April 2, 2025 • 48 mins
Bloomberg’s Caroline Hyde discusses Tesla’s share whiplash as stocks plunge on poor sales numbers, then rise on reports Elon Musk will leave the White House soon. Plus, Project Liberty founder Frank McCourt says he doesn't expect a deal to purchase TikTok will be completed by the April 5th deadline. And, Roblox CEO David Baszucki joins for an exclusive interview on the gaming platform’s new ad partnership with Google and the launch of new child safety features.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news from the heart of
where innovation, money and power collide in Silicon Valley and beyond.
This is Bloomberg Technology with Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Live from New York.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
I'm Caroline Hyde, and this is Bloomberg Technology.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Coming up.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Tesla the shares sync after its deliveries full thirteen percent
over the last quarter, the lowest since twenty twenty two,
plus investors brace for tarifs a head of President Trump's
Rose Garden announcement today, we'll discuss what this means for
the global tech trade and Chinese US relations. And we
sit down exclusively with the CEO of Roadblocks as a
company launches new parental control, and we discuss its ad
(01:01):
partnership with Google. But first we check in on these
markets that fluctuate ahead of the all important announcements from
the Rose Garden. Later today, President Trump set to unveil
what Liberation Day really means. We're flat on the day
on the NASAQ one hundred, but dig into some of
the key movers. I single out one Tesla. We're off
by one point six percent, had been lower in earlier trading.
(01:23):
But let's dig into the details of what people are
saying is production issue but also a political issue. It's
the worst sales slump for Tesla going back to twenty
twenty two. They delivered just three hundred and thirty six
thousand vehicles, falling short of the average three hundred ninety
thousand estimated by analysts.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
For more, we go to Bloombo's Cray Trudel.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
It's about three hundred and sixty thousand and six hundred
vehicles delivered. But analysts had braced for a slowdown, but
not this big of a slowdown.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Craig.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
Yeah, there were some that were even predicting a year
over year growth, which seems kind of hard to leave
when you look at the publicly available figures that we
had throughout the quarter, especially over here in Europe, we
saw just really substantial declines and some of the biggest
ev markets but this was pretty widespread, right. We saw
also in China the wholesales out of the Shanghai plant
(02:18):
were down, you know, month after month in the first quarter,
and so you know, as you alluded to earlier, this
is a matter of both you know, Musk's politicking coming
into play, but also you know, more mundane factors like
changing over the model Why, which you know, we'll better
get a handle on just how much you know, one
factored into into this versus the other as the week's
(02:42):
you know, you know, in the coming weeks when we
get a better sense of just how well the new
newer model Why is doing.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Mundane factors such as competition as well, most fiercely in China,
can you just break out where in particular the geographies
were worse.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
Yeah, I mean the company doesn't offer a regional breakdown unfortunately,
but we know that in China, BID is really just
mopping up. We're seeing them really, you know, pull further
ahead from the competition Tesla and otherwise we've seen also
Gan me you know, turn a lot of heads and
really you know, pull away consumers that might have otherwise
(03:21):
looked at at buying a Tesla. I think one of
the challenges that you're seeing for the company is that
you know, they just don't have as broad a lineup
or as affordable a lineup as BYD does, and so
they are just not the volume player that they used
to be in that market and cannot keep up with BYD.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
China's Passenger Car Association releasing data that Seeson eleven percent slide.
For Tesla in France it was down more than thirty percent.
Once again, just tell us the nuance of what we
expect to hear from Elon Musk on this. In the
past they have tried to direct as to why they've
slown down and blaming in many parts the production overhaul.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Will we hear from him on the back of these is.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
Yeah. I think one of the things that's interesting to
me about these figures that they reported today is is
that production exceeded deliveries by a fairly substantial margin. And
so this excuse that this was just you know, production constrain,
you know, that that was at issue, doesn't really seem
to work out. Of course, you would expect there to
be some lag in that, you know, some vehicles have
(04:25):
to be produced and then shipped to where they you know,
are end up at Tesla stores and with end customers.
But you know, for for this gap to be the
significant in a quarter where we knew the model why
changeover was happening, that's definitely notable. I think the other
thing that we're likely to hear from from Musk in
addition to the model y excuse is you know, for
(04:46):
him to sort of pivot to the talk about AI
and autonomous driving and you know, flip to the robotaxi
event that they've you know, said is coming in June
that they will start giving people rides in unsuper revised,
full self driving Tesla's in Austin. That of course, is
something that is potentially a catalyst in the months to come.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
And why Kathy Wood remains a bull for example, Crowdrudell,
thank you very much. Indeed, in another blow to Elon Musk,
his Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate was dealt a resounding loss
in the state's judicial race. That's despite Musk's backing of
nearly twenty million dollars into the campaign. Now, former state
Attorney General Brad Schimmel lost to the Circuit Court judge
(05:27):
Susan Crawford, who led with fifty five percent of the votes.
Now that's according to the Associated Press. Still, it wasn't
a full win for Democrats in Florida special elections. They
fell short on their bids for two critical House seats.
And let's just turn our attention now to what also
Elon Musk must be navigating, which is President Trump's tariff plan.
They're coming down to the wire, and this is as
his team is apparently still finalizing the level and scope
(05:49):
of the new import taxes he is slated to unveil
this afternoon, which of course could be a major shock
compared to the US's tariff right historically.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Blim mergs.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Mike Shepherd joins us for more. What are the finer
details that we're still expecting beyond doubt.
Speaker 5 (06:01):
Well, Caro, those are the things that we're trying to
find out at this hour. We're all holding our breath
here in Washington and really on Wall Street too, to
see what will emerge from those deliberations by the President
and his team. They're looking at a basically choice between
three paths. One is the reciprocal tariffs that we've heard
President Trump talk about recent weeks, This idea that we
(06:23):
charge them, in his words, what they charge us, in
other words, customizing tariff levels depending on what they see
as a relative trade barrier with US goods. The next
would be doing something it's a little bit more like
a tiered system where you have a lower tariff right
for countries that have fewer trade barriers with the US,
(06:43):
and a higher tariff right for countries that have more
trade barriers. And then there's the third option, also Carow,
of something that looks more like a flat tariff, one
that would be just one level, say twenty percent worldwide,
no matter the country, no matter the level of received
trade barriers assessed by the administration. That would reflect what
(07:03):
he had talked about on the campaign trail too, Chep.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
What's so interesting is technology has taken a hit from
a valuation perspective. People trying to dissect how much this
affects the semiconductor industry in particular, we've got any nuance there, Well, you.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
Know, we don't. There was discussion from the President and
his advisors of taking a sectoral approach to the tech industry,
naming the semiconductor sector in particular, and the idea was that, look,
by imposing tariffs on imported chips, we will try to
bring some production back here to the US. And they've
(07:38):
even referred to TSMC's decision to move to the US's
evidence that those tariff threats actually will have some effect.
TSMC announced, of course, an additional one hundred billion dollar
investment in the US not long after the president took office.
But the effects of these tariffs will be felt across
the value chain. In tech, We're going to see costs
(08:00):
potentially rise for all manner of good that comes into
the US. We're talking about computer hardware in addition to chips,
we're also talking about smartphones. So the impact will be
felt widely, and businesses will have to make a decision
about whether they pass those costs on to consumers or
they simply accept smaller margins in the process.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Mike sheppin always giving us up to date. Thank you
so much. Let's now bring in Michelle Guide.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
CEO of Purdues Crook Institute for.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Tech Diplomacy, previously served in the Trump administration the previous
one in terms of diplomacy and global public affairs. This
inflationary pressure, Michelle, is it worth it in the short
term for long term bringing potentially more manufacturing back to
the US.
Speaker 6 (08:44):
Well, well, I'll start with Caroline. When I served as
Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs, we had
four thousand public affairs officers and one hundred and eighty
five missions across the world, advancing one of America's key
messages at the time, which was fairness and reciprocity. And
that's because the President Trump had been saying it since
day one. In his first foreign trip at Riad, he
said it in Denaying, he said it in Warsaw, he
(09:06):
said it at the UN twice, he said it at Davos.
So fairness and reciprocity. Fair and reciprocal trade has been
a key message of the United States for a very
long time under this president. And I think the uncertainty
that we're seeing right now is in the discomfort that
we're seeing is less uncertainty and actually more of an
adjustment about what the long term trajectory is going to
(09:27):
be to make sure that the United States is as
economically and technologically competitive.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
As possible point us to that longer term trajectory.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Therefore, Michelle, this is not a surprise to you.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
So those that are still feeling that instability, as you
call it, how do they see the next few months
ago if they're a business leader having to decide where
to invest.
Speaker 6 (09:49):
Well, I think even longer term than that, we have
a strategic decision to make as a country. Are we
going to wake up and or we're going to worry
that the S and P is down eight point three
percent since February, Or are we going to worry about
the United States becoming a technology and an economic and
a manufacturing powerhouse in the twenty first century so that
(10:09):
we can lead the world and we can be the safest, freest,
and most prosperous country that the world has ever seen.
And if the choice is the latter, then we're going
to have to re engineer a lot of things in
order to be the global leader and to secure our
national security in our prosperity. Tariffs are a part of that,
but there's a lot more that has to be done.
And we've seen in recent weeks the America First Investment
(10:31):
Strategy come out, so we're investing into our economy and
our technologies with national security in mind. We just saw
a couple of days ago the announcement about the new
US Investment Accelerator. All of these things are going to
help us be a economic powerhouse and a manufacturing powerhouse,
because not only do we have to design and innovate
and code new technologies, we also have to build them
(10:52):
because it's imperative to our national security, and.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Companies have been trying to build them and ultimately using
the chipsack previously, you've had Intel promised at least eight
billion to be able to bring manufacturing of chips here
as well as R and D. Another three billion dollars
being promised if they bring R and D to the
military there in particular.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
But now that hangs in the balance.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
I understand and hear you in terms of there's this
new US investment accelerator. But that is a cool front
certainty for these companies too.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
It is.
Speaker 6 (11:21):
But look out outside of just the Chips Act. You
had the soft bank investment one hundred billion dollars to
start moving to five hundred billion dollars to build AI
data and energy infrastructure here in the United States. TSMC
dedicated another one hundred billion dollars at Purdue Research Park.
