Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend - May 2nd, 2025 - Bloomberg Businessweek

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Bloomberg Business Week Daily, reporting from the magazine
that helps global leaders stay ahead with insight on the people, companies,
and trends shaping today's complex economy. Plus global business finance
and tech news as it happens. Bloomberg Business Week Daily
with Carol Masser and Tim Steneveek on Bloomberg Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hi, everyone, welcome to the weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week.
This week mark the first one hundred days of President
Trump in office his second term, something we dig into
along with his tough talk and actions on tariffs and
the uncertainty that ensued.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Also, most of the remaining mag savit, including Microsoft, Meta, Apple,
and Amazon, all reporting earninggs. We highlight Apple and its
legendary supply chain that may get a big reboot.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Plus the Saudi Prince who's back in the spotlight and
also happens to be friends with President Trump's first buddy.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
And from Grand American resorts to lux cruzes offering up
diamond dust facials and bottomless caveat are in Champagne, the
Bloomberg Pursuits team on the travel guide to Maximize your Summer.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
That's pretty good to be I was going to say
sign you up right totally totally.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Hey.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
First up, As we mentioned, this week mark President Trump's
first one hundred days in office. It's a period that
has included an avalanche of executive orders that started on
inauguration day, letting go of federal workers, hiring back some,
scaling back departments, then kind of beefing them up again
kind of, I guess, introducing tariffs, then dropping back on some,

(01:29):
and just generally taking actions that are potentially reshaping the
US government and how it's viewed around the world.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
We broke down President Trump's second term so far with
Bloomberg News national politics reporter Hadrianna Loenkron and Beth Fuey,
partner at FGS Global. She's in the company's strategic communications division,
where she advises clients on messaging and media strategy and
reported on politics for years at many outlets, including CNN
and The Associated Press.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
You know, Beth, I wonder what's more important, meaning whether
or not he has had the president that is, successes
are failures in the first one hundred days, or whether
or not we look at the first one hundred days
as an indicator of what's to come in the next
three and a half or more than three and a
half years of what's left in the Trump White House.

Speaker 4 (02:17):
Well, look, most of the success of a presidential administration
really is in the early part of the administration, when
the president typically has the highest job approval. Congress is
more than willing, especially Congress like this a fully Republican
the president's own party, willing to let the president's agenda
take precedence. It typically slows down after the early days

(02:39):
of the first part of the administration. President Trump, as
we've all discussed, has done more than probably any other
president in one hundred days to make his mark. The
question is how long is that going to last. Much
of it's being challenged in court. We've seen poll after
poll after poll showing President Trump is losing popularity quickly,
that many of the things that he has undertaken in

(03:00):
this first hundred days have been met by skepticism and
frankly fear by a lot of Americans. So it's unclear
whether he's going to be able to keep this up
for much longer.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
Heyron to give us, as we do reflect on these
first one hundred days, give us what you see as
some of the successes, some of the wins, but also
areas where the president really has not succeeded some of
those losses in the first one hundred days.

Speaker 5 (03:23):
Absolutely, and as someone I mean I covered him very
closely on the campaign trail, and I think that there
are some things that he said he would do that
he has headed in that direction of the border is
the first thing that comes to mind, and that was
something where even when I was talking to people and voters,
it was often ranked above the economy for them, whether
they were in Iowa or they were in Phoenix. And

(03:44):
so this was something where we can see the border
crossings have gone down. On the deportation front, those numbers
appeared to have also gone down. And so you know,
has he hit the millions and millions of numbers that
he's touted that has not yet happened happened, but his
administration has pointed to the border crossings as an area

(04:05):
of success. And then, as we all know, the tariffs,
tariffs or something that he has said he would do
on the campaign trail, and he has done them in
a sense that you know, he has put in some
of those terraffs and he's flip flopped and taken some back.
He's offered pauses for some exemptions, and really that's offered
a lot of confusion for the markets as we all know.

(04:26):
And more importantly then the question is what does that
mean going forward? Does that suggest to other industries that
they can come in and you know, have meetings and
then they can get some of the same reductions that
people just recently in the auto industry received.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
When you advise your firm's clients and policy and messaging
around White House moves and actions, I am curious what's
top of mind and is there an expectations that things
will settle down in a bit or not necessarily?

Speaker 4 (04:56):
Sure. Well, we advise a lot of different types of clients,
and of course many of them are concerned about the
impact of tariffs on their consumers and their customers.

Speaker 6 (05:05):
UH.

Speaker 4 (05:05):
The issue of DEI, of course, is a is a
major factor for a lot of companies in the United States.
There was an effort to really push DEI and and
and and embrace the ethos of diversity, equity and inclusion. UH.
Just in the last few years, that of course has
has changed the Trump administration and many companies are trying
to figure out how to embrace the value that they

(05:27):
place on on diversity while not sort of advertising that
this is something that's important to them as a company,
for fear of retribution from the administration. There's a lot
of fear out there. Generally, I would say, it's it's
a it's a it's a very different atmosphere than we've
seen under other presidencies, where you might like the president
or not, or approve of his policies or not. The

(05:48):
sense of fear of not knowing what's coming and and
trying to prepare but not ever one hundred percent sure
of what you're preparing for leaves a lot of a
lot of consumers, a lot of companies off balance.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
Hadriana on that, just just advise us a little bit
about what you're what you've been reporting on at the
White House. To BET's point about the way, and I
think a lot of people would say, we kind of
see that on display when it comes to cabinet meetings,
when we see really the way that these cabinet officials
talk so much about the serving at the pleasure of

(06:20):
the president.

Speaker 5 (06:21):
I mean, it was very complimentary. I would say, just
listening to the past marathon of a cabinet meeting, and
they definitely are seeking his approval, and you know, he
has been complimentary toward them as well, shouting out a
couple of people, and you know, even someone who not
in the room, Tom Homan, the kind of appointed borders

(06:45):
are with someone who you know, the President has has
given praise sword and so yes, we we are seeing that.
And you know a lot of the reporting that I've
done has also looked at the different people in industry
and and those who have been you know, the you know,
victims of some of the that has been done. And

(07:05):
you can see that as well.

Speaker 3 (07:07):
Thanks to Bloomberg News National politics reporter Adrianna lowen Kron
and Beth Fouey, partner at FGS Global.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
We're going to continue our coverage of President Trump's second term.
So far, one notable impact is on energy policy. His
desire to quote drill baby, drill and amp up fossil
fuel exploration in the United States that we've certainly seen,
along with rolling back support for clean energy initiatives and
programs and climate change. And our next guest is a
former administrator of the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency. She's

(07:35):
quote in The New York Times saying, quote this is
worse than any previous administration and that President Trump quote
can do a lot of damage to the agency. When
he leaves, he will have left devastation in his way.

Speaker 3 (07:47):
We got back with us Gina McCarthy. She's a former
EPA administrator in the US and the first White House
National Climate Advisor. She's also managing co chair of America
Is All In Coalition. This is a group of leaders
from all over the US that supports climate It is
supported by Michael R. Bloomberg and Bloomberg Philanthropies. She and
also Senior advisor at Bloomberg Philanthropy, the philanthropic arm of

(08:07):
Bloomberg LP, the parent company at Bloomberg TV, and at
Bloomberg Radio. She joins us from Boston. Gina, good to
have you back with us. What specific presidential actions, in
your view, would or have already had the biggest impact
on our environment.

Speaker 7 (08:22):
Well, I think that on the whole, we see this
entire administration trying to benefit fossil fuels at the expense
of low cost plan energy, and I think that's the
big takeaway. Look, I know that right now the economy
is not going great, and it doesn't surprise me given
Trump's policies. But from my small perspective. I'm looking at

(08:45):
USPA and they're dismantling the agency. They're finding a way
to get rid of everyone that's ever talked about environmental
justice before. The research is the scientists. So what we
have here is a tremendous cha challenge ahead to basically
make sure that our communities are protected, our economy can
continue to thrive, that we have healthy kids living long lives.

(09:12):
This is definitely for me, not just the dismantling of EPA,
but it is a potential to dismantle the entire federal government.
And so we have to all step up.

Speaker 8 (09:24):
We have to.

Speaker 7 (09:25):
Recognize the challenges of today, and we have to look
at how we can stop these rollbacks of rulemakings every
single week that we're seeing from this administration that threatens
our lives and livelihoods all across the United States and
threatens our ability to have allies we can count on internationally.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
Gina, remind the world, Remind our audience about kind of
what the EPA does, and not just for the United States,
but on a global scale. Just give us just a
quick quick overview of the things that I think, you know,
we just assume things are going to be here We're
gonna have clean water, We're gonna have electricity, we're gonna
have highways and all that good stuff. I'm just talking
about general of how the US works, but the EPA

(10:08):
specifically what that does for every American citizen, our hopes
to do for every American citizen.

Speaker 7 (10:14):
Well, EPA does have a very focused mission. It's to
protect our health in the environment. That's its mission.

Speaker 8 (10:23):
Now.

Speaker 7 (10:23):
I know there are folks like Liezelden, who's running the agency,
who wants to shift it to fossil fuels, but that's
essentially what it is, and for decades, what it's been
focused on is actually looking at how we keep our
water plane, how we keep our EA clean, how we
look Internationally. A challenge is like the ozone layer. A

(10:44):
challenge is like hydrofluoricobbins. All these challenges plus FLIM These
are international efforts that EPA has been participating in for decades.
And EPA is really the most well respected environmental agency,
and our sole goal is to protect people, not just

(11:05):
in the United States for sure, that's where our major
focus is, but internationally they understand the global challenges we're
faithing and to work hand in hand with communities and
countries all across the world, so that we can learn
how best to keep our mission, which is protecting the
health of our communities, in restoring and engaging in our

(11:28):
environmental efforts so that we have the ability to live long.

