good morning, it is 8:00 a.m. at cloud flare headquarters, 11:00 a.m. on wall street "squawk alley" is live ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ good friday morning. welcome to "squawk alley." i am carl quintanilla with morgan brennan and jon fortt at post nine of the new york stock exchange we're about 100 points shy of an all-time high closing on the

dow. >> major averages are poised to end the week higher. waiting on cloud flare ipo right now, indicated price between 17.5 and 18.5 dollars, that's where we're going to start. ipos we were choosing the nasdaq to list its ipo, and announcing sweeping governance changes. swirling amidst several valuation drops, this after smiledirectclub posted the worst first day for unicorns so far this year. that stock is up 10% this morning. also cloud flare, we mentioned it, coming today who will speak to you later this hour joining us now, casey newton of the verge and kevin delaney. good morning to you both kevin, i'll start with you we have to start with wework every day there are more headlines. now governance changes i can't help but wonder that there are red flags around governance, why the changes are

happening now, why didn't they happen before the first prospectus dropped. >> this is silicon valley, this is the epitome of the founder that wanted total complete control for life, seeding nothing to shareholders, guaranteeing nothing about the future of the company. that's what. s 1 filing was, that we were red light. investors are not on board for that the valuation at wework is getting and hearing from investors is lower than the $47 billion valuation that softbank was willing to pay all along. >> casey, you're based in silicon valley what is the sense, given everything that's playing out ahead of the road show that's expected next week is it seen as a tipping point in terms of what can be asked of the public market? >> yeah. morgan, to me it is the most entertaining ipo story of the year everyone wants to call it a silicon valley valley story. this is a new york company

this one is on y'all and it is totally in panic mode. every day they're trying to come up with something to salvage the ipo, i don't know if they're going to do it >> yeah. we got to own this one, kevin. this does not look to me like a humble company before, the first version was control beyond life, the revised governance is control for life and maybe less of an iron grip on control, but still kind of iron this is not a humbled wework >> i would make exactly that point. i think the other thing investors should think about, the primary two are disclosures being made in the s1 it is an opaque business, transactions with transactions and other dwigsz ivisions it is hard for investors to get their head around it putting aside adam newman issues the other question is valuation. there's speculation they could

go public, 30 billion or more. as i said before, softbank paid a valuation of 47 billion. all the other investors in private transactions seem to think the company is worth $20 billion. if you look at the history of transactions, putting softbank aside. wework needs this transaction, they need money. but it is reasonable to think it is closer where the ipo prices. >> what do you think softbank does here? >> it feels like a game of chicken. wework was pushing for the ipo, they have been trying to get softbank to effectively buy them out this year. softbank was far down the road, and then backed out because of concerns about it. so i think the ipo goes forward. the fact is that we work is a business that needs access to cash there's $3 billion they want to raise in the ipo another $6 billion roughly in loans and credit linked to a successful ipo it is hard to see, if softbank is not willing to put up $9

billion, hard to see wework backing off. >> at what point do you wonder how much equity softbank has in this, period >> i think it is a question for softbank, are they willing to write down value of investments. with uber, they're underwater. for those who were skeptical about some of the valuations, the euphoria around free money in silicon valley the last year or two, which softbank is at the center of, we're seeing that story play out in a way that's not positive for softbank. >> we are awaiting first trades of cloud flare as that company looks to go public at the new york stock exchange today. it is a legit tech company going public, right? a company that helps websites protect and distribute content quite a number of ipos that have come to market already or are currently in the pipeline may not be traditional tech companies but certainly have sought the perception and emphasized the role technology

is playing in business models. is it warranted? >> this company has solid bones, provides a real service. on the internet today, any number of web based services could find themselves under attack at any time for any reason all of them are going to invest in the kind of security that cloudflare provides. to today we haven't seen them do the creative accounting that other terrible ipos have done. they've grown a little more slowly, been a little more prudent. i think if you're an investor that has a piece of the tech market with a company relatively responsible in how it has grown, you want to give cloudflare a good look. >> casey, this is the type of company that wall street has liked. for all of the drama around lyft and uber, smile direct, the stock is shaped like a small, we'll see if it is a crooked smile or not, the ipos overall have done pretty well, really

