everything you need to know about the online gaming platform plus an interview with the ceo before the first trade plus, positive signs, speaking of trades, for the reopening trade as more states lift restrictions and open up vaccine eligibility. it's wednesday, march 10th, 2021, and "squawk box" begins right now. >> ♪ mr. roboto don't know what we got mr. roboto don't know ♪ >> i think this is for roblox, guys good morning, welcome to "squawk box" on cnbc i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. roblox, a bill day we're going to start with the markets this morning after investors poured back into popular growth names yesterday it was really something to watch. you had to keep this going all day long the nasdaq was up by 464 points. that's a gain of 3.7%. that was the nasdaq's best day since november

these things came roaring back, and it was all of the stocks that had gotten knocked down tesla surged by 19.6%. app and will facebook, each up by more than 4%, and amazon gaining 3.8% check things out wasn't the sit the growth stocks were taking off. dow was up s&p was up this morning the dow is indicated up again by 78 points. s&p down by about 1 point, the nasdaq off by about 42 we have been watching treasury yields so close by because that's had a huge impact on stocks recently. the ten high temperature year is yielding 1.565%. that's right around where we have been for the last couple of sessions, and by the way, you saw this yesterday, we had the squawk stack that joe called for. here's what we set up for in that stack yesterday, a stack of pancakes, i hop, get it running

the dow, the nasdaq, the ten year, and game stock, what do you think, guys, anything we should change to this today? i'd add tesla just to see what happens. >> i said keep game stop because we're almost back to 300 on gamestop it's almost 20 billion on game stop. >> what's the upper limit on how many things we can put in this stack. >> i think that's it right there. >> that's a good question, probably five. >> you got to knock something out, yeah. >> so what would you knock out >> i would almost put tesla in instead of bitcoin today it's very similar watching tesla or bitcoin. >> the ten-year, we're going to need to watch to see if temper ends up being right. certainly made a lot of money yesterday on that trade. nasdaq, you got to keep. people think we should have the s&p in there i had an idea, and it was generated by a smart twitter person now we need a "squawk" stack spac, it helps us invest in

"squawk" stack. >> you can have a non-fungible token you can sell. >> we can put that in. farley knows how to do that, and andrew, i thought, if we really want big fees to get rich, let's get chamath to juice up those fees for us so we can totally take it, right, you know all the spac types who should help us with this, do you think, the "squawk" -- >> we should have what they're calling now a spac-off, instead of a bakeoff for sale of a company, a spac-off. >> i almostgot myself in trouble yesterday, talking about things like that, spac-off. >> a little different. >> and all the spacs can come. >> stop it >> and do a dance in front of us. >> and then we can decide who to take we can do an etf while we're at it with this we could do some kind of etf

that mixes all of these things together. >> it doesn't rhyme as well. >> portnoy is doing that with his buzz etf i feel like we should be doing both, frankly, the more the merrier. >> or not. >> yeah, or not. maybe we better just watch these things. >> better do the news. we'll do the news. >> instead of us getting like financially default in anything. probably not a great idea. everybody else seems to be doing it, getting financially involved. >> like your mother said if everybody else was jumping off a bridge, would you jump off the bridge too. >> that water is cold and deep meantime, let's do the nrigh now. house democrats planning to pass the $1.9 trillion covid relief bill today so president biden can sign it before certain unemployment aid programs expire on sunday. house majority leader steny

hoyer saying they're going to take procedural steps to set up final approval for the bill this morning. it will likely pass without republican votes at all. as gop members have questioned the need for nearly $2 trillion in additional spending the bill extending a $300 per week jobless benefit boost, including stimulus payments to individuals, and expands the child tax credit, and includes relief for state and local governments, and provides money for vaccine distribution, and testing and likely impacting the market already joe. >> you really came up with a good one there, andrew that's exploding already to have the -- to get the right spac for us. you know, they get the spac-off to get the "squawk" stack spac correct, we need exactly what you said, and people are excited. people are very excited about that maybe roblox is eventually going to be on the "squawk" stack, depending on what happens today. is that what we're thinking? >> it's unbelievable

now, it's online gaming, will they have to deal with game stop since game stop is now going to control all online gaming. that must be what's going to happen to be worth 20 billion. >> you can go around it. >> they are the ultimate director-to-consumer product i don't think they will ever be going through gamestop, we should talk to david, the ceo about that, but i can tell you. >> how does that work? >> how does which part work? >> thousand do you get 20 billion if that's the way we're going -- which way are we going, this way or that way >> i think we're going the roblox way i can tell you, by the way, occasionally i tell the kids what we're doing tomorrow, like what's going to be on the show, who the guests are going to be. >> and they're trading >> no, no. >> oh, oh. >> and you know, they want this guy's autograph, meaning the only conversation that happens in the sorkin family is about roblox, constantly

we almost wanted to stop the conversation because just i incessant. one son trying to develop games, one son trying to play them. in fact, they're upset that he's going to be on after 8:00 because they have to go to school this is what they want to watch. >> that's amazing, and it's not brick breaker, there's other stuff, new stuff out there. >> all sorts of games. i don't know, becky, are you guys playing roblox? >> kyle is big into it he's built a million different things i don't even understand how it works. i have to say, of all the things they're going to play, i'm psyched about this, at least you figure out how to build things. >> that's true i'll find out. i'll do some research at home on this it's going to list directly, by the way, on the new york stock exchange after deciding against a traditional ipo. it means shares are going to begin trading without the company raising capital.

roblox changed the ipo plans after a new infusion of venture capital, vc funds, $520 million in early january the nyse set a reference price of $45 for the stock and it's got a ticker you could probably figure out, rblx, and people with tween children may already, or if they're precocious, young ones that may be familiar with the company, a free online platform that features tens of millions of multiplayer games, with tools the company provides. the company has nearly 33 million daily active users, 54% of which are under the age of 13 that is unbelievable it generated $924 million in revenue in 2020. up from, oh, from about 490,000 daily paying users andrew, you got to control yourself because the ceo, i

think you may be more excited than your kids or maybe day got you excited to another level the company's ceo is going to join us in the 8:00 hour first on cnbc. that's good. >> i interviewed david about 2 1/2 years ago from the "new york times" kids section, if you can believe it, because my kids put me on to it. i have been fascinated for a long time. he's going to make a lot of money. these kids are trying to make ro buck, and in our family, this is the whole ball of wax . >> that's how they start with our kids that's great that's really great. that's when the time starts with the indocket trination, i guess that's why my kids seem okay, we don't have a "new york times" s

subscription "new york times" kids, there's not an op-ed page. it doesn't matter. the op-ed pages have merged with the times anyway. let's talk tesla the stock rebounded in a big way yesterday, jumping by nearly 20%. it snapped a five-day losing streak and added about $75 billion to the company's market cap in one day. helping this move higher was an upgrade from the new street research from neutral to buy with a price target increase to $900 all the way from 578. so it wasn't just the pullback they were seeing, look at that, 666 right now for tesla. it's down about 1% this morning but a huge jump yesterday. the u.s. listed chinese electric auto makers were up yesterday. nio was up by 17%. xpeng was up by 11%, and lee auto up by 8%. all three of the companies could carry out secondary listings in hong kong as early as this year. >> speaking of tesla, what do

you guys think of toomey yesterday? were we nodding in agreement or was that like an outlier. >> in terms of what he said -- >> when he said who's to say where gamestop should be, look at where tesla is. which stock is over valued and which isn't. that's weird republican senator would say that i think there's a difference, isn't there? maybe we're wrong. >> who's to say, i think his point is a fair one, who is to say what's fair valued and what's overvalued if there's a market for it. that's why there's a market. there are always two sides to a market, somebody who thinks it's under valued, somebody who thinks it's over valued. it's kind of refreshing to think there's a potential regulator writing the rules who thinks that, too. that's not their job to figure out. >> maybe our thinking is totally wrong then on the one hand, you've got

cathie wood's view that the entire world is going to be in this like tesla sort of mode with, you know, you're getting your electricity from your solar panels which are going into your electric car, and you have another thing that looks to most people like it's being totally disrupted. so you got one on this in incredible ascent and you can make a case for as a story stock, and the other one where it's so hard, other than chewy, you can't figure out what the real sizzle is for gamestop. it's just weird. being totally objective, i guess east right who are we to say which one is more of a green stock. tell me, andrew, which has more potential, gamestop or tesla of course one's 20 billion, and one's, you know, a trillion or was a trillion or close. >> i would think tesla but doesn't this feel like, i

mean, we've had henry blodget on this feels like '97, '98, '99. the internet became a big deal it took a while. there were bumps along the way some companies are here and some are not. >> i'm bidding against becky on the gronk collection of the nft all the super bowl moments. >> i had a conversation with glenn aftert the show. he's a digital pioneer personally i wouldn't pay for an nft. i tend to be more conservative >> remember andreson, and glen hutchins is the guy you decide to listen to on this >> look, i will hand it to all of them, it's not something i would invest in.

i am more conservative, so i get it >> all right but if you're kweconservative, should worry about the fed printing all of this money, and you're back to digital maybe coming up, much more, that's how they argue, it's actually less of a gamble than relying on the dollar much more on the tech rebound. we're going it talk about the household names that saw some big moves, and what comes next, and later, saturday rob portman, what happened, rob joins us to talk about the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill and a lot more "squawk box" will be right back.