The CROC Institute is at Purdue University at Predue Research Park.
SK Heinez four billion dollars to build advanced packaging. Hundai
(11:43):
just did twenty billion dollars in Louisiana. So it's not
just chipsacked and in federal spending. But there's a lot
of private sector companies from foreign countries that are investing
here because they want to build here, and it's all
good news for the United States.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Michelle. I think therefore an element of uncertain to hear.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
We can see what the US wants, but it's how
the others react. And for many in technology, they're wondering,
how did digital services become impacted? If Europe fights back
on these tariffs, how do you gain that out?
Speaker 6 (12:13):
For business leaders, Yeah, I think that's going to be
a short term and long term conversation between the US
and Europe and specifically our tech companies and their regulatory bodies.
But I'll say this, European Commission head Ursula vonder Lyon
said yesterday that Europe is always going to look out
for European values in European self interests. The United States
(12:34):
has to do the same, which means that there has
to be a level playing field between our most trusted partners,
just like the EU or Mexico or Canada, in addition
to adversaries like China who are trying to compete and
lead in technology. And so this is all about looking
toward America's self interest. We have to manufacture, we have
to build, we have to innovate and make sure that
(12:54):
we are re engineering the global system in order to
serve that so that United States can lead.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
To compete against China.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Will this ensure that or could we see TikTok almost
become part of the negotiation, which takes many by surprise.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
We'll see.
Speaker 6 (13:12):
You know, the deadline's coming up on April fifth, and
I think we're gonna The President has said he wants
to try to find a way to maintain their presence
here while protecting our national security.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
We'll see, but it is.
Speaker 6 (13:23):
Law that they have to divest or leave the United
States in terms of the US China competition. More broadly,
the way that we outcompete China is to innovate and
enterprise and manufacture and build faster, better and smarter. And
by focusing on our ability to do all of those
things here at home, to unleash the private sector is
(13:45):
our best chance of winning and leading, just as we
did in the twentieth century.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Shell Geide, it was great to have you on. Thank you,
Perduez Kirk Institute for Tech Diplomacy.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Stay well.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Meanwhile, coming up plans for TikTok. Will they remain up
in the air? Just three days left before it's potential.
We speak with one of the bidders who's been in it.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
For the long haul.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
It's Frank McCourt Junior. This is Blomberg Technology. President Trump
is set to hold a meeting today to discuss a
proposal for divesting TikTok's US operations from its China's parent company,
(14:24):
Byte Dance. This comes just days ahead of its April
fifth deadline to be sold or to be banned. Sources
say the administration is considering currently a deal that would
include Oracle, Blackstone and other investors in a joint venture.
This proposal, though, is just one being put forth by
a number of interested parties in purchasing TikTok. One of
those who put their bid in near the beginning is
Frank McCourt, junior Project Liberty founder and executive chairman of
(14:46):
the Court Global.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
He joins us, now, are you.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Going to be there in Washington for this meeting? Jetting
off after this? Have you been part of this conversation?
Speaker 7 (14:54):
Now, I'm jetting off after this, but not to Washington,
and so we're interested in the same comes out of
the meeting. There's still a lot in motion. Let's say,
right now, Caroline, what.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Do you think really is in motion?
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Is it a broader diplomatic sort of ping pong? That valance,
it seems, is mainly needing the charge in or is
it actually just trying to work out which bid works
best for the US law.
Speaker 7 (15:18):
I think it's really beginning to digest what the real
issues are here, what's really in that legislation upheld by
the Supreme Court, Meaning where does the algorithm sit, who
has access to it? For example, the finds huge finds
(15:39):
here for any violation of the law, and who is
responsible for those finds. So I think that now we're
getting to the point of a real analysis of the
law and the Supreme Court ruling and what is a
legitimate bid, What is a real transaction where one could
buy TikTok us TikTok and meet the spirit and the letter.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Of the law.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Let's go to your offer, because as it stands, you
don't want the algorithm that fits the letter of the
law right.
Speaker 7 (16:11):
Correct, Yes it does, And that's fundamentally the point here.
You can't dodge that issue. The algorithm is, along with
the source code, the way that China is able to
manipulate what Americans read, see, and eventually think about issues.
And this is highly dangerous for America. And that's why
(16:36):
the legislation was passed with a broad bipartisan support. And
so we now have a set of issues where you
need to completely disentangle from the Chinese technology in order
to have a bid that complies with the law. And
the reason why we still believe our bid, our offer
(16:57):
for us TikTok, is the only offer that actually meets
the letter and the spirit of the law. We don't
want or need the algorithm because we have a clean
stack that we've been building for the last five and
a half years.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
We understand there are four bidders. I'm going to go
into one of them more clean in a minute. But
who else do you understand to be the bidders out
there at the moment.
Speaker 7 (17:18):
I'm not one hundred percent sure I've heard the number four.
I don't believe there are four, and I think that
there may be a mixing and matching of bidders that
we're hearing about as well. So I think it's all
very much a fluid situation right now, Caroline, and we'll
learn more of this afternoon.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
This afternoon, we understand that President Trump is hearing the
latest ideal around Oracle being part owner.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
They're already an.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Infrastructure provider and Project Texas, which was full of under
the previous administration, was meant to be the way in
which Oracle could preserve ultimately the data of US citizens
within using TikTok. Is that going to be a legitimate
way that is sold here in America.
Speaker 7 (18:02):
Let's think about source code and operational code or algorithm.
The issues are not just where it sits, but who
has access to it.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
And this is.
Speaker 7 (18:19):
The source code or the algorithm could sit somewhere, but
if China still has access to it, that's highly problematic.
And I think at the end of the day, China
has been clear. It seems to me anyway that they've
been crystal clear they're not letting go of the algorithm.
And what also seems to me crystal clear in the
legislation is that any bid that includes the algorithm is
(18:44):
not going to meet the criteria laid out in the law.
So there's the issue. And again I go back to
the reason why we made the bid and did it
on behalf of Project Liberty. It was not because we
set up Project Liberty to purchase you as TikTok.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
We set up Project Liberty.
Speaker 7 (19:05):
To bring forward the set of issues that are problematic
with the current tech design that we have right now.
It just so happens that TikTok was an opportunity that
presented itself where we stepped forward and said, hey, why
don't we turn a problem into a solution. Here, let's
buy you as TikTok, move it over to a clean
stack where you and I control our identity, control and
(19:29):
own our data, permission its use, and basically have a
different Internet, which I would argue will be vastly better
for people, vastly better for democracy, for society, and for children.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
You want a decentralized future of social media. At the
same time, the administration is trying to weigh up future
relationships with China. We also know that President Trump really
liked using TikTok as a way in which to tell
his message during the campaign to the younger audience. When
you think about the potential oracle bid, you said, it's
(20:02):
very fluid. But who else might be joining that? We've
heard of Blackstain, We've had a VCS for example. Do
you know any other players that might be getting into
that bid.
Speaker 7 (20:10):
Well, we've talked to I believe all of the existing
investors in Bye Dance, US investors in Byte Dance, and
I think all or most all would be happy to
stay involved in the transaction. I mean, why not, Caroline.
It's better to spin off a company, keep an interest
in it, hope for the best rather than have the
(20:33):
company shut down.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
General Lanteka talking about so all.
Speaker 7 (20:36):
These names that you're hearing, they're all around the deal
because they have an interest in the deal. As far
as President Trump and his affinity for TikTok, we can
create a version of TikTok that he'll like just as much,
if not more, because it will do the same good
things without putting Americans at risk.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Do you think there's any way that we get a
deal by the deadline of.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
The fifth.
Speaker 7 (21:05):
I personally think that's highly unlikely. But we'll know more
this afternoon or certainly.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
By the fifth.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
And are they coming to you directly? Who are you
speaking to within the administeron?
Speaker 7 (21:14):
Our conversations have been with the Vice President and the
Vice President's office, and.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
The leaning you get from Vice President Vance, is he
taking into consideration the future of how social media works
within the United States, the future of an algorithm being
in China or not?
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Or is he seeing as much more of as a
diplomatic effort.
Speaker 7 (21:31):
Oh, you'd have to ask the Vice President that. I
certainly hope he's seeing the broader issues of the future
of the Internet, and I know is concerned about our
national security.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
Many are also questioning just the price point, What would
you be willing to pay without the algorithm, without the
so called secret source.
Speaker 7 (21:46):
Well, we've put a we've put a number of twenty
billion on the assets without the algorithm, and so, and
we're sticking by that. We think that's a very full
number for just the user base and the data where
we're we're not getting all that back end. But we
don't want, our need the back end. And that's the point,
(22:06):
right we've built it, which is why we happen to
be in the right place at the right time for
this transaction. We meet the spirit and the letter of
the law. We keep us TikTok lit up and everybody wins.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Is that anyway that they go back to Congress and
re offer this deal.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Is there any way that that law ends up not sticking?
Speaker 7 (22:29):
I can't see it. I can't see it. This was
a law to pass for good reason, and as I
said earlier, highly broadly bipartisan people saw clearly the national
security issues associated here, and the and the and the
risks of the United States and to US citizens. It
was It was a law that was appropriately passed, one
(22:50):
of the few that was passed with bipartisan support, and
in the speed at which it was passed, signed by
the President, upheld by the Appellate Court, upheld by this
Supreme Court. Twelve judges said, this is a valid law.
This is a real set of national security issues. Zero
judges were on.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
The other side of that.
Speaker 7 (23:11):
Many of the same people that voted for this law
are in the Trump administration. They understand the issues and
that hasn't changed. And what I want to emphasize is
there is a solution to this. There's a solution that
meets the criteria of the legislation, keeps TikTok lit up,
protects American citizens, and begins to show the way of
(23:35):
a new Internet.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Will current uses of TikTok love your vision of the
Internet as much as they love the algorithm.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
And I think they're going to love it more.
Speaker 7 (23:43):
We call it the People's bid because we're going to
green Bay packer it, give them a piece of it.
