Pivot - Tim Cook’s 'data industrial complex,' Uber’s IPO and Saudi money

Episode Date: October 26, 2018

Kara and Scott talk about Apple CEO Tim Cook's latest critiques of Facebook and Google; the fact that Uber's IPO could value the company at as much as $120 billion; and the ethical question of what to... do if you're a startup that could raise money from Saudi Arabia, or a tech company that already has. Plus: Scott goes car-shopping for Kara, and the implications of Facebook losing another Oculus co-founder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 When you're a business owner, it can sometimes feel like the odds are stacked against you, but QuickBooks knows you never back down. That's why they're always in your corner, making it easier for you to manage your business so you have the time to take care of details that matter most. No matter what your version of success is, QuickBooks can give you smarter business tools to get you there. QuickBooks, backing you. Learn more at QuickBooks.com. That's QuickBooks.com. That's QuickBooks.com. Hi, everyone. This is Pivot from the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Starting point is 00:00:37 I'm Kara Swisher. And I'm Scott Galloway. And here we are face-to-face in New York City. You know, I'd like to think that you finally decided to invest in this relationship and that you're here because of me. It may be about someone else. No. No, it's not. Who are you?
Starting point is 00:00:50 Okay. Nothing. Who are you here to see? Nobody. Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton. I'm here. You're literally running to see Hillary Clinton.
Starting point is 00:00:55 You're having lunch or coffee with her? Yes. I'm going to see her because we have a big interview tomorrow night at the 92nd Street Y. It's our third interview. Yeah. It's a charm. Third time's a charm.
Starting point is 00:01:03 So you know who I'm having lunch with? Who? Not Hillary Clinton. No. Mr. Oatley'm having lunch with? Who? Not Hillary Clinton. No, Mr. Oatley. Yeah. Who is that? First name Chip. Who's that?
Starting point is 00:01:11 Chip Oatley. Come on, that's my big girl. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. You know what? Chipotle. You know what? Listen to me.
Starting point is 00:01:15 Chipotle, marijuana, Netflix, the Alice. You need to stop. You need to stop. Let me just go. I'm doing change. I was just at Google. All right. Here's the deal.
Starting point is 00:01:22 I was just at Google, at the Google News group. I was giving a speech for a panel thing, and I was coming down in the elevator, and this guy was like, I love you and Scott. That Scott guy cracks me up. I like when you riff with him. Nice. They were on. This guy was like a huge fan. One of my dozens and dozens of fans.
Starting point is 00:01:39 And then a second guy listened to it while he works out. It was all guys. It was interesting. Yeah, I'm all bros. But I'm just telling you, we were two times in one place. It was very exciting. So they like us. They really like us, at Google at least. So big stories this week. Let's go right to them. Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, gave an impassioned speech on data privacy in Brussels. He said that Apple supports a federal privacy law in the U.S. Let's take a listen to some of what he said. Our decisions are made on the basis of our likes and dislikes, our friends and families, our relationships and conversations, our wishes and fears, our hopes and dreams.
Starting point is 00:02:36 And so he said he supports a U.S. federal privacy law, which there's one in California. What do you think? What do you think about this? Important speech? Yeah, well, he's got a ton of moral authority. He's likable. I think he's principled. But him taking a stand for privacy is like Sergey or Cheryl taking a stand against devices
Starting point is 00:02:58 that are addictive to the young male brain. It's just, okay. It's an attack on Google and Facebook. Yeah, it's an attack on his competitors. So what? Smart thing to do. It's a smart thing to do. He's an attack on Google and Facebook. Yeah, it's an attack on his competitors. So what? Smart thing to do. It's a smart thing to do. He's been doing it for a while.
Starting point is 00:03:07 I think it's principled, but where I think he kind of misses the mark or loses the script is when a terrorist uses an iPhone. The FBI says, we'd like to get into this iPhone to see if other acts of terror are unfolding. Gets a court order, and then Apple waves its middle finger in the face of the court order. I'm good with that. I'm on the other side. You're wrong. You know what?
