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May 08, 2026 / 56:25

This episode discusses the legacy of Ted Turner, the founder of CNN, and his impact on media and philanthropy. Hosts Cara Swisher and Scott Galloway reflect on Turner's contributions, including his $1 billion donation to the United Nations Foundation and his vision for democratizing news through 24-hour coverage.

They highlight Turner's unique personality, recalling anecdotes about his humor and candidness, such as his famous quote about selling CNN being 'better than sex.' The hosts also critique the evolution of cable news, noting how it has shifted from Turner's original vision to a more sensationalist approach.

Swisher and Galloway discuss the challenges faced by major media companies today, including Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney, and the implications of recent earnings reports. They analyze the current state of the media landscape, emphasizing the need for innovation and adaptation.

In the latter part of the episode, they touch on the role of AI in investment management, discussing a Wall Street Journal experiment where ChatGPT provided investment advice. They express skepticism about AI's readiness for managing stock portfolios and the emotional toll of investing.

The episode concludes with predictions about future trends in media and investment, emphasizing the importance of adapting to changing market dynamics.

TLDR

Hosts discuss Ted Turner's media legacy, current media challenges, and AI's role in investment management.

Episode

56:25
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These are the richest people on earth and they're so manifestly unhappy. They
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just can't shut the [ __ ] up. And what tiny, petty, angry, unhappy people, they
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all are. Every single one of them. Hi everyone, this is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast
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Network. I'm Cara Swisser. >> And I'm Scott Galloway. Ted Turner, the
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media mogul CNN founder who helped create the 24-hour news cycles, died at 87. Turner was also a major
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philanthropist, making a record 1 billion in donation to establish the United Nations Foundation. He was a
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different kind of billionaire, although he was also the it was called the mouth of the south. Um, beyond media and
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philanthropy, Turner pursued countless other passions from his Montana Grill, his eco-con, this is a eco-conscious
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restaurant chain, being named yachtsman of the year multiple times. He was Larry
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Ellison before Larry Ellison. Uh he announced he had Louis body dementia, progressive brain disorder. In 2018,
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Jane Fonda, one of Turner's ex-wives who remained a close friend, remembered him
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saying, "Men like Ted aren't supposed to express need and vulnerability. That was
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Ted's greatest strength, I believe." And he was. And she I recently interviewed
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her and she had told me he was quite ill. Um I I talked to him a little bit for my books, Lenol. He was real mad
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about the sale and everything else. um except that when he sold the company, he had that famous quote where where he
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said um this deal was better than sex. Do you remember that? He was he always had something kooky to say
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>> at any one moment. And I you know a lot of people are like oh he's the reason we
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have terrible cable. His vision of cable was not this what has happened. So I I sort of push back against that because
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his idea was that you can get news to to sort of democratize the news a little more from the big three. And so I
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consider him a real important his legacy very important even though even though it sort of you know morphed into this
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screamfest that it has become. But his was was you know was it was real news and and I was happened to be with
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Cristian Almanpor who got there pretty early not right away at the beginning and she had nothing but great things to
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say about his tenure when he was sort of do real entrepreneurial news news and other things you know and a very a very
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generous and charitable person at the same time and also funny and weird and interesting. Your thoughts?
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Yeah, this guy is, you know, he kind of defined the term that you don't hear
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anymore, a captain of industry. And the term captain, he was the something people don't know about him is, I think
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he may be the only billionaire who was also an elite worldass athlete. He won the America's Cup.
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>> Yeah, he did. >> And there are just aren't very many billionaires who've reached the pinnacle
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of a sport. And um maybe Roger Stalach, is he a billionaire now? Anyways, but he built
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CNN from nothing. It's really interesting how it emerged. So news when we were growing up was a public service
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and that is ABC and CBS sold a [ __ ] ton of ads from Tang and Chevrolet running
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against All in the Family and MASH and the Partridge Family and the Brady Bunch and they felt that it was a public
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service to have 23 minutes of news and 7 minutes of commercial in this money losing thing called the local news. and
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he said he correctly figured out that there was money in a market for 24 by7 news and it was very scrappy. If you
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look go back it wasn't very well produced and he he started the whole thing. Now where it came off the tracks
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was quite frankly with Rubert Murdoch recognizing that the part of the news they made an observation and that is
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KABC news back in the 70s had something called point counterpoint and SNL used to mock it you know Jane ignorance
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>> ignorance law that's our show pretty much but go ahead >> anyways so
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um uh so they recognized something called point counterpoint and it was Bruce Hersen and Jim them tunny and they
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would start yelling at each other and someone did the analysis is and found out that's what people were tuning in
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for. >> Yeah, I know. >> And that was really the key and arguably the most dangerous insight that Rupert
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Murdoch made. >> And of course, no, this isn't about balance. It's enough news to keep to
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give to create a halo of legitimacy. >> And quite frankly, CNN was guilty of it,
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too. Crossfire. >> Yeah. And CNN now has a show like that where they all just start yelling at
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each other. >> That's where Tucker Carlson started. >> Yeah. And
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>> Michael Kinsley, >> remember Tucker and Michael just going at it?
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>> Um and that seemed civil compared to >> it is it actually when you watch it,
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it's actually >> it seems Patrician. It seems >> it's intelligent. It's intelligent.
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>> It is digressed and has become something that is I don't know. It's a longer talk
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show. Let's get back to Ted Turner. He gave away a billion dollars. She actually gave away a billion dollars to
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the UN. I would argue in the UN actually meant something. Uh something also people constantly ask me for male role
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models for kind of a positive or aspirational form of masculinity. I think Ted Turner is a great role model.
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One, let's just go let's just go to the male stuff. >> Very aggressive. Also
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>> politically incorrect. When Time Warner When Time Warner was acquired >> by CNN, Gerald Levvin introduced the
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whole thing and said, "And now I want to introduce my best friend, Ted Turner."
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And Ted stood up and said, "Best friend? I've never been to your [ __ ] house."
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>> Yeah, it was good. >> And then my favorite was when he did an all hands and it was Ash Wednesday and