Speaker 9 (11:33):
Healthy lives.

Speaker 7 (11:34):
That's what it does every single day.

Speaker 3 (11:37):
Thanks to Gina McCarthy, former EPA administrator in the US
and the first White House National Climate Advisor. She's also
managing co chair of America is All In Coalition. It's
a group of leaders from all over the US that
supports climate action and it's supported by Michael R. Bloomberg
and Bloomberg Philanthropies. Gina is also a senior advisor at
Bloomberg Philanthropy is the philanthropic arm of Bloomberg LP, the

(11:58):
parent company Bloomberg Radio.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
Coming up, Apple reported earnings this week. It was one
of the big ones. All eyes on a lot when
it comes to Apple, including its supply chain and AI.
We talk about all of it with Bloomberg's Mark German.

Speaker 8 (12:11):
Changes need to be made, so they're breaking up their
AI team. They are moving the robotics units of hardware engineering.
They can't miss on robotics now, that's going to be
a big deal down the road maybe five ten years.
They moved Siri, which is emblematic, right and something a
tangible way to see how behind there are INNAI. To
Tim's example, they're moving that to their software engineering department,

(12:32):
and now their AI department is basically just focused on
models and improvement.

Speaker 3 (12:35):
You're listening to Bloomberg BusinessWeek. This is Bloomberg.

Speaker 1 (12:42):
This is Bloomberg Business Week Daily with Carol Masser and
Tim Stenovek on Bloomberg Radio.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
Apple's much awaited quarterly earnings report failed to soothe investor
concerns about its biggest challenges, including escalating tariff costs and
a slowdown in China. Now the iPhone maker warned the
tariffs will increase costs this quarter. It is something CEO
Tim Cook spoke about on the earnings call, saying he
estimates the impact could quote add nine hundred million dollars
to the company's costs. Once the numbers broke out on Thursday,

(13:13):
we got instant reaction from our in house Apple expert
Mark Germitt.

Speaker 8 (13:17):
I mean, overall revenue is up five percent over a year,
so obviously that's a good thing. You saw iPhone sales
beat slightly expectations from Wall Street, so that's a good thing.
Shows some solid momentum for the iPhone sixteen E. Notice
that Tim Cook mentioned the sixteen e in particular versus
the pro models, which generate the most amount of revenue

(13:37):
for Apple. Obviously, Mac did a little bit better than expected,
iPad better than expected, but we saw some softness on
China services as well as wearables, Home and Accessories, wearable's
Home and Accessories. The softness there continues. It's been this
way for several quarters. That's sort of surprising given the
momentum that we've seen in the past on the Apple

(13:58):
Watch and the AirPods and some of those peripheral products.
Services still pretty considerable double digit growth, but not at
the same level that Wall Street was anticipating. Services in
particular is quite interesting because that's going to probably be
a real headwind for Apple in the coming years now
that they're needing to adjust some of their app store
policies in relation to commissions. And then, of course we

(14:20):
have the Google Search deal overhanging all of this stuff.
That's a double digit billion dollar annual revenue stream for
Apple that may also go away depending on where the
US government goes with this trial against Google.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
That's Mark German, Bloomberg News Managing editor for Global Consumer Tech.
Before Apple's earnings, though, we spoke with Mark about his
reporting that Apple is seeking to import most of the
iPhones it sells in the United States from India by
the end of next year.

Speaker 3 (14:46):
Mark, the India shift is huge. The goal means that
Apple would roughly double its annual iPhone output in India
to more than eighty million units, people familiar with the
matter said, asking not to be identified discussing internal plans.
You and the team reported that lately last week. Still,
that is not the United States, it's India. So would
President Trump and your view be happy with iPhones coming

(15:08):
from anywhere if it's not the US.

Speaker 8 (15:10):
Yeah, So this has been a plan in action for
the last several weeks, now, even before we knew the
finite detail what the tariffs would be on China that
Trump introduced in early April, reprioritizing production happening in India.

Speaker 9 (15:24):
Right for the US market.

Speaker 8 (15:26):
Now, the US market requires about a third a little
bit more than that of the overall iPhone production. They
can easily make that in China. But today they've been
able to fulfill you know, roughly half of what you're
able to get out of India for the US, right,
so half of what the US needs they can make
in India. So they're going to accelerate that over the
next several months, and they're hoping to be able to

(15:46):
do the majority of iPhone production now in India. Now,
when I say the majority, that's important. They're not going
to be able to do everything.

Speaker 9 (15:55):
Apple has not shipped.

Speaker 8 (15:56):
An entirely new design phone out of India to date,
so that's something that eventually is going to probably have
to change.

Speaker 9 (16:03):
So what they're going to.

Speaker 8 (16:04):
Probably do is for these more intricate models coming out
end of next year twenty twenty seven, they're still going
to have to rely on China.

Speaker 9 (16:11):
But for the most part, the flagship.

Speaker 8 (16:13):
Phones, the lower end phones for the US market at least,
that's going to be India made.

Speaker 9 (16:18):
The rest of the world, that's going to be China.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
Okay, So it's not like Mark they're turning their back
on China, not in any fashion.

Speaker 8 (16:27):
Well, in some fashion, right, they're going to take out
probably twenty to thirty billion dollars a year of inventory.

Speaker 9 (16:35):
Out out of China and move that to India.

Speaker 8 (16:38):
But this is part of something they've been doing already, right,
So China is not disappearing, they're simply accelerating it. But
you know, you're in a bit of a of a
pickle here, right, because you never know what the administration
is going to do. They could change the tear percentage
on India tomorrow in response to a new policy like
this from Apple, right, So I kind of have to

(17:00):
be on your toes a little bit. That's why I
think that this globalization approach to production is something that
Apple is eventually going to have to move to. And
what I mean by that is producing locally for every
GEO that you're in, right.

Speaker 9 (17:14):
Something similar to what Tesla does.

Speaker 8 (17:15):
Tesla makes cars for the US, and the US makes
cars for China in China, right, they have cars made
in Europe for the European market.

Speaker 9 (17:24):
Eventually Apple's gonna have to get there too. If this,
if this TEARFF situation sticks around long.

Speaker 2 (17:28):
Term, does this, you know, spreading out and maybe further
into indiamark complicate Apple's relationship with Chinese officials in China
in general? Or is it that they're going to still
have a huge footprint there and so things will be okay?
I just I just think about the optics, the visualtics
on this.

Speaker 9 (17:48):
We'll see, yeah, right, we'll see.

Speaker 8 (17:50):
It's very possible that China's upset about this and retaliates
against Apple. Don't forget, China holds all the cars cards here.
They can shut off Apples network access. They can shut
down its ability to sell from the retail stores. They
can slow roll Apple's ability to import components into the
supply chain for final production. They can slow roll visas,

(18:13):
they can slow roll the ability for Apple engineers to
get into the country. There's so many things that China
can do here to just absolutely disrupt Apple. So they
are playing a fine line here, and I'm sure Apple
denying this to whoever they work with in the Chinese government.
But this is something that's happening. I don't think it's
as full bore as some have made it seem. I

(18:33):
don't think that there's a full steam ahead effort to
pull the iPhone out of China.

Speaker 9 (18:39):
Right, And don't forget rest of world. Right, that is
a significant amount.

Speaker 8 (18:44):
That's still mult five hundreds of billions of dollars of devices, right, Yeah,
And so that's how it's going to be, at least
for now India, for the US, by for elsewhere, except
when it comes to new super high end foldable models
and other new designs they're doing at least from the get.

Speaker 3 (18:58):
Go, And when would we see that?

Speaker 8 (19:00):
Just based on your reporting, there is twenty end of
twenty six, end of twenty seven within that twelve month period.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
Is that I just want to follow because Tim and
I have been talking a lot with the EV space
and just the sophisticated manufacturing that China has on just
so many different levels. Is that why Apple would have
to do a more advanced phone. They'd have to continue
doing it out of China because they had the capabilities.

Speaker 8 (19:26):
The capabilities, the engineering talent, the availability of certain components,
the availability of special machinery, the expertise that fox Con
has shown, particularly in China to produce at the volumes
and at the quality that Apple needs. There's a level
of intricacy that goes into some of these products that
can just not be replicated outside of China at this point.

(19:49):
That's why you see things like the Apple Vision bro
that's only made in China.

Speaker 9 (19:53):
That's in part because of how intricate that device is.

Speaker 8 (19:55):
Now, say what you will about its commercial success but
from intricacy and technology standpoint, it's up there with anything
on the market, and I think you'll find the same
to be the true unfold the bulls and the like
from Apple.

Speaker 3 (20:07):
Okay, Mark, I want to shift a little bit. We
got a few minutes left with you. I want to
talk a little bit about AI. Carol and I've been
playing with chat GPT quite a bit. You have documented
the struggles that Apple has faced when it comes to AI.
This came out in full force over the weekend.

Speaker 10 (20:24):
For me.

Speaker 3 (20:24):
My son asked me a question. I couldn't answer it.
I was cooking, so I couldn't grab my phone. So
I asked Siri, like a basic question that chat GBT
would have been able to answer in a second, and
all it did. I asked the question and all Siri
did was open a web page. And I was thinking
to myself, I got to ask Mark about it. It's like,
it's it's night and day with Apple. What Apple does

(20:46):
with AI versus what you can get if you download
something in the App Store. What's going on here?

Speaker 9 (20:51):
Yeah? Yeah, Well they bet on the wrong horse for AI.

Speaker 8 (20:55):
They've made a philosophical bet against chap bolts and chat
GBT like technology.

Speaker 9 (21:00):
They were too stubborn to enter this space.

