♪ emily: i am "bloomberg technology emily chang and this is the best of "bloomberg technology" where we bring the top interviews from the week -- i am emily chang and this is the best of "bloomberg technology." it wasestors decided time for travis kalanick to go and a way forward for uber. the facebook coo gives her take on big branding, the future of digital ads, and cybersecurity. the inside track on the trump

administration's plans for tech. we talked with the founder of code for america who was in the room for the first meeting of the american technology council. but first, to our lead. travis kalanick is officially out as uber's ceo. company herom the cofounded. he says his resignation comes a week after the board announced he would take a leave of absence following months of scandal and employee exits. the pressure did not come from the board. in a rare move, investors pushed travis kalanick to step aside. these invested -- investors poured more than 16 million into uber. caroline hyde broke down the news with our bloomberg tech reporter eric newcomer and a partner at the lead edge and investor into uber. kalanickar -- travis hoped it would satisfy critics

and give him time to recharge after the death of his mother and a sort of take responsibility for the findings of the holder inquiry. it clearly was not enough. bill and some other major investors in uber sort of let this campaign to tell travis that he needed to step aside and that looks to be what finally convinced him to leave his position as ceo. caroline: as an investor, this is something you agree with and why did it come down to the investor base and not the board? >> i think the investor base represents a large interest in the company and that is an andrtant source of control influence of the business. i think it is important to recognize that travis kalanick also resigned sort of prompted -- that but he made the this is the best for the company.

he did not have to resign so let's not discount the role of travis making that decision for himself. prompted by the investors, but he had a hand in it as well. caroline: can you explain potentially why the board had not taken such action prior to this? were their hands tied? was it to do with travis' own voting share? >> travis has a lot of control over the company especially when coupled with the cofounder and ryan, an early employee and coo of the company. together they had a pretty and i coalition there think there was a lot of faith in travis. he has been a key man in defining the company for good and bad. uber did $20 million in gross bookings last year. amid the scandal, it is easy to forget how enormous and global this business is. it will be a question how someone else can step in and wrangle the business that travis knows more than anyone else.

nimay.e: let's turn to are you as confident as ever as an investor that the company will continue to grow and the valuation continue to be supported when they lose such a divisive visionary such as travis? >> i think his involvement or lack of involvement going forward is a challenge and something the company will overcome. there is plenty of precedent about non-founders stepping into the role as ceo and taking businesses forward. we look at eric at google, took the reins and look at where google is today. view, but when steve jobs passed away and tim cook took the reins at apple. he is a founder and -- the founder and ceo passed away and apple is up 200% since steve jobs' passing. there is absolutely a precedent for non-founders taking a backseat and businesses to

continue to do a test do great things. who is going to step into those shoes, but there are lots of talented people who are excited about taking on this opportunity, taking on this challenge. it's an incredible business. they did $20 billion in bookings last year and continue to grow. we continue to believe their growth will be sustained. they just need to have the right leadership at the helm to continue that. caroline: we were just looking at the amount of executives that need to be filled. cmo, svp ofo, engineering, general counsel. who do you envision as ceo? >> my vote is definitely for sheryl sandberg. there isn't anybody -- i don't know if she will take the job, but there isn't anybody who is more capable and embodies the

culture and values that the company needs on a go forward basis. more generally speaking, they need someone with global experience, experience running a rapidly growing business as complex as uber is and someone that embodies those values they are looking to define on a go forward business. inclusion, empathy, these are things the board and investors will be looking for as they look to define a new ceo and fill out the rest of the operating bench. caroline: therefore, can i ask how much you worry about the control travis continues to have from a voting share perspective? to his resignation and him deciding to do that, i think that is the first step in a recognition that this is the first thing for the business and from a governing control standpoint, i think there will be steps taken on a go forward basis that help create a little more balance and independents around the board. we believe those steps are coming and that travis will do

the right thing from a governance standpoint. let's not forget that that is split between garrett and ryan as well so there is some diversity there in the voting control and ownership in the business but that we should continue to see that diversification on a go forward basis as well. emily: that was bloomberg tech's eric newcomer speaking with caroline hyde. facebook chief operating officer sheryl sandberg led facebook's presence at the annual advertising festival. as the social network increasingly dominates the ad market. before she traveled to france, she spoke with caroline hyde exclusively and discussed the evolution of facebook's ad strategy as the market shifts. >> our biggest message is the small screen is big. people have moved to mobile and businesses are catching up. it is now the case that the