well this year, and this is the type of company despite that it is not profitable that people have sort of embraced. >> yeah. i think that's exactly right there's a lot of reasons to believe cloudflare can become profitable because it doesn't have to, you know, invest tens of billions of dollars in finding its market, right? it builds a good service today, and now it has to figure out how to get that service into the hands of more customers and increase profitability i can see a path there for cloudflare and can't see it for some of the other ipos. >> jon, what you're referring to, zoom is one of the companies which is profitable, went public, market liked it. it is worth knowing the compan the market liked was beyond me, the company that was not in the tech business at all we're looking at a constrained set of companies, and looking

outside them, you see companies that investors are more eager for. >> you make it sound like we tested investors' limits on business models, . >> on valuation. that's totally fair. what these effectively are for a lot of companies are down rounds they raise money in the private markets, longer than companies traditionally, and had a big pool of cash that gave them rich valuations these are down rounds for companies. and probably reflect reality better than the private investor is willing to pay. >> kevin, casey, thanks for joining us jon, crooked smile, it is going to be a big show when you start with a joke. >> all day, morgan still to come on "squawk alley," ftc commissioner rohit space chopra joins us with investigation into amazon. we'll ask him about that in a few minutes. ♪

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welcome back to "squawk alley. apple is trading lower goldman, sachs cut the price target this morning. lowest on the street at 165 a share. josh lipton is in san francisco with all of the details. josh >> reporter: so morgan, a big call from a big analyst, goldman's rod hall slashed his eps forecast for the iphone maker. his concern, apple tv plus

remember, apple is going to include one year of the streaming service with new hardware purchases bernstein called that bundling strategy extremely clever, saying apple tv plus could reach 200 million apple customers in the first year hall is concerned that free trial will impact the company's bottom line, specifically that apple's method of accounting for the bundle moves revenue from hardware to services, and that he says isn't good news for hardware average selling prices and margins in high sales quarters, like the critical holiday quarter coming up. hall said we could see the eps hit by 16% in q1, due to this accounting method. he says cash flow should be unchanged. hall cut the price target from 187 to 165 that's the lowest of major wall street banks, fifth lowest of all analysts covering apple.

apple shares lower this morning. the stock soared this year, skyrocketing 40%, surging within 50% from the low in early january. guys, back to you. >> rod hall continues to frustrate those apple laws when we come back, mega contracts, rise in ratings, big business of the nfl. will an totonio brown play sunday the dow up 83. it was sophie's big day.

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season off to a strong start viewership up 5% year on year, a 43% spike in digital streaming one big story line is will all pro wide receiver antonio brown, practicing with his new team, the patriots, be allowed

to play sunday joining us to discuss, brown's agent, drew rosenhouse, owner of rosenhouse sports. good to see you, drew. good morning >> good to be back good morning >> what a week it has been i'm not asking specifically about the civil case, i know you can't really comment, but what do belichik and kraft do here? >> that's a better question for them i hope that they will continue to support antonio and follow through on the great promise of the relationship, and let the civil case play itself out the important thing to keep in mind is that this is a civil case, it's not criminal, and our hope is that antonio will be able to play while the civil case is getting resolved, which could take months, if not longer >> can you give me a tick tock of how this went down, this

transition from the raiders to foxboro? what has the last couple weeks been like? >> well, we obviously -- antonio was released on saturday we got word saturday morning that he would be released by the raiders. shortly after itbecame officia at 4:00 i was contacted by multiple teams, not just the patriots, but after negotiation with multiple teams we reached an agreement with the patriots which was ultimately formalized monday antonio has been practicing with the team, we hope he'll play on sunday in his hometown of miami against the dolphins >> drew, i've head the lawsuit, the civil suit with rthe rape

