>> from the heart of where innovation, money, and power collide, in silicon valley and beyond, this is "bloomberg technology" with emily chang.

emily: could espn sports book be a total touchdown? our exclusive conversation with him as the nfl season kicks. google started with google glass. snap has snap spectacles. can facebook's partnership with rave and take smart glasses mainstream? we will hear from has been invited to sever on his plans to stop the spread of the delta variant and covid vaccinations worldwide. he is expected to announce that all federal branch employees and contractors be vaccinated. we should be expecting the president to come out momentarily. he will come as we understand it, call for the labor department to require companies with more than 100 employees to mandate vaccines or testing.

it doesn't stop there. tsa will double fines for those who refuse to wear masks on u.s. flights. president biden is walking out now. let's listen in. pres. biden: we are in the battle against covid-19. the progress we've made in the work we have left to do, and it starts with understanding this -- even as the delta variant 19 has -- covid-19 has been hitting this country hard, we have the tools to combat the virus. if we can come together as a country and use the tools. if we raise the vaccination rate with masking, expanding testing, and identifying people who are infected, we can and will turn the tide on covid-19. it is going to take some time. many of us are frustrated with the nearly 80 million americans who are still not vaccinated.

even though the vaccine is safe, effective, and free. they might be confused about what is true and what is false about covid-19. before i outlined the new steps to fight covid-19 that i'm going to be announcing tonight, let me give you clear information about where we stand. first, we have made considerable progress in battling covid-19. when i became president, about 2 million americans were fully vaccinated. today, over 175 million americans have that protection. before i took office, we hadn't ordered enough vaccine for every american. just weeks in office, we did. the week before i took office on january 20 of this year, over 25,000 americans died that week of covid-19. last week, that grim weekly toll

was down 70%. three months before i took office, our economy was faltering, creating just 50,000 jobs a month. we are averaging 700,000 new jobs a month in the past three months. this progress is real. but while america is in much better shape than it was seven months ago when i took office, i need to tell you a second fact. we are in the tough stretch, and it could last for a while. highly contagious delta variant that i began to warn america about back in july spread in late summer, like it did in other countries before us. while the vaccines provide strong protection for the vaccinated, we read about and hear about and we see the stories of hospitalized people, people on their deathbeds, among the unvaccinated over the past few weeks. this is a pandemic of the

unvaccinated. and it's caused by the fact that despite america having unprecedented and successful vaccination program, despite the fact that for almost five months, free vaccines have been available in 80,000 different locations, we still have nearly 80 million americans who have failed to get the shot. to make matters worse, elected officials actively working to undermine the fight against covid-19. instead of encouraging people to get vaccinated and masked up, they are ordering mobile morgues for the unvaccinated dying in their communities. this is totally unacceptable. third, you wonder how all this adds up, here is the math. the vast majority of americans are doing the right thing. nearly three quarters of the eligible have gotten at least one shot. but one quarter has not gotten

any. that is nearly 80 million americans not vaccinated. and unite country as large as ours -- in a country as large as ours competitors 25% minority. --that is 25% minority. that 25% can cause a lot of damage, and they are. the unvaccinated are overcrowding hospitals, leaving no room for someone with a heart attack or pancreatitis or cancer. fourth, i want to emphasize that the vaccines provide a very strong protection from severe illness from covid-19. i know there is a lot of confusion and misinformation. but the world's leading scientists confirm that if you are fully vaccinated, your risk of severe illness from covid-19 is very low. in fact, based on available data from the summer, only one out of every 160,000 fully vaccinated

americans was hospitalized for covid per day. these are the facts. here is where we stand. the path ahead, even with the delta variant, is not nearly as bad as last winter. what makes it incredibly more frustrating is we have the tools to combat covid-19 and a distinct minority of americans supported but i distinct minority of elected officials are keeping us from turning the corner. these pandemic politics are making people sick, causing unvaccinated people to die. we cannot allow these actions to stand in the way of protecting a large majority of americans who have done their part and want to get back to life as normal. as your president, i'm announcing tonight a new plan to require more americans to be