Let them actually benefit financially from the growth of the
platform and the value they're not just from the business
they create on the platform, but why not give them
a piece of the entire platform so that they can
benefit from the equity that's built up in the platform itself, bringing.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
In the sports. We love it. Thank you as ever
for joining us.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
Let us know what comes out of your discussions post
the meeting today. Frank McCord of Project Liberty and of
course Court Global, he is potentially offering to buy TikTok.
Welcome back to BLUEBG Technology. I'm Karen Hide in New York. Now,
(24:29):
if you have children, the chances of you knowing about
Roadblocks are pretty high. It's a virtual universe, of course,
that allows users to create, to collaborate nearly eighty five
million daily active users.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Roadblocks is out with a slew of announcements.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Including a partnership with Google, as well as new parental controls.
Shares rallying following the news and let's just unpack it
all in inexclusive conversation with Roblock CEO David Bazuki.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
David is great.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
To have you on the show, and I'm so interested
in what analysts are calling right now a smart strategic
move this partnership with Google. What brands are responding to
this new partnership we've unveiled.
Speaker 8 (25:09):
Hey, great to be on the show and want to
highlight you know, we shared a really huge vision of
having ten percent of all gaming running on roadblocks, which
is a really big vision. And you know, we feel
gaming is still in the in the prehistoric times as
far as how people consume and use gaming content. We
have a huge creator community who is already creating amazing businesses.
(25:34):
This partnership with Google is another way for those creators
to help build their business and monetize, and for our
older users, we're going to give our creators side by
side virtual currency and side by side subscriptions another way
to help build their business on roadblocks. We have many
creators making over ten million dollars a year on the
(25:55):
platform and some making over fifty million dollars a year.
So this is a really sponsor ing big emerging studios
building on our platform.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
It's about the ecosystem.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
I'm interested you say for older users, who do you
think the brands really want to expose themselves to right now?
In terms of generations? Is it still all about gen z?
Is it skewing upward?
Speaker 8 (26:17):
We shared the vision once again of ultimately getting to
a billion daily active users on our platform with this
intermediate step of ten percent of gaming and in last
quarter we shared a lot of fun stats are seventeen
through twenty four age group is growing very rapidly. We've
become a platform where more of our users are over thirteen.
(26:39):
That seventeen through twenty four year old segment is really
hard to reach.
Speaker 9 (26:44):
More and more of them are on roadblocks.
Speaker 8 (26:46):
As we start to have amazing experiences, whether it's NFL Universe,
Dressed to Dress to Impress experiences where these types of
users are on our platform.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Dress to Impress immediately makes me think about, well, obviously
the retail opportunity for brands, but also how it becomes
synonymous with physical well too, take us forward is what
really advertising will eventually be?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
For roadblocks?
Speaker 8 (27:11):
Okay, well, if we step forward, way forward in a
sci fi scenario, I can imagine, just like it's fun
to go shopping at the mall today, it's of course
we're going to go shopping with our virtual avatars. We're
going to be able to go to stores, see our
favorite brands. We're going to be able to try clothing
(27:31):
on and see how it looks on our avatar. We're
going to have a lot of fun doing it, and
when we want to buy the physical or the virtual item,
we'll be able to make that purchase. So we may
look back in ten or twenty years ago. Oh my gosh,
it was weird that all of our shopping on the
web was two D rather than jumping forward to a
(27:53):
future three D and ultimately four dimensional world. So someday
maybe we'll go virtual shopping together.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Well, advertisers are going to be excited by it.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
The analyst are excited by it because ultimately this will
become a bigger and bigger part of your business model.
When do you think you'll be able to break it
out and show just how much advertising is bringing to
your bottom line?
Speaker 8 (28:14):
Yeah, we once again on this journey to getting over
ten percent of the gaming market space. We've shared we
expect to be growing our bookings at over twenty percent
year on year, continuously going forward while generating a lot
of cash. And we are looking forward to when we
break out the advertising revenue and the commerce revenue.
Speaker 9 (28:36):
We haven't shared when we will do that.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Come on the show, Dave on the show, What you
got to break it for us?
Speaker 2 (28:45):
On the show?
Speaker 8 (28:46):
Oh, I can't break it on the show, but I'll
call you before we break it out and I'll let
you know I.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Appreciate that nook more seriously for brands to really commit
here and to stick with it for your users to
remain It's also all about safety. I know you even
putting a lot of thought into that. You've got new
parental controls that you're announcing today for us, Dave, talk
us through them.
Speaker 9 (29:09):
Yeah, well, take a step back.
Speaker 8 (29:11):
Even when we first launched the platform, very early on,
our goal was to build the safest place on the Internet,
and as a Roadblocks has become more embedded in our culture,
we're constantly shipping safety improvements. We're really trying to support
parents to make great decisions for their family. So we
(29:32):
already preemptively have screen time limits on Roadblocks. Parents can
set that with their family. We're announcing today more parental visibility.
Parents will be able to see where the people and
their family, the younger people at least, are playing on Roadblocks.
They're going to have more and more control of who
their kids are friends with, and they'll actually have control
(29:55):
over what experiences they might say is not appropriate for
our family. So this notion of focusing on safety and
giving parents control in addition to all of the other
safety work we do, is really a big priority for us.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
How does that fit with the kids actual experience, Dave?
Speaker 3 (30:15):
And how do you think in any way we'll start
to see less time spent on the product?
Speaker 8 (30:20):
We once again, there's something really cool about Roadblocks and
this form of social media. The form of social media
that roadblox is really communication and connection. And when I
was a kid, sometime on rainy days, I would pick
up the phone and that's how I'd hang out with
my friends. Roadblocks is less about sharing short videos and
(30:44):
watching them by myself or sharing images of myself. It's
about doing things with other people. And so I think parents,
working with the young people and their family will figure
out what's right for them.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
At one point, you did suggest that if parents don't
trust the product, they should keep their kids off.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
What's the reaction been to that, right, Well, I.
Speaker 9 (31:07):
Think there was a lot more context to that.
Speaker 8 (31:09):
What we were talking about is comfort and the notion
in we think parents should be comfortable with what the
young people are doing on their platform.
Speaker 9 (31:20):
We do.
Speaker 8 (31:20):
You know, safety is our top priority. We're shipping safety
improvements every week and that This is just one of many,
many announcements. You know, one of the biggest things we
do on Roadblocks is try to keep people on our
platform so they don't go to other platforms where they
may share images or where they may chat with unfilled texts.
(31:42):
So that quote I made was about parents should be
comfortable with what their family is doing.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
How much can AI make them more comfortable.
Speaker 8 (31:53):
So behind the scenes before, we're in an amazing time
with AI right now. It's changing how we create. It's
changing ultimately how people create on roadblocks, and we think
what's going to happen on Roadblocks is rather than maybe
the text world or the image world, which is the
one D world or the two D world, on roadblocks,
(32:15):
we're going to be supporting the three D world where
people are building three D objects. Behind the scenes, we've
been building an AI platform for four years. We have
over two hundred models running on Roadblocks. All of the
images that people use when they're creating, all of the text,
all of the voice on Roadblocks runs through some of
(32:36):
these models, and so AA has really been a foundation
of what we've done. Our voice model is so good
and so efficient that we've shared it on hugging face
so other companies can use it. I was just at
the Game Developers Conference. I ran into a startup and
I said, how are you going to do voice safety?
(32:57):
And they said, we're going to use your open source
voice models. So we're really trying to give back to
the community and these areas where we've got, you know, expertise,
and we've also joined a consortium to try to make
this open source for more small companies.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
That consortium roost Robust Online Open Safety Tools alongside Google
and discord just how collaborative is it with other platforms
when it comes to safety or is there more collaboration needed.
Speaker 8 (33:23):
Today we're one of the founding members. We want to
more and more make open source. Some of the models
we've built for safety voices is arguably one of the
first steps for that, and it's exciting to me that
I'm starting to hear of small startup companies who will
(33:44):
simply use our voice model.
Speaker 9 (33:46):
We've also made our.
Speaker 8 (33:47):
Three D foundational AI model, the cube model, also open source,
and we believe once again these foundational models, because we
have such an expertise in training and building, can be
used by others.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
I just go back to what you said at the
start there, Dave, that you wanted to build the safest
place on the Internet all the way back in two
thousand and six. The world was such a different place
in two thousand and six, and yes, we might as
parents have been anxious about what our kids were doing
on the streets. But now we've got an anxiety level
around all of what could be going on the Internet.
And then you add AI on top of that, and
(34:23):
the moderation crisis that evolves of that of ever more
content that you have to oversee. Just what does it
feel like, as someone who I know is a parent
has their nephew nieces using roeblocks, is really thoughtful about
the future of Internet? Does it upset you or how
does it make you respond when the worst of humanity
creeps on it.
Speaker 8 (34:45):
I'm surprisingly very optimistic, and I'm surprising, you know.
Speaker 9 (34:50):
I'm optimistic because.
Speaker 8 (34:51):
More and more, from the safety standpoint, AI gives us
enormous power and enormous tools to help moderate both content
as well as communication. On the creation side, I'm very
optimistic because I more and more people on roadblocks are
going to become creators, and people who feel they could
(35:13):
never have designed clothing or could never have designed a
new house, or could never design a sports car.
Speaker 9 (35:21):
Are going to start.
Speaker 8 (35:22):
Being able to design these things by talking about them
and not just design them one time, but iterate on them,
improve on them. So just like digital tools like photoshop
replaced oil painting, I actually feel AI is going to
make us all feel more like creators and supercharged creativity
(35:43):
amongst all of us.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
So we love the low fi vibes of roadblocks in
the past, how much is it going to become high
fidelity what we're currently seeing on our screens.
Speaker 8 (35:55):
The long term spec for the product, and really one
of the most difficult specifications of any technical platform is
giving artists complete freedom. And with video right now, we
could argue that artists have freedom. We see animation, we
see anime, we see photo realistic, we see hyper realistic.
(36:16):
We're introducing more and more functionality, and we mentioned this
part of the notion that we want to have ten
percent of the gaming space on our platform, So ultimately
artists can either go our traditional BLOCKI style, a more
realistic style, or ultimately, with some of the cloud facilities,
we're building high res styles that they're used to in
(36:38):
some of the other types of games they see out
there in the market.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
You talk about how you want to serve the market,
the ecosystem, the developers you've done. I mean, the value
creation that we've seen with one of the key developers
being Brookhaven, has been phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
They sold out to Oldex.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
Do you know the sort of size of deal and
how many millions are going for those sorts of purchases.
