June 12, 2026 • 37 mins
Max and Stacey have caught the fever of Big Money. What does this moment of thousand-dollar sporting event tickets and trillion-dollar AI IPOs mean for middle class and retail spending? Bloomberg’s Katie Greifeld and Randall Williams join the show to make sense of the numbers. Plus, a theory behind the declining birth rate and a late-capitalist fragrance.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Hi, Max and Sacy.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Hey, Jasmine.
Speaker 4 (00:12):
Hi, I'm Dathman, producer on the show, and before we
start the segment, I thought I would like present you
both with something to get you a little bit more
in the spirit of the Nicks versus the Spurs.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Okay, all right, so I have here. Oh my god, Jasmine,
did you for you both?
Speaker 5 (00:32):
Did you spend Mike Bloomberg's money on Nick shirts?
Speaker 6 (00:37):
So I have a T shirt for you.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Max?
Speaker 7 (00:39):
Oh nice, way, I want to I want to see
it says we got.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
To read the conference champion.
Speaker 8 (00:45):
Nice and I have one for you.
Speaker 5 (00:49):
I truly hope that this is licensed merchandise, of course.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
That this is straight off of Lexington Avenue right here.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I love it. All right.
Speaker 5 (01:01):
We are objective journalists here at everybody's business, so I
hope we don't tell anybody.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
But we're also New Yorkers.
Speaker 6 (01:10):
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
We're also New Yorkers. Max. This is an epic week
in New York.
Speaker 7 (01:21):
From Madison Square Garden to Wall Street, things are just
it just doesn't get bigger than this.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
It's epic.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (01:27):
Everywhere I look all over the city, everyone is out
there supporting their favorite team, and of course that is
the IPO of SpaceX, the biggest.
Speaker 7 (01:37):
You just can't ride the subway without people like, are
you getting in on the Anthropic deal?
Speaker 5 (01:41):
Like, yeah, you mentioned also Anthropic Open AI. It is
a big week for public markets.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
It is a big week for public markets. But Max,
that is not the shirt that you are wearing right now.
Speaker 5 (01:51):
No, the NBA Finals are going on right now, New York. Next,
the team of Destiny Stacy Destiny are on the Customer
television ratings are great, the World Cup is here. We're
gonna be talking with Randall Williams all about this kind
of amazing moment in sports that is happening right now.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yes, and we're also talking about the great Katie Greidfeld
about all of these IPOs and what that means for
the markets and for regular people. This is everybody's business.
Speaker 5 (02:19):
I'm Stacy Bannocksmith, I'm Max Chafkin. Let's go IPOs and
the next.
Speaker 7 (02:25):
I guess Max, I have not seen that much of
you recently because you have had your head down. You've
been writing this big like mango article on SpaceX.
Speaker 5 (02:40):
I don't know Mango, but yes, statay technical I have
been thinking about writing, about talking about reading, talking to
people related to the SpaceX ipo, which is the biggest
ipo ever.
Speaker 7 (02:53):
I know, while I feel like the summer is supposed
to be kind of a sleepy time for the markets,
everyone's kind of relaxing and going on vacation, but oh
my gosh, like this month we've got not only SpaceX
but also Anthropic Open AI. They're all going public soon.
And like you said, these are not just run of
the mill IPOs. These are like the biggest of all time.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
SpaceX aiming for one point eight trillion.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
They're like GDPs, this is not enough.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
I just you haven't even read I assume you haven't
looked at the SPACEXS one. But we will have to
talk about GDP scale once we bring in Katie Greifeld,
who is here with us.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Now, Hey Katie, Hey you guys.
Speaker 5 (03:30):
Katie is the co host of the Clothes on Bloomberg TV.
Check it out the podcast Money Stuff. Subscribe a great
newsletter ETFIQ, which is very topical for this conversation.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
You subscribe to that, Katie. We are so happy you're here.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
I'm thrilled to be here. On everybody's business, all right.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
So, Katie, you live in the world of the markets
more than Sacy and I do. What is your sort
of feeling about this SPACEXXIPO. We're recording this two days,
I guess before it begins trading on Friday, huge valuation.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
I don't know what are you seeing, what are you hearing?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
I'm psyched.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
I have to say, I live in the second to
second of markets. So it's going to be fascinating to
see this company actually come public because it's already especially
I mean the Big three that we're talking about, there's
so much a part of the conversation. And even though
they're private companies, they have so many tentacles, especially open
an AI and Anthropic, into publicly listed companies. You think
(04:27):
about what's going on with Nvidia and the Magnificent Seven.
They've already made such a splash in public markets. To
finally have them come and IPO feels like such a
moment in time. So how do I feel about it?
I'm happy that at least for SpaceX, we're finally here.
At least for Anthropic and open AI, we've seen some
(04:50):
initial s one so we can finally start to like
color in the lines of these private companies that we
know a lot about, but to get regular updates from
them and have them actually be publicly listed companies. It's
just going to help, I think, fit together a lot
of the pieces.
Speaker 7 (05:07):
Well, I would love to talk about these numbers a
little bit, because the numbers are huge, the evaluations are huge,
and the amount of money these companies are earning is
not necessarily in the ballpark of how these companies are valued.
I mean, is that just like an old fashioned way
of looking at IPOs and companies or how do you
reconcile the amount of money that these companies are like
(05:33):
trying to list for and how much they actually seem
to be poised to make.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
I don't think it's old fashioned, but it does seem
a little past SA in the age of AI, you know, okay,
because you're really you're selling a vision like where we're.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Going we don't need roads?
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Well kind of yeah, like you're selling you're selling a
vision of the future. We're going to put data centers
in space, et cetera, et cetera. AI is going to
reshape society and this is going to be a central
part to how we live our lives. And that's if
you're if you're buying into any AI company going public
(06:11):
on day one, but especially you know these three and SpaceX,
Elon Musk would argue is an AI company, not a
rocket company. You're sort of buying into that vision. I
will say with SpaceX, the numbers that we're talking about
in max, this is something that you're well acquainted with.
The Elon Musk premium. The facts insane, the fact that
Elon Musk is attached to this company. When you compare it,
(06:33):
when you compare the valuations with the fundamentals, but then
you add in the Elon Musk factor, it makes it
make a little bit more sense.
Speaker 5 (06:39):
It's funny because, like what you're saying sounds like kind
of a made up thing. But when you talk to
like people who analyze, like analysts, they kind of put
in these terms. They're like, well, you've got the rocket.
You've got the rocket part of the business that's pretty good.
You've got Starlink, which is growing, but who knows how
fast is going to grow. You got the AI thing
which doesn't really exist yet. I mean, there's a plan
to build data centers in space. There's which is a
(07:01):
kind of second tier large language model. It's sort of
noteworthy because it's more risque than Open Ai or Claude.
It's the one you want to have sex with. I
guess if you have to, you gotta choose one. But
then there's Elon Musk, and that is the thing that
takes this company, which is really it's like a smallish
tech company at least by the scale of these megacaps
(07:23):
eighteen billion dollars in revenue. I think Meta had something
like two hundred billion dollars in revenue, lost over four
billion dollars last year. The losses are growing. And you
take those kind of little pieces that I mentioned, and
you swirl in the Elon Musk premium that you're talking about,
and all of a sudden, you've got a company that's
one point eight trillion dollars.
Speaker 7 (07:42):
Can I ask a question that's going to sound snarky,
but I actually don't mean it to sound snarky, which
is why is there an Elon Musk premium? He feels
like you could look at him as potentially a little
bit of a liability.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
I mean, to his credit, he helped pioneer the category
of elect for vehicles in the US. I mean Tesla's
if you take a drive They're ubiquitous. You see them everywhere.
SpaceX also to Elon Musk's credit. I mean, this is
a company that's been around for decades. It's not like
your classic startup. I think Anthropic is something close to
(08:16):
like five years old. But Tesla or rather SpaceX, is
a mature company at this point, and they've you know,
successfully delivered on a lot of their targets. And you know,
you think about the SpaceX IPO thirty percent, it's going
to be allocated to retail investors. Retail investors who love
Elon Musk. Presumably that's why they're buying it. I think
(08:38):
you can't discount the fact that he is a sales
a salesman here.
Speaker 7 (08:45):
Well, that brings me to another question that I had
about this moment. So this is like probably one of
the most action packed months the markets have ever had,
like in their history.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
I'm tired, yes, But why are the markets falling?
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Well, I hope I don't don't look too ghoulish. But again,
I cover markets second to second and for two hours
a day. You know, well, I'm so interested to see
if this current slump and it really started, you know,
in the wake of Broadcom earnings last week, you know,
this whole AI complex and the chip makers, in particular.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Massive chip maker, Yes, exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
The chip makers have really been in the hurt locker
and leading this. They gave a disappointing forecast. And again
when we're talking about hopes and dreams and like the
vision for the future and the idea that you know,
this AI reality that we're going to enter into is
going to translate into real profits for these companies. If
your forecast doesn't align with that vision, obviously, investors get nervous.
(09:43):
So it creates a really interesting stage on which SpaceX
is going to go public in a few days time.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
So we'll we'll see, you know.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
I mean, there's so many unknowns here, but I will
say that sentiment is definitely a little skittish at this moment,
especially around the AI trade, and it's going to be
interesting to see how SpaceX.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Lands in the midst of that.