vaccinated to combat those blocking public health. my plan also increases testing, protects our economy, and will make our kids safer in schools. it consists of six broad areas of action and many specific measures each -- each of those actions you can read about on whitehouse.gov. whitehouse.gov. the measures, these are going to take time to have a full impact. but if we implement them, i believe, and the scientists indicate, that in the months ahead we can reduce the number of unvaccinated americans, decrease hospitalizations and debts, and allow-- deaths, and allow our children to go to school safely and keep our economy strong by keeping businesses open. first, we must increase vaccinations among the unvaccinated with new

vaccination requirements. with nearly 80 million eligible americans who have not gotten vaccinated, many said they are waiting for approval from the food and drug administration, the fda. while, last month the fda granted that approval. the time for waiting is over. this summer we made progress through a combination of a vaccine requirements and incentives, as well is the fda approval. 4 million more people got their first shot in august than they did in july. but we need to do more. this is not about freedom or personal choice. it's about protecting yourself and those around you. the people you work with. the people you care about. the people you love. my job as president is to protect all americans. so tonight, i am announcing that the department of labor is developing an emergency rule to require all employers with 100

or more employees that together employ over 80 million workers to ensure their workforces are fully vaccinated. or show a negative test at least once a week. some of the biggest companies are already requiring this -- united airlines, disney, tysons food, and even fox news. the bottom line, we are going to protect vaccinated workers from unvaccinated coworkers. we are going to reduce the spread of covid-19 by increasing the share of the work was that is vaccinated in businesses all across america. my plan will extend the vaccination requirements that i previously issued in the health care field. already i have announced we will be requiring vaccinations at all -- of all nursing home workers who treat patients on medicare

and medicaid, because i have the federal authority. tonight i am using that same authority to expand that to cover those who work in hospitals, home health care facilities, or other medical facilities. a total of 17 million health care workers. if you are seeking care at a health facility, you should be able to know that the people treating you are vaccinated, simple, straightforward, period. next, i will sign an executive order that will now require all executive branch federal employees to be vaccinated. all. i have signed another executive order that will require federal contractors to do the same. if you want to work with the federal government and do business with us, get vaccinated. if you want to do business with the federal government, vaccinate your workforce. tonight i am removing one of the last remaining obstacles that make it difficult for you to get

vaccinated. the department of labor will require employers with 100 or more workers to give those workers paid time off to get vaccinated. no one should lose pay in order to get vaccinated or take a loved one to get vaccinated. today, in total, the vaccine requirements in my plan will affect about 100 million americans, two thirds of all workers. for other sectors, i issue this appeal. to those of you running large entertainment venues, from sports arenas to concert venues to movie theaters, please require folks to get vaccinated or show a negative test as a condition of entry. to the nation's family physicians, pediatricians, gp's, general practitioners, you are the most trusted medical voice to your patients. you may be the one person to get

someone to change their mind about being vaccinated. tonight i am asking each of you to reach out to your unvaccinated patients over the next two weeks, make a personal appeal to them to get the shot. america needs your personal involvement in this critical effort. my message to unvaccinated americans is this -- what more is there to wait for? what more do you need to see? we've made vaccinations free, safe, and convenient. the vaccine is fda-approved. over 200 million americans have gotten at least one shot. we've been patient, but our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us. please do the right thing. but don't just take it for me.

listen to the voices of unvaccinated americans who are lying in hospital beds taking their final breaths, saying "if only i had forgotten vaccinated --if only i had gotten vaccinated. if only." it's a tragedy. please don't let it become yours. the second piece of my plan is to continue to protect the vaccinated. the vast majority of you have gotten vaccinated, and i understand your anger at those who haven't gotten vaccinated. i understand the anxiety of getting a breakthrough case. but as the science makes clear, if you are fully vaccinated, you are highly protected from severe illness. even if you get covid-19. in fact, recent data indicates there is only one confirmed positive case per 5000 fully vaccinated americans per day. we are as safe as possible

and we are doing everything we can to keep it that way, keep it that way, keep you safe. that is where boosters come in. the shots that give you even more production that after your second shot. now, i know there has been some confusion about boosters. let me be clear. last month our top government doctors announced an initial plan for booster shots for vaccinated americans. they believe that a booster is likely to provide the highest level of protection yet. of course, the decision of which booster shots to give, when to start them, and who will give them, will be left completely to the scientists at the fda and the centers for disease control. but while we wait, we've done our part. we've bought enough boosters, enough booster shots, and the distribution system is ready to administer. as soon as they are authorized,

