good morning it is already 2020 in hong kong. 11:00 a.m. here on wall street and "squawk alley" is live ♪

good tuesday morning welcome to "squawk alley." you saw a live shot of north korea last hour, not south korea. we know the difference it is important to know the difference now a new year in hong kong, beijing, and taiwan. here's a live shot of celebrations in hong kong. they're having a light show. no explosions in hong kong the last trading day of the month, the year, and the decade. i am jon fortt with me at post nine, again, morgan brennan and deirdre bosa. carl has the rest of the decade, carl, take it off. >> if you're going to have a light show, hong kong is the place to do it with all of the buildings. >> yes we'll begin with what's been a record year for tech it is on pace for the best year

in a decade with the nasdaq crossing the 9,000 mark earlier. household names like netflix led the charge, up more than 4,000% in the last ten years. what stocks are poised to make their own run in 2020? joining us now with some answers or some guesses, gene munster of luke ventures, john freeman of cfra guys, good morning gene, i think the 2000s in tech were about the web and open source, whether you look at consumer enterprise. the 2010s were about mobile and cloud. i would argue 2020s are poised to be about embedded in wearable and automation, ai, whatever you want to call it. what do you think the main story of 2020 is going to be tech wise, and who is poised to take best advantage >> definitely the right question, agree when you were

posing that, the first word that popped in my mind was wearables. automation was the second piece. and to answer your question, who is well poised for that, i think it is surprisingly a company we know well, apple best posed with wearables. a year ago, the wearables business which they don't give total clarity on grew around 40%. recent quarter reported, september quarter grew close to 65%. there's something going on around wearables with apple specifically, their ability to bring those together when you think more as we advance down other themes, you think about the two biggest areas that will be disrupted in the next decade will be around mobility and health care i think the health care piece is something that fits well within what apple is doing. and the mobility, they even have a play there i have been wrong on other product categories i want to be cautious about

predicting anything to automotive, but the company has said they're going to play in that i think when you put all of this together, it sounds like a tired record, but ultimately i think that's the best play here, apple in the next year >> no apple car, no apple tv in the last decade. nobody can be right all the time john, i wonder your take on the most important theme for the decade will be, how much your strong buy and alphabet, google's parent, plays into that >> that's a really good question over the next decade, maybe even 15 years, it is going to be about what i call the increasing cognitive capacity of software software is going to get cognitive, meaning it can be mora ton mu more autonomous. call it ai, i think that's a decent enough acronym, but sometimes we think of ai as being some kind of science

fiction thing. there are very practical applications for software that can think and can conduct fuzzy logic, right so i think that's by far the only investment theme that really will matter in tech over a 15 year period, and i think google and alphabet does play into that. they are a leader in the area, there are a lot of leaders in cognitive software, in ai, but google is certainly one. and one that's also encouraging developers developers are always a great leading indicator of what will happen and be adopted. the framework for developing machine learning applications i think fits right there >> gene and john, you both sound bullish on the sector after a decade where they've been by far

the best performing sector, stellar year is it going to be so straightforward in the next ten years, next year even? investors have largely ignored the threat of regulation, the increased scrutiny, but you're already starting to see it take effect, particularly where i am usually based in california. you have a privacy act coming, ab 5 hurting the ridesharing companies, the big economy as large. does that worry you for tech in the upcoming year? >> yes, it does for me >> let's go to gene first, i'm sorry. >> ultimately i believe that's going to be a theme for 2020, regulation we talked about that last year, a lot of that. then you need to go through, force rank some of the names i think names that are most at risk, facebook might disagree slightly with john, i think google has regulatory concerns. a company like apple, there's a small amount, but least of the

big companies. i also think the commercial name that doesn't have regulatory risk is tesla. i think they're also playing into a macro theme in the next decade yes. i think you are hitting part of the reason why i am optimistic on apple i think some of the other large cap names, even though fundamentals are good, i think the multiples could be compressed >> john, give us your view why might alphabet be immune to some of the worries? >> i don't think they're immune. behind me, in d.c. we're focused, well aware of regulatory risk. one of the things, and i agree, that's the biggest risk for facebook and google, but the strength of the business model, if you had to compare the two, google and alphabet is doing a much better job at government relations at lobbying. they have been at it awhile. they're actually pretty good at it