Starting point is 00:03:26 You think the government doesn't – What if it had been a Blackberry? What if it had been a Blackberry? I don't care. I don't – I like the stance. I like the stance. Okay. One of our kids doesn't show up after school one day and we find her iPhone.
Starting point is 00:03:34 I still like the stance. Don't do that. Don't bring the kids into that. That's a different – that's an emotional reaction. That's an emotional reaction. Okay. No. No.
Starting point is 00:03:40 They should not do that. Guess what? The government has other ways. Should they get search warrants for your house if your spouse doesn't show up? That's what happens. Yes, of course. Is your ways. Should they get search warrants for your house if your spouse doesn't show up? That's what happens. Yes, of course. So your iPhone is more sacred than your house. Yes, but they have made a promise with the user of that phone.
Starting point is 00:03:52 And get it to the user of that phone even if it's – I'm sorry. If someone is thrown into the trunk. I'm with Tim on this one. If someone is thrown into the trunk of your Fiesta and they get a search warrant. Hold on. The iPhone – you've bought into this religion where Steve Jobs is Jesus Christ and the iPhone is a cross. He's not Jesus Christ. It is not.
Starting point is 00:04:06 Here's the deal. The government has other ways of catching. If not getting into an iPhone is the only way the government can catch a terrorist. A repository of all information. No, it is not. No. There are lots. It's called intelligence.
Starting point is 00:04:17 It's called the CIA. It's called all kinds of ways. They have lots of ways to get this information. So they should get into my home then. They have other ways. No. I think the trade you're making on this is so big
Starting point is 00:04:28 later down the line that it's critically important that they have these abilities to encrypt things. I trust judges more than I trust Apple. I do not trust judges. I do not trust our government which is shown to be, no. Oh no, you're not one of these deep state people. I'm not a deep state, oh are you kidding? No, but I do believe this, he's right, you're wrong.
Starting point is 00:04:43 You're 100% wrong. But here's the deal. I'm used to deal. This speech on privacy, he did this in an interview with me where I asked him, what would you do if you were Mark Zuckerberg? He said, I wouldn't be in that situation. And then he went to town on that issue. You did that interview. I did that interview. And he's been on this. And Steve Jobs was on this too. You can look at clips of me and Walt interviewing him. Same thing. They've been sticking to this for a long time, pre-Google, pre-Facebook, pre-anything like that. So it is a bit of an opportunity for them. And it is a religious situation going on in Silicon Valley, the tech religious, where
Starting point is 00:05:13 people, it's Apple essentially and Microsoft on one side, Microsoft, and then, and some others who are just furious at Google and Facebook. And then at the Google and Facebook side, they think Tim is sanctimonious and that he's lecturing them. And I'm like, I'm good with him doing that. Yeah, I think it'll be sort of fun if they start going after each other. You had a little bit of pushback from Cheryl and from Mark saying it was extremely glib. I think they're all right. Apple, in my opinion, Apple has –
Starting point is 00:05:41 it'll be interesting to see if Apple holds the same moors around privacy when it comes to their app store and as they start to get into more complex targeting. They have to be cleaner than—you know, they have to be whatever—purer than Caesar's wife. But that's how the world is bifurcating. You're either wealthy and can afford a device that only pulls on your data 50 times a day, which is iOS, or you want a free phone and you have a device that gets to pull 1,000 points a day, which is Android. Which is Mark Zuckerberg's argument, Which is Mark Zuckerberg's argument. But I do prefer the first. I don't think it's a good thing, but that's how the world is by-pricing. Yes, exactly.
