♪ coming up on "bloomberg best," the stories that shaped the week in business around the world. . uncertainty in germany political pressures mount for angela merkel. the justice department tells at&t, see you in court. the minutes of central bank meetings and retailers hope for bright results on black friday. >> the interplay goes on between the online and bricks business, it is important. ramy: high stakes on budget day. >> no one should doubt our results. ramy: in the u.s., the debate on tax reform heats up. >> the budget deficit is a

serious problem and it will get worse. >> this war of the rich on the poor is astounding. >> not everything in here is a bad idea. ramy: it is all straight ahead on "bloomberg best." ♪ ramy: hello and welcome. ism ramy inocencio and this bloomberg best, your weekly review of the most important business news, analysis and interviews from bloomberg television around the world. the week began with a political crisis in the european nation that has been a model of economic stability. angela merkel's negotiations to form a coalition government collapsed on monday. >> chancellor angela merkel attempted to form a new government. with thee collapsed

free democratic party walking out of coalition talks last night. the breakdown in discussions throws the future of her fourth term into doubt and raises the possibility of new elections in germany, something that would be unchartered territory in the period. as acting chancellor, she says she will consult with the country's president later today. >> it is a day of deep reflection.i will have to move forward in germany as i will do everything possible as transitional chancellor to make sure this country will be well led during these difficult weeks. matt: what happened that brought these final coalition talks to a collapse? >> it was clear in the end that the package of things they had negotiated were not good enough for the ftp. they were the sticking points, immigration, they cannot get through, and the ftp decided, looking at the

whole package, it wasn't good enough. matt: we are seeing the euro gained against the dollar. isn't this bad news for europe? >> i think the way markets responded tells us it is a local issue and quickly resolved, without much fanfare. that is important because right now, the cutie europe and brexit talks and further progress in integration -- on integration rests on a strong german leadership. >> the u.s. justice department is suing to block at&t's $85.4 billion takeover of time warner, a major blow to their bid to create a media and telecommunications empire. >> the bottom line is we cannot and will not be party to any agreements that would give the perception of compromising the first amendment protection of the press. so any agreement that results in us forfeiting control of cnn, whether directly or indirectly, is a nonstarter. unprecedented.

it is coming out of a republican administration, generally considered friendly to vertical dealers, big business, and we have no example. the last time a case went to court like us was 1979 and the justice department lost. >> ultimately, the justice department will have to demonstrate before a judge that consumers will be harmed. there is a lot of things in the complaint that would raise concerns are competitors and at&t, but the question is, will consumers be harmed? i think doj has a daunting case, a daunting battle in front of them. >> the white house this morning and yesterday trying to signal this is not anything to do with politics, despite the president's assertion against cnn. that said, i can tell you the department of justice has largely taken a cautious approach and everybody is weighing in, including mark cuban. he suggested when this goes to trial, it would need bad news for facebook, google and silicon

valley. the argument being this vertical merger, $85 billion worth, is a signal for them to play catch-up with tech titans. >> the u.k. government says economic outlook is getting worse. they was a warning as delivered their budget speech in parliament. >> we have already invested almost 700 million pounds in brexit preparations. and today, i am setting aside over the next two years, another 3 billion pounds. i stand ready to allocate further pounds if and when needed. no one should doubt our resolve. >> he put aside 3 billion pounds to deal with brexit uncertainties. is this to do it the situation of a no deal? is that with the prevailing pounds is for -- is that what for?ounds are they said previously they did not want to set aside for a no

deal. >> we have already allocated 700 million to prepare for all eventualities, including no deal. it also includes the preferred option of a transition period, plus, a free trade deal. that is what that 3 billion is for, the money we will need to spend to get ready for leaving the european union. a lot of things we would need to do in a no deal scenario, we would also need to do in a scenario of a transition period, plus a free trade deal. it is rightly made those preparations and i think people will expect the government to be on top of that. is not the only fed official expressing more doubt when it comes to inflation moving higher. the minutes of the fomc november meeting show a deeper than ever divide the train policymakers, rick inflation on the verge of accelerating and those saying rates should not move higher until it does. >> it is interesting and it has a lot to do with the fed's words, many, already ready to