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there were a bunch of people in the audience with ashes on their forehead. He's like, "Shouldn't you be working at
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Fox?" >> The guy was >> It was funny. I think there's a certain
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charm in a world now where everything is so I don't know >> it's he was a different time period. He
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wasn't malevolent >> but he was he was charitable. He was visionary. He was aggressive. 14
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grandchildren 14 or 12 grandchildren >> married to Jane F. She still loves him.
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She told me she was she >> an environmentalist and also took his seat and his privilege and his wealth as
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an obligation to serve and connect nations with each other. He was very serious about uniting nations in trying
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to promote world peace. >> He saw his wealth and his seat as an obligation that he was he was optimizing
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for service not for attention. >> Yeah. He's a really >> I would I urge people if they're blaming
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what cable is now on him not to. It's not what he that was not his vision. I
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was around for that and it became that and it was not his. He he he may have created the 24 and they did take
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advantage. Remember the thing that really sent them over the top was that the girl down the well. Remember the
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girl down the well story? >> Oh yeah. Wow. >> That's what that's that's what Cristian
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was. She's like, "Oh, that's the thing that really got people watching
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>> that in the Iraq war." >> Yeah. And but you saw moments of that
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where remember the stud Arthur was Arthur Kent like it started to turn it that's when you started to sort of see
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the beginnings of kind of the circus acts of these cable stations and I was thinking that as I was you know I went
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on Sky News and BBC and stuff like that and like the constant haunt and I think it's a very serious I'm worried about
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Honda virus but the the the constant let's go back to the cruise ship let's
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go back to the and I was like This actually we're in a war in Iran. I feel like perhaps we need to head over there
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and take a look at what's had the cruising going on in the straight of her moose. But it he is a he has a great
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legacy. >> Bernard Shaw. >> Bernard Shaw. >> Daniel Shore. >> Oh my dad's favorite for the wrong
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reasons. Bobby Batista. Oh yeah, Bobby. >> Well, that was great. It was great. It
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was >> I grew up on CNN. >> Yeah. and Christine. >> And also, I genuinely believe a decent
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administration would be CNN anchors. >> Dana Bash should be president. She is
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smart. She's elegant. And she could smother you in your sleep. She's got
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that edge to her, which every president needs >> if you crossed her. >> Yeah.
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>> Uh uh Anderson should be vice president. Any problems with the pope, he just goes
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over there and just talks about grief. Everybody loves him. Competent enough. >> Okay.
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>> Fred Zakaria, Secretary of State. Hands down. Hands down. All right. >> Uh Michael Mirkish. He could be uh
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secretary of commerce or labor. That tell me that tell me that cabinet. >> Will I get anything? I'm a contributor.
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Do I get like an ambassadorship to something? >> Oh, you're ambassador to Guyana. We've
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already decided this here. >> Okay, we're going to we're going to move
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on because you're saving me for myself there. >> I'm saving you from yourself because
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it's interesting. I don't think Ted Turner he didn't like the AOL Time
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Warner deal that I did speak to him about. First he was like it was better than sex. The deal was the best thing I
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ever did. Better than sex. And then afterwards he like totally publicly decrieded it publicly. And one thing
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that um Barry Diller I think told him was like if you sell your house and they wreck they wreck the patio you need to
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shut up. You sold the house. And I I I didn't necessarily agree with him on that but it was he definitely had much
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regrets and he probably wouldn't be thrilled where from the latest numbers from Warner Brothers Discovery the
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company reported a net loss of 2.9 billion in the latest quarter. That's essentially a 2.8 8 billion termination
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fee tied to the Netflix deal. Paramount agreed to cover the cost, but the expense still sits on Warner's books
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until the deal officially closes. For people that don't see why that was that
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big of a loss, nonetheless, the first quarter revenue was down 1% year-over-year, and ad revenue slid 7%.
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Total streaming revenue did rise 9%. Largely by HBO Max went international. Um, Paramount had slightly better news
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to report, beating revenue and earnings expectations in the first quarter. Paramount added uh 700,000 subscribers
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during the quarter, helping streaming revenue grow by 17% year-over-year. The company's film studio did well with
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revenue up 11%. Um, and they said they're making great progress on the Warner Brothers deal with late Q3
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closing still on track. There's still some push back to it. Um, at the same time, I'm going to add one more
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earnings. Disney's under the first new CEO Josh Dearo. The numbers were strong
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with revenue climbing 7% to 25 uh billion. Operating income across Disney's entertainment sports and
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experiences division beat expectations. The company says it expects earnings per
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share to grow 12%. That's solid in the fiscal year and one weak spot. Um a dip
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in attendance at its US theme parks probably due to fewer international proers. They're going to see
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repercussions from gas prices, I'm guessing, and other prices, but it's only down 1%. Maybe the next quarter is
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where you're going to see it over the summer. that will be the real indicator
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there. Um thoughts on on the Warner and everything. They're just sort of bumping
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along these companies. >> So Warner Brothers 117 adjusted gap versus estimates of 9 cents which is
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actually pretty good. They had a 45% beat. Operating margin was down but or mostly flat. The linear networks
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continue to bleed. The revenue fell 8% uh with domestic pay TV subscribers down 10% and free cash flow was 476 million
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in net leverage sits at 3.4x. Uh the paramount deal is expected to close Q3 which will form a company with 69
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billion in proformer revenue. Like if there's a book, if you wrote a book called the worst acquisitions in
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history, you could just call the book Time Warner is every they are at the center of the
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>> I mean three of the five worst acquisitions in history all involve Time
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Warner. It's >> AT&T. >> It's just AOL, >> right? And this one I think will go down
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as in terms of shareholder uh value destruction. Um, Paramount posted a clean beat and streaming turned its
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first real profit. Revenue of 7 uh.35 billion versus 7.28. EPS of 23 cents versus 15 cents expected. I mean,
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companies are just, it's just incredible. Companies are just blowing away their earnings. Their direct to
