Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news. Bloomberg Tech is live
from coast to coast with Caroline Hyde in New York
and Ev Love in San Francisco.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is Bloomberg Tech coming up.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
President Trump calls the Intel CEO highly conflicted and urges
the resignation, causing shares to slump. Plus, Apple announces it's
added one hundred billion dollar US investment as it dodges
Chip Harris.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
We discussed the likelihood of.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
A US produced iPhone, and a number of earnings are
out our discussions with the CEOs of Lyft, DraftKings, and
due Lingo throughout the hour.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
But first we dive deep.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Into our top story, which is Intel shares currently up
by two and quarter percent. They were lower by more
than five percent in early trading. All of this as
we see President Trump call for a resignation of lit Boutanna,
only just took over in March twenty twenty five. This
following Tom Cotton, the Republican senator, deep diving in his
relations lip Butan's to China. Let's get the context for you.
(01:08):
Peter Elstrom joins us for more and just we see
that there's a concern about his CEO role at Cadence
Design and their relationships with China, but it was well
known that he's been a long term investor in China himself.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Peter, Yeah, this was certainly a big surprise. I don't
think anybody saw this coming, certainly not in the tech industry.
Trump comes out and he calls for the resignation of
Lip Bhutan, who, as you say, just arrived in March
in that CEO role. He'd clearly been vetted very much
by the board before he got that position. Now what
they're talking about, Tom So, Trump did not explain exactly
(01:43):
what he's talking about with these conflicts, but as you say,
it comes in the context of Tom Cotton, the Republican senator,
asking questions about Tan's ties to China. In particular, there's
Cadence Design System, the company that Tan ran for more
than a decade. They have done business with China. In fact,
they pled guilty to doing some business with a university
that's affiliated with the People's Liberation Army there. In addition
(02:05):
to that, Tan worked for a long time in venture capital,
making investments in companies, including companies in China. He made
some investments in Smike in particular, which is sort of
the most advanced chip maker within China. So Cotton was
asking questions about how those investments are doing it at
this point, if he still has any conflicts of interest.
Trump didn't go into those details in particular, but he
(02:27):
did flag them. Now, it's important to say what Intel
has said in the past. They've said that they value
national security, and Tan is certainly aligned with US interests
in the region. You've got to imagine that the board
of Intel is going to come back pretty forcefully in
this situation because they're the ones that hired Tan in
the first place.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
And we're already seeing the statement from Intel in response
to Republican Senator Cotton's query saying, Intel and mister Tan
and deeply committed to the national security of the United
States and the integrity of our role in the US
defense ecosystem. Because this is where the question lies as
someone who potentially and we get to hear whether he
really has disclosed how much of his venture investments he
(03:08):
still holds in certain Chinese startups and indeed he had
prior board experience at Smith. What are the implications for
the investment which Tom Cotton makes of eight billion dollars
of US chip funding into Intel to manufacture locally for
potentially the US government and indeed the Department of Defense.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
Yeah, there are a couple of very big questions here.
I mean, first of all, Intel's board housted Pat Gelsinger,
the previous CEO. Last year they brought in lit Bhutan
as that replacement after a long search. They looked at
a bunch of different candidates, and the best and the
brightest in the chip industry are not dying to take
on Intel. It's a very difficult turnaround project at this point.
In addition to that, Intel is supposed to be a
(03:50):
cornerstone of this Washington led effort to rebuild the semiconductor
industry in the United States. Of course it's American. They
want it to be part of this whole effort to
bring chip manufacturing.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
Back to the United States.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
They've also given money to other companies, including Taiwan Semiconductor,
Samsung Electronics. But Intel was supposed to be really the cornerstone.
They were supposed to do some work with the military
in particular, as you mentioned, they were in line to
get about eight billion dollars, but it's unclear exactly where
that money is going to go. At this point, and
one of the issues for the board is going to
be if they're going to stand behind Tan and support
(04:24):
him as CEO, is that money coming from the federal
government going to be in jeopardy.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
And the context also being that Libhutan was on the
board of Intel for a very long time, so they
were well aware of all of his prior history. For
what's happened more recently, Peter is the articulation from Lipbutan
himself that he might not go along with fabrication of
chips here in the US much longer anyway, right.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
Right, This context is important. Also, his predecessor, Gelsinger had
pushed very hard to rebuild Intel's manufacturing expertise. They're in
the process right now trying to develop up new techniques
for manufacturing. They appear to be making quite a bit
of progress on that front now. Tannas said he doesn't
believe if you build it, they will calm. He's referring
to this whole foundry business where Gelsinger wanted to compete
(05:11):
pretty directly with TSMC and making customized chips for the
likes of Apple and Nvidia. In particular, Intel's not made
a whole lot of progress on that front. So Tanna's
not has said he's not necessarily going to stick with
that strategy that of course kind of runs counter to
the Washington effort to try to rebuild the US chip industry.