allegations. you say you believe antonio brown. my question is image antonio put out a video toward the end of the raiders portion of the saga that was very highly produced, kind of telling his side of the story in a way through a phone call what's the role that image and social media is playing both to the players' benefit and detriment in this era? >> well, i think right now what antonio is focused on is having a great season for the patriots and taking it one day at a time. i believe in talking to him every day his focus is on being the best teammate, best player, best citizen that he can be for the patriots that's where his focus is right now. >> drew, i want to shift gears a little bit espn's president came out, said he expects competition from silicon valley when the nfl

confidential contracts come up for renewal. i realize tech companies have gotten more involved in some of these streaming rights, but is that your expectation as well and what does it mean not only for the nfl but also for players and their ability to negotiate contracts in the coming years? >> well, i mean, the tv ratings are so unbelievably high and streaming video is so huge right now with disney jumping in it and apple to compete with netflix and everybody else that's doing it, why not get involved in the nfl, it is the most valuable commodity that network tv has right now why not take that away from them too. it should be an absolute bidding war. if i'm the networks, they've got to be prepared to do a record tv contract, if they have any hopes of keeping rights to the nfl, which i'm sure the nfl is in many ways going to continue to

have great balance between network tv and streaming video of course, with amazon and yahoo! and all of the other entities that they've done business with, that's just going to continue to expand. it is exciting as an agent representing players, it will be great for the nfl, great for players, it will increase the collective bargaining agreement, increase the salary cap. the nfl is going to benefit, fans are going to benefit, players are going to benefit it's a win-win and nice to see the ratings going up >> finally, drew, really quick, jerry jones was down here a couple weeks ago, argued that if you were to get a real big streaming big out of big tech that the value of franchises like his could be up 50% what's realistic in that view? >> i'm not going to disagree with jerry jones on that, i think he's right

i think this is the next avenue for the nfl. the nfl has been always one step ahead. they're always looking for the next opportunity to increase their value. streaming, it's the way to go. i think they're going to capitalize on that and it's going to be a huge part of increasing nfl franchises. i believe the nfl's value will go up exponentially. >> drew, it is nice to have football back. you know how that feels and a lot of viewers do, too thanks for coming on always good to see you. >> my pleasure, bye-bye. online prescription delivery service capsule announcing a $200 million funding round this morning. joining us to discuss, the ceo and founder. eric, good morning >> good morning. >> so you have been in new york, based here for your entire existence up to this point 200 million is going to help you expand tell me where you see the

advantage being when amazon is running into issues, right, getting the patient information in a consistent way. what can you do? >> we started capsule three years ago, built the simplest, best, easiest to use experience for customers and doctors to get medication and manage them on an ongoing basis. we built an app with price transparency, you can see what co-pays are, what are the side effects, tec effects, chat with a pharmacist, we deliver to the house or office in two hours. in the last three years, business has grown exponentially, and the thing i'm most proud of, the thing that's most important is how consumers are reacting if you go to the app store, there are hundreds of google reviews, and people are talking about their pharmacy in a way you would think is completely bizarre. people are talking about capsule

love is true love. a woman tweeted out saying capsule, will you walk me down the aisle of my wedding. i think we have captured this incredible moment in health care where everything is shifting to the consumer, who is frustrated about being vulnerable with large health care institutions, and capsule is giving people the power of health care back in their hands. >> talk to me about the infrastructure it seems like magic on the consumer side but it is not. talk to me about the infrastructure you've got to build up to expand into a new city, into a new state in terms of doctors or pharmacies you're working with, the people that you've got to do deals with. >> the experience is magical in pharmacy to do something magical is really hard we have a team of 300 people we built out this incredibly robust proprietary technology platform what we're doing now and across the country is building a physical infrastructure that will let us do everything.

