announcer: from the heart of where innovation, money, and power collide, in silicon valley and beyond, this is "bloomberg technology" with emily chang. emily: i am emily chang in san francisco. this is "bloomberg technology." coming up, netflix shares plummeting. we break down the numbers. plus, peloton halting production

, after the company added a pause button, literally. send lawmakers advance the biggest chance to date to rein in big tech. some are still raising red flags. we will debate the future of a u.s. big tech crackdown. first, let's look at the markets , big change in directions late. ed ludlow has the latest. ed: yes, blow-by-blow, minute by minute, this is the session. you can see this bearish turn in the afternoon. 1% gain to a 1% decline. that puts the index and correction territory. that is the story of the year so far. this was broad-based. the whole market turned a corner

late thursday afternoon. make a cap -- make a cap -- megacap stocks having a rough start. the lowest level since october. the longest losing streak, four days in a month. ironically, you see this index up to percent throughout the session. late to the party, got the memo, bitcoin dropping thursday. falling away towards $41,000. what happened? hello tom. bring up the -- pellets on. bring up the board. -- pellets on -- pellets on with big-ticket items. that has the market worried. that move the entire market.

a lot of that commentary and troubles are pandemic related. netflix reporting earnings after the bell. 2.5 million net subscribers in the first quarter. you can see the reaction peered down 19%. the release, and they are saying the reason they downgraded the outlook 8 million subscribers, a big drop, is because the second season of bridget and his coming in march. -- bridger 10ton is coming later in march. this is the problem. the content in the macro environment as well. emily: we have to wait a little bit longer. not good news. thank you. netflix shares falling, after coming up short of subscriber

estimates. good it be entering a new phase -- could it be entering a new phase of slow growth? we are seeing investor reaction to these numbers. what is your reaction? >> the first thing everybody needs to realize is netflix used to be a utility. it is now a commodity. five years ago, if you had a smart tv, streaming device, the only option was to have netflix. now they have increased competition, not only from disney, amazon, and others, but the real growth in streaming, particularly in the u.s. has been free, ad-supported streaming solutions and 80 million homes. that is the most difficult thing about the situation right now. let's talk about netflix's ability to stay ahead. they've had big hits but there

is more competition in streaming. what are the chances they can continue to stay ahead? >> i think they are slim. even though netflix has outspent almost everybody in terms of content protection, they -- production, they are competing against disney, who has the ability to renew and do other things with their content, but even more importantly, netflix only has one real touch point. everybody was jealous of the advantage of netflix and the insight of what is popular so they could license content, produce content better than other people. i would argue netflix is at a significant disadvantage.

the others understand e-commerce, how they stream audio, much more gaming information, so it will be difficult for netflix, which is a content production and distribution company competing against diversified media companies. emily: hbo max has been one of the top downloaded apps. the sex in the city reboot has been a main driver of that. you think original programming -- do you think original program has a leg up because it is hbo? >> i think i would have been more likely to say that a few years ago when they had game of thrones in other titles. hbo has good content, something they do well. hbo max and others have proved you can be successful with having the release window in theaters and on streaming. disney has seen some success with that. i do think the challenge will

come from one competitor. netflix's concern is not specifically disney will have better content. i think that is highly possible, but i think it is the sheer onslaught of the consumer having so many options from so even if you took it outside of streaming in any business, if you have increased competition, and that competition in many respects has cheaper prices or offers goods and services for free or more goods and services to the consumer, it will be challenging for your business. emily: meantime, netflix is getting into gaming. some analysts say that could be a huge driver of future growth. we are hearing so much about the metaverse. his netflix prepared to compete there? >> no. i was one of the first people to say four years ago that netflix needed to get into gaming. i have been saying it over and over again.

it was the right move to do so. the concern is how slowly they are moving already being behind. one things netflix benefited from was being the first mover. pretty much everything they have been successful at, they have had a first mover advantage, streaming domestically, international, distribution, producing originals for streaming, but lately, they've been late to the party. you cannot be years behind microsoft and sony and amazon and google and invest less money than they are investing in think just because you have a large subscriber base that you will be at catch up -- you will be able to catch up. emily: we will keep watching the headlines rolled in from netflix. good to have your perspective. thanks. coming up, retail investors have a chance to ask business leaders like elon musk and cathie wood questions directly. that conversation is next.