Speaker 5 (10:07):
A major thing that lots of people are talking about.
Your co host Matt Levine has been writing about this
in his newsletter, is this question of the index funds.
So quick primer, I guess for people who don't know
what we're talking about, but most investors invest in these
passive index funds, you buy a big chunk of the market,
the S and P five hundred, the Nasdaq one hundred,
(10:27):
the Rustle two thousand, whatever. And Elon Musk and SpaceX
have been campaigning essentially behind the scenes to get these
index funds to add SpaceX into their indices as quickly
as possible, and in most cases have succeeded. With the
SMP has basically said no, but the other indices all said, yeah, sure,
bring it on. And there's this sense and this has
(10:50):
showed up in columns in the Times, and I've certainly
heard this from people that you know, Musk is sort
of forcing people into this investment at a time time
when the valuation is very high. Like you may not
buy SpaceX, but if you own a Nasdaq one hundred
mutual fund or ETF, you do own it, and you're
(11:11):
essentially maybe becoming like a bag holder or something for
Elon Musk. Now, I'm kind of curious what you make
of that conversation.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
I mean, I love it again, not to be a ghoul,
but again, like just the fact that you know, the
broader public is having these discussions about index methodology, UH
and passive investments, I'm like, hell yeah, in this is
what we get up in the morning. For SpaceX alone
isn't probably going to take down your index fund. But
(11:38):
if it trades, you know, as a block, the Magnificent
Seven for a long time sort of traded as a group,
you know it'll have an impact. But it is interesting
to watch certain indexes bend around SpaceX and then the SMP,
which has pretty strict methodology, stand by that methodology. You
can see the argument on either end. For an index provider,
(11:59):
you want to be representative of the market. We've never
had an IPO of this size, and to leave SpaceX out,
you know, it's easy to make the argument you're not
representing the slice of the market or whatever your index
is trying to do. Whereas S and P on the
other side, you know, has a pretty easy argument that
you know, we have these rules for a reason and
(12:20):
we're sticking by them.
Speaker 8 (12:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (12:21):
I mean, MUSK just has so much leverage, like in
so many different ways. And I think part of what
was going on Katie kind of hinted at it is
that you know, there's a fear that if you don't
add SpaceX to the index, then you're doing a disserta.
What happens when those data centers go to space and
you know, all of the crazy predictions in this IPO
(12:42):
document pan out, and like then the the the four
oh one k people or whatever have missed out. That's
the kind of risk of non including But also these
these some of these companies were competing for the SpaceX listing.
NASPAC is going to list SpaceX, So you do sort
of wonder. I think they've denied that there was any
kind of conflict of interest. This is just for the
good of the investors, but there have been those questions raised.
(13:04):
I'm wondering, we're about to have a few extra trillion
dollars go into the stock market. You're talking about a
lot of retail money. You're talking about a very volatile sector.
Is there any risk in your mind that if this
IPO goes bad, if it doesn't you know, if it
pops and then crashes, or if it crashes or whatever.
(13:25):
You know, we don't know what's going to happen, that
it could bring down the entire AI trade. Or do
you think the like the sort of singularity of Elon
Musk will mean that this sort of just operates on
its own kind of island.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Well, I think it is going to be extremely important
for sentiment, and certainly you've seen a lot of pessimists
argue that, like we're watching the top form in real time,
like you can see the bubble rate here and here
comes the pinprick. We have to see how it goes. Obviously,
I do think if it goes poorly, it'll be interesting
to see what it means for the pipeline of companies
(14:00):
who are perhaps considering their own IPOs. I think that
might be the more important ripple effect, because if SpaceX
gets a strange or rocky reception from the public markets,
you know, one of the most anticipated IPOs of all time,
if not all time. If you're a regular company hanging
out in the pipeline waiting to see if you want
(14:21):
to jump in the pool, that could absolutely have a
chilling effect.
Speaker 7 (14:25):
This is going to be a very interesting we will
all be watching gooulishly, I guess yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Thank you for bringing Katie Dreifel the.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
Ghoulish perspective to everybody's business. Check out Money Stuff the podcast,
check out the Clothes on Bloomberg TV. Subscribe to ETFIQ. Katie,
Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me, Stacy.
The world of sports is on fire right now. The
NBA Finals, as we mentioned, in full swing. As we record,
(14:55):
the Knicks are ahead of the Spurs in the series
three games one. The final game of the series, I
have been told with so much authority by everyone I
know in New York City is going to be on
Saturday night. And that is before or as the World
Cup starts. The World Cup will kickoff today Mexico over
South Africa. It is sports madness here. It's a sight
to see.
Speaker 7 (15:15):
I know, the whole city seems kind of consumed with
sports fever of all kinds.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
I feel like it's on the subway and it's on
the streets.
Speaker 7 (15:21):
And I was in Idaho last week and everybody was
asking me about the Knicks.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
We were talking about this before we had to bring
on Randall Williams, Bloomberg sports reporter, who is here with us.
Speaker 6 (15:32):
Randall, welcome, Thank you all for having me.
Speaker 9 (15:34):
And I also want these listeners to know that both
of you all are wearing mixed shirts today.
Speaker 6 (15:39):
Did you all say that.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
We did?
Speaker 7 (15:42):
I feel like mine is a little bit unearned you,
but I'm wearing it with Is.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
It like a journalistic Are we committing some sort of journalists.
Speaker 9 (15:50):
No, because you all don't cover sports. But if you
attend a sports game and you are wearing team apparel,
that's low key a Cardinals soon.
Speaker 6 (15:57):
So randle your hat as both teams. Yeah, it's oh,
it is random teams.
Speaker 9 (16:03):
And it has an NBA Finals on the front and
it has the Larry O'Brien trophy on the other side.
Speaker 7 (16:07):
No bias, Okay, okay, I appreciate this very much, it's
very professional.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
Before we begin, Randall, we have to play you some
tape from some fans. We sent producers Jasmine J. T.
Green and Miles J. Herzenhorn to a local sports bar
in midtown Manhattan, right around the corner for Madison Square
Garden where the game was taking place, to get a
pulse of the game three action.
Speaker 8 (16:28):
So, can you guys tell us how much you spent
on next merchandise, food, drinks and other things during this
finals run so far?
Speaker 3 (16:36):
At least one hundred bucks, one hundred and fifty.
Speaker 9 (16:39):
Bucks, probably five hundred eight yeah, probably like three grandow.
Speaker 8 (16:45):
I've been to a couple of games, been gossop, have
a jersey on. I got a lot of Jerseys.
Speaker 6 (16:49):
Guess is crazy.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Where do you drive from h.
Speaker 8 (16:52):
Corney Allen and then you have to pay for parking Manhattan? Yeah,
so you went to San Antonio, you flew there, bought it?
Speaker 6 (16:58):
I did.
Speaker 8 (16:59):
How much did that cost you in total if you
had to gas? Uh, probably like a thousand bucks ticket
and flight. Yeah, yeah, that's not a bad deal.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (17:08):
I'm good credit card points, so that helps. I just
got another hat and it was like maybe around thirty bucks,
probably up charge because of how good the next we're doing,
but a hundred percent worth it. I'd sell my house
to watch Jalen Bronson.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
Yeah, I'm definitely drinking more and going to more bars
than I normally would.
Speaker 8 (17:26):
It'd be good for your while I and your lever
of Nicks one and five.
Speaker 5 (17:29):
Uh, it'd be good for my heart, it'd be good
for my cordisol levels.
Speaker 8 (17:33):
Uh, it's the Knicks one in five. What do you
think about the price of tickets for the actual game.
Speaker 6 (17:40):
I think it's that's kind of insane.
Speaker 5 (17:42):
The fans, like more recently, are probably the ones going
to the game and won't spend that amount of money, But.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Like the diehard fans can't afford to go to that.
That think's kind of fair.
Speaker 8 (17:51):
What are you looking forward to at the WATS party.
I'm looking for to spending more money. I'm just looking
forward and WINNI and five.
Speaker 5 (17:59):
We're gonna back crazy on when the Necks are down
because I'm gonna make that big bread when next win
that chip.
Speaker 8 (18:05):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Oh the house thing.
Speaker 7 (18:08):
I can't get over the guy who says he would
sell his house.
Speaker 6 (18:12):
It doesn't surprise me. Knicks fans are rabid.
Speaker 7 (18:16):
You were there, You were at this game that you
have to I mean you were like quoting celebrities in
the in the top of your article. So tell us,
just tell us everything. What was it like being there?
What was the feeling.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
In the stadium?
Speaker 6 (18:29):
So you brought up celebrities.
Speaker 9 (18:30):
Game three, I was sitting at a press conference and
I just panned to my right and Ben Stiller is
right there from me to Max, which is I don't know.
Speaker 6 (18:39):
A yard.
Speaker 9 (18:41):
In length, and he's recording on his phone and he's
then on game four he's like, hey, I saw you
recording me.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
Can I have that video? And so I air dropped
a video.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Wait, so you just like have Ben Steelller's information.
