♪ emily: i'm emily chang. this is the best of bloomberg technology where we bring you the top interviews from this week in tech. the annual developers conference where they are doubling down on privacy. about a new book where she is investing in what she thinks the biggest priority should be for the tech industry. as apple attempts to branch out somervices and streaming,

current and former employees think so. to our top story. it is the biggest ipo in years. uber made its public debut too much fanfare on the new york stock exchange on friday. i spoke with uber's ceo soon after shares started trading in new york. >> today is a tough day for the markets with all of the china uncertainty. no one knows exactly where that is going. you cannot pick when you go public. you can control how you execute a company. are you building a great service? are you bringing in happy consumers all over the world. we will focus on what we can control. we raise a lot of capital to invest and grow for many years. that is what we are focused on now. we have trade talks on the rocks and you are right. there is a lot of red on the board.

how much do you think this has to do with that and how much do you think it has to do with uber, which is still losing billions of dollars a year? >> it is. we have a road to improve profitability. , therentains -- markets are external issues and internal issues. i don't spend too much time worrying about what is affecting what. i am focused on building a great service. we will build value for long-term shareholders. emily: you are on the road and the price dropped to the lower end of the range, lower than what your bankers had floated a couple of months ago. what were investors responding to? what were they telling you? is a group of investors that love the platform story of transportation. i think that how hard it is to

execute on that and how extensive it is an capital intensive it is, those are all challenges. i think the good news is we have found a set of investors who are long-term oriented, believe in our vision and we have to execute to make sure that the bet they made on us is a great bet. they: you have compared company to amazon. you have some who think it is more like ebay. how do you deliver on the amazon? >> we have to execute. when you think about what amazon did, they went beyond bookselling to other categories of retail. we are doing the same thing. expanding. as we expand, we expand our audience around the world. i think that the ones who have been on us, the investors who have been on us long-term will be happy. seey: one thing we did not

with amazon is growth slowing down. growth is slowing down. how much do you think you can grow revenue in your most mature markets? >> when you look at the platform, audience growth for q1 is at 33%. on a $50 billion size, there are few companies in the universe that can carry that kind of a growth. when you have a $12 trillion market ahead of you, you have plenty. emily: even in the mature markets? >> you have to have mature with a quote. lyft is strong on the public markets. how much have you been following that? >> there is certainly some effect. they are a different company. we are global. we are the global player.

we are the category position leader and we are getting into a number of different transportation categories. while we do not think we are consulates, some people look at it. a tought through opening. i think that for both companies, ownership, it is an enormous market. canink long-term, they succeed and i certainly believe that we can. emily: coming up, she is one of the most high-profile women in tech. whitteninda gates has -- written a book. we will talk to her about the moment of lift. if you like us, you can check us out on the radio, the bloombergs bloomberg.com and on sirius xm. this is bluebird. ♪ -- this is bloomberg. ♪

emily: for years, melinda gates has been working on equality. she has fought to reduce poverty and increase access to health care and education. she wants to make sure women get their fair shot, investing in women investors and entrepreneurs and with her new book, the moment of lift, how impairing -- empowering women can change the world. i sat down to talk about where she is putting her money intact and why the moment was right for her to write this book. >> i have been traveling for over 20 years and i heard these stories that called me to action. i felt like with the #metoo movement and so many women elections, we have this opportunity to create equality but that window could close. i want to make sure we keep pushing and get equality for

women. emily: you talk about your decision to stop working and state home with the kids. you said bill did not understand. you also realized you could have. you did not understand. you said you had growing up to do. tell me about that. >> when we got pregnant, i surprised bill and said i wanted to leave microsoft. for him, i think he encouraged me. after the birth of our first daughter, even within a month, he said what else are you going to do because i knew i had that side of my brain and that i enjoy doing work. we had to work that out over time. i came into the marriage with some bias about who does what in a relationship at home. i think maybe i gave him a pass on a few things because he was the ceo of microsoft and i had to learn you don't get a pass, you are a dad. isly: my favorite anecdote

that when you decided division of labor is not fair and he was going to do school drop off, which is a lesson to other parents, if the ceo of microsoft can do it, so can you. tell me about that. >> it was one of those conversations where you ask who does what. we agreed where we wanted our daughter to go to school. i said let's wait until she gets to third grade to put her in that school. it's not close to our house. bill felt strongly that she started in the garden. he said what can i do to help he said i could drive. it's an hour commute for him to microsoft. what we did not realize is that by having that conversation, sure enough, three weeks in, far more dads started to drive their kids and a mom came up to me and said do you see what is happening?

