Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news. Bloomberg Tech is live
from coast to coast with Caroline Hyde in New York
and Edla Loow in San Francisco.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
This is Bloomberg Tech coming up.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
GameStop eyes eBay for fifty six billion dollars in cash
and stock and an audacious bid for a company four
times at size. eBay says the review that offer plus
AI chipmaker Cerebraus has been looking to raise as much
as three and a half billion dollars for a potential
IPO later this month, part of a growing cohort looking
to challenge in video and open AI raises more than
(00:44):
four billion dollars for a new joint venture that aims
to help businesses adopt it's AI software. A first free
check in on that extraordinary MNA news. The first dropped
on Friday and continues to move shares now. GameStop looking
to buy a company.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Four times its size.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
GameStop currently off by seven percent, eBay up by more
than six percent. But we have to get the inside
track with Rineberg. Reporter Cecilia Denastasio with an extraordinary story
and one that the market tries to understand whether it's
for real or not? Can you just talk us about
the technicalities. Ryan Cohen here is offering for eBay.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Sure, So Ryan Cohen is offering a deal to purchase eBay,
which is, like you said, many times the size of
game Stop along with twenty billion dollars. He says he
has received a highly confident letter from TD Bank to acquire.
Analysts are unsure this deal will ever go through, but
Ryan Cohen says that if he manages to purchase eBay,
(01:41):
it would make a lot more money.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Make a lot more money. Okay, let's take this for real.
That he's good for the money he's able to afford.
What synergies are analysts kind of trying to pass through.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
At the moment.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
GameStop has really struggled over the last several years because
gamers are increasingly purchasing their wares in online stores like Valves, Steam,
and so GameStop has shrunk its footprint in their retail marketplace.
But Ryan Cohen has tried a lot of different strategies
to make it work. He's tried esports, he's tried e commerce,
which is from his background as the co founder of Chewi.
(02:14):
And while he's managed to you know, help the business
sustain a little bit more than people had hoped. Nothing's
really stuck. eBay gives him the opportunity, he says, to
compete with Amazon potentially, which of course is very very
ambitious in e commerce.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Well, Jamie I and Oni over eBay has been impressing
investors with his turnaround. He's been leaning into AI, He's
been leaning into partnerships with Meto, He's been thinking about
M and A himself with deepop. Just how do we
understand eBay is digesting this and thinking about it from
its own business and shitholder perspective.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
eBay is evaluating the bid.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
I think, you know, analysts again are not sure whether
the math is mathing when it comes to Gamestop's ability
to purchase the significantly larger company, and we'll see what happens.
Ryan Cohen has not given specific details on what he
imagines the synergies to be or what he imagines the
combined company to look like.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
I think truists said this is stunning, and they're skeptical.
I mean, just in terms of how M and A
gets done. Letters from TD Banks saying they're good for it.
Ultimately are going to be dependent on the debt markets here,
but GameStop has always shocked the markets with its mean
stock potential, with roaring Kitties love and even with sky
(03:27):
on capital well now pivoted more into a substat newsletter.
But the guy who was known for trades on the
mortgage market back in two thousand and eight, Michael Barry,
is coming out saying this could be a really good story.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
It could be a really good story.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
Also, what people have pointed out that GameStop loves attention.
They make a lot of flashy moves. Chief executive Officer
Ryan Cohen posts very controversial things on social media about
the American business market. He has a lot of like
moving breaking strategies that he's excited to express, and you
know that's worked for GameStop. Game Stop managed to raise
(04:04):
some significant money from the meme stock frenzy and that's
allowed it to sustain a little bit longer. So who knows,
this could be a really exciting, fresh, strange way to
keep game Stop going, or it could be like some
of the analysts are saying, a little bit improbable.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Well, you're going to be across it. It was a
busy weekend for Cecilia Denasalgier. We're pleased that she joins
us to break it all down today. Meanwhile, well, let's
just take a look at the broader markets, because tech
stocks are again outperforming, but we're building on records that
we set back on Friday. We're up about a quarter percent,
but still in ASDA one hundred, as I say, at
a record. And it's not just what's happening over in America. Look,
(04:41):
the AI trade is back on track and we're seeing
that play out in Asia trading as well.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Ske Heinez extraordinary.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Moves for the high bandwidth memory maker up eleven percent.
Samsung as well, up three point four percent, even as
the company maybe having to navigate some sort of strike
potential going on with the business. But records being set
in Asia. Following through from what we saw in America
comes last we can see more audacious m and A
What are we going to see in terms of IPOs.
Perfect person to talk it through is that Nancy Tanglish,
(05:07):
the CEO CIO of Laffatanglo Investments. Look, your TGLR ETF
is already outperforming even the S and P five found
in which we note is basically at or near record highs,
you're outperforming by six percent, Nanci Is tech going to
remain the dominant force here?
Speaker 5 (05:23):
I think so, Caroline, thanks so much for having me.
I do think so.
Speaker 6 (05:28):
If you just think about what is driving margins on
the SMP companies, it is either the technology companies themselves
or the use of technology by old economy companies. One
of the noteworthy earnings comments came from L three Harris
where they said revenue per employee has increased this is
CEO by almost twenty five percent over the last couple
(05:51):
of years. So if you can produce more with less,
then that is what we call productivity, and that will
continue to.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
Drive stock prices higher.
