welcome to "power lunch," another day, another market move for your money. big tech falls over 1%. the entire mag seven losing money today. >> can't happen. nvidia is down nearly 5% after hitting a new all-time high right after the open. that's quite a reversal. we got huge news out of meta, mark zuckerberg making major changes to content moderation. no more fact-checkers, community notes instead, just like what x is doing. we're going to put the lunch or dinner in "power lunch." the head of the legendary rao's restaurant is here with what he sees is some of the hardest parts of running a big food business after selling off the name. they still run the restaurant, but rao's the sauce -- >> is this about us trying to get a seat one of these days? maybe it is. but the fact they've been able to retain that level of exclusivity. >> you would think with this guest list, we could do that.

but i think knowing frankie may not hurt. all of that is ahead. right to your top story, facebook's big aboutface, mark zuckerberg issuing a major announcement. >> after trump first got elected in 2016, the legacy media wrote nonstop about how misinformation was a threat to democracy. we tried in good faith to address those concerns without becoming the arbiters of truth. but the fact-checkers have been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they've created, especially in the u.s. so over the next couple of months, we're going to phase in a more comprehensive community notes system. >> now, there's a lot more to that and more to the announcement, so we urge you all to go and watch it for yourself, decide for yourself. but the headline is pretty simple. zuckerberg's companies, facebook, instagram, whatsapp, are going to return to what he sees as a more free speech environment, eliminating third-party fact-checkers, who

you just heard he said had become political, bringing in community notes on facts and things that users might find inaccurate or misleading. meta will move jobs to texas from california. as we said, there is a lot more to that story. right now, the stock down a little bit, along with the entire mag seven, but meta has been on fire, up 75% this year and has soared 460% off the 2022 lows. but here is the question that we start the show with, is this big move by meta just a response to trump, or is it a move back to where the company should have been in the first place? let's talk about it all and bring you in, your company has been invested in firms. yesterday, the company making an investment, buying a retailer of firearms. thanks for joining us. you know what the critics will say. they'll say this is just

zuckerberg cowering to trump. we can look at it that way. or do we look at it like zuckerberg and his companies cowered to the biden administration and should have never been in this position in the first place? >> i don't think those things are mutually exclusive, they could both be true. people have said for a long time that politics is downstream from culture, but i like to say that business is downstream from politics. so obviously this is a response to the trump win, and he basically admits later in the video, something that i've been saying to you on air for a couple of years now, that elements of the federal government during the biden administration were coercing and pressuring big tech companies, including his own, to violate the first amendment. and that's a huge problem. it's what inspired our fund to be created that you alluded to, to invest in companies that were not going to capitulate to that level of pressure. so i think embedded in this announcement is something even more troubling, which was that the previous administration was

violating our rights. >> the headline, some of the headlines you've seen are basically like, oh, facebook and meta, whatever you want to call it, they're getting rid of fact-checkers. the implication, if you just read the headline, that there's no more fact-checking, and thus put whatever you will on there. no doubt, there will be some garbage that leaks through, even under the community notes system. but it sounds like as an investor you don't believe this is going to be some kind of big negative. maybe it's a positive for the meta-owned companies. >> first of all, it's a huge positive. i mean, obviously i have my caveats that i'll offer that i think this is definitely opportunistic and i can personalize why that's the case. putting that aside for a moment, it is a net positive. it turns out that free speech is good business, and i think they see that the american people overwhelmingly want this. it's also the whole topic we've discussed in the past, also, about the challenge of legacy media and what happened in this presidential election, so much of the communication with people

occurred in independent media on podcasts. whether you're a network or big tech business, they see where the leaves are blowing and they're trying to go toward where the people are and that is an embrace of constitutional protections, free speech. but of course the question i'll ask is whether or not this is just opportunistic, is the company we took public yesterday, yes, you're right, a gun retailer with our spac, it sells guns. over half of the country owns a firearm. right now you cannot advertise on meta with firearms at all. it's banned. so my question is, if he's rediscovered the constitution, how far does that go? i think that remains to be seen. >> that's an interesting question. it's kelly here, if i may. i'll pick up on the same theme, two other possible things i wonder about. number one, and he admitted this, there's going to be slightly less ability for us to catch all the bad stuff when year having a lighter touch about everything. they're already under pressure about what has been going on on