hike near term, but the division over inflation puts the march hike of next year in question. a few, not even half, but a few significant doubts said inflation has to be rising on a path toward inflation before they vote for rate hikes, and they say the fed will have to monitor inflation developments closely. overall, a lot of consensus on the economy doing better. there is deepening concern over inflation, which is not playing along. ♪ released minutes of its october monetary policy meeting, and they are learning officials expressed concern about setting a firm date for the end of quantitative easing. have we learned more about the divide that dominates the governing council? there.w things here and at their last meeting in october, when they decided to extend quantitative easing but

at the lower pace, they did discuss how they want to implement that. they also discussed how they should change their policy guidance or whether they should set their policy guidance because at the moment, progress on inflation is linked to approaches. if the ecb decides to end that program at some point next year, that will have to change. that is what they discussed. after talks, the commission collapsed around angela merkel, the country's biggest opposition party may come to her rescue. they are open to discuss a merkel.nt backed by support from them could offer a way to restore political stability in europe's biggest economy. how close are we to breaking that deadlock in germany? >> well, the speculation is growing that this move today that merkel and opposition , wills, social democrat meet, and that news is pointing

us toward a rerun of the government that germany had for four years. the social democrats are very much hedging their words but there is the overarching issue of german stability and there will be appeals to that in the days going forward. ♪ friday.everybody is focused on retail sector . spending the strong, said to be off to good start. by 5:00 p.m. yesterday, up 17% year over year, according to adobe analytics. black friday began yesterday. what response of using from shoppers? >> there has been a strong start to the fourth quarter. during black friday, we saw that. it is well online and we open stores at 5:00. in the stores last night, a lot of inner stories, it is tracking well. whenever hallmarks as on the channel retailers is the ability to track online, on the mobile and in-store. it is a national pilgrimage.

have a great value over shopping is happening in stores, 70% of america shops during the black friday window. >> all of your stores are in the square and you have been closing some. earlier this year, cfo said it macy's was starting again, the magic number would be 245. can we expect mark store closures? >> we announced we will close 100. we close 70. there are 30 more. there may be properties were closing but we serve nationally in all communities as a macy's brand. the interplay between the online business and the bricks business is important. we are a national on the channel retailer and that fights between bricks and clicks is important. expect this to way that carefully. still ahead as we reviewed the week on bloomberg best, mike no regrets makes it -- mike makes a bold call on bitcoin.

up next, more of the week's top business headlines. the chinese automaker aims to bring its brand to the u.s. market. >> at the current stage our internationalization process has just taken off. ramy: this is bloomberg. ♪

ramy: this is bloomberg best. i am ramy inocencio. let's continue the tour of this week's top business stories. next, united states heartland and another chapter in a controversial saga with the keystone pipeline. >> transcanada has cleared one of the last hurdles for building the keystone xl pipeline. shares of transcanada rising on the news and has given permission to build across the state. nebraska's public service, an -- approved an alternative route for the pipeline put uncertainty into the mix.

>> they did not get exactly the clear permission they wanted. ist the commission did today approved an alternative to what the company had proposed, that there were three alternatives that they were looking at. and this is one of the ones that the company has to figure out, do i want to continue with the project? >> it is certainly a good first step or a good next step in our goal of getting more energy infrastructure to be able to ship our products more efficiently, less expensively, and more safely. >> the fact of the matter is we do not need that energy. that energy will prove to be disastrous. that will turn out to be an incredibly stupid decision, whereas we should be spending our time creating good paying jobs all across america. in every single rural and urban community to build the kind of sustainable infrastructure that will let our country be healthier and richer.

this kind of decision where it well lead to the old-fashioned kind of pollution is shortsighted and plane down. -- plane dumb. >> uber covered up a massive hack attack covering up 57 million accounts. in 2016, hackers stole the personal data of 15 million customers and 7 million drivers. uber, including former ceo travis kalanick, kept the breach concealed for a year rather than report it. they paid the hackers $100,000 to delete the information. >> it is so crazy. more than a year ago, uber heard from the hackers the day it found a way to get information, names, telephone numbers, that sort of information on 50 million writers. -- riders, and 7 million drivers, most importantly, drivers license numbers for 600,000 drivers. the concern is that is information that uber was required to disclose and did not.