>> physical infrastructure >> it is the warehouses and retail pharmacies in every market in america. people will be able to walk into our pharmacies, if that's how they want to interact with pharmacy, be able to get delivery they can schedule on the app. a completely full service experience to meet people where they are that's the most important thing. consumers engaged with health care the way they want to, not to force consumers to engage with how the system works today. >> we have been hearing for years about the opportunity for tech disruption in health care and how much that disruption is needed certainly that's what you're targeting with your company, yet in some ways, feels like groundhog's day. health care inflation still a run away train in many ways. look at obamacare and what happened there, look at what's

going on under this administration for all of the talk of changing health care in the country and how little has actually taken place, you can look to the democratic presidential debate that happened last night. you have proposals for medicare for all. is there anything you're hearing, seeing, anything you would propose that could get at changing the health care system in this country in a meaningful way? >> the number one most important thing that has not happened in the last 50 or 100 years since health care has evolved is focusing on the consumer that's the number one thing, what's right for the consumer. in every other part of your life, my life, things are easy it is easy to get a cab to show up, easy to manage groceries, easy to get a mattress, razor, eye wear why is it so hard to manage the most important thing in my life, my health care. >> why though, why is it hard, is it the regulations? >> it is because you haven't had a company or set of people to build a team and culture that's consumer first that's what we do at capsule

every day we wake up, say how do we serve the consumer, make your life easier, look after you so you have peace of mind that comes from knowing, there's somebody in the background making sure you never run out of medication, somebody in the background knows if you have a question, send a text so you're not on the phone managing complex insurance things it is the modern way to do something. it takes an incredible team to do that, drawing from a lot of different places we built teams of experts, really successful commerce companies like jet to health care companies like pfizer, we have a team of pharmacists you have to put everything together in a unique way to build something novel. >> all right it is a tough business and we'll be eager to watch how you build it eric, thanks >> thank you. dow up 67. let's get a news update from sue herera good morning, sue. >> good morning, carl. good morning, everyone here's what's happening at this hour the brother of olympic gold

medallist simone biles made his first court appearance to a triple murder. he pled not guilty to all charges. he is due in court for a pretrial hearing next week. felicity huffman will be in court to be sentenced for her role in the bribery scandal. an 80 foot carpet saved from notre dame fire is going on public display in paris. it was woven between 1825 and 1833 for the cathedral's choir it did sustain damage, it is awaiting restoration. singer eddie money has died. his hit songs, two tickets to paradise, baby hold on variety citing a statement from his family that he passed away this morning he announced in august he had

esophageal cancer. eddie money was 70 years old you're up to date. that's the news update this hour back downtown to "squawk alley." morgan, back to you. >> sue herera, thank you when we return, the world's first ever ambassador to silicon valley joins us on his mission after the break. dow up 69 points back in a minutes. hmm. exactly.

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alley. denmark appointing the first tech ambassador, a position designed to work within silicon valley as if it were its own global super power casper klynge joins us from san francisco. ambassador, thanks for being with us today. when you talk about diplomacy, it is usually interaction with sovereign governments, not corporations if you could layout specifically what your role as ambassador to silicon valley is and how you measure success. >> well, the world today is not only about doing business with other countries or with international organizations, it is about big technology companies, some in the vicinity of where i am sitting, and also in china, they're influential actors to you and me as individuals and also in national relations. what i do, what my team is doing

is like embassies are doing around the world only difference is we deal with some of the big companies, trying to influence direction that their companies are taking and their platforms are having on the world affairs >> what has the reception been of tech companies to you in silicon valley and in terms of interaction and how is that changed lately given the fact we see so much more scrutiny of the biggest companies? >> you know, the honest answer, it has been a mixed experience some are forward leaning, recognize it makes sense to have a multi stakeholder approach where the company is talking to government or to civil society, then we have a lot of companies being curious and a little skeptical on what is this about, is this about regulation or is it about, you know, commercial opportunities, but when we had the opportunity to say that this

is a political function, it is about trying to find out how we work closer together, making sure technology will not undermine democracy, it will not be threatening human rights, they have been forward leaning then to be frank we've had a smaller group of companies that have been much more reluctant and to some extent trying to keep us far away from headquarters, i think because of not particularly wanting to assume a responsibility over some of the technologies that they're bringing about so it is a mixed experience. today we're in a different spot than a couple of years ago we have quite good relations with most tech companies, not only in silicon valley but china and europe and middle east, et cetera, and some of the scandals we have seen, cambridge analytica, never let a good crisis go to waste it is good to use those to get that dialogue going. >> casper, are you speaking for

