>> tommy about the softbank ceo. what do we know about him?e a crazy dude. >> he said he wants to win and he wants to be number one. he has already told the market he wants to be competitive. it makes it a challenge for it on not sure doj looks at things in the long term. now, t- a company right mobile being very aggressive -- >> they have their own renegade ceo. >> i think he would be the ceo of the combined company. he has had a very big impact on t mobile right away. sprint is still taking a long time to get this network built on long time to have customers come to the network. >> he has been out front and center on this deal. >> sprint continues to lose customers and they will lose more over the next couple of quarters. this network that they want to build will not happen until the second half of next year as opposed to t mobile is in the market with faster speed and adding more customers and leading to an at&t price cut a couple of weeks ago. they are having an impact in the guys, theythe doj will not save a combined, what will be the imp

softbank has risen 4.5%. why would you want to buy this? softbank has all of these games. if you allow softbank to market these games over the platform -- remember, 340 million users. that is why softbank is very interested. not confirmed, it is purely on sources. we are not getting names. it continues -- the trend continues. >> thank you very much. john dawson in hong kong. >> ukrainian parliament is expected to vote on the later -- the campaign later today. residential elections are excited to take place on may 25. >> politics returns to the forefront of ukrainian discretion. -- discussion. the presidential campaign is kicking off today. exactly three months before the ambitious day, may the 25th. they set for themselves to have the presidential election them. the acting president of the country and the speaker of the parliament has said that he expects to see this government form today and voted on in a parliament today. very colorful guy. he wrote the screenplay of ukraine's academy award submission, "illusion of fear." is a creative flair but behind -- the on to that,

softbank once a stake in lime.pp's competitor, ♪ >> welcome back to "bloomberg west." am emily chang. t-mobile has announced a third loss for a consecutive quarter. that is because subscriber gains resulted in higher costs. 850 thousand customers last quarter, but the discounts it is using to get those customers are costing the company big bucks. revenue rose 39% from a year earlier. we have been discussing one of the possible suitors for t-mobile and softbank that owns a part of sprint. may not be competitor to whatsapp. >> as we have been talking they want to see where the business is. they're starting to recognize the great that there. >> businesses have taken a big chunk out of that revenue for the carriers. we will talk a little bit about that. i know george herrick, employee number seven thomas wright? right?n, okay. >> they're becoming something that you use half an hour to an hour every day. it is also ubiquitous. everyone uses them. your kids use them. grandparents use them. to get a platform that everyone uses and a locker day, that gives you a lot of leverag

softbank has been in talks to buy naver, a tokyo based mobile messaging service.er denies reports it's groundless, saying it has no plans to sell. so what's next? the latest mobile messaging service line, sa cheeko kishida has the headlines. >> hi, julia. jap japan's sina decided to buy viber. now attention is turning to line which has 350 million users worldwide. it plans to double its revenue by delivering e-commerce and messaging services. line is preparing to go public. before facebook's deal, line had an valuation of $7.7 billion, but that valuation could skyrocket giving the parent company, naver, more options. softbank declined to comment on a possible purchase, but the price might have been too high. so all eyes are on naver's next move. julia, back to you. >> thank you. >>> still to come, after facebook purchased whatsapp, did viber sell itself short? the ceo will be joining us next on cnbc right after this. >>> pay my bill. phone: your account is already paid in full. oh, well in that case, back to vacation mode. ♪boots and pants and boots and pants♪ ♪an

sprint and softbank are making why? indented so public, >> this is a massive pr campaign. to get politicians and consumer groups on the idea of sprint combining with t-mobile because we already know that justice has signaled they are down on the deal. they have to determine whether or not they're going to get the kind of support to go ahead and move forward on the deal. without it there is some concern that they are not going to move ahead without that support area to put this into context, even if there are some positive thing all's from justice at the end of the day, or the fcc, that does not necessarily mean that they will sign off at the deal -- on the deal. with the airways merger, both sides up they were on a good path -- thought they were on a good path, and then they were end.med in the >> how is softbank defending the deal? >> t-mobile independently has been doing so well but they are growing market share more than any other wireless company out there right now. they are taking share from at&t, so they are on fire. at a something that regulators are going to point