those eligible will be able to get a booster right away. and tens of thousands of sites across the country, for most americans, and your drugstore and for free -- and your nearby drugstore and for free. the third piece of our plan is keeping our children safe and our schools open. for any parent, it doesn't matter how low the risk of any illness or accident is when it comes to your child or grandchild. trust me, i know. let me speak to you directly. let me speak to you directly to ease some of your worries. it comes down to two separate categories, children ages 12 and older who are eligible for a vaccine now, and children ages 11 and under who are not yet eligible. the safest thing for your child 12 and older is to get them

vaccinated. they get vaccinated for a lot of things. that's it, get them vaccinated. as with adults, almost all the serious covid-19 cases we are seeing among adolescents are among unvaccinated 12- to 17-year-olds, age group that lags behind. parents, these get your teenager vaccinated. what about children under the age of 12 who cannot get vaccinated yet? well, the best way for parents to protect the child under the age of 12 starts at home. every parent, every caregiver around should be vaccinated. children have four times higher chance of getting hospitalized if they live in a state with low vaccination rates, rather than states with high vaccination rates. if you are a parent of a young child and you are wondering when

will it be the vaccine available for them, i strongly support independent scientific review for vaccine uses for children under 12. we can't take shortcuts without scientific work. but i've made it clear i will do everything within my power to support the fda with any resource it needs to continue to do this as safely and as quickly as possible. our nation's top doctors are committed to keeping the public at large updated on the process so parents can plan. now to the schools. we know that if schools follow the signs and implement safety measures like testing, asking, -- masking, adequate ventilation systems as we have provided the money for, social distancing, and vaccinations, then children can be safe from covid-19 in schools. today, about 90% of school

staffs and teachers are vaccinated. we should get that 100%. my administration is already required teachers at the schools run by the defense department, because i have the authority as president, with the defense department and the interior department, to get vaccinated. that is the authority i possess. tonight i am announcing that we'll require all of nearly 300,000 educators in the head start program must be vaccinated as well to protect your youngest, our youngest, most precious americans, and give parents comfort. tonight i am calling on all governors to require vaccination for all teachers and staff. some already have done so. we need more to step up. vaccination requirements in schools are nothing new. they work. they are overwhelmingly supported by educators and their unions.

and all school officials trying to do the right thing by our children, i will always be on your side. let me be blunt -- my plan also takes on elected officials in states that are undermining you in these life-saving actions. right now, local school officials are trying to keep children safe in a pandemic while there governor picks a fight with them and even threatens their salaries with their jobs. talk about bullying in schools. if they will not help, these governors will not help us beat the pandemic, i will use my power as president to get them out of the way. the department of education has already begun to take legal action against states undermining protection that local school officials have ordered. any teacher or school official whose pay is withheld for doing the right thing, we will have that pay restored by the federal

government 100%. i promise you, i will have your back. the fourth piece of my plan is increasing testing and masking. from the start, america has failed to do enough with covid-19 testing. in order to better detect and control the delta variant, i'm taking steps tonight to make testing more available, more affordable, and more convenient. i will use the defense production act to increase production of rapid tests, including those that you can use at home. while that production is ramping up, my administration has worked with top retailers like walmart, amazon, and kroger, and tonight we are announcing that no later than next week, each of these outlets will start to sell at-home rapid test kits at cost

for the next three months. this immediate price reduction for at-home test kits for up to 35% reduction. we'll also expand free testing at 10,000 pharmacies around the country. we are committing $2 billion to purchase nearly 300 million rapid tests for distribution to community health centers, food banks, schools, so that every american, no matter their income, can access free and convenient tests. this is important to everyone, particularly for a parent or a child -- with a child not old enough to be vaccinated. you will be able to test them at home. test of those around them. in addition to testing, we know masking helps stop the spread of covid-19.