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consumer revenue was up 11%. Paramount Plus revenue up 17%. I wonder how much of that is landman. They added 700,000
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net subscribers to reach um 79.6 6 million um in total. Direct to consumer IBIDA improved to 251 million. Uh TV
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media revenue fell 6% to 3.7 billion as cord cutting continues. And Paramount is
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nearly doubled its film slate for 2026 versus 2025 since closing the Sky Dance deal last August, which to their credit
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>> has been promising that. >> Yeah. Everyone's been saying, "Oh,
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they're going to gut Hollywood and they're coming out swinging and they're
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doubling their film slate." >> The thing is, is it going to make money,
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right? That's the issue. Let's see what happens. So, let's just wait until they
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>> you can you can spend the money. I mean, that's what rich people do, but let's
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see if they make it. If they have some hits, if they have some hits. >> And so, Josh Dear's first earning
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coliseio reported a a really strong beat. Shares gained roughly 7% after the report. But here's the thing,
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100% of this beat, the credit goes to Bob Iger. you someone doesn't impact earnings two
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weeks after they take the CEO job. This beat was really ringing the bell for for
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Bob Iger. Revenue at 25.2 billion versus 24.8 expected. Earnings at buck 57 versus 149 expected. Streaming operating
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income jumped 88% to 582 uh uh uh million dollars. And Disney's streaming margins broke into the double
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digits. at almost 11%. Their streaming revenue hit 5 a.5 billion up 13% driven by price hikes and Disney's no Disney no
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longer reports subscriber numbers which is a shame but um their experiences that
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you referenced uh was up 7% which must be an increase in prices because as you mentioned um numbers are down
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>> attendance is down >> and they also have raised their buyback target similar to what Apple did last
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week and guided for I think Disney I think Disney is a is a buy and tomorrow is you know he came out of the the parks
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um in which grew nearly 40% in revenue under his watch and he called Disney plus the digital centerpiece of the
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company on Wednesday's earnings he flagged fuel and consumer spending Dana Walden who I know you know named
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president chief creative officer and >> that was an important keep for th that
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company the keeping her because she was a CEO she was the top contender >> not only that they're all I mean quite
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frankly A lot of these people are probably I mean this is the challenge when your
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stock is below where it was 10 years ago. You have to get the most talented people in the room and say I'm going to
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issue new options and please stick around because you got to think a lot of these people are looking at
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>> except what is their option? >> Yeah, because >> producers that's harder now. You can't
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be as good a you can't do those sweet sweet deals anymore. Yeah, but if you're
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a Disney, if you're a talented Disney executive, >> you could absolutely land, you know,
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>> I would stay. See, now I would stay because you have power. >> I agree. And
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>> pieces of that, you know, pieces of wood floating. I don't know. I just would say
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>> Oh, that's interesting. I hadn't thought of that analogy. I like that. Um,
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>> it was from the Devil War product, but go ahead. >> I thought it was from the Titanic, isn't
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it? >> It is, but it was She just said that. She goes, "We just got on the list."
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>> I was wondering how long it was going to be before you mentioned the Devil. It's
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killing it. Still killing it. >> Yeah. No, it's great. Let's go over
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every movie that's actually making money. Um, >> it is making money. >> Yeah, it's it's making a ton. It's it's
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it's going to change the world to see it. >> Lawrence of Arabia meets The Sound of
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Music meets the >> Let's move along. >> But Disney stock is down more than 10%
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year to date despite back-to-back earnings beats. I don't know if it's because everyone's giving up on
00:15:57
traditional media or because AI is sucking all the oxygen out of every other company of the other 490 in the
00:16:04
S&P. But I think Disney actually right now is a really good buy and I wouldn't
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be surprised if it's put in play in the next 3 to 6 months either by >> you keep saying that by whom to Apple to
00:16:16
because Apple was looking at perplexity allegedly >> uh an activist. Oh, >> an activist comes in and says, "You need
00:16:23
to cut 20% of your staff or you need to put the company up for sale, >> which they did with with Iger." I mean,
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I went through that, right? Several times, I think. >> Yeah. But I had so much credibility he
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was able to back this. >> It's weak because this is a new CEO. >> Disney has this unbelievable franchise
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or it might be corporate restructuring. Go good bank, bad bank, spin out the parks into its own business. And
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>> they decided not to, as you know, they were going to get rid of ABC at one
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point, then they decided to keep ESPN. And I think that's one of tomorrow's
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>> an activist will argue that their decisions have been really poor because
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this company has probably the greatest collection of IP in the world, a booming parks business, and yet the stock is
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trading below where it was in 2016. This is sort of I got to think there's a
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lot of activist, the same old sort of unpleasant Ike per motor. >> If I had to bet on any firm that shows
00:17:13
up forcefully at dignified, it would be Elliot. Um, and by the way, I don't know
00:17:17
anything. I haven't talked to him about this. The But I wouldn't be surprised.
00:17:21
Unfortunately, it'll probably be someone like um Peltz, but he's more consumer. I
00:17:27
wouldn't put it past >> Peltz was in the last one, I think, with Parm Mutter.
00:17:30
>> I don't know. I think if Netflix stock was was I don't I think Netflix and
00:17:35
Disney, this merger the merger between Netflix and Disney could never happen under an
00:17:40
administration that didn't have its that didn't have a FDC or a DOJ that was in a
00:17:44
slumber. So if there was any desire to do that, it would then now would be the time. And if you had
00:17:49
>> No, except Brenda is not He doesn't like Disney. It's in his It's in his sights.
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>> Who doesn't like Disney? >> Brendan Carr. Brenda. I call him Brenda.
00:17:59
>> Yeah, but Well, >> he's specifically called out Disney like by name, saying he doesn't like
00:18:04
>> Yeah, but he doesn't get to decide any trust. It goes It's the I mean, I guess
00:18:09
could he lead it? The bottom line is Disney and Netflix right now, Disney is cheap right now. Netflix and Disney in a
00:18:17
windup would be game over. If you took Netflix's IP, including Wednesday, Stranger Things, Bridgetton, and used it
00:18:25
to go vertical and create experiences and parks. I just think it'd be I just
00:18:30
think it'd be incredible. By the way, I it shouldn't happen. It would be too
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much concentration of media, >> but from a I would buy shares in that company.
00:18:38
>> Yeah, absolutely. I don't think it'll happen. you probably >> although I don't know why it shouldn't
00:18:42
because they have a lot of companies to go up against these tech companies but I
00:18:46
don't know anyway well interesting to see it was fine it was perfectly fine it
00:18:49
was like okay it's so funny you know when Ted Turner when that deal happened
00:18:54
I mean media that was the top for media wasn't it like when AOL alltime Warner
