♪ emily: welcome to "bloomberg technology." i'm emily chang in san francisco. looking back at our biggest interviews of the year this week, a year unlike any other. while a global pandemic created tidal waves of uncertainty for many companies, the tech sector seemed to do what it does best, adapt. one of the company crushed hardest by the pandemic was uber, as commuting halted and ridesharing stalled. it's not the first crisis the

ceo has had to navigate, he was an executive in the travel industry after 9/11. he described the pandemic as being more scary than the tax -- the attacks 19 years ago. >> i think the panic was financial in nature and found its way into everyday life and obviously a very negative way. theas deeply worrying as to financial institutions and how they would hold up. to some extent, what we are seeing now is the opposite. it is main street. corona has affected everyone's lives all over the world, almost instantly. it is moving so fast. the worry is, is it going to creep into the financial system versus the financial system creeping into the main system? it's a scary time. emily: since the interview, we

saw daily case faces in -- case numbers fall in the u.s. only to rise again. restrictions are back in play pfizerp is on the way, the first with a vaccine 90% effective in its trials. moderna announced its candidate, 94.5% effective. we sat down with the moderna chair to discuss the vaccine distribution timeline. >> some 20 million doses prepared by maternal for shipment in december, if we can get the emergency use authorization. that's the number we've been working toward. doses will gon out. moderna has said you could potentially make up to one billion doses by the end of next year. billion dosesat

based on the supply chain do you think you will be able to make? 500e are poised to make million to one billion doses. under different circumstances, we may be on the high end of that. we will also be watching for demand. one of the things that none of us knew as recently as a month ago and we still don't know the next few weeks and months is how many of the vaccines will get over the finish line, showing efficacy sufficient for broad adoption. that in turn will have a role to play in how much volume each of the vaccine manufacturers needs to make and can make. capacity is one thing, utilization another. the 500en thinking and million to one billion range. it is still early for us to determine exactly where that will be.

we certainly made a lot of investments to be in a position to reach those goals should we need to. share ok, so if you can any more details about capacity, are there any particular ingredients in short supply? do you have everything you need to get to that 750, maybe one billion doses based on what you are seeing right now? >> based on what we are seeing right now and the volumes we , with ourtted to partners, the governments that have already preordered vaccines and we foresee ordering in the near future, we certainly have the -- in place. let me commend our colleagues who played an important role in securing some of the key items we needed, i can sure we got them in a timely way. i think the system is in place.

there may be disruptions, there may be surprises. right now i think certainly the 200 million doses that have so far been secured by the u.s. government and what we foresee for the rest of the world, we are in a good position to make. supplies are being secured and have been secured. as we go along, we may increase those. , any: your production incredible feat, has been watched with great fascination. how hasn't moderna been able to get a leg up on pfizer in producing more doses of similar vaccine in a number of weeks? what has been the secret sauce? the can't speak to specifics of what pfizer has been doing but i hold the company in the highest regard. it is an established company with fast resources and expertise -- vast resources and

expertise. this vaccine is something moderna has been working on for almost seven or eight years and the technology we've worked on 10 years. as pioneers in this space, as you may know, we spoke earlier experience we have across 10 different human vaccines we've tried in trials and are currently being pursued for other diseases. all of that, all of the 10 years of expertise, the hundreds of millions we've invested in production, optimization, all have supported us in what we've been trying to do in a very short timeframe, which is to build an unprecedented vaccine. but it comes on the heels of significant technology, process development, investments we've made. among them being how we can store our vaccine in conditions that are more compatible with

distribution than would have otherwise been the case. five years ago, we had processes that also need to be kept at ultra frozen conditions, the -80 degree range. that is an important part and the other important part is the people. we are fortunate to have attracted some of the most experienced people in the industry, under the leadership of someone who came to us many years ago. the leadership he and his team provided was in fact absolutely essential for a small company. usually small, nice have less experienced leadership and when put through this kind of thing, everything is for the first time. here, they had done this before and prior pandemics even, simply not with moderna. emily: did you work with -- your work with operation warp speed help smooth out the process at

all? onboarding of manufacturing facilities perhaps? wasur work with nih primarily in the vaccine development itself, the science underlying the spike protein that has been well covered, and the years of work we've done oumrna. evaluating that's been -- nhs has helped moderna produce at least -- produce and distribute, and that has been a central. i cannot overstate the central role it played. the whole organization i think played an important role.