Speaker 9 (18:52):
Now I don't he we did the everyone for ten
minutes and the air drop option. But it's things like
that that happened all the time. Of course, Taylor Swift
was at Game four. Film Fat Joe, Spike Lee, of course,
Timothy Shamaley, like so many celebrities, Kylie Jenner, So many
celebrities are there. And David, Yes, him too, Larry David David. Yeah,
(19:16):
we can't and we can't forget. We can't forget the
biggest celebrity of them all.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Ye Bloomberg, Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Was he there?
Speaker 6 (19:21):
Was he? He was there for both guys.
Speaker 9 (19:23):
He took a shot in Game three, but he came back,
pulled up for Game four, sat steady in the seat.
Speaker 6 (19:29):
No nobody ran into him and get.
Speaker 5 (19:30):
All disclosure, Mike Bloomberg owns the company that makes this podcast.
Speaker 6 (19:35):
Exactly.
Speaker 9 (19:36):
At one point, when it was halftime and I think
they were down twenty seven, I was having a conversation
with another journalist and I was like, thank God, we'll
be back here for game six, because that is what
I was rooting for. Like people ask my bias, I
root for a good story, and the best stories are
often in six or seven games. But if the Knicks
are going to win in five. This is how it
should be done. Like at twenty nine point comeback is miraculous.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Greatest comeback in the history of the NBA Finals. It
is okay.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
So we talked Randall, I don't know what it was
like a month and a half ago, two months ago,
about baseball and the sort of question of like which
was the second most popular sport in America? And in
that conversation we got into some of the issues that
basketball has been having. I love this conversation. I remember
we talked about, you know, the NBA Finals ratings last
year were pretty bad, and I think you said something
(20:23):
like part of what you brought up was the fact
that we had two sort of small market teams. No
disrespect to the great cities of Indianapolis and Oklahoma City,
but they are not as big as New York and
San Antonio. How different has this been from last year?
What are the TV ratings like? What is the sort
of business around the NBA Finals this year?
Speaker 9 (20:44):
So I can tell you just I've been to three
of the four games, and the energy around this year's
Finals is tenfold higher than it was last year. And
it has nothing to do really with the teams themselves.
It's just the aura around the game, and the Knicks
haven't been back there history. They haven't been back to
the final since nineteen ninety nine, and that history matters.
It matters a lot in terms of storytelling. Now you
(21:06):
look at the other side, the San Antonio Spurs have
Victor one Binyama, who is the tallest person I have
ever met in my life, by.
Speaker 7 (21:14):
Arguably the greatest fastball player and like a sketch artist
and in a book.
Speaker 9 (21:19):
Club, yes he is, I would say Victor one Binyama.
They call him the Alien. I would also call him
the Philosopher.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
I feel like he's like a renaissance man.
Speaker 9 (21:26):
Wemby is just insane. He has the opposite effect of
Steph Curry. Where Steph Curry is like you see yourself
on him in some aspect because he is your height,
he wears probably a similar shoe size as you.
Speaker 6 (21:37):
Wemby's the opposite.
Speaker 9 (21:38):
He's the tallest person you've ever met, and yet he
does things that nobody that tall has ever done. So
you combined the biggest media market with a Nick's winning
streak unlike any in NBA history, against a seven foot
four giant and now you have the makings for a
heavyweight fight.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Let's talk a little bit about the money here.
Speaker 7 (22:00):
Like ticket prices, they're high, but they they're very dynamic
all the time, So talk about that a little bit.
Speaker 9 (22:05):
So this is at one point in time was the
second most expensive or third most expensive sporting event ever
behind super Bowl fifty.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Eight based on secondary market ticket price.
Speaker 6 (22:16):
I believe so. I believe so.
Speaker 9 (22:19):
I believe that's super Bowl fifty eight or fifty seven.
The one that was in Las Vegas between the Chiefs
and the forty nine Ers was the most expensive sporting
event of all time on the secondary market. I believe
that ticket was selling for ten thousand dollars. When a
Knicks one game two, the price is just skyrocketed. And so, yes, absolutely,
our regular regular Knicks fans priced out of this.
Speaker 6 (22:39):
Yes they are. Is it fair?
Speaker 9 (22:41):
I would argue, potentially, because sports are a luxury experience. Now,
the best thing that a Knicks fan that makes an
average salary of whatever he wanted to find an average
salary is to go watch them in Philly. You're not
going to be able to get in or go watch them.
Potentially in Barclays, You're not going to be able to
just pay for or a Knicks ticket, because these prices
(23:02):
are outrageous and it isn't just NBA related, it's all sports.
Speaker 5 (23:05):
So this this conversation is a is a good segue
to the World Cup because that is another thing, and
we've been talking about it on this show, about the
ticket prices, about the hotel bookings. There have been all
these signs this thing that we're seeing with the NBA Finals,
where everything is clicking. You have a perfect matchup a
budding star versus like a complete and lovable team. You've
(23:29):
got the New York media market, You've got all this merch,
you've got bars, you've got parties on the streets. That's
kind of what the World Cup is hoping for on
a grander scale. We have seen some signs over the
last couple of months that things may not be going
that way.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Tickets not selling as well.
Speaker 5 (23:43):
Although I have to say, Randall, as we're getting closer,
I'm starting to catch that fever, that World Cup fever.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Starting to fever talk about.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
The kind of controversy and the and the and the
sort of sense that this thing might not you know,
pan out the way FIFA hopes.
Speaker 9 (24:00):
Back months when FIFA awarded President Trump at Peace Prize,
something that didn't exist forgot about that before President Trump's
arrival into office. And then you talk about ticket prices,
you talk about infrastructure, You talk about you know, New
Jersey at one point in time charging one hundred and
fifty round trip to get to met Life.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
That since down to a very reasonable ninety eight dollars.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Just to get to the statey state.
Speaker 5 (24:22):
You have to pay the train that normally costs like
Showbox or whatever.
Speaker 9 (24:25):
Bloomberg will be paying that on my behalf, or or
the other option is a two hundred and fifty dollars uber.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
You have a very cool job, Randall.
Speaker 9 (24:32):
Yes, but I'm also a company man and I'm in
the business of not spending.
Speaker 5 (24:36):
You could put on a wet suit and swim, which
would be less expensive.
Speaker 6 (24:40):
I never thought of that. I never thought of No,
I considered. I considered.
Speaker 9 (24:45):
At one point in time, I was thinking I would
take a city bike, but then I remembered that MetLife
is in a swamp. But going back to the problems
that are happening around the World Cup, there's been a
lot of conversation about ticket prices because I do think
that FIFA has handled it the way that they've handled
in the prices that they've set, the floor is just
ridiculously high. Set the prices, set the prices, the floor
(25:08):
has been ridiculously high for a sport that Americans.
Speaker 6 (25:12):
The culture's just not there yet. Now.
Speaker 9 (25:14):
Of course we have big money investors, but are those
big money investors going to be going to see, you know,
a South Africa play in Seattle? And I don't know
that South Africa plays in Seattle. That's just an example
and hypothetical. I don't know that that's true. Now, France, Spain,
the US, all of these bigger countries. Of course they
will fill up the arenas, but it's not really about them.
(25:35):
The World Cup has always been thought of as a
sport that's brought people together because of its access, because
you can just go to a match.
Speaker 6 (25:43):
That is absolutely not the case.
Speaker 9 (25:44):
If I was not a sports journalist, I would not
be going to the World Cup because it is expensive.
Not just the ticket to go to the game, the
parking is more expensive than the round trip that I
would take to get to met Life. That's absurd.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
There's an aspect of a money grab here, hinting at it,
but the prices, but also they expanded this tournament. They
made it forty eight teams and stept thirty two. So
you have a lot of games that are not going
to be especially meaningful at the early point of the tournament.
And then you also have this the kind of negotiations
with cities where the FIFA, the non profit in scare
(26:21):
quotes that because they make a ton of money, but
the nonprofit that kind of runs a World Cup has
demanded huge concessions from all the cities. Now I want
to just zero in on one thing you brought up, though,
which is like the popularity of soccer in the United States,
because on one hand, I think you're right, like it hasn't
taken off the way that some people hoped. On the
(26:42):
other hand, earlier this week Argentina and Iceland played a
meaningless game in Auburn, Alabama, and filled that stadium up
ninety thousand people in a college football stadium Alabama, And
there are scenes like this all over the United States.
There is there are a lot of American soccer fans.
They're just sort of not cohering maybe in the way
(27:04):
that some of the people who run soccer in the
US thought as.
Speaker 9 (27:08):
Far as soccer culture or European football culture in the US,
it does exist in pockets, but it depends.
Speaker 6 (27:15):
You brought up Argentina in Iceland.
Speaker 5 (27:17):
But Alabama not exactly a hotbed of soccer.
Speaker 6 (27:20):
That's true, that's true.
Speaker 9 (27:22):
But I think that Alabama is also a star of
sports market, like they don't really have Auburn and Alabama
are their professional teams. So you bring a national team
that has a reputation in Argentina, the defending champions there,
and I think that that will sell. And I think,
you know, you take things farther than that in terms
of what it means for soccer in the US. Can
(27:42):
you all name me five players on the US national team?
Speaker 2 (27:46):
I can, but absolutely not so.
