Skip to main content

tv   Squawk Alley  CNBC  March 26, 2021 11:00am-12:00pm EDT

11:00 am
let's meet the defending champs. kim kietz, investor. i invested in invesco qqq a fund that invests in the innovations of the nasdaq-100. like 3d rendering software. become an agent of innovation with invesco qqq. ♪ good morning it's 11:00 a.m. at wework headquarters in new york city and "squawk alley" is live ♪ what's it going to be boy, ye or no ♪ ♪ i'm going to sleep on it,
11:01 am
baby, baby, let me sleep on it, let me sleep on it ♪ ♪ and i'll give you answer answer in the morning, i have to know right now ♪ ♪ will you love me forever, do me need me, will you never leave ♪ ♪ will you make me your wife happy friday welcome to "squawk alley." ahead this hour, wework goes public but with a much smaller price tag and congress and others clash with jeff bezos and others as microsoft pushes with another potential acquisition. retail trading resurgence, we'll "the talk to the ceo of sofi. a first in the space, but robin hood is not far behind starting though with wework,
11:02 am
deirdre, there was a lot of criticism of wework. including from me, us on the show months ago, but i'm trying to figure out if this is a better idea at a lower price tag now. especially because so many companies are trying to figure out this hybrid existence, maybe don't want to make a full commitment to their own office space. this could make a different kind of sense now, depending on the financial position that wework is in coming out of this. >> yeah, $9 billion is a much lower valuation than softbank paid for, more than $40 billion valuation. i think you're right i think it raises questions about the spac space i would note that bowx, bow capital, was looking for an internet company in the tmt space and they took on wework. is wework still a tech company, we'll talk about that and more but facing, wework facing scrutiny this week
11:03 am
dorsey and zuckerberg testified on misinformation and amazon is in hot water that revealeded some workers have peed in bottles to meet package quotas a tech investor, inside.com founder, i'm eager to hear your thoughts on this let's start with amazon. what do you make of this labor movement, what do you make of amazon sort of aggressive response to lawmakers, to union organizers are they alienating workers at this critical inflection point for them >> yeah. thanks for having me on. it's a complex issue and democracy is messy and we are in a battle for ideas and philosophies here in the united states and it's working. we have labor saying we want to get a higher rate per hour and amazon has led the way they give a $15 minimum wage so you can give a win to labor and you can also give a win to amazon now who pays well and
11:04 am
people want to work for them and maybe they don't want to work at mcdonald's who has been one that fought to keep the minimum wage down so democracy can be messy, but i love amazon saying, hey, listen, bernie, elizabeth, who are hysterical and ridiculous in their approach to dumping on entrepreneurs, dunking on capitalism which is what americans don't want they love capitalism and they want to see labor do better, of course we all do, but they don't -- i don't think they want to live in a socialist country. >> it's not that simple. >> of course it's not. there's a reason that elizabeth warren and bernie sanders don't have cabinet positions and didn't get the nomination, because -- >> but the labor movement -- well, this labor movement has been building and it may be
11:05 am
according to amazon workers that create that efficiency that's made it one of the most powerful players in tech and e-commerce you mentioned $15 minimum wage this isn't just about pay. yes, amazon gives $15 minimum wage but over the last year, their warehouse workers have become essential employees worked through a pandemic and -- >> amazing, yeah. >> some missteps along the way amazon wasn't all that transparent in terms of their covid numbers. there's the whole issue of working conditions i mean, we now have, you know, documents that reporters have uncovered showing that amazon is in fact aware of drivers peeing in bottles so they can make their shifts and fulfill these demands. >> obviously, that is unacceptable if it's in fact true or to the extent it's true, it's totally unacceptable we will all agree on that. so again, we're in a competition for ideas here people are debating this issue
11:06 am
out in the public. in america the way it's supposed to be done and i like the fact that amazon is saying to elizabeth warren, hey, we paid our taxes, hey we gave you the $15 you know minimum wage, what are you doing to change the tax code why don't you set the federal, you know, minimum wage at $15. so this is a vibrant competition of ideas occurring on twitter in front of our eyes between the top person at amazon responsible for it and the top -- not the top politicians, but the politicians who were kind of voted not to be that important let's be totally honest. most americans do not believe in socialism and their view of america, they want competition and they want labor. these things do not have to be so adversarial in my mind. >> the thing that strikes me most about all of this is that we've got a skewed view of what frontline labor really looks
11:07 am