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tech stocks roaring back the biggest gain of the year, a little soft this morning tesla soaring 20%. facebook and apple up 4%, amazon and microsoft getting a bounce joining us now is stephanie link, chief investment strategist and portfolio manager at high tower, also a cnbc contributor, and gene munster, founder and managing partner of loup ventures. gina, i'll start with you, talking about tech, you were such a bull and love it so much. on a day like last week or like friday or the day before,

monday, what do you do do you just look at your thesis and say, nothing has changed and things are on sale is that basically your approach? >> well, it's definitely a circle the wagons type of situation. i think there's reminisce back to other pullbacks, i think i have put on a tie, i haven't wore a tie in a long time and i needed to get into a special place where i wanted to focus on the long-term. somehow that was therapeutic for me we get together as a team, and we really try to find where there's mispriced assets, and i think if you look at the pullback more recently, it's been most acute where we saw the free fall in these emerging new tech up and comers, call them story stocks this was tesla, zillow, peloton, zoom, open door, they're down 14% over the past two weeks. it's been just an unprecedented. what we do is test our thesis.

we look at where is transformation happening i'll give you one example, we are investors in zillow and open door we have tested the thesis around what higher interest rates mean. it's something not a lot of people are talking about in the pullback we want to make sure that model still works long-term. that part of the story, so there is many layers to it, and i would just say this, too, we're not through this volatility has been quite acute, and i expect to continue to have big down days. big up days for the foreseeable future >> i want to get to stephanie, but just listening to you, gene, so 14%, all right, i get it, but on the way up when you were doing that just again and again and again, you know, taking in 14% increments as the nasdaq or all of these stocks move higher to levels we never thought possible why would you be surprised when

it gives back 14%. >> well, i should have been more clear. i was not surprised, even with the pullback, and even kind of the recent bounce yesterday, the story stocks, if you will, are still up 92% over the past six months, and so we were always bracing for this and trying to just be prepared, like which of these companies ultimately playing to our long-term thesis. >> steph, 92%, you do 14 i guess it would be nice if you can know for sure, you're not giving back the 92% or 50% or whatever, because we have seen that movie before too, back in the late '90s. you don't want to sit there like an idiot and watch everything you have made just evaporate because you weren't smart enough to get out of the, you know, the frenzy >> that's very true, good morning, joe >> good morning. go ahead, steph, but, either use it as an opportunity to add to

your favorite names or it's a harbinger of something worse >> yeah, no, i think you have to just step back for just a minute and ask the question why did tech sell off. it was a function of a few things, interest rates rising the economy getting stronger, and as gene just mentioned, up 92%. the xlk, up 94%. a mean reversion there the factor of the matter is that rates are stabilizing, that's good, 50 basis points in five-year's time was too fast, and rates are headed higher, and that's a function of the stimulus in the system we're dgoing to spend 3 trillio this year. globally at 100 trillion japan's m 2 in february was 9.6% that's one month a lot of liquidity it's going to lead to a little more inflation, and higher interest rates technology you want to be very selective. i have been focusing on some of

the semi, semicap equipment companies, told you on friday that i bought some broadcom, because the quarter was jous standing i like nxp i like auto. like contactless payments. $2 billion buyback, great management team. i like land research because i think memory spend is going to increase and this is a play on that, and then i like cyber security, it's going fob $180 billion total addressable market by 2030, and they have a whole new product line up, and they're gaining more share within enterprise. i think there's a couple of names you can pick and choose. i think you want to be very selective at this point. >> gene, if i would tell you that the ten-year is going to be at 2 1/2% in three months, would that change anything you're doing? >> yeah, we would be more defensive. i want to make also a

distinction, when we talk about investing, it's always three plus years it's different than many people, but in that view, you can be more cautious over the next year, and if you said that that was going to happen, that rates were going to continue to move higher, especially some of the story stocks they will get hit, and so i think that the important point is just to make a distinction. even in those environments, interest rates go up to what you talked about i don't think it changes the long-term, this transformative piece. that's why we anchor our investments. when they have these massive addre addressable markets. to answer your question, we are concerned about rates going higher we don't think we're out of the woods yet. we continue to believe that that is also consistent with the view that you should own tech companies over the long haul. >> thanks, and stephanie link, chief investment strategist at high tower advisers. thank you both

andrew. >> thank you, joe. when we come back, positive news on the vaccine and reopening fronts, we're going to tell you all about it. those details straight ahead and a programming note, all this week, you can tune in at 6:00 p.m. on cnbc to "on the edge," it's about sharp opinions, the hottest takes and fierce debate about the big players and news in the business world. i was looked last night watching jason calacanis and anthony mpangoftpolio aer it, and it was quite something. we'll be back right after this flexshares etfs are built with advanced modeling. to fill portfolio gaps and target specific goals. strengthening client confidence in you. before investing consider the fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. go to flexshares.com for a prospectus containing this information. read it carefully. [sound of thunder] ♪♪ [laughs and clinks beers]

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this morning we've got an update right now on the pandemic alaska has become the first u.s. state to make covid vaccines available to anyone 16 or older who works or lives in the state. so far, more than 23% of alaska's population has received at least one dose, and more than 16% have been fully vaccinated the governor ears office noted that some regions are nearing 90% of vaccination rates among seniors. maryland is the latest state to lift covid restrictions. on friday, capacity limits removed for retailers, religious facilities, hair and nail salons and outdoor and indoor dining. the mask requirement will remain in place, but the state will no longer require travel quarantine good news in maryland and alaska, and i think we're starting to see folks, a trend joe. >> yep president biden meanwhile is meeting with johnson & johnson ceo alex gorsky and merck ceo ken frazier at the white house the summit following the

announcement that merck is partnering with j&j on manufacturing that company's covid-19 vaccine beck. >> yeah, great news. really good to see this roll out like this. in the meantime, we also have news about a spac backed by virgin group founder richard branson. it's apparently look to go raise as much as half a billion dollars through an initial public offering. according to reuters, the firm is looking for potential acquisitions in its core sectors, including travel and leisure, financial services and renewable energy and get this, several pieces of breaking news out from general electric, and we heard some rumors about this but now we can tell you that ge has struck a deal to combine its aircraft leasing unit with that of ireland's air cap holdings. it has been reported earlier this week that the two sides were in talks. ge gets $24 billion in cash, a

46% ownership stake in the new company, and another billion dollars in air cap notes or cash when the deal closes it's going to use the proceeds of the deal to reduce debt, along with the announcement of the deal, ge issued an updated outlook, and the news that it's recommending that shareholders approve a one for eight reverse stock split. it's adjusted earnings outlook for the year is $0.15 to $0.25 a share, compared to a $0.26 consensus estimate it will result in a near term noncash charge which isn't built in to analysts forecasts, and it does make it a much smaller company in terms of what it can focus on, what larry cope can focus on in termts o. s of the industrial basis. >> they go out of their way to say this is a much simpler, they're going to be reporting industrial, financials, and move

from a three column to one column this is power, renewable energy, aviation, and health care, all of this kind of coming together, and you mentioned they're going to be using the proceeds to pay down debt. the at close they're going to reduce their debt about $30 billion. that is expected to be the expected total reduction of $70 billion since the end of 2018 they say they expect to continue to execute significant debt reduction and increase earnings to reach their industrial target of less than 2 1/2 net debt to ebita over the next few years. this will be a big step towards that direction. >> always a pretty good business is it a business that during the pandemic has suffered a lot? are they getting a good price for it is this that's been the whole ge story >> selling at the lows. >> you have to imagine if they can go lack and look at that nbc

deal in hindsight. it's just right there. what did that slough off the market cap to sell that for what was like a fire sale almost. i don't know, is this a good price? >> the market likes it right now. ge is looking up 1.8%, but yeah, it's a good question. >> $0.25 >> it is a industry that's been hit pretty hard. >> the one for eight, is it one for eight based on where it is or is there a stub after they do this deal, what would that -- >> i don't know. and i'm wondering, reverse stock splits, in the old days, you would see a reverse stock split, and it's not a 3 or $4 stock they used to do that with the lumber company the minute they get it back to where it's 30 bucks, next thing it's 12 a lot of times sometimes reverse stock splits seem to have the opposite effect

of a regular stock split. >> i'm just reading the language on this, they say the reverse stock split would decrease the number of shares outstanding to a number more typical of companies with comparable market caps. >> they got a lot of shares. >> weather and wind to affect it would be at the discretion of ge's board, at any time prior to to the anniversary meeting on may 4th. they're asking for shareholder permission to allow them to do this when they think it's best. >> i hope elizabeth warren doesn't look at this and decide, you know, you leave those shares out there. you know, you're still making widgets. >> this is not the equivalent of a buy back >> got to be able to increase the float, decrease the float, buy back at certain times, sell stock when you need to

you don't think gamestop needs to sell some stock right here. let's go today >> they should have been selling stocks the ole time. >> exactly you know the point you know what i'm saying you can't just -- buy backs are bad because you're trying to juice the stock because the ceo has some stock to make that knee jerk assumption, it's siercary that t is the thinking with smart people and now man explaining again: i got in trouble for that. >> better than man spreading anyway, when we come back, there is a growing global shipping crisis, causing delays in bringing products to market and higher costs for companies and in some cases for consumers, too, we've got that story straight ahead and we can now tell you, ge ceo larry culp will be coming up on "squawkn e re," othstet that's happening at 9:00 a.m. eastern time "squawk" will be right back.

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welcome back, everybody. as economies really start to open up, the ports are packed.

that congestion is causing inventory problems for a growing number of companies. foot locker cited the slow down during its most recent earnings call the gap called the problem unforeseen peloton said its delivery wait times remain elevated and we're talking weeks here, and urban outfitter said it's longer and costing more to bring product into the united states we have two guests to talk about this, break it down for us katherine thompson is ceo of thompson research, she'll talk about what this means for investors. first we're going to dive into the problems with the ports with jim newsome, south carolina ports authority ceo, jim, thanks for being with us. this is kind of unbelievable, starting to hear this from companies everywhere how big is the problem, and how does it play out >> good morning, becky, thanks for having me. i think what we found out when people couldn't buy services they overconsumed goods. since august of last year, we

have seen double digit year over year, container volumes. normally we would see a break at chinese new year, and even chinese factories worked during chinese new year, and it's been double digit growth, and the lot of ships waiting in southern california. >> people couldn't go to the movies, vacation, out to eat we're going to focus on other things we can do with our money. what sort of goods have been the ones that have been maybe seeing the biggest delays and the most demand >> a lot of things to improve, their home furniture is the biggest growing, 55% year over year, february, electronic goods, you mentioned peloton bikes, goods for the home for consumption to improve this sort of lifestyle that they have. >> is there any relief in sight, do you think, when do we kind of catch up with this problem >> it's hard to, you know, port

infrastructure pretty rigid so it's hard to flex. if you have 32 ships waiting in california, it takes a while to catch up we believe as we get to herd immunity, more vaccinations, people will go back and start consuming more services. you only need so many peloton bikes, flat screen tvs i think it will revert to normal that will be june, july, summer time, basically, and it remains to be seen if the economy is strong, you know, what the season will look like this year. >> jim, that's the call everybody's been waiting for, how long does this last, because the stock market is kind of weighing that on every situation, will it last for home depot, will it last for peloton, will it last for all of these things if you don't mind, we'll have you back to get a bird's eye view of what's happening, and what's happening from your perspective. >> be my pleasure. >> thank you, we appreciate your