Speaker 9 (37:01):
I can't comment on the size of the deal.
Speaker 8 (37:03):
I'm pretty sure the deals are starting to get into
nine figures, not eight figures. At the Roadblocks Developer conference
last September, one of my ten prognostications was we're going
to see a billion dollar market value deal for a
studio on Roadblocks, and arguably we should see that happen.
(37:24):
If we keep pushing the technology for the gaming space,
and if we have ten percent of the gaming in
the world running on our platform.
Speaker 9 (37:32):
We're going to see more and more of those studios
start to show.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
Up talking about gaming.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
But you're also talking about how this is ultimately a
social endeavor. Who is your competitor right now? Is it
eyes and minutes spent on TikTok and social media or
is it other gaming platforms.
Speaker 9 (37:50):
It's an interesting metaphor it.
Speaker 8 (37:52):
As we think about competition, we think more about.
Speaker 9 (37:57):
This vision we have in the company, and.
Speaker 8 (38:00):
Also what is technically possible with today's technology.
Speaker 9 (38:05):
We know it's technically possible ultimately.
Speaker 8 (38:08):
For a young creator to build a really interesting experience,
have it immediately be live in any country, be within
the policies of any country, have it automatically translated to
any language, and have it run either on a very
low end device a two gigabyte RAM phone or a
(38:30):
super high end gaming PC, and allow people to join
that experience instantaneously without a download. Because we know all
of this is possible, and we're building it as quickly
as we can, we do sometimes think our competition is
our own ability to iterate quickly.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
Some might say about TikTok being a competitor. We had
Jesse Tinsley on the show previously. He said, you're supporting
his bid for TikTok from a personal perspective, I.
Speaker 8 (39:02):
A high level, I won't comment on what bid I'm supporting.
I do think there's one of the things we're highlighting
in our discovery system is transparency, and I think there's
an underlying theme of all of these bids, whether you
know the algorithm is running in the US or at
the least it's completely transparent. I think people all around
(39:25):
the world would like to see transparency in these algorithms.
One of the things we're doing more and more on
roadblocks for the creators who also our users find cool
experiences on roadblocks is being very transparent with how our
algorithm is working, so developers can can know how we're
forwarding things to the user. But I do think whatever
(39:47):
the bid on TikTok is, we're going to see transparency
of that algorithm and arguably an air gap where that
algorithm has to run in the United States.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
The administration pretty involved in the TikTok now, the administration
the current SEC now inheriting a potential investigation into roadblocks.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
How is that going day?
Speaker 9 (40:09):
I can't comment on that.
Speaker 8 (40:10):
I constantly say we run an extremely type chip and
we're very proud of everything we do.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
Pride is something you want to make global, and you're
talking about how people can create immersive world and immediately
go into any language, any country right here, right now,
it's quite difficult to be a global country company when
based in the US. How do you feel about the
trade anxiety that's currently undergoing and what it means for
your business.
Speaker 9 (40:36):
I was just in Emirates at the World Forum, and what.
Speaker 8 (40:41):
Was interesting is in Emirates there are some top Roadblocks
creators who are are contributing code to some of the
top experiences on the platform, and also some top creators
who are are fashion creators who are doing quite well
in the virtual economy on the platform. Optimistic for platforms
(41:01):
like Roadblocks, where there's a demand for amazing content, more
and more of our creators, whether they're in the USA,
whether they're in the Gulf region, whether they're down in
Brazil where you know we have an enormous activity. I'm
really excited that we can offer a global economy for
these creators, and we see our top creators coming from
(41:24):
all around the world dressed to impress team. For example,
I believe is in the.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
UK your username is build Aman. Are you still busy
building a view.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
That this is going to be the metaverse that we're
going to live in that in the next few years?
Speaker 2 (41:40):
Is that what the ultimate vision is here day?
Speaker 8 (41:43):
The vision we have is humans are always trying to
find a way to communicate, and we used to use
the mail system. We use the phone system, we use texting,
we're on video, we're communicating on video, and we believe
three D communication is going to sit side by side
with that.
Speaker 9 (42:03):
Three D communication is pretty interesting.
Speaker 8 (42:05):
We can change our avatar, we can play Hide and
Seek together, we can go to a concert together. So
we're really optimistic about what we call this evolution to
three D and forty communication. We think it's going to
be big. We think this is a natural evolution of technology.
We're in a great opportunity to help usher this in
(42:27):
in a safe and civil way.
Speaker 9 (42:29):
And when we get back to building, we actually.
Speaker 8 (42:32):
Call our people and our team with in Roadblocks builders,
so that that builder man idea has really stayed with us.
Speaker 3 (42:41):
David Zuki, great to have you on the show, co
founder CEO Roadblocks, stay well.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
Coming up with sticking with gaming because.
Speaker 3 (42:49):
Nintendo has announced the release date and price, it's highly anticipated.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
Switch to details next.
Speaker 3 (42:55):
Quick check in on Tesla shares though, because we're now
up two point seven percent this after of course, Tesla
deliveries come in well below expectations, about three hundred and
sixty thousand overall when the market have wanted three hundred
and ninety. How there does seem to be news coming
more broadly from the administration, hinting to his close relations
(43:17):
via that Trump is telling his inner circle that Musk
will leave soon. That's according to Politico, this is Blue
Beg technology. Nintendo has revealed new details, so it's highly
anticipated Switch to which it plans to release on June
(43:37):
the fifth.
Speaker 2 (43:38):
This is the video game makers really first entirely.
Speaker 3 (43:40):
New platform in eight long years and has the potential
to lift sales after a pretty lackluster few years for
the industry.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
His to tell us more is Bloomberg Cecilia de Nastasio.
It's expensive.
Speaker 10 (43:50):
It is expensive, So four.
Speaker 3 (43:52):
Hundred and fifty dollars, what is that like in context
of the market.
Speaker 10 (43:56):
There are other handheld offerings now that are on the
market that we're not on the market when the original
Switch was released, and they're selling for somewhere between four
hundred and seven hundred dollars. But at the same time,
Nintendo has a lot of star power that these competitors
from Lenovo, Asis, Valve Corp. And potentially even Microsoft, which
is also teased to handheld console do not.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
Okay, so it can stand out from the crowd.
Speaker 3 (44:20):
What an analy is saying to the date, the price point,
the release, how much anticipation is there.
Speaker 10 (44:26):
I talked to several analysts this morning who are very
optimistic about sales for the switch to.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
They say that some of the launch titles.
Speaker 10 (44:32):
Including a new Mario Kart, a new Curby game Donkey Kong,
could propel sales for the switch to.
Speaker 3 (44:37):
And of course the Nintendo has been so clever at
using that IP and getting into different ways. It's a
style of marketing in many ways. Where else will they
be leaning into and who ultimately is their target market
right now?
Speaker 10 (44:49):
The switch to, unlike the original switch, is more of
an incremental change to its predecessor. So the WEU which
came before the switch looked completely different, and now the
switch to it's mostly just improved screen size, battery life resolution,
some sort of small quality of life adjustments. The target
audience for the switch to is someone who loves their
(45:10):
Switch one, and we know that there are hundreds of
millions of people who fit into that category but want
something with a little bit more of a modern feel
and touch.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
But off to eight years, is it enough of a change?
And listen talking to say that it is.
Speaker 10 (45:25):
Again, there are more powerful handheld gaming devices on the
market now than ever, including four around a similar price
point to Nintendo's. However, Nintendo sells consoles with their exclusive games,
which are widely loved in the video game community.
Speaker 3 (45:39):
And so we're not worried about the consumer that's under
pressure at this point looking at a price point like
that looking to upgrade.
Speaker 10 (45:47):
People really love their video games and are willing to
do a lot to get their hands on a new console.
It's something that people will budget out for months or
years in.
Speaker 3 (45:54):
Advance, okay, and even be pourchasing from some international makes
Cecilia Donastasio great on all things in Nintendo. Meanwhile, let's
get back to the rest of the market, because Tesla
shares actually rebounding. There were session loans previously on the
back of lackluster deliveries. But now that reports in Politico
that Trump has told his inner circle that Elon Musk
(46:15):
will be leaving soon, reimbogs Isabelle, Lee joins us some more,
and many feeling good he can be more focused on
Tesla or I'm assuming absolutely Caroline.
Speaker 11 (46:24):
So in the morning, the mood was kind of gloomy
because Tesla saw its vehicle sales falling thirteen percent in
the first quarter. That's the lowest since twenty twenty two.
And this is common because they transitioned their model wise factory,
it's common to loose some output. The uncommon thing is
Elon Musk involvement, which some analysts cited and around eleven
seventeen political publisher's story. In around eleven nineteen, you see
(46:45):
shares of Tesla flip back to the green and now
it's edging higher around two and a half percent. So really,
with this stop, there's just one headline after another. But
with the political reporting, maybe that means Elon Musk will
focus more on Tesla, and maybe that would mean less headlines,
but it remains to be seen.
Speaker 3 (47:00):
We're talking of one headline after another. We've got another
one coming from the New York Times. Amazon puts in
a last minute bid to acquire TikTok.
Speaker 2 (47:09):
It's reporting by New York Times.
Speaker 3 (47:11):
Amazon shares currently spiking a little bit higher. The investor
reaction seeming to like the integration of social media within
Amazon's more broad remit. We're seeing Amazon bid in coming
in via an offer letter to Vance and to lutnix So,
to the Commerce secretary and to vice president Vance.
Speaker 2 (47:30):
So says The New York Times. We will be reaching
out for Amazon response.
Speaker 3 (47:34):
It had been rumored in the market that they might
be an acquirer. And of course Amazon in many ways
has the sheer scale of money and cash on board
to be able to afford it. But the question is
regulatory Will they be allowed to purchase such a significant
asset when they already have the DOJ and they have
many a regulator breathing down their neck when it comes
(47:55):
to M and A of late, But as we say,
repeat New York Times coming in with reporting that Amazon
has made a last minute offer a bid to acquire
all of TikTok, the US part of btdowns.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
Now that does it for this position of Bloomberg Technology.