Speaker 6 (05:59):
As we've seen in increasing earnings estimate revisions up.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Are you buying that's AI fueled productivity gains? There's such
mixed messages BIS out of you read the bound of
International Settlements. I said, they've seen about four percent productivity
gains more generally, and that seems to be being sustained.
But if L three House is seing twenty five percent,
what more are these CEOs doing well?
Speaker 5 (06:24):
So I think you have to listen to the companies.
Speaker 6 (06:27):
My team sits on all the earnings calls and we
develop themes out of those earnings calls and then we
discuss them. And we're hearing it from a broad base
across economic sector group of companies, not every company, but
most companies. I mean, you even heard it from ge
Vernova that said, yeah, we're benefiting from AI in the buildout,
(06:47):
but we all want.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
You also to know that we're utilizing AI to produce
our productivity.
Speaker 6 (06:53):
Our margins are output for employee as well and managing
the supply chain. So I mean, just use ax ask
B on Bloomberg and it can save you a colossal
amount of time as an analyst if in fact you
utilize it. So, I mean, we've been bitpounding the tech
(07:13):
trade for about four years now on the theme of
old economy companies pivoting to the new technologies and then
in fact the companies that are the suppliers.
Speaker 5 (07:23):
I think it continues, not forever, but for now.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
What's been interesting is the sort of the haves and
the have nots.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Now, I'm in no way going to say Metas not
have not yet we can't write them off, but there
what they don't have is cloud compute that they sell
to others. They're busy investing in their own AI infrastructure. Meanwhile,
Alphabet was applauded for the fact that it's investing, raising
capital expenditure, but also able to benefit with the.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Growth of Google Cloud.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
How are you seeing earnings play out, because both we've
seen from Meta they are having to cut people, having
to talk about laying off a sizeable amount of the
workforce to be able to redeploy capital back into the
AI infrastructure. Is that something I'm going to head time
and time again, and who do we congratulate for it
or not?
Speaker 6 (08:06):
Well, so, I've talked about it quite a bit on
your show that we got out of Meta. I just
didn't like the business model. I didn't see the opportunity.
We went into Spotify, which at the time was a
good transaction. We were wrong about Meta to some extent,
but we were right about Spotify, and we now think
that we are somewhat vindicated on the Meta model because
(08:26):
they aren't able to monetize AI in a way that
Google and Amazon and even Microsoft are able to do.
They are able to improve their advertising business. But Mark
Zuckerberg has made these colossal pivots and been wrong in
the past. So we own all of the mag seven
x meta. It will have its day again just like
(08:47):
Intel did. The question is how long.
Speaker 5 (08:49):
Will one have to wait and what is the opportunity cost.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
And the global opportunity cost or global opportunity We were
just talking about how Asia trade has just seen colossal
game still for the AI infrastructure betsna see. Is that
still going to be the winning formula the chip makers?
The designer is right now, I think.
Speaker 6 (09:07):
In the near term, Caroline, but I think what we're
going to start pivoting to and we launched a thematic
portfolio with a focus on space in robotics, quantum and
then nuclear and then of course the metals and minerals
that are needed to drive those technologies. So I think
for the near term, I mean, we're hearing that the
backlogs are enormous again in the infrastructure names, in the
(09:29):
chip names, and I think at some point we will
begin to see software as a major beneficiary. Not every
software company. We exited Adobe and CRM quite some time ago,
and we've been wrong about service now so far. But
I think you'll start to see the winners there and
then you'll see the market pivot at least back to software.
(09:50):
So I think there's still a lot of opportunities in
this new industrial revolution we're living through Naze Tangla.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
It's always great to have you on CEO and CIO
of l Hangler Investments on all things AI and tech trade. Meanwhile,
coming up more AI, open Ai Anthropic are each forming
joint ventures aimed at boosting AI adoption. Will have the details. Next,
this is Blue meg Tech, Open Ai and Anthropic are
(10:24):
each forming partnerships aimed at boosting the use of AI
tools by businesses. Are sourcing saying that open ai has
raised more than four billion dollars for a new joint
venture that includes backing from TPG, Brickfield Asset Management and
Being Capital. Meanwhile, rival Anthropic is partnering with Blackstone Helman
Friedman Goldman Sachs. According to a statement, let's get the
latest boom Meg Seth Figureman, this is all about getting
(10:45):
private equity companies, portfolio companies to use the technology.
Speaker 7 (10:50):
Right Yeah, and there list of portfolio companies that work
with them. And I think it's a really comment in AI.
For most of the air boom, a lot of the
focus has been on the competitive landscape of who can
build better and more sophisticated models. Now we're seeing a
really important vector is who can do better at gegging
businesses to understand and adopt that technology in their day
(11:10):
to day work.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
There's just different tactics in which it's being deployed.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
So open ai is raising money themselves alongside outside investment
for a company that's going to be worth all told
ten billion, not including that funding, and then how does
it roll out because they've also had this interesting deal
where they helped invest in Thrive Holdings, which is Thrive
Capital's ability to sort of deploy AI into other parts
(11:35):
of the ecosystem.