more than a year later with a new ceo, the company is deciding to come forward and say here is what happened. >> toshiba planning to raise about $5.5 billion for its assets to avoid being delisted from the tokyo stock exchange. they are raising more money. what kind of pressure is toshiba facing over this delisting? >> they have been in trouble for a while because of the nuclear assets in the u.s. this is the westinghouse business it bought a few years back. they had a very troubled foray into this business. multibillion-dollar losses. because of that, they've had to raise capital. the shareholder equity is negative and they need to move that back in a positive territory by the end of the fiscal year which is this upcoming march. they are in a process selling

their chips business. they have a tentative agreement to do that. now they are saying the regulatory approvals may take longer than that date. they want to raise capital separately from that, so they go through the process of raising $5.5 billion to be able to fill that. is lookingr marvell to build itself a future outside of the area of the market by buying a rival. how much of this is triggered by what we have seen with the broadcom deal? >> there was a lot of consolidation in the semi he it you are putting two distinct companies together. on the one side, chips for hard drives. and then cavium, which does

networking process, is much faster growth and is an area where it has specialized in traditionally. >> asking fiat chrysler to deep in the tie to try to relax some regulations. speaking exclusively to our china correspondent, the president said the company is poised to enter the u.s. market. >> at the current stage, the internationalization process has just taken off. we have laid down the groundwork and carried forward car sales and service options in 14 different overseas countries this year. entering the u.s. market will be a huge breakthrough. >> there are already cars manufactured in china and sold in the u.s. volvo and gm does it. they would be the first chinese rand in the u.s. if they

succeed to do that in 2019, it would be the trump-xi brand. branding will be crucial, of course. they may have to change the name, when the came up with about a decade ago. >> janet yellen will step down along j. powell's confirmation. according to the fed, this is not unexpected. >> it was an open question. janet yellen's term on the fed as a governor runs until 2024. so she could stay on. it's been done once before. but today, janet yellen is making it official. she has submitted the letter of resignation effective on her successors swearing-in. what it does is put pressure on the administration to try to hurry up and name some additional fed governors. a lot of work to be done. >> let's talk about one of europe's biggest airliners, the revenue for the full year. pretty much right in line with

what analysts estimated. the estimate was for 5.01, and this is a very fluid changing landscape. they've got a busted flush. >> you can see in the statement we've made today, that the first half is looking extremely positive and forward momentum is strong and that is a direct result from the markets. they have come out and they had taken some capacity out as well. we have benefited from an airberlin, and it is part of consolidation. it is very good news and we've come in at the top end of guidance. the forward outlook is good. >> the hpe shares after

the company said that effective february 1, we will see meg whitman, the current ceo, step down and be replaced by antonio . >> they tried to put the slow growth business and high-growth software, spending billions and billions on acquisitions and it just isn't working. the businesses shrinking and she has not been able to turn that around, despite the strength of the balance sheet and reorganizing these businesses. the one-time restructuring charges for this company and over $10 million a week right now. $130 million this quarter alone. i think when we look at what going on, it's not so much that she is getting pushed out but she's not delivering the results i'm sure she had hoped to hewlett-packard enterprises. >> more rollbacks of obama era policy. the fcc chairman announcing plans to overturn net neutrality rules, calling the measure "imposed, heavy-handed, utility

-style regulations." practically, what would we see as ramifications from the fcc rolling back these rules? >> in the practical matter, i do not think you will see short-term changes. in the long-term, you will have possibility to see changes in how internet service providers operate. there are rules that address it from blocking traffic, throttling it and doing deals to prioritize traffic. they are talking about wiping away all those rules. they don't want to do that, but it would allow them to do that if they wanted to in the long-term. ♪

