josh lipton, "nightly business report", austin, texas. >>> coming up, affordable luxury.sounds good, right? it's the fastest growing segment of the car industry. what are the high-end auto makers doing to win over potential customers? we have that story coming up next. >>> sabiro the pizza chain filed for bankruptcy protection with 30 affiliate owners. it's the second bankruptcy filing in the past three years and plans to close 155 of the approximately 400 outlets to cut costs. >>> we have an auto recall to tell you about. chrysler is recalling 25,000 jeep grand cherokees and dodge durango suvs with 2012 to 2013. there is a problem with break fluid that could make the pedal soft. >>> jeeps and suvs are hot. america is shifting gears, buying more luxury cars. in fact, affordable luxury car sales are ex spelpected to grow times faster and many of the up scale cars will have a noticeably lower sticker price. the battle over entry level luxury cars is just now heating up and phil lebeau has the details. >> reporter: it's the latest example of luxury auto makers trying to win

josh lipton was on the scene, joins us with the latest. josh, any new news on the deal with apple?here at apple hq in cupertino, california, the ceo did field questions. we have done 23 acquisitions in the past 16 months, we would be interested, also, in a big acquisition, but it would have to make strategic sense for us. acquisitions, we have done 23 in the past year and half. but we'll keep looking for ones that make long-term for the company. he was also asking about product innovation. some share holders were asking, why don't you talk more about the products in your pipeline and tim cook responding, listen, we're not interesting in laying out a road map for our rivals, nor are we interested, he in his words, being ripped off by our rivals. finally, he talked about the emerging markets and the growth the company is seeing there, we talked about brazil, cook said they did less $4 billion in revenue last year. last year, over $30 billion. finally, of course, shareholder were here, a couple of hundred of them. they drove here and flew here. they were to listen to cook. they were a

jon fortt, josh lipton, and dom chu., i thought we were going to have a glamour shot. he sent one over this morning. clearly they used the cnbc head shot instead. >> i am not yummy and i am darn happy about that. >> what would you be if you weren't a yummy. >> sum said i was a retrosexual because i grow a beard and cut firewood on the weekend. >> vf a good weekend everybody. >> "the closing bell" is next. >> and welcome to "the closing bell." i'm kelly evans here at the new york stock exchange, bill, and what a ride it's been already as we enter the final hour. >> crazy day. i said this is wall street's version of march madness. i'm bill griffeth at cnbc global headquarters. it seems like ancient history but the s&p early on today was on track to close at a record high. but shocks have turned lower. you had dallas fed president richard fisher apparently he has a calendar, and he figured out that at

josh lipton has more. >> reporter: the x-box 1 needs a jolt, and today it could get it. microsoft debuted its hottest new video game title "titan fall." the company has a lot riding on its success. research from npd says that sony's gaming console, the ps 4, is beating the x-box 1 by at least a 2 to 1 margin in the u.s. >> this generation of consoles is off to the best start ever. >> reporter: microsoft isn't throwing in the towel. the chief marketing and strategy officer at x-box is excited about titan fall's potential. >> i do think that titan fall will be a big boost to the console generation market. as i said it's already off to the hottest start yet. but i think people have been waiting for a great game like this to come and make the move. so we're optimistic that it's going to get a lot of people to come try x-box 1. >> reporter: there have been reports of hiccups with the launch of the new game, but microsoft needs strong software titles like titan fall to drive sales of its x-box platform. while sony says it has sold 6 million ps 4 consoles, microsoft in its last

josh lipton takes us inside the making of a blockbuster. >> reporter: think it costs a lot of money to make a blockbuster movie? >> for all we know we may be able to patch you through to their security. >> reporter: try producing a blockbuster video game. one week from today sony will release infamous second son. its first big exclusive game for the ps 4 video game console. this is a third installment of a series that has been very successful for sony, and one that it hopes will help it continue beating microsoft in the console wars. making and marketing a game like this can require an enormous budget. >> a big budget game title right now will cost almost as much as a feature film. i mean, you can talk budgets from 50 million all the the way up to over $200 million for a specific title. >> reporter: it's a multiyear, massive undertaking to make these big budget video games. there can be up to 100 people working on a game for years. game developers, engineers and artists, just for the music there were three composers and about ten musicians creating the soundtrack for infamous second so