time let's turn to katherine thompson to talk about what this means for the markets right now, and investors, welcome, good to see you. what do you think about the question of whether people should be betting on this? i know that's not entirely your area of expertise but you do have stocks that you think are going to benefit from this >> when we think about what we do, it's always a value chain. what happens on one end is going to have a ripple effect. what our company contacts are saying it's a view to think this is going to get cleared up anytime soon candidly, the governor cleared it up mid summer that would be something that be an upside with your view. generally what we're seeing and more of our contacts are thinking that you're going to see this issue through much of '21. just because everything is so backed up. delays of the norm, it's very difficult to even get containers costs are on theize, you're seeing four to five tiny pieces and just space, even if you have

an existing contract on containers, and availability has gotten so tough you have companies like ch robinson are saying their clients are so desperate, they're shifting to air freight, and this is on top of, and port of charleston was a really great example, you had some massive increases in the port of charleston and savannah and the east coast, and still it's an issue overall. >> that's an excellent point these aren't things that you can change capacity for overnight or even over a year or two. it takes a long time to build in ex excess capacity. that's not going to be the solution for any of these things, right? >> no,and really you're going to see a ripple effect, and you're already seeing it right now. warehousing, i know there's a lot of concern about commercial construction slowing down, but you really got fo break it down, the area that is continuing to growing and it's on jet fuel

now, you're going to see continued increase in warehouse build up, even beyond in fix you're going to see an increase in infrastructure in and around the forts, and states are even getting creative to help address some of these basic infrastructure issues, of getting goods into the course and into middle america. the state of georgia, for instance, is going to be a first state that's going to be starting to build a truck only highway from savannah to macon. that's a direct result of the panama canal charleston has been doing a lot of infrastructure work in and around its port, just to make way for these goods. >> so we're out of time, but i take it that means you like a lot of the heavy material stocks, many of the civil engineering stocks. >> when you think about heavy materials, you're going to have the martin marietta, tvulcan

materials, and with all of this build up, the equipment eventual companies, hri are all really good, and then a lot of infrastructure gldd is another really great idea >> kathryn thanks for your time today. we appreciate it. >> all right thank you. >> joe. thanks, becky. coming up, hockey faceoff, a new report says espn is looking to buy nhl broadcast rights do you remember when nbc got that for a sooer, row after the walkout, with gary bettman it's back in a big way, high dede you can see the puck. and our first on cnbc interview with the ceo of roblox before its first public trade. we'll be right back.

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welcome back to "squawk box" this morning, we are watching shares of disney take a look at this. espn reportedly close to a long-term rights deal for the nhl games. the "wall street journal" is saying an announcement could come as early as this week we're going to talk much more about this week's media moves. sarah fisher is going to be here along with rich greenfield, always a big conversation and debate to have with them about the future of media. we come back on the other side of this, we're going to do a crypto check, bitcoin topping $1 trillion in value once again

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welcome back to "squawk box. bit coin is getting a bounce the price climbing back towards it's ail-time high capping $1 trillion in value again, to make the digital currency more accessible to investors. our next guest launched bitcoin fund good morning, greg let's talk about where bitcoin is headed. and let's talk about the ricks because i think people are trying to understand where we really are, what the upside looks like and, frankly, what the downside looks like

>> yeah. >> you, by default, i imagine have to be bullish on this give us the upside take and be honest and give the downside on the near term? >> in the near term, sure. you're right, we remain bullish. bitcoin has erupted on the world scene, it's kind of taken people by surprise, even though it's 12, 13 years old at this point people are still coming to realize just how powerful it could potentially be so, what we have is an s-curve of adoption, that you're familiar with from technology. since bitcoin crossed 20,000 in november last year, we're trading up around 55,000 when you look historic at previous periods where you put in an all-time high kept it high for 100 or 200 days or more, once that high is crossed it goes up in general, 900%, in terms of those rallies now, that seems unbelievable, but you have to understand that this technology is being adopted on a global basis. and the amount of demand,

potentially, for what it's providing is huge. so, we're looking at this as a long-term rally, say a year or two. and the consolidations that you're seeing are very healthy near term, we've seen 20%, 30% consolidations, jut like that, it's wild. but this is bitcoin. things are happening at a different pace it's off 175%. a 20%, 30% correction is to be expected >> what do you think the rational high point is for this? meaning, we're having this conversation five years from now, are you simply saying this a $200,000 token situation $500,000 i mean, at some point, you'd argue like gold, you have to basically stabilize at some general price. no >> agreetotally agreed i think it will stabilize at some point and become boring i think we're a long ways from that probably at that date or more so, you have this debate around

this position, vis-a-vis gold. i think that it can become a digital substitute for gold, it's on its way to doing that. then you have to ask yourself, does it become sort of the same size as gold bigger than gold, et cetera. you just mentioned it hit $1 trillion gold is 10 if you fuel next to each other, what does that mean, does bitcoin come down and gold go up certainly the generations behind me, i think, like bitcoin a lot better than they do like gold. $200,000 as a number, i think, is doable for this rally, let alone the future >> right let me throw two risk factors in governments around the world, what's the chance of china or u.s. government that says, no, we're not doing this anymore or you're not doing it like this and what kind of risk that poses. and the other thing something i wrote about in "the new york times" appeared yesterday online and in the paper which is the

carbon footprint of bitcoin is about as inefficient as things come and while i appreciate you get on to a green grid at some point, and some people are trying to do that i wonder whether this, you know, collides with the whole esg movement, and some of those esgers get wise to what the carbon footprint looks like >> yeah, a good point. as time passes it seems to me that governments generally are accepting bitcoin. in fact, if we had this discussion a few years back, people would be talk about anonymity and use of bitcoin people understand it's very traceable. scary traceable in a lot of ways for people who want to use it for those things i think those folks have moved on thankfully. as far as the green footprint. you know, one thing people don't talk about are the types of energy that are being used for bitcoin. these are in a lot of cases energy that's wasted

flare gas, for example, is one of the ways that people are harvesting wasted energy and all kinds of other methods i mean, it's still a large energy consumption but i think the industry will attempt to innovate in terms of how it's cleaning up how it sources that energy. >> greg, love to have you back it's an interesting conversation and fascinated by it appreciate it. good to see you. >> appreciate it good to see you. >> thanks, becky when we come back -- thanks, andrew -- we'll have more on yesterday's tech rebound we'll talk about nasdaq's comeback and whether the selloff is truly over. and later, don't first the cnbc interview with the ceo of roblox skw "squawk box" will be right back only from fidelity.

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investors pouring back into tech stock one probe says the pain may not be over. we'll get you caught up on what to expect on today's trading sessions votes in d.c for the $1.9 trillion bill and dr. scott gottlieb and anthony fauci. the second hour of "squawk box" begins right now ♪

good morning welcome to "squawk box" right here on cnbc i'm andrew ross sorkin along with becky quick and joe kernen. take a look at equity futures at this hour and we'll also show you the "squawk" spac right now. and the dow up and s&p and clip it, let's show the stocks gamestop, $270 tesla. and the ten-year which mr. tepper will be focused on this morning, 1.559. meantime, other news for you as well, house democrats planning to pass that $1.9 trillion covid relief bill so president biden can sign it before several aid programs expire on sunday steny hoyer saying they're trying to take steps for that

approval this morning will likely pass without any republican votes at all. the bill extending a $300 per week jobless benefit boost direct payments to individuals and also expands the child credit tax credit includes relief for state and local governments. and provides money for vaccine distribution and testing joe. >> thanks, andrew. breaking news from eli lilly on its antibody cocktail. meg tirrell joins us more. let's hear it, meg >> hey, joe, more news supporting the benefits of these drugs. this combination cocktail from eli lilly, antibodies shown in a late-stage trial to reduce the risk of hospitalizations and deaths by 87%. it was given in a setting for which it is authorized people early in the course of the disease were at high risk of severe disease so folks who are recently diagnosed. and because this is already authorized, this is really adding more support to potential

use of these antibody drugs. as we know, guys, it's been difficult for many patients to get access to them supply is increasing so that is less of a problem now. it's really finding the access to these antibody drugs, both eli lilly's and regeneron's are authorized for use in united states the support in the right setting early in the course of the disease can reduce the risk of progressing severe disease and death. guys. >> yeah, this is further -- further news, this is the one that we have the discussion about home infusion and how to do it because it's for serious people but it can only be -- it's got to be given early. and can be given in a hospital so, it's kind of like a catch-22 this is the lily version which you said is a cocktail it's a couple -- i think gottlieb called it a couple of

e epitops. and regeneron is what president trump got, too >> regeneron is a cocktail lilly started with the similar cocktail this is the later stage of the lilly drug which combines two antibodies >> okay. >> now, we've got two cocktails out there. that's got to be a stronger approach >> right >> the thing about the cocktail approach regeneron took is to avoid the idea that the virus to get around it, and with lilly, we find it's susceptible against b.1.1.7. >> you rattled those off, you don't even have notes for those. that's the variant -- trump got the single -- oh, no, trump got the cocktail >> trump got the regeneron c cocktail >> all right, more of that

now, we got to be able to identify people and get them into a setting where they can get it, right? >> yeah. get testing worked out quickly it's within the first ten days of symptom onset for high-risk folks getting the antibodies, figuring out the system can be helpful. >> in the news today, it was under emergency use, we already had a way to do it, but now we're getting closer to like a full approval at some point, right? >> possibly. these phase three results are typically what you look for to file for full approval it got the emergency authorization on earlier data. these are a bigger study hundreds of patients showing with the dosage levels if approved reduces deaths and hospitalizations by 87%. >> i just want you to give the thumbs up on, yeah, we should approve it but you're not an fda panel. >> i mean, i haven't been the commissioner yet and i don't think i have been the

qualifications >> to speak to somebody who probably could give it to somebody who could give it a thumbs up, dr. scott gottlieb. and much more. talking about places opening up. is easter going to be an actual holiday, beck, what do you think? >> i think it's probably a better proclamation than last year when it was declared at the opening time >> i realize rei've been having fun with basketball for a while, you know what i remember >> march madness -- >> no, there was no march madness. i remember a year ago, i was watchiiing a game and they didnt come out for the second half. >> that's when they cancelled, right? what game was that i was thinking about that the other day. >> i don't remember. there have been so many. but they did not come out for the second half, everybody just went home and never resumed. >> it was the end of live