that is why when i came into office, i required masks for all federal buildings on federal lands, airlines, and other modes of transportation. today, tonight, i'm announcing that the transportation safety administration, tsa, will double the fines on travelers that refuse to mask. if you break the rules, be repaired to pay. --prepared to pay. and by the way, show some respect. the anger you see on television towards a flight attendants and others doing their job is wrong, it's ugly. the fifth piece of my plan is protecting our economic recovery. because of our vaccination program and the american rescue plan can which we passed in my administration, we have had record job creation for a new administration. economic growth unmatched in 40 years. we cannot let unvaccinated do

this progress -- undo it, turn it back. tonight i'm announcing additional steps to strengthen our economic recovery we will be expanding covid-19 economic injury disaster loan programs. that is a program that is going to allow small businesses to borrow up to $2 million from the current $500,000 to keep going if covid-19 impacts their sales. these low-interest, long-term loans require no repayment for two years, and they can be used to hire and retain workers, purchase inventory, or even pay down higher-cost debt racked up since the pandemic began. i will also be taking additional steps to help small businesses stay afloat during the pandemic. sixth, we are going to continue to improve the care of those who do get covid-19. in early july, i announce the

deployment of surge response teams. these are teams comprised of experts from the department of health and human services, the cdc, the defense department, and the federal emergency management agency, fema, to areas in the country that need help to stem the spread of covid-19. since then, the federal government has deployed nearly 1000 staff, including doctors, nurses, paramedics, into 18 states. today, i am announcing that the defense department will double the number of military health teams that they will deploy to help their fellow americans in hospitals around the country. additionally, we are increasing the availability of new medicines recommended by real doctors, not conspiracy theorists. monoclonal antibody treatments

have been shown to reduce the risk of hospitalization up to 70% for unvaccinated people at risk of developing severe disease. we have already distributed 1.4 million courses of these treatments to save lives and reduce the strain on hospitals. tonight, i am announcing we will increase the average pace of shipment across the country of free monoclonal antibody treatments by another 50%. before i close, let me say this. communities of color are disproportionately impacted by this virus. as we continue to battle covid-19, we will ensure that equity continues to be at the center of our response. we'll ensure that everyone is reached. my first responsibility as president is to protect the american people and make sure we have enough vaccine for every american, including enough boosters for

every american approved to get one. we know this virus transcends borders. that is why even as we execute this plan at home, we need to continue fighting the virus overseas, continue to be the arsenal of vaccines. we are proud to have donated nearly 140 million vaccines to over 90 countries, more than all other countries combined, including europe, china, and russia combined. that's american leadership on a global stage. and that is just the beginning. we've also now started to ship another 500 million covid vaccines, pfizer vaccines, purchased to donate to 100 lower-income countries in anita vaccines. i will be announcing additional steps to help the rest of the world later this month. as i recently released key parts of my pandemic preparedness plan so that america isn't caught

flat-footed with a new pandemic, as --when a new pandemic comes, as it will, i will announce a new plan in greater detail. let me close with this -- we have made so much progress during the past seven months of this pandemic. the recent increases in vaccinations in august already are having an impact on some states, where case counts are dropping in recent days. even so, we remain at a critical moment, critical time. we have the tools. nwo we just have to finish the job, with truth, with science, with confidence. together as one nation. look, we are the united states of america. there is nothing, not a single thing we are not able to do if we do it together. let's stay together. god bless you all, and all those

who continue to serve on the front lines of this pandemic, and may god protect our troops. get vaccinated. emily: president biden laying out new rules to get more people vaccinated across the country. the administration will now require that 17 million health-care workers be vaccinated, that all employees of the executive branch and federal contractors be vaccinated. biden also calling on a new rules for private companies to get their workers vaccinated, companies with 100 employees or more. there will be cash fines for those who refuse, the president pointedly saying many companies, even fox news, require vaccination. i want to bring in our bloomberg news political director jodi schneider in in our san francisco bureau chief, who has been covering the corporate return to office policies. a number of other things here.

the u.s. is spending $2 billion on additional covid testing, invoking the defense production act to boost production, tsa doubling fines for not wearing a mask on airplanes. what is the significance of president biden stepping up this pressure? >> emily, there is a lot in there. six very large buckets of requirements. basically the president is trying to come up with a new front to really establish a new front in the war against covid. he came into office saying that is what he was going to do in january. he toughened up, as much as he could, mask requirements, to change the conversation around covid. got the vaccination program going in june and we were starting to see cases in the tens of thousands a day. but then that delta variant basically got ahead of the vaccinations, and now the other day,, wednesday, 176,000 new

cases. it is largely, as he says, among the unvaccinated who are getting covid, or so in the case is tough enough for them to be hospitalized. but he really politically needed to try to change this conversation to we are getting ahead of this, and the way he is going to do that is to require as much as he can mandate where every can of vaccination and testing. emily: 80 million americans still unvaccinated. he said they are plainly blocking public health, and maybe direct tie to the economy that this is an effort to keep businesses open. kara, we have seen many companies take the lead on vaccination mandates, or at least disclosing vaccinations, but certainly most companies not taking it this far. what do you expect the reaction from companies and silicon valley to be? kara: this is pretty sweeping. biden says it will encompass about two thirds of workers.