instagram, sex trafficking, that kind of thing. that's one ving investors might be squeamish about. when he says, when the american government tries to censor us, it emboldens other governments to censor more. how much of a fight is he willing to get into with other governments about the free speech issues, which really only apply, those legal protections only apply to americans? >> you just picked up on i think the most important question we have right now for the future of capitalism, it's a fight we're having at home. it's the fact that politics has infiltrated red and blue america. we're one of the only countries in the world that has a bill of rights, and that's what i think we really need to understand, that if you only look at it away from that, then you're going to have the kind of authoritarian systems that you have in other countries that, by the way, do fairly well financially. china has social credit scoring, they're the second largest economy in the world. so we need to be very careful about totally separating those

constitutional freedoms from economics. it's why we've incorporated so much into what we're working on. and i think you're pointing out that you need to have a united states government and administration that's in favor of strong constitutional protections, that empowers our multinational businesses to do business abroad. and it really goes full circle, which was he irony we had where a lot of these big woke companies would do business in china where they have slave labor and then lecture us about not being progressive enough. i think that's got to stop, too. >> you know what the critics are going to say, zuckerberg is afraid of trump. he appointed dana white of the ufc, one of trump's biggest friends and backers to the board, and he's facing a lawsuit. i think it starts in april. and this is just zuckerberg being afraid and responding to the incoming administration. >> hey, look, i doeither, by thu know what, you've got to judge

people when things are hard. what did his company do when it was hard to stand up against an administration? he totally capitulated. you know who is vindicated here, elon musk, and what he did when he bought x. a lot of the mainstream media said he's going to destroy the company and it was important during the election. he stood up against the regime and he's been rewarded because now it's the most important social media platform in the world. and you see other things like rumble or truth social that are all coming around and being able to be successful because they have the following that folks want. i don't see -- regardless of where you are on the political spectrum, you should look back at a period like 2020, 2021, and be very troubled. like, when one of my partners started that company parlor that was a social media app that a few big tech companies colluded to de-platform it, that's wrong, anti-american. i'm just very happy to see that even big companies are starting to realize the error of their

ways. there is an element here that could be opportunistic that they're simply responding to whatever administration is in power. so i urge customers and users to really analyze and hold their feet to the fire, which is to say, how are you going to act regardless of who is in power? and i think there's a lot of other companies out there that stood up to the censorship regime. >> it also spawned the proliferation of all of those other platforms. so i wonder now, if they're kind of now saying it's going to be a lighter touch, there's not a lot of publicly traded implications here, but what are the implications for the ecosystem? what do you expect -- youtube isn't in the spotlight now, but do you expect a few of the platforms that haven't gone this direction might? >> sure, ultimately, again, their parent company is google as you pointed out. but during that period of time, one of the nice things that did occur in the economy was you started to have alternatives. we think what we work on is a parallel economy. because youtube was conducting

themselves in that way, rumble came around and now you have other options. we want to keep presenting those options through every part of the economy. people would critique is and say we're bifurcating. but if we start using free speech then naturally the incumbents will have to adjust if they see a market opportunity. i think that's as capitalistic as you can be. part of what we've done, not only the change in the administration, but the fact that there are options for customers is changing the behavior if these bigger tech companies want to remain relevant. >> like it or not, we got the new zuck, he's ripped, letting his hair go, he's in a tight t-shirt. we'll see where it goes. love having you kick off the program. thank you for coming on "power lunch." appreciate it. by the way, what we care about a lot is the stock, so, of course, what do you do? you run a poll on the

aforementioned x. will it increase, increase? 54% said increase, 36% said it won't matter. >> let's ask ken about this, ken squires, president and founder, and cnbc contributor. can you imagine a few years back, every time you turned around there was a big story about bad advertisers on their site and offensive this and that, that this would be the way that story ends. >> in retrospect, i can imagine it because my main takeaway is how incredibly adaptable mark zuckerberg is as a ceo of a huge company. going back to the analytics days, which he got the fadeaway to revamp instagram to be able to compete with tiktok, to now leave the third-party fact-checkers in such a quick way. it's just to be able to pivot such a large company, pretty impressive. and i don't think he gets enough

credit. >> that's fine. and the stock price from that point of view, people will say, investors, he controls the company, but they're happy to be along for the ride. philosophically, now that it's about free speech and censorship, do you believe that's what it's all about? or is that just about it's about right now? >> i don't know if we can know his motivations, but he's doing what he needs to do. >> some might use the word adaptable in a different way. >> that's a nice word. >> you know what i'm saying. there's going to be the criticism that he's caving, that he's bowing, that he's subpoena -- suplicating to the trump administration. >> especially if something bad results from this. >> by the way, there will be bad things that result. >> there could be criticisms, but i think that makes it even more of a bold thing to do. and with respect to moving away from the fact-checkers, he was going to do that anyway. this is an area where ai can be