denmark or speaking for danish companies when you're out there in silicon valley and what have you accomplished what would you say is the top couple of accomplishments? >> this is a foreign ministry post i came directly to the job from financial ambassador to tunisia, so it is a political function, and the kind of relationships and kind of conversations with the big technology companies depends on what danish authorities want us to bring forward, and that has to do with everything from terrorism, illegal content on big platforms, some issues lately, transcription of holdings on syria and google devices it is a traditional ambassador role where you represent the national interest in my case of denmark. that said, it goes without

saying we are european union member country, so we've also had a function to try and explain what is europe doing, also the regulatory front, and how does that relate to the technology industry here in the u.s. >> that was my next question i'm wondering are you hearing complaints in the valley that the eu is unfairly targeting u.s. big tech and somehow trying to subsidize their own innovation with our funds? >> oh, yes i mean, if i received a dollar every time we got a complaint about what europe is doing, i would have been a wealthy man, not a civil servant any more what i would say, there's a lot of misconception, misunderstandings of what europe is trying to do, and some of the companies have come forward to say this is anti-american, we're trying to target u.s. companies, for example, with this data protection regulation which stipulates that your personal data is your personal data that cannot be misused by third parties. i think we have an important

role in translating what is happening in europe, but at the end of the day, that's essential to me and denmark, it is about keeping together across the atlantic we have companies here, products of the same values as europe we have to make sure we collaborate between the private sector and governments, long term there's bigger issues at stake, whether technology will be used for surveillance, control, for totalitarian approaches, whether democracy will be defended by the new platform the transatlantic issue is close to what we do and the team is doing. >> casper klynge, thank you for joining us today, the world's first ever tech ambassador >> maybe the united states should consider having an ambassador in silicon valley seems like it might be a good idea might solve a lot of problems. ftc commissioner rohit

chopra joins us. the s&p is up two points who's dog is this?

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half time at noon. new highs on the horizon what should you buy or sell? we're going to find out tech's big threat the top sector holding up the market, under fire from lawmakers. we're going to trade, facebook, amazon, alphabet, and goldman taking a bite out of apple, slashing the price target. now the lowest on the street we debate that and whether or not to dump apple if you own it or buy it on weakness, all coming up at the top of the hour carl, i will send it back to you. >> thanks. on that topic, the tech lash heats up

the house judiciary committee requesting internal records from apple, facebook, google, after a report that the ftc plans its own antitrust probe into amazon. joining us from washington, ftc commissioner rohit chopra who descended against the facebook and youtube finds, arguing they didn't go far enough mr. commissioner, good to have you back welcome. >> thanks for having me again. >> is this about the dollar amount on google we wondered at the time why it seemed to be such a pittance, relative to revenue. >> look, we're not going to solve some of the problems by small time fines that aren't going to change the underlying business model of these firms. we actually have to take a hard look whether these behemoths are killing innovation and competition. if you look back to history, we see that antitrust action has incubated so much new economic activity, and that's our task now, to get to the bottom of

what to do to fix some of these problems. >> why did the commission argue so forcefully it was a record setting fine >> well, look, you're always going to see enforcers beat their chest about big fines, but i think more and more of us across the country, including 50 state attorneys general are now wondering how do we fix the core problems for the economy when it comes to this sector >> commissioner, with all these companies under the microscope at once, microsoft not one of them, apple, google, facebook, amazon, a lot of different business models, different issues, whether you talk data, advertising, app stores, does it weaken the case to changing any particular one that they're all in the frying pan at once? >> you're right. we have to look at the whole