Speaker 8 (21:02):
They didn't invest enough, They had some issues acquiring GPUs
from places like Nvidia. They didn't have the right engineering talent,
the right management or leadership in place, and they missed
the boat on the biggest technological revolution since the iPhone
twenty years ago.

Speaker 3 (21:18):
So for them could then just go buy one of.

Speaker 8 (21:21):
These Apple could buy their way into it. A lot
of this LM stuff has become completely commoditized.

Speaker 9 (21:29):
No lead is safe.

Speaker 8 (21:30):
It doesn't matter how far ahead chech GPT is. Right now,
Apple could catch up.

Speaker 3 (21:35):
So Apple could catch up without making an acquisition. They
could catch up on their own.

Speaker 9 (21:40):
You know what I'm saying is that their levers they
can pull to catch up.

Speaker 8 (21:43):
And that includes acquisitions, that includes larger investments, that includes
a lot.

Speaker 9 (21:48):
Of those types of things.

Speaker 8 (21:48):
But the biggest thing they have to do is make
a philosophical decision of do we want to be a
true AI company? Do we want to compete in this space?
Do we want to be successful artificial intelligence? And if
they make that decision, I think anything for Apples possible,
especially with their resources specifically financially well.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
And so let's go to a story that you've got
out about how they're relocating their secret robotics unit from
the AI organization to the hardware division. So how does
this kind of fit into it? So allowing the AI
folks to just focus on AI and the hardware on
the hardware stiff.

Speaker 9 (22:20):
They messed up. They messed up.

Speaker 8 (22:22):
Their head of AI had philosophical issues with st GPT
with the concept of chatbots.

Speaker 9 (22:27):
They didn't really know this was coming. They were essentially
blindsided by this technology. Despite what Tim Cook has.

Speaker 8 (22:35):
Said on an earnings call a year ago, changes need
to be made. So they're breaking up their AI team.
They are moving their robotics unit to hardware engineering. They
can't miss on robotics now. That's going to be a
big deal down the road, maybe five ten years. They
moved Siri, which is emblematic, right and something a tangible
way to see how behind there are in AI, to

(22:55):
Tim's example, they're moving that to their software engineering department,
and now their AI department is simply just focused on
models and improvement. It's underlying AI technology and we'll see
how long that AI department lasts. I would not imagine
more than another year or two.

Speaker 3 (23:09):
Robots you piqued my interest with robots, Mark, what what's Yeah?
What are they working on?

Speaker 8 (23:17):
They're working on a tabletop robot. It's an iPad on
a robotic arm that can move around above your desk.
They're working and that that's coming. That's going to be
twenty twenty seven. So that's like, that's a done deal. Uh, exploration.
I would put a mobile telepresence robot that can roam
around your home, something similar to the Amazon astro So

(23:37):
the tabletop that's happening, the bubbile robot, that's Explora exploratory.
Now this is in the let's sit around the table
and talk about it category, and that would be humanoids.

Speaker 11 (23:50):
I'll take it.

Speaker 3 (23:51):
Yeah, I'll do it.

Speaker 9 (23:53):
Well.

Speaker 2 (23:53):
And what's I mean realistically, Tessa's working on it, met
is working on it. It sounds like Apple's working on it.
I mean, what's the realistic time to buy it? That
you just said five years?

Speaker 9 (24:01):
Ten years?

Speaker 2 (24:02):
Like, is that really the timetable for something like this
being part of our world?

Speaker 11 (24:07):
Humanoid?

Speaker 8 (24:08):
Yeah? Yeah, five ten years? What you think it's going
to be longer or shorter?

Speaker 2 (24:12):
I don't know. I feel like I am I feel
like things are moving really quickly.

Speaker 3 (24:17):
Well, Mark, When I think of humanoid, I think of
something from like a figure AI, right, like an industrial
use Like, yeah.

Speaker 8 (24:22):
Those robots exist, but since we get it to the
point that you can mass manufacture it at prices that
are you know, at least somewhat digestible, with applications that
make sense. Think about all the safety requirements and regulatory requirements. Right,
the transition from making it an enterprise manufacturing robots.

Speaker 9 (24:43):
Of something you have in your home, it's going to
be a five year path.

Speaker 3 (24:46):
I think there's some there's a famous engineer who says
like it's like the pot of coffee test. I don't
remember this. It's like he says, like, the humanoid robot
will be useful when it can go and make a
pot of coffee.

Speaker 9 (24:58):
So is that or the other one I've heard is
pick up a glass of water and bring it to you.

Speaker 3 (25:03):
There it is.

Speaker 9 (25:04):
I'm Carol ten years away from there.

Speaker 3 (25:06):
I'm most interested in the dishdoing robot.

Speaker 2 (25:08):
Yeah, we want the dishwasher root.

Speaker 8 (25:10):
Well, the whole point is that it would be able
to do all that stuff, Like, what's the point of
the robot if it can't load your dishes into the
dishwasher or put the laundry and take the laundry out right.

Speaker 9 (25:19):
I want one of those.

Speaker 3 (25:20):
Yeah, totally our thanks to Mark German, Bloomberg News Managing
editor for Global Consumer Tech. Check out all the big
megacap tech earnings this week, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta
on the Bloomberg and at Bloomberg dot Com.

Speaker 2 (25:32):
Still ahead on Bloomberg BusinessWeek, The CFO of Huntington Bank
Shares on lending sentiment, tariffs and a big buyback.

Speaker 3 (25:39):
This is Bloomberg.

Speaker 1 (25:44):
Tim Stenevek on Bloomberg Radio.

Speaker 2 (25:51):
Huntington Bank Shares reported earnings last week, so Alice noting
how the regional bank based in Ohio seemed to be
more optimistic about growth than its peers for the first quarter,
the bank being on earnings and interest margin and more.
It also approved a one billion dollar share buy back.
In our weekly check in on cfo's chief financial officers
back with us as Zach Wasserman. He's Senior executive VPCFO

(26:15):
of Huntington Bank Shares. It is the holding company of
the consumer and business regional bank Huntington National Bank. It's
got locations and a handful of states we'd like to
remind you Ohio, Minnesota, North and South Carolina, and a
few more. And Zach joining us from Columbus, Ohio. Also
with us is Nita Trentman, senior editor at Bloomberg News,
the author of the CFO Briefing newsletter, which you can

(26:35):
get at Bloomberg dot com slash CFO Briefing. It comes
out a new one every Sunday, and Zach is among
those featured in the newsletter out on Sunday. Zach, Nina, welcome.
Good to have you both. Zach, We want to get
right to it. Great to have you here. I think
we talked with you in about mid March last go round,
and that was before so called Liberation Day. What's changed

(26:57):
as a result of what we've got from the White
House and the volatility and uncertainty that has followed.

Speaker 11 (27:06):
Yeah, well, it's triving to be back with you.

Speaker 12 (27:07):
And certainly it's been an eventful first start of the
start of the second quarter here, but for us, it's
continued business as usual for the most part. We had,
as you noted, a really strong first quarter. It was, frankly,
in my finance career within the top five of any
quarter I've ever been a part of, you know, Revenues
growing ten percent, earnings per share up twenty percent, with

(27:29):
really strong customer acquisition trends, and great credit quality, so
a lot of momentum actually carrying into the second quarriter,
you know. With that being said, one of the ways
we characterized the sentiment right now on our earnings call
was cautious optimism. You know, certainly more uncertainty today than
was the case earlier in the year. With that being said,

(27:49):
we're still seeing growth, you know. Indication of that is
loan pipelines. Our forward projection of likely loan closings actually
higher in the first two weeks of the second quarter
here from the end of the first quarter, So still
seeing that come through, notwithstanding a bit more uncertainty.

Speaker 11 (28:08):
For sure.

Speaker 3 (28:08):
Given that you have a regional focus, what would you
say is the biggest potential impact from tariff policy on
your business? We talk about some of the bigger banks,
and certainly the issues around M and A and sort
of a pause when it comes to IPOs that have
been pulled that affects their capital markets business. But that's
not necessarily where you guys are playing what are the
biggest risks based on what's happening in Washington to your business.

Speaker 11 (28:31):
It's a great question.

Speaker 12 (28:32):
It's a great question, Tim, and I think you know,
for the most part, it is the uncertainty itself.

Speaker 11 (28:37):
You know, we're.

Speaker 12 (28:37):
Seeing somewhat delays in the decision making process that affects loan.

Speaker 11 (28:43):
Activity in our regional bank.

Speaker 12 (28:45):
For example, I was just talking with our key executive
there mentioned that the loan closing process is taking about
six days longer, about ten percent longer maybe than would
historically have been the case.

Speaker 11 (28:55):
We're seeing some of our segments.

Speaker 12 (28:57):
That really service companies who are keyed to durable goods,
particularly those that you know where they have a foreign
supply chain that we're seeing some impacts in. We do
have an m and a advisory business that supports middle market,
largely private companies. We're seeing somewhat slower deal closing process there.
So you know, we're seeing to some to read those

(29:20):
impacts and that if that uncertainty continues, we would expect
to see that those impacts continue and probably magnify. So absolutely,
we'd like to see a resolution of some of these uncertainty.
With that being said, as I know my first answer,
We are seeing generally growth. You know, loans for us
into the first quarter grew two percent from the end
of last year, and our forecast for Q two, the

(29:43):
quarter in right now is for another one to two
percent growth. So overall still seeing growth, but at the margin,
you know, some of those impacts.

Speaker 10 (29:50):
I'm Zach to follow up on that. One of the
themes in the upcoming edition of the briefing will be
controlling the controllables, which is a theme that is coming
up in many earning calls that we're seeing these days,
coming in wondering from your perspective, like, if you're looking
at your business, what are the items that you can
actually control.