Starting point is 00:06:09 Where you get to buy privacy, essentially. Well, advertising and targeting, especially advertising, this isn't a new thing, have become the tax of the poor and the technologically illiterate have to pay. Yep, it is. I bet the one thing in common with all your media is it's not littered with ads telling you you have restless leg syndrome, right? You go home on a Thursday night, you can watch Modern Family, you can download it right away on abc.com, or you can download it and pay three bucks from Apple TV. And most people in
Starting point is 00:06:34 our cohort choose that their time is worth more than 18 bucks an hour. So they download, they pay three bucks for 21 interrupted stories. Let me ask you a question. Would you support this U.S. federal privacy law? There's one in California. Obviously, Europe has been rather stringent. I think California, once Gavin Newsom gets in power, is going to be its own country. It's going to pass all kinds of laws that are different. Fifth largest economy in the world. It's going to. I think Gavin, that's the way he's going. But what do you think about this U.S. privacy law? So it makes sense probably to have it done at a federal level such that companies don't have to go through the friction of figuring out 50 different legislations. I am am not a fan actually of regulation i think the more elegant
Starting point is 00:07:09 solution i mean what do we want here we want to thread the needle between curbing their influence but at the same time not kneecapping this incredible machine of capitalism and value creation and i think the way you do that is by breaking them up so i think this regulation that's your go-to thing, breaking them up. And it works. When has it ever failed? I don't mind it. It's a fair point. But the problem with GDPR, when you look at Europe, is I worry that it's actually cementing the position of the leaders. The big ones, yeah. Because they have the lawyers. Complexity favors the wealthy and the incumbents. The laws, regulations. This legislation is complex and expensive. There is some basic, like immediately inform people,
Starting point is 00:07:45 give people data transparency, give people data mobility. Notify them when they've been hacked. Notify them when hacked. Those should, I think, be law. Like these people have gotten immunity for too long. Yeah, that makes sense. At very less. And I think we're going to get that.
Starting point is 00:07:55 I think especially if the Democrats get into power. I just wrote about this, this Internet Bill of Rights, and that's one of the top ten. Do you think it should be federal? Yes, I do. Yes, I do. If not, it's going to be big states like California and Massachusetts and New York, and it's going to be federal essentially for most of it.
Starting point is 00:08:08 And is it GDPR 1.1 or is there – No, it's got to be more. You can't have the right to be forgotten here. It's not going to happen with the First Amendment. There will be differences. But it should be enough that – I think the government should sit down with these companies and just say, look, these are the rules of the road or else they're going to lose all their immunity. They're going to lose – they've had immunity for far too long around these things.
Starting point is 00:08:25 So anyway, next thing, Uber. Yeah. What? $120 billion. They're saying IPO at $120 billion. What do you think of that? Well, so first off— A lot of people disputing their ability to make any money.
Starting point is 00:08:37 Let's have some fun with this. I think Uber is an incredible product. I think it's amazing. Yes, agreed, agreed. Conceptually, you have a multi-trillion dollar asset called cars that get 4% utilization. So 96% of the time, non-utilized, figure out software. It's literally like, let's come up with an app that lets you and me leverage the US Navy. I mean, it's just staggering what they've been able to figure out. And one of my favorite experiences, and I want to ask you what is a cool Uber experience you had. I go to the Cannes Creativity
Starting point is 00:09:02 Festival. I get off the plane. I'm about to pull up the app. I want to see a picture of a car, hit it. And I see a icon of a helicopter come up. I'm like, okay, what the heck? And I press it and it says, meet us at baggage claim. They zip me off in a sprinter van. I get in this lawnmower with a rotor that looks like a kid who's, you know, up from my paper route with a military military uniform and they fly me across the Cote d'Azur and I land in Cannes and it was for like 80 euros. I mean, it was just incredible. Uber's changed my life. I love it.
Starting point is 00:09:32 So you talk about something you love and I'll tell you why. All right, I'm going to give you my Uber t-shirt because when I wear it, people throw things at my head. But go ahead. It's the best t-shirt I have. Well, so, you know, it's also a lot of fun. If you ever are driving up or past a crowded place,
Starting point is 00:09:42 just roll your window down and go Uber and see how many people come to the car. It's a ton of fun. And then look, I'm like, they're just fucking crazy. Why are you bothering me? Anyway, I think Uber has basically cemented- You're a sick puppy. But anyway, go ahead. You know it. Go ahead. You know it the most. I do. I'm very aware of the situation. We have yet to go out for drinks. So go ahead.