josh lipton explains. >> reporter: it's an ipo sparking a ton of buzz. alibaba started the process of filing for a u.s. ipo and months of speculation about where it would go public. the chinese e commerce giant runs websites where consumers and companies buy goods. alibaba makes money for advertising. now the company will make a public debut possibly one day bringing the business state side and competing with well-known e commerce giants. >> going public on the new york stock exchange will be a great event for them. that could really help them be a very, very important force in the u.s. and in europe, as well, competing with amazon and ebay. >> reporter: alibaba generated revenue of 2.3 billion in 2011 which doubled in 2012 and most recent quarter revenue surged more than 50% year over year. alibaba is profiting from a fast-growing chinese e commerce market the company dominates. raymond james peg the evaluation at $150 billion. that's especially good news for yahoo which holds a 24% stake in alibaba. after taxes analysts say that stake could be worth $2

josh lipton has more on what's being learned and what those students hope to accomplish. >> reporter: instagram's founder kevin sistrom sold his company to facebook for $1 billion. as students at stanford university now prepare for graduation, many dream of creating the next instagram so they do what sistrom did, enroll in the technology ventures program. the program started in 1988. its mission is to teach students to succeed as high tech entrepreneurs. its alumni have worked all over silicon valley from google to silver lake partners. every year about 2,000 students take part in the program where they study entrepreneurship, finance and business strategy. many create their own business ideas which they then present to a panel of venture capitalists, stanford's own version of the popular television program "shark tank." >> if i want to take somebody's ideas and turn them into reality, it would be very helpful to have the support of stdp and to learn how to sell my ideas to the investment community. >> reporter: professors at the school say part of the program involves toughening up t

josh lipton has more. >> reporter: there's always buzz in silicon valley about what company could be the next hot ipo. a name that's often mentioned, palantere. the case is easy to make. palantere's specialty is crunching massive amounts of data so that organizations can make sense of it. its clients include the department of defense, the los angeles police department, and big banks such as jpmorgan and morgan stanley. palantere has already raised close to $1 billion. its revenues are estimated to be close to 500 million. and analysts peg its valuation at more than $9 billion. >> they've made it really easy for enterprises to get their arms around all this information, whether it's structured data or unstructured information, e-mails, memos, voice, video. and it's very simple for a company just to get their arms around their information and put it all together. >> reporter: palantere has attracted prominent silicon valley players such as peter teal whose stake in the company is said to be worth almost $1 billion as well as famed investor stanley drunkenmiller and cia's inqutel ventur

josh lipton, "nightly business report," cupertino, california. >>> let's get the reaction now to that meeting from one of apple's largest shareholders, calpers. a california public employees retirement system. the senior portfolio manager and director at calpers is with us. ann your firm or fund has had a position in apple for many years since the 1980s. you've been to a lot of these shareholder meetings over the years. did tim cook say anything that you think is going to inspire and encourage investors and make them feel confident about the direction he's taking the company? >> yes. i think the most impressive thing about tim cook is that he stays cool, calm and collected when there is noise and distraction all around him. the company's been under a lot of intense short-term pressure, notably from mr. carl icahn. i think he's been smartly rebuffed. and the voice of reason has prevailed. this is a company that's very important to calpers for the long term. we're very pleased that tim cook has got his eye on the ball, thinking about the long term, thinking about innovation, and he's co

josh lipton has more on facebook's takeover of oculus and the company's plans to move a virtual world. >> reporter: the social networks are going to be -- the computing platform of today is mobile. the computing platform of tomorrow could be virtual reality. that's the big bet facebook's mark zuckerberg just made with his $2 billion acquisition of oculus, which develops virtual reality technology. users put on a headset and feel like they're inside and part of a video game. it's a totally immersive gaming experience which facebook sees as the next big opportunity. >> it seems like they've done a pretty good job of securing market share and opportunities when it comes to mobile. and they're thinking about what's next. and to them, seemingly virtual reality is one of those areas where you could see some new paradigm. >> reporter: zuckerberg says virtual reality has all kinds of applications. imagine feeling like you're courtside at a game, talking one-on-one with your doctor, or studying in a classroom halfway around the world. >> that is clear? >> reporter: this isn't just sci-fi fanta

