tv Bloomberg West Bloomberg March 17, 2016 11:00pm-12:01am EDT
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senator lindsey graham is endorsing residential candidate ted cruz. graham: if you kill ted cruz on the floor of the senate and the trial was in the senate nobody would convict you. rallying around ted cruz maybe the only way to stop donald trump. a judge in brazil blocks the lula.ntment of the guatemal will not meeta with fidel castro during his historic visit to cuba next week .
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emily: i'm emily chang. this is bloomberg west. i speak with brian chesky about his vision and the company's plan for an ipo. google pulling back on the robotics business selling the robot company boston dynamics after they bought it two years ago. what does it mean? is it finally take off time for virtual reality? today we check out sony hardware. first, to our lead. google putting its boston dynamics unit up for sale. you see a two-legged robot maintaining its balance. they seem to be pushing the envelope but a different story was playing out behind the scenes. according to two people, executives at google decided boston dynamics will not produce a marketable product in the next two years or generate revenue.
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for more we are joined by brad stone and jack clark. what happened here? what went wrong? creating companies within the structure that can have products and revenue. that is part of the thought to bring in executives that would be interested in creating value. the other saying, boston dynamics are on the east coast. it's a research shop. they were seen as being not collaborative at google. that with the fact that it is a research shop, it has led to this outcome.
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emily: they bought how many different companies? jack: the others are producing work in research but the difference it was wildly advanced compared to the others. the other robot companies look like frankenstein arms. very rectangular dull looking robots. boston dynamics makes fluid looking things that are futuristic. the robot hardware was ahead of the software to make it do interesting things. emily: what about the grand plan? wasn't the idea to reinvent the supply chain? reinvent reduction lines? brad: there was a goal with new products. we got minutes of a meeting between all the robotics executives led by a longtime
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google executive and he was saying we can't spend 30% of our budget on robots that have a 10 year time frame. there was frustration. whatever the grand plan was, i don't think we got a clear picture. emily: those videos have been controversial. who buys this kind of company? jack: toyota, amazon. amazon has warehouses. toyota hired gill pratt. he used to use boston dynamics in competitions.
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emily: do you think we could see more exits like this from google? brad: certainly. we might see more acquisitions and talent to come in and work under alphabet. emily: should we give them credit for trying? jack: we should give them credit for trying. they are still trying in certain areas. this may be too futuristic. emily: i guess is where is this leading? where are they going? jack: it is around simple things like can i pick up this note book without dropping it? that is a bit different from the boston dynamics robots. brad: all the others were folded
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into google x. they told them if you are not working on answers to the problems we have identified, we will reassign you. some of this robotics talent has left google. there is not a big certainty that robotics is the answer to solutions google needs to solve. we may not see much of the future in the near term for robotics and now for that. emily: all right. brad stone and jack clark. thank you both. i want to get a quick check on adobe. the company reported profits of $.66 a share driven by demand for the cloud-based services. revenue is up 25-1 $.38 billion. adobe boosted annual sales and profits targeting $5.8 billion in revenue in 2016. let's drill down away from desktop software.
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cory: if you think about what adobe is doing, going for the change of selling license software in a box, to selling software on the cloud, it is an attractive model but hard change to make. you get one big payment. you recognize all the revenues right away. if you sell in the cloud you have to recognize software over the duration of the customer and that could be 36 months. you are going to get this air pocket where you are making a shift to the cloud but the income looks terrible.
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when you look at the cloud stuff that is positive and growing. a little bit slower because the transition has been made. 50% growth. a little bit better than last quarter. things may pick up for adobe. a below bit more interesting. they have figured out the cloud business and made the most of the transition and benefits. accruing in a lot of ways in terms of managing expenses and seeing growth on the cloud digitally.
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people working in the fields of advertising. they have a corollary business that is very interesting where they are looking at the way companies are using marketing and helping social media ads appear. adobe has always been focused. but really focused on the two businesses and the big business of creative professionals exploding on the internet. emily: all right. thank you. another stock we are watching, apple shares on the rise. the stock has climbed 8%. apple will unveil a smaller and cheaper iphone. analysts are out with a mixed outlook. a major apple supplier posted disappointing earnings. analysts say that is a bad sign. capital markets don't think they will report anything for apple's bottom line.
