good morning. it's 8:00 a.m. at google headquarters in mountain view, california. 11:00 a.m. here on wall street and "squawk alley" is live. ♪ welcome to "squawk alley." happy friday. i'm kayla touche with john fort. good to see you. first up today, details of incoming google ceo ruth parat's

salary of $650,000. a $5 million signing bonus and $25 million in stock and a $40 million biannual grant. she will officially join google may 26th of this year. for those doing the math at home, that's a $70 million pay package over the next two years. john, a couple numbers to put this into context. number one, james gorman, the ceo of morgan stanley pulled in about $18 million in 2013. so she'll be making even triple what her boss made. and patrick pashet made about half what she made in the recent two year period. why is that important? >> i don't that it is. look at what angela got coming in the door, $70 million, when you consider the make-whole grants and not counting the other compensation. given the $5 million sign-on bonus, it's a lot of money for the rank in file like us, but they might have gotten a deal

getting this $70 million package in the door. >> this is sure to read the debate of whether the shine is off of wall street. it used to be one of the prime destinations for people graduating from college and also from top executives looking to work at one of these preteenasis wall street firms. when you see a number that big, does it say anything about the balance of industry? >> it says if you want to get to the top of tech in the boardroom or at the executive level, it doesn't hurt to go through wall street. so at least they've got that going for them. yahoo! announcing it's going to boost its stock buy-back by $2 billion. this is an extension of its $5 billion buy-back program. the company started that in 2013. now analysists have been pushing the company to return more cash to shareholders and pushing for an even bigger buyback from marissa mayer. but the stock is reacting nicely up 2% this morning.

>> that's good news to shareholders, there's more cash in their pockets. between meerkat raising new funding and twitter with parascope, there are huge bets on live video becoming the next big thing in social networking all coming on the heels of the growing debate over whether there's a new bubble brewing. josh is joining meerkat's board, good to see you. >> thank you for having me. >> before we get to meerkat that you wrote about extensively, we have had the worst week for the nasdaq since october of last year. five months running. people are saying this correction needed to happen because the markets got overheated. you take companies, public, what is your view on this? >> no, i think we're in a massive boom of kind of human computing. we have a billion people carrying around computers in their pockets.

so while i think, you know, the current prices and expectations may be inflated sort of across the board, i think we're going to see just many companies come out of this that are going to be disruptive companies, much larger than they are today, so it's hard to pick winners and i think everybody is piling in with the expectation they are going to hit the exact winners. but i think the net is still going to be incredibly positive for all of us. >> josh, you're not the only one to say that but i can feel the tweets coming in of people saying, of course someone working in the valley would say that. that's the industry that you work in. you have to believe that otherwise you wouldn't be doing your job. but take the other side, what signs of any breakdown and diligence or evaluations are you saying that do raise red flags? >> yeah, you know, i think sort of the very early stages we're seeing at lo of money piling in to get pieces of companies that could be huge with lighter diligence and that the growth stage is betting on companies that sort of public valuations

without the same scrutiny. my business is in venture capital, we bet on companies like meerkat early and hoping they become very large and do a lot of diligence and scrutiny. i have known that team for over a year before we made the investment. >> well, josh, let's talk about meerkat. i signed up for that and it's been about a month now since i signed up for it. and i signed up for parascope yesterday. it seemed to me that the distribution power of twitter gave parascope an immediate huge boost. what is the value that one of these streaming apps has to have in order to have longevity? what does meerkat have to do, diversify off twitter in order to distinguish itself? >> you know, coming back, we have a billion people with phones in our pockets and i think all of these new tools mean that you can just pull your phone out, start broadcasting and anybody else you're connected to will be able to tune into your phone and see the world through your eyes. and so i think that twitter is

obviously one very powerful way that we're connected through the world by facebook, instagram, our own phonebook and address book. there's a lot of ways in which people will connect and find other people that they want to share the moments with and connect. >> so what is the value, is what i'm asking, when you look at the next round of start-ups, there will be several who try to do something like meerkat. what are the metrics you're looking for to determine whether what they are doing is a flash in the handwriting on somebody else's innovation or if they have something special to help nurture into the next big thing? >> you know, we really look for two things. the first is we look for something that people want to do often and keep coming back to. when meerkat first launched, we thought, that's silly. who is going to want to watch live video and a week later people were pulling out their phones and broadcasting moments and tuning into them and doing it more and more every single day. so those are the kind of things, it's very early, but you feel