Speaker 7 (11:36):
Yeah, I mean at some level this is being pitched
as a separate venture, but Opening I will be the
majority owner and in control of it according to the
sourcing that we have here, which suggests that they will
have a key role in dictating how this proceeds. And
I think again the idea is rather than open ai
on its own balance sheet, within its own ranks figuring
out how to get their technology into the hands of
(11:58):
more business leaders, they will now work with this consortium
of partners and investors across thousands of potential portfolio companies to.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Do that work.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
I mean, while the timing just sensational that Anthelopic is
announcing the same thing on the same day.
Speaker 7 (12:12):
Again, it speaks to the moment that we're in right now.
These two companies are following somewhat similar playbooks to bolster
revenue and business traction heading into the potential IPOs.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
So figureman across an astounding amount of stories.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
As ever, we thank you very much. Indeed, sticking with
Open Ai.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Look, the startup's president, Greg Brockman is set to take
the stand today in a company's legal battle against Elon Musk.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Brotman is expected to face probe questions about.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
A personal journal he kept, which Musk's legal team says
is evidence he and open Ai CEO Sam Altman intended
to abandon the company's nonprofit mission now.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
For all this AI.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Guess what you need compute and chipmaker and data center operators.
Cerebrius is looking to capitalize on that very demand. The
nvideo rival, as it likes to see itself, is seeking
to raise as much as three and a half billion
dollars from a pub offering later this month. Price range
and its security is filing really confirms Bluemog's earlier reporting.
Let's get to one of the reporters who's always across
IPO's Bailey Lipshaltz. No, this is a company that wants
(13:11):
to offer more inferencing capacity.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Is it really a competitor end.
Speaker 5 (13:15):
Video in their mind?
Speaker 8 (13:16):
Yes, And even when I talk to investors, there's a
world that they will kind of be another option, if
you will. It goes back to kind of the debate
around Starlink and saying, Okay, well, yes they dominate that
potential market, but there have to be other players. So
while there is at least for now a monopoly of
source for in video, when you look at the partnerships
that Serabras has inked, obviously G forty two was a
(13:36):
big risk, but now leaning into opening Eye and kind
of diversifying the customer flow, it does seem like that's
a bit of a ball case. And keep in mind,
even with this potential IPO, we're talking about a company
potentially valued at thirty three billion dollars, not four trillion dollars.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Good context.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Look, this could all come to bear as soon as
May thirteenth, right, we're thinking that's when the pricing's happening,
the trading begins.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Is this going to be a retail focused name.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Who's going to be understanding the Cerebraus story because G
forty two, as you know, as you were just illuminating
to us, Look, this is a geopolitical story as well.
Speaker 8 (14:07):
It is geopolitical story, but you have to keep in
mind that this is a company that fits into the
themes that are dominating capital markets right now, AI and
AI infrastructure. So we've seen investors lean into the X
energies of the world that want to promise a nuclear future.
We're talking about this name with a number of hedge
funds and long only investors, and they're saying, you kind
of have to own this company if you play the
(14:28):
IPO calendar, So it will broaden across reach across kind
of the broader investor group, if you will. And one
thing to keep in mind with this launch, we're expecting
potentially eight billion dollars of IPOs proceeds being raised in
the next two weeks. This will be a big part
of that, and how this performs will help set the
stage for SpaceX likely next month and.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Then maybe open AI on propic. Look, this is a
great time considering where the market's trading out right.
Speaker 8 (14:51):
I mean, that's been the interesting thing right is you
look at the socks. We were up more than thirty
five percent in the last month. So when you look
at expectations for this company in particular, a month ago,
you would have said, okay, twenty five thirty, sure you
can sell me on that. Now it's like thirty five
to forty billion dollars, just because your comps are up
so sharply. Just starts to make sense when you're looking
(15:12):
at how you have to value a company when it's
going public, is what do your comparables look like? Take
a little bit of a discount, and that math is
kind of working in the company's favor again, just given
them move higher that we've seen for some of those peers.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
It's a different company, but it's almost tangential to the
likes of a core Weave, which is all about trying
to solve the compute issues.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
For core Weave, the.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Headache has always been I've got more customers than you realize.
Is this where maybe Cerebrius is going to have to
convince the market too well.
Speaker 8 (15:38):
I think that was the big pitch and the big
reason that diversifying away from G forty two at least
is some indigestion for investors. Yes, when they try to
go public the first time over a year ago, it
was concentration risk, it was Siffius uncertainty, it was obviously
kind of every number of potential bear cases. Whereas now
the tide really has shifted, so you do have the
(15:59):
kind of your focus of one customer similar to a
core we were there was such a bare case of okay, well,
how relying are you on one company? Now we're seeing
that spread out just a little bit. The interesting thing
will be how do they structure this lockup and what
does the performance really look like six months from now
as opposed to day one trading, which we've seen kind
of can be all over the map.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
Well said, it's going to be a busy old week,
old month for you. I think Badi Dipshils, we so
appreciate it. On all things IPO is now coming up.
We've got planning more to come on the world of
AI and AI inference. I'm going to be hearing from
a company US leading that charge in the private space.
CEO of Deep Infra is going to be joining us Nicolair.