Speaker 9 (27:48):
But I bet you could probably name three players who
played in the Super Bowl or five players who played
in the Super Bowl. Yes, And granted, the MLS has
not been around as long as the NFL, NBA, m BE.
It's not built into American culture the same way as
the other sports are.
Speaker 6 (28:05):
But this is an opportunity to do that.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Just to spin this forward. So you brought up the
lack of popularity of MLS.
Speaker 6 (28:12):
Sure, there are other leagues in.
Speaker 5 (28:14):
This country, that are very popular, and like, if the
World Cup is successful, what does that look like and
how might that impact the business of soccer going forward.
Speaker 9 (28:24):
I think that in order for soccer to be dramatically
impacted in the US, number one, Team USA has to
get to the round of sixteen.
Speaker 6 (28:32):
I'm not saying that. That's what everyone has told me.
Speaker 9 (28:35):
Everyone said Team USA success is instrumental because kids need
to see Americans at least get to the knockout stage.
That's what everyone has been told to me. When I
was at a Fox Sporting event, everyone said they need
to get to the round of sixteen.
Speaker 6 (28:47):
That is where the lights will shine bright. I am bullish.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
I think I was.
Speaker 9 (28:54):
We haven't brought up something important though. We haven't brought
up the political angle of this, which is that President Trump,
at any point in time, as we saw with Game three,
can press a button and decide that I'm going to
go to a game, and he could decide whatever country
that he may not like on that given day. Let's
just bring an ice and we don't know what that
(29:16):
looks like. What is federal enforcement? What is security going
to look like at these games? One of the bigger
conversations overseas, is are people going to be safe here?
Speaker 6 (29:25):
What is?
Speaker 9 (29:26):
Are they going to be able to get in and
out of the stadium and back to their hotel without
somebody checking to see if they have their proper identification?
That accessibility has has not existed the same way the
level of tension that exists here in America didn't exist
in the.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
World Cups in authoritarian countries.
Speaker 6 (29:50):
Controversy as well.
Speaker 9 (29:52):
But I think President Trump has a louder voice, absolutely,
and he will go to a game, I'm absolutely sure.
Speaker 6 (30:00):
But what does he say?
Speaker 3 (30:01):
All right, we'll be watching Randall.
Speaker 5 (30:02):
We'll have to have you back as this tournament's going
to go on for like a month, so we will
be able to reassess before too long.
Speaker 9 (30:09):
All month up until July nineteenth, when the final list.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 5 (30:14):
Thanks okay, Stacey, it's time for underrated stories and okay, yes,
I've got a good one for you. This is This
is a juicy, maybe even thought provoking, debate worthy piece.
This was a paper that was published by an economist
(30:36):
at Middlebury.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
College, White Paper.
Speaker 7 (30:40):
I'm very excited, but it's about I feel like we're
growing as a show.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
Now. The National Bureau of economic research. That's the that's
what published. Uh. This this paper by Caitlin Myers and
Ezekiel Hooper, and this is a study suggesting that an
underrated form of birth control is your iPhone, not your smartphone,
literally the iPhone.
Speaker 7 (31:02):
Explain explain this because it's very This has been causing
quite a stir online.
Speaker 5 (31:07):
So doctor Myers and UH and mister Hopper, who's I
believe her student, looked at and this is a really
smart study that they did looking at the fact. You
remember when the iPhone came out and it was only
only available if you had AT and T, So they
looked at they use that fact that some areas have
(31:28):
better AT and T coverage than others as sort of
a proxy for whether or not UH people had the iPhone.
And then they tried to control for other things like income, education,
other things that might lead to a drop in pregnancy.
And they found that overall iPhone use correlated with lower
birth rates.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
Especially mostly among the young people.
Speaker 5 (31:52):
The biggest drop I believe was like from fourteen or
fifteen to twenty four, so to teenagers and young adults,
but across the board. And and this comes after another
study that also that showed a similar thing. There are
a lot of people in the social sciences who are
really excited about this work. You know, I think there's
a lot of like sort of cultural zeitgeist around this
(32:13):
where it's like, oh, maybe people are texting or something
too much and that's causing them to like not make friends.
That's a possibility, but it's really not the only possibility here.
Could be people getting you know, more information about about
you know, birth control and things like that.
Speaker 7 (32:28):
Right like yeah, or like where's the nearest CVS or.
Speaker 5 (32:31):
Something exactly yeah, or watching too much pornography or whatever.
So there are like a lot of options, but it's
it's super interesting and and the implication, now, I'm going
to say this is a soft implication. This is not
parenting advice, but that you know, you might want to
give your teenagers smartphones at of sex education.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Instead of the talk.
Speaker 7 (32:49):
You're just like, son, we need to talk. Here's your
iPhone and unlimited minutes.
Speaker 5 (32:54):
I realize this cuts against other stories we talked about
on this podcast, but I found it really interesting. The
Times wrote a good write up at this piece that's
worth checking out.
Speaker 7 (33:04):
Well, this is really like the whole economic community has
really been talking about this.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
I noticed this online. It's very interesting because.
Speaker 7 (33:13):
It's not typically the type of study that gets a
lot of economic attention. But people have been saying, no,
this is because of the economic downturn that happened into things.
Speaker 5 (33:24):
Almost at the exact same time that they came out,
which I gotta say that is pretty persuasive. The I
will say that the authors of this study did try
to control for economic effects. They also don't contend that
it is the entire it's responsible for the entire drop.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
It's just a factor.
Speaker 5 (33:40):
I think the paper is is careful, but I agree
with you Stacy, like it seems like maybe more research
is required before we, you know, cancel sex education and
just start handing out iPhone.
Speaker 7 (33:52):
There's just a lot of like interpersonal relationships that are
uncomfortable and awkward, especially in the romantic way, and if
you can like substitute that for something that has no awkwardness,
no barrier to entry. This is why I think maybe
AI is going to be a big problem.
Speaker 5 (34:10):
Yeah, no, I totally agree. I think I think AI
and I've even heard.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
That are talking about and the internet is not all.
Speaker 5 (34:17):
Right, I know you have oh my gosh, well good
underrated story.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
Yes, delighted to hear mine.
Speaker 7 (34:22):
I discovered on my smartphone, so brace yourself. This also,
I think could be an effective form of birth control,
which is okay. You know how when movies launch, especially
summer movies, it's all about the merch, right, It's like
Marvel movies or.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
The Star Wars movies and the launch Burger King and
stuff like that.
Speaker 7 (34:43):
Well, the biggest hit of this summer so far is
this movie called back Rooms, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
We talked about it last week.
Speaker 5 (34:49):
Yeah, kind of at that creepy horror movie type thing totally.
Speaker 7 (34:52):
And it's set in this kind of liminal space of
an abandoned office you know that sort of infinitely goes
on forever.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Creepy. Well, how do you make merch out of the
back rooms?
Speaker 5 (35:04):
I mean I was thinking maybe it leads to a
resurgence of like airport waiting room type places.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
Are people going to escape the.
Speaker 5 (35:13):
DMVs now with more enthusiasm.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Field trips and DMBs? I think there's I think there's
something to that.
Speaker 7 (35:21):
Well, right now, there is something called the back rooms
fragrance that has been driven by this company called Unjust
X Romance Planet X. It has this this fragrance, and
it is forty four dollars?
Speaker 3 (35:37):
Now is it a is this a unisex fragrance? Is
this for men or womenx?
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Okay?
Speaker 5 (35:42):
And is it did the back rooms people like participating
this or is this just kind of like a parody fragrance?
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Excellent question? Unclear?
Speaker 3 (35:50):
What does it smell like?
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Okay?
Speaker 7 (35:52):
Here are the notes musty, woody and atmospheric liminal in
a bottle. Top notes old wallpaper, wet carpet, mahogany and dust,
the heart and bass Apparently these are perfume terms, dark musk, cedar, leather,
a hazy ozonic spaciousness, and ceiling.
Speaker 5 (36:12):
Can I just say, yeah, I know that's not supposed
to smell good, but.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
You're feeling it.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
It kind of you're feeling.
Speaker 5 (36:20):
And I have not seen the movie, so maybe you know,
once I see the ghosts that appear or whatever happens,
I actually have no idea what happens, but you know,
maybe that would change my feelings about the scent.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
But but right now I don't know. I'm I'm what
is it?
Speaker 2 (36:34):
What is it that's drawing you in?
Speaker 3 (36:38):
Sound? Okay?
Speaker 5 (36:39):
Mahogany ore U was leather in there? Even yeah, ozonic openness.
I don't quite know what that means.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
But hazy, ozonic spaciousness.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
Kind of.
Speaker 5 (36:50):
Place and I don't hate it. So all of those
things sound somewhat appealing. This show is produced by Jasmine JT. Green,
Stacey Wong, and Miles J. Herson or Magnus Henrickson is
our supervising producer, Sam Rogic handles engineering, and Dave Purcell
(37:12):
fact checks. Special thanks to Jeff Muscus, Julia Rubin and
Maria Ling. If you have a minute, please rate and
review our show. It'll mean a lot to us. And
if you have a story that should be our business,
email us at Everybody's at Bloomberg dot net. That's everybody
with nus at Bloomberg dot net. Thank you for listening
and we will see you next week.
