good thursday morning, welcome to "squawk alley." i'm jon fortt with morgan brennan and david faber. live at post 9 of the new york stock exchange we begin this morning with the markets. we have seen big swings in stocks major averages red across the board, a drop in december retail sales, largest in more than nine years, spooking investors in today's trade. steve liesman is in washington with more. steve? >> reporter: jon, thanks very much a lousy retail sales report. we got to ask the fed governor lael brainard in that in an interview an hour or so ago, and what she said was that it is part of a lot of other risks out there, including global weakness, trade tensions, and other economic issues that are concerning her

ultimately, she said the fed is in a good place in terms of being on pause and hold. let's look at the retail sales numbers she was talking about. down 1.2%. biggest drop in nine years, estimate up 0.1% if you look at the details, department stores were lousy, gasoline stations were down, even internet retailers didn't do well, they were negative as well here is some commentary. some of the commentary is skeptical about data oxford says retail sales puts a chill on the u.s. economy. amherst said consumer weaker, data is fishy. couple other comments i want to share as well. citi, retail sales plunge reinforces fed pause and not just a pothole, it is a major roadblock. one more thing to tell you about from the brainard interview, she was dovish on the balance sheet.

she would like to see it end later, wind down, and later this year i believe she's the first fed official to put a time line on that, and by way of comparison, our fed survey from last month put the average expected date of the end f wind down, first quarter of 2021. brainard calling for an earlier end to the wind down ond by implication, a bigger balance sheet than the market expects, guys >> lots of dovish signals from that interview across the board. great stuff that you brought us. thank you. for more on the global economy, bring in former managing director and ceo at the institute for international finance, charles delara, chairman of the americas partners group good morning >> good morning. good to be with you. >> great to have you so we're in the midst still of

questions on trade with china. when you were on with us at the end of last year, we were talking about that you said i do think there's a need for change here, it is a pressing need for change i hope the chinese authorities realize this now given all that's happened since then, the market rebound, are you more or less optimistic about the trajectory of u.s., china trade talks? >> i am slightly more optimistic but i still believe there are many hurdles to be cleared before the u.s. and china can declare victory on trade talks and i fear that the market expectations have gone a little beyond what will materialize we would like to see postponement in sharp increase in tariffs, another sharp blow to the u.s., chinese and the global economy but at the same time, many of us

realize the issues, particularly technology transfer issues and more structural problems are going to need to be discussed over the longer term i hope we can see shorter term stabilization of tariff, short term solution agreement, and engagement in longer term discussions. >> the expectation on what that looks like, if i am reading you correctly, tariffs don't go away entirely after whatever happens march 1st or post march 1st, but maybe they don't ratchet higher. then the conversations continue, is that right? >> i think that's a realistic prospect i believe that at the same time as wefocus on trade talks, i think it is crucial to look at what's happening in the underlying chinese economy, u.s. economy and european economy the trade talks have a huge influence on global market sent meant. as we move into the next couple weeks, there's a reasonably good

chance that we will find some temporary solutions here i doubt seriously, however, whether this will provide long term resolution to difficult structural issues between the u.s. and china >> you said you fear investors in markets may have gotten ahead of themselves in terms of talks and outcome. what does it mean in terms of where markets are going near term based on the headlines we do get, do you think they're going lower? >> i think markets are going to be under a little bit of pressure but i am more focused on the longer term issues evolving or more structural issues in the private kwekt world, we're focused on longer term trends i don't want to dismiss the importance of weak retail sales or production data, but i think it is critical at the same time if we're going to continue expansion to look at longer term

trends and they're not so positive europe appears to be moving into a particularly weak phase with the german economy not far out of recession, huge issues in southern europe, and data coming out of china related to trade talks but also somewhat independent, the data are not overly encouraging i think we have structural should, including the data, et cetera. >> what does this mean for the u.s. dollar this year? >> good question i have seen the dollar as you've seen, all seen the dollar pick up strength gradually the last year it hasn't been huge. i wouldn't be surprised to see that trend continue although i don't expect a surge in the dollar value against either the euro, the yen, or the juan

