we look forward to the challenge. >> former nbc chairman bob wright introducing cnbc to the world on ay of april, 25 years ago today. >> we are so excited to have bob back with us today to talk about the creation of the network and its evolution, all of which probably never would have happened without bob wright. you haven't changed a bit. you look exactly the same. >> unlike the rest of us, you haven't changed in 25 years, bob. and look -- we don't even have to suck up to you anymore! >> i had dead david running a dell prompter. it was probably the whole secret. >> he loves to tell that story, too. i know. >> did you ink think 25 years from then you'd be sitting here celebrating this, that we'd be as successful as it turned out? >> well, i was always very optimistic. it was an enormous challenge, michelle. i mean, my god, it was a brutal effort. even chuck dolan ran out of money before we got up on this. it was a very difficult thing. then we doubled down two years later with fnn. then we got some very good people, including yourselves. then people forget in 1993 we went to asia and

, introduced it to a new groundbreaking financial channel. >> i'm bob wright, the president of nbc, and i would like to welcome you to the most significant programming effort they have ever undertaken outside of the network. cnbc. >>> we have come a long way, the economy has nearly tripled in size, the price rising nearly 400%, as you can see the styles have matured a little bit along with the programming. >> nice hair style. >> there was more hair and less of me, i think. >>> that is an interesting period of time. and i think the internet and access to the new york stock exchange for business reporters. >> and think about how that business has changed over time. amazing stuff. >>> all right that is it for us, "nightly business report," i'm susie gharib, thank you for joining us. >>> and i'm tyler mathisen, have a great night, we'll see you in for a special nightly edition of business report. man: it's like holy mother of comfort food.ion. woman: throw it down. it's noodle crack. woman: you have to be ready for the heart attack on a platter. man: okay, i'm the bacon guy. man: oh, i just

click bob wright -- >> bob wright is here with us. your favorite hbo show? i have not watched that one yet. >> i am fascinated with the prohibition period. i think the acting is spectacular. i kind of like the earlier episodes that are. -- better. it has a whole lot of history going on. it is wonderful and it is brutal. >> i love game of thrones. we were talking about amc. walking dead, what is your favorite tv show right now? >> i spend more time watching news programs than i ever did. -- news isy to stay more fascinating to me because i have more time to watch it. there are a lot of great entertainment shows. amc has quite a number of them. nbc has come back pretty strong. abc has been there and cbs continues to be strong. the cable entertainment channels, usa is still very strong. who do you think wins the content for? the streamers? the other content providers? >> i think it is going to be people can have a foot in both camps. they can have a foot in content providing and also distributing. there are many winners. you do not have to have 20. if you have

the founders of autism speaks, bob and suzanne wright joining me next.heart ♪ ♪ you have to let me know [ female announcer ] when sweet and salty come together, the taste is irresistible. sweet and salty nut bars by nature valley. nature at its most delicious. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap. >>> today is world autism awareness day. a new report recently found that one in 68 children are identified as having autism spectrum disorders. that's a stunning 30% increase this only two years. bob and suzanne wright are the founders of autism speaks and they join me from new york city. i should point out they are our former head of nbc and my great friends, and thank you for all

you saw bob wright in that clip 25 years ago.e has to say from the man himself, that's today, he'll be joining the closing bell team at 3:00 eastern time. can't wait to hear from bob a little later and hope all of you will tune into that interview. in the last 25 years, is the there -- is there a trade that you guys -- maybe not one that sticks out, but maybe there is, that you look back and say, that's the within i missed? >> oh, yeah. >> i wish i could have that one back. >> a host of emththem. not the least of which when the convertible bond, financing expansion of the company, for a bunch of customers, i said this is a great bond, you should buy it. they did. i didn't. it's only up 50 times from that time, judge, in the last 25 -- i mean, starbucks, phenomenal company. you should never have sold it. i didn't get on until much later. and i wish i would have bought that. >> for me, right in my backyard, going to the school at the university of minnesota, the sound of music was the original name of the company, when it transform

old friend suzanne and bob wright ringing the bell. the former ceo.y's guest on the second hour of "the closing bell." see you tomorrow, kelly. >> welcome to "the closing bell." i'm kelly evans. the rally rolling on as the dow tries but it looks like has failed to close at a record high. here is how we're finishing up the day on wall street. the dow adding 40 points to 15,573. the nasdaq meanwhile up about 8 after flirting with the flight line and the s&p 500 adding 5, 1,890. that we can say for that broad market index is another record high. let's bring in today's panel. elon, stephanie link, sheila dharmarajan, and steve grasso will join us in a second when he's off the floor. also with us for more on today's markets, we have another "fast money" trader, guy adami. and it is great to see all of you. stephan stephanie, the context here is so interesting. at the backdrop of everyone talking about whether the stock market is rigged or not, we continue to rally. volume today a little light perhaps but i wonder if that doesn't make more people hesitate g

