♪ emily: i am emily chang in san francisco and this is "bloomberg technology." on the cuff. joe biden on the verge of clinching enough electoral college votes to officially win the u.s. presidency. this as size of stimulus emerge, and right on time. new york city nears the threshold for another shutdown. u.s. at risk.

evidence russians just pulled off the most sophisticated and largest hack of u.s. government agencies ever. what they may have taken and how. cooling-off. the red hot airbnb and doordash ipo stock prices of last week falling off, as analysts assess their value. we will talk to ron conway of sb angel, also an early backer of both companies. the first u.s. stocks fell for a fourth day as investors wait for a stimulus to become a reality. that mixed with the likelihood of a second new york city shutdown painted a bleak picture. give us a roundup. >> earlier in the day, there was a very bullish tone and optimistic tone may be set last week by those ipo's you are talking about. by the end of the day, both of those stocks falling. a bit of a pull back on friday as well. airbnb up more than 100%. aboutp 500 on the open

0.9% -- on the open up 0.9%. there is no stimulus passed. probably the bigger news, governor cuomo saying that new york city could be shut down within a month. that brings back the reality of the virus in the near term to investors. we see the s&p 500 down about 0.4%. the dow transport really underperforming. when the virus first emerged in china in january, the dow transports was the index to lead. keep an eye on that one. year's defense, the nasdaq 100, new york faang index, both of those climbing higher as investors are seeking that safety. as for the virus itself and the vaccine, vaccine makers earlier today higher. you see a bit of sell the news action. astrazeneca down 7.8%.

that probably has more to do with their buy of alexian pharmaceuticals for $39.1 billion. it is a rare disease specialty company. their one drug in particular is a rare blood disorder. astrazeneca making a bid for this biotech company in a bid to expand their portfolio. that stock absolutely soaring on the day. over the last three days, alexian pharmaceuticals up more than 35%, the best three days since 2002. the biggest story is the bearish reversal. the s&p 500 at one point up 0.9%. on the close, down about 0.3%. concerns about the virus and the fact that there is still no stimulus at of washington, emily. emily: all right. we will be watching for additional stimulus by the day. thank you so much for the update. meantime, electoral college members in all six battleground states where president trump most fiercely contested the

results cast their ballots for joe biden today, effectively cutting off the president's path to overturning the election. for the latest, i want to bring in josh wingrove. we are waiting for this to e threat pass that 270 -- vote threshold, but what does this mean? does this put an end to president trump's efforts to challenge the results? >> probably not, given everything else has not seem to, but it might put an end to public and senators and other lawmakers sort of going along with it. that is the most likely thing here. biden will take this here as a clear turning point, a watershed. we expect to hear from him in a little while. say thesically going to people have spoken, let's move on. president trump has not given any indication -- [audio drop]

-- he wants to cast himself as, you know, the victim of a hoax. he uses political incentive to do that. think we can expect donald trump to go quietly, but fromould see a little less republican senator's. emily: we know president-elect biden has been naming his members of his cabinet. as we get closer to inauguration day, is the trump administration -- how can and will the trump administration make this transition more difficult? oni suppose it depends whether they schedule any sort of counter events that might sap

the appearance of the transition. by and large, we think that at the career staff level, biden is getting engagement. we don't want the baton to be dropped in terms of the vaccine rollout. a lot of people running that are. staff -- career staff. certainly at least biden has not expressed a lot of concern that there will be some complications there. but you know, it is what it is. dizzy by talking about the president. he has given no indication that he will accept the results. thats offered no evidence the rest of us should not accept the results. it leaves the republican party in a bit of a quagmire. they cannot really get off side donald trump. one congressman retiring today spoke out a little bit, but beyond that, most have not. emily: hmm.