i think various factors are playing in the european case, looking at a weaker case in the chinese case, a great deal of sensitivity around the exchange rate. i think it would be unwise for the chinese to allow the exchange rate to depreciate substantially against the dollar, and so much has to do with the position of the fed comments by lael brainard and the fed board in the last five to six weeks since the increase in december there are a substantial number of rises in fed rates is simply unlikely to materialize now. this will i think take a little bit of the steam away from a strong dollar. i expect to see some continued modest steep ening of the dollar moving to the middle of the year. >> we'll see in a couple weeks which way things tilt. that's a great preview

charles delara, thanks for being with us. >> good to be here. i just caught up with richard branson, announcing launch of virgin voyages, a cruise line. specifically ticket sales. i asked about the debate on corporate buy backs to which there was an interesting answer. take a listen. >> i am so glad i am not in the public market and having to worry about these sorts of things we manage to keep the virgin group private for 50 years look, the governments have to get taxes from somewhere, and i think taxing the extremely wealthy, you know, it makes sense. >> it was a wide ranging interview. he was also joined by the ceo, tom mcalpine we will play more as the hour unfolds. shares of cisco are rising

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welcome back to "squawk alley. happy valentine's day. >> who doesn't love a big love ballad on valentine's day? >> david faber >> no, i love my ballads known for my ballads >> cisco investors, out with a big beat on the top and bottom lines, raising the dividend and increasing the buy back program by $15 billion the stock surging, up more than 3% has been higher earlier in the session. the ceo, chuck robbins, joined us earlier on "squawk on the street" to talk about the quarter, competition and impact of 5g on the company's business. take a listen. >> i think what you see happening in the u.s. as around the world is you're seeing proof of concept trials out there in major markets where they're

delivering 5g to next generation mobile devices, we'll be rolling out trials with certain providers here in the next month or so. then what you'll see is extension of that to branches, to small business environments, and then i think you'll see integration of 5g connectivity into the initial networks. the volume won't require dedicated separate network could begin a broad based roll out, going to build dedicated back bones to support the capacity needed. we think that's where we'll see some uplift from the 2020 and beyond when they start to build out next generation networks >> couple big surprises this quarter. one was performance of the government business, a lot of people expected some sluggishness, given the government shutdown, that outperformed europe, middle east, africa that region very strong. some questions among analysts

how long that can continue, but based on the beat, the stock remains higher. >> i thought it was interesting, hearing him layout from a date perspective how quickly 5g will advance the country. we hear so many different things, but it is difficult to get a sense when is the consumer at home going to be aware of the service. to his point, when is it going to, the amount of traffic, start to amount to something that means, for example, more orders that the carriers need to make with cisco and backbone that's different than they have today >> sounds like the enterprise will be the expected catalyst to the 5g business. the device is probably not seeing those until the end of the year at the soonest, and may not be that great. >> the hand set, yeah. >> one of the lines that jumped out the most on the conference call last night, to be honest first day of the quarter to the last day of the quarter, saw

zero difference with regards to china. we had so many companies that said this. it has been a negative head wind, they've seen a difference, so many companies said no, we're fine, it's okay, it seems to be industry specific, company specific that got my attention. >> yeah. it is difficult. and then today, we didn't talk to mr. delara, up 9.1%, exports from china unexpected number. one pointing to a bit of a different story when it comes to the state of the chinese economy. >> going to talk to six flags, they felt some impact. >> they did. and that's a good way to tease into break after the break, we have six flags out with earnings. the ceo sitting down with us next and later, virgin group founder, sir richard branson, what he says autbo wealth tax, ipo. so much more stay with us what do you see? we see a billion more people breathing free.

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welcome back to "squawk

alley. shares of coke fizzing, down 7.5% the ceo james quincy joined us earlier on the quarter and the economic head winds the company is facing in 2019. take a listen. >> we had head winds on the 4 x and on interest and tax. they're prudent in the outlook, even volatility and uncertainty. what we are focusing on is continuing to drive strategy which is producing results, we'll have to manage the levers going through the year to turn it into the best possible result for the shareholders >> yeah. shares are lower right now, based on the weaker than expected forecast for 2019 >> you heard the words there being prudent, cautious also used volatility uncertainty. but he says it's about the macro economic environment, not specific to coke or competitio it is facing in markets.