to piggyback on what josh lipton was talking about. he was talking about sony's platform. what it could be used for. i think it's important for us to remember that facebook is very much about advertising and marketing. it's about personal experiences. it's about targeting. you can imagine putting on a v.r. headset in the right environment, and feeling like you're actually inside that car that you might want to test drive. being able to potentially look at different interiors, the way they look. also, walk through a home that you might be interested in actually literally walking through. walk through it virtually, wearing one of the headsets. there's all sorts of applications like that, that you can imagine for the very types of verticals where facebook could make a lot of money. 80% of this deal in stock. it's an interesting way for facebook to go forward. >> jon, at the same time, that sounds great. but facebook is essentially getting into the hardware business. is that -- as an investor, do you want facebook to be in a business that's going to be pressured on margins? ha

scott, back to you. >> josh lipton, thank you.his spending free that facebook is going on, murph, is this good or bad for the stock? $21 billion in the month. >> short term it's obviously the market is speaking, selling off. whether that's to do with the purchases or whether that's to do with a lot of momentum names rolling over a bit in the last couple of weeks. >> is this questionable, the way they're spending and allocating their capital on a day when we talk about how xaerchs a s acom spending their money? >> you can question it. i look at it, i'm a shareholder. i'm still in the name. and i think this could potentially be a phenomenal move long term. short term the market doesn't love it. remember, they are doing the bulk of these deals with stock that has appreciated greatly. >> what does that say about facebook stock in and of itself. >> that they're smart. >> it says the ceo -- exactly. the ceo is going out there and seeing an appreciated currency and using it to acquire -- >> i heard the former head of development for face

josh lipton is in mountainview, california. josh?ter: tyler, here in mountainview, california, where governor jerry brown is going to be meeting with the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, the two are going to talk about cybersecurity, alternative energy and the drought here in california. i'm going to havp that story coming up for you in just a few minutes. back to you. >> josh, thank you very much. that is coming up. plus -- >> coming up, "power pitch." courting a $50 billion industry. this startup is about to walk their idea down the aisle. will our panelists say "i do"? >> are you in or are you out? >> stay tuned to find out. ...return on investment wall isn't a street... isn't the only return i'm looking forward to... for some, every dollar is earned with sweat, sacrifice, courage. which is why usaa is honored to help our members with everything from investing for retirement to saving for college. our commitment to current and former military members and their families is without equal. a short word that's a tall order.

josh lipton is there. so he's here now. josh? >> yeah. coin summit, this is a bitcoin conference going on in san francisco, mark andreesen was just on stage. warren buffett had called bitcoin a mirage and he was asked to respond to that. here's what he said. >> the historical track record of old white men that don't understand technology crapping on new technology i think is at 100%. >> so having tough words for the oracle. he's also asked how does he think about investing in bitcoin? how does he think about putting money to work? here's what he had to say about that. >> we think there's a whole ecosystem here. we think the ecosystem is already forming. in a lot of ways we think of ourselves as reacting. we're now seeing hundreds of high-quality entrepreneurs and technologis technologists. >> so they're betting big on the core infrastructure around bitcoin. outfitting sites for bitcoin wallets. and andreesen has already put $50 million to work in bitcoin. related companies. talking about bitcoin says it's as bulletproof as he's seen. >> j

josh lipton is there and has two really cool gadgets to show us. he biggest fan of wearables on the planet and when i say the biggest, i mean literally, right, josh? >> reporter: yeah, the biggest. listen, it's a $3 billion market. it just keeps getting bigger. wearable technology is certainly generating a lot of buzz here at south by southwest panels, discussions, competitions. i did talk to the biggest fan of wearable technology here at south by southwest. he talked to me about his use of fitbit. take a listen. >> puts me back into great athlete mode. if i'm doing a lot of stuff during the day and i walk 4,000 steps, it's almost 12:00, i got work to do. that forces me to get on the treadmill. >> reporter: remember, shaq knows tech. he's part owner of the sacramento kings. they of course incorporate google glass into their games but what could be the next hot wearable? we might have just found out. here at south by southwest, 48 startups all competed and it wasn't just bragging rights. past participants have received $600 million in funding. the wi