(05:32):
If he's tentative with some of his investments, that maybe
counter to their priorities at this point.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Peter Els from Brilliant Research, we thank you very much.
Let's stick with well the Trump focus on semiconductors right
now from Morblue Megs. Tyler Kendall joins us from the
White House because President Trump to that end, we're just
hearing how Intel fits into the broader idea of bringing
manufacturing back to the United States. A big hefty tariff
being promised on semiconductors unless you I'm built in the US, Tila.
Speaker 6 (06:02):
Right exactly, Caroline, President Trump declaring his plans for a
one hundred percent tariff on chips. Unless the understanding is
a company makes a similar investment commitment to what we
saw yesterday when Apple's Tim Cook was in the Oval Office,
a pledge to at least move part of their manufacturing
reshore supply chains in the US, then those companies would
(06:23):
be exempt from this chip tariff.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
But there's a few different important.
Speaker 6 (06:26):
Distinctions that we have to make, including as you well know,
that these big tech companies have been experiencing at least
a temporary reprieve from tariff since April when the administration
first launched that Section two thirty two investigation into the
entire chip supply chain, which extended to those consumer electronics
for example. So as we wait for that formal investigation
(06:47):
to wrap up and a formal announcement on the teriffs,
one of the big questions here is whether or not
that reprieve is going to extend to some of those
other items that have been under investigation, like what chips
go into such as smartphones or cars. So the conversation
is going to start to turn to whether or not
there's going to be any sort of carve out here,
such as Apple with its iPhone for example, because those
(07:09):
are expected to face a separate levee and Caroline, we
know that the industry has been lobbying at this White House.
Of course, Tim Cook was here yesterday, but then just
hours after that visit, we had Nvidia's Jensen Wong also
meeting here with President Trump at the White House, and
the White House says that cumulative, the total that they've
gone an investment when it comes to these big tech
(07:29):
companies now is over one trillion dollars in pledges.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
And a lot of that money coming from big Asian
tech builders like TSMC in Arizona, for example. We've also
understand from leaders in Korea that they think Samsung and
maybe sk Heinex have some sort of carve out here. Tyler,
We're really gettingdrip fed information right exactly.
Speaker 6 (07:51):
And at that point it looks like really most of
the tech sector is covered here you had mentioned. So
if we just show the companies that could be facing
this exemption, Apple and Nvidia, TSMC, South Korea, Samsung and
sk Heinex, and really this has been a big push
from this administration from the beginning. We saw a lot
of these tech CEOs attend President Trump's inauguration as just
(08:14):
one key example here. So that's why it's really interesting
to also see this dynamic that's starting to merge with
the Intel CEO and how President Trump really does feel
heavily involved when it comes to the private sector and
trying to get to this ultimate goal of reshoring manufacturing. Though,
of course, as you well know and I know you're
about to discuss. This does fall short of the administration's
initial push here to reshore manufacturing completely into the US,
(08:39):
and we know that's going to be pretty inheasible when
it comes to the financials, but also just the timeline,
which makes that Intel dynamic even more interesting, since we
do know that we need their chips to make this happen.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Weaving it beautifully together, Tyler Kendall, we thank you from
the White House. Let's talk some more than about the
impact of TARIS on big tech after Donald Trump, of
course promised to exempt companies like Apple, as Tinna mentioned
that move production back to the US.
Speaker 7 (09:05):
We're doing these things now in the United States instead
of other countries, far away countries. This is a significant
step toward the ultimate goal of ensuring that iPhone sold
in the United States of America also are made in
America with the mass infusion of capitalists. Announcing today, Apple
will also build a two hundred and fifty thousand square
(09:27):
foot server manufacturing facility in Houston and avest billions of
dollars to construct data centers across the country from North
Carolina to Iowa to Oregon.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Currently no Melanas Prince Well Analystic Creative Strategies joins us
Hot on the heels of that moment of Tim Cook
in the White House, one hundred billion dollars extra being
committed that six hundred billion dollars in total. What did
you make of the allocation towards glass, for example, particularly
in Kentucky and United States.
Speaker 8 (09:57):
I think Tig Cook has been very strategic about giving
the administration what they want, which is investment in the US,
but doing so in a way that is feasible. So
it's still not about bringing production of the iPhone back,
but really leaning into some of the partners like Corning
and manufacture. The mastery of this is not just about
(10:20):
the iPhone and Apple watches that are sold in the
States that will source glass from cornering in Kentucky, but internationally.