thing comprehensively. this is an all hands on deck moment if we rewind 20 years ago, microsoft, there was a risk microsoft was going to own the internet now it is not just one firm, there are several firms raising lots of questions. we've got to focus on taking a comprehensive look and taking action where we need to. >> commissioner, just to confirm, is the ftc formally investigating amazon now >> well, i'm not going to comment on any individual investigation. companies can disclose what they're being investigated on, or if not, but look, the bottom line is there are some serious questions about whether firms, some of the biggest firms in the world, are suppressing competition or playing fair, and we have to act if we see they're breaking the law. >> i realize we're talking about a number of different potential

companies, a number of different potential businesses within those companies, and that the ftc is itself looking to clarify its power to regulate big tech right now, but based on laws that are actually on the books, how much power does the ftc have to take an antitrust tact on different names and rein in too much power on the marketplace. >> our antitrust laws are enforced by states, department of justice, and when the investigations conclude that there's anti-competitive conduct, the courts can aword divestiture, can award significant remedies that make sure that those business models are not choking off competition and innovation >> how do you handle the challenge that there are so many companies in the cross hairs,

and you talk antitrust you have amazon jumping into the advertising market with facebook and with google. is that anti-competitive or pro-competitive? you have google and apple in the streaming business that would suggest competition, especially when you have hollywood cleaning up selling content to them. >> i think maybe you're asking the wrong question i think the question is can new firms actually get in the game or are we just going to depend on three or four firms to fight it out with each other the best part of the u.s. economy is when new ideas actually can enter and can challenge that dominance when i talk to investors, a lot of the smartest investors are actually clamoring for action here when you talk to venture capital, they worry. we can't really fund some of the best ideas because we think it

will just be stomped out by one of the big guys. we want to live in a country where the ideas can challenge that dominance and unseed it, and i think there are many people worrying whether the structure of today's marketplace facilitates that >> commissioner, we're about to be interrupted by the first trade of cloudflare which has an indication 18 to 18.50 obviously it has been a busy year for ipos. there's an argument to be made that a lot of companies that have innovated and incubated and are coming to market are the essence of new ideas, the ones you think that are suppressed by the giants >> well, it is great news when more firms are able to raise capital and more firms are able to challenge but here's a distinction we've got to make sometimes. a lot of firms are actually starting up purely for the purpose of hoping to exit, not to the public markets, but to be

acquired by one of the large firms. and so that means a lot of innovation may be feature oriented rather than fundamentally going after the overall architecture of the business model i always look at microsoft from 20 years ago they could have owned the entire internet now they set the stage and antitrust actions set the stage for many of the new firms, google, facebook, amazon i'm not sure any of them would exist today had regulators not acted. so yes, there are examples of people getting in the game, but i want to see a lot more i think everyone should want that on the street as well >> commissioner, the fact that the ftc has probes going on now, you have the doj investigating as well, state attorneys general which you mentioned just before, and even just today with lawmakers, house antitrust panel seeking records from amazon, google, facebook, how are the

agencies and entities working together commissioner, as soon as i asked that question, we got our first trade on cloudflare as it goes public just going to interrupt quick, take a look at that. it is up 20% now, trading about 18.15, last night $15 a share. that's cloudflare, latest tech company to go public today at the new york stock exchange. commissioner, back to my question how are all of the different agencies and lawmakers working together, if at all right now? >> i think there's been a consensus that this sector has essentially been subject to extremely lax oversight over the

past decade, particularly recent years. so i see the all hands on deck approach as a positive development. i'm in constant communication with attorneys general across the country and i am glad this is bipartisan. i'm glad the am glad that the investigations from capitol hill are bipartisan because this is going to be about how we can use all of our resources to get to the bottom of some of the problems in our economy and fix them. it bugs the hell out of me that we see so much reduction in investment in sectors where some of these firms dominate. and that's just not an economy that we should want to live in. yes, there is a lot of actors involved, but that means that there is going to be more resources to be analytical and to find where there might be violations and be smart about those remedies. >> a conversation we will continue to have hopefully with your help. >> ftc commissioner.