and now, josh lipton has the story. >> h.p.nning on rolling out 3d printers, just not as soon as meg whitman recently suggested. over the weekend, the company saying whitman made a mistake last week at the company's shareholders meeting, when she said that h.p. would make a big technology announcement in june. now, the announcement will come by the end of the fiscal year. so, october 31st. shares of 3d printers ended mixed in today's session. the problem with 3d printers is they're often slow and the quality isn't great. whitman saying h.p. has solved both those issues. what does 3d printing mean for h.p.'s bottom line? exposure to a fast-growing i have. but h.p. does $100 billion revenue. it's hard to see how a move into printers can have a material impact. the more immediate benefit, analysts say, is perception. whitman wants to remind investors that h.p. can be capable of innovating and disrupting industries. >> do you read this as they absolutely are going to build this business instead of buy it? >> she was pretty clear, k

josh lipton, live in austin, texas with more. ech guru, josh. >> reporter: we do. wearable technology, certainly one of hot topics here at south by southwest. panels, discussions, competitions. i did speak to, no doubt, the biggest fan of wearable technology, here at south by southwest, who spoke to me about his use of fit bit. >> my goal is 10,000 steps. when i'm stepping, i can see my feet stepping. gets me back into great athlete mode. if i do a lot of stuff during the day, let me look, 4,000 steps, it's almost 12:00, i got work to do, forces me to get on the treadmill. >> reporter: now, remember, shaq is a fan of all things tech. en early investor in google. owner with the sacramento kings, incorporate a lot of technology into the games. i asked what the technology coming up that has him the most excited. here what happens he had to say. >> i'm anxious to see this new iwatch coming out. i'm seeing pictures, i'm seeing how they look. i'm anxious to see it. ipod, telephone, text messages, tweet, hearing stories of when it's comi

as josh lipton reports, there are secret agreements to not poach employees of large tech companies. >> it started with apple and google entering into an alleged secret agreement promising not to poach each other's employees. now court documents show that this alleged tech wage conspiracy scheme could include microsoft, oricle, comcast and others. the suit is being brought by attorneys representing 64,000 tech workers. a lawyer says they are seeking $9 billion in damages. they said there was a behind the scenes agreement. in 2007 when a recruiter from google contacted an apple employee. steve jobs forwarded the message to eric smicht. i would be please fd your recruiting department would stop doing this. they fired the recruiter within the hour. bill campbell wrote google's about steve jobs, steve called me again and is [ bleep ] that we're recruiting his browser guy. he said jobs told him if you hire a single one of these people, that means war. now when silicon valley executive is distancing herself from the controversy. cheryl sand burg filed a decoration with the court on friday of

as josh lipton reports, this first big move by microsoft's new ceo could be a peek into the company's future. >> reporter: new microsoft ceo hasn't been on the job long but he's already signalling his company could look a lot different under his direction. next thursday at an event in san francisco, nadela will be talking to the press about mobile and cloud computing. he might also announce that its office software suite will be available for apples ipad tablets. that could boost microsoft's bottom line big time. >> we're talking 3 to 5 billion type of market opportunity potentially per year. it's been low-hanging fruit for microsoft in terms of this opportunity. and now they finally looked in the mirror and realized they needed to open up the platform. >> reporter: the office suite includes tools such as word, excel and powerpoint, and it generates the majority of the company's profits. analysts on wall street have been telling microsoft to make a version of office available for mobile devices for rivals like apple and google. now microsoft's management is coming around. analysts say

josh lipton, josh. >> yeah, facebook making headlines buying oculus for $2 billion. you put on this headset and you should feel like you're inside the video game. a totally immersive experience. they had raised about $90 million from big named vcs here in silicon valley but who are the people behind oculus. the founder is a young guy, home schooled, son of a car salesman. very bright. began taking courses in college. he initially thought he would become a journalist but then switched tracks and pursued a career in tech. no surprise an avid gamer. palmer luckey thought virtual reality often didn't live up to expectations. we now know he at least has one big backer. last night on the call with analysts facebook said the oculus head set was like nothing he had ever experienced. back to you. >> thank you, josh. appreciate it. slated ceo and internet pioneer is back with us. what do you make of mark zuckerberg going on this spending spree, $2 billion today alone? >> brilliant. when i talked about facebook's ipo, it seems like a lifetime ago now. a lot of people were dismi