So is given that extra part to the administration about saying, okay,
we are manufacturing here and shipping outside the US the
(10:40):
glass that goes in every iPhone and every Apple Watch.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
It's interesting we are seeing Tim Cook speaking there, but
he was previously holding a box, a box that contained
circular Corning glass plaque engraved for the President's name, mounted
onto a twenty four carrot gold stand, which we understand
is also just signed by an Apple designer who's previously
a US marine Carolina.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
This was politicking at its best from Tim Cook.
Speaker 8 (11:08):
Absolutely, there was a lot of political theater during the
press conference. It was about really making sure that Apple
doesn't get into DII of a cyclone when he comes
to tariffs, and really lifting what is possible. So for
instance the mention of Houston and the server factory. Again,
(11:31):
we are not talking about bringing iPhone or Mac for
that matter, or anything else back to the US. We
are trying to invest where it makes sense from a
business perspective for Apple, while creating some jobs, but most
importantly bringing money back to the US and letting the
administration then talk about it.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
But we actually heard President Trump talk about it with
the words coming out of his mouth that was the
long term goal of having US so old iPhones made
in the US. It's just the glass enough and maybe
the odd wafer and semiconductor.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Is enough for now.
Speaker 8 (12:10):
The long term is really critical here because it will
take time. The supply chain, most of the supply chain
is still not in the US of this skill sets
that we need from from just a factory perspective and
workers is not in the US, and the cost, of course,
so is giving enough during the four year of the administration,
(12:33):
and you know, to placate maybe the demands and continue
to invest in America.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Interesting that skill set, you say, And they're actually Apple
investing in Detroit in particular on sort of a manufacturing
academy for training people and companies in terms of manufacturing locally.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
But going to the intricacy.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Is of supply chain here, Carolina, you're getting glass from
the US in Kentucky and maybe some wafer in the future,
and then you're shipping that back to China to then
have it all put together and neatly built and then ship.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Back to the US because feels very expensive.
Speaker 8 (13:09):
It's cheaper than not having it done here, and that's
the problem. We don't have the facilities yet. And I
think it's interesting, as you pointed out the Detroit manufacturing
learning facility that Apple is setting up, because maybe the
point is to create different sets of skills that are
(13:31):
linked to automation, and that is where maybe with AI
and automation, we will see manufacturing being brought back to
the US. But yeah, shipping back and forth is not ideal.
But the pieces that you're shipping back and forth, and
where the rest of the iPhone is is still in Asia.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Briefly, I lean into your supply chain expertise here because
you don't just cover Apple, a plethora of companies. What
do you make of this threat for one hundred percent
tariff and semiconductors and who that ultimately implicates if they
don't get a carve out.
Speaker 8 (14:03):
Well, obviously that is you know, we've seen the impact
of the towers so far on earnings and we're still
in the middle of earning season. But what is important
that we don't have a clarification is what that building
in the US means. How much investment is a company
going to have to make in the US to not
(14:26):
fall into this tariff promise of one hundred percent? And
Apple seems to have made enough. Nvidia is also investing here,
and I'm sure others like DS and C have done
will continue to do so.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Krolyn Iven Anazy Granula.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
We thank you creative Strategies.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Shares of Lift.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
Let's check in on them because the company reported earnings
after the bell yesterday, including record number of rides completed.
We're currently up three and a half percent. Lift CEO
David Richard joins us to talk us through the results
that for some there was a bit of something for everyone.
The revenue number behave perhaps a little bit shy of expectations.
But the sheer number of people riding with you at
(15:15):
a record what's driving that?
Speaker 9 (15:17):
David, Yeah, I mean I love that fact, the number
of the sheer number of people riding with us, because
it shows that we're doing something right right. So I've
been saying for a long time customer obsession drives profitable growth.
Speaker 5 (15:30):
We're now profitable. We're growing, you know, as is our
ninth consecutive quarter of double digit growth.
Speaker 9 (15:36):
And in terms of customer adoption, you know, we've never
had more riders.
Speaker 5 (15:39):
And drivers on the platform. So you know what's driving it.
Speaker 9 (15:41):
It's innovations like Lift Silver, It's partnerships like our Door
Dash partnership. We just announced a new partnership with the
United A lot of the sort of ecosystem work we're
doing is really helping us grow faster than ever.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Let's talk about partnerships when it comes to autonomous because
that's where the future, where the puck is moving.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
How are you ensuring that you're moving with.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
And taking on what seems to be future competition coming
from I don't know, the likes of Weimo, but also
even a Tesla.
Speaker 9 (16:06):
Yeah, you know what, I don't think of it as
future competition. I mean, of course there'll be competitive skirmishes,
but big picture, as self driving cars come onto our platform,
it's going to expand the marketplace. And we can see
that already even in the cities where self driving cars
are operating in the US right now, we're seeing something
like five x the growth of cities where they're not operating.
Speaker 5 (16:25):
So because what.
