would be furloughed, putting their paychecks on hold. and 80% of those employees will have to show up for work paycheck or not, because services are deemed essential. birmingham alabama faces stern ag for 100 and $50 million in cash and stock. stifel's ceo says the addition will help the wealth and, and fixed management divisions. and google working on phones and tablets for google's upcoming wireless service. it will allow them to compete directly with major carriers. google owned motorola mobility
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until early last year. they also bought the google wallet service. google wallet will come preinstalled on new android phones. shares of the online rental company up the big in after-hours trading for chegg. digital revenue includes advertising and learning services up 71%, making up a third of revenues. and more importantly chegg can exit warehouse operations. twitter says it supports the net neutrality proposal ahead of thursday's fcc proposal. twitter called the open internet "the heart of twitter." two republican commissioners on the fcc are calling for the
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meeting to be delayed. they are calling for the entire 322-page proposal to be made public before the vote. and subscribers are leaving satellite-tv as companies like dish network are scrambling for ways to make up lost revenue. founder charlie ergen is returning as the ceo of dish as joe clayton just announced his retirement. and he will be raising the stakes arguing more than any other company in technology. $50 billion on spectrum. he has not said what he is going to do that. joining us, alec sherman who covers this for us in new york and our senior analyst -- i know you were just on the call for dish and there are lots of questions out there, but what is charlie ergen going to do with all of this spec room? >> i think you can expect that was the dominant thing throughout the call.
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i have to tell you, we left the call not closer to any potential clarity on the wireless strategy here. still there are the potential partnerships monetizing through potential sales of the spectrum. we still believe that building out the network is the least possible path here. but i think the results of what the last auction did was reshuffle the deck and we think dish has become much more attractive as a potential partner to maybe t-mobile or even sprints. i still believe there are a number of options here as a result of this spectrum acquisition, pardon me. >> yes, alec sherman, let me bring him out who covers deals as well as anyone. i wonder, does this make them a
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likely acquirer, acquiree partner? >> i think dish has always won it to be an acquirer. that has always been charlie ergen's strategy. and partly why he renamed himself ceo today. he has been behind the scenes orchestrating dish. now that they have this accumulated storage of wireless spectrum, it is time for phase two. it is time for the reveal. of course dish tried to buy sprint and it did not go anywhere, 2013, but now the time has come again where they will likely make their next wireless move and i think charlie ergen will try to partner or wire -- acquire an existing wireless carrier. t-mobile brought up on the call, and again charlie ergen denied he was interest did in sprints. -- in sprint.
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i imagine that that is option number one for him. >> also, the existing spectrum would give them coverage of 70% of the united states. do do what with alex? did they just want to be a mobile carrier? >> part of the whole plan for dish is to use their new sling tv product and bundle it in with a wireless network. they have the spectrum. they just do not have the network piece. the whole plan is for dish to have a mobile video product. that is what he thinks the next iteration is going to be. he wants to get away from the big subscriber acquisition cost of $800-plus every month for every person they sign up, because you have to pay for the satellite, install the satellite, etc., move it over to
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one line, push it to mobile, where he sees the future of the business going. if he cannot do that, if no one will play ball with him, then he will have to think about selling the spectrum side of the company. >> during the call, i wonder what that project is -- sling tv. is that enough to amortize the spectrum acquisition? >> i think the simple answer is no. it's still very early. no one is really sure, frankly, how the economics are going to evolve over the long term but what is pretty clear, it gives them a plan b to defend himself in the pay tv universe, which is an industrywide phenomenon. i see them trying to hedge their bets and keep their options open and seem a little more
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indispensable. especially since some of the content providers themselves are taking this content online, and when you think about wireless, the question came up what about the wireless strategy and the online video strategy, are they independent? i think in some ways the spectrum that dish is acquiring can become even more valuable in the over-the-top video universe world where the industry is now gravitating. >> and remember, that $50 billion evaluation that came from bloomberg reporting, that is not what charlie ergen spent on the spectrum. he did not spend $50 billion. $50 billion is about three times what he spent. the idea he could buy it for cheater -- for -- for cheaper and then sell it or use it after the fact. >> and the most recent auction and dish armored with some tiny, barely existent businesses to qualify for a small business
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exemption in the auction. was that discussed? i know that there was a question going into the call. that was a fairly amazing thing they were able to get away with. >> that was not expressly -- the discount you are discussing. if you look at fcc rules, i think there is some flexibility. but i think the bigger question is, what does this massive holding of spectrum due to the valuation? if you are looking at dish as a spectrum play as opposed to a core dtv business, which is what we saw today -- if you kind of think about it in the next year or so, i think how this is all going to play out in terms of what use they put the spectrum to is going to determine what the embedded shares are today --