and after the break, cloudflare has made its debut. the stock is now up 24% from the offering price of $18.70. we'll talk with co founders right here next. stay with us. johnson & johnson is a baby company. but we're also a cancer fighting, hiv controlling, joint replacing, and depression relieving company. from the day you're born we never stop taking care of you. by the way, she's the it wasnext mozart.g day. from the day you're born as usual we were behind schedule. but sophie's enthusiasm cannot be dampened.

not even by a run-away donut. we powered through it in our toyota prius. because a star's got to shine, no matter what. it's unbelievable what you can do in the prius. toyota let's go places.

cloudflare opening for

trading just moments ago. the stock up. joining us now, the company's co founder and ceo and c.o.o. congratulations. >> thank you. so there is been a lot of volatility in the markets these days. we are pretty much near all time highs, as well. is there any trepidation about coming public in this environment? or no? >> i think that we built a company for the long term. and i think when a company gets to a certain scale and a certain size, my father, i remember being with him and talking about and watching the opening bell of so many companies. when you get to that size and the scale, you owe it to your employees, to your investors and to the investing public as a whole to run the company as if it's a public company. if you're going to do that, you

might as well be a public company. i think markets go up and down. our goal is to build an enduring and lasting value for our customers and shareholders. >> what's the difference being -- you have google all in the mix. they are a fundamental part. how is that different from what we have seen in the past >> we saw this big shift for hardware on premise to the cloud along the way, we have a lot of customers joining in. we have the vision that customers are choosing to help make sure their internet applications are fast, safe and reliable around the world. so having other players in the market is great. we work along side all those and companies use us together. i think we are just getting started.

when you talk about something like cyber security -- >> cyber security is a big field. every day we stock 44 billion cyber attacks on behalf of our customers. so we are the first line of defense that protects all of the million internet properties using cloudflare around the world. we work in addition to these other types of services. it's a really broad field. is a business is looking to be secure online, first line of defense, cloud flare is the choice for them. >> given how hot the space is, can you talk about the calculus of whether to go public or say yes to what i'm assuming were several offers to be absorbed by a larger player? when did you have to make that call >> i think that we are building cloudflare to be an enduring company. we want to continue to build it. i think a lot of the strength that we have is in the independence that we have.

what we hear from ctos and cios is that they want to make sure that they have a choice between the different cloud providers. cloudflare provides that neutral platform that lets you connect together. pf in addition to the big cloud providers like amazon, microsoft, azure. microsoft and google have been long time investors in cloud flare. they have been great partners with us. we have been able to go to market with them. i think that that ecosystem actually benefits any company that is using it to get the scale, efficiency and enhanced securi security. >> you have --we're proud of

the mission at cloudflare. i think one of the things that probably will get ignored by some of the investors that we think is an important statistic is we hire less than one percent of applicants who apply to work at cloudflare. 90% of the people actually accept those offers. that has given us the ability to get great men and women to work at the company, get great people from around the world to work at the company. i think over time, the people that are able to hire the best and the brightest will win over that long term. >> i will just say that i have had the luckiest co founders in the world. they just always treated me just

like michelle. i hope other companies can look at us and say they can build a diverse team and a great company and so can we. >> cloudflare came into media focus back in august after the fatal shootings that happened. the company decided to terminate the account of 8-chan. how does it speak to the broader policy >> i think when we started, we realized that what we were competing with was the on premise hardware of the world. and the challenge is on any given day there is horrible content. yet cisco probably would be strange if making determinations on whether content was good or bad. we have been red isnznt to make those decisions. you get platforms that are truly

designed from the beginning to be terrible, terrible places. when that happens, i think the responsibility of tech companies is to step up. while we i think are in a different position than facebook or youtube, over time we want to make sure the internet is a better place. >> cloudflare now up about 27%. >> thank you for having us. >> thank you. let's get to sully. welcome to the halftime report. it is friday the 13th. you're not running scared. stocks are closing in on record highs. should you really trust this run? it is 12 noon and this is the halftime report. stocks edging closer to record highs. what now your next money move is straight ahead. tech under