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emily: airbnb is branching out into customer travel experiences testing a service for hooking add-ons to your trip. internally it is being called magical traps. a nod to the brian chesky idol disney. >> tests are going well. nothing is announced yet. when people look at airbnb it is easy to see it as homes and cities. a better way is we have hosts. a community of people. they are neighborhoods. the people go to a place they want much more than a home. they want to be part of a neighborhood. how can we immerse you in the neighborhood? that is what we are doing.
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build these things yourself or why acquisitions? guest: we will have to wait and see. emily: we are coming up on the one year in cuba. what have you learned? guest: it is the fastest-growing country in the world. we have 4000 homes there. it has been amazing. these cities took many years to get to this scale. what i have learned is this is something that has existed for generations. the idea of sharing your home predates airbnb.
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emily: china is a big priority. how much time are you spending in china? guest: i was there a number of times. it is a huge priority. one of the largest territories in the world. our business grew 700% last year. you have hundreds of millions of young chinese travelers that want to leave and have no predisposition as how they want to travel. emily: have you stayed in chinese airbnb's? guest: i have. i have stayed in some nice apartments in shanghai. they are nice. a very traditional local dwelling in a courtyard. it was very different. our hosts were passionate. shanghai, the first time i was in shanghai last fall. i could not appreciate how built up it was. it was a large metropolitan city. emily: what is your next focus? where are you going to be focusing your attention? >> china is a big focus. latin america. we have the olympics coming this year.
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rio is one of our biggest cities in the world. we have 20,000 homes in rio. 600,000 people went to brazil a few years ago for the world cup. one in five people stayed in airbnb. it was a huge opportunity. guest: it is valued at $25 billion. i know you don't compare yourself to them. in this environment when we see a lot of private tech companies being written down how do you make sure you are raising money at a response of valuation? guest: we are not raise any more money at this point. i don't think we will need more capital. my view is we started airbnb in a financial crisis. we launched august 11, 2008. that was the window of when we started this company. we started in a recession with the door closed to us. i was introduced to investor.
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no one wanted to invest. that was our foundation. we are a scrappy company. any upmarket or downmarket this company is going to be fine and was founded in a bad economy. people are more likely to want to seek additional ways to get income. you have to take a long arc on these things. emily: what does the road to ipo look like? when does that happen? guest: a great company should always be ready to go public. you want operate like a public company. but we don't have any initial need or need for capital. we deftly don't have plans for the next two years. after that we will see.
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guest: i think that it is never too early to start focusing on diversity. the more diverse the company the more successful it will be. airbnb more than anybody else, it is in our dna. on new year's eve 1.1 billion people were living together. they came from 190 countries in the world. you can go anywhere if you are included. diversity is totally hand-to-hand with that. we have to make people feel like they are welcome. they can't look and feel the same way. diversity will make you more successful. emily: your workforce is 46% female which is far better than
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most other tech companies. what is the benefit of having closer to 50-50 when it comes to men and women? guest: first of all we have a basic principle, if you have an office or a place like a workforce it should map to your community and the country you are in. many people in silicon valley, none of us design for proportional demographics. we are trying to move towards that. there is no question creativity comes from ideas that converged together. if your you have their abuse and perspectives that is going to be so limited.
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there is a big debate going on between apple and the fbi. where'd you stand on this issue? what if the fbi said they wanted data about your users? guest: we comply with subpoenas and government. you have to draw a stand. the attorney general wanted user data on all users. we went to court over that issue. if we think it is overreaching and broad. we do compile cities. you have to draw a line based on your principles. the privacy of our customers is the most important thing.
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allegations that is paid losses at its nuclear power operation. estate market is recovering with home prices once again surging. banks eased credit. let's get the latest from the markets. heidi: asian markets should be sending a thank you note to janet yellen. heading for their fifth straight week of gains.