we did a tally of about 100 companies, and it showed pretty evenly split in terms of companies requiring any sort of vaccination vs. those who are not doing any sort of mandate at all. that was before these latest orders have come into place. we will see obviously a lot more copies feel more comfortable to require this of workers now that you have the full force of the president behind you. companies that may have been loath to do this to cause problems with their workers might now be more comfortable saying, ok, we will do these mandates and make them across the board for all employees. a lot of companies have been doing them for coming to the office. now it is much stricter rule and we will probably see more private employers fallen line. emily: jodi, what kind of pushback you expect this to face. is some of this just said and done? some of this has yet to be implemented. jodi: the real question is how much of a difference will it make, because frankly, most

people working for the federal government presumably and for many of the companies he has talking about are already vaccinated. it is the others, people who are not necessarily going into an office, who have political reasons, and it has become a political football for not being vaccinated in parts of the country where perhaps this is just not viewed as being something that is worth doing. i think how much of a difference this will bake, i'm not sure in terms of--this will make, i'm not sure in terms of actual numbers, but for the president he politically wanted to get ahead of this to say i am recommitting to trying to get rid of, or to really manage covid cases, because again, in late june, early july, july 4, he was having a freedom event, freedom from covid, taking off those masks. we are in a much different situation now, and politically he needs to get ahead of this. emily: president biden saying we

are in for a tough stretch i had that could last a while. there is still so much uncertainty, so much more uncertainty than many of us suspected at this time. kara, the ceo of microsoft said earlier today that microsoft can't even give a potential return to work date after sitting so many dates and getting those pushed back. they are not even going to set a date at this point. do you think we are going to see that from more companies? i know facebook, amazon, apple, google have already pushed to january. kara: yes, we have seen a lot of companies pushed to january. american express said they would delay until police or january. we have been talking about return to office since last fall. so many starts and stops, and i think at this point it is becoming clear that the virus is going to be with us for a long time, there is never going to be a clear starting point of getting people back. at this point companies like microsoft are saying, ok, we

can't give you a firm date. rather than stopping and starting and giving you dates and making plans and going back on it, it is better to see whether trajectory of this goes and give you enough time to, back when it looks like hopefully we are coming to the tail end of this and it is safe. that is part of the reason that companies are delaying until january. it gives a longer window of time, and you are seeing a stark divide between companies pushing things back vs. those getting back now. emily: when it comes to boosters, the president punted that to the cdc and fda, acknowledged there has been some confusion around that. jodi, what is next here? what does tomorrow bring in washington? jodi: yeah, i think the boosters are coming. he needs approval from the health agencies, but it looks like it is going to happen. i think we are going to see these pieces implement it. that labor rule needs to take effect for companies with 100 or

more employees to require vaccinations and testing. testing is going to increase significantly under this. the president starting another front in this war, and i think you are going to see these cases rolled out bit by bit. emily: jodi schneider, carol wetzel -- kara wetzel, thank you for your insight. coming up, closing the gender gap in technology. we are going to speak to the founder of girls who code about how she and her company are helping the industry tackle sexism and fighting for working moms. this is bloomberg. ♪

emily: the company known for its upscale exercise bikes and treadmills has launched a clothing brand. the pellet gun collection finds -- peloton collection has a mixture of men's, women's commend gender-neutral styles. meantime, the gaming industry has been rocked recently by claims of sexual harassment and discrimination. activision blizzard is being sued for allegedly fostering a frat boy culture which excludes female employees. red games is said to offer secret settlements with women and harassment claims. joining us now, girls who code founder reshma saujani. reshma, great to have you with

us. i want to start with the partnership you have with riot and the work you are planning to do. what progress do you hope to make? reshma: we have a long-standing relationship with riot before this allegation of what is happening, and i have been saying for a very long time that so many cultures in tech are broken, and we have so much work to do. oftentimes the partnership we build a because of the female engineers who are in these spaces who say help us. the only way culture changes is if we infiltrate and if we have so many women there and we make up over 30% of the technology population, that is when you change. that is what we are trying to do. emily: do you think having more female developers in the gaming industry will help? reshma: absolutely. listen, i think having a seat around the table, able to have -- so many people tell me i've