♪ ramy: welcome back to bloomberg best. i am remy inocencio. bitcoin began the week on a roll, hitting a new all-time high on monday. but safety concerns dragged on cryptocurrencies. the company behind another digital currency suffered back. how can investors keep these swings in perspective? there is a new cryptocurrency hedge fund. he discussed the principles and practicalities of the market on bloomberg daybreak america's. >> this whole revolution came out of a breakdown in trust. they came out of the 2008 financial crisis. people say, we no longer trust financial institutions or governments. today,s of the world still, it is hard to trust central bank. decentralized revolution, which bitcoin is the poster child of, is a response to the breakdown of trust. david: is it investment or

trade? there was a cryptocurrency i never heard of, called tether. there was some theft of that and it drove bitcoin down. 5.5%. it has come back since. it seems to be a lot of volatility with cryptocurrencies. >> we're in the second or third inning of this revolution. these are all young experiments. each of these coins are individual ecosystems. bitcoin, the largest, is really a decentralized system of money. for a decentralized store of wealth, but there are other coins, decent market cap coins with their own system. because prices move so far, like anything, people are nervous. money,e made a lot of there are moves, you want to book profits and get out. >> to be fair, people lost millions of dollars they would not get back. how does that not put the model

in question? >> the total market capital, the crypto space, is about $250 billion. $30 million got hacked. it gets people nervous. it was stolen. we spend a lot of time thinking about our coins, have to keep them safe. two years ago, when i had a smaller amount invested, i have d less time. >> what is your call for 2018? >> so i think we end the year at 10,000. and close to 500 and ethereum. this still plenty left on edition of "bloomberg best." more compelling conversations, including the need to resolve the brexit impasse, and the republican tax bill may soon come to a senate vote. on what it could mean for the economy got fiery on bloomberg television. >> we make a gift of $1.5 trillion for the superrich. the heck of itor

is really shocking. ramy: this is bloomberg. ♪ is this a phone?

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>> frankly, the possibility of having the u.s. back on tpp soon is quite low. but, japan would like to make a persistent effort to persuade the u.s. to return. i believe the fact that 20 items are put on hold will encourage the u.s. to come back to the table. ramy: that was japan's economy minister speaking exclusively with bloomberg about the future of the transpacific partnership. meanwhile, in europe, continued negotiations for a separation. talks continue to creep forward on issues related to the u.k.'s divorce from the european union. anxiety is rising over the slow

progress. especially in the financial sector, where new rules and conditions await. we discuss the state of play this week on bloomberg television. >> is there anything the u.k. can and should do no to break the impasse? interest of the u.k. to do so. what i think confuses the ideas of the british public opinion is probably that what is out there under all the attention is the amount to be paid. today, the government may authorize the prime minister to substantially increase that double it, but this may give the public opinion the impression that it is a

market negotiation, a dealing about the amount of a penalty that has been inflicted to the u.k. for having decided to go its own way. this is absolutely not the case. this is not a fine on the u.k. this is just what happens when there is the liquidation of any company. the different shareholders take on assets and liabilities. so, it would be much preferable if these sums had come out about of a fine population of what is best calculation -- find e calculation that is going on about how much objectively the u.k. has to pay. and then there are the other negotiations on the many other aspects. it is a pity, i believe. if i was a brit, i would be a bit offended that there is a

price out there. >> i guess it is emotions, and that is kind of what you see. >> good politics is to dominate emotions, basically. >> in an ideal world, brexit secretary david davis says there is a 50-50 chance that there will be an agreement at the december summit. do you think it is higher or lower? >> he is well informed, better certainly better than me. i believe there might be a 50/50 probability. >> germany is not in a political vacuum. there could be more elections. we could have a reduced chancellor, a reduced strength in germany. could that hold back reform within europe? is that a risk you are not considering? >> it is worth noting that the european union is a union of 28 democracies. so, there are always elections somewhere, there are always coalitions building somewhere,

it does not always go smoothly. this is something we need to live with in the european union. it does not mean our work is therefore stopping. >> on the subject of brexit, we might see the relocation of some clearing businesses. some investors are concerned about the higher cost of raising money for eu-based businesses. is this something that concerns you, the higher cost of funding for european business? >> of course, we are still not in a stage of brexit negotiations where we are discussing our future relations, we are still discussing the first set of issues, sitter and citizens rights, budget settlements, the irish border. only then can we start discussing future relations. as to the question as far as how it's going to impact business in the eu, the u.k. is going to be a part of those conversations.