we went home and said if bill gates can drive, so can you. emily: you have a chapter on workplace culture. you talked about susan fowler and some of the bad things that happened at uber. uber is about to go public. where do you think they would be if the change she ushered in had not happened? >> i don't know. i don't think any of us can answer that question to be frank. i know what happened there needed to be called out. it takes courageous women. when one woman speaks out, other women need to come around admin say this is not ok. -- and men say this is not ok. the way we get change in any culture is for men and women to transparently talk about what is going on. the reason that is important in the workforce is because if a woman is harassed in the workforce, she leaves her job within two years at an 80% rate. emily: you are investing in

women in technology. one of your strategies is to invest in women. women account for 9% of venture-capital investors in silicon valley. they get 2% of funding. despite all of this conversation, the #metoo movement, the momentum, the numbers still look that way. how much progress have you seen in the last year? >> i would say the progress is slow. we are begetting. this is not just about silicon valley. if silicon valley is too stuck on what they are doing today, we can take this to other places. chicago is supporting women led companies. they are not only venturing in sponsoring them, they are investing in them. it is becoming a bigger part of the economy in chicago. we can do that in dallas, atlanta and rural areas. to me, the game is changing. i am excited that more women led businesses are starting to be invested in. we have to talk about people of

color. less than 1% of venture-capital funding goes to a woman in business of color. that makes no sense to me. i know there are fabulous ideas out there for many women of color as well. emily: the reality is that men are still in position of power and they can make a difference. we have silicon valley visionaries who are building electric cars, self driving cars and rocket ships to space and connecting the world. do you think it is more men in mencon valley -- d think if hiring women a priority, it will happen? >> of course. you set a goal and reach it and don't make excuses. people say the pipeline, there are not enough women. create pathways in. we know the best universities in the nation are getting more women and minorities by changing that first computer science class. we can do this. we have to set it as a goal and

have to measure. the great thing that is happening is the press is putting pressure on these company's to be transparent. once you are transparent and there is pressure there and you have a tight labor market, women are voting. they are saying i don't want to go to companies that do not support women. i will look at other offers i have. that will create change. what sort of benchmark should the industry be setting? what sort of benchmark should the company be setting? should it be 50-50? >> eventually. i think we can get to 50-50. we need to stop saying that's not possible. we need to stop having excuses for it. we need to look at the barriers in society. when young women can look at and see -- up and see three dozen women doing things in computer science, engineering and biology, when they can look up like a young man can, you can

see more women going into these fields in droves. the more we talk to young women about -- these are not just tech problems, you are creating the future. these are some of the most creative things going on in society. these are fabulous jobs. you will start having women go and decide where they want to create the future. biggest womenthe led funds, teresa was on the show yesterday. you're looking for a return, how big of a return? >> i will not put a number on it. i look at all of the investments bill and i make and we have a scale in which we do them. i want a social return at first and over time, a larger in logger return. it is important to not just voice our concerns and to point out problems but it is also important to move money. that is when -- we know young companies need to be financed if

they are going to grow. it is time we do it. inyou are also investing tech ideas that you think will change some of these issues in family care, child care. how do you think technology can improve childcare and family care, pay inequity? >> if you could go on your phone and every city in rural town -- and rural town in a mecca and have a rating system and say these are the caregivers and what their ratings are, do you know how much easier that would make things when you have a sick child? all of a sudden, mom or dad says i need to go home and i have a sick child. what if we have applications that help us fill in those gaps over time? another one that i saw that was fabulous, a woman is starting a business where if your child needs extra support, maybe they have dyslexia. maybe they have i issues. do you know how hard it is to go