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china head winds hitting six flags, shares tumbling 14 or 13.5%. they point to china's

challenging macro environment as a report to mixed fourth quarter and full year outlook. joining us, six flag entertainment chairman and ceo, jim reid-anderson. thank you for being here. >> pleasure to be here >> challenging macro environment in china how would you sum it up? >> i sum up the year as remarkable we grew our business to record levels for the ninth year in a row. and in the quarter and for the year, we had records so what is happening is that china, macro economic issues and ge had problems there for apple. this business international business is less than 3% of revenue. it is a tiny piece core business is growing strongly ninth record year. multiple record quarters, positioned for a tent record

year >> in terms of core business in the u.s., how would you assess the situation? >> the consumer is strong. we have seen the ability to increase our membership levels dramatically we've got something like 8 million active bapass base holders, we also have been able to take pricing up in the 3 to 5% pretty consistently we sold more dining passes than in the company's history when i look at that and say the core consumer is doing just fine, we've also added on theme and water park smaller ones to existing parks even with the issue you raise with china, international revenue and profitability was up in the year. >> you picked up five new theme parks middle of last year. one of the things i saw an analyst note is that the performance in food and merchandise is not up to par,

your existing par. in a way, that might be a positive if you believe you can get those to the level of your existing properties. i wonder, is that or regional difference in areas you have -- >> you're thinking of it the right way. the reason we buy these parks is they're smaller parks that supplement existing theme parks. we're then able to take them where they are lower performance and succeed in driving them up >> how are you going to do that? >> there are various things we do, basically the six flags name and brand, what we bring to the party. it is thrills. that's what we're about is thrills. people who have normally gone to the parks if they buy a season pass they can go to any six flags park that's why the active pass basis a record high, 8 million

impeachment. >> your stock is getting crushed today. >> it is, yes. >> is that because you had to modify so to speak medium term outlook and conclude you will not get to 750 million modifi modified -- >> we said that goal is more challenging now. what we said is at a minimum, we're targeting getting to the same number 2021 we shifted it out based on a number of things, delays in china park openings. >> is it anything else you talk about lumpiness. >> that's exactly the same if you look at five i am perfect tiffs. international is one piece, china is one piece of international. other i am perfect tiffs i described have all been growing rebustly the active pass base that i

talked about, that success, membership success, culinary, dining passes, over a million, it is a strong base that we've got of people that are with us, and recurring revenue we will be able to growth long term. >> you pushed out the target are you surprised the stock is down 14% >> very surprised. our profitability this year, 2018, $550 million of eebd nine record years. yield is 6%, we grew revenue, we grew everything. we're going to deliver a tense record year, show people not only do we take the stock up, we take up the dividend up, we will drive success for the business long term. >> who is buying these passes,

is it millennials and young adults >> everyone. we get young families, teens, everyone it is split equally. what's the technology and efficiency challenge in your business, a lot of talk of placing sensors, cameras able to understand flow of traffic through a park is that what's going to distinguish you or somebody else being able to figure out how to drive more efficiency in the customer experience, figure out when they want to buy and what >> yes, a series of things when you think about technology, it comes in many forms innovation is in our dna we have the best thrill rides. nobody touches us. in addition to what we do behind the scenes, we do a lot of research to find out what guests want 8 million minimum that we target and work with. we're also introducing wi-fi technology throughout parks, sensors to work out where people are, and the ability to push

information to them. to sell more products in parks, let them know what's going on with regard to rides, whether you can get a ride immediately or wait. there's a lot on the technology front that will be positive and will help long term. >> we have a staggeringly bad december retail sales number this morning >> yes. >> did you see in the warm weather parks, did you see any. >> we saw in the quarter, including december, highest ever holiday in the park, ever. we had growth in attendance, revenue, in ebitda everything went up quarter and full year, record performance. >> we're not seeing the deceleration, could it come in

time anything is possible at this point, the american consumer, six flags guests are loving what we give them and coming to our parks in ever greater numbers. >> it is the roller coasters i love the roller coasters do you right them? >> i ride them all we have two coming that are better something new in every park. just so you know all of the parks close by. >> thank you for joining us. on the heels of earnings jim reid-anderson. >> there's one there something happened, middle age i guess. let's get to sue herera with a news update for us >> i can see you on that ride, david. thanks so much here is what's happening at this hour defense ministers and acting secretary of defense patrick shanahan attending the second day of a nato summit in brussels the secretary general saying operations in afghanistan will top today's agenda >> our mission in afghanistan remains top priority we continue to support afghan

forces with training and funding so that they create conditions for peace. >> at least 12 soldiers killed and 40 wounded in a car bomb attack on a para military attack they were carrying 35 soldiers, they blame soldiers fighting against indian rule for the attack. british prosecutors say prince philip will not face charges for a car crash that left two women injured, the decision days after buckingham palace said the 97-year-old royal would stop driving you're up to date. back downtown to you guys. jon, back to you >> we'll take it, thanks. european markets are just now closing. dominic chu joins us with a breakdown of today's action. >> jon, markets across the tlak are mixed with declines.