but welch and then nbc president bob wright proved them wrong and a few years later when they pickedy named -- who was it again -- roger aelz to run the joint, let's just say the joint started rocking and business news really started rocking. the news was the money. then came the money honey. and it all started rolling 25 years ago today. if only i knew then all the folks who seriously doubted that channel would ever make it, i might never have made that leap this day a quarter century ago. back then, many thought a business network wouldn't last. yet today no fewer than three do. cnbc, bloomberg, and the one you might have heard me mention once or twice on this show, fbn. oh, you don't get fox business? fbn. be there. you don't get it? demand it. what do you do? what do you do? and then what do you do? >> caution! >> you really better demand it. >> oh, no, no. you don't get fox business? you don't get fbn? bone appetit. now, we bust on each other, but we are all a part of each other, the same money mosaic. a bigger mosaic now, a more crowded mosaic now, even louder mosaic now the sa

bob wright, former ceo of nbc universal talking about the comcast-time warner merger.k, founder of sam adams -- jim koch. they pulled out of the boston st. patrick's day parade. we will have to talk to him a little bit about that. you don't want to miss it more "street smart" tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. i will see you then. ♪ >> it is 56 past the hour which means bloomberg television is "on the markets." i'm alix steel. you had the s&p closing at yet another record high. take a look there. up 0.3% and recapitalizing on earlier losses. the nasdaq was down part of the day but slipping into positive territory towards the close him up 0.2%. factory orders in february rose more than estimated companies adding 191,000 jobs in march affecting the treasury market as well. the yield on the 10-year pushing to a three week high on better data. will the fed have good enough data to perhaps raise rates next year? that is with the treasury market is trying to work out right now. look at the has a time between stocks and bonds in today's insight and action. are it looks like investors chan

bob wright, of course, was the head of nbc for 24 years. so he knows media.ss. people need to understand the profound impact of this issue. >> i want to show another clip from the movie featuring a medically retired marine, hardy mills, who has a child with autism. >> half of the working population has insurance coverage. through all the large corporations, like apple, walmart, ge, exxon. plus the u.s. government, which is the largest sing ebl employer in the country. and yet congress has failed to act on the large corporations, and on its own u.s. government employees, to bring autism insurance to those families. >> okay. that was the wrong sound byte. we'll get to the sound byte that i wanted to ask you about. but talk about that, about action in congress on this issue. >> this is incredible. we don't want to discriminate against people who have autism. it's something that occurred, that parents have no insurance coverage for. only 36 states which we helped get insurance coverage for have autism insurance coverage. the other 14 states are working hard to ge

autism speaks was founded in 2005 by bob and suzanne wright. bob was a chairman at nbc universal and a vice chairman of ge. he and his wife for grandparents to a child he was diagnosed at age two. normal and perfectly over time he started to withdraw into himself and have g.i. issues and other typical behavior for someone on the autism spectrum. he was diagnosed. what they recognized was that there was raise awareness of autism. we could get answers from their own doctors. they had resources available to them. they went everywhere and they were rejected or ignored or told to go home and take care of it. they said to themselves, if this is happening to us it is got to be happening to many other families around this country and around the world. company withthis bernie marcus. a number of other ceos brought to bear all of the ceo experience to the urgency of the autism crisis. the term autism a lot these days. how would you define it? guest: autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder. it is a spectrum. he sees people at one end of the spectrum who ha

1989, 24 years for me, and i'm so proud of this organization that really started as an idea by bob wrightber that well and in the mid-1990s cnbc took off, was the hottest thing on it will vision for many, many years and we've really never looked back. had a number of presidents, but mark hoffman has been here for a long, long time. done a great job. we've expanded from television. we're now all over the internet and all over radio and doing conferences. the organization just keeps getting bigger and bigger, guys, and i couldn't be proud of it today. >> and, bob, how about the significance of what markets are doing here. it's been all year we've been waiting for the dow to breach its december 31 closing high. had it for the s&p. the dow has traded above that level. if it happens today why do you think that is? >> i think the important thing is the fed did give a little bit of a push here, a little bit of an upgrade to the u.s. economy and said economic activity had picked up in recent month. i would have liked a little more aggressive statement, but i think that's really all you can get aw