they have charismatic, aggressive leader heading of softbank for japan last year, i don't think he willvery patient with the american regulatory process. liz: he better get ready. you were there when the commission turned down at&t from buying t-mobile. what is your best guess on what happens here? is there anything sprint and t-mobile, which i'm guessing is okay with sprint taking over, is anything either these companies can do to make the deal more palatable to regulators? >> that's an excellent question and nobody really knows the answer because the message coming out in the antitrust division in the past couple of weeks and past couple of months is to be discourage such a deal. there is a presumption for national carriers is the right number to have an anything less than that is not good for consumers. on the other hand sprint and t-mobile might argue it superstrong number three would give number one verizon and number two at&t a big run for their money. at the same time though back on the other hand, after the merger was shot down, the administration was touting the fact that t-mob

softbank has unveiled a smart phone device designed to help parents monitor their babies. that's going to do it for biz tonight. i'll leave you with the markets. >>> ties between japanese and chinese leaders may be strained these days, but business people are still finding ways to cooperate. in fact, chinese entrepreneurs are looking to the founder of japanese manufacturer co-set that for guidance. he helped restore japan airlines to financial help. his books are best sellers and many chinese hold him in high esteem. >> translator: kis oh inmori was the star attraction at a management seminar in china last year. 1,500 company managers from all over china attended. >> translator: the purpose of a company is to realize that employee happiness is more important than the owner's interests. what's best for the staff is what's best for you. >> translator: among the pill lers upon which inmorey's philosophy is built are valuing employees, thinking about the other party's interest and never lying. lean chow young is the president of a firm that makes equipment to improve the envir

so first of all, why would softbank want this? messaging services are taking over the world.hey are becoming something you use half an hour to one hour every day. it is not something that is a particular segment of the population. you use them, your kids use them, your grandparents. to get a platform everyone uses, that give you a lot of leverage over how people use the service. >> your business is not. via messaging does this. it is a push to talk. am i paraphrasing the business well? is the enterprise case used very different than the consumer? >> what is happening in general, the private or -- the providers of connectivity are doing things like push to talk and there are new companies that are bringing in these companies over the top. including us. it happens to be that most of the messaging providers today are focused on sms replacement, which is about $100 billion a year. has donehere whatsapp well. our focus is to try to reinvent push to talk, which is about $100 per year. >> the messaging service has eaten the carriers lunch when it comes to revenue, but what about voi

softbank is seeing a dip in profit. they topped analyst estimates but it was lower than a year ago.tegration costs tied to a string of recent acquisitions, including the $22 billion investment in sprint last year. islionaire carlos slim cutting a stake in royal kpn. he is reducing the stake to 27%, according to kpn. he failed in his efforts to take over the dutch phone carrier. that is today's company news from the files of "bloomberg west." >> we are honored to bring on steve miller, chairman of aig, he is the turnaround kid. that may be true -- delphi, etc. puerto rico is decidedly not detroit. he survived a tour of duty making cap positions at delphi, a follow-on from the general motors automotive components group. san juan is decidedly not delphi. they must make tough decisions. after chrysler, after delphi, now after proper beechcraft, what would steve miller do about rodrigo -- about puerto rico? >> it is a fascinating issue. crypto ricoh is drowning in $70 billion of debt. their tax revenues have gone downhill because they start collecting from a lot of the people who ordinar

softbank and sprint will decide soon on whether to move ahead for a bid or t-mobile.e next few weeks. softbank, which remember, owns a controlling stake in sprint trying to convince regulators that the combination would be good for competition. apple removing the block chain app.- blockchain it had been available for two years. they have declined to comment for why it was dropped. that is today's company news from the files of bloomberg "west." >> ok, who is a soccer fan? david beckham just scored another goal. he will be owning his own team. he will become the first major league soccer player to own a part of a team. he is bringing a franchise to miami. the contract with the la galaxy allowed him to buy an expansion team with the discount price of 20 $5 million. it is unclear when the team will take the field. >> it is hard to put a time on it, but we want the team in the league when it is the right time for the team. when it is the right time for the city. >> that is david beckham. he also needs to find a place where the team can play. are you a beckham fan? >> i am

starting to see some big new companies in march on mobile, whether that be king or the likes of softbank and gung ho. i think that people are starting to vote with their wallets and their eyeballs. that will have a big effect on the entertainment and media climate at large over the next few years. >> andrew, there aren't a lot of people playing games, but are they playing the games of established makers? we saw angry birds take the gaming community by storm. that was basically a one-man show. what does that mean for people like you who are in this as a business? how do you create longevity among users? >> on mobile, you can reach such a big audience. it is really possible to build something very vague. our business model is all about building games that are really an experience, they like a bit like a pixar movie. it is a pixar like mobile experience. i think what is exciting is big audience, big reach, people are prepared to spend and are starting to vote with their wallets. when you've got content in everyone's pocket, you've got an opportunity to build something amazing. king is reaso

. -- [indiscernible] softbank has been mentioned.s soon as we go towards -- the value is just too interesting to miss out. i think vodafone is a stock we have liked for a while. ftse is a story we like as an aside. >> because of growth here? >> growth, evaluation. we are turning a lot more lish on minors which are 30% of the ftse. the stars are aligning and it is all going in the same direction. if you look at the market right now, you have the earnings which are -- in the u.s. [indiscernible] this is something which is -- >> for the u.k., is there political risk? do you factor that in or wait until the end of the year when we have elections that will give us an indication where the u.k. will vote? i am more on the trading strategy side. for now it is ok. we have seen ongoing inflows. ago with theeks selloff, the inflows continued. you can't really go down and remain bullish. >> interesting, thank you so much for that. says itp, kering approaches 2014 with confidence. investors may not feel the same way. we will break down the earnin

showing signs of improvement after the nation's third-largest wireless carrier was bought by japan's softbank- loss narrowed. sprint lost about 59,000 monthly subscribers in the quarter, however. charter communications is upping the stakes in its takeover fight with time warner cable, nominating 13 candidates to the time warner board. all of the candidates are up for election in the spring, giving charter an opportunity to take over the board completely. ays his, the twc ceo s company will not be pressured into accepting what he calls charter's lowball offer. the income inequality debate has moved north. we are seeing protests around shuttle buses in seattle transporting microsoft workers. we have been covering what is going on in san francisco. companies from apple to facebook to ebay have buses going down silicon valley. >> of all the places were income inequality exist it is not , walmart workers on welfare, it is technology companies that are ticking people off. >> listening to an angel investor speaking about this last night, he said two or three years ago the goal was to combat unemploy

sprint is owned by softbank, so both of these stocks are spiking.ll bring you more as we have it. we will be back in half an hour. ♪ >> welcome back to the second half-hour of "bottom-line" on bloomberg television. i'm mark crumpton. thanks for staying with us. let's check some of the top stories we are following at this hour. as we told you at the big inning of the broadcast, cvs caremark says it will stop selling tobacco products in its stores nationally. it is the first pharmacy chain to make such a move. cvs says it will cut annual revenue by about $2 billion, or $.17 per share. herbalife is pays -- is facing more possible scrutiny. the federal trade commission chairman edith ramirez says. a call has been made to investigate herbalife. the second winter storm in three days is sweeping the northeastern united states, grounding more than 2000 flights, closing schools and downing power lines. new york governor andrew cuomo has declared a state of emergency and boston could get nine inches of snow and ice before the storm and later today. time for t

take a look at softbank, that's up now, but, man, that has been moving down.er him, of course, this is his company. >> is the tall ceo. >> the japanese chart on softbank, it doesn't trade here. >> can you get a deal done? >> i don't think so. i heard they got a beat-down from the s.e.c. massa's son. >> really? beat-down? >> beat-down. >> worse than the broncos/seahawks beat-down. are you telling me that he's peyton manning? i hadn't thought about that. where is twit? the >> a lot of people playing softbank for the alibaba ipo because they own an enormous amount of alibaba. >> do you mind if i bring us back to the us of a? >> what are you? don't be gi jingoistic. and let's go to courtney reagan. >> good morning. we've got a quietly positive open, the dow up about 86 points, the s&p up about ten points. pulled back just a little bit here right now. relatively quiet as far as the big, big concerns that we've had of recent. emerging markets relatively quiet. moody's upgrading mexico and providing a little bit of comfort, we got the better-than-expected jobless cla

softbank is said to be seeking a a tokyo-based messaging application. lets users pay for teddy bear icons and games. it is worth about $15 billion. >> the issue for us is about focus. one of the reasons we chose satya nadella is that he has a strong technology background. he understands what it needs to happen to move microsoft forward. thompson -- which resulted in satya nadella getting the job. euro zone inflation rates -- it was a .8 read. we're going to get the take of the imf on this. joe vinals will be joining us shortly. the next generation of mobile phones could look more feminine. we will show the robot dollar could replace your cell phone. -- robot and all that could replace your cell phone. ♪ >> welcome back. you are watching "the pulse." a surprise earlier on. eurozone data stronger than expected. the market was looking for a read of .7. the data came through at .8. many were expecting it to be weaker than the .7. the market reaction has been strong. we are in the 1.38. you can argue it acts as a deflationary break on what is happening in th

softbank wants to expand into mobile messaging.rvice control by south korean company -- a south korean company. .e have 143 million users ibm has pledged to keep more than 3000 jobs in its home state of new york for the next two years. the agreement with the state calls for the company to restore hundreds of positions they cut just last year. -- that's company news is today's company news. optimistic news. >> you drive up 684 and see those pyramid shapes, the headquarters up there. were weedsthere growing in the parking lot. though there is some fragility, they're using cash and dividend payouts to share buybacks. grow that topline. >> the team and strategic noted that the cash as a percentage of total assets at 4.8% almost the highest it has ever been, ever. abouthave been talking our theme of the morning, securing a digital world. from retailer and consumer --vacy you banking and curren y >> the style of war is changing. think drones. serious stuff here. military drones. mine detecting. bulletproof robots. no, stop movies. it's f

sprint with softbank are making a massive er plush in washington. to get consumer advocates on board. they were to get politicians on board. they know the justice department does not like the idea of further consolidation. the justice department says it will hurt customers. stoppedice department the deal between at&t and t-mobile, t-mobile has been successful in driving the price war going on. margins,ok at the t-mobile is at 19%. if you look at verizon and at&t, they are at 40 or 50%. they are undercutting their competitors. they are successful at it. they have had the most market share gains in the last three quarters. they are being successful. that hard to argue consolidation is good for the consumer. >> have you ever seen an executive like the ceo of t-mobile? >> we have plenty of good executives in this industry. t-mobile is very tough. they are doing very well. is a smallerate base of customers to begin with. >> absolutely. >> for a long time they had been losing subscribers. in this industry, there are ups and downs all the time. the fact th

softbank which owns sprint wants to buy t-mobile. we will have a look at the chinese economy.n wednesday, exports expected to slow down, nearly grinding to a halt. quarter forong sands china and wind macau. analysts expect profit to be up to a record last year as millions of chinese gamblers were pouring into macau. those numbers out on thursday. getting back to what is going on as far as markets go and joining us now, tim riddle. thank you very much indeed for joining us. have thet theme, we follow-through from that jobs data on friday. what did you make of it all? >> very mixed. be headlines are going to seen as a disappointment for markets. the underlying data, especially the revision to the upside, we had the annual revision process come through. also in the household survey, that showed quite a strong pickup in employment. even though the participation rate increased, which is a surprise, the unemployment rate was lower. it is almost like the employments data is going well. it is not too hot. we are not going to get the fed accelerating its tapering or any talk of, when d

there was a bloomberg story overnight about softbank, a very -- a very large japanese carrier, making a competing messaging service in each stage of. the mobile carriers realize they need to get ahead of this messaging trend. text message is one of the dirty little secrets of the mobile world, that text messages were basically free for the mobile carriers to provide. they were a source of immense revenue as people send thousands of them every month and year. that is now going completely away. this traffic migrates onto my forms like whatsapp. toriers are looking for ways not be completely left out of that transition. >> they must be nervous as whatsapp looks to voice as well. >> the lines are definitely blurred between over-the-top services, these data-driven services like whatsapp and traditional television -- and traditional voice calling. whatsapp says they will offer a traditional voice calling like skype to offer a branded mobile subscription. we are seeing the carriers' traditional turf, the one thing they could hang onto, if you want to make a voice call when you are out on the

the shares of japan's softbank rallied on that news. is journal reporting that sprint executives met with officials at the justice department and the fcc in recent weeks. and a new deal would be a tough sale, but they were surprised at the level of opposition. joe? >> so they thought they were spending too much for it, that's why they didn't -- >> shareholders of softbank were worried they would overspend. >> that's why i would trade up on the deal. i feel bad for both of them, t-mobile and sprint. >> why? >> they are both walking around not very attractive at the dance. and no one is asking either one to dance. they are like dancing alone, and it would have been perfect if they could get together. at&t was doling out sort of a charity, what are those things called where you just are feeling -- >> i don't know. >> a little philanthropy? >> apple, i've been thinking about apple, is it pg&e now? what happened? >> they don't have a thing. >> well, they do need a thing. they can't make a different shape. we have a triangular ipad now. we ha