you can see behind me earlier today, germany's preliminary gdp came in flat, less than one-tenth of 1% gain expected. on the corporate front, shares of airbus take off after they reported better than expected quarterly results and said they expect more aircraft deliveries and higher profits in 2019, but it also said it is going to halt production of the super jumbo a 380 jumbo, what would have been the world's biggest airliner, the last will be delivered in 2021. software maker micro focus had better revenue results credit suisse had better than expected profits and reported first full year profit in four years. the trading unit had a bigger than expected loss which countered better results investment banking and wealth

management units both on a move to the down side. back to you, jon >> thanks. still to come, a big hour of "squawk alley. another earnings mover, survey monkey's zander lurie joins us at cinupn quk alley. [birds chirping] [brakes squealing] accidents can happen anytime that's why geico is here 24 hours a day everyday. geico, fifteen minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.

a short while i sat down

with sir richard branson in town for the launch of ticket sales for virgin voyages, his cruise line startup we covered a variety of topics with the billionaire entrepreneur, including one getting a lot of attention, wealth disparity and taxes on the wealthy. >> i think people like myself are incredibly fortunate that what we have created, great wealth goes with it. i think we have enormous responsibility, if you become a billionaire because of what you've done, you have enormous responsibility, and i think you have the responsibility to make sure that wealth is used to tackle the big problems in this world, and i think if every entrepreneur can use their wealth in that way, most of the problems in the world can be sorted i think entrepreneurs can be better at doing it than

governments. i think having said that, you know, i think i suspect there should be higher taxes for the really wealthy people around the world and i don't think they would object to that >> so weighing into that discussion guys, i also asked him about share buy backs coming under pressure in the u.s. with a number of lawmakers, suggesting either the limitation of buy backs or even potentially senator rubio, taxing buy backs like dividends, given the fact when you look at wealth disparity, something that helped fuel that is monetary and arguably fiscal policy on that, what he had to say is virgin has been private 50 years. at a time like this, given a conversation like this, he is happy about it is private. >> the way he set up taxes, the way he framed taxes is interesting to me. he almost seemed to imply that taxes are punishment for billionaires not spending their

money to tackle big problems because he said the private sector can tackle big problems better than government can, but then yeah, maybe we should be paying higher taxes. i think at one point he said something to the effect of if we can't do that, then we certainly should be taxed more an interesting way of framing it >> it really is. we talked about a bunch of other stuff when i sat down with him as well. one of the other things we talked about was virgin voyages, ticket sales launching for that new cruise line. he was joined by his ceo, tom mcalpin. i asked him why in this economy they think cruises are a big bet, especially when there's a record number of ships on the books being built right now. >> we are still in terms of overall penetration, low penetration overall, but for us it is about being different, not just being different in the industry but creating a new way to vacation. richard mentioned there are a lot of folks that won't take a

cruise but on a virgin cruise we think they'll come on board. try it, come back, fall in love, tell their friends while we are different, we are hoping to attract new people to the industry. >> early demand is actually strong to give you an idea what the ships involve, they designed tables in them that are able to withstand weight of people getting on top of them and dancing. that's the type of brand we're talking about. virgin group is a big player in the space race, a passion of sir richard. here is what he had to say about the competition within the private sector now, and also the opportunities to work with government >> there's a lot of opportunities. i had done lunch with the head of the air force in america and washington two weeks ago they would like, we have a company called virgin orbit can put satellites into space with 24 hours notice, using a 747 and