Speaker 12 (30:09):
Yeah, it's a great question, Nina, and I think, you know,
I think one of the things that's that's critical for us,
and to some degree, situations like this really reveal which
companies are managed the most rigorously. And we always think
about multiple scenarios and scenario planning with contingent actions, and
so to some degree, you know, this scenario that's playing
out right now is part and parcel to the way

(30:31):
we manage the company all the time, always thinking about
what could potentially come to pass and how we'll pull
the levers of the business to maintain you know, strong
relative performance in any of them. With that being said,
you know, I always think about three things. Firstly, the
key pillars of financial strength for the bank, capital, liquidity
and credit. And you know, those are the things that

(30:54):
under all circumstances we want to have strength in and
you know, in an environment like this, we know how
we will operate to maintain those areas of strength. Now,
the second is the growth orientation of the firm. What
are the goals that we're putting out to the organization.
Where do we want folks focused, and what's the pace
of our investments into key growth initiatives. And the last

(31:17):
thing is how can we be consistent with our customer base.
You know, fundamentally, one of the most important things for
a bank is to be there.

Speaker 11 (31:27):
For our customers through all cycles.

Speaker 12 (31:30):
And so for us that consistency of customer interaction, consistency
of underwriting, and really making sure that for the customers
we're always there to support them.

Speaker 13 (31:39):
Right.

Speaker 10 (31:39):
Just wondering, actually you pointed out the importance of credit
and liquidity in the current situation. If we go back
a few weeks time, basically ever since the April two
terriffs we're announced. We've seen a strong sell off in
US assets. We've seen investors questioning sort of the stability
of the US financial system, and we're also seeing corrects
emerging around institutions here in the US with questions around

(32:03):
the rule of law.

Speaker 8 (32:05):
Do you process?

Speaker 10 (32:06):
So I'm wondering from a from a CFO perspective, how
do you think about those impacts to your business now
and also for the longer term.

Speaker 11 (32:14):
That's a great question.

Speaker 12 (32:15):
Look, I think to some degree, we see ourselves as
a as a bastion of strength at times when there
is those kind of uncertainties, you can count on us.
As I know just just a minute ago, our decision
making criteria are going to be are going to be consistent.

Speaker 9 (32:29):
Uh.

Speaker 12 (32:30):
We're there to provide advice and counsel to our to
our customers, and it's this time I mean, to some degree,
this actually is a time that bankers relish. And don't
get me wrong, no one wants uncertainty and potential challenges
to the economic environment.

Speaker 11 (32:44):
But this is the time when we really prove.

Speaker 12 (32:47):
Our worth to our customers when we help them think
through you know, how are they going to address potential challenges.

Speaker 11 (32:53):
To their supply chain.

Speaker 12 (32:55):
You know, how are they going to continue to address
the level of interest rates which have clearly risen it
And if inflation does re emerge and begin to reaccelerate,
how are they going to address that? So it really
is a sort of go back to the core, focus
on customers, focus on their best interests, and really help
them to be ready amongst this potential uncertainty.

Speaker 2 (33:16):
Hey, one thing I want to ask you just to
follow up Zach on Nina's question, and especially when it
comes to the rule of law. We have a story
that is among our most read on the Bloomberg about
a state judge in Wisconsin arrested by federal agents after
an investigation into whether she obstructed officials trying to detain
an undocumented immigrant. And I guess whether that was legal
or illegal. The point is we're living in a very

(33:39):
different at this point. It feels like the United States
of America. So how do you think about it? As
a CFO, We're looking to our leaders trying to understand
the way forward, and how do you think about what
could be a very different, potentially country going forward and
operating within one.

Speaker 12 (33:56):
It's hard to speculate on how things will go and
how the operating environment could potentially change.

Speaker 11 (34:01):
You know, we walked into this.

Speaker 12 (34:02):
Year with an expectation that the regulatory environment would continue
to evolve and be very constructive to growth, and so
we're certainly looking to see that. But you know, we
try to get out of the game of speculation and
really just continue to focus on the core of what
a bank is.

Speaker 2 (34:18):
We're really leaning on folks like you and all leaders
that come on on Bloomberg just to try to understand
is it upsetting and hard for leaders too to see
things not kind of business as usual, potentially you know,
becoming the target of the White House.

Speaker 12 (34:35):
We want to see certainty and clarity and to have
an operating environment which is clear, and so to the
extent that it's not, that's not that's not helpful for us.
With that being said, and again I kind of come
back to what's the role of our company. We're not
a legislative bohding, We're not a political entity.

Speaker 11 (34:52):
We're there to help serve our customers.

Speaker 12 (34:54):
And this is the time when, to some degree, you know,
the culture of Huntingdon certainly is all about service, and
we just double down on that at times like this
and just try to be that bastion of strength, that
pillar that people could always count on, and that's what
we draw inspiration.

Speaker 11 (35:09):
Well.

Speaker 3 (35:10):
Speaking of service, you mainly operate in the Midwest, and
I'm wondering how you're servicing manufacturing and auto parts and
auto related clients and how those are intending to manage
supply chain challenges. What can you tell us about that?
What color can you give us some what you've heard
from them?

Speaker 12 (35:24):
Yeah, Look, I think certainly, sort of as I noted earlier,
the folks that are really the most keyed toward foreign
supply chains, you know, there are some concern and I
think it's affecting decision making, it's affecting some of their
investment plans. With that being said, I also generally speaking,

(35:45):
I think we're seeing from our customer base that they
that this is not totally unexpected. You know, we saw
from the first Trump administration the tariffs were part of
a major part of the agenda, and certainly during the
election cycle that came up up as a major likely
focused and so folks knew that something was coming and
they were beginning to think through that. And so you know,

(36:07):
for the most part, we're seeing us calm, more calm
maybe than the headlines generally would indicate. And I think,
you know, likewise, if you think of the commercial sector,
you know there's been a number of challenges over the
last five years of COVID, rapid rise of interest rates,
high levels of inflation, and so I think for the

(36:28):
most part we're seeing resiliency, more resiliency perhaps than the
headlines would would imply. I don't want to be Pollyanna here.
If this uncertainty continued for a long period of time,
you would see things more markedly deteriorate, But thus far
we have not seen that.

Speaker 3 (36:43):
Our thanks to Zach Wasserman, chief financial Officer of Huntington
Bank Shares, and Nina Trentman, senior editor at Bloomberg News
and the author of the CFO Briefing newsletter. Sign up
now for the Bloomberg CFO Briefing newsletter at Bloomberg dot
com slash CFO Dash Briefing. A new one comes out on.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
Sunday, and that our first hour of the weekend edition
of Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio coming up in
the next sixty minutes. Sustainable investing in the Era of
Donald Trump.

Speaker 6 (37:08):
One of the dirtiest secrets of the energy industry in
America is that most of it's wasted. There's an extraordinary
loss if you measure the amount of primary energy that
is the original fuel of whatever form gas, nuclear fuel,
even dare I say it renewable sources, and you measure
that how much actually gets the point of use by
the time it's lost in extraction, generation, transmission, and distribution.

(37:31):
Did you know that over sixty percent of it is
lost in America?

Speaker 3 (37:35):
Blas bumping iy on nice job, the iconic nineteen seventy
seven film featuring none other than Arnold I believe it's
thank you Carol is back. Well, at least the pursuit
of such especially by women and older folks. We'll explain we.

Speaker 2 (37:50):
Women are bumping, I am, and we also take you
inside Bloomberg Pursuits Summer travel guide, everything from grand resorts
where monkeys used to roam, lux cruising on the high seas. Yes,
Butler's included. This is Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

Speaker 3 (38:04):
I'm Carol Masser and I'm Tim Stenovk. Stay with us.
Today's top stories and global business headlines are coming up
right now.

Speaker 1 (38:14):
Tim Stenovek on Bloomberg Radio.

Speaker 2 (38:22):
Plenty ahead in our second hour of the weekend edition
of Bloomberg Business Week, including Saudi billionaire prints. All will
lead back in the Spotlight emboldened by Donald Trump's return
to the White House.

Speaker 3 (38:32):
Plus cardio out, pumping iron and while gyms are amping
up on weightlifting equipment. Also, it's the Bloomberg Pursuit Summer
travel Guide. Why even snobs are cruising now?

Speaker 2 (38:42):
Yeah, and can also get a diamond dust facial. Anyone
interested in that.

Speaker 3 (38:45):
I don't know about that. Raising my hand, you have
to like plug your nose so that diamond dust doesn't
get in your Don't.

Speaker 2 (38:50):
Think so much about it. Just enjoy, enjoy all of
that to go, and we begin with hedge funds investors
seeking to invest in low carbon assets outside the United States,
such as utility and grid equipment providers in Europe and Asia.
Due to uncertainty cause by President Trump's policies.

Speaker 3 (39:06):
So some hedge funds are finding opportunities in natural gas,
it's considered a green asset in Europe. They're investing in
companies that are less affected by tariffs. Such as those
with domestic supply chains. It's all about that shift that's
happening as a result of policies here in the US
and what hedge funds and other investors are doing with
their money.

Speaker 2 (39:25):
No, it's a really good point, right, and we're just
kind of watching it and where it's all going. Curious
what Jonathan Maxwell has to say about all of this.
He's the founder and chief executive officer of SDCL. It's
short for Sustainable Development Capital LP. The company has about
two billion, probably more than two billion in assets under management.
He is also the author of a book. We've talked
with him about at the Edge, how competition for resources

(39:48):
is pushing the world and it's climate to the brink,
and what we can do about it. And he joins
us from London. So nice to have you here with us.
How are you.

Speaker 3 (39:58):
I'm great?

Speaker 11 (39:58):
Thank you.

Speaker 6 (39:59):
Just got back from three days touring in the United States.
So excited to be talking as a brit about investing
in America.