00:18:59
happened I think it was like they were running the [ __ ] show they were the kings of the road and then they weren't
00:19:05
like it's been a downward downward downward slide for traditional media The fall of traditional media for me is
00:19:13
embodied by when I first moved to New York in 2000 and like all single people in their 30s, we would pile eight people
00:19:22
into a house in Bridgeampton and every weekend was a mad scramble to see who we knew at Condast
00:19:32
who knew what magazine was throwing the most fabulous party in the Hamptons and And whether it was details or Vogue and
00:19:43
the job the masters of the universe were these was the creatives and the business
00:19:48
people working at condonas magazines in the magazine. >> That's true. And in the journalism
00:19:53
business I have to tell you I was like the internet person and they like treated me like [ __ ] Like they were
00:19:59
like oh you're part of the internet >> you know and you're no the no it was
00:20:03
Ponzi scheme. It was Ponzi scheme. Oh, it's not going to it's going to it's all
00:20:06
a bunch of it's going to go away. And the media reporters was such snot bags.
00:20:11
I have to tell you, they just were. And I was like, I don't I think you're in
00:20:15
trouble. I was And they were like, you don't know. They're going to run the
00:20:19
show and media media media. And I was like, I think there's got some vulnerabilities there. But they I I'll
00:20:24
never It was the same thing. It was sort of it was well, too bad. That's what
00:20:28
happened. Anyway, um let's go on a quick break. We come back. Anthropic gets into
00:20:34
bed with Elon and SpaceX. Lock that metaphor. Support for this show comes from Harvey AI. The future of law is
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precision and confidence. Harvey, AI tailored for law. Learn more at harvey.ai. Scott, we're back. Anthropic CEO Daario
00:21:43
Amodi says the company planned for 10x growth this year but is now seeing growth closer to 80x creating a massive
00:21:49
need for more computing power. Enter SpaceX or rather SpaceX AI. SpaceX acquired XAI back in February. But Elon
00:21:56
Musk has just revealed XAI will be dissolved and its AI products will be part of the Space X AI brand of course
00:22:03
because everybody left and he he didn't it didn't get quite the traction that he
00:22:07
had hoped. So he's as I said folding it right in. Everything's going to get
00:22:10
folded. Tesla's next. Under the New Deal, Anthropic will get compute power with uh SpaceX AI data center in
00:22:16
Memphis, the one that's polluting people as it works to keep up with surging
00:22:20
demand. Everybody needs power. A real turnaround for Elon, who earlier called anthropic evil. He's now saying he was
00:22:27
impressed after meeting with senior executives, adding, "No one set off my evil detector."
00:22:33
Again, look in the [ __ ] mirror, dude. Um, so is this the enemy? My enemy is my
00:22:38
friend because of chat GPT. This is an interesting thing. I mean, obviously Lince has not had the success he had
00:22:44
he'd hoped to dominate and it's all about his beef with Sam Alman, but in
00:22:49
this case, he's this is what he's doing. I would I would be careful if I was
00:22:53
Daario in general, but um I I think he's savvy enough to deal with Elon, though.
00:22:58
Um and he seems to have enough push back. Um any thoughts on this? >> Uh I'd rather talk about me and the
00:23:05
reminisce a little bit longer. Is that okay? just for a second. >> So I started
00:23:10
>> Okay. But I want thoughts on this. >> In 2000, I had said I'm moving to New
00:23:15
York from San Francisco. I had just been abused, roden, ridden hard, and put away
00:23:21
wet by Sequoia Capital. Kicked off the board of the kicked out of the band I started, kicked off of the board of the
00:23:26
company I started. Just like got divor just like I I just wanted I wanted to never go back to San Francisco the rest
00:23:33
of my life. And I moved to New York. >> Can I ask you a question? Did you deserve it? Just a little bit. Did I
00:23:36
deserve >> what happened? What happened with Sequoia? I'm just asking. I'm just
00:23:40
curious. >> Oh, I I I was an obnoxious, aggressive entrepreneur that was arrogant and
00:23:45
reckless, >> but also Mike Morates is a small vindictive man. >> Okay. Got it.
00:23:50
>> Um, so, uh, so yeah, I I don't I think there's enough blame to go around for
00:23:54
everyone. >> Okay. >> And also, the board was a bunch of a bunch of obsequious people getting
00:23:59
Anyways, >> um, >> I'm still not triggered. I'm clearly over it. I'm clearly over it.
00:24:06
All of you are still to this day. >> I'm clearly over it. Anyways, I moved
00:24:10
back to New York and I started an e-commerce incubator backed by Goldman, JP Morgan, Maverron, Howard, How Howard
00:24:18
Schultz's company. And it was near impossible to recruit people to come to work for a technology
00:24:25
incubator. And I would take people out who were working at traditional media who were making5 or $600,000 a year. And
00:24:32
I'd say, "I can only pay you 200, but I'm going to give you 2 million options
00:24:35
on 2 million shares." And I would have to walk them through what options were.
00:24:41
>> That the ecosystem. I couldn't even use a New York-based law firm because they
00:24:46
didn't do venture. People don't realize New York in 2000 was about finance. It
00:24:51
was about media. There was no, you know, what the >> There were a couple There were a couple
00:24:56
little ones. >> Guilt. >> I mean, there was a guilt and there was something.
00:24:59
>> Yeah. Guilt. I forgot about >> there was guilt in that Kevin Ryan's
00:25:02
company and then there was >> the one ad company that got sold to there was no technology
00:25:09
>> there really wasn't whatsoever there was one oh the one that bought was bought by
00:25:13
Yahoo Tumblr Tumblr was in New York >> Tumblr the worst acquisition in history
00:25:19
>> in history >> the worst acquisition in history >> I broke that story nice to meet you but
00:25:24
yeah >> yeah within the same 60 days um uh uh Mark Zuckerberg made the best
00:25:30
acquisition in history for a billion. He bought Instagram. It's now worth I think
00:25:34
probably a half a trillion to a trillion dollars. >> And Marissa Mayor said,
00:25:38
>> "I'm a baller." And she bought Tumblr for a billion dollars, which seven years
00:25:43
later got sold for how much? >> A couple million dollars. It was a collection of It was a collection of
00:25:49
blogs, >> dirty sites, dirty bloss. >> And then when they shut down the porn, I
00:25:53
I got into an online battle with what's the guy with the bad Caesars's haircut?
00:25:57
I forget his name. >> There were two or three. Union Square Ventures. Anyways,
00:26:00
>> they they told Tumblr they were no longer going to fund this bag of [ __ ]
00:26:04
that was making no money, >> but he convinced Marissa Mayor to buy it for $1.1 billion.
00:26:09
>> I know. >> Anyways, uh >> I'll walk down memory lane. >> This has been fun. I've really enjoyed
00:26:15
this. >> Okay. Um, and then I joined and then my my incubator collapsed within like 6
00:26:21
months founding it after the dot implosion and I joined the faculty at NYU where my first year salary was
00:26:27
$12,000. Good times. >> Good times. >> Back to ex. >> Anyways, back to anthropic. What do we
00:26:34
talk? I've said this. I wish I I have never bet on a a predictions market. I I
00:26:39
said this a week ago. Khi had Musk winning at 51 or 52%. Now it's all of a sudden fallen to 38.
00:26:48
>> Winning at what? Winning >> winning the case. >> Oh, the case.
00:26:51
>> The must wins the case. >> Yeah. Yeah. He's got to make some moves.
00:26:54
>> Going from there is no moves. He does not have a legal egg to stand on. You
00:26:59
can go from a nonprofit to a for-profit. You're allowed to do that. This is regret and a messiah complex cosplaying
00:27:06
a legal argument. Judges and courts aren't concerned or aren't moved by anger and indignance and
00:27:14
by and sellers regret. They're moved by evidence and argument. And there's none
00:27:19
here. >> Though I will say this trial, I was thinking, you know, you're watching the
00:27:23
texts go back and forth and Mirror Morati doesn't like Sam really even though she pretended she did. And the
00:27:30
girlfriend uh who was on the board, I'm blanking on her name. I don't really
00:27:33
care cuz Siobhan Zillas. Um >> isn't that his girlfriend? Well, it's
00:27:37
his partner and then they had four children and she didn't manage to tell the open eye people that she had two
00:27:43
children with him and obviously >> that's not a conflict. Cara, >> she's like a spy in there like right
00:27:51
spy like you might give that piece of information if you're in a beef with someone.
00:27:55
>> You're a fiduciary for all shareholders making decisions around someone's
00:27:58
compensation and you're having their children. That's just like she probably
00:28:01
just forgot to mention compensation. Anyway, so the whole thing and they're like going back and forth in this trial
00:28:06
and I thought this is a soap opera but the most boring people, most awful boring people in it. I'm like I could
00:28:14
give a [ __ ] that whether Mir Morotti likes Sam Alman or not. I don't care. I
00:28:18
don't care. Like oh he was manipulative. I don't care. Like what does that have
00:28:23
to do with anything? Like I you know honestly I I force you know you hear that of course about Sam being
00:28:28
manipulative and telling one person one thing and another. And as I'm reading it
00:28:32
in the trial, I'm like, "So, what does this is this illegal? Is he's just a
00:28:38
jerk or you didn't like him or he was deceptive? Did he do anything illegal?"
00:28:41
Because otherwise, your internal corporate hijinks. I don't, you know, care. I do think she should have told
00:28:48
people she had his babies in my opinion. But the whole thing is like a bad soap opera that you want to like turn off