find specialists in the city? if there was a platform where you could go and there were 15 specialists and you could see ratings on them and see if they were good for other people's kids, that would change things for moms and dads. emily: there is rising concern that technology has too much power. you have the list with worn out there saying big tech needs to be broken up and she is getting support on both sides of the aisle, do you think it needs to be broken up? >> i think technology has upsides and downsides. you have to look company by company, what the technology companies are doing and are they creating the most good in society. or has the downside gotten too large and you have to look at the company and say should it be regulated in a different way? emily: these democratic candidates will take positions on technology. what kind of positions would you like to see them take? see them takee to

positions on making it more equal for women. women are 40% likely to have access to the internet. we know that women led businesses are not getting funded. i would love for them to take positions and say this technology should be for everyone. not just these one-off ideas. gates,that was melinda cochair of the bill and melinda gates foundation and the author of the moment of lift. coming up, tweeting against twitter. the present unleashes his fury against social media, saying they are silencing conservative voices. we will talk about it next. this is bloomberg. ♪

emily: president trump is taking aim at facebook and twitter, claiming they are silencing conservative voices. monitor theing to censorship of american citizens on social media. this is the united states of america and we have what is known as freedom of speech.

we are monitoring and watching closely. it comes after a decision by facebook to band certain far white -- far right are tours, including alex jones and laura blumer for violating policies on hate speech. tim o'brien joined us to discuss , along with kurt wagoner. he said we are in the united states and we have this thing called freedom of speech. the thing about these companies is they are global companies. not u.s. companies. they are building rules and guidelines for people all around the world. often times, you will see that they have these blanket policies because they are supposed to apply not just two people in the u.s. were people everywhere. people sometimes forget that. emily: they are private companies so they get to make the rules. you --

they do not want to use the platform because of that. facebook and twitter and others have said that there are rules people have to abide by. emily: many folks say facebook did not do this soon enough. another tweet from the president as part of this particular tweet have, diamond and silk say -- they have been treated so horribly. what has been done to them is sad. it is getting worse for conservatives on social media. diamond and silk are commentators who are supportive of president trump. biography-- wrote a of the president before he became president. i know you have some insight into how he thinks. what do you believe is going on in the president's mind? there are a couple of things going on.

the president is arguing that a social media platform should be agnostic. is overhave to remember the past weekend, he also tweeted that he did not think the new york times, washington bet, cnn or msnbc should allowed to publish on twitter. so, he is not arguing from a position of free speech or freedom of press. he is defending his advocates and targeting his enemies. unbundled when we are speaking about the president. when we talk about the social media platforms, i think they are entering into adulthood. they want to be considered as technology platforms and not publishing enterprises. the reality is they are putting published material into the public round. and that has always been subject to regulation, whether it was

radio or tv or newspapers. at some point, social media will have to come to terms with the reality of that. differentes with a set of regulations and a different set of responsibilities. these two things are colliding with one another. emily: i want to go back to facebook's statement when they banned these folks. we have band individuals and organizations. the process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led to us removing these accounts today. if you go back to even five years ago, weren't these policies incredibly crude? like if it wasng not naked and hit look, it was fine. >> there were breast-feeding photos that were taken down but bombings that were left up. there were people who picked up it word always and said has not always work like this.

we have seen facebook say time and time again that we do not want to be the arbiters of truth and the ones who decide what should stay up and come down. in november, they said they would create an oversight committee where if you have content taken down, you can appeal to an independent board that would review your case. we have not seen that come into practice. they have announced plans for it. they are trying to say we don't want to have to make these decisions. emily: i sat down with senator marsha blackburn last week and she has been supportive of the president. critical of been the crackdown on conservative voices in particular. here is what she had to say about the issue. inwhat we have to realize is silicon valley, a lot of people have a liberal slant. that is their preference. they bring that to work. they are engineering and building these algorithms.