average u.s. consumer -- and these numbers are duplicated all over the world, is spending about four hours a day on tv and five and three quarters on digital, the majority of which is mobile. it is a really exciting time to be a marketer because people are carrying around in their pockets this device that lets you reach them all the time and brands, products, services have always been part of our daily lives from the toothpaste we brush our shampoo reusethe or the car services on the cars we drive. now marketers can reach us hopefully with messages we want to hear as part of our daily experience. that is pretty amazing. .he explosion of creativity this advertising special -- festival is about the creative community. how we create messages that resonate with people and want them to be part of their daily lives.

this is almost playing into a discussion mark zuckerberg started of community building, off-line and online. how will brands play into that? >> communities are so important. we are very focused on facebook from mark and all of us on how we build communities that provide support for people off-line and online. brands are a huge part of that. airbnb is doing a great job. they have this great off-line experience where people can rent house from posts and they have create -- from hosts. even when you are not on the trip for the event -- or the vacation, they can connect you to people who are a part of it. caroline: what about all the various products? you talk about how airbnb is making a good run of it using facebook groups. what about messenger? what about whatsapp? how are these products being adapted in the growth you are seeing? >> we have the two largest mobile platforms -- at platforms

in the world and we are seeing people use that to build their businesses. there is a young woman in brazil named joanna who started a company and their idea was to sell fashion accessories. using facebook at instagram, they were able -- she did all her advertising herself on her phone and she was able to target those ads to people interested in fashion accessories and 79% of the business she had came from instagram. that is the small and local example. we also see the largest at agencies, the largest clients in the world figuring out how to creative thatnd work for facebook and instagram and we are starting to learn a little bit more about how businesses can interact on messenger as well. caroline: what about video? this is where the real explosion has been and what facebook has driven forward. you are experiencing with new ways adverts can come in videos

and run on facebook. how much is that being adopted? >> marketers have always loved video because it is a great well to tell -- great way to tell a compelling story. i think what this community is increasingly understanding and what we need to do better is you have to create the video for the platform. were people ads reading their radio ads behind mics. a vault, video ads were made for tv and it certainly was not someone sitting behind a mic . 32nd -- it either or when you think about brands putting their money to work? i am looking at data that says equity billion dollars is spent on tv. how much of that will go purely to the digital space now? >> i don't think it is either or. marketers should reach people on

tv, on mobile, in the digital space, they should reach people everywhere they go, but how they reach people on those different platforms needs to evolve. facebook and instagram, we think we offer a really unique value proposition for marketers and people because you can have the creativity of a video, the creativity of sound and light and pictures, but you can also do very specific targeting. you can target your current than new differently customers. people who are in the market for a car, people who look like people in the market for a car so you can make sure the right message gets to the right person. emily: coming up, tech's biggest titans gathered at the white house to discuss the road ahead for u.s. technology. we will hear from jennifer who attended the meeting alongside apple's tim cook and microsoft's ceo. withfrom our conversation facebook coo sheryl sandberg.

this is bloomberg. ♪

emily: a story we are following, the federal trade commission is challenging the proposed merger between draft kings and fan dual . the fcc says the combined company would control 90% of the paid daily fantasy business. the private customers of the benefit of direct competition between the companies. the ceos of draft kings and fanduel say they are disappointed by the decision and considering their options. tech leaders say the u.s. government needs to modernize after president trump's senior adviser and son-in-law jared kushner held a tech summit at the white house on monday. tim cook was just one of the tech titans in attendance and he commended kushner's steps in getting the government equipped with the latest technology. tim: u.s. should have the most

modern government in the world and today, it does not. it is great to see the effort of in onared is putting things that will pay back in five or 10 or 20 years. emily: we set -- set down with jennifer. she served as the deputy chief technology officer under president obama. >> to the credit of the people who organized the meeting and the tech ceos, there were breakout sessions on pretty substantive topics, things people do not normally put on the news like procurement reform and how to get the government into the cloud and digital services for citizens and i saw most of the tech executives went to the sessions that i was in and had a pretty substantive dialogue about these issues. emily: you are walking into this having worked for the obama administration. give us the color of the room.