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ships and ports all over the place. they ended the labor issues that have cut cargo movement in half, but it will take six to eight weeks to cut the backlog. and the oscar for best documentary goes to "citizen four" that tells the story of edward snowden. snowden's girlfriend a appeared on stage and snowden himself released a statement, saying that he hopes the oscar will show people ordinary citizens working together can change the world. more on the oscars coming up including the editing technology that many of the winners used. the current read it interim ceo is suing buyers in a lawsuit. she said that she was pressured to have sex with a coworker who
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spent five years retaliating against her after she broke off the affair. of the firm says that it was consensual. and she never complained about the case until much later. but what does this say about the workplace culture involving women? my guess roiling me -- my guests joining me. let me start here. what do you make of this particular case? >> in some ways this is quite different from what we have been hearing about from silicon valley. on the one hand, i just completed a survey of women in stem, and one third reported sexual harassment. but with women in silicon valley it is usually more subtle stuff. women being called aggressive women having to prove themselves over and over again. here we have situations where,
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as alleged in the complaint and we will see in trial what comes out, where there were literally white different business rules apply to men and two women. so business rules that were directly related to comp for example. women not invited to important mail only business owners. this is really important. and it is the kind of thing going on in law and medicine oh, 20, 30 years ago. >> is this case an outlier from what is more subtle and pervasive things affecting women in silicon valley and technology? >> not necessarily in my view. the bottom line is the courts look at these situations case-by-case, ok? it is hard to look at trends as a law professor but when you were in the trenches you are looking at what happened. she has direct evidence he statements were made to her. she was denied compensation.
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she was sent to siberia in terms of where her office was, men were promoted over her. this is typical of most sexual harassment cases and silicon valley or no silicon valley women face harassment and it will be a situation of what the jury feels occurred and how they want to do love the damages if they feel there was a problem. >> as a straight white guy certainly the last thing i want to do is -- [indiscernible] if the case proves that she was not the sexually discriminated against and was a crummy employee come if the case proves that is it important to look at it through the lens of this case or the damaging to do so? >> i think it is important to look through the lens of this case. keep in mind she did not allege sexual harassment. what she alleged was retaliation.
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she brought this to their attention and the firm disagrees. she brought this to many people's attention -- the coo the head of hr, and they basically were not responsive or they were inappropriate. for example she alleges that one partner suggested a one-on-one lunch with the man who allegedly harassed her. not a professional way to handle that kind of complaint to read important messages for employers are if you have an employee alleging either sexual harassment or gender discrimination of any kind, it's very important to take it seriously, to get on it immediately, to conduct a really thorough, responsible investigation, and act on it. >> i would say duh, except she apparently did not get this if what she is alleging is true. is this damaging to the reputation -- is it not helpful
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to have this discussion if it is a question of someone who is a crummy investor as opposed to someone who is sexually discriminated against? >> in every one of these cases you have the same situation. you happy employee saying that they were retaliated against and the employer saying that there were legitimate business reasons. that is a given. all of the allegations, etc. etc., it is really striking to me that the case is going to trial because there is going to be a lot of inquiry into the way that the company does business. no one was to look at how you makes alumni and that is going to be revealed. on the other hand, a lot of personal issues will come out about her life, emotional distress, her relationship with her husband, her motivations. nobody wins. i think this case is less about money and more about vindication
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i think this case is less about money and more about vindication and her position in the industry and trying to not accept each other's position. but most of the time, these cases do not make it this far. there's definitely some bad blood going on here. >> really quickly, just 30 seconds here -- the fact that tom perkins stated very early on the company needed to return to its highest ethical standards, does that matter a lot? it was curious that that was one of the first things that came out of the trial. >> when you are brought to task and there is a national spotlight on you and you have to explain yourself, regardless of the outcome, i think the company will take a hit and that is probably a good spin at this point. >> thank you very much, and bill frumkin, thank you as well. "bloomberg west" will be right back. ♪
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>> i'm cory johnson. this is "bloomberg west." the caffeine giant will partner with starbucks. why is starbucks? they have 27 million customers. they can now earn reward points. barry joins me via skype. barry i answered myong question, but why starbucks? >> you heard howard schultz, the ceo of starbucks refer to starbucks as your third place. not your home, not your office but your third place. and we have found that that is true. >> i am more of a café roma guy. that's just me. that is my third place. i will ask you to backtrack and