something that people are drawn to, not just trying once and never using again. >> with the funding that meerkat now has, what will the company will able to do because it does seem like it's a two-horse race at this point. the other horse, of course, being backed by a publicly traded company with a ton of cash. and a very large distribution network. >> yeah, you know, i think the most amazing part of it is that it is a two-horse race. we are talking about it that way. meerkat was launched eight to ten weeks ago and when they started to build it was 12 weeks ago. to already be in a race is exciting and now the team is going to go build it. we'll build smart media partnerships to create content and start building communities. and, of course, the company is positioned to go build across and diversity so it is not just dependent on twitter as one source of way as people can connect. >> josh, we saw facebook make a number of announcements earlier this week.

some of them pretty big and ambitious whether you are looking at some of the things they are doing to turn messenger into a platform. what is your takeaway after seeing that stuff about facebook and how it's positioned right now and who is most likely to benefit from the moves they are making? >> yeah, it's a great point about facebook. i think a few years ago we had written off facebook never being able to get mobile and as of this week they look like the smartest company in mobile, not just now taking messenger is a great product, but really allowing all other applications that want to use messenger as distribution to be able to grow. i think we're going to see a lot of mobile native content start to flow through messenger in a way it couldn't before. and i think people have underestimated the excitement around the messenger for business products they talked about that has a really interesting attack on e-mail and sort of ecommerce and other businesses using e-mail even. >> josh, we appreciate your time this morning. >> well, thank you so much for having me.

>> josh elman is a meerkat investor. we continue to await a verdict in the ellen powell case. scott is outside the courthouse with an update. >> reporter: what will a gender discrimination case be without a he said/she said. and there's no shortage of it in this case, what was the significance of a book that supposedly contained erotic poetry? what about a private plane ride that did or didn't include talk about important stars? well, at the end of the day, the jury asked a question about a particular and critical he said/she said in this case. the she is, of course, ellen powell, the former junior partner at the giant capital venture firm who allegations she was retaliated against in 2011 when first raising complaints she was being discriminated against because of her gender. the he is john door, the legendary senior partner who was

ellen's boss and allegedly turned on her once she raised the complaints at the end of 2011. the jury asked to hear testimony read back to them from both powell and door about those conversations. powell, of course, remembered them distinctive in her testimony, door, not so much. and it will be up to the jury to decide who is telling the truth. it is difficult to determine from jury questions where they are at in their deliberations, but i can tell you that those questions are referenced on page two of the seven-page verdict form that they have to fill out. so make of that what you will. so here's where we stand. the jury begins its second full day of deliberations today and deliberated for five hours on wednesday. they apparently will begin with talk about retaliation. was ellen powell retaliated against for her complaints and ultimately fired? a word about the decision about damages. the jury will get to decide in

this phase whether she is entitled to the $16 million she's seeking in compensatory damages. and they will say if she gets punitive damages to trigger a second phase of the trial, more testimony and more deliberations. we are not done yet. guys? >> all right, well, certainly a case a lot of people are watching. and on to another hot-button issue, controversy in indiana. tech and business leaders blasting a new law just signed by governor mike pence. josh lipton has the details, josh? >> well, john, sales force ceo mark beniof asked the tech industry to take a stance against this law. and leaders in silicon valley are now responding to that call for action. indiana governor mike pence signed into law the religious freedom restoration act. now that could permit business owners to use faith as a reason

to refuse service to customers, including same sex married couples. benioff took to twitter saying, at sales force we'll cancel all programs that require customers and employees to travel to indiana to face discrimination. benioff said his company employs about 3,000 people in that state and sales force held an event in indianapolis last year that attracted, we are told, some 8,000 attendees. now other tech leaders are following benioff's lead. the young ceo jeremy stoppelman says his company will expand only in states that don't pass such laws. max levchin, paypal's co-founder weighed in saying indiana's decision is, quote, a signal that discrimination is welcomed in that state. now importantly, the governor's office did tell us that this bill is not about permitting discrimination. the governor's office saying that the bill does not apply to