like you look at chipotle, nobody is complaining about, or panera, they tend to in a lot of cases tend to have 100% turnover in a given year. >> yeah. >> i mean, these are not career jobs for a lot of people and i think there's an overall economy concern that needs to be addressed about aren't we okay with that, are we okay with the population being in the jobs with a high turnover and they're so dissatisfied and there's so much value in the frontline work reflecting that in the pay and still being a robust, capitalist system isn't that what this is at the root >> absolutely. and competition is the key word in the sentence. i think you nailed it which is, you know, amazon is at war with walmart, starbucks, disney, doordash, uber, all of the companies, lyft for the same class of entry level worker or
11:08 am
workers choosing to make their own hours and work between the companies and we're starting to see in this debate of ideas some type of innovation i is really great to see that amazon is saying, hey, come tour the factory. the pressure to give bernie sanders and elizabeth warren some credit and it's hard for me to do their pressure has resulted in amazon saying we're going to address the issues and address them in the top and we're going to address them on twitter and do what elon musk does or we'll do what jack at twitter is doing which is we'll go straight to the public and we'll put the issues out there and let's debate them. i think it's actually healthy. i hate to say this, but i was very surprised at how well the hearings went yesterday. they brought up really great points and i think that the tech companies even zuckerberg had some good ideas. so what we're seeing now in our messy democracy, messy capitalist society is that debate of ideas is functioning
11:09 am
and media is playing the proper role we're sitting here and debating the finer points of very complex issues this is the messy process that actually results in us, americans, all americans, this country leading the world in terms of capitalism and in terms of companies and in terms of ideas. >> yeah. i won't argue with you on that point that it's messy but i will say it's not just sanders and warren i mean, president biden himself has come out in support of warehouse workers. so anyways - >> everybody is in support of warehouse workers. i mean, that's part of the discussion we have to have you're kind of painting me as being anti-worker here i think we're all supporters of americans and workers. >> but unionization -- >> listen, it's into workers if you want to unionize, you get to unionize and up to the individuals and companies if they want the jobs here or in
11:10 am
another country. we are in a competition for geolocations that are pro business because we can lose them to other countries or here cities and states in america this is a vibrant -- >> jason -- exactly. we will see how this union vote at the alabama warehouse vote plays out. but let's talk about wework, going public by a spac deal. providing the company $9 billion okay, can we put to rest the idea that wework is a tech company and a $9 billion valuation, it is valued at less than the parent, iwg. >> yeah. we knew it was a real estate company, masquerading as a tech company. we knew it was being mismanaged, we knew it was overvalued and the market corrects and betting against masa is probably a bad bet. the most mismanaged company in the portfolio he might get back
11:11 am
50 cents on the dollar or he might even break even on this one. don't bet against masa is the overriding lesson here. >> if you're going to, you better time it exactly right so jason, is wework now -- i'm not talking about their financials and how much debt they might take on, but conceptually is it a better idea post pandemic than it was pre-pandemic because of the uncertainty around corporate campuses, corporate headquarters and the idea that perhaps companies will pay a bit of a premium for the flexibility of not having to make a long term call >> bingo you nailed it. i mean, look, weworks entire playbook was let's buy the cheapest building or rent on the long-term lease the cheapest building in san francisco, brooklyn, let's make it really funky and nice as cheap as we can and then we have the margin of charging $1,000 in a tiny
11:12 am
office but they got ahead of their skis and now the supply-side, all of the commercial real estate is flooding the market and people going to work from home in a major way. so they're going to be able to buy low, all that real estate is available to them and companies are going to be looking at wework as the solution as you're saying for having remote workers when they do need to go somewhere and get out of the house because kids, dogs, collaboration. whatever the reason is, it's available. so i think actually the pandemic, it is a post pandemic stock for sure in the same way that a cruise ship, cruise company might be. so i think they'll do fabulous i mean, they might even be worth the valuation. worth $7 billion, wework's worth $70 billion, give me a break. >> i will note it was valued at less than $3 billion by softbank last year. jason, if wework isn't a tech company or perhaps never was, how do you argue that uber is a
11:13 am
tech company i mean, it has gotten rid of a lot of the moonshot projects over the last year if wework connects people to office spaces and uber connects cars to users how do you view that >> well, they have an app that works -- i don't know if they have a sophisticated app they probably have a terrible app and uber has an elegant and great app. full disclosure, i'm a holder. and uber uses the network effect of it is pretty big. so i would say it's a tech company for sure logistics and how they're moving people around. the same way amazon, you know, you can say it's not a tech company, but all of the logistics, all that put together is - >> [ indiscernible ]. >> yeah, that's fair enough.