josh lipton, cnbc, silicone valley. >> we're going to be digging in those details later on in the showfor now, have a look at shares at tata consult services in india. the country's top i.t. exports are warning weaker sales. they expect weaker revenue these quarter than in previous. but they're predicting higher growth in 2015. >>> still to come on the show, vladimir putin says he has no entire to move further into ukraine, but does he mean it? >>> welcome back to "worldwide exchange." quick check of the futures right now. a little higher in the last 20 minutes or so. the s&p is indicating higher by 1.25 points. the nasdaq higher by around 5 points and the dow jones higher by 20 points. that sentiment turning more positive over the last few minutes. as far as the european markets are concerned, the ftse 100 is relatively unchanged, so pulling back some of the losses of the last hour or so. the german market higher by 0.4%. & the cac 40 is unchanged and the ftse mib is down around 0.25%. the focus today is on yellen and the fed this afternoon. >> ukrainian soldier necessary crimea have

. >>> apple's announcing an ios powered carplay for your car's josh lipton in sunnyvale, california, good morning, josh. >> reporter: good morning, carl. tech titans are fighting hard to get their technology into your car, and apple just made a big move in that ongoing battle. meet carplay, a new way to use your iphone in the car. and here's how the technology works. get in the car, you plug in your iphone 5s, 5c,5 and use this on board display to make calls, use maps, listen to music, or access messages with either voice or touch. greg, apple's vp of iphone, tell me it's giving iphone users constant access to smartphones. >> we do it for our customers, users, they'll have cars, want to great experience in the car. we don't want great experience with iphone to end at moment they walk into the car. we want it to get better and better. >> reporter: apple is teaming up with mercedes which isn't disclosing the price of carplay at this time. but mercedes is aiming to introduce carplay in its c-class vehicle by the only of the year. analysts tell me carmakers could charge up to $1,000 for

josh lipton breaking news. >> started with steve schmidt entering into an alleged secret agreement promising not to poach each other's employees. now we have obtained court documents showing that the alleged tech wage conspiracy could actually expand to include microsoft, oracle, ibm, and comcast, the parent company of cnbc. now one prominent silicon valley executive is disassociating herself from this controversy. cnbc has learned facebook's sheryl sandberg filed a declaration with the court on friday of last week that pins the scheme specifically on two google executives. sandberg saying she was contacted by the executives who expressed concern about what was described as a perceived rate at which facebook could hire employees from going. . sandberg refused to cooperate. now, tech companies deny any kind of conspiracy. apple points out between 2005 and 2009 it's hiring of tech workers jumped 50% and wages rose. so where is the conspiracy they ask? guys, back to you. >> these days most of us don't consider 40 to be old hopefully. your next guest says the next guest has 40 isn't just old, it

josh lipton, cnbc, san francisco, california. >>> now, starbucks is getting an extra shot of star powera celebrity blend to its cushion in the tea business now when it debuts the oprah chai. could it possibly have been done any differently? the oprah chai, a drink created by oprah winfrey. she and the ceo clinked cups on stage. the new brew goes on sale april 29th on starbucks and teavana stores in the u.s. and canada. apparently it's a bland of tea infused with cinnamon, ginger, cardamon and cloves. so kind of like liquid cake, huh? coffee generated more than $75 billion. my producer said she had a chai tea this morning and it was delicious. something new for you to try. but it is kind of like liquid cake, isn't it? >>> coming up, is the u.s. weather giving the winter housing market a chill? we'll preview the housing data more to come here on "worldwide exchange." exchange." ♪ ♪ >>> hi, everyone. welcome back. a glance at our u.s. futures will tell us that our u.s. markets are due to open slightly negative here this afternoon. when they open our time, it's just a couple of hours away.