00:28:54
like and it's just bad for AI. It's bad for the companies. And therefore, he's
00:28:58
going to do another deal like this. That's where we That's why we're where
00:29:01
we are. He's trying to glum himself on to a successful >> Ron Wayne was one of the founders of
00:29:07
Apple. >> He owned 10% of it. He sold his 10% for $2,300 >> back to I think Jobs and Wnjak. That is
00:29:17
now worth $400 billion. >> Yeah. He feels bad. >> And guess what? >> Mhm.
00:29:22
>> It sucks to be a grown-up. He signed the legal documents. Private property. The
00:29:26
key to private property is when like Elon Musk and my favorite defense is, oh, he didn't read the fine print. He's
00:29:32
the wealthiest man in the world with the most sophisticated legal team in history, but oh, he didn't ruin the
00:29:37
fine. I would like to I I would just love to see someone show up who sold the guy who sold Tesla to Musk or the rights
00:29:44
to it, I forget his name, show up and say, "Oh, I didn't realize it was going
00:29:47
to be worth this much and I didn't read the fine print." Just to see how that
00:29:50
goes over in court. >> Yeah. Instead, he's like baby daddy. I'm like, come on. Like, stop it people. And
00:29:55
then the smart people, these are the smartest people on our planet. They sound like such idiots.
00:30:00
>> They're trying to make an emotional argument that he's trying to that I
00:30:04
wanted it to be a nonprofit. And what did I do? Go on to found a forprofit AI company that arguably has less guard
00:30:11
rails than any other AI company. >> A a jury of actual people. >> I I think this is a great buy at 38%.
00:30:20
I'll take the other side of this. I don't >> Yeah. Yeah. Nobody likes these people. I
00:30:25
have to say Brockman came off of all these sort of loathome people I'm waiting for the Sam Alman testimony, but
00:30:31
of all the people so far, Greg Brockman comes off the best and I'm not a particular fan of his either like the
00:30:37
one that keeps notes of everything. So some of the highlights of the testimony emails from Zillis showing Mus suggested
00:30:42
opening I become part of Tesla potentially as a BC Corp subsidiary. Mus tried to recruit Sam Alman to join AI
00:30:51
the worldclass AI lab within Tesla even offering him a board saying they didn't
00:30:55
had no interest Sam Alman and Greg Brockman 2 days before the trial started Musk tested Brockman asking if he was
00:31:01
interested in settling the case Musk supposedly wanted full control of Open AI in part to help him raise $80 billion
00:31:08
to colonize Mars and was using OpenAI employees to do secret work for Tesla. OpenI president said the mask lack of
00:31:15
understanding. Mrs. Brockman of AI was a concern for the company. I that was factual. I really when I heard that I'm
00:31:22
like I I get it. And OpenA's former CTO Mera Moradi was a very nice person. She
00:31:27
testified saying she couldn't trust Sam Waltman's words and saying he created
00:31:30
chaos. Mirror I like you but I don't care. Like then leave. Leave. Leave. >> None of this matters.
00:31:37
>> Nothing matters. Like none of it. It's not who's a better person. It's not who
00:31:41
would be a better shepherd of AI. It's contract law. >> I know >> when you sell an asset, it doesn't it
00:31:48
doesn't matter who the bigger [ __ ] is, the seller or the buyer. >> I know
00:31:52
>> he sold he gave up his ownership and governance. >> Baby daddy gave up his ownership.
00:31:57
>> It doesn't and the whole and media is trying to turn this into who would be
00:32:01
better at running it. It doesn't [ __ ] matter. >> Don't follow when you sell an asset,
00:32:07
>> right? It doesn't matter who's the better person or steward of the home you
00:32:10
sold. >> It is instructive to look how sloppy it is. And so that's I keep saying to
00:32:15
people, they're like, "Oh, the Masters of the Universe." I'm like, "They're
00:32:18
kind of sloppy." Like Google, like everybody in the beginning of Google, they were all like [ __ ] each other.
00:32:24
Like it was like and it was a big mess and it was chaos and they all hated each other. They liked each other. I could
00:32:30
care less, right? That's the thing. until professional management got in. Microsoft early on was like this, like
00:32:36
kind of a mess. But who cares? But the fact that it's coming out in court is is
00:32:42
just makes you realize how dumb and dumb dumb dumb this trial is. Like how dumb it is. It's about money. That's all it
00:32:49
is. >> This is This is I sold something that ended up being worth $850 billion.
00:32:54
>> You're right. You're That's exactly right. >> It's I'm the Messiah who's going to put
00:32:58
us on Mars. Who should control autonomous in the US? should control space. And oh, by the way, the the one
00:33:04
part of the technological revolution that I don't control and I can't seem to
00:33:08
catch up in is is AI. And so 6 years after I've decided, oh, I I need I should own it. I need it back or I need
00:33:17
money back or I need to get in the way of their progress so X AI can I mean pretty soon it's going to be I don't
00:33:24
know. I had a conversation with Dario Amade. I should own >> Yeah. You know, he he I should own
00:33:30
anthropic. >> It's ridiculous. These people 80 bill $80 billion to colonize Mars. Guess
00:33:35
what, Elon? You have it. Spend it and have a good time. Have at it. Good luck. Bye. Take your children. Go. We're We're
00:33:42
thrilled for you. We're We're excited. We'll write a a a poem for you like when
00:33:46
on your way out. It's so stupid. Mike Tyson at the peak of his career um fought Marvis Frasier and knocked him
00:33:56
out in the first 30 seconds. I think legally Elon Musk is Marvis Frasier. I just think the guy
00:34:04
>> I don't even know what you're talking about. >> It's a boxing analogy. I don't like
00:34:07
boxing because I don't like to see young men beating each other up like that.
00:34:09
Neither do I. >> But if you want to talk Oh my gosh. Whenever the the the reels come on of
00:34:15
Mike Tyson's 10 greatest knockouts. Jesus Christ. I met him at a restaurant.
00:34:20
>> Did you? >> Yeah. He came up to me. >> Talk to him crossways. I hope.
00:34:23
>> Oh my. I was so scared of the guy. I just thought be nice to him. >> Yeah.
00:34:26
>> That guy one of the most dominant athletes of all time. Anyways, this is this is this should and I
00:34:33
believe will be a first round [ __ ] knockout. And all this drama and all the media say, "Who would be better at open?
00:34:39
What happened? Who's none of them? Who's [ __ ] none of them? Who's [ __ ]
00:34:43
who?" It's like when Iran and Iraq were at war. I used to say, "I hope the
00:34:46
bullets win." >> I I don't both >> We don't care. >> I went on CNN and they asked me,
00:34:54
>> "Who would be a better steward?" I'm like, "It doesn't matter.
00:34:56
>> None of them. >> It doesn't matter. None of them. This shouldn't be."
00:34:58
>> The answer is none. >> The answer is no. And it doesn't matter.
00:35:02
Private capital and private property means it sucks to be a grown-up. And if you sell your house, it ends up being
00:35:07
next to [ __ ] Mark Zuckerberg and could be worth eight or 10 million right now. Okay, it's done. You sold it, boss.
00:35:13
Let me make one final observation about these people. These are the richest people on earth and they're so
00:35:17
manifestly unhappy. They just can't shut the [ __ ] up. They can't stop fighting.
00:35:23
They have so much money. None of them are qualified to run be in charge of AGI. None of them. They're This is what
00:35:30
this is showing. What tiny, petty, angry, unhappy people. They all are. Every single one of them. And you're
00:35:37
like, "Y'all, none of you deserve what you've got here." So then none of you
00:35:42
has the dignity or character to to look good. And meanwhile over to the left, Dario Modi is like sucking up all the
00:35:50
attributes of goodness. I don't even trust him and I like him. Like it doesn't even matter these people.
00:35:55
Anyway, >> we shouldn't have to trust these people. We should be able to elect
00:35:58
representatives we can trust to do the right thing and regulate these companies >> and then we can fire them easily.
00:36:03
Anyway, let's go on a quick break. We come back, we'll talk about managing a
00:36:07
stock portfolio via chat GPT. You'll like this one, Scott. >> Support for this show comes from
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00:37:23
Scott, we're back with just one more quick story. Over the past few months, I'd love to know what you think of this.
00:37:27
A Wall Street Journal reporter asked Chad GPT for investment advice to see if AI could really realistically manage a
00:37:32
stock portfolio. It's actually makes sense. There's uh speaking of of of
00:37:37
anthropic, they just did an interesting deal where it would make decks and pitch
00:37:41
decks and things like that working. It's called it's a company, I can't remember
00:37:45
the name, but it's interesting though. Um, CHATPGT uh there's a lot of interesting smaller AI companies being
00:37:52
made that actually sound useful. And so this is what the reporter did. Chat GPT generally identified market risk, but
00:37:58
also made simple math mistakes, suggested questionable market timing strategies and sometimes veered into
00:38:03
overly complex ideas like options trading. The chatbot often told the user what they seem to want to hear,
00:38:10
highlighting a bigger concern that AI could sound confident and persuasive even when its advice may be flawed or
00:38:15
risky. Sounds like a lot of brokers I know. About 30% of everyday investors report using AI for their portfolios. So
00:38:23
apparently not so good yet. Not and in lots of really problematic ways that you I mean with a person you're looking at
00:38:30
you sort of have a sense when they're sort of trying to sell you something you
00:38:33
don't want. Um so it was curious. It's just like with law or medical it's not
00:38:39
there. It's not there. And this personalized investment advice is just the latest wrinkle. I don't mind them