Speaker 9 (16:26):
They're safe, they're interesting, they're kind of you know, they're novel,
they're reliable. In terms of partnerships, we have a couple
of great partnerships. We have one with main Mobility, which
launches officially this summer in Atlanta, so you can take
a self driving car if you live in Atlanta starting
in a little over.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
A month, we hope.
Speaker 9 (16:41):
And then big picture, we just signed a big agreement
with Baidu, who is one of the world's largest, probably
the world's largest self driving car company, to expand into Europe,
into a couple countries in Europe. So a lot of
action going on in the self driving world. Obviously still
very early, but we see huge opportunity for us in
the future.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Yeah, Plan Germany UK twenty twenty six with regulatory approvals
speak to that international growth that you've really brought to
bear of late. How much is that a winning formula
for revenue for profitability?
Speaker 9 (17:09):
Yeah, for both, I think, and actually for resilience too.
You know, one of the things that I've seen over
the last two and a half years since I've been
in this job is being so focused on North America
has been great because it's allowed us to really innovate
and drive the industry forward. But now that we're in
a very strong position, we can afford to and frankly,
you know, sort of our customers want us to be
(17:30):
a more global company. So we just acquired a company
called free Now in Europe. It's a taxi focused aggregator.
You know, the taxis in Europe, of course you know
this well, are sort of a higher end product than
people might think in the United States, and so it
will allow us to have a footprint across Europe. Then,
when we tie it back to your earlier question about
self driving, as self driving comes to Europe and Europe
is a little bit behind the United States. The relationship
(17:52):
that we now have with regulators and of course with
millions of customers is really going to help us form
a platform that we can build on to bring self
driving cars to the UK and Germany and hopefully beyond.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Okay, So when you're leaning into some of these expansions
more broadly, will there be more.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
M and A to play here? You've already done it
in Europe.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
I knew you've got to integrate, but would you look
further afield too?
Speaker 5 (18:13):
Maybe?
Speaker 9 (18:14):
You know, you never say never about this sort of thing,
you know. I think we're in a very strong position
now to do this kind of work. But as you say,
the first order business for us is that integration work.
And we just closed the free Now deal last week.
I was actually in Barcelona the week before with a
team there. They're so excited to get started and already now,
if you open the free now app in Europe, you'll
(18:36):
get a prompt that says, you know, we're a partnership
with Lyft and vice versa. If you open the lift
app in Europe, maybe more importantly, you'll be directed to
go over to free Now.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
So we're just beginning that integration.
Speaker 9 (18:47):
I think there's a lot more work to do there
before we really think about additional acquisitions.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
And David, you've got such sort of a bird's eye
perspective on.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
The consumer early at this moment.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
How resilient is that consumer, particularly here in the US
people trying to read the team.
Speaker 9 (19:01):
I understand, you know, every single day people sort of
look deep in the teacup and try to figure out
what's going on. All I can say is, if you're
looking for weakness, look elsewhere.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
We're not seeing it.
Speaker 9 (19:09):
We're seeing record rides, you know, double digit growth, even airports,
which people often look at as sort of a leading indicator.
Speaker 5 (19:16):
Now it's true.
Speaker 9 (19:17):
I think TSA volumes are moderating a little bit, but
we're growing faster than TSA volumes are and we've grown
airports now quarter.
Speaker 5 (19:23):
Over quarter and year over year. So it's such an
interesting thing.
Speaker 9 (19:26):
I know people are sort of desperate to find, you know,
sort of the cloud and the silver lining, but at
least from our perspective, we're not seeing it.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
If CEO David Risher, great to have you back on
the show, stay well, thank you.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
It's time now for talking tech and first up.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Softbag Swan or quarterly profit, posting a net income of
two point nine billion dollars in the fiscal first quarter,
more than double on.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Analysts had predicted.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Now, the surprise gains our reflection of CEO Masaoshi's sons
aggressive vets on artificial intelligence, plus China's export growth expectedly
accelerated in July. Is global demand helped offset a slump
in US shipments. Now, total exports rows seve point two
percent from a year earlier, just three hundred and twenty
two billion dollars. This is China saw strong shipments to
the EU, Southeast Asia.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
And Australia In Hong Kong, and Amazon's Zooks gets an exemption.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
From the Trump administration allowing its driverless vehicles to operate without.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
A traditional driving control like steering wheels.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Now the decision is a boost for Zooks, which plans
to produce ten thousand purpose built robotaxes a year.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
It's California facility are coming up. If you were benning,
we'd be covering more earnings news. Yeah'd be right. We've
got so many.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
CEOs coming up drafting CEO Jason Robbins is one of them.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Joins us next.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Meanwhile, let's just check in on the world of semiconductors.