unfortunately we've been in a politicized environment where every action is interpreted in multiple ways. but when we step out of the way, hopefully we will come out of the political environment relatively soon. madonnahat was the cofounder and chair -- moderna cofounder and chair. coming up, our conversation with the san francisco mayor. how the tech city is coping during the pandemic and what she has to say about those relocating to urban areas, next. this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ >> one of the numbers that jumped out at me from a report is more than half a small business owners don't expect

they will be able to rehire the employees they laid off within a reasonable period of time. that means we have our challenges cut off for us and america back to work. emily: that was facebook's sheryl sandberg in may. san francisco was one of the first cities to shut down as the pandemic hit the united states. an aggressive approach has likely kept covid deaths down, but it came at a cost, including a crisis for local businesses and a big shortfall. we spoke to the san francisco mayor in october. >> it is unfortunate when anyone gets covid, and what we hope is that people, especially leaders, are leading by example. i don't like to wear masks that i wear them. i don't like social distancing -- i want to be around people. but i understand i could infect somebody and they could infect me. it can't be about me, and has to be about the behavior i model so

others can follow. they need to understand how itnificant this is and how could basically be devastating to a densely populated city like san francisco. this is important. from my perspective, this is why from day one i have tried to communicate everything i know in the facts and use data the decision-making process of the virus, and just to remind people, yes, we are tired of covid, but covid is not tired of us and it will not just go away because we want it to. we have to do our part. many have been following the president's lead and reopened faster than san francisco. i'm wondering if the president's condition will change how this plays out and change how these other cities and states are reacting. >> i hope it does. i think what it shows people is that no one is immune, it can

happen to anyone at any given time. when you think about someone who is possibly elderly and maybe unhealthy, it could be even worse. the impacts of covid could be devastating. i hope this is a wake-up call for so many people who are refusing to wear a mask and are moving forward with their lives as if nothing is wrong and as if we are not still in a pandemic. this should be an example for sure. emily: meantime, rents are falling sharply in major metropolitan areas. in san francisco, how concerned are you about an economic slowdown in san francisco, given tech companies are paring back workers and people are leaving the city and that means you will have a lower tax base? >> i will say i am very concerned. i just balanced a budget with a $1.5 billion budget deficit. not to mention there are over 200,000 people who have filed

for unemployment in the city. we have businesses i've been going to since i was a kid that have closed permanently. i am definitely concerned about the economic impacts of what is happening. it's not just about tech companies fleeing, it's business in general. in light of covid and working from home and having more flexibility in the cost of living, and the number of tax measures and other things that have really put us in a situation where i think we are going to have some challenges the next couple of years. the fact is, we are san francisco, we are a major city and people love coming to the city, working in the city, going to restaurants in the city, and you can't just create this someplace else in the suburb. you only get what you can get from a place like san francisco by being in a place like san francisco. it will be hard for us for some

time but i think eventually we will get back to a better place. emily: that was the san francisco mayor, london breed. sanctober, cities like francisco and new york reintroduced indoor restaurant dining with some restrictions, and it could not come soon enough for a sector hit hard by the pandemic. but the effort to increase revenue is often a game of chance, and in some regions, rising virus cases now mean more restrictions. we spoke to the ceo of opentable about how the industry is faring. >> it is pretty bad. ,ven before the virus restaurants were operating on razor thin margins and now added onto that our capacity constraints and the added costs for the precautions restaurants have to be taking. it's been a devastating time and if you look at restaurants just in san francisco or the bay area, it's going -- it is gut wrenching what is happening ,here because of the virus

butoor dining has increased the air quality is poor. our mission is to help restaurants in this crisis as best we can. we have waived our subscription reservation fees and launched a myriad of products to help restaurants run more productively, efficiently and safely. emily: you told us last month you see one in four restaurants completely closing out of this, reservations have been down, seating is down 80%. is that still the case -- is it better or worse? like sankets francisco, dining activity is down 88%, compared to 43% for the u.s. as a whole. markets like new york, down 89%, seattle down 81 percent, chicago down 75%.