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Hi, Max and Sacy.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Hey, Jasmine.
Speaker 4 (00:12):
Hi, I'm Dathman, producer on the show, and before we
start the segment, I thought I would like present you
both with something to get you a little bit more
in the spirit of the Nicks versus the Spurs.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Okay, all right, so I have here. Oh my god, Jasmine,
did you for you both?
Speaker 5 (00:32):
Did you spend Mike Bloomberg's money on Nick shirts?
Speaker 6 (00:37):
So I have a T shirt for you.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Max?
Speaker 7 (00:39):
Oh nice, way, I want to I want to see
it says we got.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
To read the conference champion.
Speaker 8 (00:45):
Nice and I have one for you.
Speaker 5 (00:49):
I truly hope that this is licensed merchandise, of course.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
That this is straight off of Lexington Avenue right here.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I love it. All right.
Speaker 5 (01:01):
We are objective journalists here at everybody's business, so I
hope we don't tell anybody.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
But we're also New Yorkers.
Speaker 6 (01:10):
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
We're also New Yorkers. Max. This is an epic week
in New York.
Speaker 7 (01:21):
From Madison Square Garden to Wall Street, things are just
it just doesn't get bigger than this.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
It's epic.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (01:27):
Everywhere I look all over the city, everyone is out
there supporting their favorite team, and of course that is
the IPO of SpaceX, the biggest.
Speaker 7 (01:37):
You just can't ride the subway without people like, are
you getting in on the Anthropic deal?
Speaker 5 (01:41):
Like, yeah, you mentioned also Anthropic Open AI. It is
a big week for public markets.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
It is a big week for public markets. But Max,
that is not the shirt that you are wearing right now.
Speaker 5 (01:51):
No, the NBA Finals are going on right now, New York. Next,
the team of Destiny Stacy Destiny are on the Customer
television ratings are great, the World Cup is here. We're
gonna be talking with Randall Williams all about this kind
of amazing moment in sports that is happening right now.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yes, and we're also talking about the great Katie Greidfeld
about all of these IPOs and what that means for
the markets and for regular people. This is everybody's business.
Speaker 5 (02:19):
I'm Stacy Bannocksmith, I'm Max Chafkin. Let's go IPOs and
the next.
Speaker 7 (02:25):
I guess Max, I have not seen that much of
you recently because you have had your head down. You've
been writing this big like mango article on SpaceX.
Speaker 5 (02:40):
I don't know Mango, but yes, statay technical I have
been thinking about writing, about talking about reading, talking to
people related to the SpaceX ipo, which is the biggest
ipo ever.
Speaker 7 (02:53):
I know, while I feel like the summer is supposed
to be kind of a sleepy time for the markets,
everyone's kind of relaxing and going on vacation, but oh
my gosh, like this month we've got not only SpaceX
but also Anthropic Open AI. They're all going public soon.
And like you said, these are not just run of
the mill IPOs. These are like the biggest of all time.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
SpaceX aiming for one point eight trillion.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
They're like GDPs, this is not enough.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
I just you haven't even read I assume you haven't
looked at the SPACEXS one. But we will have to
talk about GDP scale once we bring in Katie Greifeld,
who is here with us.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Now, Hey Katie, Hey you guys.
Speaker 5 (03:30):
Katie is the co host of the Clothes on Bloomberg TV.
Check it out the podcast Money Stuff. Subscribe a great
newsletter ETFIQ, which is very topical for this conversation.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
You subscribe to that, Katie. We are so happy you're here.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
I'm thrilled to be here. On everybody's business, all right.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
So, Katie, you live in the world of the markets
more than Sacy and I do. What is your sort
of feeling about this SPACEXXIPO. We're recording this two days,
I guess before it begins trading on Friday, huge valuation.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
I don't know what are you seeing, what are you hearing?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
I'm psyched.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
I have to say, I live in the second to
second of markets. So it's going to be fascinating to
see this company actually come public because it's already especially
I mean the Big three that we're talking about, there's
so much a part of the conversation. And even though
they're private companies, they have so many tentacles, especially open
an AI and Anthropic, into publicly listed companies. You think
(04:27):
about what's going on with Nvidia and the Magnificent Seven.
They've already made such a splash in public markets. To
finally have them come and IPO feels like such a
moment in time. So how do I feel about it?
I'm happy that at least for SpaceX, we're finally here.
At least for Anthropic and open AI, we've seen some
(04:50):
initial s one so we can finally start to like
color in the lines of these private companies that we
know a lot about, but to get regular updates from
them and have them actually be publicly listed companies. It's
just going to help, I think, fit together a lot
of the pieces.
Speaker 7 (05:07):
Well, I would love to talk about these numbers a
little bit, because the numbers are huge, the evaluations are huge,
and the amount of money these companies are earning is
not necessarily in the ballpark of how these companies are valued.
I mean, is that just like an old fashioned way
of looking at IPOs and companies or how do you
reconcile the amount of money that these companies are like
(05:33):
trying to list for and how much they actually seem
to be poised to make.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
I don't think it's old fashioned, but it does seem
a little past SA in the age of AI, you know, okay,
because you're really you're selling a vision like where we're.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Going we don't need roads?
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Well kind of yeah, like you're selling you're selling a
vision of the future. We're going to put data centers
in space, et cetera, et cetera. AI is going to
reshape society and this is going to be a central
part to how we live our lives. And that's if
you're if you're buying into any AI company going public
(06:11):
on day one, but especially you know these three and SpaceX,
Elon Musk would argue is an AI company, not a
rocket company. You're sort of buying into that vision. I
will say with SpaceX, the numbers that we're talking about
in max, this is something that you're well acquainted with.
The Elon Musk premium. The facts insane, the fact that
Elon Musk is attached to this company. When you compare it,
(06:33):
when you compare the valuations with the fundamentals, but then
you add in the Elon Musk factor, it makes it
make a little bit more sense.
Speaker 5 (06:39):
It's funny because, like what you're saying sounds like kind
of a made up thing. But when you talk to
like people who analyze, like analysts, they kind of put
in these terms. They're like, well, you've got the rocket.
You've got the rocket part of the business that's pretty good.
You've got Starlink, which is growing, but who knows how
fast is going to grow. You got the AI thing
which doesn't really exist yet. I mean, there's a plan
to build data centers in space. There's which is a
(07:01):
kind of second tier large language model. It's sort of
noteworthy because it's more risque than Open Ai or Claude.
It's the one you want to have sex with. I
guess if you have to, you gotta choose one. But
then there's Elon Musk, and that is the thing that
takes this company, which is really it's like a smallish
tech company at least by the scale of these megacaps
(07:23):
eighteen billion dollars in revenue. I think Meta had something
like two hundred billion dollars in revenue, lost over four
billion dollars last year. The losses are growing. And you
take those kind of little pieces that I mentioned, and
you swirl in the Elon Musk premium that you're talking about,
and all of a sudden, you've got a company that's
one point eight trillion dollars.
Speaker 7 (07:42):
Can I ask a question that's going to sound snarky,
but I actually don't mean it to sound snarky, which
is why is there an Elon Musk premium? He feels
like you could look at him as potentially a little
bit of a liability.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
I mean, to his credit, he helped pioneer the category
of elect for vehicles in the US. I mean Tesla's
if you take a drive They're ubiquitous. You see them everywhere.
SpaceX also to Elon Musk's credit. I mean, this is
a company that's been around for decades. It's not like
your classic startup. I think Anthropic is something close to
(08:16):
like five years old. But Tesla or rather SpaceX, is
a mature company at this point, and they've you know,
successfully delivered on a lot of their targets. And you know,
you think about the SpaceX IPO thirty percent, it's going
to be allocated to retail investors. Retail investors who love
Elon Musk. Presumably that's why they're buying it. I think
(08:38):
you can't discount the fact that he is a sales
a salesman here.
Speaker 7 (08:45):
Well, that brings me to another question that I had
about this moment. So this is like probably one of
the most action packed months the markets have ever had,
like in their history.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
I'm tired, yes, But why are the markets falling?
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Well, I hope I don't don't look too ghoulish. But again,
I cover markets second to second and for two hours
a day. You know, well, I'm so interested to see
if this current slump and it really started, you know,
in the wake of Broadcom earnings last week, you know,
this whole AI complex and the chip makers, in particular.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Massive chip maker, Yes, exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
The chip makers have really been in the hurt locker
and leading this. They gave a disappointing forecast. And again
when we're talking about hopes and dreams and like the
vision for the future and the idea that you know,
this AI reality that we're going to enter into is
going to translate into real profits for these companies. If
your forecast doesn't align with that vision, obviously, investors get nervous.
(09:43):
So it creates a really interesting stage on which SpaceX
is going to go public in a few days time.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
So we'll we'll see, you know.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
I mean, there's so many unknowns here, but I will
say that sentiment is definitely a little skittish at this moment,
especially around the AI trade, and it's going to be
interesting to see how SpaceX.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Lands in the midst of that.
Speaker 5 (10:07):
A major thing that lots of people are talking about.
Your co host Matt Levine has been writing about this
in his newsletter, is this question of the index funds.