meantime, vaccinations have started. of course, it will be a while before everybody gets them. there is a huge logistical challenge ahead. the pfizer vaccine needs to be stored at super low temperatures. how is the rollout going so far and what are the biggest challenges ahead going to be? josh: yeah. i mean, i am canadian and even i ld where theyo have to store that vaccine that. we are destined to see even more good news with modernity vaccine later this month -- moderna vaccine later this month. anthony faucher gave an interview talking about the johnson & johnson vaccine, which is a little different. it is really good news across the board, because it will mean that not just one kind of vaccine will be able to help. that said, we are still months away. this is the sort of rain on the

parade part, and it's an occupation i have -- i'm sorry. we are still six months or more away from widespread availability. social distancing will be part of the equation for a while. there is surging demand. news, good news, but we are not out of the woods yet. i believe one of the trump officials today called it sort of the beginning of the end. we are sort of entering the final stage, but that does not mean we are crossing the finish line yet unfortunately. emily: josh, i am from hawaii. you can imagine how cold i think this temperature is. let's hope they do work out these logistical challenges, as we go by the day. josh wingrove, our resident canadian, thank you so much for that update. all right. news that pinterest has paid $20

million to settle a legal case with its former chief operating officer, who alleged she was fired for speaking out about gender discrimination at the company. she said she was paid less than her male peers and was less out of -- left out of pinterest's ipo process, even though she was the number two executive. released and she joint statement today. -- her released a joint statement today. all right. the u.s. government doubles down on its scrutiny big tech, as ftc takes another hard stand on the biggest social media and video platforms. we will have all the details next. this is bloomberg. ♪ the usual gifts are just not going to cut it. we have to find something else. good luck! what does that mean? we are doomed. [laughter]

that's it. i figured it out! we're going to give togetherness. that sounds dumb. we're going to take all those family moments and package them. hmm. [laughing] that works.

♪ the u.s. federal trade commission has issued orders to amazon, youtube, and facebook and six other social media companies to hand over information about how they collect and use information from users. the country's top privacy regulator is saying the firm's use of consumer data is secrecy."in the sleeping demand comes after the agency sued facebook for alleged violations of antitrust laws just last week. we are joined by the managing director at rbc capital markets. obviously, the pressure from the u.s. government on big tech in general has been ratcheting. how much does this latest salvo from the u.s. government change the equation? expression, your emily, it just ratchets up the pressure on these companies. it has become a clearly bipartisan issue. in the congressional hearings in the middle of the summer, it

wias what i called the opening of a can of whoop ass. these companies have clearly become very large, very powerful. there are legitimate questions as to whether they become too large, too powerful, both in terms of their acquisitions and internal practices. the scrutinies superhigh. it very much limits the ability of these companies to do any large-scale acquisitions. emily: this statement from the ftc today, the decisions that prominent online platforms make regarding consumer and customer data remain shrouded in secrecy. models,s about business algorithms, data collection, and use have gone unanswered. policymakers and the public are in the dark about what social media and video services due to capture and sell user data and attention. it is alarming that we still know so little about companies that know so much about us. as somebody who has covered

these companies for so many years, i am sure this is probably the height of scrutiny that you have seen on these companies from the u.s. government. how big of a risk should investors take this into their when they are thinking about whether to invest in these companies with already high valuations? mark: well, let's see. regulatory issues are not necessarily new. google has paid i think about $10 million now and fines. those are european fines. facebook has paid to the ftc -- through the ftc for acknowledging a dissent decree. investors are used to fines. investors are used to this kind of scrutiny. i do not think it changes the investment basis. you would have to have a required. -- breakup or change in business practices. a lot of these models, it is kind of a trade-off for consumers. if you're a free service, you have to give up some of your privacy, some of your information.

i think it makes the service a lot better. you get targeted ads rather than junk mail. i think most consumers prefer targeted ads. how they in fact get the information to target the ads, that's kind of a secret sauce for these businesses that they will not tell. they may be forced to now because of regulars. that's the new issue. i do not think it changes the investment thesis for investors. emily: what about the risk in particular of facebook being broken up, given that the ftc certainly has not required it but the fcc has suggested that could be a remedy? spinning off. >> one of the smoking guns that came out of those congressional hearings this summer --and by the way, was brought up in a couple of books published last year -- is that there is no question that facebook but instagram in part to take out what they perceived as potential

future competitor. and so, those are the things that antitrust laws are sort of meant to stop, or to at least address. why it was not addressed the first time, the ftc has looked at that. it's a bit of a mystery. it does raise the issue that these will be forced breakups. i think breakup of whatsapp, it's a little harder to see what the rationale of that will be. it's not clearly the same industry as facebook. the pressure is going to be there. i think there will be required spinoffs that -- it is unlikely that there will be required spinoffs but it is possible. emily: you are bullish about how uber comes out of the pandemic. why? sorry, emily. this remains uber, our topic in the group. we have noticed this multi-year rise in the interest of ridesharing. what i found most interesting in this report, this survey was the