For ourself, this is a bloomberg tech.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
In the race to build the.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Next great AI models. The industry is tackling various bottlenecks,
one of course being access to compute. Deep Infra is
trying to alleviate access to AI inference with a purpose
built cloud platform.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
It's just a cure.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
One hundred and some million dollars in a series B
funding back by the likes of Video Samsung joining us
now from San Francisco is deep in for CEO Nicola
or asof Nicola, It is great to have you on
the show. Why would in video want to put money
into you? How are you helping the GPU story?
Speaker 9 (17:18):
Yeah, thanks thanks for having me. Well, we're helping companies
get access to these great open source models, and we're
building this purpose built inference cloud. So it's it's really
you need to you need to build a specialized infrastructure
to do inference efficiently, and it really helps everyone access
(17:41):
these great open source AI models really well. And I
mean that's why Vida was excited to participate in around.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
We were just hearing that Cerebraus, which also wants to
speed up AI inference offerings, is going to be tapping
the public markets. It sees itself as an in video
a competitor. How Nicola are you more of an adjacent
to the Nvidia story. How are you looking to help
deploy GPS? Why is your compute different?
Speaker 9 (18:12):
You know, we we've tried a number of different inference accelerators,
but we believe like Nvidia's hardware is still the most efficient,
the best to do inference at and we're just doubling
down on that kind of hardware platform, and we like
working closely with the teams that the video and just
(18:33):
making inference more efficient. Lowering the price per token is
what we really like to focus on, and so that's
kind of our path. We you know, there would be
a lot of demand for inference down the line, like
we think that eighty percent of the compute is going
to go towards inference, But at the moment, you know,
(18:56):
we've invested heavily into the Nvidia hardware stack.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
What's interesting is you're already processing what five trillion tokens
per week? How do you get the efficiencies? How do
you drive down the cost of token?
Speaker 9 (19:12):
It's a lot of hard work, and we look at
it through the whole stack of like where we build
this kind of inference clusters, which data centers we go in,
how we structure them, and then a lot on the
software on top of it. We believe like one of
the key things is to have very good caching of tokens.
(19:33):
As these agents kind of interact with theim models. They
basically make many requests in a loop with roughly the
same context. So like I think kV cash is a
really key to efficiency of inference. And you know, we've
been doing this for about four years. We saw the
(19:55):
demand for inference coming and we really focused on how
do we build an purpose build inference cloud.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
And I think therefore you are scaling out you have
was it you're operating out of eight data centers. I
think it is already with this new money one hundred
million more than where do you deploy that?
Speaker 9 (20:16):
We will use the capital from this fundraise to scale
our platform.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
We will.
Speaker 9 (20:22):
You know, deploy more of the latest Nvidia chips and
then scale our inference platform across the US, but also
we're looking to expand in Europe and Asia later this year.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Samsung also part of the strategic investors. It's not just
GPUs from in video one needs. You need an awful
lot of the high bandwidth memory. We know about memory
costs soaring because of the AI demand. Is that why
some sung comes forward. How are you thinking about the
supply chain headaches or not that you might face.
Speaker 9 (20:54):
Yeah, you know, in the last couple since the beginning
of the year, it's been like struggle to find some
of the chips that we need for our inference clusters.
Memory and discs have been an issue, and so it's
important for us to have you know, in our corner
good investors that they are helping us, including super Micro
(21:16):
and Samsung, con and Nvidia, to make sure we have
the right supply and we don't struggle as much. But
the chip shortages are pretty real and I feel like,
you know, inference needs like a million times more compute
than like traditional computing, and so we would see more
(21:38):
and more demand for chips including CPUs, GPU's memory.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Nicola, it's been great speaking to you.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Thank you very much in the Deep Infra Ceo Nicola
for as of on the latest funding round coming out,
we've got more on funds being deployed in ALI adjacent areas,
particularly crypto. We're going to be speaking to Katie Horn
and a bit to talk about her new one billion
dollar fund and the state of the crypto market. But
let's also focus in on these markets more broadly. Right now,
Crypto had been outperforming, Tech had been out performing. Actually
(22:10):
we're starting to see a pullback. There is tension once again,
particularly with the UAE. The UAE is saying it's air
defense systems are currently responding to a missile threat. They're
posting on x about a third missile threat that they've
currently been facing. In particular, this is in response to
Iran geopolitics wants to gain in front and center as
all prices is extend their gains. Brent crude is to
see one hundred and fourteen dollars. That means risk sentiment
(22:33):
just turns sour and now's that one hundred now down
three tens percent.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
We will higher.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
At the start of this particular show, the semiconductor index
also off by eight tens percent off of its record high.
We're going to keep you up to speed what's happening
in the markets and in geopolitics. More broadly, this is
Bloomberg Tech. Welcome back to Bloomberg Tech. We look at
(22:57):
broader markets for a moment now because well we're back
in risk off sentiment amid rising geopolitical concerns regarding the
conflicts with Iran. We're currently off by two tenths of
percent on the nast like one hundred, flicking into negative territory.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
We had been higher.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
You're seeing the semiconductor index coming off of its record high.