sports, right? it was a saturday, right >> i think maybe it was, yeah. >> yeah. >> well, this year, we're going to be back, we'll do the buffett thing. i'm going to do it -- i've had so much experience, i think i can do that, get all of that right with warren and win a gazillion dollars. >> choosing the entire bracket >> yeah, yeah, i've seen almost every team now there's not even points involved all i got to do is pick the winner >> it doesn't matter how reddened you are, do you realize that >> big triple parlay win last night, $5 turned into $42. yes. >> whoo, big winner. >> yeah. all right. several pieces of breaking news out from general elect trick t electric ge were in talks with aircraft holdings ge gets $24 billion in cash, a 46% ownership stake in the new

company and another $1 billion in aircraft notes or cash when the deal closes. it says it's going to be using those proceeds to cut down on its debt along with the announcement of that deal, ge issued an updated outlook and the news it's recommending shareholder approval, 1 for 8 reversed stocks outlook and comparing to a 26 cent estimate for the consensus, the new deal will result in a near-term noncash charge which is not built into the analyst's forecast the stock, general electric up 42 cents and guys, you're getting back to the levels that the stock has not seen since may of 2018 at this point >> in the meantime, becky, from furniture to autos to clothes and home appliances, supply

disruption is now showing turning the lights back on the u.s. economy won't be as easy as flipping the switch. let's get over to steve liesman who spent a lot of time looking at what that switch looks like and what it means. steve. >> yeah, andrew, big changes from the pandemic and supply chain. now supply construction showing up in a range of industries highlighting the challenge the u.s. economy and company is facing getting back to normal and possibly hitting consumers in months ahead. clothing, rvs, furniture and appliances having trouble because of supply disruptions. disruptions from port congestion, difficulty of obtaining raw materials and trouble bringing workers back with uneven pace in recovery it could mean lower growth for some companies and higher prices for consumers. gap saying, air costs were incurred in the quarter to navigate the port delays

tesla is saying, quote, we are working extremely hard to manage through the global semiconductor shortage and whirlpool, they put it all together, you have absent eism in factories, you have labor shortages. you have component shortages and we have transportation bottlenecks. these companies are not isolated the national association of manufacturers said about 50% in the first quarter reported trouble with supply disruptions that's with a host of issues like transportation products, finding quality workers and rising raw material costs. and the prices raised a record 3.9% they plan even bigger price hikes. good news, the chief economist for mann telling me the supply disruptions are likely and in the earnings numbers for companies. andrew >> so, that is -- this is the

inflation question this is the trillion dollar -- so, what kind of -- how much could this impact the inflation numbers in terms of what we're going to see over the next couple of months >> you know, on the one hand, you don't want to underestimate the ingenuity of companies that will find ways around this, it's really hard to estimate. i think what we'll see, we'll see isolated price hikes, some things could surge you also could have lower sales. so that would show up as well. hard to estimate, the real long-term issue here, andrew, is, one, you have lingering price increases in commodities that's one issue that could affect supply chain. the other, though, is if companies get pricing power, maybe they can hold on to it in the absence of competition or if they're able to pass these through and they stay there that could be an issue for the economy beyond the temporary supply obstructions.

>> steve liesman, good to see you. i'm sure we'll be talking a lot more about what inflation looks like and we'll keep our eyes on the ten-year >> 8:30. 8:30, cpi coming up. >> yes we will see you then becky quick. >> thank you, andrew ross sorkin when we come back, nasdaq coming back for a sharp reversal since the best day in november the names selling off the most, tesla, peloton, zoom, those were the leaders. tesla, after 13 months of a five-day slide we'll talk to the markets after this break "squawk box" will be right back. u like..like it's a mirror, dad. you know? alright, okay. how's that? is that how you hold a mirror? [ding] power e*trade gives you an award-winning mobile app with powerful, easy-to-use tools and interactive charts to give you an edge,

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♪ nasdaq had a big comeback yesterday. big rally. our next guest says he doesn't believe the tech selloff, with the portfolio manager at douglas c. lane and associates now known as dcla. er is sirot, an cnbc contributor. your name is spread far and wide why isn't it over?

and what are the causes for the trouble spots that you see >> so, joe, on a couple of notes there, one is this valuation tech is still, as a whole, extremely overvalued and i think what you had is one of these debt cap bounces. if you look at yesterday's action in the market, and i'm not a technician, i'm more of a fundamental analyst, yesterday was, you know, you didn't hit the 100-day average. you had more decliners than upside stocks in the broad market so, to us, it looked like this was a relief rally in a sector that everybody wants to love i still think there are a lot of stocks in there that you want to own. but they're selling -- a lot of these stocks are selling growth at any price and to your point that we were talking about, there are other parts of the economy that are improving now. and i think capital is going to be allocated to where there's more opportunity and that's going to be in industrials. that's going to be in

financials that's going to be in a lot of reopening areas. not just in the safe haven, we've got to stay at home stocks that have great cash flow. >> and then the fortunes out of the companies that we see in the real economy and then there's the price of the stock, which is, as you said, depends on a lot of different factors. you mentioned what are you paying for those earnings, and that is related to interest rates. so that's been, you know, front and center, whatever your viewpoint. >> right >> on where interest rates go. so, what is your view? at the same time that david tepper was saying, you know, japan's going to start buying because now bonds are cheaper in the u.s., they can get a nice yield in japan at the same time, i was hearing from other people that said the gdp growth during reopening can be 10% how can we expect to keep rates down below 2% if gdp is growin at 10? >> absolutely. and i think when you look at it yes, you could have a pause in

the ten-year about 1.5 to 1.6. but going forward, you're going to see a lot more pressure on interest rates because growth is coming back. demand is coming back. so many of the problems that we're having today are supply issues and when supply issues get rectified. and you're seeing pricing and you're seeing that in semiconductors that means that demand in autos is improving you're seeing that in supply chains for home products as people go out to restaurants for travel, those can all relate to inflationary pressure especially as demand increases globally i think you'll see fits and starts when interest rates might level off, 1.5, but as they decrease, the discount rate for technology stocks gets higher and higher more so, joe, in companies like american express those companies can do well, morgan stanley can do well at the same time, you can stick with technology, having a

broad-based portfolio at this point, as opposed to just focused on hey this is one key area 30% of the s&p, that, i think, going forward will serve you well because the opportunity today i think is in a lot of different areas and globally as well as the economies in the world pick up >> sarat, it's not a slam dunk that stocks go down when interest rates go up some of the people have pointed out some of the biggest moves in the stock market depends on whether there's a level where they get too high. what do you make of what's happening with gamestop? it's happening again it's happening again did you see it today >> yeah -- so, no, to your point, i absolutely agree, joe i'll bullish long term on the stock market you just have to be in the right areas. the s&p index might go up but sectors could be better. gamestop, here we go again, right. it's an interesting play you're seeing some stocks in the

reddit world and i think, again, that's a different area that's not in the core long-term investing that's the more short-term trading mentality where, you know, there could be a couple of catalysts but the opportunity is long-term investing in other areas of the market. >> all right, sarat, you don't . >> a lot more people do -- i do think it's better when we have longer breadth in the market, investors actually understanding and i think you have a pause in gamestop where people very short have traded. i think people understand the risks there, some people might not. but we've seen this at least happen in the last few weeks i think you've got a lot of option traders and short-term traders. i'm hoping people actually understand the risk there but i

think longer term are better off. >> i'm laughing, guys. sarat and becky and andrew, somebody just sent me a definition of temporary. who just sent me the definition of temporary in case you need a definition of temporary -- tepper. he's emphasized. at least he's watching and with a wink. so, nothing lasts forever. i'll add that as an addendum for him. i don't think he'd send it to me if he didn't want me to mention it thank you, sarat, we appreciate it maybe this could be a running thing. it would be nice -- remember riding a horse until he gets off it i want to know when he gets off it >> before he gets off the horse, right. >> before he gets off it that is a good mipoint to me. >> what does he say since he's watching? >> oh -- >> tell us -- >> oh, my god, that word -- i

can't use that word -- no, i'm kidding. actually, i think i can use that word i've got plausible deniability there, either i knew what it meant and didn't care. and when wilf comes on again, i've got like ten more words for him that i need to ask him about from watching the show, i do >> are you trying to make sure he never comes on again. >> did you see that dang expression he made beautiful. >> his face was like -- >> we've got a lot more coming on the battery invasion and future. phil lebeau is joining us with a look at a new study about which tesla -- or whether tesla is the clear leader and that story is next ♪ time now for today's aflac trivia question. which used car retailer has seen its stock triple over the past 52 weeks

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now the answer to today's aflac trivia question. which used car retailer has seen

its stock triple over the past 52 weeks the answer -- carvana. the online used car service is up 312%. autonation, up 122%. and carmax up 72%. automakers are making big bets on an all-electric future and one company has taken a clear leader when it comes to battery innovation phil lebeau has details of a new study. hey, phil. >> becky i get this question from a lot of people, they say why is tesla considered the leader with ev and in particular the lowest cost for making a vehicle. it's all about the battery new research from the ev battery industry and supply chains look at this for every lithium battery sale, the average 142 watts per

kilowatt hour, well above general motors and well above the probably ev industry average. three things helping tesla obviously, we talk about the gigafactor we were out there a couple weeks ago. it continues to grow in size and scale. the size and scale of tesla gives them a cost advantage relative to everybody else it has a relationship with three suppliers. and then there's elon musk's relentless pursuit of even lower costs. even though tesla is closing the gap with tesla over the next decade, musk and tesla are expected to stay in the lead >> the scale allows me to keep the advantage but, remember, they're not just designing around the cell, around the battery. they're designing around an integrated pack. you see other carmakers doing that, too. gm is doing that, and tesla is

doing that to give them an average. >> you heard sam jaffe talk about battery profit it's not what you pay for the battery cell, it's how much it costs you to put it all together in a battery pack. here you see the latest from ciarn. it expected tesla to be in the lead by 2030 you do see general motors closes the gap. andhe battery packs. gm, and the industry paying much more per kilowatt hour per its battery packs. keep in mind that general motors has a new altea battery plant make no mistake, the industry knows that tesla is in the lead. and that lead is expected to continue throughout the decade