finding that consumers are finding new use cases for rideshare. -- are starting to use ridesharing during the middle of the day, during nonpeak commute times. people were starting to use ridesharing to run errands. if that use case continues post-covid and you have your general use cases rising for social events, airport runs, what it means is that the use cases for ridesharing, uber, lyft, will all be greater post-covid. i thought that was an unusually bullish take away so we continue to like uber. it's our top pick in ridesharing. emily: uber is obviously one of the companies that has struggled in the midst of the pandemic. stitch fix is another company that you are looking at that has struggled on early as well, made big jump cuts, but seems to be taking off like a rocket ship. what are you seeing in terms of the path ahead? mark: that will be a covid recovery play.

category, itl accelerated like a rocket ship throughout covid, except for fashion and apparel. we did not want to buy close to go out because we were not going out. we are starting to think about going out. there has been a lot of pent-up dollars. i think people will be looking to refresh their wardrobes. in the meantime, i think stitch fix, that company, i think they have done a lot of product improvements. the innovation really drive value for these companies over time. i think investors may have underappreciated some of the changes that they have made. the site is more personalized. they figured out new features. the have kind of gameified service a little bit. i think you will see a really nice, sharp recovery in both new users and revenue for stitch fix. we have had a dramatic surge in the shares. i fundamentally think it's a much stronger asset, it -- i fundamentally think it will be

much stronger asset coming out of covid. emily: you have been covering tech a long time. i am sure you have been following that airbnb and doordash ipo's last week. the ceo seemed stunned when i told him live on air where the shares were about to open at. as we head into 2021, are you concerned about fraud in the market? we are look -- froth in the market? we are looking at a couple of companies that are postponing their ipo's until next year as they try to get a sense of what is happening in this market. mark: well, yeah, this is unusual what we have seen. i do not have a formal opinion on either airbnb or doordash. i want to look at names this year that have wrist a lot because their estimates have gone up. i look at facebook or amazon. it is not so much the rereading. we have not seen these multiples fly to the moon. the numbers have gone up. estimateseverybody's on the street for amazon have

gone up materially since the beginning of the year because their revenue growth has accelerated. the cloud computing business, all three of their engines of growth, have benefited from covid. i think there is a less risk in a good, solid lane like that. my guess is you will see a recovery back, he returned by investors back to the standardbearers of tech, especially those that benefited, but also came up with new investment initiatives during the course of the. amazon is the poster child. they are increasing distribution capacity by 50% this year. they really leaned into covid. think what will come out of that for them is accelerating market share gains. emily: all right. great expectations for a lot of these companies. rbc capital markets' managing director mark mahaney, always appreciate you telling us whether they can about. coming up, russian hackers are suspected in a global campaign in attacking some of the most critical u.s. government agencies.

we will bring you everything you need to know next. this is bloomberg. ♪ every year, we set out to do one thing: help the world believe in holiday magic. and this year was harder than ever. and yet, somehow, you all found a way to pull it off. it's not about the toys or the ornaments but about coming together. santa, santa, you're on mute! just wanted to say thanks. thanks for believing.

♪ emily: a number of u.s. government agencies were targeted in one of the most audacious attacks in recent memory. the department of homeland security, as well as treasury be commerce, are said to among the agencies experiencing this breach. hackers tied to the russian government are suspected in the campaign. for more, i'want to bring in bloombergs cybersecurity reporter. how exactly did this work? >> this is part of a highly sophisticated global campaign. what happened is hackers inserted a vulnerability into the software update of a company called solar wind. solar wind is a texas-based

company that sells technology across the u.s. government and private sector. for example, the state department, fbi, u.s. military and hundreds of fortune 500 corporations use this technology. when the software updates were pushed out, this meant that a customer was potentially compromised. as many as 18,000 of its customers may have been exposed during the attack -- during the hack. emily: so, who is, as far as we know, behind the campaign and what was their intent? >> hackers tied to the russian government are suspected to be responsible. one of the suspected culprits is , whichoup called app 29 became infamous when it attacked -- hacked the dnc and 2016. it is known for hacking covid vaccine research this year in the u.s. as of now, it appears that this was part of an espionage campaign, according to analysts