Brent crude up to one hundred and thirteen one hundred
and fourteen.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Dollars, let's call it.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
This is UAE is issuing missile warnings, rising tensions and
risking the US Iran. True, it's just coming our hours
after an oil tank grown by the UA State Old
Company was also struck by Iranian drones. So keep an
eye on what's happening with the bond market as that
anxiety builds and we see maybe inflation pressures coming from oil.
We see the thirty year eclipse five percent. Look, we
(23:38):
haven't seen this sort of level on the thirty year
bonds in terms of yields since July. You're seeing ten
year ramp high six basis points. Two year also up
seven basis points, let's call it. So we keep an
eye on the broader market. We also keep an eye
on risk sentiment just across this entire asset classes. And
we don't want to focus in on our big number
today to say two thousand dollars. Guess what managed to
(23:59):
touch it again Bitcoin for the first time since January.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
It has seen some love as the tech trade has
powered on.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Higher in the previous week and we hit a record
high on Friday, and of course the sasset trades over
the weekend. I want to talk more about the crypto sector.
A blue mid cross hasset reporter is about Lee, fresh
back from an event in Vegas. What are the vibes
right now in crypto?
Speaker 10 (24:19):
Honestly, very optimistic and enthusiastic, Like when I was there.
It was in Vegas, the Bitcoin conference from Monday to Wednesday.
Everyone was just so happy to be there. There were
orange suits, orange cowboy hats. See if TC Mike's Sea
lig is there. Paul Atkins of SEC was there that
we were wearing orange necktat Why why the.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Orange vibes is just the color the color of not
a Bloomberg terminal.
Speaker 10 (24:43):
Unfortunately not It could be the orange is like the
unofficial color of bitcoin. And every booth had a big
B plastered on it, which is the symbol of bitcoin.
You could just feel the vibes in the air. Mic
Sailor again predicting ten million for bitcoin. Eric Trump dropped
by on a Wednesday saying one million for bitcoin, So
even if the daily price were fluctuations, weren't any more
focus there. The big one million goal is still in
(25:04):
the horizon, or ten million if you ask sailor.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
But was any of this Bitcoin and men's look, what
we keep seeing is that there are other areas of excitement,
more infrastructure being built, more fought around where the world
of cryptocurrencies go, rather than.
Speaker 10 (25:19):
The OG in the space definitely, so they were thinking
about bitcoin in the future of it. Of course, there
were a lot of talks about AI and how that
will affect bitcoin, especially when it comes to mining. And
I've talked to a couple of people who really still
insisted that bitcoin is different from other crypto assets because
bitcoin is bitcoin. It's the original, it's the largest, it's
the oldest, and others are pump and dump, you know,
others have smart contract that may vanish in a few minutes,
(25:42):
but then for them, Bitcoin is the OG. And I'm
sure now they were looking at eighty thousand two because
for a while the bitcoin price has been hovering between
that and not really hitting eighty thousand, So I'm sure
if the bitcoin conference was this week.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
They would be happy. So they're enthusiasts around the store
of value mentality. All that war can be done with
crypto free. More generally, it's still the store of value mentality.
Speaker 10 (26:02):
Although I did talk to some people roaming around the
first time attendee said that what's next after this one?
Because what else could bring this price higher? I mean,
it's already so institutionalized. I also talked to Adam Back,
who is not Satoci. According to him, he did say
again he's not Satoshi, and I asked him, how do
you feel, because the institutionalization of bitcoin kind of goes
against the ethos of bitcoin, But he was like, no, actually,
(26:24):
it's more access for everyone.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
And he said when people say that.
Speaker 10 (26:27):
Black Crocker Strategy are the biggest holders of bitcoin, he said,
they're really just the custodians in his eyes, but it's
still the people who owns it. So really lots of
interesting characters. It was an electric kind of conference. It
was really good vibes all around. If you're a skeptic,
I think you'd doubt it. At least if you're.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
There, you're not wearing orange. I know is a BALLEI.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
It's great to have her on the show on All
Things Crypto. Look, I'm very pleased to say we can
bring in someone who knows a thing or two about
the world of crypto.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Katie Hornss.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
He's made her name investing in digital assets and crypto startups.
Her firm Horn Ventures has just closed a one billion
dollar fund.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
You've no mutable exits.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
I think a BBNK you're required by mastercart another startup
that you backed early on Bridge has been brought by
Stripe Katie, Is this what it's about? Is it about
finding the startups that are likely to just drive this
ecosystem forward.
Speaker 11 (27:14):
Good morning, Caroline, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 12 (27:17):
Yeah, the world's a very different place than it was
four years ago when we raised our first pair of funds,
and we're really excited now to have a billion dollars
in fresh capital across a pair of funds to back
founders in what we say are building the new economy.
And the new economy is we think there's an intersection
really between AI and between digital assets. We're calling it
(27:39):
an agentic future. That's one structural shift we've seen. Another
structural shift we've seen is the creation of new assets,
things like stable coin.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
That has been an area that clearly you saw coming
you lean into and a stable coin ability.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
I think we just had a few tech issues with Katie.
We'll get back to you in a minute. There we are.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
I think the stable coin area has been something that
clearly you've seen work with M and A and portfolio
companies being bought by really institutional adopters who are now
trying to embrace I think of the likes of masscard,
for example. But what's happening in terms of the AI
adjacency for those who've been hidden away from How crypto
is now thinking of itself as a future of AI agents.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
How does that work?