00:38:43
making, you know, decks, pitch decks and things like that, but um huge risk for lawsuits, I would assume, just the same
00:38:50
with legal or medical or anything else. Any thoughts? >> Well, I I think it was tempting to
00:38:56
believe in the '9s you could use Lotus, you know, 123 to beat the market by doing all sorts of
00:39:06
>> analysis and calculations and you might have had an edge for a minute. But what
00:39:12
I would argue is that the the the individual thinking they can use uh Claude and I'm guilty of this. I've been
00:39:19
asking Claude like crazy using co-work to come up with different options and hedging strategies and to identify
00:39:25
stocks. I'm guilty of it. I I love the markets. I like to gamble. It's my means
00:39:29
of gambling. >> That's why I'm asking you this. >> And I find it interesting what it says.
00:39:33
But here's the bottom line or what I think. Ken Griffin will hire 2,000 PhDs
00:39:40
and he will weaponize them with AI and they will outperform the market. But you believing with your $20 a month claude
00:39:48
coowork weapon can compete against these folks, you are showing up with a very elegant squirt gun and they have a
00:39:55
[ __ ] howitzer. So this is what you do. You invest in lowcost ETFs like Vanguard and people who know and
00:40:03
understand technology can use, you know, understand how to use AI. But this will
00:40:09
further this will further diminish or create or widen the delta between individual investors and institutional
00:40:16
because institutional investors will have the capital. The bottom line is every time you you
00:40:21
place a trade, you got to keep in mind on the other side of that trade is likely someone smarter than you that has
00:40:30
broader technology. So what you want to do in my view, unless you I get a lot of
00:40:34
I get a lot of psychic income around playing the market. So 30% of my net worth you like I enjoy it,
00:40:41
>> you know, it it's fun for me. Occasionally I have access to a deal that other people don't have access to.
00:40:46
So fine. But the retail investor would be better off finding lowcost ETFs where the management team there is really
00:40:54
technically competent. >> But the notion that's what I do that's what I do. I just put it in exactly the
00:40:59
right way to do it. >> I'm not interested in it. I know I could do slightly better if I I'm a little
00:41:03
smarter than most people and have a little more. >> You're smarter. You're smarter in an
00:41:07
area that has nothing to do that that's done. Be careful thinking that. No, what
00:41:12
I mean is I have some thoughts on on some things that I pro I'm talking about
00:41:15
the average bear, but I'm I don't think I'm smarter than you understand
00:41:19
technology. >> That's right. So, I could be like I wouldn't bet on this company. I would
00:41:23
bet on this company probably earlier than other people, but I still wouldn't
00:41:27
win still. >> The problem is people have emotions in the market and you can't trust your
00:41:32
emotions in the market. So, when the stock gets cut in half, your emotion is to sell it because you can't take any
00:41:36
more pain and that's probably when you should be buying more. And so and then you and then you have you
00:41:43
literally have Ken Griffin out there looking at all the trades and seeing where emotion is spiking or irrationally
00:41:51
plummeting and then moving in in a millionth of a second and then moving out and and absorbing millions of
00:41:58
different data points. So, you do not you do not want to play in traffic here and believe that just because you you're
00:42:08
going to get up to the mound where a guy's pitching 105 miles an hour because
00:42:12
you got a new aluminum bat that you think is going to that you're going to be able to hit a home run. No, you're
00:42:16
going to get beaned in the face. So, I do think AI is going to be a huge unlock. And also it will compress
00:42:24
margins because what will happen is financial advisors unless they're really
00:42:29
good and can go upstream into tax planning. A mediocre financial planner at your local bank know you could
00:42:36
probably do almost as well using AI or better and save 1% a year. I remember when I my mom passed away and I was
00:42:43
looking at her estate. This guy was charging her one or one and a half% of her assets every year to put her in
00:42:51
eight S&P stocks. And I'm like, "Okay, that's just not that hard. Why are we
00:42:55
paying you 1 and a.5%." >> Right. Yeah. And >> it was 1 and a.5%.
00:42:59
>> So, what I would say is I I think, by the way, I think people should use AI to
00:43:04
try and pick stocks. I just don't think they should buy them. I think it's
00:43:07
fascinating to see the logic to see what it comes back with, to start asking it more questions. I've been trying to
00:43:13
figure out option strategies, a strangle strategy. I just I'm learning a lot.
00:43:17
>> Although sometimes you don't know if it's accurate, right? That's the issue.
00:43:20
some of it they the sycopanticness is is still a problem because it's not going
00:43:25
to challen it's not if you it's I think someone was I think the article says
00:43:29
it's no more than having a smart assistant right like they're no smarter
00:43:33
than anything else and and there's an assistant part which doesn't want to
00:43:38
displease you and then it's just a smart person but you're never going to have an
00:43:42
edge with AI >> but you you can you can normalize for that there's a a a co-work fe feature in
00:43:49
anthropic where you ask this council of people. One's a cynic, one's an optimist, one is
00:43:56
one is grounded in historical context, the other is like an analytical unemotional person. And all of these
00:44:03
quote unquote agents look at your question and then they distill their answers up to a quote unquote chairman
00:44:08
who distills it and gives you an answer back. You can also I I I lead a lot of prompts with give me the brutal truth
00:44:16
because I don't like, you know, I don't like it. I hate it when it says to me.
00:44:19
Great question. The other thing you should do is is and I can't do this because I unsubscribed from chat GPT.
00:44:25
You can beta test the same do the exact same prompt somewhere else. >> Yeah, I did that before I quit and I was
00:44:31
on other things like show me a book title, get show me a book cover. I got to say Claude was hands down the best.
00:44:38
It just was. It just was so clearly better. You know when you taste test things you're like oh that tastes like
00:44:43
[ __ ] and that's good, right? Or the coffee or something like that. But yeah,
00:44:47
you're right. But anyway, it's very interesting. I mean, you should all try
00:44:49
it out to see what happens and do one of those tests. But this was a great article in the journal and I think it
00:44:55
showed that it just doesn't it's not as ready for prime time as they say.
00:44:59
>> And about 30% a third of retail investors are already using AI for their
00:45:03
portfolios. And so >> everyone's looking for a shortcut, Scott. >> But this one of the greatest grips I
00:45:10
believe legal grips in corporate history was the financial adviser >> or or institutional investors. And by
00:45:17
the way, the majority of the grift has happened amongst the richest. Rich people like
00:45:22
>> they always have the handholders. Yeah. >> Rich people like to believe that they
00:45:25
deserve something better. So they want to get into these really high-profile, well marketed hedge funds who they
00:45:31
believe, oh, I have access to Alson or I have access to this, you know, DEA or whatever. Okay, fine. Guess what? If you
00:45:40
added up all alternative investments and hedge fund returns for the last 50 years, they have underperformed the S&P
00:45:47
by the amount of their fees. It's a a and some outperform. Berkshire Hathway
00:45:52
has outperformed. My buddy at Anchorage Capital has outperformed. You know, I have another buddy at Mudra Capital
00:45:58
who's outperformed. But generally speaking, over the long medium and long term, they all underperform the market
00:46:05
by their fees. And every piece of data analysis, if you go to the finance department at a world-class university
00:46:13
and ask them where they invest, they're like, "Vanguard." >> Mhm. Me, too.
00:46:17
>> And they don't pick stocks. They don't pick stocks. >> I put I don't know. Someone's like, "How
00:46:22
are your stocks doing?" I'm like, "I have no idea." And I I'm not going to
00:46:24
look until I need and I don't really need the money. So, I just I'm like, "I
00:46:28
just put it there and then it goes away." It's like it's like a bank at
00:46:31
Gringots. I don't care. Like I I the I the more I think about it, the more upset I get, right? Like what am I
00:46:38
missing? What did I get wrong? Did I buy gold? Should I do this? And then I'm
00:46:41
like, why am I that [ __ ] person? >> It's a great point because >> in addition to the capital
00:46:47
you're investing, you want to talk about the emotion you're investing. >> And that is I do get psychic income, but
00:46:54
>> you like it. You like it. >> I I started buying stocks when I was 13.
00:46:57
I worked at Morgan Stanley. I I find it fascinating. I really do enjoy markets and it's served me well. Having said
00:47:04
that, it also takes a real emotional toll staring at your [ __ ] phone and then when you buy a stock and you're
00:47:09
convinced you're a genius and it gets cut by 40% in 2 weeks after you buy it,
00:47:14
you're really going to beat yourself up. >> The only thing I wish you wouldn't do is
00:47:17
put so much of your your your medical information into these people cuz they don't it's they don't they're not bound
00:47:22
by HIPPA. Same thing with legal. I'm like, please don't. I mean, unless you
00:47:27
find one of these ones that is bound by the same law as everybody else is, I just worry about that over time.
00:47:33
>> What's that? Wait, who's taking >> No, I'm just saying when you whenever
00:47:35