Starting point is 00:10:01 Uber has, okay, so we have a caste system. We're bifurcating into a nation of 350 million serfs serving 3 million lords. And Uber is the ultimate example of how we've institutionalized this. But you're a lord, presumably. Oh yeah, because I'm fortunate because I had access to free education and had a shaved head. What am I? Am I a duke? Oh no, you're definitely, you're the strong man. You're the one that says it will be done. And then next thing you know, the person has their head chopped off. I have different thoughts on Uber, just because I'm sort of furious about this Saudi thing with the money they've taken and the- Okay, but hold on.
Starting point is 00:10:33 And tell me if you disagree with this. $120 billion, that's the value of Airbus. Dirty, fuggish, murderous money. What? I'm sorry. $120 billion IPO. That's the value of Airbus, a couple hundred thousand employees. Do you think it's worth that?
Starting point is 00:10:47 Well, hold on. Give me some running room here. Okay, here. I want answers. And then value of Procter & Gamble, $180,000, more value than the entire auto industry, 12,000 employees. Only 12,000 people and their investors are splitting $120 billion. Right. So my question is, how have they figured out a way to turn two and a half billion employees into quote unquote driver partners, which means they don't get healthcare, they're not subject
Starting point is 00:11:09 to minimum wage laws, they make on average $10.50 an hour, and they have no participation in that $120 billion. So my question for Dara was one thing. Are you just lipstick on a pig? I like you. I think you're nice. You've calmed down the waters there. But should the two and a half million people who have built this company participate in the $120 billion windfall? Yes, they have to. Someone was just talking about this the other day with me. But are they?
Starting point is 00:11:29 No, they're not. They have to. That would be something else. One word, union. Yeah. Hey, Uber driver partners, perhaps you should reach out to the UAW, which, by the way, I'm a member of.
Starting point is 00:11:39 Well, the unions have been hollowed out, but we'll move along. Go ahead. Okay, but let's restore them. If I were these driver partners, I would say, look, we need to participate in that $120 billion windfall, or Dar, regardless of how charming and how nice you are, we're going to fuck up this IPO. All right, another way you could do it, again, I'm getting back to Gavin Newsom, he was talking about changing the ways employers and contractors, instead of having the old way and we're judging on
Starting point is 00:12:02 those, we create whole new ways of work categories that require these companies to do things like that or give health care or have health care benefits. Again, something they could do in California, which would impact Uber massively. Yeah, that's Arun Sundararajan, my colleague. He's done some great work about that. But how does that – so at one point, Sears, 25 percent of Sears was owned by the employees. And the question is how do you turn these... And by the way, if you talk to Uber drivers, you know,
Starting point is 00:12:26 fair is fair, they like it. It gives them flexibility. I know that. They have to own a piece of this. They have to own a piece of this thing. This is such a thing built by its drivers.
Starting point is 00:12:34 2% of it, $2.4 billion. That would be life-changing. Instead of going to the murderous, thuggish Saudis. Two and a half million drivers. I'm trying to get dismembered here. That's bone saw.
Starting point is 00:12:43 I feel a bone saw coming our way. I know. Murderous per driver to an half billion dollars to 2%, 1% or 2% dilution. You know, Dara, pony up. I'm starting to believe like you have empathy. All right. Show me. I am going to write an entire New York Times column about this saying this. Okay. I'm on your side. You've convinced me of this. I'm in. But I don't think it's worth $120 billion. You don't think it's worth $120 billion? I've had lots of economists send me, like, the breakdown. This is not Amazon. They have no moats.
Starting point is 00:13:13 This is— Well, Lyft has come out of nowhere, right? We're not nowhere. All right. So do you think they have moats like— Everyone's like, oh, this is like Amazon later. Do they have— No, it's a very boring economics case of why they're not—
Starting point is 00:13:24 why Airbnb will be worth more than Uber. Because Uber has incredible supply, but you and I could start with 50 million bucks, you and I could start a ride-hailing service in DC because we could create local demand and local supply, local drivers and local. That's what I say. Airbnb has to have global demand because if you're coming in from Austin, it means you're not there. That's right. So if you're from Copenhagen, you need to have no of Airbnb in Copenhagen. Whereas Uber can have regional competitors everywhere. Right.