That one hundred percent tariff being threatened if you don't
build an America. But who's building in America? Samsung, sk Heinex,
Korean leaders saying that their cell warts in the world
of technology are getting an exemption from its one hundred
percent tariff threat coming from the White House. The question
is who else get those exemptions? Tsmc apple more on that. Next,
(21:06):
this is Bloomberg Tech. Welcome back to Bloomberg Tech. Let's
take a look at these markets because actually the NASZAC
outperforms other indices today and we're helped in part by
chip makers. Look at the big rebound we're getting inn
AMD after yesterday's sell off post its earnings, so we're
now up more than six percent, basically shaking.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Off yesterday's sell off.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
That's as we really focus in more on the geopolitical
picture here, same for in video up more than a
percentage point.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
What carve outs will we get for.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Semiconductors that are made and shipped into the United States?
Now President Trump threatening one hundred percent tariffs on chips
made abroad imported into the US and less you're investing
big in the United States, and what are these companies
doing investing in the United States. We dig into that
a little bit more later on, but move on to
some of the earnings picture that we get mixed reactions
(21:55):
that we're getting for the likes of Airbnb of by
now more than seven percent, as we don't see a
acceleration in growth that so Brian Chesky wants to do.
And Door Dash though up more than five percent as
it manages to deliver once again in terms of the
food into your home and its expansion with M and A.
Let's get into those numbers more broadly, Natalie Lungs, he
joins us after what was a very busy post bell
(22:16):
for you, I want to go for the optimism first
Door Dash.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
What's it doing right?
Speaker 10 (22:21):
It's been increasing a lot of the use of frequency
and membership from its paid program Dash Pass, and people
are ordering more restaurant owners as well as the New
York categories like grocery and retail.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
And what do they speak to in terms of the
expansion plans. Because this is a company that's been inquisitive,
we're not seeing it show up and the numbers yet
because they've got to absorb the business, particularly over in
the UK, for delivery, But what is the potential here.
Speaker 10 (22:44):
Yeah, so that deal hasn't closed yet today, so expecting
it to close at the fourth quarter. So we'll see
later this year in terms of what it adds to
their outlook. But what we know is that they have
completed acquisitions off restaurant tech company seven Rooms, as well
as advertising these Symbiosis and that's already adding to their
sort of their enterprise offerings for restaurants.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Really interesting.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
We just had David Rishid from lyft On and his
exact response to what you're seeing in terms of consumer
weakness was you're not finding it here.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
It seems that we're not seeing it indoor dash.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
They say they got high levels of consumer engagement, but
flip over to Airbnb.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
They've been trying to win us over, not just with.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
What's happening in terms of travel and houses, but access
to experiences.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Why aren't they able to reaccelerate growth at.
Speaker 10 (23:28):
The moment, So there are a couple of factors working
against them. First, they've warned that the growth might moderate
later into the year because what happened last year was
that people actually made those trips that they delayed, and
so results were very strong last year, and so the
year comparison would be not as strong this year. And
if you look at the second quarter results, the North
(23:49):
American travel was a drag on the results. It was
like a low single digit growth, and like without the
North America region they would have grown double digits. So
we'll have to see how the US trail those fear hah.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
So maybe that's a bit of a shift in terms
of what consumers are feeling in the US, at least
around travel and revenge spending. But what about the new
offerings and new products. What's Brian Chesk going to do
to try and drive that growth to get American spen it.
Speaker 10 (24:14):
So they are actually considering a loyalty program now. They're
saying with all these new categories, they're able to offer
something more compelling than just, you know, the larger category,
so that it would be something we'll be very excited
to keep track of.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Natalie Lang, she will keep track of it. We thank
you very much.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Indeed, let's stick with earnings and let's dive in to
one that is showing stronger user growth.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Down one point six percent. I'm talking about DraftKings.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
We're looking at Jason Robbins, the CEO now who managed
to deliver what was record second quarter performance, your revenue
up thirty seven percent year on year, and you're talking
about delivering revenue closer to the high end of twenty
twenty five for the full year. So what's the investor
digestion going on?
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Do you think?
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Well?
Speaker 11 (25:00):
I think right now we have a ton of momentum
in the business. We also had some you know, good
luck on the sport outcome side in Q two, so
that was nice, and we're geared up for what is
the most important time of year coming up with NFL
and then obviously college sports, NBA World Series, NHL just
a big, big time of year. It's when we make
our most revenue and acquire most customers and make our
(25:22):
most adjusted ebit US so really excited for that, and
I think we have some great plans in place and
you know, really expecting strong growth in the back part
of the year.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
I mean, your shares are up twenty percent year to date,
so it might be why we come off a little
bit from our highs overall.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
But what about the core.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
Value drivers here, Like we're talking about you know, the
sports book friendly outcomes. You talk about how the calendar
is looking.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Good for you.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
But where else do you focus on investing because you'll
CFO in particular and talking about some growth initiatives, and
everyone's wondering about these prediction markets that might or might
not come to bear.