i think google is more insulated than facebook because of the emotional sort of impact of nobody screams at their search results or loses a high school friend because of search results. i think the risk is more for facebook than it is for google but we like both stocks. just because the businesses are so powerful and strong and so many growth drivers behind them. but you've got to pay attention to regulation, keep an eye on it definitely do. >> gene, how about amazon? i mean, the stock is up 22, almost 23% year to date, means it is still lagging the s&p and nasdaq and other big cap tech companies and so-called faang names and performance this year. what happens in 2020 >> i think the company, the fundamentals continue to be exceptionally good i don't think the stock outperforms the rest of faang by any measure in part because the valuation piece, and separately

this will continue to be an investment year. i think that's no surprise to investors. the simple take is amazon will continue to chip away at the broader commerce market share. i think 2020 will be a year of brick and mortar they increase the number of brick and mortar stores from 30 to 54 from 2018 to 2019. we expect amazon will add another 30 stores. this is outside of whole foods gets into 85, a drop in the bucket compared to broader retail, i think amazon is a great company, but money is invested in better places like apple. >> all right that was kind of a wet blanket, which i like we were talking about what you're bullish on in 2020 and beyond john, give me one name you think is overhyped that you hate for 2020 and the start of the decade >> oracle.

definitely i think oracle has got a problem, a growth problem, and i think if they reorganize and split the company and separate the applications business from the database and infrastructure business, because i think there is a lot of negative synergy, that would unlock a lot of value, but i fear that larry ellison doesn't want to do that, isn't convinced that's necessary yet. i think if you look at the earnings growth, it is all driven by massive share buy backs. they spent something like $58 billion in the last five years buying back shares that's no way to -- i don't think that's a good bet. now that they've got negative net debt on the balance sheet of $26 billion, there's a limit to how much you can do that going forward. >> yeah. all right. some new year's eve shade thrown towards oracle gene, john, thanks to you both happy new year

>> happy new year. still to come on "squawk alley," how uber and post mates are gearing up to fight in california and why netflix's bet on content is paying off. don't go anywhere. back in two minutes. tom: my mom always told me actions speak louder than words. she was a school teacher. my dad joined the navy and helped prosecute the nazis in nuremberg. their values are why i walked away from my business, took the giving pledge to give my money to good causes, and why i spent the last ten years fighting corporate insiders who put profits over people. i'm tom steyer, and i approve this message. because, right now, america needs more than words. we need action.

looking to get your business off to a fast start in the new year? it's go time! switch to comcast business and get fast internet on the nation's largest gig-speed network. plus, complete reliability with 4g lte backup. and, cloud-based security to help protect the devices on your network. greenlight your business in 2020 with fast internet and voice for $64.90 per month. switch now and get a $100 prepaid card when you add comcast business securityedge. call today. comcast business. beyond fast. welcome back to "squawk alley. uber and postmates escalating the fight over the big economy

loss suing california over legislation that would force them to treat drivers as employees. mike isaac joins us with lauren good from "wired." nice to see you. my hometown there with the lovely bridge behind you happy early new year's eve mike, let's start with you hate to say, no one knows uber better than you. how does this play out in even the days going forward it doesn't seem like there's any good scenario. uber either spends millions on this ballot initiative or fighting legislation or has to ultimately comply with the law which will cost millions in revenue and future profit. >> yeah, no, that's totally right. i was asking around sort of what the plan is over the next few weeks, months, possibly years. i think first there's a lot of focus on the ballot initiative in california which uber as well as lyft and some other delivery companies are pledging tens of millions of dollars to

essentially put it to voters and try to exempt, provide a carve out for gig economy drivers to remain independent contractors there's talk of preliminary injunction they could file to sort of litigate what the constitutionality is they have a number of stock opts between now and classifying all people as employees, but it is expensive. it will take some time, and it is not something the company wants to fight in the first place. >> ad 5 is wider than the ridesharing face, could offend the big economy in california, seeing competition from ridesharing and delivery companies but from truck drivers and free-lance journalists how do you think this could play out in california, what are the implications for the rest of the