helpful. i wouldn't be surprised if he was already down that road. >> i love that take. and, by the way, fact-checking became like the new truth telling. a lot of the fact-checkers need to be fact-checked, i'm just going to say that. i don't care, that's the reality. but i love your point. you can now say effectively i'm going to lay off a bunch of people and i'm going to replace them with computers, but you make it seem like you're doing it for some big moral or ethical reason, when in reality it might just be costs. >> and he was going to do it anyway, i'm sure at some point. it makes sense. >> and their ai is very, very good. i think it's llama, maybe grok, some of the biggest -- i was using this to come up with images and using that technology, which they've invested so much money in, as a result this way, is i think a preview of what is to come across the big tech platforms. after the break, private equity presenting a big opportunity, a lot of private-backed companies could make up around 40% of the new ipos this year. we'll get into that story next

on "power lunch." crypto watch is sponsored by crypto.com. (♪♪) crypto.com is america's premier crypto platform. (♪♪) what took you so long? i'm sorry, there was a long line at the thai place. you get the sauce i like? of course! you're the man! i wish. the future isn't scary. not investing in it is. nasdaq-100 innovators. one etf. before investing, carefully read and consider fund investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and more in prospectus at invesco.com

let's say you're deep in a show or a game or the game. risks, charges, expenses on a train, at home, at work.

okay, maybe not at work. point is at xfinity. we're constantly engineering new ways to get the entertainment you love to you faster and easier than ever. that's what i do. is that love island? welcome back to "power lunch." the ipo market has been on a little bit of a comeback lately, nothing like the spac craze a few years ago. but this year, 2025, we could see a bigger boost, and perhaps from private equity exits. nearly half of the ipos that come down the pike this year are expected to come from pe-backed firms. leslie picker is here with more on the story and ken squire is with us as well. >> literally a shove. >> she did this. >> she's right, though. they've been sitting in these funds. these funds are aging, and the

longer they sit there, the bigger they get, the fewer prospective buyers. and, by the way, there are all these limited partners and investors in the private equity firms that want their money back in the realizations of m&a or ipo. ipo is becoming an even more attractive option. after 2024 when you saw outperformance, when you look at the ipo class of 2024, the edian performance for those that were backed by private equity was about 21%. those backed by venture capital, the median performance was about negative 8%. >> wow. >> so a huge disparity. so you've got the public market investors who like that performance. they also like the predictability of these companies that have an operating history and credit spreads are extremely tight right now. >> interest rates are still high. >> interest rates are high, but the credit markets are open. and more important for private equity is just a stabilization of interest rates. as they were going up it was harder to model the businesses, especially during the period of

inflation, it was hard to be able to say, here is what the future value of this company looks like, and therefore this is what i should pay for it or sell it for. now that things have kind of stabilized on the inflation front, and financing is pretty wide open at this point in time, you also have this boom in private credit, that capital is looking to go somewhere, it kind of opens the whole cycle. there's a symbiotic relationship between the m&a gears turning on, the ipo markets turning on, and it's something that a lot of people are looking forward to 2025. >> everyone likes to act together, as we're learning on a number of fronts. but the ipo markets have been pretty quiet, considering how strong the stock market was last year. >> yeah, people that invest in ipos are looking for hyper growth and get in early. when you can invest in the mag seven and kind of get that, maybe it takes some of the allure away from putting it to an ipo that might be a little riskier and not as established. >> especially private equity did a lot of software as a service and a lot of those business

models, you go, what's going to happen with ai? we haven't seen the round of ai startups and those are going to be venture backed. >> if you are going to the public markets and having these conversations on road shows with investors, you have to be able to answer the question, how ai impact your business, do you have an ai component that will make you more efficient? investors want to know that answer. until you have it, you can't go public regardless of the valuation. >> companies that are spinning off very smart and profitable units should throw ai in their name to get a more warm welcome in said public markets. you know what i'm referring to. >> yes. >> this very fine company will be testing the markets this year. >> you think it should be ai spin co? >> cnbc ai. >> there you go. >> you can't spell "power lunch." >> you can't spell market