Do not forget to check out our podcast.
Speaker 3 (48:13):
You can find it on the terminal as well as
online on Apples, Spotify, and iHeart from New York.
Speaker 2 (48:17):
This is Blomberg Technology.
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news from the heart of
where innovation, money and power collide in Silicon Valley and beyond.
This is Bloomberg Technology with Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Live from New York.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
I'm Caroline Hyde, and this is Bloomberg Technology.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Coming up.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Tesla the shares sync after its deliveries full thirteen percent
over the last quarter, the lowest since twenty twenty two,
plus investors brace for tarifs a head of President Trump's
Rose Garden announcement today, we'll discuss what this means for
the global tech trade and Chinese US relations. And we
sit down exclusively with the CEO of Roadblocks as a
company launches new parental control, and we discuss its ad
(01:01):
partnership with Google. But first we check in on these
markets that fluctuate ahead of the all important announcements from
the Rose Garden. Later today, President Trump set to unveil
what Liberation Day really means. We're flat on the day
on the NASAQ one hundred, but dig into some of
the key movers. I single out one Tesla. We're off
by one point six percent, had been lower in earlier trading.
(01:23):
But let's dig into the details of what people are
saying is production issue but also a political issue. It's
the worst sales slump for Tesla going back to twenty
twenty two. They delivered just three hundred and thirty six
thousand vehicles, falling short of the average three hundred ninety
thousand estimated by analysts.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
For more, we go to Bloombo's Cray Trudel.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
It's about three hundred and sixty thousand and six hundred
vehicles delivered. But analysts had braced for a slowdown, but
not this big of a slowdown.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Craig.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
Yeah, there were some that were even predicting a year
over year growth, which seems kind of hard to leave
when you look at the publicly available figures that we
had throughout the quarter, especially over here in Europe, we
saw just really substantial declines and some of the biggest
ev markets but this was pretty widespread, right. We saw
also in China the wholesales out of the Shanghai plant
(02:18):
were down, you know, month after month in the first quarter,
and so you know, as you alluded to earlier, this
is a matter of both you know, Musk's politicking coming
into play, but also you know, more mundane factors like
changing over the model Why, which you know, we'll better
get a handle on just how much you know, one
factored into into this versus the other as the week's
(02:42):
you know, you know, in the coming weeks when we
get a better sense of just how well the new
newer model Why is doing.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Mundane factors such as competition as well, most fiercely in China,
can you just break out where in particular the geographies
were worse.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
Yeah, I mean the company doesn't offer a regional breakdown unfortunately,
but we know that in China, BID is really just
mopping up. We're seeing them really, you know, pull further
ahead from the competition Tesla and otherwise we've seen also
Gan me you know, turn a lot of heads and
really you know, pull away consumers that might have otherwise
(03:21):
looked at at buying a Tesla. I think one of
the challenges that you're seeing for the company is that
you know, they just don't have as broad a lineup
or as affordable a lineup as BYD does, and so
they are just not the volume player that they used
to be in that market and cannot keep up with BYD.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
China's Passenger Car Association releasing data that Seeson eleven percent slide.
For Tesla in France it was down more than thirty percent.
Once again, just tell us the nuance of what we
expect to hear from Elon Musk on this. In the
past they have tried to direct as to why they've
slown down and blaming in many parts the production overhaul.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Will we hear from him on the back of these is.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
Yeah. I think one of the things that's interesting to
me about these figures that they reported today is is
that production exceeded deliveries by a fairly substantial margin. And
so this excuse that this was just you know, production constrain,
you know, that that was at issue, doesn't really seem
to work out. Of course, you would expect there to
be some lag in that, you know, some vehicles have
(04:25):
to be produced and then shipped to where they you know,
are end up at Tesla stores and with end customers.
But you know, for for this gap to be the
significant in a quarter where we knew the model why
changeover was happening, that's definitely notable. I think the other
thing that we're likely to hear from from Musk in
addition to the model y excuse is you know, for
(04:46):
him to sort of pivot to the talk about AI
and autonomous driving and you know, flip to the robotaxi
event that they've you know, said is coming in June
that they will start giving people rides in unsuper revised,
full self driving Tesla's in Austin. That of course, is
something that is potentially a catalyst in the months to come.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
And why Kathy Wood remains a bull for example, Crowdrudell,
thank you very much. Indeed, in another blow to Elon Musk,
his Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate was dealt a resounding loss
in the state's judicial race. That's despite Musk's backing of
nearly twenty million dollars into the campaign. Now, former state
Attorney General Brad Schimmel lost to the Circuit Court judge
(05:27):
Susan Crawford, who led with fifty five percent of the votes.
Now that's according to the Associated Press. Still, it wasn't
a full win for Democrats in Florida special elections. They
fell short on their bids for two critical House seats.
And let's just turn our attention now to what also
Elon Musk must be navigating, which is President Trump's tariff plan.
They're coming down to the wire, and this is as
his team is apparently still finalizing the level and scope
(05:49):
of the new import taxes he is slated to unveil
this afternoon, which of course could be a major shock
compared to the US's tariff right historically.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Blim mergs.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Mike Shepherd joins us for more. What are the finer
details that we're still expecting beyond doubt.
Speaker 5 (06:01):
Well, Caro, those are the things that we're trying to
find out at this hour. We're all holding our breath
here in Washington and really on Wall Street too, to
see what will emerge from those deliberations by the President
and his team. They're looking at a basically choice between
three paths. One is the reciprocal tariffs that we've heard
President Trump talk about recent weeks, This idea that we
(06:23):
charge them, in his words, what they charge us, in
other words, customizing tariff levels depending on what they see
as a relative trade barrier with US goods. The next
would be doing something it's a little bit more like
a tiered system where you have a lower tariff right
for countries that have fewer trade barriers with the US,
(06:43):
and a higher tariff right for countries that have more
trade barriers. And then there's the third option, also Carow,
of something that looks more like a flat tariff, one
that would be just one level, say twenty percent worldwide,
no matter the country, no matter the level of received
trade barriers assessed by the administration. That would reflect what
(07:03):
he had talked about on the campaign trail too, Chep.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
What's so interesting is technology has taken a hit from
a valuation perspective. People trying to dissect how much this
affects the semiconductor industry in particular, we've got any nuance there, Well, you.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
Know, we don't. There was discussion from the President and
his advisors of taking a sectoral approach to the tech industry,
naming the semiconductor sector in particular, and the idea was that, look,
by imposing tariffs on imported chips, we will try to
bring some production back here to the US. And they've
(07:38):
even referred to TSMC's decision to move to the US's
evidence that those tariff threats actually will have some effect.
TSMC announced, of course, an additional one hundred billion dollar
investment in the US not long after the president took office.
But the effects of these tariffs will be felt across
the value chain. In tech, We're going to see costs
(08:00):
potentially rise for all manner of good that comes into
the US. We're talking about computer hardware in addition to chips,
we're also talking about smartphones. So the impact will be
felt widely, and businesses will have to make a decision
about whether they pass those costs on to consumers or
they simply accept smaller margins in the process.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Mike sheppin always giving us up to date. Thank you
so much. Let's now bring in Michelle Guide.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
CEO of Purdues Crook Institute for.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Tech Diplomacy, previously served in the Trump administration the previous
one in terms of diplomacy and global public affairs. This
inflationary pressure, Michelle, is it worth it in the short
term for long term bringing potentially more manufacturing back to
the US.
Speaker 6 (08:44):
Well, well, I'll start with Caroline. When I served as
Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs, we had
four thousand public affairs officers and one hundred and eighty
five missions across the world, advancing one of America's key
messages at the time, which was fairness and reciprocity. And
that's because the President Trump had been saying it since
day one. In his first foreign trip at Riad, he
said it in Denaying, he said it in Warsaw, he
(09:06):
said it at the UN twice, he said it at Davos.
So fairness and reciprocity. Fair and reciprocal trade has been
a key message of the United States for a very
long time under this president. And I think the uncertainty
that we're seeing right now is in the discomfort that
we're seeing is less uncertainty and actually more of an
adjustment about what the long term trajectory is going to
(09:27):
be to make sure that the United States is as
economically and technologically competitive.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
As possible point us to that longer term trajectory.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Therefore, Michelle, this is not a surprise to you.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
So those that are still feeling that instability, as you
call it, how do they see the next few months
ago if they're a business leader having to decide where
to invest.
Speaker 6 (09:49):
Well, I think even longer term than that, we have
a strategic decision to make as a country. Are we
going to wake up and or we're going to worry
that the S and P is down eight point three
percent since February, Or are we going to worry about
the United States becoming a technology and an economic and
a manufacturing powerhouse in the twenty first century so that
(10:09):
we can lead the world and we can be the safest, freest,
and most prosperous country that the world has ever seen.
And if the choice is the latter, then we're going
to have to re engineer a lot of things in
order to be the global leader and to secure our
national security in our prosperity. Tariffs are a part of that,
but there's a lot more that has to be done.
And we've seen in recent weeks the America First Investment
(10:31):
Strategy come out, so we're investing into our economy and
our technologies with national security in mind. We just saw
a couple of days ago the announcement about the new
US Investment Accelerator. All of these things are going to
help us be a economic powerhouse and a manufacturing powerhouse,
because not only do we have to design and innovate
and code new technologies, we also have to build them
(10:52):
because it's imperative to our national security, and.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Companies have been trying to build them and ultimately using
the chipsack previously, you've had Intel promised at least eight
billion to be able to bring manufacturing of chips here
as well as R and D. Another three billion dollars
being promised if they bring R and D to the
military there in particular.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
But now that hangs in the balance.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
I understand and hear you in terms of there's this
new US investment accelerator. But that is a cool front
certainty for these companies too.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
It is.
Speaker 6 (11:21):
But look out outside of just the Chips Act. You
had the soft bank investment one hundred billion dollars to
start moving to five hundred billion dollars to build AI
data and energy infrastructure here in the United States. TSMC
dedicated another one hundred billion dollars at Purdue Research Park.
The CROC Institute is at Purdue University at Predue Research Park.