11:14 am
yeah i think we should have uber launch a cloud computing platform, sure it's never enough for you, deirdre. they got focus and you're upset a them because they don't have moonshots, pick a side here. >> i'm just saying - >> now they'll be profitable and you want to hang them out to dry. come on, give them a break give them a break. >> $6 billion in losses, net losses. >> going to break even this year break even is in sight break even is in sight. >> adjusted ebitda is not cash flow positive. >> okay. perhaps you want to short uber into the recovery. if you feel that strongly. >> i don't short or buy anything. >> i know that i know that. that's a joke. >> let's -- i know i know it's fun to have these arguments. all in good faith. >> capitalism. >> let's talk about the report that microsoft is acquiring video game chat community
11:15 am
discord for $10 billion in a deal expected to close next month. jason, yeah, is microsoft the right buyer or is it the right buyer at the right time because other potential players are, you know, under a load of antitrust scrutiny >> it's perfect for microsoft. it's a big number in a way the company some making $150 million or something a year or maybe that was last year's number so this is whatever, 75, 80 times revenue it's a big number. however, video games are played as microsoft has been telling everybody by half the planet, 3 billion people play video games and they're doing great with xbox they have their netflix offering and they want to be the netflix of video games and discord works with this and this is not a slack -- even though some people do choose slack or discord for their businesses and increasingly it's competitive, really, what this is about is
11:16 am
building a giant video game community. for the xbox team and mine craft and they have gotten better at not screwing it up. >> how much of this -- >> and mine craft have done well post acquisition. >> how much of this, jason, do you think is about not just the social aspect of gaming, but the building blocks technically behind the scenes of a gaming ecosystem because yes, they're 140 million users here of discord. but i think microsoft is also trying to own some of the tech behind the scenes and i wonder if this is a twilio-like play, you know, for the chat and the building blocks within games whether you're, you know, living on xbox or in xbox live or not if microsoft can have a hand not just in git hub and making your gaming experience really sing is there value there? >> yeah.
11:17 am
clearly, that is a part of the thesis and it does span beyond video games so that is kind of an interesting wrinkle maybe this is, you know, primarily for video games. but maybe they think there's some corporate or this next generation would like discord over microsoft teams so i think you're correct that this is a platform play. but usually when these acquisitions happens there's somebody in the acquirer who has a thesis of how to pay back that money in some way. youtube being the perfect example, google thought hey, we put this as the google ad network and people can buy video and search ads at the same time. some users are going to buy an xbox and that video game subscription if they can convert them over that product and they start to make hundreds of billions off of those really high end video game customers it will be -- like mine craft it will work.
11:18 am
>> backed away from competing with twitch, right which is a social sort of play but are perhaps interested in coming in with discord we'll see if discord decides to go with any acquirer or go it alone, try to go to the public market on its own. finally, what are you really hungry to invest inright now i mean, i know you're an angel so you place a lot of bets but are there particular areas that boy, i want more deal flow in this particular area >> yeah. thank you for that, that's very generous we started to now invest low millions of dollars so we put in $2 million or $3 million so the seed area is starting to look like the series "a" area and in silicon valley and on wall street too consumer subscriptions for me absolutely amazing a lot of venture capitalists didn't get them yet, but we have
11:19 am
a medication app and we have a new one which teaches you to dance and one for crossfit folks and brilliant.org which is for math it doesn't seem like a great business to sell consumers content but when you wrap it in the app and make transcendent apps that combination will get millions of people to subscriber for $100 a year. so it's almost like there's going to be a netflix created for every single vertical in the world. and we're looking for every single one of those companies to invest in and give them the first $1 million. >> jason, thank you as always for the lively conversation. talk you again soon. >> thank you now, move over wall street online finance start-up sofi is giving retail traders early access to ipos and thredup goes pliubc. we have the ceo.