Speaker 12 (28:22):
Well, if you think about a world where financial products
and services are really being built for an end user
that's not necessarily a human but might also soon be
an agent or a computer, that's a really different world.
I mean, if you think about agents, what are one
thing we humans do?
Speaker 11 (28:37):
We stop.
Speaker 12 (28:38):
We have a finite period of time that we work
during the day, So we might be okay with a
bank that's closed on a weekend or that has a
wire cutoff or deadline or bankers hours. But of course
AI agents are powered twenty four to seven. They are globally.
They work globally from day one, and they're always on
and so I think that there's a lot of opportunity
(28:58):
there in what we're calling the finance sector. But you
also mentioned Caroline stable coins, and I think that's another
area where we've seen the digital asset space grow, and.
Speaker 11 (29:08):
We're seeing it grow ever more.
Speaker 12 (29:10):
Of course, now we're at a point where stable coins
and you mentioned BV and K, which just exited to
MasterCard for one point eight billion dollars.
Speaker 11 (29:18):
By the way, that was Mastercard's third.
Speaker 12 (29:20):
Largest ever acquisition, and I think it's reflective of that
you now have double digit trillion dollars in stable coins,
and this is an innovation that didn't even exist a
decade ago. And if you can tokenize a dollar, it
turns out you can tokenize other things. So we see
institutional players like black Rock and fintech giants like Robinhood
(29:40):
and coinbase start to tokenize stocks, and it turns out
you can tokenize all kinds of other products and services.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
For that to really be adopted is of course a
future where the regulatory environment has been far more warm,
shall we say, towards crypto and these innovations and that's
where you sit at this intersection, Katie. That's I mean
bron Elmstrong himself, someone that you've helped oversee the company
of of coinbase before a sixteen Z. What was so
interesting about you is also you sat on the DOJ
(30:09):
side of things. You understand government, You can talk to
both sides of the community.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
What is the regulatory environment like right now?
Speaker 12 (30:16):
Yeah, Look, I've been following the flow of assets my
entire career. I started as I started my career actually
at the Supreme Court as a law clerk to Justice Kennedy,
and then spent over a decade at the Justice Department.
And what I can tell you is this is one
of the most transformational periods in technology and finance that
I've really ever witnessed. You mentioned regulatory Caroline, and I
(30:37):
think that's a part of it, but also the infrastructure
is a part of it. And let's also be honest,
the institutional story is a part of it. As far
as regulatory environment, I think people often also overlook what
the courts have been involved in the regulatory and shaping
the regulatory environment. And this has been happening kind of
in the background over the last several years. Now we
(30:57):
have something coming up, which is the Crypto Markets Structure Bill,
and so everyone's eyes are on that.
Speaker 11 (31:02):
And of course we had the Genius Act pass last year.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
There are still lawmakers anny convincing Okatie. I think of
Elizabeth Warren, who's worried about perhaps one of your new
and really well many would say, the exciting startup that
has been co founded by Palmer Lucky. Now you're in
a company that is Airbor, which is all about I
think I'm pronouncing it correctly right.
Speaker 11 (31:24):
Arabar is.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Airbor is this new sort of bank.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
It's just had occ sign off that it's able to
go out there, and after it gone an application and
granted a preliminary application at least for approval to become
a bank. But Elizabeth Warren is like, that's happened all
too fast, and it seems to be that they're close
to the administration. How do you get comfortable that these
companies are being vetted in the way that you want
to see them being vetted?
Speaker 12 (31:46):
Sure, well, we always look at the founding team. Whenever
we're looking for an opportunity to make an investment, we
look at the founding team. And you've alluded to part
of the founding team here. So we think this founding
team of Airbor is incredibly strong. And actually the Palmer
Lucky's co founder is a founder that we had backed
in our first fund, so we have a long history
going back with him and have seen him over the years,
(32:09):
and we are actually the second largest investor, I believe
at this point in Arabor, And I think the exciting
thing about Arabor so it's also the product market fit
and they just crossed a billion dollars in deposits, and
it's also the size of the opportunity and that's where
I think Airbor and companies like it really shine.
Speaker 11 (32:26):
I mean, it's really built for the future.
Speaker 12 (32:30):
And if you think about it, it opened on a Sunday, Caroline,
and I think, who's ever heard of a bank opening
on a Sunday? Now, I think that for the digitally
native generations, and certainly for the AI native generations, whire
cutoffs are going to be a thing of the past.
It will be kind of like when you see a
payphone booth on the corner and you're like, what is
that for in a world where everyone's now on their
(32:51):
cell phones.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Very briefly, Katie, you've already had success with exits on
the M and a side of things you personally have
vetted in some investment. Some of the most exciting companies
were anticipating IPOs from SpaceX. I know they were in Andreil,
another parmoniaking business. You're an open AI. Is the market
feeling solid right now?
Speaker 13 (33:10):
You know?
Speaker 12 (33:10):
I think right now what we're seeing is we're seeing
a period of transformation and tremendous opportunity. And I think
this is something I've been alongside the unfolding of transformational
technology my entire career.
Speaker 11 (33:23):
And there will be ups and there will be downs.