what did it feel like? jennifer: to the credit of the folks there, it felt like the people who had come into the white house since obama left have looked at what i and many other colleagues did to say this is how we are going to modernize government and let's continue and accelerate that. i think that they are doing a great job strengthening the united states's digital service and the -- two units that do great tech for the american people. that is good. i am happy to see them doing that. they have a long way to go. on the other hand, they are doing this in the context of an administration whose other actions do not necessarily represent what is best for the american public if you are talking about services. emily: let's take a listen to what microsoft's ceo had to say to president trump. >> all the technology we have

today because it started in the government and the recent institutions you funded as well as the enlightened immigration policy. of course, i am a beneficiary of that and i hope we continue to be able to make sure the american competitiveness is what helps us emily:. emily:immigration has been a hot topic for president trump how did he respond to that remark? jennifer: i don't recall what the president said to that remark. i also know there was probably a lot more said behind closed doors. they had 5 breakout sessions and i was not in the one on immigration although i was glad it was on the agenda. emily: the president trump seem receptive to what was discussed? jennifer: president trump certainly responded to the tech ceos. i would really look i think more toward what the tech ceos are saying to each other and how they are going to hold the president accountable, not just

to the things about modernizing technology, but modernizing in the service of what? it should be services working for the american public and they will have to stand up and ask those questions as this keeps going. emily: you posted ahead of the meeting a talked about why you are going. politics aside, why did you think it was important to be there even if you did not agree with the politics? andifer: there is politics there is governing. governing is our problem. we have to get involved if it is going to work well. and as the tech industry, we are going to have to get more involved if we are want to make the is this of governing work. it doesn't work well today. try applying for food stamps, for instance. ,f you try to do it online until recently it has been almost an hour online, 50 screens with hundreds of questions and it doesn't work on a mobile phone. we have shown you can do that in seven minutes on a mobile phone including uploading your

documents. it's not just that that is a burden on the user, we need to get that outcome. correlated, snap, is with better education outcome for kids. when we have half of our population in this state not on the program that could be on the program, we are missing out on the benefits that will cost us a lot more later when we have to intervene. ,mily: as the former deputy cto what are the biggest challenges they will run into when it comes to modernizing government?> jennifer: the biggest challenge right now is getting the talented they need. there are amazing public servants working in the government now. a shout out to those who have come since and as one person replied to me on twitter, i am going in because it feels like if our government has sort of a house on fire, i am going to run towards that, not away from it. those are great public servants

and some will continue to go. there's also wonderful people who are working in government to do this for so long. we need to keep the talent going and it's harder to do it when people don't agree with the policies that -- of the administration. emily: you started an organization called code for america. tim cook even spoke about it. what is the top of your priority list as the president? jennifer: we are trying to prove that government services can work for all people with dignity, that government can work the way it should in the 21st century. we are there to reframe the conversation from modernizing to making it work for people. i think that we can do that, not just by speaking up at meetings, but by following up and showing it can work and then asking everybody who works in tech to pay attention, get involved, support government when it is doing the right thing and hold it accountable when it is not. that was jennifer pahlka,

code for america founder and executive director. global.p, tesla goes if a company ramping up its presence in china with an agreement to produce cars in the country. later, blue apron announces details of the ipo plans just as the food startup scene was thrown through a loop on the amazon-whole foods deal. we will discuss how the competition is heating up. this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ emily: tesla has signed a preliminary agreement to explore production in china. a coin to people the million with the matter, the region -- electric carmaker reached a deal with shanghai. it will move tesla a step closer to lowering its shipping cost in the world's largest auto market. bloomberg reported this on monday with janet hall. janet: it sounds like there is an imminent announcement for tesla to produce vehicles in shanghai and we are hearing this from china. not a lot of details yet on who the partner would be, but this is a huge move for tesla as it