intelligence without something like that. >> thank you. >> do we know who might be first out of the gate, like what kinds of companies? >> a lot of companies that have filed s-1s, but pitch book has a great list of backed ipos in 2025 and they some of the inspired brands, panera, what whataburger. >> i had panera for lunch. i haven't had watt hat whatabu. >> i don't know if they inspire me. leslie made a great point about the venture capital companies, they don't inspire me as much as the private equity ones. a lot of the venture capital companies are still founder-led and these are founders that are brilliant visionaries that brought a company from zero to a billion, but not necessarily the best public company ceos. whereas the private equity

sponsored companies have been built for the public market. >> you kind of mentioned very quickly -- and the point i was trying to make was our own company being spun off, it was more serious, which is if everyone just wants to buy the mag seven and the qqq or whatever it is, and there's no appetite for anything else, it won't matter how good the companies are. it's how the stock performs, right? >> well, today as you mentioned, mag seven is down. and if that's a trend that continues, it would bode well for ipos, stocks that people aren't investing in the mag seven as much. >> i think the counter would be, if you're a professional money manager and it's your job to beat the indexes, and mag seven comprises such a large portion, then you have to find other ideas to show the outperformance at the end of the year. >> guys, thanks. leslie, thanks. ken sticks around for the hour, as mentioned. on deck, why trump's tariffs could add more volatility to one of the most important

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welcome back to "power lunch." here is how your money looks. we were down at the end of the year, we had a nice pop to start 2025, now we're done again. not down big on the dow. do we follow the dow? we kind of do. but the nasdaq we know is what you watch. the nasdaq is down 1.4%, 286, all, as we said earlier, dom chu, of the mag seven. >> 5950 is the 50-day moving average in the s&p. we've been around that level for the last six or seven trading days. >> not just a van halen album. >> let's turn to what's happening with copper prices because they rose to a record high last may, june. but then trended lower for the rest of the year. the trade and tariff policy confusion is lingering right now. global demand for the metal is growing, though, at the same time. our next guest is here to give us the plan for trading copper in a more risk-managed fashion. joining us is the chief market

strategist at blue line futures. thank you for being here with us. we turn to you for some of the charts and fundamental stories behind commodities. is copper still the ph.d. in global economics we've talked about over decades at this point? >> i think it is and it's one of our favorite commodities in the metals complex. it oftentimes acts as a leading indicator for inflation in the economy. we see the decline in prices since the election and the long-term support as an opportunity to position for increasing multi-year demand. and, you know, you ask why, the imf recently put out global demand forecasts and expected demand for copper to double over the next decade. in your last segment you were talking about ai. ai applications require more energy intense computing and it's expected to increase copper demand by 3.4 million tons each year all the way up to 2050. so everything from electric vehicles, electric vehicles use four times more copper than

traditional gas vehicles. the grid and renewable technologies. we also expect constant traditional demand to pick up in 2025, construction spending, infrastructure spending and defense. so when you do your risk assessment, yes, the biggest headwinds are higher rates, stronger dollar, weaker china. but the biggest tailwinds could be chinese stimulus for infrastructure and development. i think these things are going to continue to roll through 2025. >> let's take us through the trade. the downward move, how exactly would you trade it in a risk-managed fashion? >> so you look at seasonally, we tend to see copper prices rise to the end of about february, last 13 out of 15 years. when you come out a winner, that's when you get the construction and the infrastructure spending pickup. so you look to buy the march micro copper at $4.15, put your stop loss and swing low around $3.95, so you're risking $500. you look at the target, the momentum move higher up to

$4.60, which would be, $1125, copper is the best performing commodity year to date and is up 4% now. >> risk $500 to make $1,125. thank you very much for that copper trade. we'll see you in a bit. >> could i put in a request? >> hat's it going to be? >> aluminum, i'll tell you why. here's the thing, copper goes into electric cars and into a lot of the electrification theme, but aluminum is what's used for a lot of the really high intensity power lines. so if you are playing the electrification trend, aluminum might be the quiet winner. >> depending on where you live. thank you, both. coming up, lina khan's exit interview, weighing in on the growing power of ai. we'll tell you what she had to say next.