SK Heinez four billion dollars to build advanced packaging. Hundai
(11:43):
just did twenty billion dollars in Louisiana. So it's not
just chipsacked and in federal spending. But there's a lot
of private sector companies from foreign countries that are investing
here because they want to build here, and it's all
good news for the United States.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Michelle. I think therefore an element of uncertain to hear.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
We can see what the US wants, but it's how
the others react. And for many in technology, they're wondering,
how did digital services become impacted? If Europe fights back
on these tariffs, how do you gain that out?
Speaker 6 (12:13):
For business leaders, Yeah, I think that's going to be
a short term and long term conversation between the US
and Europe and specifically our tech companies and their regulatory bodies.
But I'll say this, European Commission head Ursula vonder Lyon
said yesterday that Europe is always going to look out
for European values in European self interests. The United States
(12:34):
has to do the same, which means that there has
to be a level playing field between our most trusted partners,
just like the EU or Mexico or Canada, in addition
to adversaries like China who are trying to compete and
lead in technology. And so this is all about looking
toward America's self interest. We have to manufacture, we have
to build, we have to innovate and make sure that
(12:54):
we are re engineering the global system in order to
serve that so that United States can lead.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
To compete against China.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Will this ensure that or could we see TikTok almost
become part of the negotiation, which takes many by surprise.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
We'll see.
Speaker 6 (13:12):
You know, the deadline's coming up on April fifth, and
I think we're gonna The President has said he wants
to try to find a way to maintain their presence
here while protecting our national security.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
We'll see, but it is.
Speaker 6 (13:23):
Law that they have to divest or leave the United
States in terms of the US China competition. More broadly,
the way that we outcompete China is to innovate and
enterprise and manufacture and build faster, better and smarter. And
by focusing on our ability to do all of those
things here at home, to unleash the private sector is
(13:45):
our best chance of winning and leading, just as we
did in the twentieth century.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Shell Geide, it was great to have you on. Thank you,
Perduez Kirk Institute for Tech Diplomacy.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Stay well.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Meanwhile, coming up plans for TikTok. Will they remain up
in the air? Just three days left before it's potential.
We speak with one of the bidders who's been in it.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
For the long haul.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
It's Frank McCourt Junior. This is Blomberg Technology. President Trump
is set to hold a meeting today to discuss a
proposal for divesting TikTok's US operations from its China's parent company,
(14:24):
Byte Dance. This comes just days ahead of its April
fifth deadline to be sold or to be banned. Sources
say the administration is considering currently a deal that would
include Oracle, Blackstone and other investors in a joint venture.
This proposal, though, is just one being put forth by
a number of interested parties in purchasing TikTok. One of
those who put their bid in near the beginning is
Frank McCourt, junior Project Liberty founder and executive chairman of
(14:46):
the Court Global.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
He joins us, now, are you.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Going to be there in Washington for this meeting? Jetting
off after this? Have you been part of this conversation?
Speaker 7 (14:54):
Now, I'm jetting off after this, but not to Washington,
and so we're interested in the same comes out of
the meeting. There's still a lot in motion. Let's say,
right now, Caroline, what.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Do you think really is in motion?
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Is it a broader diplomatic sort of ping pong? That valance,
it seems, is mainly needing the charge in or is
it actually just trying to work out which bid works
best for the US law.
Speaker 7 (15:18):
I think it's really beginning to digest what the real
issues are here, what's really in that legislation upheld by
the Supreme Court, Meaning where does the algorithm sit, who
has access to it? For example, the finds huge finds
(15:39):
here for any violation of the law, and who is
responsible for those finds. So I think that now we're
getting to the point of a real analysis of the
law and the Supreme Court ruling and what is a
legitimate bid, What is a real transaction where one could
buy TikTok us TikTok and meet the spirit and the letter.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Of the law.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Let's go to your offer, because as it stands, you
don't want the algorithm that fits the letter of the
law right.
Speaker 7 (16:11):
Correct, Yes it does, And that's fundamentally the point here.
You can't dodge that issue. The algorithm is, along with
the source code, the way that China is able to
manipulate what Americans read, see, and eventually think about issues.
And this is highly dangerous for America. And that's why
(16:36):
the legislation was passed with a broad bipartisan support. And
so we now have a set of issues where you
need to completely disentangle from the Chinese technology in order
to have a bid that complies with the law. And
the reason why we still believe our bid, our offer
(16:57):
for us TikTok, is the only offer that actually meets
the letter and the spirit of the law. We don't
want or need the algorithm because we have a clean
stack that we've been building for the last five and
a half years.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
We understand there are four bidders. I'm going to go
into one of them more clean in a minute. But
who else do you understand to be the bidders out
there at the moment.
Speaker 7 (17:18):
I'm not one hundred percent sure I've heard the number four.
I don't believe there are four, and I think that
there may be a mixing and matching of bidders that
we're hearing about as well. So I think it's all
very much a fluid situation right now, Caroline, and we'll
learn more of this afternoon.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
This afternoon, we understand that President Trump is hearing the
latest ideal around Oracle being part owner.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
They're already an.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Infrastructure provider and Project Texas, which was full of under
the previous administration, was meant to be the way in
which Oracle could preserve ultimately the data of US citizens
within using TikTok. Is that going to be a legitimate
way that is sold here in America.
Speaker 7 (18:02):
Let's think about source code and operational code or algorithm.
The issues are not just where it sits, but who
has access to it.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
And this is.
Speaker 7 (18:19):
The source code or the algorithm could sit somewhere, but
if China still has access to it, that's highly problematic.
And I think at the end of the day, China
has been clear. It seems to me anyway that they've
been crystal clear they're not letting go of the algorithm.
And what also seems to me crystal clear in the
legislation is that any bid that includes the algorithm is
(18:44):
not going to meet the criteria laid out in the law.
So there's the issue. And again I go back to
the reason why we made the bid and did it
on behalf of Project Liberty. It was not because we
set up Project Liberty to purchase you as TikTok.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
We set up Project Liberty.
Speaker 7 (19:05):
To bring forward the set of issues that are problematic
with the current tech design that we have right now.
It just so happens that TikTok was an opportunity that
presented itself where we stepped forward and said, hey, why
don't we turn a problem into a solution. Here, let's
buy you as TikTok, move it over to a clean
stack where you and I control our identity, control and
(19:29):
own our data, permission its use, and basically have a
different Internet, which I would argue will be vastly better
for people, vastly better for democracy, for society, and for children.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
You want a decentralized future of social media. At the
same time, the administration is trying to weigh up future
relationships with China. We also know that President Trump really
liked using TikTok as a way in which to tell
his message during the campaign to the younger audience. When
you think about the potential oracle bid, you said, it's
(20:02):
very fluid. But who else might be joining that? We've
heard of Blackstain, We've had a VCS for example. Do
you know any other players that might be getting into
that bid.
Speaker 7 (20:10):
Well, we've talked to I believe all of the existing
investors in Bye Dance, US investors in Byte Dance, and
I think all or most all would be happy to
stay involved in the transaction. I mean, why not, Caroline.
It's better to spin off a company, keep an interest
in it, hope for the best rather than have the
(20:33):
company shut down.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
General Lanteka talking about so all.
Speaker 7 (20:36):
These names that you're hearing, they're all around the deal
because they have an interest in the deal. As far
as President Trump and his affinity for TikTok, we can
create a version of TikTok that he'll like just as much,
if not more, because it will do the same good
things without putting Americans at risk.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Do you think there's any way that we get a
deal by the deadline of.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
The fifth.
Speaker 7 (21:05):
I personally think that's highly unlikely. But we'll know more
this afternoon or certainly.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
By the fifth.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
And are they coming to you directly? Who are you
speaking to within the administeron?
Speaker 7 (21:14):
Our conversations have been with the Vice President and the
Vice President's office, and.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
The leaning you get from Vice President Vance, is he
taking into consideration the future of how social media works
within the United States, the future of an algorithm being
in China or not?
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Or is he seeing as much more of as a
diplomatic effort.
Speaker 7 (21:31):
Oh, you'd have to ask the Vice President that. I
certainly hope he's seeing the broader issues of the future
of the Internet, and I know is concerned about our
national security.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
Many are also questioning just the price point, What would
you be willing to pay without the algorithm, without the
so called secret source.
Speaker 7 (21:46):
Well, we've put a we've put a number of twenty
billion on the assets without the algorithm, and so, and
we're sticking by that. We think that's a very full
number for just the user base and the data where
we're we're not getting all that back end. But we
don't want, our need the back end. And that's the point,
(22:06):
right we've built it, which is why we happen to
be in the right place at the right time for
this transaction. We meet the spirit and the letter of
the law. We keep us TikTok lit up and everybody wins.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Is that anyway that they go back to Congress and
re offer this deal.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Is there any way that that law ends up not sticking?
Speaker 7 (22:29):
I can't see it. I can't see it. This was
a law to pass for good reason, and as I
said earlier, highly broadly bipartisan people saw clearly the national
security issues associated here, and the and the and the
risks of the United States and to US citizens. It
was It was a law that was appropriately passed, one
(22:50):
of the few that was passed with bipartisan support, and
in the speed at which it was passed, signed by
the President, upheld by the Appellate Court, upheld by this
Supreme Court. Twelve judges said, this is a valid law.
This is a real set of national security issues. Zero
judges were on.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
The other side of that.
Speaker 7 (23:11):
Many of the same people that voted for this law
are in the Trump administration. They understand the issues and
that hasn't changed. And what I want to emphasize is
there is a solution to this. There's a solution that
meets the criteria of the legislation, keeps TikTok lit up,
protects American citizens, and begins to show the way of
(23:35):
a new Internet.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Will current uses of TikTok love your vision of the
Internet as much as they love the algorithm.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
And I think they're going to love it more.
Speaker 7 (23:43):
We call it the People's bid because we're going to
green Bay packer it, give them a piece of it.
Let them actually benefit financially from the growth of the
platform and the value they're not just from the business
they create on the platform, but why not give them
a piece of the entire platform so that they can
benefit from the equity that's built up in the platform itself, bringing.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
In the sports. We love it. Thank you as ever
for joining us.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
Let us know what comes out of your discussions post
the meeting today. Frank McCord of Project Liberty and of
course Court Global, he is potentially offering to buy TikTok.