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talk about concur and what your main businesses. the expense business is a fascinating one. >> absolutely. we are leisure focused on the simple, perfect business trip. when you think about the way it ought to work in terms of his newest travel. taking the pain out of travel. you mentionedtripit and taking the effort out of expense reports. >> when you look at expense reports, who buys this service and how do they roll it out across the company? >> absolutely. we see customers from the individual all the way to the largest companies in the world. hundreds of thousands of employees. if you are looking for anyone who will travel as released to business travel, and i think that they are trying to take some of the pain out of the
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process or for companies to get more visibility, get it integrated into their payroll and erp system, and really remove a lot of the paper and the manual processing. >> i sat down with oracle's's ceo and talked about her getting begin and everything and she responded with i thought a hilarious comment, ripping it your company concur. she said "incur is only a tiny module." i literally went down to my car and thought, sap bought concur. maybe they will buy dairy queen. explain to me why concur is anything more than a module? what can make this a really big business? >> there is no dispute that the travel industry itself is a multi-trillion dollar industry. the great thing about expense reports and the great thing about business travel, like you
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>> you are watching "bloomberg west." i'm cory johnson. the big winner of the oscars was not just birdman. all of the best picture nominees were edited using avid technologies. they are going to a business change. luis hernandez joins us now. congratulations, i guess. despite all the advances of all your competitors, you guys are holding onto market share with the biggest movies out there.
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is there something about the technological change of your competitors where they are not getting something? >> avid started by digitizing the filmmaking process. now that the whole process is fully digitized, we are anchoring at the beginning. we tried to change with the times as the business model has changed. we have changed along with it. we have stayed in an elite position as a result. it was an exciting night last night. >> it always is. talk about how those movies were made differently than what we would've seen five or 10 years ago. >> of the business model has changed dramatically. not only how you monetize it. take somebody like the grand budapest hotel. wes anderson had issue that all over the world, primarily in london and la.a.
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using cloud-based technology -- really incredible technical accomplishment. "birdman" -- i'm here in mexico city. they are so happy for alejandro . if you have seen it, you would notice it looks like it is one take, one continuous film but it was tracked over multiple tracks. that is the kind of thing that is happening with media technology today. >> let's back up and talk about how that process is very different. what is happening right now with how it is being shot? we know what the films look like and what the directors like shooting that. what happens to the content then? >> that is the interesting thing. that is probably the most significant change in the business model. what happens after -- marking
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it, tagging it, making it available to distribution challenges globally and easily, etc. how the business model has changed fairly significantly. the digitization of the file records coming off of the camera and into an iphone or ipad or the internet -- whatever you have the rights to -- the business model has really changed. it is causing media companies to change, rethink how they cut movies, how they produce them and who they hire and the technologies they deploy. it is an interesting time because of these changes. >> is the pace of finishing a movie faster because of this cloud-based technology? >> absolutely. let's think about tom cross who did "whiplash" for best editing. it was more of an idie-ndie-esque. they finished the production and
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one week later were able to show it at sundance. the fact it is fully digitized and you have cameras like ours it allows you to manipulate it quickly. it is really what moviemaking is all about today. it is really exciting. >> i wonder in terms of where the people are and working on the film, it changes both how quickly you can work but also this notion of what you pay people whether they are in los angeles or london. you can maybe find a cheaper people than you have to be stuck with in hollywood or new york even though they may be the best and the highest-paid. >> i would say you can optimize your cost structure through labor arbitrage. it is also the savings on travel. if you can attract the best anywhere in the world who happen to be in germany or mexico or whatever it might be -- the fact you can work collaboratively as
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though you are next to each other still protect the file, secure the file and the other components -- that is really the key. there is the potential cost savings but you have to fly anybody around anymore and you don't have to do as much on location because the technology allows you to add so much to the richness of the story. >> when you look at the other companies in silicon valley -- are there particular innovations you have been able to borrow for your business that is happening in other technology companies? for example, software service billing by the seat and so on. >> it is amazing. i love your location. i live right down the street in san francisco. >> and we have to get you from mexico? , come up the stree -- next time, come up the street. what are you looking at in terms of the technology? >> avid was born and raised in media.