but, in any case, it is clear that the brexit model the u.k. has chosen, leaving also the eu single market, financial institutions based in the u.k. will lose eu passports. so, they will need to rely on other forms to continue to provide business in the eu. ramy: meanwhile, in washington, the u.s. senate is preparing to vote on his version of the tax -- it's version of the tax refom bill. guests on bloomberg television have plenty to say about the proposals under discussion, starting with nobel prize-winning economist paul krugman. paul: there is a case that the marginal tax rate has the two highest tax rates. the actual collections is not too high, but 35% is too high at the margin. a true tax reform that broadened the base and brought it down --

actually, paul ryan's original proposal was a pretty decent proposal with a lot of bipartisan support. it died because of republican opposition, but that was ok. >> one of the most contentious parts to this whole debate, the tax breaks that upper-middle-class people, particularly in blue states, really enjoy. homeowners were talking 401(k)s, that fell out, and of course the state and local tax elections. is there an argument that the some of these tax reduction that people feel like they have a right to, or sacrosanct, it is time to get rid of them? >> the mortgage interest deduction is not a good thing. if we start from scratch, it probably shouldn't exist. state and local governments are there for a reason. they are raising taxes to pay for public services, remember what state and local governments mostly do is education. do we really want to discourage states from spending on children?

so, that is not a good one. not everything in there is a bad idea. but, the point is, of course, it is very selective, and somehow it only goes after -- not so much blue states, but good things people do. meanwhile, they are saying let's repeal the estate tax. >> if you look at the middle-class tax cut, do i like it? no, it increases the deficit and doesn't increase growth. the middle class already consumes more government services than they pay in taxes. it's just going to increase their demand for government services. do i like that piece of it? no. no. the income taxes, do i like shifting it from professionals to job creators? yes. i do not think that blows a hole in the deficit, but it really comes down to the corporate tax. >> how are the tax cuts going to increase the consumption of federal help by the middle-class? >> it will slowly over time,

because if you are paying less for government services than you are receiving, you tend to want more government services. you will vote for increases in government spending if the taxes don't go up proportionally. if you want to keep the system in equilibrium, you charge people for the government services you consume. then they will want to consume less government services because they cost a lot. the real issue is when you lower the corporate tax rate to 20%, what impact will that have on growth and how is that distributed to the rich versus the poor? >> right. >> i think most serious conservative economists would say it is going to cost $500 billion in tax revenues over the next 10 years. but, a small change in capital investment can have a large impact on productivity. >> this war of the rich on the poor is really astounding. on top of a huge budget deficit, unprecedented inequality in america, the largest wealth is soaring at the top, they want more and more and more.

were sitting with republican >> if you were sitting with republican senators today on the fence, what would happen in the senate and the house? collins, mccain, flake, mr. corker of tennessee. what would you advise them about the longer-term picture versus the medium clinical needs? >> patriots should oppose this because our budget deficit is already huge and rising. this is pure populism. an unusual kind of populism, populism by the super rich. but, it is pure populism. we cannot afford tax cuts. the idea has somehow gotten into our heads in recent weeks that oh, $1.5 trillion, that we can give away -- it is unbelievable in any serious country. unfortunately, we are not seriously governed right now. government is flaky in this country. how you start out with the idea that we can make a gift of $1.5 trillion to the super rich for

the heck of it is really shocking. >> effective tax reform means you get the rates down in exchange for illuminating -- eliminating deductions and exemptions. you have to step on a lot of toes to do that and do that right. this congress and this president isn't inclined to step on very many toes. that is pretty obvious. the failure to take on the real drivers of the deficit, which are medicare, medicaid, and social security. >> more items need to be categorized as investments. how accurately does the budget deficit represent the fiscal situation here in the u.s.? >> the budget deficit is a serious problem and it will get worse. we have passed the rubicon where , basically, there is a generally accepted belief that it is very hard to pay back your debt. that is when you get debt to gdp ratio of over 60%. we are at 72%, 73% range. we are headed toward 90%. there is nothing on the horizon