that are studying it. they note this is really early and they are still trying to understand what was taken, what happened, what the intent was. if this was a cyber espionage campaign, it is going to go down as one of the broadest and consequential in recent memory, says many of the analysts who are studying this. emily: many expected a hack like this to happen during the u.s. presidential election. it did not appear that that happened. how does this fit into the broader story? floating the theories around washington, d.c. right now is that while the u.s. government was laser focused on ensuring that the 2020 election went on without a hack from any foreign adversaries, the attackers used it as an opportunity to get into other parts of the government and other corporations that, you know, were not under the same scrutiny by the department of homeland security and the fbi, because so many resources at the time were focused on the

election. it is possible that they saw the election as an opportunity to focus on other targets, because they knew that's where the united states was focused. emily: so, what is the cyber threat landscape that president-elect biden will be entering? >> it's really interesting, because this is coming as, of course, there is a transition of power going on in washington, d.c. what many of the people studying this breach say is that this kind of thing takes some time. it's going to take months until we fully understand who was targeted, what was breached. they expect an ever increasing list of what is already a wide-ranging hack. what the biden administration will be inheriting is an investigation into what's managers, mitigation and they need to figure out a plan to deter the adversary responsible from conducting future hacks. one thing the u.s. government has tried is naming hackers -- emily: we are going to have to leave it there.

thank you so much for giving us the lay of the land and for president-elect biden as he enters office. ron conway, angel investor, joins us to talk about tech evaluations. his stakes in doordash and airbnb. that's next. this is bloomberg. ♪

emily: we have some breaking news. california has officially passed its vote in the electoral college, meaning joe biden now officially has as many votes as he needs to take the presidency of the united states, california passing 50 electoral votes for joe biden. senate majority whip, one of the highest ranking gop members, said it is time for all to move on. we will see if this gets more republicans publicly on side. meantime, airbnb and doordash

pulled back after their blockbuster debut. both keans' shares are down after doordash surged 86% with airbnb surging 113%. here are the ceo's reacting to those questions. >> when i was still training thomas for honda seven years earlier, this is not what i was thinking about in my car making deliveries. it is certainly surreal. emily: shares open at $139 a share, more than double what you priced at. >> that is the first time i heard that number. i don't know what else to say. i am very humbled by it. emily: airbnb ceo, a loss for words, when i updated him. joining me to talk about the

path forward for both companies and early investor in both, airbnb and doordash, ron conway, sv angel, has seen companies such as google and facebook go ublic. i know this is a really proud moment for you. that said, all the talk right now is about whether the price for both of them is just too high. what is your reaction and your take on that? on: i would like to comment on what might be even more significant for our country, how apropos is it that california put joe biden over the edge to be the next president of this country, so that we can have some civility and productivity? that is as exciting as the ipo's

last week. emily: you are very involved in local politics, i know. do you think having president biden in office will change the way business is done in silicon valley, over the last four years? what will change for tech? ron: i think for a while joe biden has really big fish to fry. he has to resolve the covid pandemic, and he has to get the economy off the ground. i don't think joe biden is going to be thinking about the tech community and silicon valley for a while. and, nor should he, given the priorities this country needs work on. emily: let's talk a little about airbnb and doordash. they have been part of the fabric of this community. there has been controversy over

there role in the community. i am curious on their public debuts, and if there are signs we are in a bubble? ron: i actually think doordash and airbnb our mission-driven companies. they are companies that are greatly improving the life, in the case of airbnb hosts, who have met their income with the fees they get from the guests, in the case of doordash, trying o keep the restaurants in this country alive, and also employing the drivers who are delivering the meals. i actually put those two companies in the mission driven column, which really is a proud thing for the tech community.

as for the stock prices, i think airbnb and doordash have big shoes to fill, but the markets they serve are gigantic. the travel industry is a $3.4 trillion industry and the food and the food delivery business is approaching a trillion dollar total available market. these companies have a lot of headway to grow. emily: you are still investing n a company every week, as you have been for years. on the private side of the market, are you seeing valuations are too high? ron: you are right, sv angel, we invest in one new company a week for 30 years. we have been at it for a while, as you know.