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we are looking for the very latest cutting-edge technology. that is why we have major offices in silicon valley and other countries around the world. we have to adopt those in the immediate ways. security is a great example. a lot of great security and technology so we have to adapt to the needs of the media industry specifically. what happened to sony, that is front and center. in the strategies today. >> thank you very much from mexico city. we would like to have you anytime. " bloomberg west" will be right back. ♪
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and huge, but certainly not forever. especially the way we are fishing. >> we are running out of fish. the reason is simple. we have been taking them out of the water faster than maker can put them back. at the pace we are going, the oceans could be out of fish by 2050. in recent decades, we have stopped getting many of the fish we eat from the ocean and started great exempt -- started raising them in farm s. we are pulling out smaller species. >> sardines, anchovies -- they grind them up and it becomes animal food. there is limited supply of fish in the world. >> many populations are dangerously low levels. without their food source, most fish farms will cease to function and fish could be off the menu permanently.
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♪ this is an issue of common sense. there is a problem and an obvious solution. we are at the forefront of finding different ways to raise fish in the world of agriculture. >> they are working on an idea they hope will help out the planet and ensure that fish farming has a future. this is where you store the feed? >> yes. it is made out of algae, pistachio oil. >> flax. >> they have developed the first completely vegetarian fish feed to be used commercially in the u.s. >> we are trying to keep away from using the ocean as an unlimited resource for free fish. the cheapest possible way to put a pellet together has been to
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use the ocean which was considered an unlimited amount of free fish. it is extremely limited and we are finding out now. >> the goal we have set is to get rid of fish meal completely. how you do that is a little more difficult. a quick search on the internet came up with a few papers. one by a doctor at usda. >> i have always liked fish. i have a trout stream an aquarium. i am a fish freak. i collect it passionate and some people call it obsessive. bill called me and asked me about fish meal, plant-based diets and i said yes, i have one. fish nutritionist for the last 30 years and looking for replacements for fish meal. we know we can totally eliminate fish meal from fish diets and still have a happy -- healthy fast-growing fish.
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the are containers with some of the ingredients we use. >> fish do not need ingredients they need nutrition. they don't need fish meal. they need an intelligent set of ingredients that formulate a perfect protein, the right amount of carbohydrates and fat. >> we have evaluated fish meal with different species. most are considered carnivorous but i don't think we were turning a creditor -- a carnivorous fish into herbivores. we are not changing the animal just what they consume. >> wow. you can see they hate it. >> they are honestly not interested in it at all. >> you realize what a technique it is to make a float, instead of sink. that is truly a fine art. >> they are very happy with the
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way the fish have been performing on the feed. the products they are producing i understand is well accepted by the chefs in san francisco. >> the color is right. the texture is right. from a health standpoint, it is really enriched with omega-3's. it taste like what it should be -- like a wild fish. i'm just a big fan. i foresee this as the future in sustainable fishery. >> there is a downside to all of this. the plant-based feed cost about twice as much as conventional feed. that is a barrier to wider adoption of the diet. but, if wild fish populations continue to decline, it will not be long before going vegetarian is the only option. >> we have been treating the ocean as a limitless supply of
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free fish. if we don't have a backup solution there will be a whole lot of hungry people. >> yes, fish food. that was sam with a first episode of the series we're calling "the spark." some top headlines from bloomberg security. tightening in malls after a terrorist group is calling for an attack on the mall of america as well as locations in canada paris and london. jeh johnson -- >> if anyone is planning to go to the mall of america today they have to be particularly careful. as the statement you read indicates, there will be enhanced security that will be apparent to people. >> federal security? >> enhanced security. >> the terror group is taking responsibility for the attack in
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the kenyan mall that killed 67 civilians. disney is raising admission prices to its flagship in orlando by 6%. tickets are now $105 for single day. price hikes at disney often lead to similar moves by rival theme parks, including universal studios and seaworld where they also have fish. volkswagen sold the final bugatti. it is called the finale and will be on display next we ek. $2.6 million for the average price. bloomberg west will be right back. ♪