this is bloomberg. ♪

emily: if -- with earnings season underway, robinhood announced that starting today retail investors will get a chance to ask company leaders questions. this, after acquiring a communications platform where users can ask questions, and if uploaded, those questions will be asked on earnings calls. robinhood says it is a chance for investors, big or small, to feel a sense of ownership. for more i'm joined by the robinhood chief product officer.

thank you for joining us. or us about the vision -- talk to us about the vision and how much demand you think there will be? >> thank you for having me. it is clear. if you think about investing, one of the big gaps that we see is a you don't have access to the companies you are in. this launch, what we are doing, right inside the robinhood app, being able to connect, talking to ceos, following up and engaging with them, including elon musk and our own management team. it does is give a channel for retail investors to express their ideas to ask questions. if you think about it, that happens today for institutional shareholders. we think that it's an opportunity for participation and ownership for all investors, big or small. emily: companies that use this technology range from robinhood

to tesla, amc. what is the reaction been from those like elon musk? >> it's been fascinating. on the one hand this is a great opportunity for retail investors and their voices to be heard. the reaction has been equally positive because they find that retail investors are asking questions. these are not just ticker symbols. these are brands and companies they believe in and are passionate about, teams they care about, so the questions they ask her about the product roadmap, where the company is going, and expressing strong desire for the company to do well. the companies are also excited about this. emily: robinhood is not just giving users the tools, but also advice on what investments to make. you have this trade recommendation now for beginner investors. how do you make those

recommendations and ensuring that your making the right recommendation? >> this company is all about expanding access to investing. we started out doing that with fractional ownership, better education, customer service. this is another step. in fact, it is designed for first-time investors and education to help investors. the minimum is $20. the way that we can do that is basically analyze the risk profile of the customer. we also match it with the diversified portfolios that we have, making sure that people can get started in investing. one thing i want to say is that this is a product that we are seeing as disproportionately useful and engaging for

customers who don't have a specific stock in mind. right? they are all told to start investing, but they see that message and don't know where to get started. this is meant to aid the process. emily: interesting. everybody has to start somewhere. robinhood has been accused of horrifying gambling. do you think you could be moving into dangerous territory? >> look, i think there is a vast as some between that and what we do, which is accessible design. what do i mean by that? when we say accessible design, it is intuitive. you are not running into the maze. it's the primary computing device for many people. you should be careful that we

should be careful -- we should be careful about being patronizing or at least, saying -- or at least just -- for elitist, saying like hey if the wealthy do it, it's investing and if you start to get a line of sight into your financial future, it's gambling. it has to be intuitive, that's accessible design. we are keen on making sure that the information is in context. we have been working on these bite-sized explainers to be able to explain in context of the issue, the market cap, the crypto coin, etc. we want to do more of them. emily: crypto wallet just came out in beta. what activity are you seeing given that we seem to be in the middle of a crypto winter? >> great question and very timely. we just announced the beta program is live. you are excited about it. there are two things here.

there are close to 2 million people on the waitlist as we systematically approach this and develop it in public, as i call it, working with customers in on the product and making it better. the second thing is we are doing it in a way that is intuitive and safety first, making sure that we have all heard stories of folks who have lost their lands and can't access them, so we want to make sure that security and safety is in place. look, crypto, again, i think it is about accessing investing with a whole new set of customers and people coming on board and getting started in investing with crypto. that is what we want to enable. it is a long game. we want to make sure that we do it safely. emily: let's talk about what really matters, are you going to list shiba inu or not? >> i was almost sure that you're

are going to start with -- [laughter] first of all, i really appreciate the community, love seeing the energy around robinhood. we don't take that for granted. at the same time, i cannot talk about token listings. the thing i will assure folks is that, again, we are systematically putting our building blocks in place to be able to enable great crypto products as we are the best and most inexpensive way that you can get into this new and emerging economy. crypto wallet, you just heard me talk about it. we also launched something else. you will see it continue to play in the space but we won't be playing crypto bingo. emily: we are coming up on the one-year anniversary of the so-called retail revolt. robinhood stopped gamestop shares to massive protests. i'm curious how you reflect on that one year later as you try to make sure that robinhood