left instead tilt of being down the middle. we know they do not tilt right. anly: she is making important point, tim, that the people who are building the algorithm, they impact those algorithms. clearly, this is an issue that is getting increasing interest on both sides of the aisle. do you think this is something that will become a big deal in this election? a i don't know if it will be big deal in the election, i know it is healthy for us to discuss. we have to be careful about the terms we are using. i don't know that this is conservative versus liberal speech issue. -- constitution is always has always regulated the type of free speech we are entitled to. we are entitled to have free political speech. we are not entitled to stand up at a movie theater and scream "fire." one of the distinctions facebook

is trying to make is that people they have decided to censor were in silent predicate -- rhetoric. what they are trying to do is police violence or aggression on their platforms, which it is in their rights. that is something both senators could get behind. this idea that louis farrakhan miloleage annapolis -- are representatives of whenrvative speech is cute they are also trafficking in violent rhetoric. that is an important extension to make. up, a pixel price cut. google debuts its newest smartphones. there is a catch when it comes to what is inside. we will head to google's i/o conference next.

and followck us out our global news network on twitter. this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ emily: welcome back to the best of bloomberg technology. google is looking to make its smartphones more attractive to customers. this after an entire line of pixel phones failed to sell. the newer models will range from $400 to $479. i spoke with the vice president and general manager about the new devices at the developers conference in mountain view, california. >> the new phones are really exciting. what we set out to do is design a product at a much lower cost

and then rely on our software capabilities to bring premium experiences to that lower price. we can make it a premium experience at half the cost or half the price of your tick -- typical flagship phone, including our smartphone camera. emily: they are cheaper with slower processors. what is the argument to buy one of these over a cheap competitor? >> the argument is we are using more commoditized, lower-cost hardware. we are in a unique position to have the software capabilities within our company to be able to bring those premium experiences and make them run really fast with really high battery life on the lower-cost hardware.

it we can bring the best smartphone camera, which is a pixel camera, into the price point. we can deliver security, we can offer something that is not very typical. your phone gets better with each update as opposed to getting slower. emily: you're trying to make privacy a selling point. once the argument to buy a pixel -- what is the argument to buy a pixel when you have apple making privacy one of its huge marketing stands? >> privacy is very important to us. we build it into our engineering. the pixel 3 a comes with something we call call screen. people are bothered by robo calls. we have the capability on device that takes advantage of our language processing and voice-recognition to screen calls and help you avoid robo calls. it can help you determine

whether a call from someone you might know something really important that you want to pick up or leave for later. this is done entirely on device. nothing gets uploaded anywhere. the information is gone the minute you hang up the phone. we are looking at some technologies, we are prototyping technologies, including foldable display technologies. we don't have any new products to announce, we just excited to bring pixel 3 a, the first phone to have true premium flagship smartphone experiences to the midrange price points, which are half the price of flagship phones today. emily: the smart phone market is flowing, where do you see the global smartphone market going? >> people are holding on to

their devices for longer. this has happened in the premium segment. one of the reasons is they've gotten more expensive. you used to be able to get a premium phone for $500 just a few years ago. they have gone up to $700 or $800. some are over $1000. we set out to build the pixel from the ground up, using commodified hardware and betting on the fact that our software capabilities which are unparalleled in the industry can bring those experiences, the right performance, the right battery life to that lower price. these prices with premium experiences, we are making the camera in a premium smartphone available to a lot more people. emily: that was the vice

president of google. we have more highlights from the developers conference. take a listen. >> this is the first time they have really leaned heavily with hardware, with their own devices. in years past, they did more experimental hardware, phones. this is a basic phone. they are competing with all of androids partners. like you said, sales fell last year along with the rest of the premium market. they are clearly spending a lot on hardware. google has spent money on other things in the past. they have moved from project to project. the only thing that is consistent is there work on search and machine learning. emily: tell us with different compared to last year, specifically the focus on privacy. >> you saw a big strategy shift.