11:20 am
a great hour ahead on "squawk alley. stay with us right. so we're upping the benefits without upping the price. introducing magenta max. now with unlimited premium data that can't slow down based on how much smartphone data you use. plus get netflix on us, and taxes and fees included! you won't find this with the other guys. in fact, you'll pay more and get less. right now, pay zero costs to switch! and bring your phone -- we'll pay it off! only at t-mobile.
11:21 am
11:22 am
sofi announcing it will offer retail analysts early access to the ipos a first for the trading trade. ceo anthony noto and our kate rooney join us now. >> thanks, john. good morning, anthony. thanks so much for being here. >> good morning, kate. thanks for having me. >> great to see you, so this is a new feature on sofi's trading
11:23 am
app. but you guys will also will be an underwriter in the deal so you're working directly with the companies. explain sofi's new role here in the ipo process. >> sure. one of the things we try to differentiate sofi by is by selection and that differentiation started when we launched the product we pioneered fractional shares and then added sofi five etf and this is another step in that path of giving our investors a way to build diversified portfolios and we have partnering with issuers to allow our investors to invest in new ipos before they start trading on the exchanges we outline all of the details in our app and on the website but this will give them access to portfolio elements they haven't had access to before and they're riskier assets so
11:24 am
it's important that the positions that people take sofi members take are a small portion of the overall portfolio so we want to educate them on ipos we want to make sure they have access to ipos and ensure they're investing over the long term and diversified way this is a key element to it. >> i know you spent time at goldman sachs as a partner there. you know this process really well but you're competing with the wall street funds, whether it's state street, blackrock they have argued they might be better customers and retail investors tend to get the reputation for coming in and flipping those shares. could that reputation affect allocation that you might get for your investors >> you know, first and foremost, what i would say we're partners with all of the large investment banks and while we'll be an underwriter over the next weeks and months we're pat of the underwriting group overall so
11:25 am
it's not like we're trying to replace anyone from an issuing standpoint as it relates to investors, we have done a couple of things to ensure that our investors are taking a long-term view. we won't charge commissions when someone's allocate ipo shares and they buy them and if they sell them within 120 days we will charge them a quite meaningful amount because we want to encourage long-term investing and not flipping there are a number of other factors that will weigh in to our allocation, based on individuals' behavior. if someone is demonstrating a behavior similar to flipping the ipo that will go against how we think about allocating to that in the future. so we'll factor into the large institutions which is what is the industry of the investor, do they understand the story, do they understand what they're investing in and will they stick around when things get a little bit choppy so - >> anthony, i think that's so probably important because, you know, robin hood is going to get
11:26 am
into this. the other names will and it seems to me -- i mean when i talk to the ceos around the time of their ipo, this is the type of investor, the poster child investor they don't want if i'm a sofi investor, how do i differentiate myself so that -- so that frank sleuthman doesn't mind me buying in and thinks i'm going to flip in >> the retail channel is interesting so having the visibility into the retail channel will help those companies that are doing ipos better understand the shareholder base and understand the pricing of the shares. if you're an individual investor, you can open an account on sofi and display the behavior that you're a long term investor when you put in an order for an ipo you keep the shares as part of the investment horizon and not flipping it up to the stock
11:27 am
or otherwise in many ways to penalize people for flipping and they'll be penalized in two ways. one, a charge and two an impact on future allocations. >> hey, anthony, it's deirdre. on one hand, you're further demock ritizing trading, what we have seen happen over the last year or so, but on the other hand you're telling the retail investors to hold it for a certain amount of time otherwise they have to pay a fee how do you balance the two, make sure that retail investors understand what they're buying and then sort of lock them up for a period also. >> yeah, two sides to the equation the first we're giving access to mainstream investors to invest in things they haven't gotten in large quantities so we're giving them a unique benefit in doing that some of the individual investors -- retail investors they helped to build the gig
11:28 am