ever finds itself in a storm like that again. >> emily, i think there is one thing specific to robinhood, of course, it made us stronger. rater controls. and that -- greater controls. and that is why we will launch 24/7 customer support. -- launched 24/7 customer support. we had that major crypto platform. it just made the company a lot more robust. the broader point that i see is that the retail energy, there is a lot of appetite and energy for tell investors, and that is what we lunch today in terms of channeling that and connecting retail investors directly to the companies that they invest in, think it starts the beginning of shareholder democracy and retail investor information on a whole different level, right? it's no longer restricted to wall street. it's about the main street. emily: absolutely. are looking -- we are looking

forward to seeing how many investors use the new feature. thanks for telling us all about it. thank you for stopping by. coming up, peloton plummets. a report that bike production is on pause and shares have gone downhill. details, next. this is bloomberg. ♪

emily: it has been a long, hard, downhill ride for peloton. the company is temporarily halting production of big-ticket items, including their signature bike due to a drop in consumer demand, slashing their sales forecast, sending it to its

worst rout ever. what is your reaction to this? >> thanks for having me. just the levels that we have, we have an in-line reading. we have been on the sidelines since it was initiated in april. our first reaction is that there are a lot of things going on with peloton. but to keep things -- two key things we want to focus on, they are facing the opposite of what they faced during covid. what they had done during the demand in covid, they struggled to keep up. now it is the complete opposite. they built a vast capacity and inventory and are seeing diminishing demand. a, the economy, reopening with people going back to the gym and b, there is a lot of competitive pressure and their products are not necessarily the most price friendly. satisfaction rates are high, but

they face a ton of competition. in an environment where markets are reopening, the costs structure is really high and they are still generating losses and the competitive pressures are high, and on top of that, they may raise prices as they start charging $250 by the end of this month. that does raise prices further for consumers. i think this is a perfect storm for peloton. emily: what do you think the demand trajectory is going to be coming out of a pandemic. a big spike through the pandemic, but going forward a lot of the people that were going to buy a bike maybe already bought a bike. >> exactly. and that is our point. there are two sides of this. if you talk to an investor or anyone who is really bullish, the idea is that the market is very large and there should be ongoing demand, and they saw a

pull forward they will benefit from on an ongoing basis. the fundamental question for peloton is how big is the market and how big is the competitive o.a.t. -- moat. we think that the competitive advantage is diminishing because if you actually look at or to track -- nordictrack, they are competitively priced, the warranty is just as good or even better. the dimensions are the same. basically the same product with a better value. and so, the question is going to be not only is it important for market penetration, but also competitive dynamics. how many households are really going to buy a connected device that is affordable. and that is the key question. we think that the market is smaller than what some out there are thinking. emily: interesting.

all right. thanks for weighing in. we will continue to watch what happens there. coming up, the senate moves forward with major antitrust legislation going after big tech. what could it mean? we our guest to discuss, next. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> i'm very concerned about the bill this committee is considering. it's not the usual type of legislation that we consider where the rules are laid out and everyone is expected to comply. instead, it is specifically designed to target a small number of specific companies, most of which are headquartered in my home state of california. emily: welcome back to bloomberg technology. i am emily chang in san

francisco. that was senator dianne feinstein commenting on antitrust bill that many believe could be the best shot at reining in big tech. despite that it made it out of committee, plenty of democrats oppose the bill as it stands. they fear it could hurt consumers and they are also concerned about security. so we can expect amendments. for more, i am joined by our tech editor and the founder and ceo of the chamber of progress. this would prevent providers from preferencing products. talk to us about how significant this bill could be. >> frankly, these are some of the most significant, potential

changes that congress has debated ever. as you said, they are aimed at prohibiting big five companies from preferencing their own products. that would mean that amazon couldn't feature amazon basics brand products. the new iphone could not come preinstalled with software. a local restaurant could not include a google map. if you think about a car that comes with when should wipers or radio, under this radio, you would be forced all of those amenities separately, rather than having them built in. it's not the pricing that some companies would benefit from that had of mandate, but some consumers would see negative impacts from this. emily: that said, even though a number of senators oppose the bill, they still pushed it out of committee.