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so we have an ongoing inquiry looking at some of these investments and partnerships between the incumbents and some

of he newer startups, trying to understand what's really going on. are these investments interfering with independent decisionmaking and is that going to undermine competition? that inquiry is ongoing. i'm hopeful we'll be able to share something publicly before i end my chairship. >> do you think there will be an announcement in the next week or two? >> i would hope so. we have to vote. >> that was lina khan weighing in on artificial intelligence, along with a host of other key issues. ken squire is here with us. i don't know if there's anything policy-wise that jumped out to you but this is her exit interview. >> with me, when i think of lina khan, i think about the future of m&a and the robust m&a markets that might be coming. >> that might be the only place where there's still questions about how the ftc agenda might be. do you think it's possible

they'll be antibig tech? >> anything is possible, but i don't think it's possible that we have a less robust m&a market. i think there's certainly going to be more over the next four years. >> we've got a bunch of deals announced already. a lot of them are mall, but it feels like there's a lot of chatter and maybe companies trying to get ahead. because once any industry starts having a couple of mergers, then everybody else has to react. >> yeah, and i think we're going to see that. i think it's going to be a good four years for bankers. >> exactly. by the way, shares of piper sandler, you saw them up 60 some percent. >> citigroup trying to sell themselves. >> the banker has got to eat, too. all right, we're going to get a quick check of the markets because we continue to go lower on big tech. i mean, the dow not getting hit at all, but, again, that's kind of like a headline index, like we talked about. we're seeing big tech, the nasdaq down 1.5%, yields also

the story. and rick santelli is in chicago. yields are on the move. this inflation story is a long way from being over. >> yeah, oh, absolutely. just look at what's going on in europe. not only do they have really lousy growth, they have inflation that's starting to rise. i fully suspect that inflation is not going to moderate to levels the fed feels comfortable with. you know, we had a lot going on today, brian. jolts over 8 million, most job openings since may of '24. prices paid leaped to the highest levels since february of pea 23. put those two together. and if you look at the last three days, tens are running way past the twos. right now they're up 5, twos are up 1. we've moved the spread four basis points today alone, which means it's knocking on the door of 40 basis points, which is the widest it's been in over 32

months on a closing basis. and finally, this last chart is really interesting. yes, ten-year note yields at current levels, should they close here, would be an eight-month high yield close. but we are just a smidge away from the highs yield close going back to november of '23. back to you, brian. >> rick santelli, thank you very much. we've got to get a news update. i want to throw up a stock, microstrategy, mstr, down 11% right now. >> i wonder how much that is from the recent highs, which were back in november. maybe 40%, last check. let's get to pippa stevens. >> moments ago a new york appeals court denied president-elect donald trump's bid to delay the friday sentencing in his criminal hush money case. trump's legal team argued he's already protected by presidential immunity and could not be sentenced and said his conviction should be thrown out on the same grounds. trump was found guilty on 34

felony ounts for falsifying records in an alleged scheme to cover up an affair with adult film star stormy daniels. the republican-led house passed its first bill of the new congress today, tightening security at the border. the so-called laken riley act is named after a 22-year-old georgia nursing student who was murdered by an immigrant who entered the country illegally. the measure would require federal immigration authorities to issue detainers and take custody of people in the country illegally who commit theft-related crimes, including shoplifting. and peter yarrow died today four years after he was diagnosed with bladder cancer. he was part of peter, paul and mary and a co-writer of "puff the magic dragon". he was 86 years old. back to you. >> thank you very much. coming up, a cnbc investigation into what happens when the silicon valley dream of big payouts for early investors,

well, when that doesn't exactly pan out. "power lunch" is back in two.

>> welcome back. it is time for another cnbc exclusive, and this time it is the more troubling side of startups. the silicon valley story most insiders like to promote as founders and investors, teaming up to launch big ideas. and when it works, making millions, or even billions of dollars, that's great. a darker we rarely get to see when startup founders and financial backers clash, going to battle over things like control, money, reputation. jon fortt knows that better than anybody and joins us now. >> this story is exactly that kind of battle. it's rare, the story is, because it was exposed in court, captured on camera. the characters are probably going to be new to you, but insiders tell me the plot that unfolds in this battle, all too common. here it is.

>> at the center of this battle, the startup toptal, short for top talent. it connects companies with highly skilled freelancers. in one corner, founder taso duval. >> i started it in 2010. >> in the other corner, financial backer denis grows. >> i was also giving them a million dollars at a very fragile point in their history. >> more than a decade ago, the two men were on a mission together to turn the tiny startup with less than 50 employees into a powerhouse. years later, duval says toptal has about 600 employees. by 2021, court documents show the company was generating more than $200 million in annual revenue and was valued as high as $3.6 billion. but in 2023, the two men became opponents in a courtroom, behind the scenes gross orchestrated what he called a cancer patient strategy.