Speaker 12 (33:25):
And one thing I've noticed is that there are periods
of irrationality on the way up, and there are periods
of irrationality on.
Speaker 11 (33:31):
The way down.
Speaker 12 (33:31):
And our job is long term venture investors who are investing,
by the way, Caroline over a ten year decade. Although
your colleague Natasha reported that we had already returned capital
four years.
Speaker 11 (33:42):
In to some of our LPs around the world from
our first pair of funds.
Speaker 12 (33:46):
We're looking at what the world looks like in ten years,
not what it looks like right now. And we think
at bottom, it's a period of tremendous opportunity, generational opportunity.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
Natasha and Mascaronis did that great story well, talking about
how you were able to lean into dislocations in the
market and beaten up areas of crypto. More broadly, to
return those funds. To LP's Kato Hahn, it's great to
hear about the new rais the CEO and founder of
harn Venture's congratulations on the latest one billion that has
been putting to work in two funds. Meanwhile, coming up,
we're going to be live from Milkin Institute Global Conference
(34:20):
to speak the Scott Turner, his US Secretary of Housing
and Urban Development.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
This is blue bed Tech.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
And hear earnings they're out after the market cloth is
later today. So far today shares in the AI firm
is up one and a half percent, outperforming the rest
of the market. But they haven't outperformed the rest of
the market since they peaked back at the end of October,
losing a significant amount of market capitalization as they got
caught up in perhaps the software.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Anxiety and sell off. Is that right that it is?
Speaker 3 (34:55):
Let's talk about what to expect the Bloombergs Lazette Chapman
fundamentals first, know, there's far works when it comes to
Doctor carp is that but what are we expecting in
terms of growth of the business?
Speaker 14 (35:05):
Right well, Endless are expecting another massive quarter of a
lot of growth, seventy four percent revenue spike, a doubling
of profits from the same period last year they've been.
This is pretty consistent with past quarterly growth that they've
been that they continually set the bar high and ask
(35:26):
Palenteers to deliver. There's you know, a history of Palenteer
meeting or beating those expectations. So well, uh, that's that's
what a lot of people are looking for. That's what
some of the betting markets are looking at as well
this morning.
Speaker 11 (35:40):
Ah.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
I like that you're fielding in some of the vetting
or at least different ways of predicting which way the
market's going to go. And is that the market if
you're looking at analysts, think that the price target is
much higher than where we currently trade.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
So is there sort of a vibe shift that we
can get from Doctor Corp.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
As well as clearly the growth that they continue to
deliver from the bottom line on top.
Speaker 14 (36:01):
Right, He will definitely be speaking with analysts today. Typically
issues some type of shareholder letter as well, where he
outlines everything that you just kind of alluded to with
the Vibe shift, trying to distance Palenteer from the other
AI software stocks and also to position it.
Speaker 13 (36:21):
As a type of company that is.
Speaker 14 (36:25):
Going to support US policy no matter how controversial or
or difficult. And there's also a lot of focus right
now on what they've done to UH support efforts in
UH you know, Iran, also in Israel and with you know,
US Department of War as well as many of our allies,
(36:48):
So there's going to be a big focus on He
usually speaks to that topic as well, and that's what
many will be looking for for him to continue with
that vibe.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
Blue meg Intelligence analyst man I'm seeing is talking about
the government segment and how it continues to benefit from
the company's exposure to these increased US defense spending on
products such as maven amid the war in Iran, But
the commercial side that really has been an area of growth.
Are we expecting what's expecting to see that pick up,
and particularly if it's just US bound or whether we
(37:18):
see more international adoption.
Speaker 14 (37:20):
That's a great question, and I think that's something that
a lot of people are going to be looking at
if they've been able to drive it internationally. US commercial
growth has been on a blockbuster tear for you know,
at least the last year plus since they introduced AI AIP,
and so they're looking at growth rates for you know,
about you know, in the ninety percent or so for
(37:42):
commercial growth, and for the government growth they're looking around
fifty nine percent. Again, government is about half of the revenue,
it's about half and half, and slowly commercial is starting
to you know, build up. They haven't been in this
commercial is they haven't been in commercial as long or
as strong as government. That's an area that a lot
will be looking at, specifically here in the US, whether
(38:04):
they can gain traction abroad as well.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
And then there's the man, the myth that some would
say the legend himself, Dot Carp, the way he speaks
to his own loyalists when it comes to shareholders, he's
often quite rude to the analyst community. And then we'll
street more broadly, but he's had some thoughtful insight as
to the future of the workforce and where humanities takes
(38:27):
us in terms of an area of study, of expecting
any sort of philosophical perspective coming today, I.
Speaker 13 (38:33):
Think that that would be a pretty good guess that
would land well.
Speaker 14 (38:37):
He and CTO Sham Sankar have been on this quest,
as you say, to kind of you know, mobilize the
you know, not just the software and the bits, but
or not not just the bites but also the bits,
and so you know, they are both looking for, you know,
to kind of establish that and kind of continue that
(38:58):
narrative that now only Alex Carr wrote about in Technological Republic,
but you know, Seam wrote about in his new book
about mobilizing the techno industrial workforce and reshoring a lot
of the industrial and manufacturing capacities that are you know,
traditionally been abroad that they're looking to bring back on
shore here in the United States. They had a commercial
(39:19):
software wind recently with Cleveland Cliffs to use their AI
software to assist with the steelmaking capacity.