that looks good in the area of reducing the deficit. basically, it is primarily and almost totally driven by the health care needs of the baby boom generation as it retires. that generation, which i am not a member of, is just starting to draw down on the health care accounts. it hasn't even hit the long-term accounts, which are even more expensive. so, there is no good news on the horizon relative to deficit unless this congress and this president want to step up and do something constructive, which they clearly are not willing to do. the president took medicare and social security off the table a long time ago, and this congress doesn't have the courage to put it back on. ♪

ramy: you are watching "bloomberg best." i am ramy inocencio. let's return to our review of the week's top stories.

more geopolitical issues moving markets around the world. >> the cabinet meeting a few moments ago has ended with the president saying he is going to be designating north korea as a state sponsor of terror. he said, tomorrow, the treasury department will announce additional sanctions. a, quote, "very large one" against north korea. at this cabinet meeting, this regime must cease all support for international terrorism. is this the first time north korea has been on this list? >> they will be just the fourth on this list after cuba was removed. north korea is already probably the most isolated nation on the planet. it does have extensive trade ties with china, but by and large, it is restricted from trade with most nations. the un security council has

passed two fresh rounds of sanctions this year, so it is not entirely clear how many new avenues of finance this really cuts off for north korea. i think, from the u.s. perspective, it probably does add a little heft to their argument when they meet with the other countries that still do some trade and allow north korean workers in their countries. >> zimbabwe, waking up in the nation this morning to a new post mugabe era, who resigned as president yesterday, ending the .7 year rule >> we have the vice president to return to the south african nation on wednesday to replace mugabe. is that a certainty? >> it is an absolute certainty, said to actually be sworn in as immediate or interim president of zimbabwe today. to hopefully lead a more social

economy that will allow former leaders, and even former leaders of the ndc, the opposing party as well to come forward in securing a better future for the economy. there is hope, but how big it is will only be seen in time. ramy: let's get to turkey as the 's central-bank moves lira'sain to curb the slide. what did the central bank do, and why are investors giving the central bank the thumbs down? >> the central bank reacted to the slide, lira's slide this morning. it split to a record low and bond yields spiked. so they cut off chief funding that banks had access to. it pushed up bank funding costs 25 basis points, effective as of tomorrow. so the move helped trim some of the losses for the currency, but a lot of investors still remain unconvinced, unimpressed.

bankthink the central needs to -- some believe the central bank needs to push interest rates up higher to combat accelerating inflation. essentially, they believe that monetary policy remains to loose still too loose. >> the fifth round of nafta talks will draw to a close tomorrow, but without much progress. canada and mexico were standing firm on the resistance of one of to some of the headline demands from the u.s. meanwhile, american officials are waiting for the two other countries to bring alternatives to the negotiating table. >> they wanted this to be a lower key negotiating session to make progress on some of the lesser issues they felt could be moved forward. but, it does not appear they are getting very far on that desire , either. the u.s. demands for the rules of content for automobiles, settlement, and the sunset clause where nafta would end after five years, unless they would agree to continue it,

those proposals are sticking points. the canadians and mexicans have said we cannot really move forward because it appears the u.s. wants to scuttle these talks. until we have some certainty about where they are going, it is very difficult to reach agreements. >> oil prices have climbed to the highest in two years as opec ministers prepare to meet in vienna next week. bloomberg first reported opec and russia have crafted the framework of a deal to extend production cuts until the end of next year. $64 on brent, have we essentially priced in opec production cuts here? are they going to deliver them when they meet? m in. have priced then i think the market price, an extension of this agreement to the end of 2018 several weeks ago, in fact. and opec is now on the hook to deliver this. if they don't, i think we see a repeat of what happened in may, perhaps even a stronger downward correction than we saw then. the market was disappointed, prices fell $2.50 on the day of