>> what do you think it is? >> making it so crippled that they could steal the company. >> so this is just a taste. we'll have more in just over an hour on "overtime," and you can go to cnbc.com any time to watch the full story. it includes courtroom footage, evidence that gives an inside look at this saga. taso duval is a high school dropout and starts this company as a single member llc, he controls it. borrows some money that's supposed to convert to equity, right, if he raises a round. and the company is profitable and he decides not to raise a round. so he pays a million dollars back with interest, and denis gross feels like, i helped this young company, i deserve a stake, so he starts a rival company secretly, gets the former chief operating officer as part of that company, puts out information about duval and toptal that's negative and then

poaches key employees. all of a sudden, he's competing without saying exactly how all of that unfolded. taso sues him, wins in court. denis gross is appealing. but we get to see how it all has played out. >> i can't imagine, no, i don't want my million dollars, i'm going to start a company and go through all of this trouble. that's really interesting. jon, thanks. >> look forward to it. >> see you next hour. we'll sit down on the other side with the owner of one of new york city's oldest and most exclusive restaurants, talk the pulse of the consumer and much more. you probably have your pasta sauce in your pantry if you're doing things right. "power lunch" will be right back. the way home. that's right james, it isn't. car, where are we going? we're here. (♪♪) surprise!!! the future isn't scary. not investing in it is.

car, were you in on this? nothing gets by you james. nasdaq-100 innovators. one etf. before investing, carefully read and consider fund investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and more in prospectus at invesco.com

the great barrier reef. huh? here we are.

oooh. — g'day. — uh, where am i? australia! and you look like you need a vacation. show us what ya got. (♪♪) remarkable. yep! it's amazing. i love it! — what is it? — a wombat. come on! (♪♪) jump! down under, g'day is the start of every good adventure. so, what are you waiting for? come and say g'day. (♪♪) welcome back to "power lunch." we have a very special next guest, who does have a pulse on kind of the high-end consumer and restaurant business, but also made one of the most successful sauces. he runs rao's, widely considered one of the most exclusive restaurants in america. they've been serving classic italian favorites at their ten-table restaurant in east harlem, new york, for nearly 130

years. now locations in los angeles and miami. frank pellegrino jr. is the co-owner. can we tell people that you're a regular? >> we just did. >> yes, you can. and thank you so much for having me here this afternoon. it's a real honor and privilege. and all that work is done by our family, not just me. my cousin ron, who is my partner, we've got joe, dino in the kitchen, and tommy and everybody out there dedicating to delivering the best of what it is that we do. >> and you sold off the name. i want to be clear. so the sauce that got sold -- >> which i'm obsessed with. >> everybody is, and so is campbell's soup. you're still running the restaurants. i have a good friend who is a huge restauranteur. what's it been like running a restaurant post-covid, what has changed? >> one thing has changed

remarkably. the new 8:00 reservation is 6:00 or 7:30. that's a trend we've seen in every region that we're in, whether it be in los angeles, miami, and especially here in new york. now, in new york that helps us out a little bit, because then we can squeeze in an extra little table here or there for dear friends like kenny and, of course, yourselves. >> can you quickly tell the story -- i think people think, well, ken, he's on cnbc, of course he would get a table here. no, no, no. that's not how this works. how did you become a regular? >> so i was lucky enough to go one time with frankie, i was at the bar and frankie sat us, like he said, they were able to fit somebody in. >> how long ago was that? >> 1998. and we had a great time. it's like you're getting served by family. they're all literally family and they treat you like family. >> so 25 years ago you show up at the bar and you think maybe i have a chance? >> well, yes, yes.

and frankie had said come to the bar and we'll see what we can do. and we ate and it was just incredible and we thanked him the next day. and, you know, we were invited back and we just made friendships. it's just a genuine -- >> frankie, is this not a hand-kept list? how far in advance -- are you already booked for the entire year? >> i think the true reason for the success of rao's on 114th street and pleasant avenue is that it has remained the same since the turn of the century. and what is of paramount concern to us is our guests and their satisfaction and their well-being. you've got to keep in mind, it's ten tables. the kitchen is wide open. when you walk down those first four steps, you see dino in the kitchen, back in the day you saw my uncle vincent, my aunt anna or my father and myself. it was a small little team. my dad would take the order, i was the busboy.