country, particularly states that are considering similar legislation? >> that's right. i think it is important to acknowledge this is not just about postmates, uber, door dash, lyft, it impacts a wide range of industries. and i think that's exactly the argument that they're going to make it is not just is this driver delivering milk or juice, it is about free-lance journalists we know that of course better than anybody being journalists, this could impact our own industry as well some companies said they plan to contract the number of freelancers that they plan to hire in certain states, california being the first one, because of the way the law could potentially impact their business so i think you're going to see a lot of states looking to california to see exactly how costly it becomes for businesses, how much they have to contract or reduce the number of people they're hiring to see how to move going forward.

>> mike, the suit brought forth in california yesterday included two drivers who are looking to sue about the regulation as well i think it kind of begs the question, do actual workers, actual drivers want to see their independent contractor status taken away, especially when so many of them drive for different companies? >> no, that's a totally great question, morgan it is funny. i was on some radio thing awhile ago, essentially they wanted people to call in and say do you want to support 85 or not, and i probably heard from just as many drivers who were against the bill as there were folks for it, and one of the core arguments, especially of one of the drivers who put their name on the lawsuit was that look, my father is at homesick, my kids are off school, and i can turn the app on and off when i want

i don't have to give my boss weeks of heads up to get off work i think at the end of the day that will be uber's main argument, always door dash or postmates or whoever's main arkark argument, the flexibility workers can have there's an argument on the pro-employment side and always the flexibility thing. that's always what they'll come back to. >> that's the problem with 85. the solution is supposed to be make these drivers employees when the problem wasn't that they weren't employees, the problem was worker protections, right? it was maybe the wages arguably they're being paid, the amount of risk they have to take on versus what uber and lyft say have to take on, door dash, postmates, whoever you throw in the barrel i'm not sure it is solving the underlying problem in the best way, is it >> that's right. that's exactly what advocates for the law have said, that the

workers need more protections, they need benefits if working a certain number of hours a week, if they're devoting all their time to these companies, why should they be treated as contractors without those protections. what 85 does is it institutes a test for employers who administer to determine whether or not the workers are going to be contractors or employee i'm sure there will be different interpretations of the law and test and things that companies like uber and lyft will do, put forth ballot initiatives to counteract some of the protections the law is supposed to be offering >> guys, let's turn to huawei. last night in a letter to employees the executive chairman said they posted, expect to post $122 billion in revenue this year that comes despite the trump administration efforts to blacklist its business here in the u.s., not only that, guys, but pressure allies to not use

its equipment. this is slower growth than the company expected, but still record revenues. tech has become caught in the cross hairs of trade tensions. peter navarro said there's still a lot of work around ip rights do you see easing off that, do you think this story isn't over, and we're likely to see it flare up, not just huawei, apple on the u.s. side and many other companies. >> i have to say, i don't find it all together surprising that huawei posted such an impressive number for this year in particular they are still the world's largest maker of telecom equipment, number two smart phone maker in the world they're a huge, huge company i think 2020 will be interesting. that's the year you're going to see the effects of what's going on with restrictions on u.s. companies doing business with huawei for example, the fact that huawei is currently not using a

licensed version of google's android operating system sure, they went ahead, created their own system most experts agree that it is not actually launching your own operating system, that's the hard part technically. it is offering services, cloud services, getting app makers on board to make your smart phone a great experience i think that's something that huawei is going to have to face in a real way in 2020. >> true that in the home market in china, google services already aren't being used. there they may not haveas much issue. they would in europe i guess mike, it seems to me that what we're achieving with huawei, when i say we, i mean the u.s., as much u.s. isolation as huawei isolation. if you look at what happened, a lot of u.s. companies were up in arms about not being able to do business with huawei they got exemptions. europe is buying a ton of equipment from huawei. that's fine if you stand on