Speaker 13 (39:26):
So it's it's a pretty good bet.
Speaker 14 (39:29):
Like you said, Carolyn, you've been watching these for these
earnings for a long time as well, that he will
continue with that and talk really more about the big
changes to American society.
Speaker 13 (39:39):
Writ large that Palenteer and its software is looking to enforce.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
Well We're lucky to have you watching them for us tonight.
Blim Boz, Lazette, Chapman, thank you very much. Indeed, coming up,
we're largely the Milk and Institute Global Conference. We're gonna
be speaking with Scott Turner. He's the US Secretary of
Housing and Urban Development. This is Blue Meg Tech head
out to the Milkan Institute. Balance of Power. Co host
Joe Matthew standing by with a.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
Special guest, Joe.
Speaker 15 (40:07):
That Caroline.
Speaker 16 (40:08):
Thank you.
Speaker 15 (40:08):
The Secretary of Housing and Urban Developments is with me
right now, live in Los Angeles at the Milkan Global Conference.
Secretary Turner, it's great to see you. Welcome to lumber.
Speaker 8 (40:19):
Thank you.
Speaker 15 (40:20):
Questions about the housing market on this day that the
thirty year treasury tops five percent, This is a big
deal for our audience. It's a big deal for a
homeowner or anyone looking to buy a home. How much
will interest rates be a challenge to what you're trying
to do in increasing access to affordable housing?
Speaker 16 (40:34):
Well, thank you so much. You know, I think you
see you know the President Trump is layers of focus
on house and affordability. He's focused on keeping our country safe,
you know from a regime having a nuclear weapon, but
also layers of focus here domestically to make sure that
the Americans can achieve their American dream. And so as
we see the fluctuation and interest rates, we're also you know,
looking at the regulatory environment to bring down burn some
(40:55):
regulations to make it easier for builders to build and
for buyers to buy. So I'm grateful for the President's leadership,
and at HUD we're following that and encouraging localities to
do the same.
Speaker 15 (41:05):
You were pointing specifically to your recision of the i
e C and Energy Efficiency requirement that the Biden administration
put in place that you say added over thirty thousand
dollars to building a home.
Speaker 16 (41:18):
Yes, sir, so this is the final determination for twenty
twenty four during the Biden administration. Really it's the International
Energy Conservation Code and it added up to thirty thousand
dollars per project when builders are already building to these
energy code and so we were scinded that to make
it easier for builders to build, which will make it
better for buyers to buy. On top of that, you know,
(41:39):
one hundred thousand dollars and regulation and regulatory fees is
added to the final price of a single family home
that's not sustainable in our country. So we've been very
focused on bringing down the regulatory environment, making it easier
for builders to build, better for buyers to buy, and
raising a supply in our country.
Speaker 15 (41:56):
We're having a big conversation in America right now about affordability.
We talk about it on the air all day, whether
it's four dollars a gallon gas, although where we are
you've probably seen, mister Secretary, it's above six dollars in California,
which is pretty wild. But the cost of everything from
food it's a gas is an issue for Americans, making
your mission that much more urgent but also more difficult.
Speaker 3 (42:18):
Now.
Speaker 16 (42:18):
Well, you know, like I said before, the President and
his layers were focused on domestic policy from the time
he was campaigning until the time he came into office.
He said, we're going to make it more affordable in
American I know personally being in the cabinet and knowing
the President working with him that to be able to
help Americans to afford to buy a home, to buy grocers,
to buy medications, it's top of mind for the President.
(42:39):
And so you see the actions that have been taken
the recision of these regulatory environments that taken down burdens
and regulations to help American people is a great priority
for the President and myself. And so while it may
seem to be difficult, we've made great strides, but there's
still a lot of work to do or.
Speaker 15 (42:56):
At a time, mister secretary, but how many houses can
you build if you stay with President Trump for the
remainder of this term, how many affordable units can you
add in this country?
Speaker 16 (43:04):
Well, we're going to add many, many, in particular opportunity designs.
There's already been four hundred thousand, so we want to
do potated and do even more.
Speaker 15 (43:11):
It's great to see you, Good luck and thanks for
being with us. Thank you, Secretary Scott Turner with us
live from Los Angeles, Caroline.
Speaker 3 (43:17):
Back to you, Joe Matthew. So good to hear from
you on the other coast. Right now, West Coast. All
Things Milkan will be throughout the day and the week
here on Bloomberg TV. But now that does it for
this edition of Bloomberg Tech. Don't forget to check out
our podcast you can find on the terminal as well
as online on Apple, Spotify.
Speaker 2 (43:33):
And iHeart.
Speaker 3 (43:34):
We return to the markets which have seen some geopolitical
anxiety around them. Today we currently see we're off by
three tens percent on the nasdak nows that one hundred
are under pressure as we see once again missile threats
For the UAE, the semi indexes are by six tens percent,
down from a record high. Brent crude up to one
hundred and fourteen dollars a barrel. We're seeing yields move higher,
(43:56):
particularly in the world of the debt markets. Bitcoin though
seventy nine thousand. That's a Blue Bay Tech