take a quick listen to what senator cowan's had to say. -- senator kunz had to say. >> i have remaining concerns about the privacy and security. and also about services that are widely popular with consumers and my constituents. i'm going to support this in market here today in this committee, but i expect the sponsors will continue to address these open questions that i and the others have expressed about the bill. emily: what do you make of that? there is clearly bipartisan support for reining in big tech in some way, but will there be agreement on how to do that? >> there is a long distance from getting out of committee where we have gotten so far to seeing this put into something more substantial and make its way through the senate. there is bipartisan support. i know there is debate about how much support is or is not in favor. i think you do see people who

are advocating on behalf of the tech companies trying to send the message this will hurt consumers. it's hard to see exactly where the consumer gets hurt when if you are one of the advocates of this legislation, the argument is that you are given more choice. you are undermining the subtle ways in which google for example puts forth its products or gives them more prominence or the way that amazon might subtly or overtly encourage the businesses on its marketplace from having to use its products. and also there are questions about the extent to which amazon uses the data it collects on businesses to advantage its own products. it knows what sells. it knows what flies off the virtual shelf. it hard for amazon to make an argument that it doesn't use that information to its advantage.

and google is very much in the driver seat when it comes to how it is laid out, and ditto for apple. when these apps come preloaded, they get preference. they show up and they are right there for you. i think the intent behind this is to level the playing field. if you are a lawmaker, knocking big tech gives you political points and that's crucial for some in an election year. emily: as someone who worked at alphabet for many years, you said earlier you think consumers are going to be hurt by this. but on the other hand, it seems obvious that of course google provinces its own products and isn't that a conflict of interest? >> frankly, what you saw at the hearing was a good debate over what is at stake. you saw the senator voicing

concern that big tech has crowded out other services and made her reach customers. you had people like senator feinstein who had interesting moments. one senator said they'd like they can go to google, amazon, search for restaurant a product, and within a few clicks, it is there. they appreciate the convenience. you sold those two opposing viewpoints going at it in a substantive way during the hearing today, and sponsors of the bill are trying to help some companies. other senators argue that millions of americans are satisfied. that is why you see republicans and democrats divided on this topic. emily: how much more debate do

you expect to see and what is the likelihood of this bill getting past from the vantage point in washington? >> it's an uphill battle because senators are split. yes it has bipartisan support and it was approved by a majority of committee members. if you watched the hearing and dig deeper, you saw both democrats and republicans voicing significant concerns. there is a custom of senatorial deference. it was not usual that you sought some democrats say i'm going to vote for this, but it needs work. that's a similar posture to a lot of house democrats to their version of the bill. even senator grassley had a moment where he said this isn't ready to attract the necessary 60 votes that it would need to pass the senate floor. and leaders of the senate and house tend to not bring bills to the floor unless it has support from the majority party. i think you saw today on the democratic side, that even among democratic senators, there are mixed views. emily: what are you going to be watching for as this moves forward? >> well, you saw debate over

amendments. we talked about the international dimension and whether this advantages u.s. players. so lawmakers are not going to let something pass that they see as giving an advantage to the big chinese players. are already starting to see -- you are already starting to see discussion of amendments that will also target tencent, etc. i think the international dimension will come to play. the small businesses need to get their message across. google and apple and the large companies have platforms and they are able to get their views out there and they are able to show this is the way things are. and you like it because this is the way things are. the small businesses need to get their message across which is there is a choice and are you being given a choice as a consumer about the search engine, the products, the apps you download? and, can these big platforms be doing a better job of giving you that choice and making that