seeks to become a global automaker. renault to just have one auto plant here in california. right now american auto companies cannot really make cars unless they have a local production partner and without that the import taxes are high. having a local partner in china would allow tesla to access china where luxury cars are all the rage. emily: how big a market to we think china could be for tesla? dana: we are already seeing signs sales of the model x are doing well. we came out with a model with a filter for climate control. china is the leader on climate change especially when it comes to auto. emily: there are two upcoming spacex launches. what can you tell us about those? dana: the next is a communications satellite scheduled for friday from cape canaveral in florida. on saturday they are going to iridiumatellites for

from brandenburg air force base. is the significance of these launches given the challenges spacex has had? back fromex has come the mishap of september and they are launching rockets on a more regular basis. their goal is that -- is to launch 20-24 rockets this year and that would be a pretty incredible launch cadence. emily: talk to us about what we are expecting. dana: launches can shift a lot because of last-minute technical issues or the weather and permission from the air force. if they launch one from florida on friday and another from california on saturday, that is pretty impressive -- unprecedented. emily: put it in the big picture when it comes to the private spacex's role within it. they are focused on driving down the cost of space and reusing rockets is a big part of that. they had a milestone in march

when they reuse the rocket for the first time. they will reuse the rocket again this weekend. the more they launch, the cheaper it gets as they reuse their booster. emily: our bloomberg tech there.r dana hall airbnb is launching a service for customers who liked fancy hotels. it will send inspectors into hosts homes to make sure they meet a set of quality standards. the new program could launch by the end of the year. coming up, more of our exclusive conversation with facebook coo sheryl sandberg. her thoughts on combating terror on the line and solving diversity problems. all episodes of "bloomberg technology" are streaming live on twitter. this is bloomberg. ♪

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emily: welcome back to the "best of bloomberg technology." i'm emily chang. we were turned out to our exclusive conversation with sheryl sandberg.

cheryl: we are making a big human resource investment. terrorism expert to work at facebook, but we are growing that as well as the human review capacity. --e about 4500 people sheryl: there is no place for any of this on facebook, no place for terrorism and we take that responsibility very seriously. we just announced last week we have been working on this for a long time, we will continue to work on it, but we have next steps. we are using ai to help us find any content that may be inappropriate and get it off even faster. we are making a big human resources investment. we already have researchers and law enforcement and terrorism experts to work at facebook but we are growing that including our human capacity. we have 4500 people around the world to review inappropriate content. we are growing that by thousands.

we are working with nonprofit governments, other companies around the world to make sure we all work together to make sure this content is not on our platform. for brands, we offer a lot of tools to know where their ads can show and know that facebook is is a community for them. caroline: you say you are working for nonprofits and governments. how are you in europe talking to governments? are you worried about the talk about encryption and some of the fines? sheryl: we are in constant conversation with the government on issues of security and issues that affect all of us working together. we have worked with government to talk about initiatives, occi. online content initiatives where governments can not just make sure terrorism is prevented but can actually do counterterrorism work. getting positive messages out there that stop people from doing things that obviously hurts many people. we also work with law enforcement officials all over the world to make sure that if there is anything we can do to support their work, we are able to do in this area. caroline: you launched in berlin, the online civil courage initiative.

the innovative use of the counter narrative. it is so complex, therefore, how do you think you can understand if you are improving -- what is the end goal or target? to make sure the numbers come down? what would you count as a success? sheryl: success from a company point of view is to make sure there is no inappropriate content of any kind. hate, violence, terrorism. any of this on our platform. we take our responsibility even more broadly. we want to contribute. over the past several years, tech companies have started working together, sharing information. when anybody identifies somebody that think they put inappropriate content, we know we have a broad response ability to do everything we can in the face of some of these threats to protect people. we take that very seriously. caroline: even though we are in the early days of brands, the terrorism element and fake news, do they feel this is changing?

sheryl: brands know facebook is a safe place for them to be. brands have a safe way and contextually safe way to communicate on facebook. caroline: i think what is also fascinating -- you talk very passionately about this element. you also talked passionately about diversity. this is something we are seeing now, brands becoming potentially involved in. what are your messages to brand to keep on drawing diversity, not only within companies, but also in advertising? sheryl: brands have such an important role to play because people see so many marketing messages. people can see hundreds of marketing messages a day. that means if we market products and services in a supportive of gender equality way, supporting female leadership, we can really make strides towards gender equality in the world.