have never worked with a woman before, or who have not been called out on their racist or sexist behaviors. when you have women sitting around the table, people sitting around the table, culture changes. there is no weight is going to change without us. that is what we have seen. tech companies left to their own devices, there is still a bro culture. the only way we can change things is by teaching girls. emily: it doesn't stop with the gaming industry. look across corporate america, and certainly the tech industry for why stop at the gaming industry? what other partnerships do have and what other partnerships will you explore? reshma: girls who code, we have over 100 partnerships. these partnerships have been critical to increasing the amount of girls we have talked to code, 450,000.

over the past 10 years, almost 40% of those graduating from computer science courses in college were women. we did that. change is possible, but it only happens not when there is just one woman in the engineering team, or even a two women on the engineering team. it is hard to change culture. that is why we are going to teach so many girls that culture has to change. listen, emily, i have asked myself this question a million times. can you change? when you have a culture that excludes women and people of color, do we expect them to finally accept us? i don't know, and answer so far hasn't been that great. the other thing we are doing is empowering girls in technology to build the next uber, the next google, the next blizzard, and build empathetic companies that promote equality and that don't have the same racist and sexist problems that we see happening

over and over and over again. emily: absolutely. i have always been of the mind that if you can build rocket ships to mars and connect the world and organize the world's information, you can hire and promote more women. that shouldn't be too hard a problem for these visionary tech folks dissolve. i want to move on to your marshall plan for months. you have-- for moms. york gotten a lot of support for this, celebrity support, support from other ceo's. talk about how this works and what the real objective is. reshma: you are a mom, too, so you know that in the middle of covid we were going, what is going on. almost all the jobs lost were women. women left for work force and the reason they were leaving his daycare centers were shut and schools were shut. we did not have the support we needed, that america has always treated mothers as a social safety net. where is the plan? you can't lose all of these women from the labor force with

an on and off switch. suddenly when covid is over, which we now know it is never going to be over, women don't reenter. the public sector, the private sector, saying where is the plant. we need a plan to shorten the economic recovery for women and moms. more than a year-and-a-half, almost two years later can you look at the august jobs report, and only 11% of the new jobs were women. so many moms are looking at the school year and saying it is just as chaotic, just as uncertain. now covid-19 is affecting children, and they are dying. we said that the silver lining of covid is that at least the kids aren't getting sick. the kids are getting sick now. and many companies -- i heard your segment before -- just said come back to work. congress has not passed a bill to make childcare affordable to get paid leave past.

nothing has changed, even though we have had the largest exodus of women in the history of our nation. we are fed up. and so the marshall plan for moms is a movement to channel that anger and that rage into hope and interchange. emily: you have been lobbying the white house on this marshall plan for months. what kind of support are you getting there? what meaningful action would you like to see? reshma: we have had a couple of bills introduced in congress for the marshall plan for moms. but i want to test forceful i know we think that task forces -- i want recognition. i want somebody in the government, ok, women's labor market participation is back where was in 1989. how do i get it back to 51%? what are the levers i'm pushing? i making health care affordable i'm returning women who lost their jobs to automation. i want to see a plan, and i want

a woman jobs czar in the white house who is there every single day making sure that they don't turn their backs to us. and i want republicans, and democrats who have stood in the way of this bill being passed, to be held accountable. suburban moms, moms in general, we are going to vote with their feet. 2022, anybody who is not on the side of moms, it is going to be a bloodbath for them, i pumice you that. emily: mom to mom, i am on the side of moms. reshma saujani, thanks for joining us on your efforts. we will be following that story as we gear up for the start of the nfl season, i will be speaking with jimmy botero about what is ahead for the sports broadcaster and get his response to reports about sports betting. my exclusive conversation, next.