disputes between private parties unless a government action is involved. still, benioff clearly isn't backing down from this fight. on twitter he told the tech industry to keep paying attention to what is happening in indiana and how it will impact its employees and customers. guys, back to you. >> thank you, josh. they say it's not about discrimination but there's a story in the "indianapolis star" noting three of the lobbyists who pushed hardest for the gay marriage ban last year that failed were among the 70 or 80 guests invited to the bill signing. so it's people who have concerns about this law and there are many as josh mentioned. that's no consolation to say it's not about discrimination when they see that, too. >> it's something we'll keep our eye on. more from josh as this story develops. when we come back, blackberry is out with earnings. john chen is with us in just a moment. plus, yahoo! announcing a new share buyback boosting yahoo! shares. but what does that mean for activists in the stock and for

the ceo marissa mayer? and hulk hogan comes to "squawk alley" later in the hour ahead of wrestlemania taking part this weekend. markets are near session highs. we'll be back in a minute. t. sometimes romantic. there were tears in my eyes. and tears in my eyes. and so many little things that we learned were really the biggest things. through it all, we saved and had a retirement plan. and someone who listened and helped us along the way. because we always knew that someday the future would be the present. every someday needs a plan. talk with us about your retirement today.

now with the you can watch live tv anytime. it's never been easier with so many networks all in one place. get live tv whenever you want. the xfinity tv go app. now with live tv on the go. enjoy over wifi or on verizon wireless 4g lte.

plus enjoy special savings when you purchase any new verizon wireless smartphone or tablet from comcast. visit comcast.com/wireless to learn more. welcome back. blackberry's surprising the street for this moment posting a

quart quarter of profit the second quarter in a row. but profit still came in below analyst expectations. joining me is john chen, ceo of blackberry. john, congratulations on the quarter. the market seems to like it. you said you're seeing traction with your new handset and are continuing to work on cost of goods sold to improve profitability, but how do you feel about growth? because this is really about software, right? about the update. i'm hearing concerns that wall street isn't adopting it as quickly as onlookers might like. what can tell you us about the bez 12 traction? >> actually, the bez 12 is one of the highlights. it's the only reason why we would grow software at 24% sequentially from q3 to q4 and 20% year over year. so we're doing pretty well with lots of customers. i gave a list at our earnings

call about the major customers. about four, five or six of them are financials. so we are doing well all around on the bez 12. >> give callers some info on the handsets. i know that's not the big strategic, but you have the classic that you just came out with and you said to expect average selling prices to come up as more sales of the debt logged. are they meeting expectations or exceeding them? and which handset is doing the best? >> well, right now we're selling classic about two -- every two classic over one passport. so passport service is a certain market, but classic is a bit of a wider appeal. and it's just -- it was too early with the classic. if you follow our progress in there, the at&t stores stopped

carrying it at the end of february, which is our end of quarter. and verizon carried it the beginning of march, so it is technically not in the last quarter. and now we have about 7,000 stores around the world. 68 countries. lots of carriers adopting the classic. we're launching most recently indonesia with the classic. so this is still early in the rolling out stage. so i feel good about it. >> okay. can you tell us how many blackberry enterprise server subscribers are still active, those legacy subscribers are still active? how well have you done at retaining those? >> oh, we have today, we still have over 30,000 enterprise customers. and they are using servers of various indicators. we have seen quite a bit move

from best ten to 12. so we are coming back on the server side. and people are resonating to it. and i also want to point out, samsung asked us an agreement to manage the device and will resell the bex 12. so we have a lot of positive momentum there. >> still me how you feel about the way wall street is valuing your stock. if i understand the numbers correctly, it looks like the cash balance is above $3 billion now. your cash flow positive and you're going to stay that way, yet the market cap is below $6 billion. so more than half your market cap is cash. what are you thoughts on that? >> well, to be fair, i do have about a $1.4 billion in debt. with the convertible, so it is not debt -- right, so that includes that. so i should -- i think that, well, first of all, we have now

shown that we are well under control. now i need to stabilize revenue as you pointed out earlier about revenue. and i'm going to start growing that, but we're kind of into the second half of the board game in terms of turnaround. we have done the first year really well on getting products out, getting the attraction and distribution and making money. and now we'll start the second year, we'll start to stabilize the revenue, continue to cash show positive. we'll start investing. actually i said to the conference call, we're going to do both organically investment and inorganic investment to drive the stock market world. so i think where we are i feel very good. i'm not too hung up on short-term stock prices and valuation. i think once we show that we have good traction in a market, it's up to growing and the revenues are there.

i think the market where -- >> you have done what you needed to do. john chen, ceo of blackberry, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. when we come back, another exclusive interview. this one with taco bell's ceo on the company's new breakfast creation. plus, virtual reality gets more competitive. the director of sewnmy magic labs will join us on their virtual reality headset set to compare with facebook's opulus. a rare look at an unreleased product coming up next. in my world, wall isn't a street. return on investment isn't the only return i'm looking forward to. for some, every dollar is earned with sweat, sacrifice, courage. which is why usaa is honored to help our members with everything from investing for retirement to saving for college.