Speaker 11 (25:59):
Well, even if you just for the outcomes, we were
still up twenty five percent revenue wise year over years,
so really healthy growth. And I think we're seeing, you know,
just very strong demand in our underlying customer cohorts. And
I also think the advancements we've made on the product
side have been huge. We've really built out our parlay offering.
Now we have the best in class and leading offering
(26:19):
when it comes to in game betting. That's become the
real growth driver of the industry right now by far
more growth happening and live betting than anywhere else. So
I think really we positioned ourselves well from a product
and customer experience perspective. Our marketing has been very effective.
I also think on the internal side, we've gained a
ton of efficiency through use of AI, which means we're
(26:40):
getting more done for the customer and also saving money.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
Okay, like, what how you managing to interject generative AI
across the board?
Speaker 11 (26:48):
I mean, the simple thing that we've been able to
do is get everyone in the company to realize that
they can drive value and it doesn't have to be
the engineering team doing everything. So much of you to
right now through AI can be used by non engineers
and everyone throughout the company knows that there's tons of
manual workflows that can be automated through AI, and we've
(27:09):
been on a tear doing that. We've also been working
on select projects that are customer facing too, things like
optimizing our trading engine because human can't possibly take in
all of the data and all the things happening at
the same time when a live game is going on,
So having AI agents support that and help make lower
level decisions I think is also a huge unlock that
(27:29):
we're pursuing. So I think the best is yet to
come as far as AI, and we've got a ton
of organizational momentum around it.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
And when you talk about the adoption by your own
employees thinking about how they can drive efficiency is efficiency
what's necessary at the moment when you do have a
few well known headwinds coming up in terns of just costs,
I mean, the tax implications that you're getting in Illinois,
or what's happening over in New Jersey for example.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
I'm also thinking.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
About well, Missouri, you're like expanding, but that takes a
cost upfront.
Speaker 11 (27:58):
Now, You're absolutely right think that being able to self
fund some of these things through efficiency gains with AI
has been a.
Speaker 5 (28:05):
Big driver of our focus.
Speaker 11 (28:07):
Also, I think there's other parts of the cost structure
that we've found that we have value that can be
achieved too. So really, you know, it's always a balance
for us. We're obviously very much in growth mode now
we had thirty seven percent year over year revenue growth,
but we also are constantly looking at how we can
be more efficient. We view the two is very linked. Oftentimes,
(28:27):
when you do things that are more efficient, it frees
up better time to be spent on, you know, better
things for the customer as well.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
So I go back to the expansion potentially into prediction markets.
I mean, I know it's about federal regulation in many ways, Jason,
But what gets you there?
Speaker 2 (28:41):
What gets you tipping your toe into it?
Speaker 11 (28:44):
Oh, I don't know that we are going to We're
still evaluating our options. Obviously, it's brand new, and you
know we're watching it unfold right before our eyes and
we're learning a lot as we get educated on the space.
So right now that's been our focus, and you know,
we'll see what happens from that.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
You have but one cell rating morning Star. What would
you say to analyst over a morning style that convinces
them to say, look at the moment, our price point
is where its should be.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Actually, I'm looking up the wrong one.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
Let me go to my proper DraftKings analyst recommendations. Sorry,
live interaction with a terminal. Right now, I have and
this recommendations zero cell ratings.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
But you have five buys, five holds.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
What gets your five holds to a by rating, Jason.
Speaker 11 (29:27):
I think just continuing to prove ourselves. You know, performing
over time is what gives people confidence in a company.
And we've been public five years now, so we have
a bit of a track record, but we're still a
relatively new public company and I've only been profitable for
the last year or so. So I think really showing
that we can now grow our bottom line while continuing
to post impressive top line numbers, that's our focus and
(29:49):
I think that'll get more people on board.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Thirty two buys, five holds, zero cells, Jason Robbins DraftKings CEO.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
We thank you very much. Indeed, as check in on
shares of Duo Lingo.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
Surging today, company posting second quarter earnings that beat expectations
for daily active users growing forty percent year of a
year now. The company is also expanding outside of its
language learning business, acquiring beat Star and country Star or
the makers of that service, to bolster it's dual lingo music.
Here to discuss, Luis van Ar Duelingo CEO, you're making
M and A is showing growth? Just tell us the
(30:28):
vision because many would say, okay, due Lingo's about language learning,
but it's actually about a broader education offering right now.
Speaker 12 (30:35):
Yeah, I mean, ultimately we want to teach multiple subjects.