So quick primer, I guess for people who don't know
what we're talking about, but most investors invest in these
passive index funds, you buy a big chunk of the market,
the S and P five hundred, the Nasdaq one hundred,
(10:27):
the Rustle two thousand, whatever. And Elon Musk and SpaceX
have been campaigning essentially behind the scenes to get these
index funds to add SpaceX into their indices as quickly
as possible, and in most cases have succeeded. With the
SMP has basically said no, but the other indices all said, yeah, sure,
bring it on. And there's this sense and this has
(10:50):
showed up in columns in the Times, and I've certainly
heard this from people that you know, Musk is sort
of forcing people into this investment at a time time
when the valuation is very high. Like you may not
buy SpaceX, but if you own a Nasdaq one hundred
mutual fund or ETF, you do own it, and you're
(11:11):
essentially maybe becoming like a bag holder or something for
Elon Musk. Now, I'm kind of curious what you make
of that conversation.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
I mean, I love it again, not to be a ghoul,
but again, like just the fact that you know, the
broader public is having these discussions about index methodology, UH
and passive investments, I'm like, hell yeah, in this is
what we get up in the morning. For SpaceX alone
isn't probably going to take down your index fund. But
(11:38):
if it trades, you know, as a block, the Magnificent
Seven for a long time sort of traded as a group,
you know it'll have an impact. But it is interesting
to watch certain indexes bend around SpaceX and then the SMP,
which has pretty strict methodology, stand by that methodology. You
can see the argument on either end. For an index provider,
(11:59):
you want to be representative of the market. We've never
had an IPO of this size, and to leave SpaceX out,
you know, it's easy to make the argument you're not
representing the slice of the market or whatever your index
is trying to do. Whereas S and P on the
other side, you know, has a pretty easy argument that
you know, we have these rules for a reason and
(12:20):
we're sticking by them.
Speaker 8 (12:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (12:21):
I mean, MUSK just has so much leverage, like in
so many different ways. And I think part of what
was going on Katie kind of hinted at it is
that you know, there's a fear that if you don't
add SpaceX to the index, then you're doing a disserta.
What happens when those data centers go to space and
you know, all of the crazy predictions in this IPO
(12:42):
document pan out, and like then the the the four
oh one k people or whatever have missed out. That's
the kind of risk of non including But also these
these some of these companies were competing for the SpaceX listing.
NASPAC is going to list SpaceX, So you do sort
of wonder. I think they've denied that there was any
kind of conflict of interest. This is just for the
good of the investors, but there have been those questions raised.
(13:04):
I'm wondering, we're about to have a few extra trillion
dollars go into the stock market. You're talking about a
lot of retail money. You're talking about a very volatile sector.
Is there any risk in your mind that if this
IPO goes bad, if it doesn't you know, if it
pops and then crashes, or if it crashes or whatever.
(13:25):
You know, we don't know what's going to happen, that
it could bring down the entire AI trade. Or do
you think the like the sort of singularity of Elon
Musk will mean that this sort of just operates on
its own kind of island.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Well, I think it is going to be extremely important
for sentiment, and certainly you've seen a lot of pessimists
argue that, like we're watching the top form in real time,
like you can see the bubble rate here and here
comes the pinprick. We have to see how it goes. Obviously,
I do think if it goes poorly, it'll be interesting
to see what it means for the pipeline of companies
(14:00):
who are perhaps considering their own IPOs. I think that
might be the more important ripple effect, because if SpaceX
gets a strange or rocky reception from the public markets,
you know, one of the most anticipated IPOs of all time,
if not all time. If you're a regular company hanging
out in the pipeline waiting to see if you want
(14:21):
to jump in the pool, that could absolutely have a
chilling effect.
Speaker 7 (14:25):
This is going to be a very interesting we will
all be watching gooulishly, I guess yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Thank you for bringing Katie Dreifel the.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
Ghoulish perspective to everybody's business. Check out Money Stuff the podcast,
check out the Clothes on Bloomberg TV. Subscribe to ETFIQ. Katie,
Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me, Stacy.
The world of sports is on fire right now. The
NBA Finals, as we mentioned, in full swing. As we record,
(14:55):
the Knicks are ahead of the Spurs in the series
three games one. The final game of the series, I
have been told with so much authority by everyone I
know in New York City is going to be on
Saturday night. And that is before or as the World
Cup starts. The World Cup will kickoff today Mexico over
South Africa. It is sports madness here. It's a sight
to see.
Speaker 7 (15:15):
I know, the whole city seems kind of consumed with
sports fever of all kinds.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
I feel like it's on the subway and it's on
the streets.
Speaker 7 (15:21):
And I was in Idaho last week and everybody was
asking me about the Knicks.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
We were talking about this before we had to bring
on Randall Williams, Bloomberg sports reporter, who is here with us.
Speaker 6 (15:32):
Randall, welcome, Thank you all for having me.
Speaker 9 (15:34):
And I also want these listeners to know that both
of you all are wearing mixed shirts today.
Speaker 6 (15:39):
Did you all say that.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
We did?
Speaker 7 (15:42):
I feel like mine is a little bit unearned you,
but I'm wearing it with Is.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
It like a journalistic Are we committing some sort of journalists.
Speaker 9 (15:50):
No, because you all don't cover sports. But if you
attend a sports game and you are wearing team apparel,
that's low key a Cardinals soon.
Speaker 6 (15:57):
So randle your hat as both teams. Yeah, it's oh,
it is random teams.
Speaker 9 (16:03):
And it has an NBA Finals on the front and
it has the Larry O'Brien trophy on the other side.
Speaker 7 (16:07):
No bias, Okay, okay, I appreciate this very much, it's
very professional.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
Before we begin, Randall, we have to play you some
tape from some fans. We sent producers Jasmine J. T.
Green and Miles J. Herzenhorn to a local sports bar
in midtown Manhattan, right around the corner for Madison Square
Garden where the game was taking place, to get a
pulse of the game three action.
Speaker 8 (16:28):
So, can you guys tell us how much you spent
on next merchandise, food, drinks and other things during this
finals run so far?
Speaker 3 (16:36):
At least one hundred bucks, one hundred and fifty.
Speaker 9 (16:39):
Bucks, probably five hundred eight yeah, probably like three grandow.
Speaker 8 (16:45):
I've been to a couple of games, been gossop, have
a jersey on. I got a lot of Jerseys.
Speaker 6 (16:49):
Guess is crazy.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Where do you drive from h.
Speaker 8 (16:52):
Corney Allen and then you have to pay for parking Manhattan? Yeah,
so you went to San Antonio, you flew there, bought it?
Speaker 6 (16:58):
I did.
Speaker 8 (16:59):
How much did that cost you in total if you
had to gas? Uh, probably like a thousand bucks ticket
and flight. Yeah, yeah, that's not a bad deal.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (17:08):
I'm good credit card points, so that helps. I just
got another hat and it was like maybe around thirty bucks,
probably up charge because of how good the next we're doing,
but a hundred percent worth it. I'd sell my house
to watch Jalen Bronson.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
Yeah, I'm definitely drinking more and going to more bars
than I normally would.
Speaker 8 (17:26):
It'd be good for your while I and your lever
of Nicks one and five.
Speaker 5 (17:29):
Uh, it'd be good for my heart, it'd be good
for my cordisol levels.
Speaker 8 (17:33):
Uh, it's the Knicks one in five. What do you
think about the price of tickets for the actual game.
Speaker 6 (17:40):
I think it's that's kind of insane.
Speaker 5 (17:42):
The fans, like more recently, are probably the ones going
to the game and won't spend that amount of money, But.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Like the diehard fans can't afford to go to that.
That think's kind of fair.
Speaker 8 (17:51):
What are you looking forward to at the WATS party.
I'm looking for to spending more money. I'm just looking
forward and WINNI and five.
Speaker 5 (17:59):
We're gonna back crazy on when the Necks are down
because I'm gonna make that big bread when next win
that chip.
Speaker 8 (18:05):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Oh the house thing.
Speaker 7 (18:08):
I can't get over the guy who says he would
sell his house.
Speaker 6 (18:12):
It doesn't surprise me. Knicks fans are rabid.
Speaker 7 (18:16):
You were there, You were at this game that you
have to I mean you were like quoting celebrities in
the in the top of your article. So tell us,
just tell us everything. What was it like being there?
What was the feeling.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
In the stadium?
Speaker 6 (18:29):
So you brought up celebrities.
Speaker 9 (18:30):
Game three, I was sitting at a press conference and
I just panned to my right and Ben Stiller is
right there from me to Max, which is I don't know.
Speaker 6 (18:39):
A yard.
Speaker 9 (18:41):
In length, and he's recording on his phone and he's
then on game four he's like, hey, I saw you
recording me.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
Can I have that video? And so I air dropped
a video.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Wait, so you just like have Ben Steelller's information.
Speaker 9 (18:52):
Now I don't he we did the everyone for ten
minutes and the air drop option. But it's things like
that that happened all the time. Of course, Taylor Swift
was at Game four. Film Fat Joe, Spike Lee, of course,
Timothy Shamaley, like so many celebrities, Kylie Jenner, So many
celebrities are there. And David, Yes, him too, Larry David David. Yeah,
(19:16):
we can't and we can't forget. We can't forget the
biggest celebrity of them all.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Ye Bloomberg, Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Was he there?