Welcome back to BLUEBG Technology. I'm Karen Hide in New York. Now,
(24:29):
if you have children, the chances of you knowing about
Roadblocks are pretty high. It's a virtual universe, of course,
that allows users to create, to collaborate nearly eighty five
million daily active users.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Roadblocks is out with a slew of announcements.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Including a partnership with Google, as well as new parental controls.
Shares rallying following the news and let's just unpack it
all in inexclusive conversation with Roblock CEO David Bazuki.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
David is great.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
To have you on the show, and I'm so interested
in what analysts are calling right now a smart strategic
move this partnership with Google. What brands are responding to
this new partnership we've unveiled.
Speaker 8 (25:09):
Hey, great to be on the show and want to
highlight you know, we shared a really huge vision of
having ten percent of all gaming running on roadblocks, which
is a really big vision. And you know, we feel
gaming is still in the in the prehistoric times as
far as how people consume and use gaming content. We
have a huge creator community who is already creating amazing businesses.
(25:34):
This partnership with Google is another way for those creators
to help build their business and monetize, and for our
older users, we're going to give our creators side by
side virtual currency and side by side subscriptions another way
to help build their business on roadblocks. We have many
creators making over ten million dollars a year on the
(25:55):
platform and some making over fifty million dollars a year.
So this is a really sponsor ing big emerging studios
building on our platform.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
It's about the ecosystem.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
I'm interested you say for older users, who do you
think the brands really want to expose themselves to right now?
In terms of generations? Is it still all about gen z?
Is it skewing upward?
Speaker 8 (26:17):
We shared the vision once again of ultimately getting to
a billion daily active users on our platform with this
intermediate step of ten percent of gaming and in last
quarter we shared a lot of fun stats are seventeen
through twenty four age group is growing very rapidly. We've
become a platform where more of our users are over thirteen.
(26:39):
That seventeen through twenty four year old segment is really
hard to reach.
Speaker 9 (26:44):
More and more of them are on roadblocks.
Speaker 8 (26:46):
As we start to have amazing experiences, whether it's NFL Universe,
Dressed to Dress to Impress experiences where these types of
users are on our platform.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Dress to Impress immediately makes me think about, well, obviously
the retail opportunity for brands, but also how it becomes
synonymous with physical well too, take us forward is what
really advertising will eventually be?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
For roadblocks?
Speaker 8 (27:11):
Okay, well, if we step forward, way forward in a
sci fi scenario, I can imagine, just like it's fun
to go shopping at the mall today, it's of course
we're going to go shopping with our virtual avatars. We're
going to be able to go to stores, see our
favorite brands. We're going to be able to try clothing
(27:31):
on and see how it looks on our avatar. We're
going to have a lot of fun doing it, and
when we want to buy the physical or the virtual item,
we'll be able to make that purchase. So we may
look back in ten or twenty years ago. Oh my gosh,
it was weird that all of our shopping on the
web was two D rather than jumping forward to a
(27:53):
future three D and ultimately four dimensional world. So someday
maybe we'll go virtual shopping together.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Well, advertisers are going to be excited by it.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
The analyst are excited by it because ultimately this will
become a bigger and bigger part of your business model.
When do you think you'll be able to break it
out and show just how much advertising is bringing to
your bottom line?
Speaker 8 (28:14):
Yeah, we once again on this journey to getting over
ten percent of the gaming market space. We've shared we
expect to be growing our bookings at over twenty percent
year on year, continuously going forward while generating a lot
of cash. And we are looking forward to when we
break out the advertising revenue and the commerce revenue.
Speaker 9 (28:36):
We haven't shared when we will do that.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Come on the show, Dave on the show, What you
got to break it for us?
Speaker 2 (28:45):
On the show?
Speaker 8 (28:46):
Oh, I can't break it on the show, but I'll
call you before we break it out and I'll let
you know I.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Appreciate that nook more seriously for brands to really commit
here and to stick with it for your users to
remain It's also all about safety. I know you even
putting a lot of thought into that. You've got new
parental controls that you're announcing today for us, Dave, talk
us through them.
Speaker 9 (29:09):
Yeah, well, take a step back.
Speaker 8 (29:11):
Even when we first launched the platform, very early on,
our goal was to build the safest place on the Internet,
and as a Roadblocks has become more embedded in our culture,
we're constantly shipping safety improvements. We're really trying to support
parents to make great decisions for their family. So we
(29:32):
already preemptively have screen time limits on Roadblocks. Parents can
set that with their family. We're announcing today more parental visibility.
Parents will be able to see where the people and
their family, the younger people at least, are playing on Roadblocks.
They're going to have more and more control of who
their kids are friends with, and they'll actually have control
(29:55):
over what experiences they might say is not appropriate for
our family. So this notion of focusing on safety and
giving parents control in addition to all of the other
safety work we do, is really a big priority for us.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
How does that fit with the kids actual experience, Dave?
Speaker 3 (30:15):
And how do you think in any way we'll start
to see less time spent on the product?
Speaker 8 (30:20):
We once again, there's something really cool about Roadblocks and
this form of social media. The form of social media
that roadblox is really communication and connection. And when I
was a kid, sometime on rainy days, I would pick
up the phone and that's how I'd hang out with
my friends. Roadblocks is less about sharing short videos and
(30:44):
watching them by myself or sharing images of myself. It's
about doing things with other people. And so I think parents,
working with the young people and their family will figure
out what's right for them.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
At one point, you did suggest that if parents don't
trust the product, they should keep their kids off.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
What's the reaction been to that, right, Well, I.
Speaker 9 (31:07):
Think there was a lot more context to that.
Speaker 8 (31:09):
What we were talking about is comfort and the notion
in we think parents should be comfortable with what the
young people are doing on their platform.
Speaker 9 (31:20):
We do.
Speaker 8 (31:20):
You know, safety is our top priority. We're shipping safety
improvements every week and that This is just one of many,
many announcements. You know, one of the biggest things we
do on Roadblocks is try to keep people on our
platform so they don't go to other platforms where they
may share images or where they may chat with unfilled texts.
(31:42):
So that quote I made was about parents should be
comfortable with what their family is doing.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
How much can AI make them more comfortable.
Speaker 8 (31:53):
So behind the scenes before, we're in an amazing time
with AI right now. It's changing how we create. It's
changing ultimately how people create on roadblocks, and we think
what's going to happen on Roadblocks is rather than maybe
the text world or the image world, which is the
one D world or the two D world, on roadblocks,
(32:15):
we're going to be supporting the three D world where
people are building three D objects. Behind the scenes, we've
been building an AI platform for four years. We have
over two hundred models running on Roadblocks. All of the
images that people use when they're creating, all of the text,
all of the voice on Roadblocks runs through some of
(32:36):
these models, and so AA has really been a foundation
of what we've done. Our voice model is so good
and so efficient that we've shared it on hugging face
so other companies can use it. I was just at
the Game Developers Conference. I ran into a startup and
I said, how are you going to do voice safety?
(32:57):
And they said, we're going to use your open source
voice models. So we're really trying to give back to
the community and these areas where we've got, you know, expertise,
and we've also joined a consortium to try to make
this open source for more small companies.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
That consortium roost Robust Online Open Safety Tools alongside Google
and discord just how collaborative is it with other platforms
when it comes to safety or is there more collaboration needed.
Speaker 8 (33:23):
Today we're one of the founding members. We want to
more and more make open source. Some of the models
we've built for safety voices is arguably one of the
first steps for that, and it's exciting to me that
I'm starting to hear of small startup companies who will
(33:44):
simply use our voice model.
Speaker 9 (33:46):
We've also made our.
Speaker 8 (33:47):
Three D foundational AI model, the cube model, also open source,
and we believe once again these foundational models, because we
have such an expertise in training and building, can be
used by others.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
I just go back to what you said at the
start there, Dave, that you wanted to build the safest
place on the Internet all the way back in two
thousand and six. The world was such a different place
in two thousand and six, and yes, we might as
parents have been anxious about what our kids were doing
on the streets. But now we've got an anxiety level
around all of what could be going on the Internet.
And then you add AI on top of that, and
(34:23):
the moderation crisis that evolves of that of ever more
content that you have to oversee. Just what does it
feel like, as someone who I know is a parent
has their nephew nieces using roeblocks, is really thoughtful about
the future of Internet? Does it upset you or how
does it make you respond when the worst of humanity
creeps on it.
Speaker 8 (34:45):
I'm surprisingly very optimistic, and I'm surprising, you know.
Speaker 9 (34:50):
I'm optimistic because.
Speaker 8 (34:51):
More and more, from the safety standpoint, AI gives us
enormous power and enormous tools to help moderate both content
as well as communication. On the creation side, I'm very
optimistic because I more and more people on roadblocks are
going to become creators, and people who feel they could
(35:13):
never have designed clothing or could never have designed a
new house, or could never design a sports car.
Speaker 9 (35:21):
Are going to start.
Speaker 8 (35:22):
Being able to design these things by talking about them
and not just design them one time, but iterate on them,
improve on them. So just like digital tools like photoshop
replaced oil painting, I actually feel AI is going to
make us all feel more like creators and supercharged creativity
(35:43):
amongst all of us.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
So we love the low fi vibes of roadblocks in
the past, how much is it going to become high
fidelity what we're currently seeing on our screens.
Speaker 8 (35:55):
The long term spec for the product, and really one
of the most difficult specifications of any technical platform is
giving artists complete freedom. And with video right now, we
could argue that artists have freedom. We see animation, we
see anime, we see photo realistic, we see hyper realistic.
(36:16):
We're introducing more and more functionality, and we mentioned this
part of the notion that we want to have ten
percent of the gaming space on our platform, So ultimately
artists can either go our traditional BLOCKI style, a more
realistic style, or ultimately, with some of the cloud facilities,
we're building high res styles that they're used to in
(36:38):
some of the other types of games they see out
there in the market.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
You talk about how you want to serve the market,
the ecosystem, the developers you've done. I mean, the value
creation that we've seen with one of the key developers
being Brookhaven, has been phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
They sold out to Oldex.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
Do you know the sort of size of deal and
how many millions are going for those sorts of purchases.
Speaker 9 (37:01):
I can't comment on the size of the deal.