I mean, at the moment you can already learn certainly
languages and the lingo, and that's what we're most well
known for, but you can also learn math and music
and of late chess, and ultimately the idea is I mean,
you know, we're we're around one hundred and thirty million
monthly active users. The idea is to have a billion
(30:55):
people really learning useful things are on their phone as
opposed to doom scrolling. That's that's really what we're trying
to do.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
Fascinating a billion that used music literacy with the nextpeak
to acquisition.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
As you say, growth in Chess seems to be of
the chart.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
What's interesting, though, is we reference your daily active users
that did rise forty percent, but actually that was the
weakest rate of expansion since twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Why is that slowing? Will it reaccelerate? Louise?
Speaker 5 (31:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 12 (31:21):
I mean, look, we had forty percent year of young growth,
but that's lapping a quarter from last year that had
sixty percent year of ear growth, which in turn is
lapping another quarter from the year before that that had
sixty percent year ear growth. So our growth has been
tremendous over the last several years, and you know we
expected to continue being really good.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Really good.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
What gets you there other than product innovation, what you
thought would get you there in many ways has been
generative AI, whether it's intweaving it within the product itself, Louise,
But also you then went wholeheartedly into AI within your
own HR Ultimately in that backfired. And I know you've
spoken a lot about what happened on April the twenty eighth,
but just tell us where you stand in terms of getting.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Employees on board with the use of genitive AI.
Speaker 12 (32:04):
Yeah, I mean AI is really really important for us
from the time we launched to a Lingo, which was
thirteen years ago. The idea is to have an app
teach you something, and so ultimately you need some form
of artificial intelligence to teach to be able to teach you.
So we've always leaned into it internally. You know, I
sent an email internally this was not controversial. We've always been,
(32:27):
you know, adopters of the latest technology. Externally, I think
I failed to give context. You know, the realities for us,
AI is about reaching more people and being able to
teach more. We've been able through the use of AI.
We've been able to create way more content than we
had before, and also we are able to provide things
(32:48):
like conversational practice that was not possible before AI. So
you know, we really think that in order to teach
more people and teach them better, we can use AI,
and that's the main goal for it.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
I mean, we're just looking at some visuals of what
is Lily, your sort of purple head chatbot. She's meant
to be a little bit sarcastic and SASE team. Basically
she previously I think helped replace yous partly on your
earning school and you said, eventually you can just.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Retire and she'll do more and more of a job.
But that was tongue in cheap.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
But ultimately, how much more you're going to be able
to outsource the general to AI within your workplace, within you?
Speaker 12 (33:29):
And the goal here is not to outsource to AI.
The goal is to use AI to be a lot
more efficient. I mean, we you know, we continue hiring employees,
so that's that's really not the goal. It's we're just
trying to teach better. In the case of teaching people,
you know, with something like Lily. Up until we were
(33:49):
able to do video call with Lily, we couldn't really
teach conversation with due LINGO. The only way we had
to practice, or users had to practice conversation was if
they could talk to another human. But it turns out
that in learning a language, most users will tell you
they would like to practice with another human, but they
actually don't. You know, when you when you show a
person the ability to talk to another human in a
(34:12):
language that they're not very comfortable with, they just don't
want to do it. It's a small fraction of people
that are extreme extroverts that are willing to do it.
But if you're talking to a computer, you feel like
it's not judging you. So for when when you are
just not very comfortable in the language, it's much better
to talk to a computer at first.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
That's fascinating because there is a bit of pushback about
the idea that maybe generative AI will end up being
or we look at in terms of ads, or we
discuss too in our social media apps. But for you
with language where we have some insecurity, that's the case.
What about the chess and the way in which you
push more broadly, will that be an integration A person
on personal always personal on computer.
Speaker 12 (34:54):
Just is different because there's you know, when you're learning
a foreign language and you're just a beginner, you're very
nervous about talking. But chess ultimately is about playing the game.
So yes, with chess, we do expect to have games
for player versus players, so between two people. At the moment,
we don't have them. At the moment, we're just teaching
(35:14):
you the basics of chess and we're seeing great pickup
for that, but we are going to have games between people.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
When did you get to a billion? Luis? When's the aim?
Speaker 12 (35:24):
Oh, I don't know, it'll take us several years, but
I really do think. I mean, we're growing very fast
in you know, every single country in the world, and
you know, the goal is that when people are learning something,
they're doing so through the phone and through dual lingo.
So we really want to be, you know, the main
place where people are learning languages, but also a main
(35:44):
place where people get better at math music. We just
did this acquisition of Next Speed, which I'm very excited about,
or chess, and then later we'll probably do other subjects.