dropping the rockets from the 747, firing that rocket into orbit, traveling 8 and a half,000 miles an hour sfr the government's point of view, if satellites got lost in any conflict in the future, we're about the only company in the world that could replace them in 24 hours, so they won't have to wait six months for a land based rocket to take off. there are lots of things like that that i think we can do in working with governments >> 24 hour turnaround. that's pretty incredible when you talk about launching something into space guys, i'll note in terms of virgin galactic, the company expected to start taking paying passengers to the edge of space, sir richard set a date for himself to make his maiden flight he is aiming for july which would coincide with 50 year anniversary of the apollo moon landing. >> where are we between blue

origin and these guys? >> there's a lot of hair splitting on where the edge of space technically starts, depending on the definition you use, they're going to be first they've already been first in terms of a commercial company and commercially made vehicle bringing humans to space or the edge of space. pretty incredible. >> how many times do you get to go around, once, twice >> a several hour flight in this case you go up below e carmen line, you get to weightlessness, see the curvature of the earth more than 700 signed up and put down payments. i asked him that speaking of space, later today as well, nasa is set to reveal more details of the plan to return to the moon we caught up with the head of nasa, jim bride enstein and about president trump's

directives to make them reality. >> go to the moon sustainably. in other words, this time stay so you can go back and forth we have a number of capabilities under way. what year going to learn about thursday is landers. how do you get human ens s to l. we know how to build space stations what we have to do is build landers to get us to the surface. >> who is going to build them, you ask? the commercial sector, companies like boeing, lockheed martin, spacex, blue origin, to name a few of the expected. nasa is hoping to have the first human lander, that's without people, by 2024. it marks a significant shift in strategy for nasa and for the military, the federal government overall when it comes to space

that's this idea of working closely with the commercial sector, and renting services from them. helping them build vehicles and renting vehicles for missions they require and the companies hanging onto them and being able to do other things >> they got spooked by china, getting to the dark side of the moon >> china is something that the u.s. is watching very closely. it is a big part of what is now a shifting national defense strategy and it is something that's being watched, where space is concerned it is part of the reason that they're looking to build up the space force. >> fantastic great stuff. let's get to the cme, rick santelli has the santelli exchange rick >> hey, jon. i'll tell you, i'm really fired up this morning. when it comes to data, nobody loves bringing update a in the mornings more than i do, been doing it for decades on cnbc one thing i can tell you for sure, raw data kind of looks

like this. so we smooth out the data. we always smooth out the data, called seasonal adjustments. seasonal adjusting is complicated. i'm not getting into the nitty-gritty we will keep this macro. the point of this conversation is if you were to look at nonseasonally adjusted retail sales in december, raw data was up 8.5%. i dug into the raw data points, they were much different than smooth data. and there's a lot of reasons for it and this isn't intended to be negative, it is intended to be enlightening if you look at all of the issues at the end of last year and beginning of last year due to tax reform, it changed everybody's behavior, like taxes do whether you're a manufacturer, whether you're in the service sector, llc, corporation, individual, a consumer, a retailer, a wholesaler, it

changed all the dynamics the seasonal adjustment process of this month's retail sales isn't distorted in a grant way because of the closure, it is more about that. and the other problem is it will take awhile before smooth data catches reality. but that doesn't matter. just knowing it will cause investors to pay attention to things like earnings and guidance the point also is that the real economy doesn't work on seasonally adjusted data, it works on reality, and raw data may not be smooth, but it is real as far as the fed pause in outlook, i love steve liesman's interview with governor brainard i tell you why i love it, it shows us that all of these numbers the fomc committees are just people, albeit very smart, highly educated, and highly appropriate for the positions they have. but what they are not is magical

or all seeing. and it comes out governor brainard's comments in december leading to the rate hike like many, all of the fomc doesn't look or sound like it does today, but that's not an antagonism, that's actually a positive we want them to flow with the economy. but the problem is we want more than that, and if we do, we're going to be disappointed in what we hear. david, back to you >> rick, thank you we're getting breaking news regarding amazon and its hq2 here in new york city. deirdre bose has more. >> amazon says it will not build a headquarters in new york after mounting opposition, according to a company statement and multiple reports we have reached out, we'll update when we hear back of course, david, there has been

a lot of opposition from local politicians and advocacy groups to the project last week "the washington post" reported that amazon was reconsidering plans to open up there, hire as many as 25,000 employees, putting huge amounts of investments the controversy was a lot surrounding the tax breaks and incentives that new york wanted to give amazon remember, there were high profile names, representative alexandria ocasio-cortezagains this amazon saying according to multiple reports, they will not build that new headquarters in new york >> thank you personally as a lifelong new yorker, i was surprised to a certain extent but very much pleased as were the vast majority of new yorkers that amazon would consider and be building a second headquarters in queens, important for the city's economy, particularly one relying on financial services for so many years.