and efforts to lower a hedge fund's value fell short. a victory for the ceo. starbird has been locked in a month-long battle with box, saying that it is underperforming and made a series of questionable decisions. box said it is committed to delivering value for shareholders. this is bloomberg. ♪

emily: the 2021 nfl season is set to kick off tonight with a face up between the company buccaneers and --tampa bay buccaneers and the dallas cowboys. i spoke with the chairman of

espn sports coverage at disney, jimmy pitaro, about the season ahead, sports betting, and much more. jimmy: mega cap is something that is important to us. we have had a lot of success with it. but out of the gate, we are coming out pretty strong here. we had ravens, raiders, and it will be las vegas's first nfl regular-season game with fans in a stadium. but yeah, part of that will have multiple broadcasts. the main telecast on espn with a simulcast on abc. we will have a spanish-language version on deportes. as you mentioned, monday night football with peyton and eli manning. that debuts on espn2, and espn plus. we will carry a betting-themed

broadcasts we are calling "between the lines" on espn plus. pretty nice suite of offerings. emily: we will talk more about betting in a moment, but you have been out there striking deals unlocking up a string of new rights agreements with not just the nfl, but mlb, nhl, wimbledon, la liga. what does all of this add up to in terms of a strategy for espn ahead? jimmy: our mission is to serve the sports fan anytime, anywhere. each of those deals you just mentioned are an important component. this has been a busy 18-month p eriod, maybe our busiest ever in terms of rights acquisitions. we are pretty proud of what we have accomplished in terms of these acquisitions. it is representative of years of strategic planning at espn. going back to three years ago, when the leadership team and i got together upon a whiteboard

and started to map out the future. we knew it was coming up, and we started to look at what it was we were going to go after. and so these deals, fast-forward to today, are templates for things to come. they really do represent the value that we can bring to the table, the value that we can create for enterprise, but also the value we create for fans and also our partners. if you ask our league partners, they would tell you they see the value not just with espn, but of the walt disney company. the megaphone, what we call the megaphone that is espn, that we bring. our production expertise, the synergy value we can provide from the various departments of the walt disney company. in the aggregate, it puts the power of disney and espn on display, and we are pretty

excited. emily: what about espn plus? when will we start seeing live nfl games on espn plus? jimmy: as part of the deal we recently closed and we have the rights to stream games on espn plus. that deal will kick in with the 2023 season, and we secured the ability to simulcast those games on espn plus. but again, this coming monday we will have two different broadcasts, nfl broadcasts, made available on espn plus, a betting-themed broadcasts and monday night football with peyton and eli. emily: " the wall street journal" is reporting you are exploring a deal to licensor brent to a sports book operator, potentially draftkings, faneuil,

caesar's. how might a partnership like that work? jimmy: we believe sports betting is a high-growth adjacency that could yield substantial returns for us. and at the same time, this space, this category we believe can help us expand our audience, our reach, especially among highly engaged sports fans. you have seen this come our league partners are really embracing sports betting, and more and more americans are able to participate now, and it is from our perspective just really natural for espn t odo the same. our mission is to serve the sports fan anytime from anywhere, and that includes the sports betting fan. but just to back up for a second, emily, sports betting has been a strong and vibrant part of our offerings for a while now. we have had "sportscenter"

themed segments, dedicated areas within our website, podcasts, regular and recurring shows like "daily wager," a branded betting studio in las vegas. we recently struck an odds partnership with caesar's and draftkings. we are doing alternative broadcasts, betting-themed alternative broadcasts. we also had an nba-themed broadcast last season. look, there is continued momentum in the industry. i think now 24 states, plus washington, d.c., are allowing sports betting, and i think 15 of them are allowing mobile sports betting. new york is coming soon. we just see nothing but opportunity here, opportunity for us to expand our brand, expand our audience, increase

fan engagement, and really just address the fact that sports betting has become endemic to the overall experience for the sports fan. emily: when it comes to a bigger potential deal that everyone is speculating about, is it going to be draftkings, fanduel, caesar's, or more than one? jimmy: look, we are exploring this space right now. i cannot comment on the "wall street journal" report or what conversations we are having. the bottom line it has got to be the right fit, the right partner for us. right now we are very much in exploratory mode. emily: espn chair jimmy pitaro there. you can catch the full interview at bloomberg.com. that does it for this edition of "bloomberg technology." tune in tomorrow. we will be joined by a firm founder and ceo, as well as golden state warriors start

steph curry and his wife, aye sha curry, as they were to breach the education gap. i am emily chang in san francisco. this is bloomberg. ♪

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>> good morning and welcome to daybreak austria. >> i am shery on. the top stories. mixed economic data keeps investors on edge about the taper timeline. paul: china makes an unprecedented move in the global