the meeting, and i think that is why everyone is working so hard to try to to get everyone on board, including russia, to agree not just to an extension, but to announcing that extension on november 30. that has always been the sticking point. ramy: a former united states treasury secretary, jack lew, is joining than to goldberg -- joining lindsay goldberg, adding his name to a list of government officials settling in buyout shops. >> it becomes not is he going into finance? but what finance firm, and there are little bidding wars that are going on and a lot of meetings that go on in the lunch circuit. they go to the new four seasons, do something like that. jack lew is a fairly understated treasury secretary. he is going to lindsay goldberg, . this is not one of the mega buyout shops that we know, blackstone, kkr, those who have

hired big government officials. this is a more traditional mainline private equity firm that does family-owned businesses and that sort of thing. 24,000 suvs from volvo, planning to modify them to permit autonomous driving. it is a private company owned by a chinese firm not affiliated with volvo ab. why go for volvo? >> one of the things volvo has going for it is the cars are generally known to be quite reliable and quite safe. they have fitted in with lots of lasers and cameras and gps and all sorts of things so they can drive on the road, but they have had a backup person sitting in front just in case something goes wrong. so far, those tests have proven pretty positive. the fact they are buying 24,000 cars suggests that they are reasonably happy with how the

tests went. i think they had 100 of those for those initial trials. so, that is what they are doing. >> nestle could be going shopping. based company said to be expanding into healthier food through a potential purchase of hain celestial, a maker of vegetarian foods. they may not be alone in the interest. who else could be interested ?ch >> it is one of these companies, a lot of interest in a little bit of the company. really attractive assets. we do not know if they are going to do the whole company transaction or if they are going to try to cherry pick brands. will hain be interested? you're not going to selloff your crown jewels and be left with a less good company. you could see a strategic company team up with a private equity company to take out the

whole of the business and then divide up who gets which assets. ♪

>> take a look at the bloomberg. we have the function that shows short interests. it particular, you want to pay attention to the percentage of float that is shorted for this company, 17%. a pretty high number here, even though short interest has been trending lower.

ramy: there are about 30,000 functions in the bloomberg and we always enjoy showing you our favorites on bloomberg television. maybe they will become your favorites, too. here is another function you will find useful, q uic go, where you can get quick takes and fast insights into timely topics. here's a quick take from this week. >> fish are a renewable resource. large numbers can be caught with little or no effect on the population. this is because of natural reproduction. at least, that is supposed to be the case. today, about 90% of the world's fishing grounds are being fished at maximum sustainable rates or are overexploited, risking total collapse. fish account for nearly 20% of the animal protein consumed by people all over the world. here is the situation. the united nations food and agriculture organization

concluded that fish stocks in the world's oceans and seas have continued diminishing since the 1970's. and that the situation in the mediterranean and black seas is alarming. catches have fallen by 33% since 2007. and 59% of stocks are overfished. advances in technology like sonar and satellites used to locate fish have sent catch rates soaring, and commercial nets have left pockets of the ocean practically vacant. then, there are countries like china, which has overfished waters near its shores. they now send boats that encroach on the traditional fishing grounds of other nations. here is the argument. fishing regulations can only be set by governments and their exclusive economic zone, which extends 200 nautical miles from shore, but they have been mostly ineffective. the seasons don't seem to curb

the stress that has been put on the fish population. another approach that has been more successful is a catch share program. these grant a portion of allowable harvests to individual fishers, communities, or companies. they can use those rights to catch fish or they can sell the rights. since fishers want their shares to rise in price, they have incentive to maximize the value of the catch. fishing demand is highest, then slows down during spawning season, and therefore, limiting damage to the fish stocks. another potential fix is agriculture, or fish farms. in 2014, farm raised fish have surpassed wild caught fish as a source of food for humans. but, this solution may come with an environmental price. critics are concerned that they are damaging coastal ecosystems by releasing pathogens that harm wild fish populations. relocating the farms further inland and using systems to

remove harmful contaminants are being experimented with as potential solutions. with worldwide demand for fish increasing, for once it is fish not being around that is starting to stink. ramy: and that was just one of the many quick takes you can find on the bloomberg. you can also find them at bloomberg.com along with all of the latest business news, and analysis, 24 hours a day. that is all for "bloomberg best" this week. thank you for watching. i'm ramy inocencio. this is bloomberg. ♪

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