economies. if you think of the drivers at uh uber or doordash, those individuals don't get to participate in the ipos historically and sofi can enable them to do that and the companies can reward them in a turnkey, simple way. you can open an account on sofi with no minimum balance required to open that account that's on the positive side, but yes, we're asking the investors to hold over the long term they can trade the stock whenever they want but if they sell before 120 days, there will be a cost to that of $50 on the transaction and it will go into the way we think about allocating to the person again so no restrictions but just a clear alignment of incentives for the behaviors that we're looking for for our issuing clients as well as investing clients. >> hey, anthony, it's kate again. i have to ask you about
11:29 am
gamestop, reddit some of the frenzied trading we have seen sofi doesn't offer margin or options is that something you'll get into and how are you balancing the risk with allowing people to get into the ipos and some of the more complex trading mechanisms that are out there? >> sure. when we launched sofi invest we wanted to differentiate on selection. we are the only place on a mobile phone you can buy single stocks without paying a commission you can buy etfs and we have sofi etfs as i mentioned we have adviser accounts that we created and we allow you to buy cryptocurrency we have to make sure the investors are buying what they want and if someone wants to buy a risky asset like bitcoin, we inform them is is an unproven asset, they can lose all their money. ipos are more risky than companies who have been public
11:30 am
for 10 or 15 or 20 year and that's outlined in the form s-1 and we'll continue to educate people that ipos are more risky and should be a part of the portfolio just like something like bitcoin not a large percentage of the portfolio because of the negative impact it could have. so we want them to be very diversified. we want them to hold on to long-term investments and to make sure that they have a portfolio across asset classes so it can perform in different markets. as it relates to margins and options we'll add them over time in a responsible way and an educated way our initial goal is to allow sofi invest to appeal to new investors and we have done a great job of doing that. we'll add the other classes that are more diversified over the course the next year. >> anthony we have to leave it there. thank you for joining us anthony noto, ceo of sofi. deirdre, back to you thank you, kate and anthony. ahead on the show, see this tick
11:31 am
tock you can buy it as an nft tomorrow for half a million dollars. u ren e oryomo othsty, next on "squawk alley. stay with us if you wake up thinking about the market and want to make the right moves fast... get decision tech from fidelity. [ cellphone vibrates ] you'll get proactive alerts for market events before they happen... and insights on every buy and sell decision.
11:32 am
with zero-commission online u.s. stock and etf trades. for smarter trading decisions, get decision tech from fidelity. gohealth has blossomed from an idea in a chicago apartment nearly 20 years ago to a listing on nasdaq today. we help seniors compare and shop for medicare options in their areas using licensed, trusted advisors and an online platform. gohealth has compounded at 52% a year for 20 years. we believe we're just beginning to realize the opportunity
11:33 am
to improve access to healthcare for consumers. what if you could have the perspective to see more? at morgan stanley, a global collective of thought leaders offers investors a broader view. ♪♪ we see companies protecting the bottom line by putting people first. we see a bright future, still hungry for the ingenuity of those ready for the next challenge. today, we are translating decades of experience into strategies for the road ahead. we are morgan stanley.
11:34 am
welcome back here's your cnbc update. this is a tornado forming late yesterday in alabama it is one of more than a dozen reported twisters as severe storms moved in the southeast and caused widespread damage 32 deaths and 66 injuries in southern egypt where two trains collided they're plagued with poorly
11:35 am
maintained equipment and trying to unblock the tug boat in the suez canal suez canal was unsuccessful and fox news says it will vigorously defend itself against what it is calling a baseless lawsuit brought by dominion voting systems they have filed a defamation suit claiming they tied dominion to election fraud. you're up to date. more "squawk alley" after this ♪ and found solutions that kept them going. ♪ at u.s. bank, we can help you adapt and evolve your business, no matter what you're facing. because when you close the gap, a world of possibility opens. ♪ u.s. bank. we'll get there together. ♪
11:36 am
11:37 am
11:38 am
in my eyes, i need to get into the mix and everybody is talking about nfts and it's a good way to get out my creation. >> that's dog face, the man behind the viral tiktok video you're seeing now. speaking with "squawk alley" producer gomez and starting tomorrow this is going to hit the nft market starting bid is $500,000 and it will not include the fleetwood mac song or ocean spray logo, that's blurred out and setting up the twitter, we caught up with the buyer, and saying that buying the digital license of the first tweet of human history is really something. it doesn't matter anyone can view it. who knows what the price will be in 50 years.