Speaker 2 (40:05):
How did that go and what were you here in
the US for.

Speaker 6 (40:09):
We've got a portfolio of on site energy projects we do.
Our whole business is about building energy services that are cheaper, cleaner,
and more reliable than the grid. So you know, we
in principle, our businessess has been extremely robust and growing
and diversified. I think one of the as far as

(40:29):
the actual investments that we have in America, we're very
happy with them today. I think the challenge that we've
got right now is figuring out if we want to
build something, say the next year, that we haven't already
got all of our equipment in place, we haven't already
got all of our contracts and construction in place. We
don't know what it's going to cost us, and therefore

(40:50):
we can't sign a new deal to build new systems,
new power systems in America in twenty twenty six. And
it's obviously a situation that I'm hoping comes to an
end pretty shortly when there's more certainty as to what
it's going to cost us to build the power plants
that America needs so much.

Speaker 3 (41:08):
You're talking about this from the context of the you know,
the investment that you need to make in order to
build one of these things. You're not necessarily talking about
this from the perspective of how the president now Donald
Trump sees quote unquote sustainable forms of energy and the

(41:30):
shift that we've seen here in the US. It's interesting
that your concern that you at least led with was
more about uncertainty when it comes to equipment, uncertainty when
it comes to investment. What about just the idea that
you know, this is a president who wants to really
lean into carbons and fossil fuels.

Speaker 6 (41:48):
You know, I think from the I think there's a paradox.
I actually wrote a substruck about this recent I think
there's a basic paradox.

Speaker 11 (41:54):
Right, So you've got it.

Speaker 6 (41:56):
Sounds from that the administration isn't friends to large scale
renewable power like offshore wind.

Speaker 11 (42:03):
The Inflation Reduction Act CO.

Speaker 3 (42:06):
President Trump has a hatred for offshore wind. Yes, he's
been very open about that.

Speaker 6 (42:11):
Yes he does, and candidly what I would call conventional,
good connected renewables. Now, having said that, the Energy Administration
under Chris Right makes a distinction about delivering energy services
energy security that America needs well at the same time
has protected the environment. So there is a concept of

(42:32):
trying to marry up energy security with some form of
environmental conservation or preservation. In other words, don't sacrifice the economy,
he says, or energy security on the altar of the environment,
but to do what you can to try and minimize
the footprint. There is a pragmatic way through this. And
one of the dirty secrets of America, which I actually

(42:53):
think that the Washington administration should spend more time on publicly.
One of the dirtiest secrets of the energy and sty
in America is that most of it's wasted. There's an
extraordinary loss. If you measure the amount of primary energy
that is the original fuel of whatever form gas, nuclear fuel,
even dare I say it renewable sources, and you measure

(43:14):
that how much actually gets the point of use by
the time it's lost in extraction, generation, transmission and distribution.
Did you know that over sixty percent of it is
lost in America. It's an extraordinary feature. And so the concept,
which you know, I don't invest in offshore wind farms
is I'm not going to make any comments around them,
but what I do invest in is generation that's close

(43:37):
to the point of view, so that you don't waste
all this energy on extraction, generation and transmission and distribution.
And that concept of on site, low carbon, low cost,
more reliable energy than the grid should be compatible with
what the Washington administration wishes. However, here's the other side
of the paradox and the pain point. Right now, I

(44:00):
not write a check for that next year at the
moment because I don't know what it's going to cost
me to build it.

Speaker 11 (44:04):
So, you know, I think that this.

Speaker 6 (44:06):
I think there is a transformation of the energy system
in America that's needed. I think that America is energy
independent now. It is a huge producer of gas and oil.
It has an incredibly economic advantage, but it also mustn't
squander it by wasting so much energy. So I think
that the clean energy movement is going to face a
backlash against as you say, you've described it as a

(44:29):
hatred of offshore wind farms. But I think there's a
huge opportunity in America to decentralize the energy system and
actually make the country more competitive and more productive while
at the same time being greener. If Washington focused on that,
that would be a huge when But you know, obviously
the macro environment at the moment and taris means that
we just don't know what it's going to cost us

(44:50):
to build the stuff.

Speaker 3 (44:51):
We're speaking with Jonathan Maxwell. He's the founder and CEO
of SDLC Sustainable Development Capital LLP. They focus on efficient
and decentral generation of energy markets.

Speaker 2 (45:02):
You know, one thing I wonder, Jonathan, you mentioned you
don't know the cost, right, so you can't move forward
on stuff or move forward on deals. Is there though,
once you have greater clarity and whatever that is, and
what the macro backdrop is to create that clarity, is
there though a possibility that the pricing is just too

(45:25):
high that you can't move forward. It doesn't make sense anymore.

Speaker 6 (45:29):
Well, you know, I think, going back to what I
said before, the unlock the American energy system, it's the
same in frankly in Europe and the UK comes from
this extraordinary problem, right there is so much energy that's
wasted on the way to get to the point of view,
so yet more is wasted at the point of view,
so that that represents that there's a huge saving associated
with that. So the economic opportunity is actually to build

(45:53):
energy systems where you need them rather than in the
middle of nowhere piping the wiring energy where you need it.
And if you can build any systems on site, it's
called decentralized generation. You could do it with gas, you
can do it with cheer thermal ground and as well
as heat solar. If you can do that, it's cheaper
than the grid and the construction cost of the new facilities.

(46:13):
All in is actually we can deliver power systems and
it's heating cooling systems that are actually cheaper than the
centralized energy network. It's a massive opportunity. So I think
that shift of mindset are We're going to build a
big power plant and then plug it into an aging
and broken grid. That is the old energy I think

(46:33):
I think the new energy think should be about on
site generation that's low cost, low carbon, reliable, and that
actually marries up these challenges that the trumpet.

Speaker 3 (46:43):
How is that power generated? In your view?

Speaker 6 (46:46):
So we build I'll give you an example. We'll build
a solar panel or a solar plant on a rooftop
or on a car port because it's very close to
the point of view, so we don't have transmission and
distribution losses. We can sign a long term power purchase agreement,
which means we can spread the car of the asset
over the life and all in we can produce power
that's competitive with, if not cheaper than, the grid in

(47:06):
an industrial context. Just to give a great example of
an industry obviously that Washington's looking to protect at the moment.

Speaker 9 (47:13):
Steel.

Speaker 6 (47:13):
You know, steel glass furnaces throw off enormous amounts of
waste heat and gas our projects. When we generate energy
on site, we capture that heat and gas. It's free fuel.
Actually it's into a pollution. We capture it and we
use that to power turbines to make power and steamback
for our clients. So the energy world is a wash
with opportunities to do better, to improve these systems, and

(47:36):
that's what my firm does. We invest in infrastructure, services
and projects and companies that just make better energy.

Speaker 2 (47:43):
Jonathan, just have about forty five to fifty seconds left here.
So if it makes so much sense and is so logical,
wisen it happening more frequently in terms of what you
are doing. Just playing Devil's advocate a little bit here
and trying to understand and just quickly a few things.

Speaker 6 (48:01):
I think you know, the government represents a huge amount
of energy footprint and most but having said that, most
market incentives have gone into power generation and utilities roll
than into the on site generation system. I think it's
these projects are small and complex, so it takes companies
like ours that can design systems and then lastly to
get scale and replication. You know, one of the breakthrough

(48:24):
markets where I think you're going to see much more
of this energy is going to be delivered much smarter
is data centers and that's where I think that's going
to be driving the innovation because data centers need energy
on site where they need it twenty four to seven.
Because I think we're going to see a lot of
these solutions breaking through.

Speaker 3 (48:39):
Our thanks to Jonathan Maxwell, founder and CEO of sd COL.

Speaker 2 (48:43):
All Right, so I think it's kind of interesting and
we're all kind of curious about green investing, sustainability investing,
like what it will mean as we just kind of
we're talking about under a Trump white house. Do leaders
still continue investors continue to invest, thinking well, maybe this
is only policy for a few years. And you know,
I think you layer on top of that kind of

(49:04):
what happened in this past week. You know, Canadians went
to the polls they elected Mark Carney, leader of the
Liberal Party, to be their prime minister. He is a
newcomer to politics, but is well well known in international
finance circles, running both the Bank of Canada and the
Bank of England. He's also a climate champion. We know
because he has certainly been involved in Bloomberg activities, including

(49:25):
being a member of the board.

Speaker 8 (49:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (49:28):
Canada, though we should notice, far from reaching its legally
mandated goal to achieve net zero by twenty fifty. It's
got one of the highest emissions per capita anywhere in
the world. So, now that Carney has been elected, the
question is will he be able to translate his international
climate leadership into domestic policy or will climate fall by
the wayside as he fortifies Canada in a trade war

(49:48):
with the US.

Speaker 2 (49:49):
Yeah, exactly, So I guess we'll ultimately see, you know,
how things will play out.

Speaker 3 (49:53):
You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week. Coming up, the Saudi
Prince who's back in the spotlight, and friends with President
Trump's first buddy.

Speaker 2 (50:00):
The Bloomberg Big Take is coming up next. This is
Bloomberg Business Week.

Speaker 1 (50:08):
Tim Stenoveek on Bloomberg Radio.

Speaker 2 (50:16):
We're going to talk about someone who has been a fixture,
no doubt about it, of the global investment world. His
financial moves watch closely. One of the very successful and
uber rich members among Middle East royalty and yet, as
Bloomberg's Devn Pendleton rights, Prince Awilid Bintelal is one of
a kind figure among the rich and the powerful in
the Middle East Gulf region. Devon has been at his
top floor office in Kingdom Center. It's a landmark of

(50:38):
the rial skyline several times. She is Bloomberg News Wealth Reporter.
Her Bloomberg exclusive on Prince abi Leid is Today's Bloomberg
Big Take. It's also among the most read on the
Bloomberg on this Friday. She joins us here in studio,
really great story about someone that I feel like at
one point, Devin, we talked about him constantly, over and
over again in terms of his investments, and then you know,

(51:02):
he kind of got quiet. And then there, of course,
was a big thing that happened over in Saudi Arabia.
Take us back to who he is and then the
moment it feels like things changed.