principle. shouldn't we acknowledge what's actually happening, huawei continuing to do pretty darn well everywhere but here, and the u.s. is a tiny bit of their business >> i think that's totally right. and it is interesting for me to watch a number of the other companies that are totally separate from telecom and equipment like facebook or even twitter and folks that rely on content policies to start to square off, draw a line in the sand around china especially i think you're probably going to see more of that, especially as the administration made it clear look, we don't want american companies to be doing business over there but facebook has been the most vocal when they had to say look, we want to stand for the rights that we espouse in the united states and don't want to sort of back down around content i imagine or wonder i would say if other companies have to follow suit because the

administration is saying look, we don't want this to be the case, especially when they can apply pressure in other areas that the companies have to worry about, like in facebook's case, breaking it up in the first place. >> finally, want to talk netflix, announcing its own original content was watched more than any other on the platform for 2019. lauren, what do you make of this the methodology was interesting. >> yeah, it was. >> two minutes. >> i don't buy it. >> some skepticism here, two minutes for every program. the former method disadvantaged longer shows what do you make of that >> yeah, there's not a lot of data to go off of to be honest, like you said. it is two minutes counts as watching, which i suppose is enough to watch the intro to some of the shows if not fast forwarding through the long intros also doesn't include data sets from any year prior to 2019.

it seems as though netflix is potentially not sharing data about the kind of popularity levels of the content it licenses according to neilson data shows "the office" and "friends" which are not original are some of the most watched on netflix. those are licensing deals including disney as well that netflix might start to lose next year, so it will have to focus more on making its own original content to fill up its services. it is not surprising to me that netflix is emphasizing many of its own shows and movies were some of the most popular this year in particular >> mike, i can't help but think this will be the trend when netflix is cranking out so much of its own content, you'll see more legacy shows come off the service as well. increasingly, this is going to be a streaming service focused

around content it is creating for itself, right? >> i mean, i feel like i literally paid ten bucks a month to watch "the office" on repeat over and over. i think these companies for however long, ten years or so, the nbc and disney of the world didn't realize the value of content they had, were willing to make fat fees on licensing, and netflix slowly became an industry behemoth. like you said earlier on the show, it is up 4,000% in the past decade or something now the companies are starting to realize look, we have important ip, we can carve it out, make a serious bet for our own streaming services not sure, i think there will be some unbundling fatigue. i don't know if i want to sign up for nbc or disney, although everyone says mandalorian is good >> it is a peacock who doesn't want a peacock

>> i know. if they do it for free, i saw rumors around, ad supported free service versus no ads paid, maybe that makes more sense. >> my issue with this data, if i'm an investor in netflix, which i'm not, we're not allowed to be obviously, but if i'm an investor, i don't care who watched a new show for two minutes over the first month what i care about is what content keeps subscribers from churning or attracts new subscribers. that's the data we need if we're investors and want to tell how it is effecting netflix. i heard nobody talking about "murder mystery. lots of people talking about "stranger things." >> you have to wonder, too, if you were an investor, curious whether or not netflix was planning to reduce production costs over time as it has to make more content. we're all aware of the fact netflix is willing to spend lots of money, billions of dollars to

make content you have to wonder how sustainable it is, if it relies increasingly on its own original ip >> am i going to be able to see cats, the movie, or do i have to go -- >> the question is whether you really want to >> what about live programming we still use cable for live programming. could be an interesting place. one thing i am wondering, just like amazon was burning through so much money and found aws to become profit engine, does netflix, do streaming giants need to look for something like that instead of spending billions and billions on original content >> no, that's a really good question i still feel like it is hard to bank on an aws uber was saying look, we're like amazon when they went public and they don't have aws necessarily. and everyone is trying to find that i feel like the thing that will

win for not just netflix but for anything, for streaming services, shows that are talkers. i saw folks talking about "watch man" on twitter. you feel like you're out of the culture if you don't know what people are talking about i feel like you need those shows that become hooks for everyone else to watch. and netflix seems to have some but seems like-- i feel like hbo seems to have more i'm waiting for more of those on netflix. >> hbo max will be interesting lauren, last word? >> i think what you're suggesting is not just that netflix would increase the value of what it already offers, whether or not it needs to diversify, offer some other service or ancillary service that actually maybe it white labels or sells to other companies to support its core business i personally don't know whether or not that's in netflix's road map, but it is certainly not a bad idea