Starting point is 00:13:51 And we're starting to see that with Didi in China. Yep. So the moats are, you know, the moats are. They think the brand is a moat and the app is a moat. Yeah, but it's probably. Credit card? $10, $20 billion, $50 billion maybe. Right, exactly.
Starting point is 00:14:03 Having a credit card is good. Yeah. What if they start, like, you go into the subway and then you use your Uber app to pay for it? Well, this is what – and I want to hear what you think. But I think Uber needs to become Expedia before Expedia becomes Uber. Uber should be – I'm headed to Paris next week. I type in Paris. They know my weight class economically. I put in the date and I press a button and it says here is the entire recommended travel itinerary.
Starting point is 00:14:27 Everything from flights to hotel. That's a little bit what Airbnb is trying to do. But go upstream and downstream, right? Sort of what Google Maps does. It tells you how to get there, subway, walking, et cetera. I've never taken advantage of how much I use Google Maps. I have to say I only use it for – they don't ever – they do offer me restaurants and things, but I don't avail my – it's not in my face. You don't use it for directions?
Starting point is 00:14:44 I use it for directions, but I don't use it for anything else. Like, I see them offering me things, but it's not in my face enough. So back to Uber. They are awash in Saudi money. I did not know that. Oh, $14 billion of their—they own a ton of it. They put in a 3.5 just recently, and before that, they put a bunch in either PIF or through the SoftBank Fund. The SoftBank Fund was the latest one with $9.3 billion, and the Saudis represent half of that.
Starting point is 00:15:08 And so my question is the following. What would we have them do about that? I don't know, but here's what I would not want them to do. So Dara pulled out of the thing, calls and says, I'm pulling out of the thing, which is fine. He obviously had to. But, you know, here's what I didn't appreciate when Travis went over there and he's like, hey, Cara, they're letting – he didn't say that directly, but like Uber did this. like, hey, Cara, they're letting – he didn't say that directly, but Uber did this. Like, hey, Cara, they're letting women drive now.
Starting point is 00:15:29 And they have movie theaters. And they have movie theaters. I was like, fuck you. It's not a favor that women can – oh, thank you so much, sir, for letting women drive. And then they jailed the woman activist who got that – made that happen. They jailed her for that. So she's been in jail for years. It's just – I just – I'm sorry. I don't know how they sleep at night made that happen. They jailed her for that. So she's been in jail for years. It's just, I just, I'm sorry.
Starting point is 00:15:47 I don't know how they sleep at night taking that money. I just don't. But here's the thing. I just don't. Should companies. They can't give it back. Yeah, there's no way. And by the way, if the Saudis buy,
Starting point is 00:15:55 Saudis own a lot of Snapchat. They own a lot of Twitter. They did through Kingdom Holdings, whoever. And then the high net worth individuals there, of which there are many, own all these prints. There's like 150 prints or whatever, how many there are. They're going to buy this stuff and they can buy it on the public markets. And I'm not good with that, but they can buy treasuries.
Starting point is 00:16:12 They can buy anything else. But anyone who takes money right now from these people going forward to me is just awful. I hear you. Here's the problem. As an entrepreneur, I've raised a ton of money and I'm sure I'll raise more in the future. You're willing to disarm, but you're not willing to disarm unilaterally. Right. And the question is I pay 23 cents on the dollar to the government for them to think long term, and I'm fine not taking their money as long as my competitors can't.
Starting point is 00:16:37 So I think this is really up to the government to step in and say – It's going to be hard. Oh, yes. You can't – What are you talking about? You can't have money from Saudi into this country. Oh, yeah. You can't have that sanctions. Otherwise – It's not to be hard. Oh, yes. You can't have money from Saudi into this country. Oh, yeah. These are asset sanctions.
Starting point is 00:16:48 Otherwise – It's not going to happen. They literally killed a journalist and Donald Trump is talking about like the media's fault that the pipe bimes show up at CNN. I love the most recent excuse. We drugged him and we were going to ask him if he would go back to Saudi Arabia. They have another one. And if he said no, we were going to let him go. Now it's premeditated.