you put a lot of your per you always like, oh, I loaded up you sometimes you don't even realize you're saying this to
00:47:39
me. I put away all my medical thing into this and I was like really not sure I trust these people to have all
00:47:45
>> I'm very promiscuous with my information. >> You are. I makes me worried. I'll be
00:47:49
honest with you. I think oh dear, no, don't do that. >> Cuz you think at some point they're
00:47:53
going to get all of it and weaponize it against us. They're They're not I I They
00:47:56
could because they're not bound by HIPPA. They're not bound by legal things
00:48:00
anyway. >> I wonder if I should just send out >> a preemptive apology to Angie Dickinson
00:48:06
and Emily Ratikowski right now. >> Why? >> Well, just all the things I've asked Ali
00:48:10
about. >> Oh, no. Okay, we're moving on. We got to go. All right, one more quick break.
00:48:15
We'll be back for predictions. Okay, Scott, let's hear a prediction. Do you
00:48:19
have a prediction for us? >> There was a really interesting story this week that I think
00:48:24
kind of indicates or pretends portends what might be in store for us around um potential acquisitions. And I made a
00:48:32
similar prediction a few years ago, but it didn't pan out. And that is a 32-year-old Tik Tocker just crowdfunded
00:48:39
132 million in non-binding pledges to buy a bankrupt uh Spirit Airlines. Did you see this?
00:48:45
>> No, I didn't see. >> He said he said, "Look, Spirit helps
00:48:47
keep airline prices down. Let's do what we did with the Green Bay Packers and
00:48:51
let's neutralize it." and he's very talented and Spirit said it was gonna
00:48:57
shut down at 2 am on Saturday and this guy Hunter Peterson had a TikTok up the same day a website
00:49:04
by the next and 6 million views within days and more than a get this car more than 133,000 people have pledged on
00:49:10
average about a,000 bucks each totaling uh $132 million and essentially what he's saying is that
00:49:19
okay 20% of American adults paying the average spirit fair of $30 to $40 equals enough to buy an airline. and they say
00:49:27
it's unl okay listen it's unlikely to close but the idea with in an era of AI
00:49:33
and compliance AI where you could spin up the legal documents and have people sign them and with PayPal I think you're
00:49:40
going to see in the next 12 to 36 months someone pulled this off where they say hey who
00:49:49
wants to buy Estee Lauder or who wants to buy you know it'll start with a small stock it
00:49:56
wouldn't Estee Lauder because that's too big a company. But it'll start with a
00:49:59
small company that goes out of business. They'll say, "Okay, Dick Sporting,
00:50:02
whatever it is, and someone talented who's very charismatic, who will weaponize social media and AI to collect
00:50:09
legal pledges for funds and will buy something. I think crowdfunding I think crowdfunding is going to
00:50:17
um is going to is going to happen." and and also retail participation in US
00:50:22
equities has risen by nearly 20% of average daily trading volume which by the way is usually a sell signal um up
00:50:28
from low single digits before co and >> so it's like when everybody got in one
00:50:32
of those accounts >> that's right >> trade accounts >> and rather than fading retail flows hit
00:50:36
fresh records in 2025 >> it's cuz the stock market's up >> that's right and everyone thinks we're a
00:50:40
genius now everyone's like oh I'm I'm >> all right okay I like that why don't you
00:50:43
do it why don't we buy >> well that's what I used to do for a living between 2000 and 2008
00:50:48
>> buy all kinds of sense What could we buy? What would we buy? >> All kinds of stunts.
00:50:53
>> Like Chipotle or something? >> Chipotle's expensive. >> Chipotle is expensive.
00:50:58
>> I don't want to buy, >> you know, they send me I used to tell I
00:51:00
was in the original. >> Isn't that the plot? >> They sent me a card.
00:51:03
>> This is the most impressive. My sons have ever been with me. I got a card for
00:51:07
free lifetime Chipotle and I sold it or I didn't sell it. I've lost it. But I
00:51:12
love Chipotle. >> Oh, you want one again? That's what this was about. Little
00:51:15
>> I didn't get paid. They sent me a card. No, if they do it again, I want I want
00:51:18
serious cabbage. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. It's uh >> All right.
00:51:22
>> Yeah. >> I like that prediction. By the way, I predict the government is going to lose
00:51:26
that idiotic case against the New York Times about the hiring the DEI and then attacking the woman who did
00:51:31
redistricting. These people make Chowescu look kind. It's ridiculous. They're going after all
00:51:38
their enemies with the FBI and they're attacking Here's what I predict. It's
00:51:41
going to end in tears for those people. They attack the New York Times for DEI in a lawsuit. Then they're going to use
00:51:49
the Justice Department to try to get uh Eugene Carol's money that Trump owes
00:51:53
her, the 83 million, which is insane. And then they attack the woman in the 82-year-old woman. They in they they
00:52:01
raided her office um to try to find corruption who did the who was so this this badass lady in Virginia who did all
00:52:07
the redistricting that kicked their ass. And then they are investigating the reporter for the Atlantic who, you know,
00:52:16
No [ __ ] Sherlock did the story about Cash Patel being a drunk. Um, and of course she immediately answered it by
00:52:22
showing off a bottle she bought on auction where Cash Patel gives out whiskey to people with his name on it,
00:52:28
like some Woodford wi reserve whiskey. So, no one's having any of this nonsense
00:52:33
that they're doing. It's just so like clawish and thuggish. So, none of it's
00:52:37
going to work. That's my prediction. I >> I I can't help it. I agree with you.
00:52:41
Private companies get to do what they want. Whether do that's none of the government's business in my view. Unless
00:52:46
it's they're claiming reverse racism. I I think that >> I will say
00:52:52
>> let the guy sue her sue the New York Times. I don't care. >> Um look, a search warrant is not proof
00:52:59
of guilt, but it is a serious threshold and federal judges do not casually approve raids on senior state
00:53:04
legislators. >> Come on. >> So, well, >> why her? Why her? >> Because well, okay, you could argue that
00:53:11
the investigation, the fact it was even launched is politicized, but a federal a
00:53:16
sitting federal uh judge, they do not issue >> I don't know. >> This is this is in my opinion, we'll see
00:53:23
what the evidence says. >> That's correct. We'll see what the evidence says.
00:53:26
>> You know, because at the same time, a high-profile corruption probe, >> they often look strongest at the raid
00:53:32
stage and weaker later once the evidence is scrutinized. Leticia James. >> But to be fair to the other side, a
00:53:38
search warrant is a, you know, it has to pass a serious threshold that a federal
00:53:42
judge does not casually approve on senior state legis. >> I understand that, but there's a reason
00:53:47
they didn't pick 20 other Republican ones. This is what they do all the time.
00:53:51
They just This is it's a it's a weaponization of the power and they they
00:53:56
complained about it happening to them and then they're doing it. So, stop it.
00:54:01
Just cut it out. Anyway, we want to hear from you. to send us your questions about business, tech, or whatever is on
00:54:05
your mind. Go to nymag.com/pivot to submit a question for the show or call 85551 pivot. Elsewhere in the Karen
00:54:12
Scott universe this week, Scott uh ProfG Markets is going on tour this month. Uh
00:54:16
tell us a little bit about it. Tell us a tiny thing. It's kicking off May 27th.
00:54:22
It's going to San Francisco, LA, Miami, Chicago, and New York. You go to profarketsour.com
00:54:28
for tickets. Tell us a tiny bit about this and why people should go. >> Uh well, thanks Cara. It's similar to
00:54:33
what we did with Pivot. It's a live tour. We have a bunch of great guests across different cities. It was
00:54:39
interesting. It's interesting what sells out the quickest. New York and San Francisco. We were worried that San
00:54:45
Francisco wouldn't like us because we're constantly ship hosting tech people, but
00:54:49
New York and San Francisco are going to sell out in the next 24 hours. And um anyways, but yeah, it's just a live tour
00:54:56
with me and Eden. >> We sold out San Francisco first on Pivot. So, it looks like Toronto. Was it
00:55:02
Toronto and >> Oh, Toronto and Boston. Wait, did Boston. >> We sold out Boston fast. We sold them
00:55:07
all out fast. I'll be on the LA was happen to be a huge theater. So, it took
00:55:10
a little longer, but >> yeah. But it's it's u and it'll be after
00:55:14
the show. It'll be a bunch of people coming up to me and asking me if Edson is single because their daughter is
00:55:19
looking for a nice husband. Um but yeah, so it's it's my um Propy Markets live
00:55:25
tour. Go to property markets tour. >> Propy Markets Tour uh.com. Yeah, thanks for that.
00:55:31
>> Good. >> But yeah, it's starting at the end of May and first week of June.
00:55:36
>> Great. That's fantastic. And also, we're going to be doing Pivot in the fall.
00:55:39
Another Pivot tour in the Nepal. We're just You're going to be on the road,
00:55:41
Scott Gallow. >> We're doing another tour. >> Yes. You know that. What do you do? You
00:55:46
know that? We are. >> I didn't know that, but I'm excited about it.
00:55:49
>> You did know. We literally had a call about it. What happened? >> We didn't have a call about another
00:55:53
tour. >> We literally discussed it. We're having a tour in the fall. You were on the
00:55:58
call. You weren't listening, >> but you were there. >> I know. >> You were.
00:56:02
>> I don't remember. Where am I? >> Well, we're having one. Anyway, that's
00:56:05
the show. Thanks for listening to Pivot and be sure to like and subscribe to our
00:56:09
YouTube channel. We'll be back next week.