there was a handful of opponents. we talked to a city councilman from queens and another gentleman on squawk yesterday. and aoc, she has nothing to do with it, she's a federal legislator, not a local one, but people will be deeply disappointed in the new york city area, including governor cuomo, and mayor bill de blasio, both of whom fought for and securing amazon to the surprise of many. >> good thing cuomo didn't change his name to amazon. that would have been a lot of paperwork. i struggle to think of a time when something like this, this scale, has happened. a huge announcement of a corporation moving into an area and then backing out i think for whatever is cast on politicians in new york over this, amazon, the way it handled this whole thing, this is going to be dealt with in business school case studies.

looked like a brilliant move, creating the beauty contest sweepstakes, with amazon, i don't think it worked out the way jeff bezos and company planned. >> may not have. there are those that said they could have done more to make ground more fertile for entrants with the governor and mayor, avoiding local officials that said, it is a blow to the new york economy, to a budget $92 billion for fiscal year '20, difficult to get over. so many were focused on 3 billion in incentives, not seemingly the 7 billion in tax revenues raised by the company over a period of time. it is mind boggling that this occurred, if it has, that they pulled out i think personally, i am speaking personally here, a very bad day for new york city. >> many tax incentives were tied to generation of high paying jobs and at a time when new york state faces a shortfall, causing some to flee and reside in other

parts of the country >> not only that, but it holds out i would argue closed for business sign for the rest of the country when you say to the largest or one of the largest most important tech companies in the world we don't want you or some world we don't want you. a vocal minority frankly what does that say to others who would consider coming? >> we have the statement from amazon, about one, two -- six paragraphs so really explaining, it says after much thought and deliberation we decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters in long island city. it requires positive collaborative relationships with state and local officials who will be supportive over the long-term. while polls show 0% of new yorkers support our plans a number of politicians made it clear they oppose our press, and will not work with us to bid the type of relationships required to go forward with a project we and many others envisioned in long island city they go on to talk more about

the decision get together point about this idea of a closed for business. >> interestingly they say they don't intend to reopen the search. >> yes. >> so it's not as though they're going to replace this. obviously northern virginia is getting one part of this split originally it was supposed to be one place. then they went into two. now apparently they're going to go back to one and hire more people google has hired thousands of people quietly for years, bought real estate in new york city, did not receive incentives short sightedness is a kind way to describe this for these local officials who certainly when those of us who rely on the services of the city have to wonder how they'll be met when you can't decrease the tax base because you don't want 25,000 high paying jobs not to medication all the additional jobs that would have been created. >> you said you're a lifelong new yorker. >> i am. >> let's bring in our -- >> i won't be here much longer i don't think. >> okay.

let's bring in our scott cohn who has been following not only h quch 2 closely but also does our top states for business for us and have been weighing pros and cons of various places scott, big news here interesting to us that amazon says it doesn't plan to reopen the search at this time. it made this big argument there were only two metropolitan areas where it could find the talent it needed. how does that square with what they say they're now doing >> it raises a lot of questions, john, because remember, the reason that and zon ultimately decided to split up the h q2 into two sites was the worker issue, to find the initial 50,000 hi-tech workers that they were looking for in their initial request for proposal, they couldn't find it in one place. that still is an issue now, there is a great tech

workforce in the washington, d.c. metro area. so they could certainly go outside of northern virginia they had sites potential finalists in the district,s in maryland as well as in northern virginia so they have a lot of the workforce to draw from the question is whether they could put all of those people in crystal city and it does raise a lot of the issues that you talked about the on the one hand, about the viability of new york as place for business yet, new york also still has this great tech workforce and the economy in new york city is doing very well. so there always was that tradeoff between $2 billion to $3 billion in incentives the city would offer to amazon versus can they get that kind of job growth otherwise so far they've done just fine. >> all right scott, thanks. jim stewart is with us jim, we were talking about there