Starting point is 00:17:03 It's ridiculous. It's like the Bill Cosby of geopolitics here. This is not going to come from our government. Literally, the head of our government right now is saying it's the media's fault for the pipe bombs that were mailed to it. So I just don't even, I'm in a very angry mode today about that. But again, I'll press back on you. What do you do? You're an entrepreneur. It's competitive. You need low cost of capital. You don't take the money. And you let your competitors take it. You do. And you hope that your consumers... No, if you want a soul, you don't take it. If you don't want a soul, you take
Starting point is 00:17:28 it. So you're soulful and unemployed. Look, all the money is dirty in some fashion, but that's particularly dirty money right now. It's particularly gross. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I have a soul. I'm going to have to go. Anyway, we're going to take a quick ad break. When we get back, we'll be talking wins and fails of the week. But first, I want to talk about QuickBooks. In the next advertiser segment brought to you by QuickBooks, we'll hear from a business owner who turned their side hustle into a full-time career. 78% of small businesses in the U.S. have a workforce of one. But it's not easy turning your skills, your passion, yourself into a business. Here's the story of one guy, Nat, who never backed down and turned his side hustle into his full-time gig.
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Starting point is 00:18:54 enough to say, here's who I am and here's what I offer. I don't want to get into the mindset of, oh my God, my money, my money. So I use smarter business tools to really kind of check my cashflow and also for tax preparation. That gives me the comfort I need. It's a reminder for me every single time I teach that this life is so short and you gotta go out there and just do it. You gotta live it up.
Starting point is 00:19:18 QuickBooks knows you never back down. That's why they're in your corner with smarter business tools. QuickBooks, backing you. Learn more at QuickBooks.com. This has been advertiser content. Thanks to the sponsor of our show, QuickBooks. For Nat's story, learn more at QuickBooks.com. That's QuickBooks.com. Now back to our show. Okay, now back with wins and fails. Scott, wins? Wins this week? So I had terrible wins. My
Starting point is 00:19:49 first one was Invisalign because I don't know if you noticed, but I have these trays in my mouth. Yeah, I get the sense I'm going to be gorgeous. You're going to be gorgeous. I did that. My dentist, Craig Spodek, is like the Tesla of dentistry. You're doing an ad for Invisalign. They're not paying us either. What's the deal? I can't speak or eat, and both those things get me into trouble. So there's a lot of benefits to Invisalign. But my real win of the week, and just everyone must know we don't rehearse because you're always like, I got to get out of here. I'm having tea with Boutros Boutros Gali or something. So anyways, my win of the week, other than that, he's doing really well. Other than that, he's just fine.
Starting point is 00:20:22 So my win of the week is I've been thinking about this probably too much. I'm going to get you out of the Fiesta. You and I are going car shopping. What? I figured out the car for you. What? Okay. The scooter.
Starting point is 00:20:34 Skip scooter. No, no, no. I'm going to scooter. We're going to the dealership. No, I'm not getting another car. It's a 2011 matte black Porsche 911. No. Oh, my God.
Starting point is 00:20:43 Okay, hold on, hold on. You fit all the criteria for a Porsche perfectly. Can I just tell you, just because you think I'm a lesbian, you think I like a man car? No. No. Lesbian wasn't going to come into it. You fit all the criteria. You want to hear the criteria for driving a Porsche?
Starting point is 00:20:55 Okay. The first is you're shorter than 5'10". All right. You have to be short to drive or shorter or shortish to drive. I get into a Porsche, I look like a Q-tip behind a German automobile. You have great hair. Anyone in a Porsche should have great hair. You have great hair. Oh, because you're bought in on that one, right? You have money, right? Most people who drive Porsches have really little penises. So having no penis qualifies. So sunglasses, great hair, rich, short, boom, Porsche, there is no substitute.
Starting point is 00:21:26 All right, Scott. We're going to get into other issues. I'm stopping you. If Nazis can build rockets, they build great sports cars. No, no, no, no. N to the O. I'm never buying another car again. Come on.