11:39 am
when we asked if he'll hold on to first purchase he said he's keeping the door open saying he has no plans to sell at the moment and that he's fond of its intrinsic value. deirdre, i think these are two totally different cases because if you're buying the first tweet, you're actually buying the tweet. right? but this tiktok video you're not buying the tiktok video with the tiktok logo and indications of how popular it was or the music or the ocean spray bottle. i mean, it's kind of like you're getting air dropped a doctored video. is that worth half a million dollars? >> yeah, i'm with you there. does it have value i mean, the things that made it viral was the combination. right? the ocean spray logo, the fleetwood mac song, but this goes to show i think that the comments on he appreciates it for the intrinsic value, only the person who buys this nft has to appreciate it like a trading card, perhaps
11:40 am
so, you know, perhaps dog face riding a skateboard has some value to this person. >> this is cnbc, we talk about investing. this isn't like gold sprinkles on top of a truffle burger i mean, if you're investing in thing, you've got to believe in the ongoing dialogue or you're setting money on fire don't talk to me about that. >> yeah. but who are we to say who or how you can set your money on fire that's fine. a lot of people thought that's what bitcoin was in the early days and it has a lot of institutional interest who knows where nfts will go but the answer we try to answer or at least ask is is this sort of a viable alternative investment class, right are they going to be worth more later on some people would have said that trading cards would have been junk in the future and by some measures they have outperformed
11:41 am
the s&p over the last decade still very, very early days, john i hear you with the ocean spray and dog face's -- i can't see it but the fact that someone can says something. >> yeah, it says something i'm going to try to point out the difference between the two people can make their own call but don't say we didn't warn you. >> remember artifact shoes, they said that they have already seen the value of some of those nonshoes, shoes, digital shoes actually increase by 50% in the secondary market nifty gateway serves the exact purpose. so there's something there what is it we don't know. john, we'll be asking this question for some time, i think. >> indeed. >> i know. yeah not -- let's leave it there,
11:42 am
john coming up, thrift stores gog gil,hyot 'lcatch up with the ceo of thredup and their ipo right after this break "squawk alley" is back in who. wealth is shutting down the office for mike's retirement party. worth is giving the employee who spent half his life with you, the party of a lifetime. wealth is watching your business grow. worth is watching your employees grow with it. principal. for all it's worth.
11:43 am
♪ ♪ ♪ cisco. the bridge to possible. so you want to make the best burger ever? then make it! that means cooking day and night until you get... (ding)... you got paid! that means... best burger ever. intuit quickbooks helps small businesses be more successful with payments, payroll, banking and live bookkeeping.
11:44 am
diane retired and opened that pottery studio. how did you come up with all these backstories? i got help from a pro. my financial professional explained to me all the ways nationwide can help protect financial futures in peytonville. nationwide can help the greens get lifetime income because their son kyle is moving back home and could help set up a financial plan for mrs. garcia. and he explained how nationwide can help mr. paisley retire early and spend more time with his pal, peyton. and their new band. exactly! yeah. don't forget the band. i haven't. as part of women's history month we're highlighting successful founders and ceos nina baca has turned pinnacle group into one of the largest latino owned staffing companies in the world and operating in ten different countries and four different continents have a look.
11:45 am
♪ >> i feel like in our 25-year history we have had to reinvent ourselves over and over again. it's been a hell of a journey. we survived 9/11 in fact we had a liquidation plan in place after the attacks when a lot of companies like ours were going out of business. my mother and father immigrated from ecuador to los angeles, california like many immigrants, my parents became entrepreneurs and they found their american dream through small business to feed five children. today i'm a huge advocate about getting young women, girls interested in the power of technology i saw it firsthand when i was 15 years old and i decided to start my career in technology and to be candid with you it changed my entire life. i spent a lot of time with grandma and she always told me, in spanish it translates to
11:46 am
learn to live by yourself. what she was telling me to be is to be independent. to learn to be an independent woman. to be self-made. t- mobile has plans built just for you. switch today and get 2 lines of unlimited and 2 free smartphones. plus you'll now get netflix on us. all this for up to 50% off vs. verizon. it's all included. 2 lines of unlimited for only $70 bucks. and this rate is fixed. you'll pay exactly $70 bucks total. this month and every month. only at t-mobile. ♪♪ in boxing or any other business, one day, you're gonna take a hit you didn't see coming. do you stay down? or do you get up? [announcer] and this fight is a long way from over, leonard is coming back. ♪♪
11:47 am
♪♪ so you're a small business, or a big one. you were thriving, but then... oh. ah. okay. plan, pivot. how do you bounce back? you don't, you bounce forward, with serious and reliable internet. powered by the largest gig speed network in america. but is it secure? sure it's secure. and even if the power goes down, your connection doesn't.