clear to you? that's what these companies need to do a better job of communicating. emily: all right. much to keep monitoring. thank you. the federal reserve took a key step today toward the possible issuance of a u.s. digital currency. it is a move the central bank says could dramatically alter the central banking system. -- the american financial system. it solicited feedback on the coin. as expected, it gave no indication and said it did not intend to do so without clear backing from the white house and congress. coming up, cleaning up cryptocurrency. up the topic of a subcommittee hearing earlier today on e energy uses of blockchain, which -- on the energy uses a blockchain, which some members called concerning. we will have more on that next. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> we need to be thinking about ways to encourage innovation , improvement and efficiency across industries. ♪

emily: new york city mayor just confirmed his first paycheck will be converted to bitcoin and ethereum, making good on his campaign promise. coinbase will be handling the version through its direct deposit feature, which allows the transfer into a crypto wallet. speaking of crypto, much as been said about the carbon footprint of crypto mining which was the topic of a house subcommittee hearing earlier. let's dive into this with the executive director director of

blockchain association and washington, d.c. what are your takeaways from the hearing today? the concern is that crypto uses a lot of energy. >> yeah, the big takeaway i had is that this was a constructive and balanced conversation. you know, we have seen the energy issue come up in other hearings. out a -- about a year ago, notably on the senate side in the senate banking committee, elizabeth warren expressed deep concerns. i think the message has gotten out to members of congress that they want to be thoughtful in their approach to the space. i think that there is an understanding and a realization that bitcoin and other crypto networks are something that is here to stay and this is something they need to be thoughtful about. i thought there were good questions. this is a committee that unlike the financial services committee or the senate banking committee, they are new to understanding this, but they understood the

nuances between proof of work and proof of stake. i was heartened by the hearing, and hopefully that lays the groundwork for more education as we get into 2022. emily: there was definitely more friendly banter than we heard in prior hearings involving the tech injury. this and in. -- listen in. >> you are appropriately exploring the narrative that the demands of crypto currency will destabilize the grid and i am here to tell you that the narrative is wrong. crypto computing can be a catalyst for clean energy development, which will reduce pollution and create local jobs. emily: do you agree with that? >> yeah, no, john is absolute right. if you look today with renewable energy, you often lose so much of that. if you pair bitcoin mining with the deployment of renewables, it and actually make something that

was unprofitable now profitable because you pair it with bitcoin mining. and furthermore, bitcoin mining can be turned off and on easily so you can manage the amount of electricity going on in the grid. so yeah, we think bitcoin is a positive development for renewable energy. we also heard debate today about some of the other blockchain consensus mechanisms that use less energy. and what we didn't get into but i would like to see more discussion of going forward is you can do carbon credits very easily on the blockchain. there is a lot of innovation in that space as well, so i think we have a good story to tell as an industry and a community around the space. i think this was a very good first step toward getting that messaging before congress. emily: now, i want you to listen to a quick exchange between a representative from florida and the ceo of bitfury speaking of the developing relationship between the crypto community and washington.

take a listen. >> on that efficiency note, we are seeing much more interest in producing ultralow voltage dips and whatnot. -- chips and whatnot. what are you seeing? >> the energy improvement from 2013 to 2022 is 6100%. and the pioneering of those kinds of quantum leap order of magnitude efficiency gains are shared among all of computing. in the same way the space program created benefits for other things in the world, bitcoin mining has produced a lot of other innovations for other parts of the world. >> you spend -- we spend time whining that we can't get enough chips. you are helping this? >> we are on the demand side. emily: would you say you are seeing an improvement between the crypto community and washington or more understanding , and what does that mean for regulation? >> yeah, it has gotten a lot

better and there are a lot of reasons for that. one, there is a very active community on twitter. we saw this for the first time in august when the senate was being the -- was moving the infrastructure bill through. crypto twitter activated. they got in touch with their congressmen and senators and they let their voices be heard through twitter. this has been an incredibly powerful tool. we are also seeing a lot of new candidates come into the space that have crypto policy as part of their platform. they are running and diversifying and messaging they are pro crypto. if they are not careful, they might inadvertently have a primary challenge from someone who is pro crypto or being attacked on twitter by crypto people. nobody wants this. they want to be constructive. they want to be seen as leaders , and they realize, going back to the previous segment, we have issues with big tech. the answer is big tech is to support crypto networks because