Speaker 6 (19:21):
Was he? He was there for both guys.
Speaker 9 (19:23):
He took a shot in Game three, but he came back,
pulled up for Game four, sat steady in the seat.
Speaker 6 (19:29):
No nobody ran into him and get.
Speaker 5 (19:30):
All disclosure, Mike Bloomberg owns the company that makes this podcast.
Speaker 6 (19:35):
Exactly.
Speaker 9 (19:36):
At one point, when it was halftime and I think
they were down twenty seven, I was having a conversation
with another journalist and I was like, thank God, we'll
be back here for game six, because that is what
I was rooting for. Like people ask my bias, I
root for a good story, and the best stories are
often in six or seven games. But if the Knicks
are going to win in five. This is how it
should be done. Like at twenty nine point comeback is miraculous.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Greatest comeback in the history of the NBA Finals. It
is okay.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
So we talked Randall, I don't know what it was
like a month and a half ago, two months ago,
about baseball and the sort of question of like which
was the second most popular sport in America? And in
that conversation we got into some of the issues that
basketball has been having. I love this conversation. I remember
we talked about, you know, the NBA Finals ratings last
year were pretty bad, and I think you said something
(20:23):
like part of what you brought up was the fact
that we had two sort of small market teams. No
disrespect to the great cities of Indianapolis and Oklahoma City,
but they are not as big as New York and
San Antonio. How different has this been from last year?
What are the TV ratings like? What is the sort
of business around the NBA Finals this year?
Speaker 9 (20:44):
So I can tell you just I've been to three
of the four games, and the energy around this year's
Finals is tenfold higher than it was last year. And
it has nothing to do really with the teams themselves.
It's just the aura around the game, and the Knicks
haven't been back there history. They haven't been back to
the final since nineteen ninety nine, and that history matters.
It matters a lot in terms of storytelling. Now you
(21:06):
look at the other side, the San Antonio Spurs have
Victor one Binyama, who is the tallest person I have
ever met in my life, by.
Speaker 7 (21:14):
Arguably the greatest fastball player and like a sketch artist
and in a book.
Speaker 9 (21:19):
Club, yes he is, I would say Victor one Binyama.
They call him the Alien. I would also call him
the Philosopher.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
I feel like he's like a renaissance man.
Speaker 9 (21:26):
Wemby is just insane. He has the opposite effect of
Steph Curry. Where Steph Curry is like you see yourself
on him in some aspect because he is your height,
he wears probably a similar shoe size as you.
Speaker 6 (21:37):
Wemby's the opposite.
Speaker 9 (21:38):
He's the tallest person you've ever met, and yet he
does things that nobody that tall has ever done. So
you combined the biggest media market with a Nick's winning
streak unlike any in NBA history, against a seven foot
four giant and now you have the makings for a
heavyweight fight.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Let's talk a little bit about the money here.
Speaker 7 (22:00):
Like ticket prices, they're high, but they they're very dynamic
all the time, So talk about that a little bit.
Speaker 9 (22:05):
So this is at one point in time was the
second most expensive or third most expensive sporting event ever
behind super Bowl fifty.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Eight based on secondary market ticket price.
Speaker 6 (22:16):
I believe so. I believe so.
Speaker 9 (22:19):
I believe that's super Bowl fifty eight or fifty seven.
The one that was in Las Vegas between the Chiefs
and the forty nine Ers was the most expensive sporting
event of all time on the secondary market. I believe
that ticket was selling for ten thousand dollars. When a
Knicks one game two, the price is just skyrocketed. And so, yes, absolutely,
our regular regular Knicks fans priced out of this.
Speaker 6 (22:39):
Yes they are. Is it fair?
Speaker 9 (22:41):
I would argue, potentially, because sports are a luxury experience. Now,
the best thing that a Knicks fan that makes an
average salary of whatever he wanted to find an average
salary is to go watch them in Philly. You're not
going to be able to get in or go watch them.
Potentially in Barclays, You're not going to be able to
just pay for or a Knicks ticket, because these prices
(23:02):
are outrageous and it isn't just NBA related, it's all sports.
Speaker 5 (23:05):
So this this conversation is a is a good segue
to the World Cup because that is another thing, and
we've been talking about it on this show, about the
ticket prices, about the hotel bookings. There have been all
these signs this thing that we're seeing with the NBA Finals,
where everything is clicking. You have a perfect matchup a
budding star versus like a complete and lovable team. You've
(23:29):
got the New York media market, You've got all this merch,
you've got bars, you've got parties on the streets. That's
kind of what the World Cup is hoping for on
a grander scale. We have seen some signs over the
last couple of months that things may not be going
that way.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Tickets not selling as well.
Speaker 5 (23:43):
Although I have to say, Randall, as we're getting closer,
I'm starting to catch that fever, that World Cup fever.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Starting to fever talk about.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
The kind of controversy and the and the and the
sort of sense that this thing might not you know,
pan out the way FIFA hopes.
Speaker 9 (24:00):
Back months when FIFA awarded President Trump at Peace Prize,
something that didn't exist forgot about that before President Trump's
arrival into office. And then you talk about ticket prices,
you talk about infrastructure, You talk about you know, New
Jersey at one point in time charging one hundred and
fifty round trip to get to met Life.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
That since down to a very reasonable ninety eight dollars.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Just to get to the statey state.
Speaker 5 (24:22):
You have to pay the train that normally costs like
Showbox or whatever.
Speaker 9 (24:25):
Bloomberg will be paying that on my behalf, or or
the other option is a two hundred and fifty dollars uber.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
You have a very cool job, Randall.
Speaker 9 (24:32):
Yes, but I'm also a company man and I'm in
the business of not spending.
Speaker 5 (24:36):
You could put on a wet suit and swim, which
would be less expensive.
Speaker 6 (24:40):
I never thought of that. I never thought of No,
I considered. I considered.
Speaker 9 (24:45):
At one point in time, I was thinking I would
take a city bike, but then I remembered that MetLife
is in a swamp. But going back to the problems
that are happening around the World Cup, there's been a
lot of conversation about ticket prices because I do think
that FIFA has handled it the way that they've handled
in the prices that they've set, the floor is just
ridiculously high. Set the prices, set the prices, the floor
(25:08):
has been ridiculously high for a sport that Americans.
Speaker 6 (25:12):
The culture's just not there yet. Now.
Speaker 9 (25:14):
Of course we have big money investors, but are those
big money investors going to be going to see, you know,
a South Africa play in Seattle? And I don't know
that South Africa plays in Seattle. That's just an example
and hypothetical. I don't know that that's true. Now, France, Spain,
the US, all of these bigger countries. Of course they
will fill up the arenas, but it's not really about them.
(25:35):
The World Cup has always been thought of as a
sport that's brought people together because of its access, because
you can just go to a match.
Speaker 6 (25:43):
That is absolutely not the case.
Speaker 9 (25:44):
If I was not a sports journalist, I would not
be going to the World Cup because it is expensive.
Not just the ticket to go to the game, the
parking is more expensive than the round trip that I
would take to get to met Life. That's absurd.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
There's an aspect of a money grab here, hinting at it,
but the prices, but also they expanded this tournament. They
made it forty eight teams and stept thirty two. So
you have a lot of games that are not going
to be especially meaningful at the early point of the tournament.
And then you also have this the kind of negotiations
with cities where the FIFA, the non profit in scare
(26:21):
quotes that because they make a ton of money, but
the nonprofit that kind of runs a World Cup has
demanded huge concessions from all the cities. Now I want
to just zero in on one thing you brought up, though,
which is like the popularity of soccer in the United States,
because on one hand, I think you're right, like it hasn't
taken off the way that some people hoped. On the
(26:42):
other hand, earlier this week Argentina and Iceland played a
meaningless game in Auburn, Alabama, and filled that stadium up
ninety thousand people in a college football stadium Alabama, And
there are scenes like this all over the United States.
There is there are a lot of American soccer fans.
They're just sort of not cohering maybe in the way
(27:04):
that some of the people who run soccer in the
US thought as.
Speaker 9 (27:08):
Far as soccer culture or European football culture in the US,
it does exist in pockets, but it depends.
Speaker 6 (27:15):
You brought up Argentina in Iceland.
Speaker 5 (27:17):
But Alabama not exactly a hotbed of soccer.
Speaker 6 (27:20):
That's true, that's true.
Speaker 9 (27:22):
But I think that Alabama is also a star of
sports market, like they don't really have Auburn and Alabama
are their professional teams. So you bring a national team
that has a reputation in Argentina, the defending champions there,
and I think that that will sell. And I think,
you know, you take things farther than that in terms
of what it means for soccer in the US. Can
(27:42):
you all name me five players on the US national team?
Speaker 2 (27:46):
I can, but absolutely not so.
Speaker 9 (27:48):
But I bet you could probably name three players who
played in the Super Bowl or five players who played
in the Super Bowl. Yes, And granted, the MLS has
not been around as long as the NFL, NBA, m BE.
It's not built into American culture the same way as
the other sports are.
Speaker 6 (28:05):
But this is an opportunity to do that.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Just to spin this forward. So you brought up the
lack of popularity of MLS.
Speaker 6 (28:12):
Sure, there are other leagues in.