it is a tech logically advanced streaming company. you have to wonder if it will diversify, use that technology in different ways in the future. >> thank you very much happy new year enjoy the nice weather in san francisco this time of year. nasdaq approaching 9,000 again. it has been a see saw session for major averages on pace for the best year since 2013 top performers of the last ten ayitusis coming up next. st wh most people think of verizon as a reliable phone company. but to businesses, we're a reliable partner. we keep companies ready for what's next. (man) we weave security into their business. (second man) virtualize their operations. (woman) and build ai customer experiences. (second woman) we also keep them ready for the next big opportunity. like 5g. almost all of the fortune 500 partner with us. (woman) when it comes to digital transformation...

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lots of ghocool gadgets on display in vegas what to watch. welcome back i am sue herera. here's your cnbc news update at this hour. gop senator susan collins says she's concerned about the partisan nature of the house and senate, saying there have been senators on both sides of the aisle who appear to have made up

their minds before president trump's impeachment trial has begun. >> this is a constitutional responsibility i take it with the utmost sincerity and seriousness, and i'm not going to let pressure from either side have any influence whatsoever on my judgment australian firefighters forced to drive right through brush fires, they were engulfed by flames as they passed through the inferno in new south wales they sheltered in the truck with fire blankets. 12 million acres of land have burned nationwide in this crisis. thousands of south koreans filled the streets in seoul for a traditional bell tolling ceremony to ring in the new year south korean major league pitcher was one of the dignitaries picked to ring the bell let's hope it's a good year.

that's the news update this hour morgan, i'll send it back downtown to you. >> sue herera, thank you. coming up. why digital ad spending is set to slow in 2020. we're going to explain that after the break. stay with us

welcome back to "squawk alley. big warning from one of the largest media buyers, wpp group saying it expects growth in digital ad spending to slow in 2020

various stances on political ads in focus tech will lead the way, facebook and google estimated to generate short of $200 billion of ad buys alone. what role will the election play joining us, group m global president brian wheezer behind the report and marketing founder and contributor mike jackson good morning to you both happy new year brian, i'll start with you a slow down in growth in ad spending next year why >> free fall at a global level, there are pressures on the global economy the markets are shrugging a lot of this off. we're seeing impact in some countries from concerns around diminishing investment, trade barriers and other countries as well as what started to happen here and just generally deceleration. we see it in local market

expectations for market growth different than local economies the u.s. is a meaningful exception. china, seeing meaningful slowdown and most other countries as well. >> mike, is this still, at least digital ad spending is concerned, is this largely facebook, google, everybody else or are more potential advertisers looking to spread spending around to different platforms. >> well, in the digital front, definitely about facebook, google, and amazon they're continuing to take huge share from other digital players. with the exception being live sports, obviously the nfl is doing really, really well, the olympics, nbc is doing well with the olympics coming up later in 2020 so it is going to be a real challenge. some of the major categories like automotive, retail, financial services, it is expected to be flat.

>> brian, digital ad spending is still growing, it's just not growing as fast as it was say 2016, 2017 i wonder how much does this matter even when things slowed down, won't the most powerful digital ad players get the lion's share of business and try to use that to pivot to other businesses, maybe commerce on messaging connected to their platforms >> i think that's fair from an investor perspective, there's always concern what did it do to the margin profile or should be a concern. safe to say google and facebook are fine i think the end of the day, total market can only grow so much when you think about terminal growth rates, you have to be cognizant they don't cause the

global advertising avenue to outperform in the long term. you grow at the level of the market >> mike, how much does potential deceleration have to do with companies taking a stance on political advertising, spotify, the latest earlier this week >> i don't know if it has a significant impact obviously the later you get into 2020, the clutter of political advertising makes it very, very difficult for most major categories to drive demand so i think just the overall clutter in the marketplace, the availability, a lot of pricing challenges as well and again, three categories that are going to be influx is automotive, they've got their own set of head winds, financial services continue to be competitive, and then when you look at retail, everyone still, most major retailers have to fight amazon amazon continues to spend on one