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>> i'm cory johnson. from dinner to dry cleaning there is an app for that or something. startups galore coming up with all kinds of solutions to problems you did not know you have, including your laundry. one startup washio is trying to make doing laundry easier. this company launched washio now. they promise hiccups within one hour. they pick up your laundry and they returned clean and folded. they are doing this in los angeles and other cities. the ceo joins me right now. why not new york city home of the chinese laundry? >> thank you for having me. washio for started in los angeles where we are headquartered and we offer services in six cities across
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the u.s. from los angeles, san francisco, washington d.cc. we have not tapped the new york market yet. it is one of the largest regions of the world for laundry services. it is a difficult market to tap. we have found a massive opportunities all across the country. >> can you convince me this is a technology company? >> absolutely. washio is an on-demand washing service. from a client-side, you pick up your mobile phone or the website and select a pickup and drop-off time. somebody will come by your house and pick up your laundry and return it to your house the next day. . once you pick up your stuff, it goes through our drivers and brought back to one of our distribution centers where we inventory every single garment. once we go through that -- >> let me back up. you image tag every sock, every
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pair of underwear? really? >> on the dry cleaning side yes. we image tag for quality control. we make sure the garment to give us are the same ones we deliver back. on the laundry side, it is a little difficult to tag them individually but we take photos that show overall what you had to make sure we get you back your stuff on time. >> how does that compare cost wise so what the former laundromat would be? it sounds like a lot more. >> from a price perspective, we are in the median price range. you can compare it to your local laundromat. we are looking to continue lower prices and using the scale of our software and technology to do that. first question was are we really a technology company? the amount of technology that happens in real time is really immense. >> you have gotten some interesting investors.
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i know there are competitors. you have some investors like ashton kutcher and nas and scooter braun. tell me about that. >> we had really amazing investors from ashton kutcher and nas to gary milner. we have some great investors. they have really picked a winner in washio and we have continued to show that as we are the leader in the market. with our success comes a lot of copycats and we have seen that in the san francisco market and new york and london. we know this is a very difficult industry to tackle. we focused a lot of our time and energy and building technology that allows for this experience. we felt strongly will continue to lead to the marketplace in this industry. >> i'm glad ashton kutcher has his laundry problems fixed. thank you very much.
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the bwest byte -- we focus on one number that tells us a whole lot. katie has the number which is? >> 1.9 billion. >> of that is a lot of something. >> that is how much apple has decided to spend on two data centers overseas. >> that is intriguing because citizenfour one last night. -- won last night. we found that silicon valley businesses like apple were getting hacked by the nsa. that data is kept here in the u.s.. that is not going to happen if they are building it in ireland or is it? >> companies like apple have decided they want to build more data centers overseas so they can serve their customer data safely there. there is a lawsuit now between marcus off and the department of justice where microsoft has decided to fight back against in order -- an order saying they have to give up data in europe to the government. >> even though the data may be
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from european customers, the nsa still wants that. i talked to the ceo of symatntec and he said there are european customers that are saying they want more assurances that the data will be kept out of the u.s. >> they do want more assurances which is why cases like the microsoft case will be watched all over the world. the other reason why apple is building a data center is because they are making a point -- they are saying the u.s. government will let fast will not let us repatriate the millions of dollars in cash held overseas. they don't want to pay the 35% in taxes. they are saying they will start building expanding and growing outside of the u.s. >> it will have some implications. thank you very much. you can get the latest headlines on your phone, tablet and bloomberg.com, bloomberg radio. we will be there.
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