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the weaker dollar is driven really driving began upward. emily: virtual reality is dominating the agenda at the game developers conference in san francisco. many believe the age of the new medium has finally arrived. sony investors laser dan on the price tag for the playstation as a series competitive advantage and sent shares higher on the news. joining me now, sean layden. thank you for joining us.
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i got to try out your the our product when it was project morpheus back at comic-con. it has evolved significantly. tell me where you have taken it. guest: we have taken it down to the that. guest: i'm knocking down product with my head here. guest: it's an experience like no other. it's an entirely new platform. we are excited about that.
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it's impossible to explain in print or on television what virtual reality is like. we are to work with our key retail providers to get a chance to try it. then you become a believer. guest: a sony executive told the gaming site if you just talk about the high-end quality i would admit oculus may have better the arm. the biggest advantage is it works with ps for. i asked if that is a compliment or a dig. >> i think that is a compliment. he is acknowledging oculus will be the best vr experience. we look at this early first-generation. it is supported by enthusiasts and hard-core gamers. they want the best. having the best is a great place to be. >> is that a compliment or a dig? guest: i think he was trying to express by the fact that the
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owners already own a camera? guest: that is probably in the double-digit millions. we are looking at that as an easier entry point. we will have that put together in a competitive way. emily: we talked about going mainstream, passing the mom test. do they need a killer app to do that? guest: it is a new entertainment platform. it is creating new experiences. we're going to have 50 games ready. a lot of them with a small and independent developers. they see it is going to happen. the killer app, i would wage we don't know what that is right now. it will really feel -- it will reveal itself. emily: sony is unveiling a new entertainment unit which oversees online features into one new us-based unit. expand on why this matters for your role. >> the network plan has grown so
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quickly that bringing it closer together with playstation and looking at our digital future across games is the best way to focus and get faster and make decisions against that. emily: very excited to try the new headset when it hits the market. thank you. thank you for stopping by. tomorrow we will pick up the conversation with htc's head of the are. he is focused on the $800 by. and speaking of the our, alibaba explains how it can enhance the shopping experience of its 400 million users. they have set up a lead to research this and explore how it can be applied to other alibaba services.
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emily: uber is making it easy for drivers to collect cash whenever they want. the company announced a program allowing drivers to deposit earnings from each ride into an over debit card account. the program is available only for drivers in san francisco who were only paid once a week. uber competitor lyft wrote out a
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similar program. joining me now is the ceo for the bay area. thank you so much for joining us. you do have to open a new bank account. why do it that way? guest: one of the things drivers love is the flexibility to decide where to work and went to work. now they can decide when they can get paid. one of the big differences that we have tried to focus on is to make sure there are no fees involved as well as the fact that there is not going to be a minimum map of earnings they can take money out. it improves on what is already out there. emily: it is like a war for talent in your business.
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>> when we think about uber we are trying to create the best platform for drivers and riders. whether it is on a great living or get a ride. we think about various types of innovation. one of the things we are investing heavily on is the pool. now you can get a right anywhere in the bay area and that is additional ways drivers can earn more money. by creating new innovations we are hopefully going to create the best possible experience for drivers and riders. emily: a lot of people used it out there. there was nobody who knew how it would impact uber black. how do you manage those trade-offs?
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>> we think it is the future. emily: bigger than uber x? guest: it could be. it is one of those rare win, win, wins. drivers actually earn more because they are more utilized throughout the day. one of the great things we see is public transit and public transportation is always open because people use it as the first mile last mile competition. it really benefits a driver and a rider and various types of policy roles. you are just launching a standalone app and expanding coverage. how big of a business is this going to be? guest: we think it could be a big opportunity. we have launched the breeds for several months in multiple
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cities. we launch a standalone app this week. that is what offer more options, more hours and geographies for people to choose fantastic meals at a low price. emily: talk to me about the economic spray they're great for consumers. are you making the economics work? guest: the big difference between us and the other players is we already have the biggest network of drivers out there. a driver on the uber east platform can earn money driving people, driving goods or driving food. that flexibility makes uber eats and them the best option for drivers. for the restaurants, they get access to the millions of people who already use uber. that is a big advantage relative to what is out there.