11:48 am
so how do i do this? you don't do this. we do this, together. bounce forward, with comcast business. thredup making the public debut on the nasdaq. ahead of the first trade, courtney reagan joins us with the ceo. >> thank you very much, deirdre.
11:49 am
i'm joined by james reinhart, congrats in advance of the first trade. we have yet to see it yet on the nasdaq but obviously, you have to file an s-1 and you have to list risk factors for those looking to invest in thredup for first time your losses are accelerating, you anticipate operating losses to continue in the future. why if i'm an investor should i invest in thredup knowing you had not yet been profitable? >> thanks for having me on great to be here you know, i think look, this is a massive market the resale market is growing 25 times faster than the traditional retail market so you have a huge category here. when you look at the opportunity and the category and then you pair that with the strong unit economics i think the unit economics is what drives the business over time, i think that encourages you to pursue growth. and i think that's what we have been doing and i think that's what we'll continue to do. >> so your marketplace is dependent on sellers sending in
11:50 am
quality merchandise and right now, it looks like you have three times the number of active buyers than you do sellers how can you assure that this pipeline will continue if i want to shop on thredup i have to have good merchandise to choose from. >> yeah. i mean, look mosh supply than over in the past year. in q3 of '20 our supply grew 1,000% we are seeing strong demand from sellers and our job is to put great product online at great prices if you browse the thredup site day in and day out you will see we do it we have great brands that delights buyers across the pricing ecosystem. we grew active buyers last year 24%, and so feel very good about the stable, active buyer numbers and the supply we are seeing. >> james, how do you get the flow of sellers? is it partnerships with perhaps some brick and mortar? maybe even if they're not selling clothes, if they just have people in the demographic that has the clothes that you
11:51 am
want, i mean it seems like low-cost ways of doing that could be pretty key to your long-term success. >> yeah. i mean, look, we have never spent a single dollar, you know, marketing for sellers. i think it is one of the unique value propositions we have been able to provide. so sellers come to us organically. we have never had a problem grabbing supply. so, yeah, we do do partnerships off line, we do partnerships online look, i think what really speaks to the power of what we have built is how many organic sellers are coming to the platform, and then the fact that our repeat rates are so high you know, 77% of our supply comes from repeat sellers. so we feel very good about the ecosystem we have created. >> james, coming out of the pandemic and, you know, people armed with new stimulus checks, is there a risk that consumers are going to want to get out, buy new things, spend money in stores do you think that people will want secondhand clothes or does it fit into your ecosystem,
11:52 am
right, more to sell in the longer run what does growth look like if the near term? >> look, i don't know if we're getting into the roaring '20s or not, but i feel pretty good with consumers getting out in the world where apparel market is going to go in 2021 and we have the opportunity to capture some of that market we are still going to be in a recession. there are still some members of the community that are suffering, and so thredup provides great brands at great prices while many will go out and i expect will buy new clothes, i think the value proposition of used remains very, very strong, not only this year but in the next few years so we feel very confident around what 2021 will look like for us. i think the stimulus checks will provide some incremental wind in our sails. >> jim, your biggest expense is operations, product and technology how much of that is technology, and what is the outlook on getting that more stable, perhaps even down? >> yeah, look, i think the investments that we're making is
11:53 am
what is really driving, you know, the market opportunity for buyers and for sellers you know, we talk internally, we are building, you know, the amazon of resale, and that requires a significant infrastructure investment, significant technology investments, but, again, i think all of that contributes to us driving our strong unit economics. so i think those things will leverage over time but, look, we're not going to back down from building a monster business in this category we will continue to invest and continue to build out our processing and restructure because that's ultimately what competes competitive advantage in this category and i think it is super exciting. >> james, it is courtney again i want to talk a bit about item acceptance i know it has changed a bit over the years. you talked about how big a market this is, but that means there's an awful lot of competition, posh mark, the real reel, traditional consignment stores for example, it was a number of years ago we did a test on cnbc, i had a dress i sent in to