>> phil, can we go back to the chart, guys? i don't know if we can show what phil is showing, there's a point on that chart, unless i'm reading it properly -- >> yep, where it goes up >> gm seems to go below where tesla is for a brief moment. >> yeah, briefly in the mid-2020s, andrew the reason why, they will have not only the battery plant in ohio they're working on driving down costs with their partner and later, sam jaffe says tesla will because of its size, which is in terra watt versus the gigawatt >> phil lebeau, it's fascinating. see what happens appreciate it. joe. still to come on "squawk

box," eli lilly posting positive results for its antibody cocktail dr. scott gottlieb joins us on the latest in the battle against covid. first, though, it's women's history month. here is pivotal adviser ceo tiffany mcgee on breaking barriers >> i heard from a father every day at lunchtime, he watching "the halftime report" with his 6-year-old girl. one time, she points to the screen and said, daddy, she looks like me. i was worried i didn't have investors to look up to. it warms my heart to see me and courtney and shannon and liz, i think it's important for to us think about little girls and understand they need to know what's possible.

welcome back to "squawk box" i'm dominic chu with your market minute check out what's happening premarket with stability in the nasdaq market, now down roughly 7%, 8% highs seen. that move we saw compelled the nasdaq back again off those

construction territory levels still up about 57% of last year. one of the big drivers, propellants, may have been interest rates take a look at the ten-year treasury note, 1.56% a light uptick higher. some of the movement here driving, interest rates fall ago allowing some folks to feel more comfortable with valuations.n tt 50 days. within the nasdaq 100, 28 stocks in that nasdaq 100 posting gains. tesla up 1.25% in the trade today. that was a huge move off of lows we saw there, 20-% gain just yesterday in that session. check out the work from home stocks, higher growth ones, docusign, zoom, peloton. and the intra-days yesterday,

saw these guys bounce 10%, 11%, some cases 15% watch those. yes, meme stocks back in focus, yes, gamestop, because of yesterday's action, premarket action, 14%. you can see this is roughly a $17 billion market cap company at the highs, a $24 billion company. i remember here, joe, $1.4 happened here. keep an eye on that, joe back over to you >> do you know what tomorrow is, dom? tomorrow is thursday carried on what network >> yeah, it would be nbc sports and golf channel >> golf channel and nbc starting tomorrow i asked the pga commissioner who he was picking he declined. declined declined to say anything >> he always does, though. i don't think he'd pick somebody he'd never do it >> who was the last one to win

and when was it at tsp >> i remember, it was rory mcilroy two years ago. >> two years ago >> remember, they started playing it and decided not to play the rest of it. >> jordan spieth is surging, bryson dechambeau. patrick cantlay, people talk about him. those are some of the names. >> you saw they changed the rules, right bryson was going to take an aggressive approach to 17, 18, they made it o.b so he couldn't go to that? >> yeah. >> it's going to be awesome, no matter what. just the idea you'll see fans, people back, it's going to be awesome. >> it is going to be great looking forward to it, golf channel and then nbc thank you, dom we just want to recap something because maybe it is important, we kind of glossed over it and it's this day and age, you got to be ready for text messages. we talked on monday when dav,

governor said it was shocking that interest rates were going to stay capped around zero he said that might stabilize the ten-year note around 1.6 he said at that time, several months, he said at that time, it could be for several months, and that's all he would say. but that, he thought, could be enough to help the stock market. and it would be tough to be bearish based on the japanese starting to buy our bonds and putting a cap on where the ten-year goes. i just mentioned to sarat, some people pointed out, look, you think you're going to stay at 1.6, 1.7 david heard me say that, and sent in the definition for temporary in the dictionary. said in case you need the definition of temporary. just to share that with you, that's what he said. then he actually did send

something else after that, that i'll share with you. tell becky and andrew that their hair looks nice. >> hmm, interesting that he didn't say yours, huh? >> yeah, yeah, just being -- you know -- >> i think that was meant to get at you >> i believe that's true >> very nice >> so that -- that was the latest breaking news, anyway >> but i think it's fair to emphasize this, remember, these moves can happen quickly >> yeah. >> it can be a definitive thing for now and not later. >> three months looks three years. i don't think for a lot of guys like tepper it's not three years. maybe. three months, three days, who knows. when we return -- vi thanks for the compliment, dad. >> yeah, yeah, okay. dr. scott gottlieb, you know wealth is breaking ground on your biggest project yet.

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everyone wakes up every morning

to a world that must keep turning. the world can't stop, so neither can we. because the things we make, help make the world go round. they make it cleaner, healthier, and more connected. it's what we build that keeps things moving forward. so with every turn, we'll keep building a world that works. eli lilly just out with news that its antibody cocktail for

covid treatment dramatically reduces the hospitalization for phase 3 trial. joining us now dr. scott gottlieb, he's a former fda commissioner and serves on the board of pfizer dr. gottlieb, the big issue is people aren't using these drugs. i personally have tried to get people who have come down with covid to go in and get this. people don't want to go into the hospital and get an infusion especially when it's early on and they aren't feeling all that sick how do we get over some of that? >> yeah, that's all right. it's been difficult to get the drugs used we made mistakes how we distributed them we distributed them through hospitals they're really outpatient drugs and need to figure out at the outset how to distribute the drugs in outpatient settings. and doctor there's been handful of thought leaders in the field

reluctant to prescribe the drugs arguing there wasn't enough evidence to support their use. all along, there's been sufficient evidence in supporting the drugs we had evidence they're effective and largely safe there's a theoretical basis on why antibody drugs should work it's well established in medicine and other settings with ebola and other therapeutics able to develop against viruses. i think it's going to push it over the edge in terms of doctors recognizing these can provide a benefit. some of the issues around delivery are getting worked out but it's unfortunate, a lot of people who could have benefitted from these drugs probably didn't get them >> is this a fixable problem do you think this is something that is going to jump those hurdles, especially the idea of thinking, okay, i'm going to make splure i don't have to go the hospital for covid by going to the hospital and getting an infusion >> yeah, i think it's fixable.

it's getting fixed, slow hindsight is 2020. looking back, these drugs would have been beneficial at the peak of the epidemic when you didn't have a vaccine you had a lot of high-risk individuals getting sick now you have fewer high-risk individuals getting sick because we're rolling out the vaccine. there are still people who could benefit from the drugs because they didn't get vaccinated and got infected or even people infected symptomatic, at high risk of a bad outcome, these antibodies could provide additional benefit. this data is fairly definitive there's now a rich body of data all of the trials we've turned over from the drugs have shown the benefit of these, not just lilly, but veeregeneron, we were worried we would lose these drugs when the south african variant became prevalent they haven't been that prevalent

yet. >> scott, we now have 69 million americans that have gotten the shot that's 29% of adults who have gotten shots which is great news is that going to progress to the point where we'll get everybody vaccinated by may? >> i think so. by the end of march, we'll probably be able to vaccinate 100 million americans. i think we'll get close to doing that, probably fall a little short not was a stretch goal i think we'll get to 150 million americans. above that it's going to be tough. we'll have to market the vaccine and try to coax people to get vaccinated especially against the backdrop of declining prevalence in spring and summer. people are going to be less motivated. a lot of people will say, i'll wait until the fall, especially younger healthier people who are the folks who are going to be open to eligibility. eligibility is going to be wide open in april. it doesn't mean everybody will

get vaccinated in april, but wide open. supply is ramping quickly. we've seen uptake in the adult population, above the age of 65. about 70% of those above the age of 75. that's pretty good uptake. people are starting to go a more targeted effort to try to go into hard-to-reach communities and get elderly individuals vaccinated we'll pick up more percentages by doing that but a pretty good uptick among older americans >> that's interesting, scott, and we've got to go. we're go fog flip people want to get it so badly and we'll actually go to where that flips that we're begging people to get it that is crazy that will happen at a point in time and you predict that will happen >> it will happen. we're already see something states just opened up eligibility to everyone 16 and above. >> begging people to get it? >> supply will exceed demand >> instead of begging people --

>> educating people. >> yeah, i know. instead of people begging to get it, we'll be begging people please get it. that's just crazy at that point in time it will flip thank you. >> scott, very quickly, we really have to run very quickly, we have seen the cases, the testing come down and there are some people out there that say the reason you don't have more cases right now is because the tests are down that's not necessarily the case, right? >> testing hasn't come down. there's actually more testing being done a lot of it has been done in the outpatient setting this hasn't been captured. testing isn't down >> thank you put that to rest thank you and we will see you soon in today's edition of healthy returns live time, meg tirrell is going to speak to dr. luciana borio, and dr. gottlieb, we got him first but a big conversation you don't want to miss

visit cnbc.com/healthyreturns to register "squawk box" will be right back.

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welcome back to "squawk box. investors are tuning into legacy media stocks all of a sudden viacom, cbs and discovery more than doubling since the start of the year, pulling back yesterday, disney and comcast outperforming in the broader market axios media reporter sara fischer is here. and richard greenfield

good morning to both of you. richard, i'll start with you what is. happening with you we've been watching discovery, for example, a meme stock. explain it >> look, i think there's two things going on. there's a general shift over the last few months from growth to value. there's no doubt that investors are looking for -- you have a certain group of investors that are looking for names mea meaningfully performed viacom would fit that bill you have two companies talking about streaming, paramount plus launched last week, discovery launched at the beginning of the year, when you look at the success of netflix, the success ofom bobk at disney yesterday. i think all of these companies can win, i think the reality is

different. it's going to be harder for the companies to achieve what netflix and disney has but right now it's going to be hard to disprove that streaming is going to be big for everyone. >> sara, on that very point, i feel like you have put your pi pulse on this. all of these people buying up these subscriptions, the question i have, whether this is a pandemic nphenomenon, people are stuck at home, they're willing to buy all of the services, hulu, netflix, paramount, the list goes on and on do people ever stop the subscription >> it continues, andrew, to your point, is it going to be this bloated? probably not i think the question becomes what is the monthly budget for the average household for these services we have new data that shows it's

about $40 which means you possibly could watch all of the four services. that's up from the expectation a year ago that people would pay or only two, maybe three that does give investor optimism for services like paramount plus or discovery plus, they could be the third or fourth option for somebody who is going to buy netflix or disney and not cancel the question comes to your point, after people go outside are they expending as much money, expending as much time, is charm going to increase that becomes the next question sure, a lot of these are adding subscribers, are you able to stop them from cancel this sphere that's the question, not how many they own, but is there a jenga puzzle piece throughout the year >> do you have that question >> yes, i say two things,