end, continuing to be a very viable advertising platform on the other end. >> brian, how big is the actual market here in the u.s. for political advertising? what will that piece look like in 2020. >> we actually think it is impactful on the total growth rates. we tend to talk about growth rates in terms of excluding political, but if you include it, $10 million is my estimate if you roll up estimates on political in all media, not just tv, radio, outdoor, direct mail, directories, close to $10 billion. that's up from 8 in 2018 fund-raising up 45% last i looked for the first half of 2019, first half of 2017 you can make an argument it will be more robust it is a meaningful amount, heavily skewed into a small

number of geographies, so it will be meaningful. >> mike, speaking of political ads, how much does it matter that spotify says it's not going to deal in political ads going forward? is that maybe a company that wasn't going to get that much out of the category anyway, didn't know how to manage the message, making an early move or is there something deeper going on >> i don't know if it is something deeper going on. i think spotify is a platform that really likes to engage users, they're very passionate, very loyal users they continue to fight a major battle against the likes of apple that have come into the music business so their decision may be around how they want their brand to be perceived as well as if you look at the whole conversation around fact checking political ads and just a lot of other noise driven

by facebook's firm stance of not to get into the fact checking business, obviously twitter and snap made different decisions. specifically when you talk spotify, it may just be a brand engagement issue, and also i don't know how much resources would be put into that advertising model on behalf of spotify. >> all right we have to see how it plays out in 2020. gentlemen, thanks for joining us brian and mike >> thank you love that turtleneck and blazer with the bald head. a good look. up next, space, still the final frontier, going to have a huge year in 2020 morgan will break it down after the break. stay with us if you listen to the political debate in this country, it sounds like we have a failed society. but nothing could be further from the truth. americans are compassionate and hardworking. we aren't failing. our politicians are failing.

that's why i'm running for president. to end the corporate takeover of the government. and give more power to the american people. that's how we'll win healthcare, fair wages, and clean air and water as a right. i'm tom steyer and i approve this message.

we believe in education built for all people., - [woman] snhu was the best experience of my life. - [man] without snhu, i wouldn't be the leader i am today. - [woman] i graduated high school 19 years ago.

i still finished. - [man] in the military, you feel that sense of accomplishment. that's what snhu is. - you will march from this arena and say to the world.. i did it. - [woman] you did it. i love you. - [graduate] i love you too. welcome back elon musk, jeff bezos, richard branson, we talked about the billionaire fueled race to own commercial space, but the market is getting bigger. that means more opportunities for investors. 2019 was another year of firsts as spacex started to deploy satellite constellation as a prospective prime contractor virgin galactic became the first of the commercial startups to go public 2019 is the year commercial spacey merges from science circles and policy meetings to

be a main street and wall street story. virgin galactic and blue origin will fly passengers to the edge of space charging hundreds of thousands. spacex and boeing will carry americans to orbit from u.s. soil and then with nasa's blessing, start selling rides to private astronauts second, more public, private partnerships art must looks to send them back to the moon with limited resources, nasa will share more risk with companies, spurring spacecraft development to lease services public, private partnerships extend to the military as well as defense department stands up space force to better secure the final frontier third, space busts more companies will find funding, including from vcs and other investors, with hundreds now competing, more will fail, especially in crowded areas of the market like small rockets and small satellites

speaking of satellites, one of the first big things on tap coming into 2020 is more strides towards mega constellations. in the month of january alone, spacex hopes to launch three different missions to put more satellites in low orbit. expectations, up to two dozen launches for starlink in 2020, and it isn't just spacex either, it is softbank backed one web, and recently got more details on amazon's project as well they're moving into r&d headquarters for their satellite operations in redmond, washington this year as well >> i feel like something is going to go wrong. >> it is space space is hard and something always goes wrong. >> from an investor perspective, this feels like real estate where you make big capital bets, commitments up front, the investor sort of doesn't know if