Speaker 14 (51:13):
Sure well, thank you, thank you, Carol, thank you Tim.
So Prince Agilid is he's a Saudi billionaire and he's
a member of the royal family. I mean, the royal
family is huge. There's thousands of members, so He is
related to the king, but not like in the kingly
line of succession as we think of it, but a
prominent member and very very entrepreneurial from a young age.

(51:34):
He attended college in the US and started investing here
and there in Saudi Arabia. But he really the reason
we all talk about him and know him is that
he made a bet on City Bank back in the
eighties when it was really struggling. That bet did tremendously well.
For a long time he was City's biggest shareholder. He
went on to form relationships with Rupert Murdoch, with Bill Gates.

(51:55):
He bought a steak in the Four Seasons, He bought
a steak in news Co. He had a steak in Disney,
he funded euro Disney, I mean all over and also
very prominent hotel investors, some amazing properties and just like
a larger than life character. He was a fixture, like
you said, always showing up on financial television. Yeah, loved

(52:18):
to be quoted. He always traveled with a motorcade like
he had an entourage with him. Incredibly lavish lifestyle.

Speaker 3 (52:25):
And then pretty much overnight November twenty seventeen, everything changed.

Speaker 14 (52:30):
Everything changed. So in November twenty seventeen. This was about
a year and a half after King Salman became King
of Saudi Arabia and his son, Crown Prince Muhammad bin
Salman was really just basically running the show in Saudi Arabia.
Incredibly young and ambitious guy, and he locked up hundreds
of the elite of Saudi Arabia, not just businessmen, but

(52:53):
also governors, government ministers, prominent people, philanthropists, business people detained
them at the RITZ, and that included Prince Albhalid, which
was a big deal because Prince Albalid at that point,
like kind of prior to this moment, was really like
for the US, I mean, maybe the most famous Saudi,
Like he was what a lot of investors thought of,
or Wall Street thought of if you mentioned Saudi Arabia,

(53:15):
because Saudi too was so private and closed off for
so long, like it was difficult to crack. They weren't
investing like it is, nothing like it is today. Albalid
was detained there for eighty three days. Nobody really heard
from him. They took everybody's phones. After eighty three days,
he was released and Bloomberg actually had the first interview

(53:36):
with him when he came out. He said, everything's good.
He didn't look so great, he was quite thin, but
he assured us everything's good. He said he'd struck an
agreement with the government. He couldn't say anything about it,
but just said, you know, business is normal. And it
was like, oh, okay, all right, business as usual. But
he has a very very big, prominent investment company called

(53:58):
Kingdom Holding, which has stakes all over the world old
and he pretty much went quiet, like after he got
out of the ritz. He gave that one interview and
then didn't nearly have the same public profile that he
had before.

Speaker 2 (54:09):
What I love is you say? The terms of the
agreement were secret, but it was clear that the Saudi government
had a close interest in his portfolio, with his stakes
in hotels, aviation, and entertainment, all sectors overlapping with Vision
twenty thirty. So what do folks say that they wanted
to exactly know what he was invested in.

Speaker 14 (54:26):
He owned ninety five percent of Kingdom Holding, this big
publicly traded conglomerate before and in twenty twenty two, the
Public Investment Fund or PIFF bought roughly eighteen percent of it,
so they actively had a stake at this point. I mean,
they definitely had an interest before. And I think a
big reason that his investment empire was interesting to them

(54:48):
is that he for long time is invested in hotels
and airlines and entertainment, and these are all core sectors
that are very important for Vision twenty thirty is they
try to diverse FY away from oil and you know,
become a tourist destination, and he's very useful for that.
Like he's been a hotel investor for a really long time.
He has relationships with Bill Gates in the four seasons

(55:09):
of management, and so you've seen a lot more domestic
investment by all the lead in very specific projects.

Speaker 3 (55:17):
Some of those projects include projects by none other than
Elon Musk. And I was pretty taken by one of
the one of the things that he told you. He
said to you in February when you were having one
of your Zoom calls. Musk is de facto vice president
and running the show in.

Speaker 14 (55:31):
Washington, Yes, and he was saying that in the context
of talking about the value of X at that point,
because you know, from we're all looking at X and thinking, gosh,
its value has kind of really fallen, Like since Elon
took it private and we saw so many advertisers flee.
That had a big impact. He was roughly forty four

(55:52):
billion dollars gross valuation when he bought it. Alwillis had
tremendous conviction that it was worth more than that. So,
you know, one of the first things he said to
me was like, Hey, this is a valuable entity and
you can't say that it's not. Look at where Elon
Musk is now.

Speaker 3 (56:06):
That was Devin Pendleton, Bloomberg News Wealth reporter.

Speaker 2 (56:09):
We sort of check out the story too online and
on the Bloomberg Just a great read, so much detail,
all right, jogging on a treadmill or sweating over a
stationary bike and a room full of strangers. It is
so out moving heavy objects. That's it. Jim's are bulking
up on strength training to satisfy an increasingly muscle obsessed population,
especially we women and also those older Americans.

Speaker 3 (56:31):
With what's going on? Is Red Brown, Bloomberg News Earnings reporter.
He talks about the rewiring of gems and how he
got the idea to write the story for Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

Speaker 13 (56:40):
Well, the idea for the story really started when I
was listening to Planet Fitness Earnings call, like I'm constantly
doing listening to Ernie's calls, and they were discussing how
they are trying to make space for more lifting equipment.
My experience with Planet Fitness has always just been kind
of like a sea of treadmills of ellipticals. You know,
they have this like purple and yellow gear, so it's
like very striking and kind of iconic. But they were

(57:01):
talking about, yeah, we're removing cardio equipment to make room
for strength, and you know a lot of that is
coming from you know, the one if you open up
Instagram or TikTok or what have you, it's like it's everywhere, right,
you see everyone in the gym lifting weights. So yeah,
just kind of going down that rabbit hole.

Speaker 3 (57:19):
Well I was gonna say there was there was like
a New York Times article recently about this, and I
think the whole movement with longevity and a lot of
millennials getting older and realizing, you know what, my back
is hurting a little bit m hm, realizing that in
order to prevent those things from happening, you do have
to make sure you stay in shape and not just
go on go jogging. You go into the sort of
the history of jogging in the piece red and like

(57:40):
how it's happened in the US. But I think, Carol,
a big part of it is is this idea of
people getting older and.

Speaker 2 (57:46):
The way that you older millennials And but.

Speaker 3 (57:49):
No, I mean this is true, It's really true. Like doctors,
there's been a real shift with how people think about weightlifting.

Speaker 9 (57:55):
I have to say, we.

Speaker 2 (57:56):
Start talking about your story because what I think is
really fascinates that it's being rus also kind of pushed
by women and older folks. But we brought it up
and everybody starts saying, well, yeah, as you get older,
like you need the muscular strength, it's better in terms
of your bone structure and everything and your health overall.
It makes a huge difference.

Speaker 13 (58:14):
And no, and just like the fact that that information
has just been getting disseminated through the population through social media, right,
Like influencers are really pushing that that this is for everyone, right,
Like there was this kind of notion. And again we
also kind of trace the history of weightlifting the story
a little bit. And I think everyone's like thinks about
you know exactly right, They think about Conan the Barbarian,

(58:36):
They think about the Hulk. It's like, you know, it's
these people in the fringes of society, but no, it's
really it is for everyone's it's for everyone who wants
to lose weight. You know, cardio sometimes gets the thought
of is the weight loss option, but really, you know,
the more research comes out, it's strength training is what
we'll do it for you.

Speaker 2 (58:53):
So all right, So you hear this like earnings call, right,
and you're like, okay, interesting idea. But as you started
to dig into it, how much like were you hearing
like really from the gyms and stuff. They're like, oh, yeah,
we're leaning in big time.

Speaker 13 (59:03):
I mean yeah, I mean Crunch is another one, another
huge gym chain across the country. And you know they
were saying, there's the flagship store is actually just down
the street from US on fifty ninth, and they just
did a two million dollar renovation to remove a yoga studio,
to remove a spinning class cycling studio.

Speaker 3 (59:21):
Sorry, Peloton, you're going down my eye. My question for you, though,
is this just a fad? Is this cyclical? Because as
you point out in the piece, it was jogging in
the seventies and eighties, then it was aerobic workout taps
with Jane Fonda, then it's Billy Blank's Tybo, then Peloton
during the pandemic, like is this just the latest iteration

(59:41):
or does this one have staying power?

Speaker 15 (59:43):
You know?

Speaker 13 (59:43):
And then there is a lot of this like talk
right now whether or not like nineties chic is back in,
whether or not like being really skinny is the way
to go. But again, the people that I was speaking
to for this story, be it personal trainers, be it
these influencers, Yeah, they all tend to think that this
is does have staying power reason being, and it's not
just an aesthetic thing for a lot of people anymore.
It is health driven, right, It's it is people that

(01:00:05):
want you know, I sit at a desk all day,
you know, I can feel myself hunting over. But like,
you know, if you can work out, it helps you
have a stronger core and everything.