let's bring in josh lipton with more. $2 billion for oculus. what's next, josh?we know that zuckerberg has a lot of money. not afraid to spend it. we were talking about facebook's acquisition of what's app. now, $2 billion for ak oculus. and why is facebook interested in buying a company that makes virtual reality headsets. and some might think facebook could be taking a page from google, which is exploring opportunities outside of its core mission. google moving into wearables. moon shots, like self-driving cars. but the question for mark s zuckerberg, he does not see it that way. he thinks the computing platform today is mobile. and tomorrow it will be virtual reality. he sees it as the next social platform. this will be the way that mandy and josh talk to each other. and maybe the way they buy goods and services. it's obviously impossible to know whether zuckerberg is right. whether virtual reality is going to be the next major new communications platform. but analysts say, even if he made a bad bet, $2 billion isn't crazy for a company the size of facebook. m

josh lipton is live in san jose. josh? >> reporter: yeah, tyler, tim cook must be wondering at this point, where is the love on wall street? you know, apple stocks have been trading between 500 and 550 for months, causing some analysts to sour on the name. right now, 70% of analysts on wall street have a buy rating on apple. that might seem high, but it's actually very low for the tech titan. it's five-year average is more like 84%. but if you own apple, there could be reasons to cheer that lack of enthusiasm from analysts. for one, you could actually see this as a contrarian indicator. after all, in september of 2012, that's when apple hit that all-time intraday high of $705. 89% of analysts were telling you at that point to buy the stock. but what happened? we know the stock then nose-dived, 45% to a low of $385 in april of 2013. and if you own apple, you should be happy that buy ratings are down, because that leaves room for potential upgrades down the road if the company launches new products and/or services that reall

. >> josh lipton has a preview of what we might expect from oracle. josh?e reporting after the bell. the street is going to be looking for eps of 70 cents on revenue of $9.4 billion. that would represent growth of about 8% and 4% for the company. by the division there will be a lot of focus on new software licenses which tells us how much new money the company is bringing in. analysts expect sales of $2.5 billion for the quarter. oracle stock has not done much over the past year, and one reason is concern about competition from rivals such as sales force and work day which are attacking oracle from the cloud. investors will want to see big growth in bookings for its cloud-based products. kelly, back to you. >> all right, josh. thanks very much. we should only have a couple minutes to go on that one hitting right after the bell, bill. in the meantime, we have 13 minutes before that close. the dow up about -- i can't read the numbers. >> up 81 points right now. we're fading into the close. >> thank you very much. >> if you call that a fade there. despite the

josh lipton has a look at the potential winners. i presume there are many. >> reporter: if you want to invest a lie about a about a the headlines over the weekend had to get you excited. china's e commerce giant said on sunday it has started the process of filing for a u.s. ipo, ending months of speculation of where it would go public. a lie about a about a compared to amazon, a comparison that's not cite. a lie about a about a doesn't directly sell goods. companies sell and buy with each other. a lie about a about a makes money off advertising which accounts for the bulk of its revenue. the company growing by leaps and bounds. generating revenue of $2.3 billion and $4.3 billion in 2012 and in july to september quarter $1.8 billion. the public offering could be huge. kessler from raymond james puts the valuation at $150 billion. that is good news for yahoo! which holds a 24% staying a lie about a -- a alibaba. it could be worth 9 billion. alibaba will spark a big battle on wall street as banks battle for fees that accompany that ipo

josh lipton is in silicon valley with the latest. hi, josh. >> reporter: hey, sue, yeah.he xbox 1 needs a jolt and today, it could get it. microsoft is debuting its hottest new video game title, titan fall. the company has a lot riding on its success. npd says that sony is beating microsoft by at least a two to one margin in the u.s. microsoft isn't throwing in the towel. i caught up with microsoft's top gaming guy at south by southwest and he expressed a lot of excitement around titan fall's potential. >> i do think that titanfall will be a big boost to the console generation market. it's already off to the hottest start yet. i think people have been waiting, a lot of our fans have been waiting for a great game like this to come and make the move. we are optimistic that it will get a lot of people to come try xbox 1. >> reporter: microsoft needs strong software titles like titanfall to drive sales of its xbox platform. titanfall could help. i spoke to louis ward of idc today. he says titanfall will take advantage of xbox 1 technology. it will offer gamers great special e