everyone is excited about streaming. there's a whole bunch of what i call superfans of viacom content. superfans. spink about spongebob, real world, et cetera you think about discovery, people loving all of the crime stuff that's on discovery i.d. andrew, the question is who's signing up for these services in 12 months? six or nine months i think that's where it gets a lot more difficult how do you drive gross ads more consistently what do we know, we know the bucket of subscribers, traditional, we know it's sprinking leaks every single day. you're losing subscribers, people are losing that ecosystem, so-called cord cutting, comcast said they're going to lose nearly 2 million subscribers this year. an unprecedent ed cord cutting. it's great as they launch services, lots of enthusiasm,

discounting pricing but can they keep this going because you're going to have to add 6 million skub subscribers. the reality is you got to retain people as sara was saying, it's really hard, that's why disney doubled their budget for programming in just the last six months because it's so hard in the s-5 business to keep subscribers. >> sara, when is the technology going to become available, when somebody creates an app and it makes it very easy to turn on or turn off these services? >> i mean, i think that kind of technology is coming already you have a lot of recommendation services while they can't allow you to tether, they tell you, hey, this is a new thing coming on you might as well check it out. i'm interested in bundled players, xfinity 1 gives you a

format that you're able to go through much more easily i want to go back, andrew, the question about why there is so much investor optimism one thing you can't forget theaters are starting to reopen. parks are starting to reopen a lot of these companies have legacy businesses so i think that places the optimism, not just the streaming, but the whole business is becoming more accessible as the pandemic wawayne down >> that explains disny >> i go on to show time to watch "billions" and i cancel once "billions" is over they realize they need broader content that's why hbo became hbo max. like discovery, the reality is all of these services need to be

broader that's why cbs "all-access" is morphing entire paramount plus they're going to need to be broader. the ultimate story, consolidation is needed. you're even seeing disney, today is the first day ever you can get espn plus inside of hulu >> right. >> that's within disney. they haven't done disney plus yesterday in the u.s >> we got to run i want you both to come back i want you to think who you think, if there is consolidation who merges with whom but that's a conversation another day. we'll do it with you guys very soon thanks again >> thank you >> thank you when we come back, senator rob portman joins us to talk stimulus ahead of the house vote later today. plus, don't miss the first interview with the ceo of roblox "squawk box" will be right back.

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good morning, tech coming back nasdaq has the best session in

four months. the house passing the nearly $2 trillion covid relief bill. a final vote expected today. and builder man talking about the company he's bit we've got the roblox founder and ceo, davidgoing to join us on one of the hottest days "squawk box" begins right now. ♪ good morning and welcome to "squawk" here on cnbc i'm joe kernen along with becky quick and andrew ross sorkin u.s. equity futures, at this hour, the dow is up 105 points nasdaq is down, had a big comeback yesterday, 400-plus points and the s&p is indicated

up less than a point the tech trade return with a vengeance yesterday. nasdaq was up 3.7%, biggest day in more than four months and tesla saw a huge pop if there was only a place we could see all of these, that's not what i meant if there's only a place we could see all of these -- all of these important stories. but there is rebound, 19% gain the "squawk" stack, the pancakes are gone that's what i like the best. there are the most important metrics at least today that we're watching but that gain in the nasdaq was the best in a year on faangs which tesla is not in there. should be fatangs or something, i don't know >> tesla is in its own category.

you see moves like that, 19.6% you don't see moves like in apple or amazon. anyway, let's get you caught up on other stories that investors are talking about today. first up, ge has a deal to combine the aircraft leasing business with aercap holdings. ge will receive $24 billion in cash and a 46% ownership stake in the new company it will use the proceeds to reduce its debt. just a short time, david faber spoke with larry culp about the deal he asked him why ge shareholders think they're getting a good deal here. >> we are not selling today, what we're doing is merging in a stronger aviation leasing platform over time, we'll monetize that stake. we wouldn't have done that today but gives an opportunity to invest in a stronger platform and over time realize those

proceeds >> along with news of the aercap deal, ge is out with an earning outlook, a 15% to 20% share. we should note that today's deal will result in a near term now cash charge not in the forecast. ge is recommending shareholders approve a 1 for 8 reverse stock split. that stock up to 1403. you can see david faber's entire interview with larry culp on "squawk on the street. breaking news from eli lilly as well. the company's cocktail was shown in alate stage trial to reducing the risk of hospitalization and death by 87%. this is a drug authorized in the united states. it was given in a trial to people newly diagnosed with the coronavirus who were at higher risk for severe disease.

eli lilly shares up by 0.2%. we told you about apple's big market day yesterday here's another item on that front. japan's nikkei news service is reporting that the company cut iphone orders in the first half of this year by 20%. and apple shares this morning down by less than half a percent. andrew meantime, the house expected to pass president biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid bill. right now with details >> well, andrew, democrats are confident that the covid relief package will easily pass the house today. only two of its members voted against it the first time. they hope the margins can be better next time republicans are unified in their opposition to the bill democrats are pointing out they have bipartisan support from governors and mayors across the

country, one big reason, the bill includes $350 million for state and local governments. they were left out last time and treasury secretary janet yellen said the lesson for history is that was a mistake. >> during the great recession, states were facing similar shortfalls, the federal government didn't provide enough aid to close the gap it was a profound error. insufficient relief meant that cities had to slash spending and that austerity undermined the broader recovery >> yellen said the goal is not just to return to a pre-pandemic economy, but also to address some of the deeper structural problems such as rising inequality joe, that's one of the others thing that president biden wants to tackle. yes, that is true, ylan, thank you. let's welcome ohio senator

rob portman. rob, it's great to see you >> how are you, man? >> well, i'm fine. but we think you're really going to be able to say what you think, finally you've always done that obviously. but first off, i don't know, what, there's no skyline in d.c. you got to get closer to the five-way or the coney islands? >> skyline, that's the reason, yeah look, i've been doing this now for 30 years i live ohio. time to get back there but, you know, this stimulus package and the way this happened, joe, makes me even more determined to, you know, to try to shift the partisanship in this town. it is unbelievable what is happening today and in the senate it's a partisan effort to jam through the legislation that could have been much better had it been bipartisan that's one of my concerns about

this place you know, people just going into their corners and they're not working together and the result is, bad policy. >> we've had a lot of discussions with both sides, senator. most recently had one yesterday. and a new york congressman went over, i don't know, 80%, 90%, 95% of where the money is going. and made a pretty good case that maybe there is at the margin some things that you can disagree on, whether it's funding for museums or things like that. but, at least in his view, he made a case for probably 90% of the funds to really good use you don't see it that way? >> well, it's not going to covid, because the congressional budget office which is the nonpartisan group we all rely on here has told us less than half of this money will be spent in this calendar year joe, does anybody believe that next year this time we're going to be facing the covid crisis we had? i mean, this is crazy because you as have a congressional

budget office saying by midyear, meaning by june 30, the economy will get back to pre-pandemic levels without any new stimulus. unemployment is going down every economist believes that. everybody thinks the economy is getting better the help wanted signs are up look there are sectors hurting, hospitality and travel overall, as you look at the market, things are improving yet here's $19 billion. and other puissues have nothingo do with covid-19 the record debt, probably a record deficit again this year, here we are spending $1.9 trillion, the second largest aproposition and larry summers, a democratic

and leading to higher inflation, there's interest rate pressure so, i just think it's sad because we could have done something much more targeted and focused on covid-19, working in a bipartisan way we had a group willing to do that we met with the president, we offered $750 million which is a lot of money but it focused on everything with covid and got the job done anyway, i'm disappointed and i think it's going to be making it more difficult to do good bipartisan work going forward. >> well, everything you just described is probably not a great omen for the future. now, you're leaving, we heard about senator blunt, he's out. there's three or four others at least at this point, it's 50/50. and the democrats had to do reconciliation to do this. with you gone and all of these other people gone, what are the chances for the senate and, you

know, if it becomes 52/48 or something like that, or even worse, for republicans, this is going to happen again and again and again. did that factor into your thinking at all? or any of the other senators, republican senators, deciding to throw in the towel >> well, i'm confident ohio will elect a republican, as you know, joe, our state has gotten more and more red in fact, president trump just won it by eight points for the second time. i won by 21 points the last time i think we'll have a lot of really good republican candidates in the primary. already, seven or eight of them said they're interested. all of them will be able to win a primary, a general election. i'm not worried about ohio or missouri where roy blunt is from announced that he's not running again. i think we can hold our numbers or expand our numbers and get the majority back. typically, in that midterm, after a presidential election the party and power in the white house loses a bunch of seats in

the senate i suspect given the makeup of the senate races in 2022, we're likely to pick up a few seats. i think we'll get the majority back we'll see. joe, i'm not sure if it makes much difference, 50/50 you see what they did, not a single republican was consulted, much less asked to participate in a serious way so for a senate that supports this, it's just overreach, it's not good policy. >> well, if manchin is the only thing standing in the way of, you know, getting rid. filibuster, it could make a difference >> well, joe manchin and kyrsten sinema both said, senators from west virginia and missouri are not going to get rid of the margin it keeps it somewhat bipartisan. you have a good idea, you think, gosh how can you get a few democrats to support is it, if you're republican, how can you

get them to support it i think america would want it to work in a bipartisan way at least a more sustainable legislation and better legislation. again, this covid bill is a good example of that. we were ready as republicans to find every single part that dealt with the covid health care crisis our proposal had the exact same amount of funding for development distribution of the vaccine, for testing, therapies and so on. the difference is health care workers put a bunch of stuff that does not relate to covid. most won't be spent until next year, that's not about covid it's about a larger agenda we can have that debate but not in the context of a covid -- by the way, five times, five times in the last year we have passed bipartisan covid relief bills. this is a topic covid relief that's been totally i would say nonpartisan. these bills have passed with 90 votes we've always been able to work with the legislation to do

that we could have and done it again. on process, it's shifting the country way to the left at a time when, frankly, i don't think that's where most americans are. look at the results of the 2020 election, the house actually added seats. the house republicans, 15 new seats. the senate did better than expected until georgia actually would have held the majority of course, state houses became republican, three of them around the country, republican public policies were not rejected the president didn't win but republicans did pretty well otherwise. and now, here we are in a situation where the country is going to the left both in process and substance. i think it's a mistake, i hope going forward we can correct that mistake >> senator, we will miss you i didn't mean to leave out our gold star chili. have you ever had price hill chili? >> yeah.