Starting point is 00:21:34 I'm never buying another car again in my life. There is no substitute. That is my promise. I'm never buying another car in my life, ever. Ever. You know what? I bought my last car. It's great to enjoy your youth once you're old
Starting point is 00:21:45 enough to really enjoy it i bought my last car i'm making that that is my fail the week car people because i'm never buying a car let me let's let's get the one failure facebook losing its oculus founder well oculus the whole thing's stupid but no it's not virtual reality no it's not i'm not no it is not no i love vr oh. That's going to be another next week. VR, right up there with 3D printing. No, VR is going to be a big thing. Open new worlds. What are commercial applications for VR?
Starting point is 00:22:10 I did a VR. I put a VR when I was riding a roller coaster in Hong Kong. I know that's a lot. Oh, there's a lot of commercial applications for that. I just feel nauseous on my own. I'm just telling you, it was so much. No, it was great. It was an amazingly fun experience.
Starting point is 00:22:22 How do you know Shell is a value brand? And then I did something in the mall. These things, I can't remember what they're called, strapped on the computer on my back. My kids and I had the best time, hours of fun with VR in a VR environment, playing with each other, doing different things. Amazing.
Starting point is 00:22:34 Okay, video games and fun stuff in malls. Yeah, exactly. So what? That's a $500 million industry. No, it's not. It's much bigger than that. This is the biggest fail in technology. No, you're wrong.
Starting point is 00:22:42 Empathy things, I think it has not been. What am I, empathy? Empathy, things that you want to experience. I think it's going bigger than that. This is the biggest fail in technology. No, you're wrong. Empathy things, I think it has not been. What am I, empathy? Empathy, things that you want to experience, I think it's going to be big. I'm going to go out on a limb. Well, in five years, it's been an enormous stud. Why? So what? Because one of our new, Jesus Christ, Mark Zuckerberg said it would unlock new worlds.
Starting point is 00:22:57 It hasn't unlocked anything. It could. I think it will. AR, I'm with you on AR. Okay, AR, all right. Holding up a phone to an apartment building. So he left. So you don't think the Oculus found it. But what I'm thinking more is that all these leaders are leaving Facebook. That's what I was talking about. Yeah, but I
Starting point is 00:23:11 think on Oculus, it basically said the jig is up. They realized virtual reality is stupid. Oculus will probably be closed down in the next 24 months. All right. Oh, okay. We're going to move on to predictions in a second. Okay. Then let's move to predictions. Oculus is going to move. This is your predictions. Our next 24 months. It's too bad because what about magic leap well i want to promote magically because i live in florida and we only have two real unicorns down there chewy and magically chewy i think i think vr is i think it's ridiculous right up there with 3d printing internet of things all these overhyped things why is that what are you talking you only have one internet of thing your iphone you don't need to connect your blender to the Internet.
Starting point is 00:23:46 No, you don't, but I have Nest. You have these regulating your house, locks, things like that. Sure. Yay. It's not a small thing. Internet of things. All right. Okay.
Starting point is 00:23:54 It's not working. Anyways, I think VR is an enormous set. I think it's already dead on arrival. All right. Okay. Any other predictions? My prediction? I think Uber is going to go public, but it's not at that number.
Starting point is 00:24:05 You think it's a lower valuation? I do. I do. And then what would they do? I think they would use the stock to go buy a bunch of hotel and transportation companies. Yes, yes. I think if they have—they've got to get while the getting's good, just the way Apple did. If they go out at that number, they better start buying things that actually fill in the blanks.
Starting point is 00:24:22 There's a lot of blanks there. What do you think happens before then? Do you think the labor force rallies? No, I don't think they're wildly disorganized, and that's an advantage to Uber. I wish they would. I wish there was some great, like, I don't know, Cesar Chavez of the people of Uber,
Starting point is 00:24:37 or something that will organize them that would be great. So 12,000 employees, $120 million. That's literally $10 million in equity value for every employee. We've never seen that in the history of corporate. We've never seen that in America. I think they need to be part of it. I think in the Airbnb thing, he's trying to figure out a way to give the renters of the places equity. Yeah, some sort of equity.