Speaker 8 (37:03):
I'm pretty sure the deals are starting to get into
nine figures, not eight figures. At the Roadblocks Developer conference
last September, one of my ten prognostications was we're going
to see a billion dollar market value deal for a
studio on Roadblocks, and arguably we should see that happen.
(37:24):
If we keep pushing the technology for the gaming space,
and if we have ten percent of the gaming in
the world running on our platform.
Speaker 9 (37:32):
We're going to see more and more of those studios
start to show.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
Up talking about gaming.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
But you're also talking about how this is ultimately a
social endeavor. Who is your competitor right now? Is it
eyes and minutes spent on TikTok and social media or
is it other gaming platforms.
Speaker 9 (37:50):
It's an interesting metaphor it.
Speaker 8 (37:52):
As we think about competition, we think more about.
Speaker 9 (37:57):
This vision we have in the company, and.
Speaker 8 (38:00):
Also what is technically possible with today's technology.
Speaker 9 (38:05):
We know it's technically possible ultimately.
Speaker 8 (38:08):
For a young creator to build a really interesting experience,
have it immediately be live in any country, be within
the policies of any country, have it automatically translated to
any language, and have it run either on a very
low end device a two gigabyte RAM phone or a
(38:30):
super high end gaming PC, and allow people to join
that experience instantaneously without a download. Because we know all
of this is possible, and we're building it as quickly
as we can, we do sometimes think our competition is
our own ability to iterate quickly.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
Some might say about TikTok being a competitor. We had
Jesse Tinsley on the show previously. He said, you're supporting
his bid for TikTok from a personal perspective, I.
Speaker 8 (39:02):
A high level, I won't comment on what bid I'm supporting.
I do think there's one of the things we're highlighting
in our discovery system is transparency, and I think there's
an underlying theme of all of these bids, whether you
know the algorithm is running in the US or at
the least it's completely transparent. I think people all around
(39:25):
the world would like to see transparency in these algorithms.
One of the things we're doing more and more on
roadblocks for the creators who also our users find cool
experiences on roadblocks is being very transparent with how our
algorithm is working, so developers can can know how we're
forwarding things to the user. But I do think whatever
(39:47):
the bid on TikTok is, we're going to see transparency
of that algorithm and arguably an air gap where that
algorithm has to run in the United States.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
The administration pretty involved in the TikTok now, the administration
the current SEC now inheriting a potential investigation into roadblocks.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
How is that going day?
Speaker 9 (40:09):
I can't comment on that.
Speaker 8 (40:10):
I constantly say we run an extremely type chip and
we're very proud of everything we do.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
Pride is something you want to make global, and you're
talking about how people can create immersive world and immediately
go into any language, any country right here, right now,
it's quite difficult to be a global country company when
based in the US. How do you feel about the
trade anxiety that's currently undergoing and what it means for
your business.
Speaker 9 (40:36):
I was just in Emirates at the World Forum, and what.
Speaker 8 (40:41):
Was interesting is in Emirates there are some top Roadblocks
creators who are are contributing code to some of the
top experiences on the platform, and also some top creators
who are are fashion creators who are doing quite well
in the virtual economy on the platform. Optimistic for platforms
(41:01):
like Roadblocks, where there's a demand for amazing content, more
and more of our creators, whether they're in the USA,
whether they're in the Gulf region, whether they're down in
Brazil where you know we have an enormous activity. I'm
really excited that we can offer a global economy for
these creators, and we see our top creators coming from
(41:24):
all around the world dressed to impress team. For example,
I believe is in the.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
UK your username is build Aman. Are you still busy
building a view.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
That this is going to be the metaverse that we're
going to live in that in the next few years?
Speaker 2 (41:40):
Is that what the ultimate vision is here day?
Speaker 8 (41:43):
The vision we have is humans are always trying to
find a way to communicate, and we used to use
the mail system. We use the phone system, we use texting,
we're on video, we're communicating on video, and we believe
three D communication is going to sit side by side
with that.
Speaker 9 (42:03):
Three D communication is pretty interesting.
Speaker 8 (42:05):
We can change our avatar, we can play Hide and
Seek together, we can go to a concert together. So
we're really optimistic about what we call this evolution to
three D and forty communication. We think it's going to
be big. We think this is a natural evolution of technology.
We're in a great opportunity to help usher this in
(42:27):
in a safe and civil way.
Speaker 9 (42:29):
And when we get back to building, we actually.
Speaker 8 (42:32):
Call our people and our team with in Roadblocks builders,
so that that builder man idea has really stayed with us.
Speaker 3 (42:41):
David Zuki, great to have you on the show, co
founder CEO Roadblocks, stay well.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
Coming up with sticking with gaming because.
Speaker 3 (42:49):
Nintendo has announced the release date and price, it's highly anticipated.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
Switch to details next.
Speaker 3 (42:55):
Quick check in on Tesla shares though, because we're now
up two point seven percent this after of course, Tesla
deliveries come in well below expectations, about three hundred and
sixty thousand overall when the market have wanted three hundred
and ninety. How there does seem to be news coming
more broadly from the administration, hinting to his close relations
(43:17):
via that Trump is telling his inner circle that Musk
will leave soon. That's according to Politico, this is Blue
Beg technology. Nintendo has revealed new details, so it's highly
anticipated Switch to which it plans to release on June
(43:37):
the fifth.
Speaker 2 (43:38):
This is the video game makers really first entirely.
Speaker 3 (43:40):
New platform in eight long years and has the potential
to lift sales after a pretty lackluster few years for
the industry.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
His to tell us more is Bloomberg Cecilia de Nastasio.
It's expensive.
Speaker 10 (43:50):
It is expensive, So four.
Speaker 3 (43:52):
Hundred and fifty dollars, what is that like in context
of the market.
Speaker 10 (43:56):
There are other handheld offerings now that are on the
market that we're not on the market when the original
Switch was released, and they're selling for somewhere between four
hundred and seven hundred dollars. But at the same time,
Nintendo has a lot of star power that these competitors
from Lenovo, Asis, Valve Corp. And potentially even Microsoft, which
is also teased to handheld console do not.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
Okay, so it can stand out from the crowd.
Speaker 3 (44:20):
What an analy is saying to the date, the price point,
the release, how much anticipation is there.
Speaker 10 (44:26):
I talked to several analysts this morning who are very
optimistic about sales for the switch to.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
They say that some of the launch titles.
Speaker 10 (44:32):
Including a new Mario Kart, a new Curby game Donkey Kong,
could propel sales for the switch to.
Speaker 3 (44:37):
And of course the Nintendo has been so clever at
using that IP and getting into different ways. It's a
style of marketing in many ways. Where else will they
be leaning into and who ultimately is their target market
right now?
Speaker 10 (44:49):
The switch to, unlike the original switch, is more of
an incremental change to its predecessor. So the WEU which
came before the switch looked completely different, and now the
switch to it's mostly just improved screen size, battery life resolution,
some sort of small quality of life adjustments. The target
audience for the switch to is someone who loves their
(45:10):
Switch one, and we know that there are hundreds of
millions of people who fit into that category but want
something with a little bit more of a modern feel
and touch.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
But off to eight years, is it enough of a change?
And listen talking to say that it is.
Speaker 10 (45:25):
Again, there are more powerful handheld gaming devices on the
market now than ever, including four around a similar price
point to Nintendo's. However, Nintendo sells consoles with their exclusive games,
which are widely loved in the video game community.
Speaker 3 (45:39):
And so we're not worried about the consumer that's under
pressure at this point looking at a price point like
that looking to upgrade.
Speaker 10 (45:47):
People really love their video games and are willing to
do a lot to get their hands on a new console.
It's something that people will budget out for months or
years in.
Speaker 3 (45:54):
Advance, okay, and even be pourchasing from some international makes
Cecilia Donastasio great on all things in Nintendo. Meanwhile, let's
get back to the rest of the market, because Tesla
shares actually rebounding. There were session loans previously on the
back of lackluster deliveries. But now that reports in Politico
that Trump has told his inner circle that Elon Musk
(46:15):
will be leaving soon, reimbogs Isabelle, Lee joins us some more,
and many feeling good he can be more focused on
Tesla or I'm assuming absolutely Caroline.
Speaker 11 (46:24):
So in the morning, the mood was kind of gloomy
because Tesla saw its vehicle sales falling thirteen percent in
the first quarter. That's the lowest since twenty twenty two.
And this is common because they transitioned their model wise factory,
it's common to loose some output. The uncommon thing is
Elon Musk involvement, which some analysts cited and around eleven
seventeen political publisher's story. In around eleven nineteen, you see
(46:45):
shares of Tesla flip back to the green and now
it's edging higher around two and a half percent. So really,
with this stop, there's just one headline after another. But
with the political reporting, maybe that means Elon Musk will
focus more on Tesla, and maybe that would mean less headlines,
but it remains to be seen.
Speaker 3 (47:00):
We're talking of one headline after another. We've got another
one coming from the New York Times. Amazon puts in
a last minute bid to acquire TikTok.
Speaker 2 (47:09):
It's reporting by New York Times.
Speaker 3 (47:11):
Amazon shares currently spiking a little bit higher. The investor
reaction seeming to like the integration of social media within
Amazon's more broad remit. We're seeing Amazon bid in coming
in via an offer letter to Vance and to lutnix So,
to the Commerce secretary and to vice president Vance.
Speaker 2 (47:30):
So says The New York Times. We will be reaching
out for Amazon response.
Speaker 3 (47:34):
It had been rumored in the market that they might
be an acquirer. And of course Amazon in many ways
has the sheer scale of money and cash on board
to be able to afford it. But the question is
regulatory Will they be allowed to purchase such a significant
asset when they already have the DOJ and they have
many a regulator breathing down their neck when it comes
(47:55):
to M and A of late, But as we say,
repeat New York Times coming in with reporting that Amazon
has made a last minute offer a bid to acquire
all of TikTok, the US part of btdowns.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
Now that does it for this position of Bloomberg Technology.
Do not forget to check out our podcast.
Speaker 3 (48:13):
You can find it on the terminal as well as
online on Apples, Spotify, and iHeart from New York.
Speaker 2 (48:17):
This is Blomberg Technology.
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