I mean, we're not working on any other subjects at
the moment, but I would be interested in also having
you know, science and and stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
Come back as you add as potentially there's more. N
M and a Luis Fanan of Joe Lingo, thank you
very much for joining us in the yearnings. Meanwhile, far
Fly Aerospace we'll start training today in the New York's
after raising close to nine hundred million dollars in an
upside IPO, and the company CEO Jason Kim says that
the funds raised for the IPO, we'll go towards ramping
(36:22):
up the cadence of its Alpha rockets and fast tracking
other product lines now.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
He spoke with Bluemberg earlier this morning.
Speaker 13 (36:28):
We got orbital flight heritage on our Alpha rocket on
our second launch, and we landed on the Moon just
in March of this year. It's something that's really hard.
Space is hard, but landing on the Moon is even harder,
and this company did it successfully. And then if you
look at what we're doing, we have a production line
of Alpha rockets, and we're building our Eclipse reusable sixteen
(36:50):
ton rocket as well as lunar landers annually. And we're
building Electra spacecraft to serve you know, the Golden Dome
customer SpaceX four as well as commercial ticket And so
if you look at what the CEO of NASDAC said,
Data Friedman, you know, the markets are strong and they're growing,
and we've gotten really great reception and conviction from investor
(37:14):
investors over time, and so this is the right moment.
You're going to raise almost a billion dollars looks like
eight hundred and sixty eight million dollars.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Jason, what are you going to do with the money, Well.
Speaker 13 (37:26):
You know it's kind of like what I already said,
we're going to rate up. We're going to continue to
increase capacity because there's so much more demand in the
space markets right now because of national security, because of
space exploration to the Moon. You know, the Moon is
really important. It's the ultimate high ground. It's also important
if we're going to put humans on the Moon again
(37:48):
starting in a couple of years. We want to know
everything about the Moon. We want to put more lunar
landers up there, more infrastructure, more power systems up there too.
So we want to make the Moon more frictionalists for everybody.
For America.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
First fire Fly CEO Jason Kim there from the Nasdaq.
Shares indicated to open at seventy dollars a piece. I've
here priced at forty five dollars. Let's get back to
a key story in tech today, President Trump's plans for
one hundred percent chip tariffs, but there are carveouts springing.
(38:24):
Bloomberg Intelligence senior analyst man Deep Sing for more shares
actually going higher for many chip makers and indeed companies
that make things with chips in them. Because Apple gets
a carve out because it's building in the US. TSMC,
we understand Samsung, how are you managing to dissect which
company is going to be implicated here?
Speaker 14 (38:41):
Well, I mean, look, when it comes to Apple, they
have benefited from, you know, outsourcing to TSMC. So to
my mind, you know there it makes it very hard
for Apple to do something on their own. Like think
of how Intel has struggled over the years because it's
an id versus an Apple and Nvidia being a fabulis
(39:03):
chip design company and then letting TSMC manufacture. In fact,
TSMC manufacturers for everyone. So if Apple was to invest
one hundred and fifty billion dollars in process, node technology
and packaging, would it really make them better in any
way without TSMC? And so I'm just thinking, where is
that Capex going to go? Glass is clearly one of
(39:24):
the components of Apple's bill of materials, maybe less than
ten percent. The other is camera. They're not going to
make cameras.
Speaker 5 (39:31):
So what is it in.
Speaker 14 (39:32):
Apple's bill of materials where Apple is going to set
up a factory and say, okay, this is what we
are going to invest in. To my mind, data centers,
hyperscale data centers is the one thing which Apple needs
as well, even though they vertically integrate. They have a
services business, they need data center capacity. That's where their
chip design actually could help. So that's the natural thing
(39:56):
to do. But there is still so much kind of
me hype around what they could end up doing and
not enough details for me to say, Okay, this is
what they would end up doing in the US.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
Yeah, because at six hundred billion dollars and thus far
we understand, of course the glass, we understand servers, We
understand maybe data centerces, you say, but higher end manufacturing
and indeed manufacturing academies help train people.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
But I go broader for a moment.
Speaker 3 (40:21):
Then when you are hit by a headline one hundred
percent tariffs, who do you worry about? Well?
Speaker 14 (40:27):
I mean, look, there are companies like the Japanese companies.
So if it's a Sony and you are sending your
modules to the US for all types of use cases,
I think they could get hit. And they're not investing
big time in the US. So they haven't announced anything.
Samsung and other guys Micron, they have done that, but
(40:49):
that's where where will the real investment show up. So
it's one thing to announce something, it's another thing to
have a tangible idea where you know, you can create
a supply chain and do things like Texas Instruments has
done a great job diversifying their fabs over the years.
Can't say the same about others.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
Right, We'll seeing where the money lands might keep seeing
of Bloomberg Intelligence trying to discern the latest headlines for us.
But that does it for this edition of Bloomberg Tech.
Don't forget to check out our podcast find Out on
the terminal as well as online on Apples, Spotify, and iHeart.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
This is Bloomberg Tech.