Episode Highlights

  • Ted Turner's Legacy
    Ted Turner, media mogul and philanthropist, left a significant mark on the world.
    “He was a different kind of billionaire.”
    @ 00m 36s
    May 08, 2026
  • The Cost of Acquisitions
    Time Warner's acquisitions are often cited as some of the worst in history.
    “If you wrote a book called the worst acquisitions in history, you could just call it Time Warner.”
    @ 11m 30s
    May 08, 2026
  • The Downfall of Traditional Media
    A reflection on the decline of traditional media and its impact on culture.
    “The fall of traditional media for me is embodied by...”
    @ 19m 10s
    May 08, 2026
  • Elon Musk's Surprising Shift
    Musk calls Anthropic 'not evil' after previously criticizing them. A surprising turn of events!
    “No one set off my evil detector.”
    @ 22m 31s
    May 08, 2026
  • The Worst Acquisition in History
    Discussion on Marissa Mayer's purchase of Tumblr and its disastrous outcome.
    “Tumblr the worst acquisition in history.”
    @ 25m 19s
    May 08, 2026
  • The Unqualified Elite
    A critique of the wealthy elite's qualifications to manage AGI, highlighting their unhappiness despite riches.
    “None of them are qualified to run AGI.”
    @ 35m 25s
    May 08, 2026
  • AI's Investment Risks
    Discussion on the limitations of AI in providing reliable investment advice, revealing flaws in its strategies.
    “AI could sound confident and persuasive even when its advice may be flawed.”
    @ 38m 11s
    May 08, 2026
  • Crowdfunding the Future
    A TikTok user raises $132 million to buy Spirit Airlines, showcasing the potential of crowdfunding.
    “Crowdfunding is going to happen.”
    @ 50m 17s
    May 08, 2026
  • Government's Case Against the New York Times
    A prediction that the government will lose its case against the New York Times.
    “I predict the government is going to lose that idiotic case against the New York Times.”
    @ 51m 25s
    May 08, 2026
  • Search Warrant Threshold
    Discussion on the seriousness of a search warrant and its implications.
    “A search warrant is not proof of guilt, but it is a serious threshold.”
    @ 52m 59s
    May 08, 2026
  • Upcoming Pro Markets Tour
    Announcement of the Pro Markets live tour starting May 27th in various cities.
    “It's kicking off May 27th. It's going to San Francisco, LA, Miami, Chicago, and New York.”
    @ 54m 22s
    May 08, 2026

Episode Quotes

  • He saw his wealth and his seat as an obligation.
    Kara Swisher Calls Out Elon Musk and Big Tech’s “Petty, Angry" People | Pivot
  • No one set off my evil detector.
    Kara Swisher Calls Out Elon Musk and Big Tech’s “Petty, Angry" People | Pivot
  • It sucks to be a grown-up.
    Kara Swisher Calls Out Elon Musk and Big Tech’s “Petty, Angry" People | Pivot
  • None of them are qualified to run AGI.
    Kara Swisher Calls Out Elon Musk and Big Tech’s “Petty, Angry" People | Pivot
  • You do not want to play in traffic here.
    Kara Swisher Calls Out Elon Musk and Big Tech’s “Petty, Angry" People | Pivot
  • It's ridiculous. They're going after all their enemies with the FBI.
    Kara Swisher Calls Out Elon Musk and Big Tech’s “Petty, Angry" People | Pivot

Key Moments

  • Acquisition Regrets11:30
  • Media Downfall19:10
  • Musk's Shift22:31
  • Tumblr Acquisition25:19
  • Investment AI37:30
  • Search Warrant Discussion52:59
  • Pro Markets Tour Announcement54:22
  • Show Wrap-Up56:05

Tension Over Time

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown