the ceo of starz quoted here. a lot of talk starz for sale. i asked about it.his is the deal they ended up with. had been thought that maybe lionsgate would step in and buy the whole thing or you'd get some deal there. this is what you've got. >> notice last time malone stepped on to a board. >> isn't he on the charter board? >> that worked. i think he's on the charter board. when they took -- when -- >> do they know the power of malone? >> can be a lot of power. a lot of intellectual power. >> i would not bet against lionsgate. >> can you keep it going? after "hunger games" and everything else. >> "hunger games" not over. >> more to go. stock up almost 8%. >> should be. >> i got out of that thing way too early. >> who am i to criticize? >> that's true. didn't have a great year last year but otherwise, i know. only got -- >> i don't want to be around david. >> i'm on you. >> standards are high. >>> our first on cnbc interview with the cf of of pepsi, hugh johnson, stocks getting a nice life, share buybacks facing challenges due to strong dollar. premarket, stil

check out shares of lionsgate and starz entertainment. also give malone a seat on lionsgate's board. joining us now is the vice chairman michael burns. always great to see you. >> nice to see you. >> i want to ask you about what fbr wrote in its note. it was a very positive review. but basically they said that now with this malone in premature, it differentiates you from other studios because he is known to be so financially savvy and very good with capital. would you agree with that? that you needed this sort of stamp of approval from john meloan? >> i don't know if i'd call it a stamp of approval, but we're thrilled to have john joining or board. we think this is one of the world's greatest investors and a very big brain, particularly in the media space. so we're excited to have him. >> what does this give you in the long run in terms of other distribution opportunities potentially? >> well, all you have to really look at is look at what john is a major investor in around the globe, whether it's discovery or liberty global or any -- sta

one at we mentioned is lions gate buying starz. >> there also might be a dreamworks and starz combinationalone is on the board>> and he likes control of his entities. he is already gotten a state that will go up. >> stay with me through the opening bell. we will be back in two minutes on "in the loop." ♪ >> let's take a quick look at the global markets. the euro is down as greece heads for a showdown with creditors at an emergency meeting just happening in about 10 minutes. we are watching oil. climbing it was inventories are adding to a global surplus. let us get back to bringing you the most important stories before the bell. alix steel and alex sherman joining me. anyone saying alibaba is too big to fail in china? jack ma says stop. the e-commerce giant is addressing corruption. anyone who says alibaba is too big to fail is wrong, he says. >> i don't understand why anyone is coming down so hard on this you'd corporation that has a chance to get footing outside of china. >> what is interesting to me is when i went out to california a few months ago, i was talking to a number of differen

and his affiliates will trade a 4.5% stake in starz carrying a 14.5% voting stake in exchange for astake in lions gate and malone will join the board at lions gate studios. the deal is about content and distribution and possible strategic opportunities. back over to you guys. >> thanks, dom. up next, the state of washington, has a legal pot problem. apparently it has way too much. we'll tell you why in a moment. first, rick santelli what are you watching today? >> well, jon, we'll bring out the old red ribbon and tie it around some yield curve trades and also going to talk about issuance and talk about issuance in a negative way, you'll have to show up after the break to see why. chasing performance can mean lower returns and fewer choices in retirement. know that proper allocation could help increase returns so you can enjoy that second home sooner. know the right financial planning can help you save for college and retirement. know where you stand with pnc total insight. a new investing and banking experience with personalized guidance and online tools. visit a branch, call or go

hbo, starz, showtime are all at levels. i think they can both survive but around the globe i think netflix will dominate the market. >> the price target upped to 500. tony wible of janney. nobody owns netflix, here right? >> no. i was wrong on this. let's just take b.k.'s wrongness aside and figure this. i go to the content carries. i think that's the way to play it. we know the content -- if they're spending $5 billion, some of it's going to go this way. >> remember when it was $96 and you called for $100. what we learned from that interview was content is king. so you go to disney. disney's up 10% year to date. netflix up more. >> that was the high we saw at some point last year. to me this is a no touch here. i'd rather buy it on a breakout above tony's price target above 500. >> all right. it is that time for final trades. let's go around the horn. tim? >> xme. if you listen to b.k., dollar's going lower. >> i listened to b.k. so you buy gg. >> grasso? >> campbell. cpb. if they think the dollar is going lower, strong do