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taco bell is rolling out the latest breakfast creation. we sat down to talk to taco bell

in burbank with jane wells. >> reporter: my first job was at a taco bell. ad spending is at an all-time high and is about to get higher. >> it's another perfect morning in the routine public where happiness is eating the same breakfast. >> reporter: all right. make a run for the hunger games border taco bell tweaking their breakfast menu out in the waffle taco. and in the biscuit taco, this would be a great hang-up. >> reporter: hangover food may be fitting as taco bell's core demo is inside the test kitchen and ceo brian nickel revealed the chicken and biscuit taco. the chicken is breaded with tortilla chips and comes with jalapeno honey or can fill it with eggs. the ceo wants to make breakfast as big as late night but not yet put breakfast on the late night

menu. >> what we have seen so far in early menus is people aren't ready to go breakfast late night. they are still way too into the cheesey gorditto crunch. at this point i think eventually we'll get there but are keeping it more contained to the traditional breakfast time. >> reporter: okay. now also this summer they will make over the menu to order online from the website. you don't need the app. and next it may be delivery. >> we want taco bell to be on demand. so whenever you want taco bell, we're going to be hopefully a click or two away. and delivery, i think, plays in that. we have not fig europed out yet how to do it. because we want to protect the integrity of the food and the experience that you have. so there's still more work to be done, but it's not far off. >> reporter: the integrity, yes. and this morning they are going to test the fritos taco filled

with chili. they are just rolling out the biscuit taco. so they put the chicken in a crunch wrap for me, which i will still eat. >> jane, how closely is young brands, the parent company, watching the rollout of the biscuit taco? >> reporter: well, i was interviewing brian nickel. during the interview he gets a phone call and says, that must be my daughter. he says, no, it says my boss. he hung up on him during the interview. that's how important we are. >> fantastic stuff, jane. perfect story to send us out to the early weekend. jane wells there in burbank, california. when we come back, yahoo! shares are up 1.5% as part of its complicated relationship with investors. meet the activists still going after more and more tech companies. that story when we come back. for trading never stops.r e so open an account with schwab. and when a market move affects, say, a cloud computing stock you're holding, we can help you decide what to do. with tools that help you see how market activity is affecting your positions.

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i'm courtney reagan and here is your cnbc news update at this hour. iraqi forces continue to fight isis militants in tikrit as part of the final phase as an offense f to recapture the city. they led the shiite militias to back out in protest. two former credit swiss bankers awarded jail time to help hide billions of dollars in assets. prosecutors recommended probation for the two men.

and italy's high court is expected to issue a verdict in the appeal of former american exchange student amanda knox and her italian ex-boyfriend. the two were convicted of murder in 2009 and then acquitted on appeals in 2011. but that acquittal was thrown out leading to today's decision. starting april 10th, pint appointments for sampling the apple watch will run 15 minutes for those interested in the $10,000 and up additions to get a half hour to see how it looks and fits. you can schedule an appointment for the luxury watch even if you have no intention of buying them. let's go back to "squawk alley." samsung and morpheus are a few of the tech companies investing in the future of

reality. richard marks direct's playstation's role for sony. richard, good to see you. >> great to see you. >> tech radar calls this the answer to every gamer's dream. what is so different about the new morpheus from the old product? >> well, with the new morpheus we have a lot better screen that is instead of the lcd screen. and also it has a wider field of view and a much lower latency in persistence, so it feels much more real when you put the headset on. >> richard, i'm wondering, when this has its big launch, what is going to be the experience? what is going to be the type of game that's going to make people beyond just the hard core who already know about this, feel like this is a must-have? i mean, with every gaming system we have, the flagship game, whether it was nintendo or mario bros, things like that? >> what i think the killer is