11:54 am
thredup who gave mezi 0 dozero s for it but posh mark gave me income for it. >> i think there are opportunities for people to win in this category i think ultimately what we provide for sellers is total convenience. you know, we take 35,000 brands across 100 categories, and you can put everything in that bag so i think that convenience is a real differentiator, and i think for buyers, you know, we are a trusted platform they know they can predictably find great brands at great prices, but importantly in a sustainable way. so i think it is a category that's big it is getting bigger, and there's lots of room for multiple companies to succeed. i wish those guys a lot of luck, and we feel like, you know, we're going to be able to build a great business side by side. >> speaking of multiple companies, you have about 21 partnerships with retailers,
11:55 am
including walmart and made well and gap. i know they're a little bit different in their composition, but can you give us some insight as to how that is working for both parties, both thredup and the retailers that are using resale as a service? >> yeah, look, i think resale as a service, part of our business is hugely important over time. i think the fact that we work with a brand like wal-mart but also a brand like reformation or athleta shows we can work with discount brands and premium brands, providing incredible opportunities for them to get involved in the resale ecosystem. so for some of our partners it is more about supply and how can they get their customers to recycle the things they're no longer wearing for other partners like walmart, it is about how they can get their customers to shop more sustainably. we power walmart's secondhand experience online. so i think it speaks to the breadth of the programs that we've built, and i think it portends a bright future for resale and our work in it.
11:56 am
>> james, i know there's a lot more to talk about including esg and your belief there, but we have to let you go this time so make sure to come back and keep us updated as the company goes public. >> sounds good. >> thank you very much, james reinhart john, back over to you. >> thank you, courtney, as well. now, zoom shares getting initiated at deutsche bank with a hold rating, price target of $360 a share the firm feeling pretty good about the company's upside potentially, the shares taking a ich r g since start of the yea whperhaps helps that case. "squawk alley" will be right back
11:57 am
the firm feeling pretty good so you want to make the best burger ever? then make it! that means cooking day and night until you get... (ding)... you got paid! that means... best burger ever. intuit quickbooks helps small businesses be more successful with payments, payroll, banking and live bookkeeping.
11:58 am
do you have a life insurance policy you no longer need? now you can sell your policy, even a term policy, for an immediate cash payment. we thought we had planned carefully for our retirement. but we quickly realized that we needed a way to supplement our income. if you have one hundred thousand dollars or more of life insurance you may qualify to sell your policy. don't cancel or let your policy lapse without finding out what it's worth. visit conventrydirect.com to find out if you policy qualifies. or call the number on your screen. coventry direct, redefining insurance. - [narrator] grubhub perks give you deals on all the food that makes you boogie. (upbeat music) get the food you love with perks from- - [crowd] grubhub.
11:59 am
as we close out this show, just take a look at the markets. nasdaq is up today, but, john, the qqq, the nasdaq 100 etf is still marg still marginally down on the year, major under former snowflake seems to be doing okay. >> well, today it is, but the overall thesis still makes sense. we are just talking about zoom and the hold at deutsche and kind of the case it has room to run, price target of 360 it had been a lot higher than that look at snowflake. it is up today, better than 5%, but you can see from the chart it was a lot higher than that to
12:00 pm
close the year after that blockbuster ipo. maybe some sense here that some of the names that succeeded so well during the pandemic, zoom also being one of them, maybe it is unclear to investors whether that's the way to go going forward, but we will hear from frank slootman in "closing bell" later today. let's get to judge "and the half." >> welcome to "the halftime report." i'm scott wapner what might come next with your money. we have degas wright the chief investment officer jim leventhal. i will take you to the wall to see where stocks are currently trading. we are holding on to nice gains across the board and interest rates slipped a littlebit. the yield on the ten-year note down to 163. that's a few basis points lower than it was earlie

56 Views

info Stream Only

Uploaded by TV Archive on