lions gate discussed buying starz last year. the biggest of oldest most ambitious project ever, a solar project. the $850 million solar farm built right here in northern california, in monterey county apple says it will generate enough electricity to power all of their operations in california offices and data center. 52 california retail stores. 2700 acres. cook made the announcement at the goldman sachs technology conference. in our view, climate change is real. the time for action is now. cook also stressed that apple plans to save big bucks in this switched of solar -- switch to solar. he sort of built up to this is the big news. i think this is big news. $850 million is a big spend. nearly 3000 acres of solar. that is a big project. >> it harks back to something he said at the shareholder meeting last year. the question of the roy, the alternative energy projects, he reacted quite forcibly. if you just care about roi, get out of the stock. cook has a great feel for the values of apple customers. alternative energy projects

lionsgate will get 14% of the voting power, and malone's starz tv network.able channels and hbo helped offset a drop in advertising sales, and so did job cuts across the company at cnn and time warner is trying to attract new viewers by offering a web-only subscription to hbo, and some of the cable channels will be available on dish's new online service. when you're sitting on billions of dollars of cash, why borrow more money? some say because it is cheap. our guest joins us in the studio. there is no guarantee that investors are going to have a payday, is there? guest: no. when you are buying corporate bonds, that is like money market types of profits dive years ago, six years ago. people are definitely taking a risk. mark: so is it betting tonight on powerball? lisa: let's not get carried away. ultimately, you are going to get your money back, supposedly, from a company like apple or microsoft or some of the other thousands of companies that are selling debt. i think what people are looking at going forward is they are saying, look. the european central t

. >> they're getting a stake in starz for that, judge, and i think this is because jack ma is allegedly sniffing around here. i think this lights a fire under any deals that might be out there for lions gate. >> up 10%. dan niles was here yesterday. >> great call yesterday. >> genworth rallying despite the down quarters. >> kitchen sink quarter they went through the studies of what they were going to do with their businesses, life business, long-term care and so more a relief quarter. >> jobbal getting beaten up. you've got loss. >> this is not a good business and i think what you have here now is a broken stock, below 38, things get moving quickly. so if you haven't come out of the name this is where i would do it. >> coming up pier 1 is sinking big time and our old friend herb greenberg says he saw it coming. can the company turn things around? we'll do bait the wicker chair trade. and goldman sachs head of commodities research jeff currie here, cnbc exclusive for a look inside his energy playbook why he says the market may be getting it all wrong right now. that's next on the half. .

in return, lions gate will get 14% of the voting power and malone's starz tv network.ime warner has beat profit estimates for the 24th quarter in a row. fees for its cable channels and hbo help offset a drop in advertising sales. so did job cuts across the company. time warner is trying to attract new viewers by offering a web only subscription to hbo for hip millennials. a record number of americans renounced their citizenship last year. more than 3400 turn in their passports. one likely reason, a law that gives the irs unprecedented access to american's foreign bank accounts. that nbc news investigation of brian williams is not over. williams has now been suspended for six months without pay after he had to apologize for disputed accounts of his reporting in iraq. the network says it is -- it has concerns about comments williams made. lester holt will fill in. i have to say, that is a wow. >> quite a story. >> what you think? >> i'm not surprised. i would not have been supplied -- not have been surprised. >> are you not surprised by the suspension or that he lied? >>

." >> very little watched show on the starz net work. from bloomberg. here's what the dnc thinks will help democrats win more elections. the 2014 midterm election autopsy. the party has a messaging problem because no one knows what party stands for. that's a messaging problem. the republicans did this in 2012, change your views on gay rights and immigration reform. the democrats say they need more of an outreach to white southern voters. >> one things that republicans did do looking at that autopsy is go out and recruit more minority candidates, women candidates that turned out to be successful in 2014 at the state level and in terms of electing two to congress. if the democrats do seriously look at that yeah they are going to have to figure out what the party stands for. but sometimes these autopsies can bear fruit. >> it's the most diverse group of house republicans as well. not just the two prominent female senators. with this issue, you go for an autopsy. the democrats when you talk to them, they say if we stand for the middle class

. >> is black sails on starz the best on television right now? i'm a pirate nerd.ntastic show. >> i thought "black sails" was -- >> it has pirates. >> what's the john malkovich one on nbc? different? >> whatever it is it must be fantastic because it's on nbc. >> i don't know what that one is. >> you mean with james spader? >> no. there's a john malkovich pirate show on friday nights. >> we're getting yelled at. we've got to go. thank you very much. >> "black sails," heads being cut off. >>> when we come back this morning, a score card on the earnings season as it races to a close. then a man who knows business and politics very well. steve forbes. we'll be right back. you just got a big bump in miles. so this is a great opportunity for an upgrade. sound good? great. because you're not you you're a whole airline... and it's not a ticket you're upgrading it's your entire operations, from domestic to international... which means you need help from a whole team of advisors. from workforce strategies to tech solutions and a thousand other things. so you call pwc. the ri