the order gets passed to me, i make the appetizers for the guests who have been coming for 50 years already, and i'm 13. >> they have set tables. >> yes. >> not that i would know. there's not like a reservation. you have a table and a time. >> yes, that is correct. >> i'm told. >> yeah, so, kenny, you do what, quarterlies now? >> six, yeah. i have all my reservations for next year. >> the most powerful people in the world watch this network and these are men and women used to getting what they want. they want to go to your restaurant, frankie, and they can't get in. what's your advice to them? >> patience, perseverance and persistence, and come sit at the bar, and goodwill. there's another alternative, and that is the sauce. >> you're not going to buy the sauce. >> brian, one thing that i think is getting lost, we talk about exclusivity and billionaires that can't get in. it's more out of loyalty than exclusivity.

they're loyal to the people that have been eating there for 50, 60 years, and their families. they're not going to let the billionaire or celebrity in and kick them out. >> i like that. >> that's how it should be. >> we will never displace our guests. those are the people who helped us make what rao's is today. and that same philosophy applies to our food products as well and the sauce. >> you're going for the indefinite future? there's no end line to this in sight? >> we've been so blessed to be here for 130 years. we're hoping to be here for at least another 100, if the heavens so deem it to be. >> well, maybe sometime in the next 100, maybe i'll show up. i don't know. anything could happen. >> in the worst case scenario, come over to my house and i'll cook for you. i'll make you rao's at home. >> make it at my house. now we're talking. >> thank you very much. >> an honor. >> a pleasure. >> a privilege to be here. thank you so very much. >> thank you, buddy.

>> the ability to pay players has changed college sports forever. interview with eli manning next. catch the markets on today and every weekday on "closing bell," sponsored by e-trade for morgan stanley. i've seen it. trust me, after 15 walks, it gets a little old. ugh. i really should be retired by now. wish i'd invested when i had the chance... to the moon! unbelievable. stop waiting. start investing. e*trade ® from morgan stanley.

all right, there is a gigantic winter storm, i don't mean hitting now, because we know a lot of you got hit, but later on this week. check this out, kelly. dallas, texas, could get a foot of snow just in time, by the way, for the college playoff football semifinal between ohio state and texas. it's the cotton bowl in dallas. now, storm aside, this new college football playoff format bringing millions of more dollars for schools and new rules allowing the players to

get their cut has changed everything, and maybe not for the better. a new cnbc sport video cast and eli manning on his take of the changing face of college sports. >> i'm a little bit worried. and i'm fine that players are getting paid and this is a big business. college football is making tons of money and the players deserve to be rewarded. but just the fact that, you know, the easy transferring and basically each player is a free agent twice a year and can negotiate, i think it's -- i feel that there's not a whole lot of loyalty to your college, to your coach, to your school. you're maybe not picking a school based on it being the best fit for you or you like the teammates or you like your coaches or you like the campus. it's all about who maybe is paying the most money and moving around each year to chase the money. that's not the idea of sports. that's not the idea of college

football. >> wow. let's bring in the man that did that interview with eli manning, cnbc's alex sherman. i couldn't agree more. a lot of people would disagree. but it's a big interview, alex. >> i think eli manning spoke from a fan perspective, which is interesting, because not only was he a high-profile college football player once himself, but his nephew, arch manning, is currently a college football player, sort of going through the process. and i asked him during that interview if he's watching, and he said, of course i'm watching. i'm passionate about the game, i'm passionate about texas where his nephew was playing. but i think he speaks from a general sentiment of concern that many long-time fans of college football are now kind of going through mentally, which is that they still love the game, they still love their teams, they're excited for an expanded college football playoffs. but at the same time, this idea of the constant transferring and payment of athletes, it just rubs people the wrong way, and i think concern is the right

general word. >> you can watch the whole thing at cnbc.com/sport. great stuff. >> can we say eli manning? forget it, we don't know anything about him, but we love him, and i think he's right about all of this. ken, appreciate you joining us. ken squire has been our guest host all hour long. thank you for watching "power lunch." >> "closing bell" starts next. >> i'm scott wapner from post nine. we begin with nvidia and apple, the former reversing, the latter slumping. shares were downgraded to sell today and both are dragging on the nasdaq in this final stretch. we'll show you the majors and you'll see what i'm talking about with 60 to go in regulation. what started as a record-setting day for nvidia following jensen huang's speech has turned into the worst day for shares since september