there are great chili parlors. >> skyline is our neighborhood >> yeah, exactly, i can tell you. i don't want to leave out montgomery inn or raider's or any of them. at any given time, any of them could send me something. >> all right, joe. >> we'll miss you. >> i'll still be around. >> we've got in some time. >> next couple years thanks, joe. thanks, guys when we come back what david tepper is telling joe about stimulus, interest rates and stocks the ceo of video game company roblox will join us live as well assic i sic investors get set f of the hottest delays of the year and carson bloc, she's going to lay it out for us stay tuned, you're watching

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gotta respect his determinatio. it's easy and affordable to get started. get self protection for $10 a month. welcome back in the last hour talking to sarat sethi, talking about the comments made we brought to you on monday from david tepper about interest rates maybe being

more under control in the ten-year and not maybe having the same type of advance and how that can be positive for stocks. if you're around, you'll remember that. and tepper today messages me "temporary." and sent me the definition meaning it's a matter of months because we were talking about sarat about how quickly the economy could grow so david emphasizing that. he did emphasize one more thing, after he said becky and andrew's hair looked nice he said also stimulus money will leak into both the stock and bond markets that begins next week. >> hmm >> again, though, it's just a next couple of months thing also so that's also something that -- >> yeah, i think the market was kind of getting to that idea, that market was kind of getting to that idea that the stimulus checks will make their way into the stock market in some form, some of them the bonds market is a logical conclusion with that but it's interesting, you know, we've known that this is coming

for a while, kramer was saying something about this a week or so ago >> yeah. >> just about the idea it was bie buy on the rumor, sell on the news we knew the stimulus checks were coming and people are slowly putting two and two together and making positive statements to this >> the skin was -- the new thinking was, if you had both, best of both worlds it doesn't cause rates to go up >> right >> we should also point out, you should assume that tepper, in fact, he told us on friday that he was in there buying with both hands on friday. >> right >> yeah. >> whatever his motivation -- he doesn't need us to help him, believe me he's done well without it. and you should assume that he has positions in things that could benefit from bringing this news to you. >> right >> but doesn't any guest -- anyone worth a damn, the sell side people don't, but the buy side people probably have positions on things they're talking about so don't be naive.

coming up the ceo behind the latest sizzling hot tech company, the ceo of roblox will join us. stay tuned you're watching "squawk box" on cnbc everyone wakes up every morning to a world that must keep turning. the world can't stop, so neither can we. because the things we make, help make the world go round. they make it cleaner, healthier, and more connected. it's what we build that keeps things moving forward. so with every turn, we'll keep building a world that works.

all right. when we come back, before the end of the hour, a pair of big interviews first with the ceo of palo alto networks on that huge hack of microsoft technology and we've got muddy waters carson block on that new short bet that just drew a forceful response from the target company. stay tuned you're watching "squawk box," on cnbc

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♪ welcome back to "squawk box. today is the wall street debut for video game company roblox, it's happening by direct listing on the new york stock exchange a reference price of $45 a share value roblox at about $30 billion. joining us first on cnbc, roblox founder and ceo david baszucki nobody in my house has builderman, david.

all we talk in my household is your company they're more excited about this interview than any interview we've ever done on "squawk," you've got that going for you. congratulations on the listing today. let's talk about the story, though, and what happens to this company in a post-pandemic world. you've had incredible growth a company balanced at $4 billion a year ago now worth $30 billion. the revenue has also been on fire but of course, losses pile up at the same time. tell us what you're thinking about what this company even looks like a year from now, given now unique this past 12 and 18-month period has been >> okay, first, andrew, thanks for having us on the show. what a great day for the roblox community as well. we know a lot are watching us. we're just so grateful to be here and we appreciate it. we hope covid ends as soon as possible, we want to get back to normal roblox has been growing for 15

years, driven by our community, given by the awesome content driven by our creators and driven by the ability for people to do things together. that's a long-term growth path, and we believe that continues forward even after covid >> so, what do you think the user growth looks like, let's say, a year or two out from now. and let's also talk about m modemo modernization over that period one of the things you've said in the prospectus itself, one of the risks in a post-pandemic world, you're not sure you're going to make as much money. >> yeah, first off, our users have been growing virally as i said what's really exciting a lot of things we've seen in covid, roblox being used to bring people together. i'm chatting with bobby, our camera person and your daughter, robby, a lot of you used it to

come together. and on modernization, what's funny about roblox, it's free for most people but people who want to use our virtual economy, that virtual economy is been growing with user growth >> full disclosure, my son who is 10 years ago old, he's developing on your platform. he's trying to maybe roblox constantly by the way, he thinks because of his offering you should be giving out extra robloxes to the developers we were talking about how airbnb sets offerings aside that's his own suggestion, i'm supposed to tell you that. david, the question i ask you is just what you think the risk is, or how you see the playing field in terms of how kids are developing on roblox today, whether you think they then go

to a competing system, start developing on other systems, how you see that evolving? >> yeah, first, so psyched that your son is a developer. we have an amazing createder community. millions and millions of creators and what's exciting about our creator community, they're not just learning to develop, they're learning to code, they'relearning s.t.e.m. skills, they're learning to be artists and they're getting motivated for a path we're excited about the developer community. and we're seeing ing developersm into the platform as well. we think it's a good future. >> straight up and on the map, what is the path to profitability right now? >> really, interesting, in our prospectus, we share two different things, a bookings and

cash flow description and cash accounting this is an educational moment for families on the bookings side, almost 20 million in 2020. we generate a lot of cash. on the gaap accounting side, we defer that revenue over 23 months so there's -- we're positive cash flow, we're making cash, and at the same time, we show revenues showing a loss right now. >> in terms of how invests should think about this company, what do you think is a fair comp, comparable, for your company? do you look at activision blizzard, or is it something very different >> this is -- in a good way, this is an interesting thing to try to comp. in that we're in a whole new category, we sometimes call it the human code experience category

some people refer to this as the future metaverse category. it's an unique category because it allows people to come together, even when they're not together in real life and do things together. there's an amazing amount of engagement in the category there's elements of social connectivity, immersive 3d, but we believe it's the forging of a new category >> right how do you think investors can think about what roblox does relative to, for example, what e epix games does? >> it's create, avatar, all of the experiences created by that creator community. it's a really unique aspect along with our digital economy, virtual economy. the level to which we lean into safety and civility, we believe is unique to roblox.

it's the foundation of really building a civil society on our platform >> well, that was one of the questions i was going to ask, one of the reasons i allow my kids on the platform, for the most part, it seems to be policed better than most i imagine to police it costs money. and increasing exponentially more money as more people come on the system because there's so many humans involved in this how does that change over time, or does it >> we're really excited about the opportunities to create a civil society on roblox. it's one of the first things erik and i built over 15 years ago when we created roblox we have thousands and thousands of real team 24/7. we have automated commute systems. we want to be the best in the world on this to make roblox this awesome, safe and civil place, and we believe it scales nicely with the business >> david, you probably didn't hear us in the 6:00 hour talking

about gamestop at the time do you think the world of gaming is just all direct to consumer forever, or do you think there's going to be in real life components to this, where people go to stores and buy things that then go from being -- you know, what do they call, irl to your system, for example? >> yeah, we're big believers in all people understanding about what the physical future economy is and the digital future economy we think people more and more will understand, gamestop is a great partner. we think there's a lot of people doing a lot of things in person forever. and on the same time, on platforms like roblox, in addition to reading a book or watching a video, more and more people when they're learning go to ancient rome together because we can't do it in real life we think there's a mix and that's going to go forward >> you say gamestop is a partner

of yours in what way, just so we know >> they sell our roblox gift cards so we appreciate that. >> fair enough and final question, on behalf of my wife, but also i think all parents out there, what is a fair amount of screen time i think we're all grappling with this during this pandemic. >> that's a family-based question we've had our own family discussions around this. it's changed with our kids i feel it's an decision every family has to make we're excited that roblox screen time is very social and can bring people together. so, it's really -- every family needs to make that call. >> david, what is your family policy >> well, you know, it changed over time, and i feel we started pretty strict, and we loosened up over time >> that's what's going on in our family at the moment david, we wish you lots of luck with this.

i tell you, my kids wish you lots of luck with this we'll talk to you, hopefully, we'll see new person very soon >> i wish we were. builder man,y follow you to find you, playing games on andrew. you're so dead pan so, gamestop can benefit from roblox because they sell gift cards -- okay. did you not like that? oh, oh, well, hey, that's awesome. so they're selling stuff to get even more into roblox. i don't know, that didn't help rick santelli standing by at the cme, rick, dow is down, nasdaq down, now everything's up, what happened >> well, inflation data, the most sought-after data probably at this point in time, every market is going to make a

correlation. not sure it's the direct correlation of what you're speaking up. $1.9 trillion i enjoyed mr. portman today. 0.4 on head line and up 0.5 all the way to 2012 to find a number higher at 0.6 as we look at food and energy, drops down to 1.1. sand energy. you see interest rates on the ten at 154 if you look at real weekly earnings, year over year for february, moved from 4.1 but at 5.7 sequentially lower year over year, on the hourly side, 3.4 which is a bit lower than 4.9, both have suffered a bit. listen we can summarize inflation in the following fashion, whether it's coming or

isn't, the real issue is will be it reflected in rates i s doubtt jay powell and company have gone through what they've gone through to not reflect the tree profile. >> you're looking at the nasdaq chart, rick, you don't think that had anything to do with what happened at 8:30? >> joe, i haven't seen a live nasdaq chart in the last few minutes. i'm sorry, i'm sorry i was waiting for 8:30 to come on and talk to you >> maybe team are holding their breath after a couple of ppi -- it's not a huge move >> atlanta gdp now it's 8.35 they shouldn't hold their breath for long, okay if you believe the dynamics of the correction and nasdaq are real, they're only going to get more real because it was so unreal about four months ago >> right thanks, rick steve liesman joining us now i wish we had more time steve, i

was going to talk to you about the dead but we don't have time. anyway, maybe at the end >> okay. real quick, joe, i think you are seeing some reaction in the mark, a sigh of relief a concern that inflation is definitely out there rise in meat and poultry, fruit and vegetables those are increases. energy 3.4 p%. a big bump in february, not so much in march. airline fare is falling 5.1% i think that will turn around. look, this is the last good one. put it better, the last easy one we're going to get, ian shepardson ahead of this number saying core cpi inflation is set to rise sharply over the next three months agency the initial covid hit drops out of the correlation. those numbers drop out of the period and have to get back to more realistic numbers there

i think the market knows that and likes the idea that we'll be starting the march higher on a somewhat lower base given the numbers today, joe >> thanks, steve i'll send you an email, instead of wasting -- you know, i usually like to do that, instead of wasting time. andrew coming up on the other side of this break, we're joined by the chairman and ceo of palo alto networks onow b tt hadha hack really is ♪♪