Speaker 3 (01:00:13):
Right. So I was talking to my physical therapists about
this because she's she's like the type of physical therapist
who is all about strength training, and my experience with
physical therapy up till her has been all you need
to do is stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch, and that never worked.
The only thing that worked for me for getting rid
of the back pain was actually doing these workouts seriously.
Oh yeah, it's absolutely weight and yeah, like deadlifts, like

(01:00:35):
working on your posterior chain, like all these things that
she had to educate me about. Yeah, and she said,
it makes sense given what we do for work. You know,
what were your professionals. You're sitting at a desk. Stretching
makes sense for people who are on their feet all
day every day, those people who work in warehouses, those
people who are moving, those people who are delivering boxes.
But if you're sitting at computer all day, you need

(01:00:56):
to work out your muscles.

Speaker 13 (01:00:58):
Yeah, I mean, and also with the running and things
like that, they tend to be pretty high impact for
a lot of people too. So it's like, you know,
as you get older, you can't maybe necessarily do that,
but you still can bench press. It's all I mean,
obviously there's a lot of stress there, but there's smart
ways to do it. Again, with the social media, you're
also learning that these aren't these these activities are not
are less intimidating, right, Like someone used to think that

(01:01:18):
like a bench press is like I don't know how
to do that.

Speaker 11 (01:01:20):
I don't know what the right technique is.

Speaker 13 (01:01:21):
Yeah, but you can see a million people now do
it online with perfect technique and they are walking you
through the different steps. So it really is just open
this door to every kind of segment of the population.

Speaker 2 (01:01:32):
I have to say, like Saturday morning and I'm reading
through news and I go through lookings. Then you get
caught on Instagram. But it's like one influencer after another,
and it usually is weight training. I love that though
you include this as people age, their bone density and
metabolic health. What doctors are monitoring when they check blood pressure,
cholesterol and weight decline, weaight training can help manage both

(01:01:52):
issues cardio less, so right and so really like I
do also think when the medical profession that they are
increasingly saying, well, wait, it's not just about take a walk,
it's also about doing some weight training.

Speaker 13 (01:02:02):
Yeah, I mean, and and again to go back to
why it's women that are really drawn to this, some
of those issues are tend to be things that affect
women more. The bone density is something that tends to
affects women more as they as the age, and it's
another just kind of great reason for that.

Speaker 2 (01:02:16):
Carrying the weight of the world.

Speaker 3 (01:02:20):
For sure, the weight of this show.

Speaker 2 (01:02:22):
No question, that's a given.

Speaker 3 (01:02:24):
No question. Red, We're going to stick with us. We're
gonna do a double dose of Red Brown. Okay, this
is a very special edition, a special Friday edition of
Bloomberg Business Week. But before we do that with earnings
Big Picture are thought.

Speaker 2 (01:02:39):
You were going to ask him how much he bench press?

Speaker 3 (01:02:41):
No, come on, Carol, We're beyond that.

Speaker 2 (01:02:43):
You know you're among friends.

Speaker 13 (01:02:45):
I can't tell you.

Speaker 11 (01:02:46):
Triple digits.

Speaker 3 (01:02:48):
Yeah, triple digits. There we go.

Speaker 13 (01:02:51):
On exactly one on one.

Speaker 3 (01:02:53):
Red Brown Bloomberg News Earnings Reporter.

Speaker 2 (01:02:55):
Still ahead on Bloomberg Business Week, The Bloomberg Pursuits Summer
travel guide from Sea.

Speaker 3 (01:02:59):
To Shining Sea. The Grand Resort is making a comeback.

Speaker 2 (01:03:02):
And move over floating cities and bring on the butler
and caviar. Cruising is now lux. This is Bloomberg.

Speaker 1 (01:03:14):
You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week Daily with Carol Masser
and Tim Steneveek on Bloomberg Radio.

Speaker 9 (01:03:20):
Watches most of your time. Pest sieved as a time cupsil.

Speaker 16 (01:03:23):
It's very chic and posh.

Speaker 3 (01:03:25):
The most powerful car made in the US.

Speaker 15 (01:03:27):
The beautiful interior, the iconic designs.

Speaker 1 (01:03:30):
Now it's time to take a look at luxury with
Bloomberg Pursuits.

Speaker 2 (01:03:35):
The official start to summer is just around the corner,
and so for those seeking out suggestions on what to do,
what your luck as, the BusinessWeek Pursuits team is out
with its summer travel.

Speaker 3 (01:03:45):
Guide, everything from the grand American hotels that are having
a notable resurgence to why even snobs like cruising now,
especially when on an ultra lux ship.

Speaker 13 (01:03:57):
Sign me up.

Speaker 2 (01:03:58):
Butler's fortey bathrooms an endless caviar included here with the
spoils of summer travel. As the editor of Bloomberg Pursuits
Chris Rouser and Pursuits Travels are Nikki Eckstein. Guys, great
to have you here with that for te for tee
for te. It's not like a fritter. It's not like
something you eat. Here's what frette is.

Speaker 15 (01:04:15):
If you go into your hotel bathroom and you see
frete on the tag of your bathrobe, you know you're
in a nice place.

Speaker 2 (01:04:20):
That's what frette is. Thank you, And obviously you have
to ask, all right, so where do we want to start.
We want to talk about these American resorts. First of all,
I feel like I love when the old is kind
of revitalized and brought back. What's going on, guys.

Speaker 15 (01:04:36):
So here's something you probably never knew. Americans invented the
great resort. Like, this is not a European conceit resorting.
I always thought it was. It's not.

Speaker 6 (01:04:45):
It's American.

Speaker 2 (01:04:46):
Europeans always know how to vacation.

Speaker 15 (01:04:48):
Yeah, absolutely, you think about going to the Riviera, the
med blah blah blah. But like, actually, the beach resort
is a US invention, and it's something that started right
near where we are now in New York State or
around hot Springstown's upstate, actually where railroad lines would end
and where the old kind of moneyed people back in
the eighteen hundreds could just like hop on a train

(01:05:08):
and end up in beautiful mother Nature and dip in
the hot springs and have a vacation.

Speaker 3 (01:05:12):
Well back then, if they wanted to go outside of
New York, maybe they'd take a five day trip on
a railroad out to Coronado, California. Yes, this is around
sunny San Diego.

Speaker 15 (01:05:22):
Became a reality in the eighteen eighties, around a time
when somebody became really fascinated with the land out on
the most extreme southwestern coast of our country, decided it
would be a beautiful place to put a resort and
built up this incredible Victorian building that still stands today
and is now the subject of a five hundred million
dollars innovation that's wrapping up in June.

Speaker 2 (01:05:42):
Back then, they spent two dollars and fifty cents or
three dollars in.

Speaker 3 (01:05:44):
Fiftures inclusive too for that price.

Speaker 2 (01:05:47):
Chris Rauser come in, because I think about you guys
have been doing these specials and these summer travel issues
and sections for a long time. I'm just curious when
Nikki maybe brought this up, especially about the great old
American resort coming back. It's like my question was, like,
why are they coming back now?

Speaker 16 (01:06:04):
Yeah, Nikky and I have actually been talking about some
version of this for a long time because we love
those beautiful old giant American resorts. And I'm from New
England and there used to be a lot of them
because a lot of the train lines ended on coastal
Maine up in Vermont, and a lot of them are
gone because they burned down because they were made of wood.
So sad and so I grew up seeing pictures of

(01:06:25):
these incredible resorts all up the coast towns, and so
we'd we've talked about how much we like them. And
then the hotel Dell and Coronado had this incredible, huge renovation,
and we thought this is the perfect time to actually
write about it because it's one of the remaining ones
and it is so visually stunning.

Speaker 2 (01:06:40):
Private equity.

Speaker 15 (01:06:41):
I mean, let me just put this out there, like
five hundred million dollars is not a normal amount to
spend renovating a hotel. It's not a records that are
There are bigger projects that have been done in like
Vegas maybe and in Singapore, but this ranks way up
there with the highest investments ever for a hotel. But
it was private equity, right, it isla private equity. Blackstone
did it, and and they really spared no expense. It

(01:07:02):
is a stunning, stunning place, completely restored over a period
of about five.

Speaker 2 (01:07:06):
Years to its former glory.

Speaker 15 (01:07:07):
You walk into the lobby and the wood work is
just as it was back then. You really feel transported
and it is. I mean, it's really if it took
five days to get there now it would still be
worth the trip.

Speaker 3 (01:07:18):
No longer a dollar fifty to two dollars.

Speaker 15 (01:07:21):
Fortunately not who is this for?

Speaker 3 (01:07:22):
What's the price point when you think about these types
of resorts around the country.

Speaker 15 (01:07:25):
So one reason that that Blackstone spent so much money
on it is that they did an expansion that kind
of turned the hotel into a lot of little hotels
within a hotel, And there's more affordable versions of it,
and there's more expensive versions of it. You can spend
around five hundred dollars a night to stay in the
old Victorian building where the rooms are a little bit small,
but they're very, very beautiful. Or you can spend like
three thousand dollars on a two bedroom suite with like

(01:07:46):
a wrap around pad. It's it's a five hundred. It's
actually very doable.

Speaker 2 (01:07:50):
Chris, I have to ask you though, because you're right
in New England, the whole up and down the coast,
I feel like there's just so many.

Speaker 3 (01:07:55):
I thought you were going to say, because Chris is
a Disney adult exact, I'm actually not.

Speaker 15 (01:07:59):
I'm the Disney I'm with you, Nikki, But I mean,
is there one that you've stayed or you want to
stay at as you like, look at.

Speaker 16 (01:08:06):
This, there's a new one that's really quite old, maybe
almost two hundred years old, the Asticou in Maine, and
that has just gone undergone a renovation as well, and
it has these cabins that you can stay at and
it looks really idyllic and where I would love to
go there, all.

Speaker 2 (01:08:21):
Right, looking forward to that. Well, in the meantime, you.

Speaker 3 (01:08:24):
Want to get on a ship or do you want
to go to Greenland?