Starting point is 00:24:54 That's smart. He's trying to do that. Actually, Facebook is close. Half a trillion dollars. That's because he's a thoughtful, interesting man. You like him. I love him. You develop crushes.
Starting point is 00:25:01 No, I don't. I think he's just like he's at least thinking about it. You don't hear it from them until you hit them over the head with a hammer. So envision this. You're rolling down the – what's that? The 280, that highway out there in Porto or that connects San Francisco. You're in there Porsche and in the back is Evan Spiegel rubbing your shoulder. Porsche.
Starting point is 00:25:20 No, I like Evan. Porsche. I like Evan. I'm sorry that he's got some troubles, but I like him. All right, Scott. I have to get out of here. I've got to go. Yeah, I know. I've got to go have coffee. Hillary Clinton, blah, blah like Evan. Portia. I like Evan. I'm sorry that he's got some troubles, but I like him. All right, Scott. I have to get out of here. I've got to go have coffee. Hillary Clinton, blah, blah, blah.
Starting point is 00:25:29 I know. I have to interview her, and I have a little pre-interview thing. I'm going to go. And what's the most important question you're asked? Well, it's changed this week because of the pipe bombs and stuff like that. But I was going to talk to her about the midterms, obviously, Russia, because she was right in my last interview about what the Russians had done. So I'm going to let her take a little victory up on that.
Starting point is 00:25:47 I think the elections, the impact of the Clintons, whether they – you know, this whole – whether they should be around. I think I have to ask her about her comments about Monica Lewinsky. Just order the 21-year-old giving a president a blowjob, non-abusive power lunch special. I am going to – we have to talk about it. We have to talk about that. But I think this thing today, these attacks on Democratic, it's sort of moved everything aside. It's really disturbing. What are your views on that?
Starting point is 00:26:12 Do you think it's part of the coarseness of our discussion? No, it's what happens from the coarseness of our discussion. It's what happens, and it's dangerous, and it's scary. And the fact that the president of the United States gets up and says what he says is appalling. I don't even understand how someone could do that. I don't understand how people could work for people that do that. And back to the Clintons, let me ask you this. Clintons aren't our problem.
Starting point is 00:26:37 Do they keep doing what they're doing or do they take a victory lap and exit stage left? I have two minds. I think they should be able to do so. I think she should. I think John Kerry gets to talk. John McCain got to talk. He ran a very unsuccessful election campaign.
Starting point is 00:26:51 And men get to talk after they lose. Women have to skulk away and put on the sackcloth and ashes and shut up. I do get the issues around him, her husband, and everything else. But I wonder, the thing she did was say women's rights are human rights and human rights are women's rights. That took a lot of guts to do that in China back then. I want that Hillary Clinton. Well, the bottom line is we probably picked the wrong Clinton for president, right? She probably should have been president. She's this uber-competent, hardworking person. What a shock. The men got to go first. There you go, right?
Starting point is 00:27:21 Scott, thanks so much. A lasting prediction for the elections. I interviewed Rebecca Tracer this morning, so I'm in a—she wrote a book about women and rage and anger, and I'm in an angry mood today. You're all of those things. I'm today. Today, yes, I am. Anyway, I'm going to stay angry, too.
Starting point is 00:27:33 Thanks. Looking forward to talk to you next week. And by the way, if you have questions for us on the podcast, shoot us an email at pivot at voxmedia.com. Our show is produced by Rebecca Sinanis. Nishat Kurwa is Vox Media's executive producer of audio. Thanks also to Eric Johnson, and thanks for listening to Pivot from Vox Media. Join us next week for more breakdown on all things tech and business.
Starting point is 00:27:56 If you like what you heard, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening. All right, Scott. see you next week. This is Scott Galloway. I founded nine businesses and eight of those nine businesses, a key partner has been QuickBooks, which enables the management team to focus on the levers of really driving value and also provides a dashboard to gain insight into the key operations and finances of the company. QuickBooks has been a pillar of my entrepreneurial efforts. Check out QuickBooks.com.

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