the vr, virtual presence. everyone would like to visit somewhere else, mars or hogwarts, just standing in a place like that is a killer experience. >> how far away are we, richard, from people being willing to go to the store and purchase a product like this for a more mainstream event like sitting courtside as an nba game, for example. we have seen a lot of coaches invest in virtual reality sports products. i just wonder when it goes mainstream? >> well, i think when we are launching our product in the first half of next year and we have a ton of interest already. and it's from a lot of different segments, so gaming is our lead segment for us, but there's lots of other segments. people in hollywood are interested in virtual reality to tell stories and a lot of kind of sports and extreme sports people are very interested in

being able to show you what it would feel like to stand there when that event is happening. so i think that it will reach mainstream. it won't maybe happen immediately, but i think once people get to try it and see how co compelling it is, that's when it will take off. you have to try it to understand it. >> is this a christmas 2016 thing then when we see momentum build or will it be throughout the year when it hits the mainstream? >> i actually think people will be waiting in line for it when it comes out at the beginning. and, you know, it's really hard since it's so new of a technology to predict how big of a sales situation it will be, but we do have so much interest. we just had a conference recently and there was a four-hour line to try it. we had to turn people away. it was really sad, but it was just so exciting around this area right now. actually, i have the headset right here. this is what the headset looks like. you can see in the background that's what would be on my screen. so if i move the headset, it

changes. >> i was wondering what the backdrop was. >> yeah. >> very interesting, richard. we'll keep our eye on you and what sony is up to. we appreciate your time this morning. >> great, thank you. >> richard marks from sony. all right. the next smartphone battle is on. some may call it a battle for second place, we'll see. samsung out with the galaxy s6 not to be outdone with rival htc that is also kicking off orders for the flagship phone the m9 this morning. very similar to the m8 critically acclaimed but didn't sell huge. so i asked htc's president yesterday jason mackenzie about the phone yesterday. >> if you don't have a great product, then your house is built on sand, right? so we built this m9 to be a great product first. it's not like many other products that look like they are made for mass production. we built a crafted device.

it is beautiful. we are really selling a piece of jewelry with the htc it m9. we want it to be beautiful and we have done that with the htc m9. we have done that without compromising performance. so with the fast processor, that's in there as well. >> also replace the phone in the first year if you crack the screen or something like that. i also asked him about the htc new three-prong strategy for growth. >> not only are we delivering great smartphones but we're expanding to other categories and focusing on a few key areas. one is health and fitness and we partner with under armor, a great brand to attack that segment to that category together. you'll see big stuff there. the other is really in virtual reality. and gaming is really kind of where that's going to start. that's the tip of the iceberg and we partnered with val to deliver the htc vibe, super

immersive, so much different than what other companies are doing. >> shares of htc and samsung both down more than 2% for the week. we'll see if they really can move the needle with the new phones. >> we will. good stuff. thank you, john. coming up, is the wwe the new media company to be watching? guess who we will ask in hulk hogan will join the alley later on. but first, rick santelli, what are you watching today? >> john, we have lots of calm and chaos in the markets. we'll take those two dynamics and see what we can learn about how they give us good indications of future pricing, especially chaos. all after the break.

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coming up, we'll meet the next generation of investors today and see which student won this year's stock picking c conte contest. and we'll talk to bill miller and what stocks he likes. and the traders are all here. guys, we'll see you at the top of the hour in 20 minutes. john, we'll be here. the students are here, everybody's ready to go. >> nice. can hardly wait. all right. yahoo! boosting its buyback by $2 billion. activist investors are pushing the company to reduce cash to shareholders. kate kelley has more back at hq.

kate? >> yahoo! is no stranger to activist investors and is now dealing with a strong stomach contender in jeff smith. smith has been agitating for a number of changes at the company since last fall articulated most recently in a march 9th letter calling the company's financial performance unacceptable. in addition to substantial cost cuts and a haul to acquisitions, star bird demand at least $3.5 billion in share buybacks, a portion of which as of yesterday it is now getting. smith, a 42-year-old, who managed money for over a decade but stun his firm into the independent company in 2011, has been active with technology before. his firm also has a stake in aol which last fall encouraged to combine with yahoo! something they are not talking about as much recently. and recently settled differences with the human resources services provider insparity after the company agreed to an evaluation. and he's taking a quieter and sometimes more collaborative approach to defend their

corporate targets than their predecessors with corporate targets, like dan lowe or carl icahn. and jesse cohn has been prolific handling three dozen activist campaigns since joining elliott in 2004. these range from emc corporation which recently appointed two new directors to juniper directors that recently did something similar. and they managed serious money, john. starbucks deploys $4 billion in capital overall and cohn has a slice of elliott's $25 billion pot to work with, but the firm will not disclose how much is given to activism or technology. >> kate kelly with the new slate of the young and the restless. of course, kate will deliver more in the hedge fund conference on july 15th this year. to register, go to deliveringalpha.com.