Speaker 2 (01:08:25):
Carol, I think we should get on a ship first,
because everybody loves to cruise, but this is different.

Speaker 15 (01:08:30):
I mean, not everybody loves to cruise, and that's kind
of the whole point.

Speaker 2 (01:08:32):
I'm not a cruise person.

Speaker 15 (01:08:33):
I would say I'm a Disney person, but I'm not
a cruise person, and this.

Speaker 2 (01:08:37):
New seeing the Disney cruise ship, yeah I would.

Speaker 15 (01:08:40):
I would do those because this trend kind of adds
to the options for people who have been cruise of
verse in the past. And the whole thing is that
hotel companies have realized that one way that they can
kind of build audience is by building ships. By building
vessels that can take their loyal guests to various destinations
where they have hotels as a business model.

Speaker 2 (01:08:59):
This makes total sense.

Speaker 15 (01:09:01):
But they're not going to build like, you know, six
thousand people behemoths. They're going to build things that look
more like yacht. Doesn't that lado deck there might.

Speaker 3 (01:09:08):
Be a leader.

Speaker 15 (01:09:09):
It looks different. And as hotels go into this space,
Ritz Carlton has done it four seasons, is about to
launch their first ship, a mon is going into this space.
They're all launching these kind of yacht like they're large
yachts really, and now cruise lines are trying to do
the same thing to stay fresh and competitive, and so
we've got this new yacht experience that's available to more

(01:09:32):
of us than regular yachts would be available to Chris.

Speaker 2 (01:09:35):
How much does it.

Speaker 16 (01:09:35):
Cost, Well, it can be expensive. Carol trips like this
off At start at fourteen thousand dollars per week per couple.
That includes bottomless champagne and butler service and things like that.
Orient Express is opening up a two hundred and twenty
meters fifty four sweet vessel that's going to be about
nineteen thousand per cabin that's coming soon. I will say

(01:09:58):
one of the things that we talked about is is
this whole the whole snob thing with cruises is like,
if you can afford a yacht, why would you want
to be on a cruise with a bunch of other people.

Speaker 2 (01:10:11):
Please don't hate us, all of you who are listening.

Speaker 16 (01:10:14):
And I just don't have a yacht, so this is
not something that I could relate to, and I can't
afford these kinds of trips. But what's interesting is some
of the leaders of these companies say, people love love
the group aspect of it. They love being like in
this this sort of like select crew of people who
are you know, big four Seasons people or whatever, and
getting to know strangers. And I thought that was just

(01:10:37):
something Weepilbeians like to do.

Speaker 15 (01:10:39):
Well, you know, there's something funny that like, there's an
element that's that came up in this story that also
came up in the Grand American Hotel story. Both historically
and in the current moment. People would go to Grand
American Hotels to find like minded folks, to find their
similar slice of society and reb elbows with them. And
that's what's happening on these cruise ships too. And in fact,
one of the new company, Explore Journeys, their new president

(01:11:02):
came over from the c suite of Amon Resorts, and
she says that the thing that has surprised her the
most about this business that she's now in is the
community that forms on every cruise and the way that
people mingle and talk, and how that becomes the defining
part of their experience.

Speaker 2 (01:11:17):
I think I've heard where people meet people and cruises
and stay friends like for life and stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:11:20):
But it's like summer camp.

Speaker 3 (01:11:21):
Look at Tim Tims like can we talk? Can we
can we move on?

Speaker 11 (01:11:25):
All?

Speaker 12 (01:11:26):
Right?

Speaker 2 (01:11:26):
Do you want solitude?

Speaker 3 (01:11:27):
Okay? I you know one of you said something about
fjords and cruising to fjords. You can do that on
cruise ships. But you can also jump on a plane
from the US now and go right to Greenland, which
seems like it's kind of turning into a hot tourist
destination despite the backtop of everything happening from a national
security perspective. You're in the US.

Speaker 15 (01:11:46):
Well, can you take just take a guess how long
it takes to fly to Greenland.

Speaker 3 (01:11:50):
I know exactly how because I read the story four
and a half hours.

Speaker 15 (01:11:53):
For four hours and fifteen minutes, depending how the wind blows.

Speaker 3 (01:11:57):
That's really close.

Speaker 2 (01:11:58):
It's so close. So what's there when we get there?

Speaker 3 (01:12:00):
Not a lot of people, Carol not what's there? Why
did you look at me like that's cold and not
a lot of people. Why did I look at you?

Speaker 16 (01:12:08):
Oh out, Yeah, it's fifty seven thousand people live there
year round, so and it's a vast obviously vast island.
And in this trend, this modern trend of cool cations,
where people want to travel somewhere that's not so hot.
With global warming and leaving places like the Mediterranean in
the summer, suddenly places like Scandinavia and Greenland are becoming very,

(01:12:29):
very popular and the demand, according to travel agents that
we talk to, is quote insane to go to Greenland.

Speaker 2 (01:12:36):
I find it fascinating about, like the warming of the earth,
that people are increasingly looking for cooler places.

Speaker 3 (01:12:41):
I mean, this place is cool, Like you're talking fifty
degrees as highs in the summer, which.

Speaker 15 (01:12:45):
If you think about it, is actually the perfect weather
if you're going to go like hiking or doing outdoor activities.
You know you're going to get break up a little
bit of a sweat anyway, even if it's fifty degrees
So that's kind of the perfect weather for outdoor adventure
and there's a lot of that in Greenland. You can
go paddle warning and fjords. You can meet kind of
the local equivalent of dogs letters in the summer, they're
going to have their packs out and about. There's really

(01:13:08):
interesting dining that uses foraged cuisine and you can go
out and kind of like find your own ingredients.

Speaker 16 (01:13:14):
There's a lotion for your dinner, tim which I know,
let's go do.

Speaker 3 (01:13:18):
Let's go yah. I actually read of all the places
that we've talked about in recent months, this is somewhere
I really do want to go. Also because it just
seems like the solitude of it seems really cool. I
think one challenge is the lodging aspect. There just isn't
a lot of it.

Speaker 15 (01:13:31):
But the places that do exist are kind of incredible.
And if you think about it like a safari, if
you think about it like these really lux tents where
you're going to be, you know, able to see and
witness the outdoors all around you, whether they're domes or
you know, canvas walls that you can retract to take
advantage of the beautiful vistas.

Speaker 2 (01:13:50):
Like it's a place to.

Speaker 15 (01:13:51):
Really connect with your surroundings. The different version of luxury great.

Speaker 3 (01:13:57):
I think logic, you know what, I think, I'm going
to do this.

Speaker 2 (01:14:00):
Book ahead? Is it expensive? Book ahead? Is it expensive?
It can be, but it doesn't have to be. Okay,
look at it. He's like, I'm well in.

Speaker 3 (01:14:07):
The flights, what now two flights a week?

Speaker 15 (01:14:09):
Yeah, and there will be more, like Greenland is going
to grow in the coming years. There will be more airports,
international airports in different parts of the country, allowing us
to kind of tap into different landscapes throughout Greenland more easily.
Right now you connect via helicopters. There will be more
flights in it.

Speaker 3 (01:14:26):
We gotta do that before they all push back on
us doing that. I mean it's kind of like fifteen
twenty years ago Iceland. Yes, it reminded me of Yeah,
I mean we do twenty five years ago at this point,
but there was a point where there were so many
tourists there that got pretty overwhelming, I think for a
lot of people.

Speaker 15 (01:14:42):
But Greenland offers you a lot more space to spread
out than Iceland does.

Speaker 2 (01:14:45):
Don't get us wrong, we like people. We just when
we travel, we don't like to turbout.

Speaker 3 (01:14:50):
She always tells me where she's sitting, so I don't
book a seat.

Speaker 9 (01:14:52):
Next to this.

Speaker 2 (01:14:53):
So true, we travel, we got to leave it there,
but check out the section because there's also where the
Boss to break you guys talk to executives about where
they go and then what to do about national parks,
especially with all the changes in governments and cutbacks. So
really great advice on how to explore that over the summer. Guys,
Thank you so much.

Speaker 3 (01:15:11):
That's the editor of Bloomberg Pursuits Chris Rouser and Pursuits
Travels are Nikki Ckstein.

Speaker 2 (01:15:15):
And that wraps up the weekend edition of Bloomberg Business
Week from Bloomberg Radio. Thank you so much for joining us.

Speaker 3 (01:15:20):
Be sure to tune into Bloomberg Business Week daily and
Monday through Friday starting at two pm Wall Street Time
on Bloomberg TV, Bloomberg Radio, and on Sirius XM channel
one twenty one, and you can listen to us on
Apple Car Play and Android Auto Free in the Apple
App Store or on Google Play.

Speaker 2 (01:15:33):
You can also watch our daily broadcast on YouTube. Just
search Bloomberg Global News. We're a summercast on Bloomberg Originals,
available at Bloomberg dot com, Slash Originals, and streaming platforms
including Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung TV Plus and more.

Speaker 3 (01:15:46):
Find our Bloomberg Business Week Daily podcast at Bloomberg dot com,
Apple or wherever you get your podcasts, and the latest
edition of the magazine is available on newsstands now, at
Bloomberg dot com and always on the Bloomberg terminal. I'm
Tim Stunabeck.

Speaker 2 (01:15:57):
I'm Carol Master. Tim is headed to Greenland and I'm
going to check out one of those lit squeezes.

Speaker 11 (01:16:01):
I'm just gonna.

Speaker 3 (01:16:02):
Say, oh my god.

Speaker 2 (01:16:07):
I have a good and safe weekend. Everyone to stay
with us. Today's top stories and global business headlines are
coming out right now.

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Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend - May 2nd, 2025

Episode Transcript

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Tim Stenovec

Carol Massar

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