that will drive innovation that will open up these platforms, open up competition, give users throw over their data and more choices. i think that message is starting to sink in and we have really turned a corner. still a lot of work to do, a lot of education, a lot of policies that need to be cleaned up. but the pieces are coming together and i am optimistic that we are on a path to getting good policy for the entire crypto ecosystem. >> thank you for weighing in. coming up, is this mercedes-benz 's move to autonomous driving. we will hear from one company after they announced their lidar will be used in the next generation of cars. this is bloomberg. ♪ oomberg. ♪

emily: let's talk cars now. mercedes-benz announced it was going to use lidar technology from luminar. it is a key ingredient in autonomous driving. we spoke with one person about whether the european market is ahead when it comes to autonomous driving. announcer: from the heart of where innovation, money, and power collide, in silicon valley and beyond, this is "bloomberg technology" with emily chang. >> there's no question that the europeans have been ahead of the game. they started earlier and they have made a lot of technology. there's a lot of opportunity for the americans to catch up, but they will have to take action and to it quickly if they want to catch up to mercedes and volvo and other automakers in europe.

>> i wonder where the cathc up potential is. it would be great if my car can drive me to work, but it feels like buses, mass transit, huge trucks that are transporting goods, that's where we need lidar. that is where we really need to see the opportunity. >> yeah, absolutely. we are also looking from a commercial trucking perspective, we see that is a huge opportunity. we are also working with a large producer of commercial trucks, which is daimler. it is separately run than mercedes. it previously had the same owner , the parent company. it is absolutely important. of course, the volume of consumer vehicles is a multiple of what you would have even on trucks. that is why the significance of something like this is very high and it comes to actually being able to put it on vehicles and .

that is the intent of what we're doing for this collaboration. >> elon musk and tesla believe in camera-based technology when \ approached to fully autonomous driving -- technology approach to fully autonomous driving. others say you need many approaches. why is elon musk wrong? >> it comes down to the fundamentals. it's a question of what you want to do. you can build a great assistive assisted driving system with cameras. you have companies that have been doing it for the better part of a decade. tesla has built an independent system that is similar. when it comes down to it, if you want to be able to reach higher levels of autonomy while at the same time improving the basic safety capabilities of the vehicle, which by the way, even with existing camera radar, the substantial majority of new vehicles including some form of

an assisted driving feature, they still get in accidents all the time. does not fundamentally prevent you from doing some thing a simple as not running into the thing right in front of you. this is part of the evolution of the sensing technology, lidar, new software capabilities. emily: that was the ceo of luminar technologies. i want to move on and talk about another venture of elon musk, brain implants. his company is now hiring a clinical director to oversee the long-promised trial of a new device, with the long-standing goal to implant chips in human brains getting closer. talk to us about the big picture goal and how close they are to human trials. >> dürer. so, the big picture goal is to -- sure.

so, the big picture goal is to help alleviate neurological disorders like stroke and paralysis. elon musk's team at neural link believes they can do that by implanting chips into human brains. that sounds crazy, but there are a couple hundred thousand people around who already have chips for various conditions in their brains. mostly things like parkinson's disease or epilepsy. so this would be taking these chips to a new area where they would solve these neurological disorders. emily: and quickly, what do we know about this clinical director position? >> well, the chief thing this person will have to do is interact with the fda, which has sign off on any clinical trials. two the way they describe the job makes it clear that they are in the early stages. you will may be if everything goes well see something by the end of the year at best. emily: i wonder how close we are. thank you. that does it for this edition of bloomberg technology.

june and tomorrow, we will be speaking with one person ceo of , a silicon valley bank on all of their offerings. you don't want to miss it. ♪

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announcer: the following is a paid program. the opinions and views expressed do not reflect those of bloomberg lp, its affiliates, or its employees. >> many times i've been out here with a new coin release and i've asked for a drumroll. in all honesty, it has been nothing but hyperbole. i would really like a drumroll. i releasing i should have one. i think this is the singular