there are a lot of big cities in the u.s. that have been really impacted by this in terms of dining activity. we do see pockets of growth and activity. what we have seen is as restrictions lift and people feel safer and more comfortable dining out, they do dine out. in a recent opentable survey, we found 25% of survey respondents in the u.s. or canada or dining out at least once a week, so there are some glimmers of hope. other trends we are seeing is outdoor dining has really picked up. if you look at dining for september of this year versus last year, we have seen an 18x increase in parties sitting outside. emily: how do you expect the restaurant industry to look different after this? we don't know when life will go back to normal, we don't know what normal life will look like -- will people go back to restaurants as much as they ever did? will it ever be the same?

>> we are going through an evolution of what dining out rules are now. there's never been a more important time for online reservations, companies like open taylor -- opentable helping restaurants run efficiently. some of the trends we are seeing during covid are likely here to stay. restaurants love taking online reservations because it makes their business run more efficiently and seamlessly. pay, notke contactless having to check in with the host or online menus, those are things i think will continue -- we will continue to see. also the rise of delivery and take out, as we've seen during covid, i think will persist as well. it has become a meaningful and significant part of restaurants and businesses and it is a way of dining that diners are more

used to. emily: that was the opentable ceo. still ahead, working remotely -- a pandemic trend or new number -- or new normal? some companies will allow people to work from home forever, including reddit. our conversation with the red's ceo, next. this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ emily: the community social website reddit says it will allow most u.s. employees the flux ability to work remotely forever some exceptions. they will still be paid the same even if they choose to move out of high cost cities like san francisco or new york. this as other tech companies like facebook have decided to pay workers more or less ace on

locations. here is our conversation with the reddit ceo. >> we had that original policy as well, but it had some obvious flaws, which is first of all, there are so many personal decisions one might make in their life that affect their quality and cost of living, such whether they have a family, if they rent or own, what part of the city they live in, and what city you live in. there are so many variables at play, we figured the most fair thing to do is to simply pay at the top of the market and pay for performance and the role. we think this will be an advantage for both recruiting of what simplify a lot i would call garbage in, garbage out math we were trying to do. emily: how many employees do you think will take you up on this offer and move away from

headquarters to other parts of the country, and how do you expect that to impact your talent redistribution, if you will? >> that's a great question and if i am completely honest, we don't know. we surveyed employees and found only a small percentage need to be in the office, but the vast majority would like to be in the office sometime would also like freedom in their life. speaking for my own experience, my own feelings on this, i think there are pros and cons to working from home we are still learning. the core of our approach is to be flexible and let people make decisions, let teams experiment with different approaches. i am as curious as you are to see how the dust will settle when this is over. emily: what does a return to when wek like for you get to some sort of normal or

new normal? >> the first question is, is it legal to open our offices? given the various restrictions in different cities. we are not even there yet. and is a practically safe to open our offices? the big question is do we as employees feel comfortable being in our offices? we don't yet know how our habits have changed, the ptsd of being afraid, around people generally will affect things. says, it what the law will be a matter of practicality that will require us to inch our way in and feel our way as we go. emily: we are just six days away from the election and i know you have spent many years trying to find the right allen's of free speech -- right balance of free speech on your platform. you've made moves the last

ning themonths ban subreddit /thedonald. how do you deal with the community with days to go? number of years refining our policies, learning from all of the lessons that we have seen the last couple of years. some we have learned the hard way, some we have a better sense of what the challenges might be going forward. based on everything we have learned and we know, we feel very well prepared for the various scenarios that may come up in the next week. that said, we are watching things very closely, our communities are watching things very closely. we sent a message to moderators, hopefully bringing them on the same page because we are all in this together. that's one of the things that makes reddit special, we,

moderators and users, are sharing the collective space together. emily: that was the reddit ceo. that does it for this special edition of "bloomberg technology." i'm emily chang. ♪ ♪

♪ emily: she grew up in rural indiana, the oldest of four siblings and a homecoming queen. while many female classmates dropped out of school to marry, she took a job where she helped litter,- fresh step cat and a storied career. going on to become the ceo of a software company better known or -- known for its hit trivia game, and later the first company to sell movies online. but it was the online pet store