and bob wright, jack welch, tom rodgers -- god, i don't want to leave anybody else.you have pretty much everyone. >> he came later. he came later. what he's done since is a little bit -- anyway. becky brought that up by the way. 33 cents a share was a penny above expectations. that's down 15% from a year ago because it excludes a lot of the nbc operations that are now -- they own 49% for a while after that initial sale. industrial segment, organic revenue up 8%, growth market revenue up 7%. the estimate for revenue was 34.36 billion and i think it came in at 34.2. so on that much money, that's pretty close. it was down -- >> it's because of shrinking ge capital. >> which has been the story after the financial crisis. >> that was done 2% from a year ago. jeff immelt making comments. it was strong organic growth, margin enhancement. industrial segment profits rose 12%. earlier, we had a nonstory about jeff immelt. they talk about succession every board meeting, i would think. i don't know whether anything was different here or whether more was made of that. >> i tell y

bob and susan wright are marking autism awareness day. be with us and watch that.ow online and on facebook and twitter. my colleague has a look at what's next. >> thanks so much, andrea. >>> we're going to have more on sports. just ahead, former labor secretary robert rooish is going to unpack the deadly gm dan skan dal and more on sports, a couple of heavy weights from that industry join us with an impassioned take on the fight to unionize college athletes. >>> plus an unexpected hollywood star is going to join our call to action this week. don't go away. [ engine turns over ] [ male announcer ] the 2014 nissan altima. with 270 horses... ♪ ...blind spot warning... ♪ ...and advanced drive assist. ♪ nothing beats an altima. except another altima. ♪ nissan. innovation that excites. ♪ add vanishing deductible from nationwide insurance and get $100 off for every year of safe driving. we put members first. join the nation. ♪ nationwide is on your side [ mom ] when we're having this much fun, why quit? and new bounty has no quit in it either. watch how one sheet of new b

autism speaks was founded in 2005 by bob and suzanne wright. bob was a chairman at nbc universal and a vice chairman of ge. he and his wife for grandparents to a child he was diagnosed at age two. normal and perfectly over time he started to withdraw into himself and have g.i. issues and other typical behavior for someone on the autism spectrum. he was diagnosed. what they recognized was that there was raise awareness of autism. we could get answers from their own doctors. they had resources available to them. they went everywhere and they were rejected or ignored or told to go home and take care of it. they said to themselves, if this is happening to us it is got to be happening to many other families around this country and around the world. company withthis bernie marcus. a number of other ceos brought to bear all of the ceo experience to the urgency of the autism crisis. the term autism a lot these days. how would you define it? guest: autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder. it is a spectrum. he sees people at one end of the spectrum who ha

bob strauss as an and the touche and. -- institution. it is the president cost favorite troubleshooter. house,mer speaker of the -- wright, shamelessly famously toasted strauss. it is an honor to have with us a close friend of the night president of the united states -- whoever the hell he maybe. usual washington power walk. photos fromn presidential pals like the one rom torture h w bush, his longtime runs. -- friend. chili?u call that he was the greatest george. he commented on those relationships and the results they got. one journalist wrote that strauss always radiated an ability to mend the fence. he could seal the deal. all of that, of course, was true. there were also less charitable assessments, like the former texas senator who once claimed, "his vocabulary was insufficient strauss describe robert ." he is best described by his own definition of the l -- himself. doer, ae, a worker, a putter-together. he had in his office, a letter signed, next to the photos of his children and grandchildren. it was a gift. it cant in gold letters, be done. more than anything else, that was strauss' true believe. they believe t

bobs to the top of the river and people see it and it's dragged in. then the question is, will anyone be punished for the crime? and it's only because of this old man, mose wright, that two people are charged with the murder, and then in an incredible act of courage, mose wright gets on the stand and famously points to the men who took the boy away that night and in specific to one of the men and says, they're he. and mose wright had to be held in seclusion and protection and then taken out of state immediately. you understand the threat to his life was uncredible. but he nonetheless acted in a way that we had never seen a black man act in the state of mississippi before. willing to stand in court and identify a white man as the murderer of this black child. and the court -- the jury came back and found the men not guilty, but that act of courage is one, again, i think few people know about. they know about emmett till maybe as the kid who got lynched but don't know about the act of courage i think is the light, the grace that comes from the awful story. >> thank you. i think we have time for just maybe one or two questions from the audience. if you have a ques