they picked the right time, whether the big tenant will come through and make it worthwhile how are investors able to tell what the smartest space companies are to bet on? >> i think that's a key question i have seen more money come into space in general $5 billion in the first three quarters of 2019 in terms of venture capital, on track for another record this year that's why up until recently so much of the efforts in commercial space have been funded by people that are billionaires or that made their wealth elsewhere, are putting this to work as a passion project or longer term vision for them when you see companies like virgingalactic go public, they're expected to be operational with space tourism, those milestones are key to bring in more investors into the marketplace, you see more launches start to happen, too, virgin orbit, richard branson's other space company is expected

to do a maiden flight next year as well. when you see more milestones, i expect you see more captaital. >> you'll be on one if offered the opportunity. >> i keep saying that, opportunity. >> i keep pitching myself to these different companies. we'll see. john, to your point, it's why so much of the investments have be more along the lines of early stage, angel investing expectations are some of these companies are going to go out of business but hopefully you get some that are big and successful. >> sounds like d.c. investing. >> when we return, a new sneaker for gamers we'lexain l plafter a quick break. stay with us

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with fast internet and voice for $64.90 per month. switch now and get a $100 prepaid card when you add comcast business securityedge. call today. comcast business. beyond fast. putting the sneak in sneakers, because he's a ninja celebrity gamer ninja collaborating with adidas for shoes for gamers >> john, earlier this month, adidas and tyler gninja blevins announced their first sneaker and today it's officially available. the night jogger comes with his signature blue and yellow colors, adult sizes cost $150. youth sizes, $120. but you have to be quick ninja says the adult sizes sold

out in less than 40 minutes. ninja isn't just a policy video game, he's a global celebrity with more than 22 million youtube subscribers and 15 million on instagram and he earns a ton of money when cnbc spoke to him last spring, he didn't dispute reports that he earned more than $500,000 a month a lot of that he said came from subscribers and sponsorships and deals certainly helped, too. today he could be earning even more adidas isn't the only company looking to capitalize on gaming. puma introduced active gaming footwear it's built as a sock like shoe most gamers rely on their eyes and hands, but puma says these will help gamers perform at their best the shoes will set gamers back about $100 meanwhile, nike is the official shoe provider for the legends pro league and online gaming league in china. the companies naturally want to try and capitalize on the video

game industry, after all it's a $172 billion market filled with young aspirational fans. will it work unlike athletes like lebron james, patrick says consumers might not necessarily associate professional gamers with foot work, though ninja says his new shoe is off to a hot start back to you. >> i still don't understand why a gamer is designing a jogger. it's a nice-looking sneaker. >> performance bathrobe i think for most of us >> fascinating speaks to the dominance of gaming thank you. fun fact: 1 in 4 of us millennials have debt we might die with. and most of that debt is actually from credit cards. it's just not right. but with sofi, you can get your credit cards right by consolidating your credit card debt into one monthly payment. including your interest rate right by locking in a fixed low rate today.

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so it's not just jack dorsey looking to africa for the next big opportunity in tech. our kate rooney explains from san francisco. kate, the key here is payments and the opportunity. >> that's right, exactly so the square and twitter ceo is in good company, big tech and venture capital are also spending time and money in africa one reason, a young and booming population across 54 countries, there are more than a billion

people in africa, average age 19 analyst are telling me that's a natural market for any tech entrepreneur you've got facebook and google with accelerated programs for local startups, microsoft has spent $100 million on similar programs and all of those ceos have made public visits to african countries in the last four years also chinese tech. meanwhile, venture capital is starting to pay more attention partially thanks to lower valuations there are still only two of the world's 400 unicorns based in africa we're seeing some popular early stage bets around payments flutter wave is one. it works with uber and ali pay and is backed by ventures and master card. and finally, the risk factor, guys, they say government regulation and scaling across the continent are the biggest

head winds, guys. >> thank you, kate i hope they invest in local talent and don't digitally colonize africa. that will do it for us here on squawk al lee. >> front and center, the final trading day of the decade upon us what will the new one have in store for your money this is the halftime report. >> announcer: the dawn of a new decade is upon us. >> it's going to be the roaring 2020s next year. >> our traders are looking ahead to the new year with your next money moves. plus, chips have been one of the hottest trades of the year and one analyst says this semi stock is poised for another year of double digit returns it's our call of the day the invest committee is ready to go "halftime report" starts rig