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your swing. that's terrible... you gotta put your knees into it, put your knees into it. that's too smooth. too smooth? watch this. ♪♪ you try it. ♪♪ better. ♪♪ oh, you gotta move your feet. charles. alright, alright, i'm going. i'm going. welcome back, everybody. we are learning more about the scale of the hack into microsoft's exchange server email software hundreds of thousands of

government offices, small businesses and schools could be affected joining us with an expert cyber security view is nikesh arora. thank you for being with us today. good to see you. >> good morning, becky, thank you for having me. >> if anything, we're probably underreporting this potential impact from this microsoft act what do you see? >> a few months ago we were talking stalk talking sold solerwinds and the hack we have found serves which were and potentially tens of thousands of organizations and government entities out there, not sure everybody has been through it >> so many times we hear about these hacks but then we don't see the after-effect, or what

might happen is that because nothing's happening with it? or because it's really tough to say who's looking at what and who's got what information if we think the chinese are behind this, what could potentially be at risk >> well, i think what happens is people have gone and entered various organizations treasurer trove data once they're in there, you can move laterally and access lots and lots of different stuff. and it doesn't behoove hooked to tell you what they were hacked and what they lost and it didn't behoove people to tell you what they obtained. what this telling us how unprepared we are where cyberwarfare is going to be ignored. >> how much more complicated has this gotten with so many people working from home at this point? how much harder is it to protect a system when your workers are all over the place >> well, it's not just the workers being all over the place, the challenges with the pandemic, every company is now 100% reliant on technology

you can't make anything work unless you have your o-rings systems available to the internet everything you have everything that you do relies on e-commerce all of this stuff is pretty much stuck. if your business relies on technology, you may want to make it works with the service to where to go into a trade organization has become so large which was never set up to be protected that you are going to see more and more of he's hacks. we're seeing some old techniques of hacking come back, because suddenly, we've exposed lots of and lots of homes and lots of people working from home a lot they're seeing that pivot to make sure they're secure >> without sounding too self-serving, explain what it is that palo alto networks can do -- by the way, have your services been hacked because of solarwinds or microsoft?

you can't prevent any hack from coming in, but what can you do >> well, anyone who was a solarwindscustomer that did have that hack that called for that bad actor to enter the system has been compromised. similarly, people who have the stream service have to make sure they're blocked from vulnerabilities. but they could also be followed by customer and hackers going into underliking people of the structure. we've noticed of the customers of our have services that are unpatched. in emergency rooms it what we can do, the whole battle is going to about a shift towards aggregating more data and analyzing data you can't go by closing doors. you got to make sure you under all of the data coming in and out of the organization. towards that end, we have a variety of products that are based on machine learning and

artificial intelligence that allow us to look on just attacks but some of these are attacks i've never seen before and to protect yourself against unknown attacks, you have to make sure you're analyzing the data that comes in and out of the organization >> nikesh, i know you all decided to make a shift in the motto that's known as the flexible firewall model. that allows customers either to ramp up or ramp down the amount of protection they need based onshift and usage. why are you going that way and what will it mean for your company? >> well, what has happened over the last few years as you can see, cyber security is becoming front and center in everybody's sort of mind all are paying attention to it the cyber attack is going to get worse, not better. in 2021, we've seen more attacks than we saw in the first half of 2020 with more impact. so you're going to see this

trend gather momentum. towards that end, what we're trying to do is, we're trying to work with our customers and companies out there to make sure there's a consistent platform approach towards security. and the firewall flex model is one such attempt to make sure the customers have the capacity needed to scale up their security needs or scale them down, depending on the capacity they're seeing coming into their systems. this is one more step to riding a more consistent forum approach towards security >> we're just showing your stock up up, off of lows of 176% what kind of demand are you seeing these days? >> i think what's happening, the conversation around cyber security is going to change. what these hacks, solar winds or the exchange server hack, i don't know if you caught over the weekend, there were 150,000 webcam ras hacked. you will see all of that open. and from that technology, those things that are vulnerable will

get hacked what this is showing there's going to be a sustained demand for cyber security over the next decade cyber security will be get blocked pick infrastructure. and then blocked by security which means people who want more comprehensive, more flexible platforms, towards that end, i think these things will act as a tailwind not just to the industry but to us as well >> thanks for your time today. >> thank you for having me >> nikesh arora, the ceo of palo > en networks. >>wh we come back, ceo carsocar s carson block "squawk box" will be right back. and your books are set for the month! ...going up against this guy... and pitching your idea 100 times. no, no, no! no. i like it. -he likes it! ...and you definitely love that.

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check out bitcoin in the squawk stack, it has now crossed $56,000, up over 3% just this morning. we will keep our eyes on that. as the show progresses but meantime we want to talk about a shot being shorted right now, xl fleet, the vehicle electrification company that recently went public by a spac, got a lot of attention, long time short seller carson block has laid out a bearish case for the company including subjects like re-order rates from xl's customers and what block says are the company's rosy projections. xl fleet we should say straight up refutes these claims saying the report contains numerous factual in accuracies, misleading staples and flawed conclusions. the report should not be relied upon by existing or potential

investors seeking to make an informed investment decision we wanted to tell you that before we talk to this man, carson block, and we want to walk through this report and i want to walk through some of the issues that they are raising questions about, but carson, in the broadest sense, make the case that you have a problem with this company's valuation. >> well, the problem isn't the valuation. the problem is how they got there. and they got there through dishonesty this is a company that has misrepresented its pipeline, it's misrepresented the benefits that its customers experience, and that's how it's gotten there. in terms of valuation. if the company had been more accurate, had not been attempting to mislead and d deceive and have this valuation, okay, hey, nothing to do but when we see a situation in which there's actual deception,

misrepresentation, then for us, there's something to do, and that's why we've gone public, and we've shorted xl >> what do you think, you said it is not just a valuation issue because you think there are some underlying issues of course, that's a supposition, what do you think the proper valuation for this company should be >> i don't know what the real pipeline is. the company did $7 million in revenue in 2019. when they went public by spac, in late last year, they said in 2024, we're going to do $1.4 billion in revenue okay, well how do you get there? and they said well, we can bridge that by pointing to our pipeline which is $220 million but the problem is, when we have spoken to former employees, they've told us that the pipeline is greatly zbexaggerat.

that the managers of the company would either make sales people, or do it themselves, they would go in and put in orders that just aren't actually going to be there, and it would greatly increase the probabilities of sales. so the backlog which is really, or the pipeline which is really the linchpin from going from this, you know, 7 million to 1.4 billion, in five years, it seems like it's fictitious, so what portion of it is real? we don't know. it sounds like a significant portion of it is not, but in no way can i see this company being worth what it is today, based on this fundamental deception as well as deceptions around how effective their product is let me ask you, maybe more directly, at what point would you, if you succeed, if this stock goes from 11.68 to $8, $5, i'm making this up, do you get

out at that point? i'm asking what the fair value of the company is. >> we usually, we'll cover positions ultimately when we feel like there's no more traction we can get from a campaign so typically, that period is between six months and 18 months after we initiate a position so i mean where do i think it's going to end up in the future? i think it's going to be a $2, $3 stock at some point but there's obviously a lot of frothiness in the environment here right now, and $2, $3, is predicated on at least some of the air coming out of that. >> i should ask you, by the way, before we submit more details, what do you think as a short seller in this market, given that we've seen what happened with gamestop and so many other companies where there's been short squeezes, has that changed the dynamic at all for you in terms of how you approach a company? >> yes, but that really started last year, where when we were

short some company -- we were short gsx, china total fraud listed in u.s., and it ripped on us, and that was new, and another company that we went short in october, nanox, which is also highly scammy, has gone up a decent bit, it's come back down, but that told us that there's a lot going on in the market that has nothing to do with fundamentals, and it's really technical so we've gotten into coming into this year, before gamestop, we were thinking a lot about flows, and how passive and etfs are really warping markets, so when we saw gamestop, yeah, i think that's just the, you know, the five alarm fire, saying that these markets are really divorced in many cases, from the fundamentals of the underlying assets so it's just - >> we're showing by the way on the screen right now, i don't know if you can see, gamestop

shares at $274 again, what do you make of that >> yeah, that makes sense. you know, obviously, you know, gamestop is a much better company than it was in december. i mean that's just a sign of, you know, look, maybe melvin was wrong, maybe it was worth more than $10 a share, but come on, this is, this is a sign that there's some serious dysfunction in our markets right now >> and what do you make of the largest sort of phenomenon, which there is a group of investors that are out there saying that short selling shouldn't be allowed you coming on this show, with a campaign, to push down this stock, potentially put this company out of business, that is not the american way >> you know, it's funny, because the other side of that is, my perspective, you're effectively then saying, well, cheating, scamming, exaggerating and

getting money for it is the american way i got into this business 11 years ago by helping to eliminate a number of frauds from china that were listed in the u.s. we have globally eight delistings of companies and two other regulatory actions that have led to sanctions. so that to me seems to be pretty american when we're out there protecting investors, but we have to remember, it's not only predators from china who take advantage of investors here, and they're also domestic players as well to be clear, i'm not say nath people behind xl are as craven as these guys in china against whom there is zero recourse, but it's not that many degrees removed. so we're out there trying to expose and remove the economic incentives for a small number of people that take advantage of this, of naivete, that's

american >> carson, we're going to have you back again, it's a longer conversation, we do appreciate you being with us, we're going to keep our eyes on xl fleet and we will be looking at gamestop and so many others as well joe? >> they like, the markets like those numbers that we saw on inflation, some interesting comments out of japan. we'll talk about that tomorrow when we get a chance i don't know if it's settled make sure you join us tomorrow "squawk on the street" is next good wednesday morning, welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanilla, with david faber and leslie, cramer has the morning off, we're coming off the best day for the nasdaq since november, all time highs for the dow as we get a final vote on stimulus today, ten-year auction, one in ten americans are now fully vaccinated and texas reopens today. of course epi runs