Speaker 5 (28:14):
This country, that are very popular, and like, if the
World Cup is successful, what does that look like and
how might that impact the business of soccer going forward.
Speaker 9 (28:24):
I think that in order for soccer to be dramatically
impacted in the US, number one, Team USA has to
get to the round of sixteen.
Speaker 6 (28:32):
I'm not saying that. That's what everyone has told me.
Speaker 9 (28:35):
Everyone said Team USA success is instrumental because kids need
to see Americans at least get to the knockout stage.
That's what everyone has been told to me. When I
was at a Fox Sporting event, everyone said they need
to get to the round of sixteen.
Speaker 6 (28:47):
That is where the lights will shine bright. I am bullish.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
I think I was.
Speaker 9 (28:54):
We haven't brought up something important though. We haven't brought
up the political angle of this, which is that President Trump,
at any point in time, as we saw with Game three,
can press a button and decide that I'm going to
go to a game, and he could decide whatever country
that he may not like on that given day. Let's
just bring an ice and we don't know what that
(29:16):
looks like. What is federal enforcement? What is security going
to look like at these games? One of the bigger
conversations overseas, is are people going to be safe here?
Speaker 6 (29:25):
What is?
Speaker 9 (29:26):
Are they going to be able to get in and
out of the stadium and back to their hotel without
somebody checking to see if they have their proper identification?
That accessibility has has not existed the same way the
level of tension that exists here in America didn't exist
in the.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
World Cups in authoritarian countries.
Speaker 6 (29:50):
Controversy as well.
Speaker 9 (29:52):
But I think President Trump has a louder voice, absolutely,
and he will go to a game, I'm absolutely sure.
Speaker 6 (30:00):
But what does he say?
Speaker 3 (30:01):
All right, we'll be watching Randall.
Speaker 5 (30:02):
We'll have to have you back as this tournament's going
to go on for like a month, so we will
be able to reassess before too long.
Speaker 9 (30:09):
All month up until July nineteenth, when the final list.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 5 (30:14):
Thanks okay, Stacey, it's time for underrated stories and okay, yes,
I've got a good one for you. This is This
is a juicy, maybe even thought provoking, debate worthy piece.
This was a paper that was published by an economist
(30:36):
at Middlebury.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
College, White Paper.
Speaker 7 (30:40):
I'm very excited, but it's about I feel like we're
growing as a show.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
Now. The National Bureau of economic research. That's the that's
what published. Uh. This this paper by Caitlin Myers and
Ezekiel Hooper, and this is a study suggesting that an
underrated form of birth control is your iPhone, not your smartphone,
literally the iPhone.
Speaker 7 (31:02):
Explain explain this because it's very This has been causing
quite a stir online.
Speaker 5 (31:07):
So doctor Myers and UH and mister Hopper, who's I
believe her student, looked at and this is a really
smart study that they did looking at the fact. You
remember when the iPhone came out and it was only
only available if you had AT and T, So they
looked at they use that fact that some areas have
(31:28):
better AT and T coverage than others as sort of
a proxy for whether or not UH people had the iPhone.
And then they tried to control for other things like income, education,
other things that might lead to a drop in pregnancy.
And they found that overall iPhone use correlated with lower
birth rates.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
Especially mostly among the young people.
Speaker 5 (31:52):
The biggest drop I believe was like from fourteen or
fifteen to twenty four, so to teenagers and young adults,
but across the board. And and this comes after another
study that also that showed a similar thing. There are
a lot of people in the social sciences who are
really excited about this work. You know, I think there's
a lot of like sort of cultural zeitgeist around this
(32:13):
where it's like, oh, maybe people are texting or something
too much and that's causing them to like not make friends.
That's a possibility, but it's really not the only possibility here.
Could be people getting you know, more information about about
you know, birth control and things like that.
Speaker 7 (32:28):
Right like yeah, or like where's the nearest CVS or.
Speaker 5 (32:31):
Something exactly yeah, or watching too much pornography or whatever.
So there are like a lot of options, but it's
it's super interesting and and the implication, now, I'm going
to say this is a soft implication. This is not
parenting advice, but that you know, you might want to
give your teenagers smartphones at of sex education.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Instead of the talk.
Speaker 7 (32:49):
You're just like, son, we need to talk. Here's your
iPhone and unlimited minutes.
Speaker 5 (32:54):
I realize this cuts against other stories we talked about
on this podcast, but I found it really interesting. The
Times wrote a good write up at this piece that's
worth checking out.
Speaker 7 (33:04):
Well, this is really like the whole economic community has
really been talking about this.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
I noticed this online. It's very interesting because.
Speaker 7 (33:13):
It's not typically the type of study that gets a
lot of economic attention. But people have been saying, no,
this is because of the economic downturn that happened into things.
Speaker 5 (33:24):
Almost at the exact same time that they came out,
which I gotta say that is pretty persuasive. The I
will say that the authors of this study did try
to control for economic effects. They also don't contend that
it is the entire it's responsible for the entire drop.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
It's just a factor.
Speaker 5 (33:40):
I think the paper is is careful, but I agree
with you Stacy, like it seems like maybe more research
is required before we, you know, cancel sex education and
just start handing out iPhone.
Speaker 7 (33:52):
There's just a lot of like interpersonal relationships that are
uncomfortable and awkward, especially in the romantic way, and if
you can like substitute that for something that has no awkwardness,
no barrier to entry. This is why I think maybe
AI is going to be a big problem.
Speaker 5 (34:10):
Yeah, no, I totally agree. I think I think AI
and I've even heard.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
That are talking about and the internet is not all.
Speaker 5 (34:17):
Right, I know you have oh my gosh, well good
underrated story.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
Yes, delighted to hear mine.
Speaker 7 (34:22):
I discovered on my smartphone, so brace yourself. This also,
I think could be an effective form of birth control,
which is okay. You know how when movies launch, especially
summer movies, it's all about the merch, right, It's like
Marvel movies or.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
The Star Wars movies and the launch Burger King and
stuff like that.
Speaker 7 (34:43):
Well, the biggest hit of this summer so far is
this movie called back Rooms, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
We talked about it last week.
Speaker 5 (34:49):
Yeah, kind of at that creepy horror movie type thing totally.
Speaker 7 (34:52):
And it's set in this kind of liminal space of
an abandoned office you know that sort of infinitely goes
on forever.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Creepy. Well, how do you make merch out of the
back rooms?
Speaker 5 (35:04):
I mean I was thinking maybe it leads to a
resurgence of like airport waiting room type places.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
Are people going to escape the.
Speaker 5 (35:13):
DMVs now with more enthusiasm.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Field trips and DMBs? I think there's I think there's
something to that.
Speaker 7 (35:21):
Well, right now, there is something called the back rooms
fragrance that has been driven by this company called Unjust
X Romance Planet X. It has this this fragrance, and
it is forty four dollars?
Speaker 3 (35:37):
Now is it a is this a unisex fragrance? Is
this for men or womenx?
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Okay?
Speaker 5 (35:42):
And is it did the back rooms people like participating
this or is this just kind of like a parody fragrance?
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Excellent question? Unclear?
Speaker 3 (35:50):
What does it smell like?
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Okay?
Speaker 7 (35:52):
Here are the notes musty, woody and atmospheric liminal in
a bottle. Top notes old wallpaper, wet carpet, mahogany and dust,
the heart and bass Apparently these are perfume terms, dark musk, cedar, leather,
a hazy ozonic spaciousness, and ceiling.
Speaker 5 (36:12):
Can I just say, yeah, I know that's not supposed
to smell good, but.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
You're feeling it.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
It kind of you're feeling.
Speaker 5 (36:20):
And I have not seen the movie, so maybe you know,
once I see the ghosts that appear or whatever happens,
I actually have no idea what happens, but you know,
maybe that would change my feelings about the scent.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
But but right now I don't know. I'm I'm what
is it?
Speaker 2 (36:34):
What is it that's drawing you in?
Speaker 3 (36:38):
Sound? Okay?
Speaker 5 (36:39):
Mahogany ore U was leather in there? Even yeah, ozonic openness.
I don't quite know what that means.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
But hazy, ozonic spaciousness.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
Kind of.
Speaker 5 (36:50):
Place and I don't hate it. So all of those
things sound somewhat appealing. This show is produced by Jasmine JT. Green,
Stacey Wong, and Miles J. Herson or Magnus Henrickson is
our supervising producer, Sam Rogic handles engineering, and Dave Purcell
(37:12):
fact checks. Special thanks to Jeff Muscus, Julia Rubin and
Maria Ling. If you have a minute, please rate and
review our show. It'll mean a lot to us. And
if you have a story that should be our business,
email us at Everybody's at Bloomberg dot net. That's everybody
with nus at Bloomberg dot net. Thank you for listening
and we will see you next week.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Hey Jonas!
Hey Jonas! The official Jonas Brothers podcast. Hosted by Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas. It’s the Jonas Brothers you know... musicians, actors, and well, yes, brothers. Now, they’re sharing another side of themselves in the playful, intimate, and irreverent way only they can. Spend time with the Jonas Brothers here and stay a little bit longer for deep conversations like never before.
Betrayal Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal Team by emailing them at betrayalpod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.