the foundation will announce the glass line. it is an award given every year to cannes to the ads of the year for gender equality. last year, p&g won which showed a man seeing a woman doing all the housework. realizing you never helped his wife or mother and leaving his house and going home to his wife of many decades and offering to do laundry. caroline: talk to us about diversity. i'm a female looking to get a job and technology at the moment. i look at uber for example and maybe i am being put off. what advice might you give to uber answer the people wanting to get into technology right now? sheryl: obviously, the reports of what is happening at uber are super troubling. i'm glad they are taking action and all of us need to do more. we definitely need more women in

the tech field. we also need them in leadership in every industry in the world. we have these same issues. in technology, we have a special concern and opportunity which is that women are not studying computer science. in 1985, women were 35% of computer science and now we're down to 17%. we know girls are outperforming boys in schools in most countries of the world. all the way from elementary to university. we need to pursue our daughters and people of underrepresented that tech is for them. blue apron says it's targeting a $3.2 billion valuation, after shares of grocers and retailers fell on the news that amazon is planning

to bible foods. a whopping $13 billion deal. foods, a whole whopping $13 billion deal. >> this is a company that operates in a space, we know that food delivery is so fueled by competition, it's expensive space to operate in because so much of the costs go to marketing. as a land grab for wallet share for customers. it's essentially drizzly for blue apron in that whole foods will now have the logistical empire that is amazon and amazon customers will have more accessible foods. those are the kind of higher-order customers how the top 10% of u.s. households who are willing to spend a little more to get the quality the whole foods promises. that kind of happens to be the same group the blue apron is targeting. i spoke to an analyst earlier today who said they are all fighting for the same wallet share of these high spending

customers as can be hard for blue apron to fight down the value chain because folks are not willing to spend 11 or $12 a plate for a box of fresh food that might spoil. blueyou think about where apron's growth is going to be, they are going to have to figure out how to make sure they are the ones nabbing the dollars from high-end consumers and not whole foods via amazon. emily: and yet blue apron is a very different business from whole foods amazon. how does it change the competitive landscape? they are very different businesses. yes, they serve food to give -- to consumers. doing issee blue apron trying to market this aggressively. it's a new kind of idea sending people just the amount of food they need to make for a certain meal without a recipe -- with that recipe. they spend $60 million just last

quarter -- one million last quarter, in advertising. there's a percentage of revenue is going way up. , anof revenues last quarter extraordinary amount of money to be spending on marketing. that will help with the ipo, because the name is better. they are spending like drunken sailors try and get people into their service. the goal is to keep them and they have yet to show that ability. almost everyly: analyst says to expect more consolidation. should blue apron consider m&a or reconsider the timing? rx we've got nine days left for m&a to be on the table in the deal is scheduled to price next week. it is ingiven where the cycle of this deal, if something like that was going to happen, it probably would have already. i can tell you that a person familiar with the deal spoke to me and told me that management is focusing on refining its ipo really pushing this

lifestyle idea that corey was talking about. his recipes and prepackaged ingredients and that is so different than what a grocery delivery company does. and they are pushing towards addressable market, not just the fact they can expand, but only about 1% of all grocery shopping actually happens online. these are areas that amazon could help if you will get more used to buying their food off the internet. at thisms to be an ipo point, bible definitely be keeping eye on it. emily: we have new reporting out about how this amazon whole foods will work. job cuts in price cut the whole foods. cuts amazon denies the job , but we have sources that confirm it. are,d as grocery margins amazon is even worse.

the focus for amazon is very different, but amazon's overall profit margins are below 2%. lots of cash flow in the use that to reinvest the business. thing that whole foods shareholder activists are looking for. increases margins. out a newbnb rolling feature to combat the global refugee crisis. we hear from the cofounder, next. this is bloomberg. ♪

emily: airbnb is outlining an ambitious plan to use its platform to help refugees and evacuees around the globe on its new open home platform. the goal, to find housing for 100,000 displaced people in the next five years. we spoke with an airbnb host from denver who hosted several refugees. she explained why she signed up for this program.

>> when i was first contacted by airbnb asking if we could host a refugee in need, it was an unequivocal yes. it is consistent with our values as a family, and quite honestly, it aligns with the broader vision and mission of airbnb, which is to serve those in need. emily: we spoke with airbnb co-founder, who make new announcements about the platform from paris, and how the company is trying to get more people like susan signed up for the program. >> well, you can imagine over the last five years, we have seen incredible growth of our host community. it begs the question, what if we became proactive about situations in the world rather than just reactive to natural disasters? quickly, the topic of this came -- of displaced people came to us. currently, there are 65 million displaced people. that's the most since world war

ii. it also happens to be close to the population of the united kingdom. as we looked at what is airbnb good at? short-term hospitality, trust between strangers, and global presence. we thought we could extend this natural generosity into a platform we are calling "open homes." emily: you called this 21st century philanthropy. why are you doing this? >> i feel we have a responsibility, this incredible asset, this amazing community of over 300 million homes in many countries. looking around in the world of how we might apply what we are good at with where it is needed the most, it makes a lot of sense. emily: you are a $31 billion company. you have investors who placed huge bets on your future. how do you sell them on the idea this is worth devoting time and resources to, from a business perspective? >> you know, i think this is really just a natural extension of what we are already doing. it is a question of, why not provide the same solutions to travelers to those who are displaced?

emily: how does this benefit the business of airbnb? does it benefit the business financially? >> airbnb does not take transactions on this connection. this is about generosity in times of need. it is a part of the business. we have a great core business that is able to fund this kind of thing, but it's an investment -- it is just an extension of our values in the company coming to life in the real world. emily: what happens when there's a problem, like when a host and a guest don't get along? or maybe there is a cultural clash? >> we partner very closely with third-party agencies that are well respected and we work closely with them and provide the same customer service with the regular product as well. emily: airbnb was hosting a massive convention for hosts in november 2015 when the paris terror attacks happened. you were there. there is a very divisive debate going on around the world around immigration and terrorism.

there is talk of closing borders and building walls. how do you respond to that? >> i think if anything right now, the world could use a little more understanding of each other. if that is something we can do with our platform by allowing people to open their homes, and we are happy to play the part. emily: tech leaders are making critical decisions about how to work with the u.s. presidential administration. we have seen some tech leaders drop off presidential councils when they disagreed with president trump on climate change. what is airbnb's strategy when it comes to working or not working with the white house, even on issues you disagree on? >> we see home sharing as a nonpartisan issue. we work with democrats and republicans alike. we work with any administration to bring home sharing to life. emily: airbnb is expanding with the open home platform. you are also adding more experiences to the platform, instead of just places to stay. give us an update on the

business and plans for an ipo. >> from a business standpoint, we are really excited. in 2016, we launched trips, which allows anyone to offer an experience. it answers the question, what can i do? now that you helped me discover a local part of the city, how can i find out cool and interesting things to do? these experiences allow hosts on airbnb to share their skills and passions and allow outsiders to feel like insiders when traveling. emily: airbnb has three very involved cofounders. as the company has grown and moved forward, how do you distinguish your role, and what are your top priorities? >> i think each of us is nicely settled into what our passions are and what is most valuable in the company. i enjoy thinking about the future. i run a design studio inside the company, which is a research and development team. that's where the origins of the open form -- open home platform began. thinking about how we might

utilize the core competencies to put a dent in this global problem. plays coming up, jack ma his trump card. he delivers on a promise to create one million jobs in the united states, starting with small businesses in detroit. los angeles on the radio. this is bloomberg. ♪

emily: alibaba is pulling out all the stops for u.s. business entrepreneurs. the chinese e-commerce giant is kicking off a two day event in detroit, michigan right now, drawing in thousands of u.s. business owners and aiming to learn how to succeed in china , with the company's help. for the company's founder and executive chairman, jack ma, is following through on a promise to president trump to create one million jobs in the u.s. earlier this year. he is also trying to lure 10 million small businesses to

trade on his e-commerce site. >> i think it's great what they are doing. i think they are trying to get out to american businesses, small business owners, farmers, and agriculturalists, and trying to educate them on the opportunities in china, which are massive, and also get them to sign up on alibaba. they say, look, you have been selling in america for a long time, but there is so much opportunity in china and the economy is growing so much. you should bring business here and start exporting here. there are a lot of chinese consumers over the last 10 years with the rise of the middle class looking for interesting products produced in america. it's a great potential marriage. emily: is the demand actually there? >> that's a good question. i would separate the demand from the supply.