every product they announced, they lead with we are thinking about users and privacy. they brought in this incognito mode with the chrome browser. they are bringing that to maps and youtube and other google products. they make their money from advertising, they sell targeted ads from collecting data. at the same time, they see privacy in line with their interests and they want people to feel comfortable using google services. emily: will customers buy in? apple is pushing privacy as a huge priority. you've got a hugely competitive smartphone market. a lot of cheaper competitors out there have been doing this for a

long time. >> i think google will say they've been doing internet security for a long time as well. they are in a position similar to facebook, there are a lot of issues around data that are being dragged into the mud in congress. they certainly want to talk about being a helpful google. the messaging here is their utilities, they hold your life. they are trying to contrast themselves with social media, which is associated with a lot of negative qualities. earlier today, there was a plane that said google control is not privacy. that's a strong rebuttal from a group that is supporting local journalism. they still have critics. emily: you've got some very googly activity with people jumping behind you, trying to get a good photo. android, only 20% of devices are

running the latest operating system. we don't know how many are running the latest operating system. they are not up-to-date. that means security and privacy aren't being utilized. how big of a problem is that? >> this is been a problem they been trying to address. you could read the pixel strategy, we have control over this like apple has with the iphone. it gives them a lot of advantages. there are features around privacy and security, they introduced away for phone makers to update android phones in a way they've never been able to do before. what google has to rely on our third-party manufacturers, a lot of carriers who have been opposed to google. it's a vast and complex system they don't have control over.

they have produced new numbers today. it's a little bit better, but there is a wide gap. apple has been messaging we do software upgrades and we are the pro-privacy company here. emily: coming up, despite calls for change, the gender gap in silicon valley is still wide open. we will highlight the women trying to close it. we will discuss next. this is bloomberg. ♪

emily: the world of silicon valley has created and will success stories. they were mainly focused on men. as the industry comes to terms with its gender gap, and author -- one author is pointing out the women. they were featured in the book. they join us to discuss.

>> i had come out of my last, -- last book, that was very male dominated. this was surprising to me because you share so much negativity and it exists and is real in silicon valley. i found these astounding women who had succeeded. i wanted to know how they did it. what does the world look like for them, sitting at the table, meeting with entrepreneurs, going out for funding. it surprised me how strategic they were in their success and how it's possible to increment your way to success as they did, navigating before they could pioneer. i was really wowed by that. the stories are very personal. it's personal lives, its professional lives, it's how

women juggle all they/we do. the whole thing surprised me, how women succeed, what the outcomes are, there are these important success stories, noticeably theresa right here. it was so inspiring. emily: i am so glad you did. i didn't know about you. obviously, you worked in a male dominated venture capital firm. you started your own venture capital firm. what strategizing did you do along the way? the times you knew you weren't -- were the only woman going into the room. >> i would say the biggest thing is being aware of that and

sometimes you have to think about that and take advantage. early in my career, if i was going to some big tech conference, if everybody is inundating the same entrepreneurs, if i can say something smart about the business, the chance they will remember me instead of someone named joe or bob is higher. i viewed it as a positive. it's an opportunity. emily: there are many women who could've succeeded in silicon valley, what was it about the women you highlighted? >> that's a great question. i think it's what teresa touched on. looking past possible slights. looking beyond that and maneuvering the on those things,

having a sense of humor was always super helpful. being optimistic, finding an area of specialty like risa did. -- teresa did. being quantitative. really knowing your stuff, working harder than just about any guy in the room. those were some of the commonalities they had. they love the industry. they love venture capital. they love being part of this ecosystem that is silicon valley. in those ways, they had optimism and perseverance. emily: you are part of this new movement. you and your partner started a new firm. melinda gates has invested in your firm. there are organizations that are getting funds together to improve the representation of women. the you feel the change happening? do you still feel we are stuck in the past?