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we strive for the best platform and the best ride for writers that go from point a to point b. if you look at the way we have invested in san francisco, or the innovation we did with instant pay. we are consolation running for the next innovation to be the best possible thing for drivers and riders. emily: as the percentage gone up? that prices are surging? >> dynamic pricing goes up and down depending on supply and demand.
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no small job there. thank you so much for joining us. switching gears to earnings. a 45% jump in sales. it is increasing spending on content to draw users from the competition. here to break it down, joining me from hong kong, give us a highlight. >> the earnings were better than expected. that was driven by online sales and mobile games. if you look at what simpson is doing they are starting to experiment with this online
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advertising. they are trying to tread a delicate path where they add more inventory. but not trying to be too intrusive to bother their user experiences. emily: the cost of growth is going up. why is that? >> they spent a lot of money ranging from sports to hollywood content, hollywood tv series and movies. they are a huge fan of anime and cartoons. what they are doing is trying to convert these ip's between movies, novels, comics. even mobile games and toys. when they have a large range of i.p. they can turn into mobile games.
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emily: they followed in facebook's footsteps expediting with advertising. how is that going? >> if you look at what they have done so far it is pretty significant. especially with their instant messaging apps. they have a combined level in users. in terms of how they want to do it, they want to do it gradually and stable lead. they want to increase inventory but not too over the top so users get annoyed. emily: thank you for that update. coming up, he is here in the studio. we will talk to him after the quick break. ♪
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who is having the best day ever. today, silicon valley's most beloved twitter handle has decided to come forward. parker thompson amassed followers with his twitter persona. here with us, a partner at angel list and creator of this phenomenon. how does it feel going public? guest: it's been a crazy day. emily: how did we find him? >> brad stone figured out that jackson was parker. this is something people asked at parties. emily: everyone thought it was been horowitz. >> bragg got in touch with parker and try to convince them to let us talk.
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maybe with parker decided to hang up his hat he thought we got to know one another. he said i went to call you in march. emily: you have been sitting on this a long time. guest: so, as you mentioned i stopped tweeting in december. i felt like it had run its course. he called me in march and i said ok. let's do it. emily: we pulled out our favorite tweets. is twitter wanted to up engagement they would place a heart with this gift. does the bleep you are doing even matter?
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what inspired you to do this? guest: it wasn't a plan. i might have come up with a different brand and a way of approaching it. my friend roger and i set up the account. we started joking around with it. some friend started following it and eventually some people who had more followers started retreating and the rest is history. emily: you had entrepreneurs begging you for real advice. why slow down now? guest: there is other stuff to work on. emily: you were tweeting a lot. it is time-consuming. guest: it doesn't take that much time. writing takes me a lot more time. a tweet come you are on the train platform reading something and reacting to it and moving on read i don't think it is as much time.
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>> one of the things parker said that i thought was interesting, he started the account with the idea it could be a place to test whether ideas without a real name had a great status attached to them and could gain traction. it has proven that is true. they still trusted it with so much authority. in the end that prove its point where it no longer became useful. it is a thought leader. the sort of thing that was meant to be tested by the experiment. it made sense to me that it might be time for it to be gone. emily: what is next? guest: i think my favorite thing people say is when you should see the things i say in person. these are things i say as much.
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and when to keep working on the things we are working on. we have tons of stuff to work on. so, that is keeping me busy at the moment. emily: are you also behind startup dj callit? guest: i am not. emily: you're going to be live tweeting next week? emily: i'm doing an ama. he asked me to do it prior to this. i'm still on the internet but i think to the extent that i still use the account will change having a name behind it. emily: thank you for sharing your story with us. it is great to meet the man behind the avatar. a quick disclaimer. he is a participant in bloomberg beta's open scout program. that does it for this edition of bloomberg west.
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