valuations have crept up over the past few years over the pandemic. valuations have kind of flattened, but they have flattened at a pretty high level. the amazing thing is, the number of founders who have the courage to start a company during the pandemic is astounding. our flow rate is just the same as it has been. we look at 50 to 70 companies before we invest in one company a week. the activity level of entrepreneurs during the pandemic is pretty astounding, t has stayed steady. emily: interesting. what is your outlook as silicon valley emerges from the pandemic?

i have spoken to investors who told their portfolio companies, if they have a chance to raise, take the money now, because we do not know what is to come. do you think these good times will continue or funding could dry up as we head into next year? ron: i am on the more optimistic side, given the vaccine, and assuming that gets officially distributed across this country, i think innovation will thrive more than ever. if the vaccine distribution for some reason had a hiccup, then i would be a little more worried. i don't see that happening. am very optimistic. emily: given how active you are in san francisco politics, i am curious what you think about the governor's response to the covid response.

we are currently in a lockdown. you have companies leaving the bay area, leaving san francisco. are you concerned about that? ron: wow, that is a lot to cover. as far as gavin newsom's covid response, i think he has been very, very responsive, along with the mayors across the state. i am absolutely delighted the tech community is playing a huge ole in california right now in curbing the spread of covid. apple and google several months ago announced a software app called exposure notification. california launched their exposure notification app called california notify just a week ago.

in the last week, over 7 million californians have turned on that app. that will help save lives because if someone ends up getting covid just by typing in a verification code in their phones, they will anonymously let everyone know they have been in contact with over the last two weeks for over 15 minutes that they have been exposed to covid and they should quarantine and do intense testing to see if they have covid. the tech community is playing a really nice role here. mily: are you concerned at seeing hpe moving to texas, oracle moving to texas, elon

musk moving to texas? they played a huge role in building up the tech industry in san francisco. on: yes, it is alarming, but i have always thought that technology should be spread all across this country and not just on the two coasts. i think texas now has enough, given the two announcements last week. we need tech companies to blossom and relocate to the midwest. there is an income inequality gap in this country that is causing the divide and polarization. by creating more jobs in the middle of our country, i think the tech community can be a big art of the solution to the polarization in the country right now, so that we have tech companies in the middle of the country as well.

emily: ron conway, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us. it has been a while since we had you on the show. interesting to hear what your thoughts are as we go through this unprecedented time. ron conway, sv angel cofounder and managing partner. as we approach a changing of the guard, questions remain about how the new administration will tackle china. especially with regards to tech. we will speak from former trade representative carla hills. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪

emily: breaking news, president trump has just indicated attorney general bill barr will be leaving the department of justice before christmas. the president just tweeted, had a nice meeting with attorney general bill barr at the white house. our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job. bill will be leaving before christmas to spend the holidays with his family. the president saying jeff rosen will become acting attorney general during that time. we are still waiting for president-elect biden to make his choice. again, attorney general barr will be leaving the department of justice before christmas. meantime, as the u.s. prepares for new leadership, one of the major questions is, how will china be handled? the u.s.-china economic security review commission came out with a report highlighting the continued threat china poses to american values and rolling back china's dominance.

the role of tech is emerging as a clear seam throughout the annual report. here to join me to discuss, carla hills, who served as the trade representative from 1989 to 1993. carla, thank you for joining s. it is great to have your perspective. what are you expecting president-elect biden's path and strategy will be on china? carla: first of all, i think his tone with china, indeed with all governments, will change. it will be far, far more diplomatic. secondly, he will search for areas where he and his team could work with china, like climates, world health, nuclearization or denuclearization. in other words, a dose of

diplomacy. emily: will he reopen the phase i deal, will he for a phase two? carla: i don't think the eopening of the phase i deal will be the first thing he does. i do think he will try to remove some of the tariffs, particularly on our allies, on china, that are hurting our own workers, farmers and manufacturers. i think he will deal with our allies in trying to talk to china through the issues that are creating the friction. when china agreed to join the wto in 2001, in it was a market open. it moved in that direction.