>> i have always felt like there's been a more secret underground sisterhood, going back to the early pioneering days. in the beginning, many other people would not put it on dinner. it was super helpful for us. now it's not only out in the open, the male entrepreneurs see it as an advantage. we have this different network for recruiting, for deal sourcing. it's wonderful to see it be so public and out there. we wouldn't be anywhere without our mail allies. i think the book is about a lot of venture capitalists for venture capitalists who happen to be female. she wrote a book that is the

story of people from outside silicon valley who came in and had no proven path and found their own way. oakley that will appeal to a broad range of entrepreneurs and people whose dreams are here in silicon valley. emily: in the middle of my own reporting process, it changed. people started talking about the #metoo movement. i had to do a bunch more interviews and call people. how to let change reporting process? was a conversation underground before? >> i thought it would make the women less reticent, more willing to speak out about injustices. with this book, i found that was the most challenging thing. they have succeeded to a certain extent by expecting perfectionism among themselves.

to show their vulnerabilities was very difficult. they worked so hard to get where they did. it wasn't easy. it was still something where they had to exceed expectations. it was hard for them to be vulnerable. that was #metoo, another surprise for me. emily: you've been investing for a long time. i'm interested in and update of what you think is hot. i want to hear where you think it's going. >> it's been a while. i've been doing cybersecurity since 2000, when it was a small little backwater. there were a couple of little companies. that continues to be a big area of investment and interest.

there's quite a lot of activity in terms of ai machine running, some specific places are interesting. companies like chime are in our portfolio in addition to those using machine learning in cybersecurity. we are starting to see some interesting applications in machine learning. the really boring stuff where a lot of the money continues to be a hot area. emily: what is your outlook on the recent ipos? >> i think all of those companies are doing quite well. i think we have more in the pipeline. i think this is going to be a really good time for growth in tech ipos. emily: is it impacting your

investment strategy? >> these are companies that are after the investment. what it does say is for those that are further along, the market is open now. five years later, it's really impacting those companies from four or five years ago. emily: still ahead, is apple worried about its brand? that's a concern from a number of current and former employees. we will bring you that story next. this is bloomberg. ♪

emily: apple stores are being hit by complaints that customer service is getting worse. brand building is more important

than serving shoppers. the quality of staff has declined. they opened more than 500 stores. apple announced that the retail chief would be replaced. >> she tried to turn apple stores into luxury emporiums rather than a place for shoppers. before, it used to be a place you could go when and grab a product off the shelf and go to a cashier and pay for it. that is simple retail 101. you were able to do customer service, go up to a dedicated place and get it fixed. the problem is, both of those core things are much more difficult. cash registers are gone. it's hard to know which employees are there to navigate you to people. getting things repaired is a lengthy process.

times to wait for repairs are adding up. the genius bar experience is gone. now you have roaming geniuses. you have geniuses under trees. apple stores are all over the place. it doesn't seem like they have a vision for what the store should be anymore. chief, theew retail hope is apple will start to go back to its roots, which were very successful stores. emily: the online ordering experience has gotten a lot simpler. does this have anything to do with her departure? >> that's a good question. it does not appear that she was fired. my interpretation is she was wanting to leave. she gave good reasons for wanting to leave, spending more time with her family. she is from indiana originally, worked at burberry in london for many years. you would want to spend time with your family.

it does not appear they did everything they could to get her to stay. i think they realized it was time to shake things up. you saw that toward the end of her tenure. they went back to that hard push of iphone sales and upgrades. they will continue to reverse the sales slowdown of their key products. emily: has apple given you any response to this report? >> no. they declined to comment. they did hire a new retail chief. that's giving a lot of optimism inside the company, especially with 70,000 retail employees who think there will be positive changes. when you have so many stores across the world, there are 505. there is a new store opening in washington, d.c..

there are going to be mixed opinions. in recent years, there has been an increase in complaints about customer service, people not agreeing with the direction. there is optimism that there is going to be a shift back to what was so successful under previous retail heads. emily: and that does it for this edition of best of "bloomberg technology." you can tune in. you can check us out on technology and you can follow our breaking news network. this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ >> coming up on "bloomberg best," the stories that shaped the week in business around the world. trade talks get testy. tariff threats rattle markets as the u.s. and china tried to reach a deal. >> you have a market that was not in position for a complete breakdown in trade talks. >> they broke the deal. >> i would rather not do a deal than do a bad deal. >> earnings reports rolling in, another gloomy forecast. occidental in a bidding war for anadarko. uber begins its ride as a publicly traded company. >> we found a set of investors