he has already brought in the folks from sprint and softbank to express concerns about that in wirelessbination and he is also talked a lot about competition and his willingness to maintain it across the country. a big test for him. qwest thank you very much. our chief washington correspondent. for more on the huge deal and how it changes the game for the cable industry, customers and content providers, we are joined by the former president of cnn, as well as the bloomberg deal reporter, cristina alesci. so many interesting points to discuss on this. we have you for the full hour and we are excited. size in all about delivery of content, internet, etc., whether you are in the cable delivery business, or you are a former phone company, verizon and at&t. all of these guys have to get as big as possible as fast as possible. >> in the cable industry, this is close to a monopoly. know, but verizon and at&t, they are national networks. the cable program is localized there that might be changing. you suddenly have a company that has almost a national footprint, but they have to have that in order to c

tomorrow, tuesday, sprint releases earnings, and there may be news on the takeover ambitions of softbankich owns sprint but wants to buy t-mobile. we continue to watch the chinese economy on wednesday. january exports are expected to slow, nearly grinding to a halt, but the figures may be distorted by the run-up up to the lunar new year holiday. it was a strong quarter for sands china and wynn macau. did well.ably analysts expect profit rose -- rose to a record last quarter. those results come out on thursday. let's focus in on the key economic data this week. lucas aleppo, chief asia-pacific economist. he joins us live. i want to take the opportunity to say, happy new year. >> same to you. >> do you think it is a good start to the year? we saw a bit of a rout in emerging markets. is this a sign of more things to come? >> i think it is a sign of repositioning of investors who are massively long on equities and massively short on bonds. time,uld last for some this tactical repositioning, and it is needed. probably one quarter. the first quarter will be very hard. >> what you make a pboc c

of softbank is a very, very ambitious guy who has said he wants sprint, which he owns, to be the numbern carrier. that means a merger with t mobile. but there's a big obstacle to that, which is washington. the u.s. regulators just don't want to see these four national carriers go down to three. we have, for example, four in the u.k. there are four in france. they think four is the right number for the united states, at least right now. the counter argument is that actually with a stronger third player, you could have a more effective challenge to at&t and verizon, which are the largest players by far. >> and where does this leave vodafone as a stand-alone company, a company that from today is inherently half the size it was yesterday? >> well, vodafone has emerged butterfly-like from this transformation of unloading its american business. it's now rooted really in europe, of course, with important operations in africa and in south asia. but vodafone has some real questions about its future. in the u.k., it is not the number one carrier, not by a long way. it has to decide what to do in

the larger argument being made by softbank, why consolidation should be allowed, why it should be verizonombination, you're not able to compete over the long term. they operate their own universe. and we're still knocking on the door. yes, we can get a few million customers more, great. but if you want high speed, if you want to us compete robustly in 2015 for the broadcast spectrum you, need to let a third competitor be a viable competitor. we'll see if it passes muster. >> is everyone in the world know tebow didn't get a contract? pop culture. it was a funny ad. one of the funniest ads. that guy doesn't have a contract. >> funnier than seinfeld ad, which wasn't an ad. that was strange. the reunion between jason alexander and jerry seinfeld. >> don't care for that. >> the moment you said "recession" we lost 40, 50 points on the dow. >> don't blame me. just looking at auto sales. >> when we come back, big -- a big event next week here in the big apple. jim cramer's talk and book signing for "get rich carefully." >> tomorrow night. >> barnes & noble, union square, 7:30 p.m. get there. spea

because we know that softbank which controls sprint would love to do a deal to combine with t-mobile fashion, not clear how that would be accomplished, and yet faces considerable potential opposition from regulators. this only increases that. every day we're talking about legere it's working for this guy. >> i agree. and hastings, too, the disrupters are coming into business and we're finally getting some real contact. i mean, in tech especially, it's becoming more and more of a contact sport. >> having said that, t-mobile said it will fast track anybody who wants a blackberry by the end of the week. there was a slight climbdown there, just a slight one. >>> housing starts dropped 16% in january the biggest drop in three years. we want to bring in andrew berkeley, the managing director of institutional portfolio strategy at oppenheimer, and good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> let's talk about the housing starts. you look at permits december to january, didn't change much, but starts themselves really did. is it weather? >> yeah. i mean, i think a lot you have to attribut