recently you and i both from the same camp when it comes to the colossal blunder that a handful of vocal but a small group of people have apparently succeeded in blocking amazon from coming to new york. >> yeah, i think it's astonishing in some ways the hubris of people thinking that new york is so powerful and so desirable that you simply reject and basically eject an investment in the local economy like that. i remember when the proposals first came out from amazon, one of the first things they said is they wanted to go somewhere where they would be welcomed even if this is a minority, it's a very loud one. it's a very vocal one. for reasons i find a little bit difficult to understand, it was absolutely determined to strike a blow here. they succeeded i think it's not just amazon it is every other company that will be looking to see what kind

of environment if they come to the new york city, metropolitan area. >> yeah. it's arguably not just new york. google and some other companies are facing pushback from san jose in the heart of silicon valley about their plans to build based on the expected impacts on the cost of living. so we'll have to see where that goes into what's so amazing to me and jim, i want to get your thoughts on this what's so amazing is just a couple years ago, every city it seems in the u.s. was looking to be the next big tech hub what is the signal about the shift in sentiment >> i think it's very significant. there's this resentment that has grown up of the success of the technology sector among people apparently do not see any upside i do agree that you know, not just to amazon, the tech giants have been very arrogant themselves

they have not done a great job of communicating the benefits they bring to communities. but they do have a story to tell which is it's not just tech jobs that come when they arrive in an area, it's all the supporting jobs, the restaurants, the retail operations, it's the housing. there are many you know collateral benefits that come from this. i do think the tech sector will have to reach out more and addressing the concerns of people feeling displaced another thing so troubling about this is nothing had happened yet. nobody had been displaced. there were these sort of you know, vague concerns that rents will go up but there are other ways of addressing all of those problems if people had been willing to negotiate and come to some terms. amazon might have been willing to do more they were already promising a quite a bit but we're not going to get that now. >> i guess it will be a lesson perhaps to others. gyp, thanks for being with us.

shares of surveymonkey getting slammed this morning, down about 16% at this hour joining us now to discuss earnings and where surveymonkey heads from here is the ceo commander lori good morning the reaction of the stock does not seem to line up with the results that you guys announced the expansion and enterprise, performance of your team's product. do you think this reflects the lockup connectioniration and perhaps people who hadn't been able to sell shares now having a chance. >> we were thrilled with our earning reports. 2018 was a transformational year we will generated robust cash flow, went public. we're a 19-year-old company. we have had a lot of private shareholders for a long time the lockup expiration to contribute i'm superconfident in our focus. if we deliver results.

>> seth: know shareholders will profit, as well. >> you called out s&p's purchase of equal trix now new progress on your call say sawing expect that will result for you in an opportunity to pick up share how much has pivoted to this enterprise growth model where it's just as much but creating are data what's happening inside an organization that allows you to get more efficient? >> it's a great question our business today, we have over 647,000 paid customers who sit inside of 345,000 different organizations. our business on the enterprise side is in hyper growth mode we grew our new bookings 80% year over year, our first $10 million quarter, our first $1 million customer and signed up 11% more customers in the quarter alone than all these years. a lot of the traction with a world class leadership team. we're a an super disruptive survey software for the enterprise and have a large

footprint inside so many companies. these organizations in this environment need that secure collaborative software we offer and our open integration strategy is a winner it's a competitive market but a huge multibillion dollar global market our largest competitor just so would s&p. that opens up a lot of greenfield as they steer into s&p's business, we're steering more in the microsoft and ecosystem where we see a lot of room to grow in hr and market research. >> zander, you're the ceo of a tech company we've been covering breaking news about amazon pulling out of its h q2 here in new york city given what seems to be shifting sentiment, some of the discussions we've seen come out of the west coast and silicon valley, as well, how would you gauge business sentiment in the terms of expanding and where you do so? >> said it it's so critical to understand

the sentiment and voices of the people who are your constituents whether it's your employees or your customers or you're doing market research trying to understand these dynamic environments, be understandingal voices and opinions of people who matter to your business is critical i'm surprised about the amazon pulling out there. i think their reaction and how quickly that's changed has been very surprising. it highlights the need your gut instinct is helpful but what you is really helpful is checking the opinion data of the people who matter to you if you're trying to launch a new product or understand where to expand and what the reaction will be like from the community. >> we're going to bring that back around. zanner laurie, thank you that will do it for squawk alley. now to the judge for the half. >> thanks so much. we're going to stay on top of that developing story. i'm scott wapner st