let's get to rick santelli with the santelli exchange. hey, rick. >> good morning again, kayla. i talk a lot about technicals. you know, the conventional wisdom, when you hear somebody talk technicals that doesn't come from a trading floor background, they quote things like, you know, trading almanac type issues. those aren't really the technicals people on the trading floors view and obviously trading floors are getting thinner. and i do think that's a shame. and computerization has changed the tech any cnicals because ma traders use them and it's important to understand how they are calculated and exactly where they come from. but today we'll keep it real macro. we'll talk about two conditions that give you humongous clues, calm and chaotic markets. calm markets, it's all about congestion. when you have a market that is really consolidating in a certain price structure, here's the issue. that is the comfort zone of the market. and value tends to hold in

value. or this becomes important when you move away from value. when you move away from value, you keep very tight observations on tight ranges in consolidation. but chaos, chaos is kind of like in the extreme moment of passion with regard to trading, okay? in that moment where you're trading off of your intestinal fortitude, there's a certain market honesty there. that is hugely important. i guess you could think about it, the old saying, i have heard warren buffett use it, when the tide goes out, you can see who has been swimming naked. when the tide goes out, that's like chaos. when the tide comes in, you can tell, that's more like calm. and examples of chaos in the last six months in the information you can garner is humongous police profitable. i have used that word twice now. october 15th in treasuries. why was that so important? it was super chaos. we traded down to a level of 186.

we settled 28 basis points higher at 216. which by the way ended up being where the contract closed months later for year-end. and 186 was the low yield this week. and it held several times before we had a test of 2%. but maybe there's no better example than the euro versus the dollar. and the day i'm talking was last wednesday, fed day. because right after that statement was read, even before the press conference, we went from 1.06 up to 1.10 and i'm rounding. this level was touched three times. yesterday when it touched it, boom, we broke three handles. this is key. these will always continue to work. remember, moving away from value, chaos shows you in the extreme where positions will change. john fort, back to you. >> thank you, rick. and coming up next, a special guest.

>> yo, maniacs. hulk hogan here. i'm next on cnbc. what you going to do, brother? ♪ at mfs, we believe in the power of active management. every day, our teams collaborate around the world, to actively uncover, discuss and debate investment opportunities. which leads to better decisions for our clients. it's a uniquely collaborative approach you won't find anywhere else. put our global active management expertise to work for you. mfs. there is no expertise without collaboration.

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now with live tv on the go. enjoy over wifi or on verizon wireless 4g lte. plus enjoy special savings when you purchase any new verizon wireless smartphone or tablet from comcast. visit comcast.com/wireless to learn more. ♪ this sunday at levi stadium in santa clara, the heart of silicon valley, wrestlemania

xxxi, the super bowl of wrestling. more than 30,000 fans are expected at wwe's biggest event of the year. hundreds more are expected to tune in on paperview. joining us with more on this is someone who knows per view. someone who knows a thing or two about wrestling, the legendary hulk hogan. i was a red blooded american male in the '80s in school completely enrap toured by what was known as the wwf at the time. tell me given the media landscape now and giving the story telling that you've done throughout the years, what is special about this moment with technology and distribution being what it is? >> well, it's a whole other world, brother, with all the social media and the vehicles that we have nowadays. there is no shot that is not heard worldwide. we've got foreign countries all over the globe coming to wrestlemania and lee advice

stadium. mr. tee, lib ber rash chee, i never dreamed 31 years later we'd be running later. it's a larger universe. it's a once in a lifetime experience. with the wwe network it's the largest growing network out there right now. 24 hours the wwe universe network you can see everything you want to see network. >> mr. t, lib berra chee and hulk hogan. >> you have 1.2 million twitter followers. you're on facebook and youtube. someone who wants to connect with fans on a daily basis ahead of an event like this, where do you get the best connection to them? >> well, the best connection is through the social media, through the wwe's social media. 420 million followers. i mean, it's an easy reachout. we get the word out. there's no stone left unturned. without a doubt the wwe's social