i think the quarrel is not that china is communist, but that it is not adhering to the rules and that is something that is my belief that joe biden will address. they are familiar with both trade and chinese, he speaks mandarin. i think it will take focus on these issues. emily: there are folks who believe the president's tougher stance on china was long overdue. do you think there is anything about president trump's trade war with china that was a factor? carla: i don't think you need to take a tougher approach. i think you need to take a more strategic approach, where you are facing differences. my own view is, if in 2016 we had joined hands with our allies

and gone to china and said, you cannot give subsidies to state owned enterprises. you cannot fail to notify when you give a subsidy. you cannot not give protection to intellectual property, and, your percentage cap on our investment have been discriminatory, and you have given all of us nondiscrimination. if you do not play by those rules, we would ask you to step out of the wto. i think china confronted by more than 60% of global gdp would have been quite serious in addressing this issue. as it was, we did it nilaterally.

i think it was a huge, huge mistake. emily: what is your opinion on the tiktok saga? tiktok became a flashpoint for u.s.-china relations. do things return to normal for tiktok under a biden dministration? carla: you already have two court decisions that say the trump administration had not made their case. i am not a technology expert, but i would say the apps that 100 million americans use, it is strange to call it a national security issue. in any event, we could have handled that issue differently. emily: certainly a lot remains to be seen in terms of how president-elect biden approaches

the relationship with china. perhaps more strategically, as you indicate. carla hills, former u.s. trade representative, thank you. really fascinating to have your perspective. still ahead, self-driving startup zoox reimagining ride hailing, unveiling its fully autonomous robo taxi. this is bloomberg. ♪

emily: zoox, the self driving service developed by amazon, has a fully functioning robotaxi. the company plans to deploy fleets of the self-driving carriage. zoox's ceo spoke about the business model in an exclusive interview. take a listen. >> we would own the fleet and

you, the customer, would only pay for a ride. personal cars are used for -- 4% of the time and 96% of the time they are depreciating and taking up space. you pay for the ride. before your ride is over, we will know the next customer to pick up so we will be constantly running, get charged and get back on the road. >> have you thought about how you will charge customers? will it be a flat fare per trip, done by mile, equivalent to the ride hailing services today? >> we thought about it a lot. we do not want to disclose details. things may change as you know. we will tell you it will be affordable. we want this to be very acceptable. there are several ways and several plans to enjoy the service. >> the other big piece of news this year, zoox was acquired by

amazon. what does that mean for zoox, having amazon as the parent company? >> it is a great partner. it is an honor to be chosen by them. that means not only do we have the capital required, we have the long-term vision, the ability to focus and execute. this is about reimagining transportation. it gives us a baseline to go from and expand. >> reimagining transportation. does that mean you could work with amazon down the line in terms of making their delivery fleets autonomous? non-passenger type services? > potentially. first, we will move people around. that is where the demand is, it is the greatest demand for everyone involved. yes, i will admit, if we can move people, at some point we

could move packages. >> how long will it take for me to experience this in the real world? when do you think you will deploy a commercial service in the u.s.? >> we are not making any announcements on timing. what we are focused on public roads and private roads, making sure the service is safe and delivering on its promise. it is not as long as speculated in some press or some circles, but it is not next year, either. >> which kinds of environments will you launch the service in first? >> we have been public about the fact las vegas and the san francisco are two initial targets. there are testing fleets in those cities currently. >> what do you see on the business side? will it remain a part of amazon? could it go public? it is an interesting question

because it is a nascent technology and not yet deployed, but in 10 years' time, we could see zoox in all cities of the world. >> we are proud to be a part of amazon, a global company. never say never about what the future holds. we are focused on delivering this to customers. that is where we are. >> what is the biggest challenge you are having to overcome, now you have designed and started to build this vehicle? >> i would say completing the technology, with an eye on afety. safety is our most important parameter. until i am willing to put my 16-year-old and a 13-year-old in the vehicle by themselves to go to a piano lesson, achieving that is where we are focused, and doing it in a quantifiable way.

emily: that was zoox ceo aicha evans. that does it for "bloomberg technology." i am emily chang in san francisco. bloomberg daybreak: asia is next. this is bloomberg. ♪

manus: this is "bloomberg daybreak: middle east". our top stories this morning. joe biden makes his first speech as the president-elect. he says democracy has prevailed. investors outweighing the vaccine news. a competing treasury program is also on the table.