i think there is a demand in china for american goods. we have seen that repeatedly. the question is, where will that supply come from? i think the conference is great marketing, it is strong politically when you think about beijing and washington, d.c. and playing to both constituencies. as a matter of practicality, i don't know how many of these small businesses will be successively selling on alibaba. however, there is demand from chinese consumers for foreign goods. emily: what do you make of that as an alibaba investor? >> i think they have to position themselves for the long term. maybe within the next six to 12 months, they don't have as many u.s. based sellers on their platform, but this is a longtime play. when we think about the business, where we get excited is, what can they do over the next 3, 5, 10 years? if you look at some of the projections they made, they were talking about doing that $1 trillion in gross merchandise

value through their platform by the year 2020. that is three years from now. i think some help they could get from american suppliers would help them reach that goal. i have become very excited, and i would agree with my counterpart that most certainly it might take a little time, but over the long term, i think this is certainly an opportunity for the company to capitalize upon. emily: your counterpart, the other brian, jack ma promised he would create one million jobs in the u.s. can he deliver on that promise? >> if we are looking at a 100 year timeframe, i think he could. [laughter] i don't think in the next three to five years. the math doesn't work in his favor. that being said, there is a lot of trade that could obviously happen. when jack is doing is trying to open up the u.s. market to alibaba more prodigiously than it has been.

he's trying to get this brand in front of small businesses and try to make it more acceptable in the eyes of the u.s. chamber of commerce and other groups who have been battling with alibaba and the issues they've had regarding, for instance, counterfeits. emily: amazon made big news by agreeing to buy whole foods. alibaba has been investing in grocery for several years now. do you see alibaba and amazon now clashing on a new battle line? >> to some extent maybe, but they are doing this in very different geographies. when you look at what alibaba is doing, it is primarily in china, obviously. i don't think amazon has any plans to get in there, but who knows? amazon's takeover of whole foods certainly will make for a lot of interesting dynamics, but i don't necessarily think they are competitive head-to-head. i think they are learning from one another's strategies. you see that across the board. they have gotten into payments, media, cloud, so certainly they are learning from each other, but they don't directly compete in the same geography.

emily: brian buchwald, there has been concerns about alibaba and amazon clashing more broadly. will that ever come to fruition, or no because of the geographic limitations? >> amazon has had ambitions in entering china more aggressively. they looked at different paths as alibaba has looked out of china. alibaba has found greater success looking at the rest of the asia and other non-us centric markets. if you look at what alibaba is doing, it is taking the walmart approach. they are looking at more mass brands and investments in companies. they have been much more about discount marketers and large scale supermarkets, not whole foods of the worlds.

alibaba is a marketplace where amazon is the retailer taking principal risk. you could almost see amazon succeeding on alibaba with whole foods selling into china more so than the two of them really competing in china, at least in the near-term term. i just don't think amazon is the competitor that tencent is for alibaba in china right now. emily: brian neider, as an investor in alibaba, do you feel a threat from amazon? >> certainly not. there are a lot of other companies doing well in china. certainly tencent and jd.com are the ones that come to mind. today, amazon has not really played that to the extent alibaba wants to move into the u.s. and is bringing u.s. based sellers into china. i could see them becoming a little overlap. but to this point, not really. again, because of the geographical diversification. they learned more from one

another than they compete with each other. emily: that's it for this edition of "best of bloomberg technology." tune in tuesday and all episodes of "bloomberg technology," are streaming live on twitter. that's all for now. this is bloomberg. ♪

carol: welcome to "bloomberg businessweek." i'm carol massar. oliver: i'm oliver renick. week, the current state of the workforce and what it might look like five to 10 years from now. oliver: how job advancement looks a lot different in asia. carol: the real reason the gender wage gap persists. oliver: all that and more on "bloomberg businessweek." ♪ carol: we'