media is the easiest way to reach the fans. >> hulk, what's the core of your audience now? there are 30 somethings and 40 somethings that remember the hulkmania days. i imagine you're trying to reach a new generation of wrestling fans who perhaps have a different look at what's real and what's not. who's the core audience right now? is it that old fan bringing their kids? is it somebody else? what do you see? >> well, it is a huge range of demographics that, you know, watch the ww universe. 30 years ago people that were 40 and 50 years old, if they're still alive they're hulkmaniacs. i've got new fans that are 3 and 4 and 5 and 6 years old going hulk hogan, i saw you slam the giant. you're the greatest wrestler of all time. there's a huge female demo. it crosses all boundaries nowadays. >> the changes in the audience, hulk, are something that

investors have been watching through the lens of the wwe stock price. the organization is unique in the fact that it's a publicly traded company. shareholders have been a little bit combative in the last year. i'm wondering from the performer's perspective, from the wrestler's perspective, what pressure if any you feel to work for a publicly traded company and what you need to deliver in terms of ratings, marketing and the like. >> well, when we call these guys wwe super stars, they are super stars in and out of the ring. i mean, beer drinkers and cigar smokers at ring side, those days are over. when you look at our crowd now, it's families, a lot of young kids, parents, grandparents, the father, the son and the grand kid. they all have something in common. they know the wwe and they know hulk hogan. i mean, it's really a chance for these guys to showcase their talents. like john cena, he sees more make a wish children than anybody. we all interact with reading programs, the hospitals, the armed forces. so, you know, we cover all bases

because these guys are super stars in and out of the ring. >> hulk, you've had a brand that survived about 40 years now which is no small fete. what's been the best piece of financial advice you ever have gotten or the best financial move you ever made? >> oh, my gosh. the best financial move i ever made was to cut my losses and regroup and start over. but i'm not getting into my finances, uncle sam. >> still a smart man, kayla. >> yeah. give us a preview, hulk, of what we can expect this weekend? how do you expect the event to go down? >> well, you know when levi stadium opens up, first you can find 70,000 hulk maniacs rushing into the stadium. all around the world when you feel the ground rumbling and the lightning bolt starts, the sun, the moon, the stars, everything is going to focus on levi stadium. then you're going to witness the greatest sports extravaganza of all times.

the super bowl times 1,000. what you going to do when wrest am mania and levi stadium runs wild on you. >> i don't know. what am i going to do? he's still got it. >> for $9.99 you can go to the wwe network and get all the pay per views. >> i love it. hulk hogan. thank you so much. >> thank you guys. more on the markets when squawk alley comes back. they are going towards the flat line. we'll get you an update on what is moving them at this hour. later on today, 3:00 to be exact on closing bell, chevron ceo john watson. you don't want to miss that interview. squauk all"squawk alley" we'll right back.

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that's not all. now you can add fashion to the big mac list. mcdonald's launching a new ham burger themed clothing and household line at a fashion show in sweden. selling thermal underwear, wallpaper and bedding online. if eating the ham burger isn't enough now, you can literally wear it on your sleeve. part of a broader $40 million marketing blitz this week. we're talking about it, right? >> i can be a messy eater. a lot of my clothes ended up hamburger themed. >> accidentally? >> yeah. apple meanwhile announcing the launch of stores within ultra high end department stores showcasing the apple watch. they include galleries lafayette in paris and one in tokyo. they're going to open on april 10th when the watch debuts. this follows on news apple is training some in store geniuses to help guide potential customers with fashion advice on which watch model would work best with their personal as they the particular. i could use guidance on that

sort of thing. >> it's a whole different level of genius right there. april 10th is that date. that does it for "squawk alley." the markets are still hanging on to positive territory but barely. with that we will send it out to motor city where the halftime crew is standing by. have a great weekend. ♪ ♪ ♪ and welcome to a special edition of "the halftime show" today. i am scott walker and we are live in detroit, michigan, at the engage conference. it is the largest student investor conference in the world. over the next hour you're going to hear from the next generation of great investors as well as the current. in fact, we're going to speak with the legendary investor bill miller in just a bit. sharpen your pencils. trade school is in session. my name is alex. >> sykes. >> university of wisconsin