Pivot · Jun 9, 2023

PGA Tour's Mysterious Merger, Instagram's Pedophile Problem

Automatic transcript of the end of the episode, from 47:03. Speakers are labeled by software and may contain errors. Highlighted passages are Scott’s predictions.

Kara Swisher · 47:03 In Uber, a lot of people on the board were like, we... And it was right around the Khashoggi stuff. We're trying to get them off, you know, because of the, obviously, the implications of that. Anyway, well done, Yasser, but you're you're sports washing, and it doesn't matter what you do. You're still sports washing. And, Jay, go fuck yourself. Correct? Is that the correct answer Scott Galloway · 47:22 for you? I agree with the latter part of that. I I think American companies and organizations should engage commercially and financially with the kingdom. Kara Swisher · 47:30 They're still sports watching. Scott Galloway · 47:31 No doubt. And and whatever. And a midlife... And a lot of men spend a lot of money on sports teams to impress their fourth wife and pretend they're never gonna die. Kara Swisher · 47:40 I get it. They also didn't kill a journalist and dismember him. Scott Galloway · 47:42 Okay. But but at some point, does that... Okay. So do we no longer engage with with the kingdom forever? No. Kara Swisher · 47:49 No. Not at all. But this is a this is a win this is a win for them. Scott Galloway · 47:53 100%. And guess Kara Swisher · 47:54 what? We wouldn't let the Chinese Scott Galloway · 47:55 do it. Wins a lot. Kara Swisher · 47:57 Wouldn't wouldn't let the Chinese have the deepest bogus. They wouldn't... We wouldn't let them do it ever. Ever. Scott Galloway · 48:03 Think of it. An interesting think point. Kara Swisher · 48:05 I think that's an interesting point. Would you let Scott Galloway · 48:07 the Chinese take over PGA? Kara Swisher · 48:09 Or the tennis tour? Never. Scott Galloway · 48:13 They've taken over media, Kara. Kara Swisher · 48:15 They're trying. They're... With TikTok, certainly. Scott Galloway · 48:18 They've taken over. Under the age of 25, they have taken over media. Kara Swisher · 48:21 Yes. Yes. That is correct, which meet... But people are all up in arms about it. So Some Scott Galloway · 48:26 of us. Kara Swisher · 48:27 Well, some Scott Galloway · 48:27 of us. Kara Swisher · 48:29 Of us are. Anyway, in any case, Jay, go fuck yourself. Scott and I agree, you should go fuck yourself. Scott Galloway · 48:34 You know what's shocking that's present me? Golf is on a tear. Kara Swisher · 48:36 Is it? Scott Galloway · 48:37 Golf is doing really well. I just met with this guy, Angus, from a Scottish private equity firm just because I'm Scottish and trying to figure out a way to work more with Scotsman, and they're investing in this fantastic concept called Putt Shack. I love anything that gets families out of the house and together. Kara Swisher · 48:54 Do you golf? Scott Galloway · 48:55 It's techno... I used to golf, and then I decided once I got out of the service industry and no longer felt the need to have father son relationships with clients, I gave it up forever. I can't... I I I... If I've never played golf again, I'm fine. Anyways Kara Swisher · 49:08 The Swisher boys play golf. Scott Galloway · 49:10 It's a it's a wonderful sport, it's addictive. But these things are amazing. You go, and it's like... It's called... It's kinda technology driven golf, and they do all these fun holes and you can drink, and then it tells you what your score is and gamifies it. Anyways, I'm thinking about investing in putchak. Kara Swisher · 49:26 Okay. Putchak. Okay. Scott Galloway · 49:27 Putchak. But golf is on fire. Get this. Rounds played in 2021 increased 19%. About 20% of American sports fans follow golf compared to American football. I thought golf... Ten years ago, I would have guessed that golf was a structure... In structural decline, and it's not. Yeah. It's doing really well. Alright. Kara Swisher · 49:44 Anyways. Pickleball. Pickleball, everybody. Okay, Scott. Let's get... If if the foundries come for pickleball, I'm getting in their way. Okay, Scott. Let's, pivot to a listener question. Scott Galloway · 49:55 You've got you've got I can't believe I'm gonna be a mailman. You've you've got mail. Speaker · 49:59 Hey, Karen, Scott. I'm wondering if you guys have a take on the chaos that's been going on on Reddit this week. Reddit announced that ahead of their IPO going public later in 2023, they are going to begin charging third party apps for use of their API, which will force most of these third party apps to shut down and funnel the majority of users to the official Reddit app. I'm curious how a company like Reddit, presents themselves as a profitable company to investors without alienating a user base that is by and large pretty resistant to being advertised to, or becoming the commodity in terms of eyeballs that are sold to advertisers. Thanks. Bye. Kara Swisher · 50:43 That's a great question. We were gonna talk about Reddit because they had layoffs this week about 90 people at 5% of the workforce. They definitely are mad about these... Angry about these API changes. A lot of people are doing this. Twitter's doing it. Many people are charging for API. They say third party apps help with issues like accessibility for visually impaired people. Many of Reddit's volunteer moderators use bots to help with moderation tasks. These bots cost money after the API change. Many Reddit communities plan to go dark on, June 12 in protest, but most networks ban third party apps. Twitter did it. There there are all of them. You can't do it with Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, the popular third party app for YouTube shutdown after a legal threat from Google. My sons use Reddit all the time for video, and at some point, they need to make money from all that usage presumably. Scott Galloway · 51:31 You know, isn't that precious that there's apps and APIs that don't wanna be charged money for something that was free? And there's two sides of the trade. Go somewhere else that brings you the same value that's free. Kara Swisher · 51:41 But this is a company that was more shaggy than others. Scott Galloway · 51:44 It's a for profit firm. It's got investors. It's got employees with stock options that want their own economic security. This is about... And I understand there's a nice vibe there and a nice culture. I I think this will be almost meaningless. There'll be a loud, vocal minority that'll take to Twitter. There'll be a few high profile. You know? Birkenstock will remove their presence from Amazon. Kara Swisher · 52:05 So that's Birkenstock than dude at Reddit, but go ahead. Scott Galloway · 52:08 And Reddit is prepping for an IPO. Mhmm. This will Kara Swisher · 52:13 Which they've had to delay. Scott Galloway · 52:14 Is that right? I mean, but clear. I think Reddit is phenomenal. I think they do a great job. And Yeah. But I just don't... I I think this is what every other company that's serious about profitability and going public does, and there's two sides of the trade. If if you're unhappy, go somewhere else. Kara Swisher · 52:30 Yeah. One of the things that reminds me of many years ago, Twitter used to be super third party app friendly, and then one day, they weren't. And I remember the meeting. They had, you know, they had those Twitter... They had had those... I forget what it's called, the bird conference or whatever. I was at it with... I think Dick Costa was the CEO, and everybody was up in arms that they had sidelined a lot of the third party apps. They had encouraged them for years so people would use Twitter. And then they're like, guess what? The Twitter app is all that counts. And and I I remember a lot of these third party app people being shocked. Like, they're like, Kara, can you believe it? I'm like, yeah. Like, you're you're you're riding off their dime. Facebook did the same thing when it cracked down for lots of reasons on third party apps. It is about the business, whether it's Facebook or Instagram, TikTok, or Twitter, or any of these things charging for... It's... It seems inevitable. I don't... You know? It's a nice thing to be able to give, but they need to make money. Correct? Scott Galloway · 53:30 100%. Kara Swisher · 53:30 That's it. That's where it is. Scott Galloway · 53:32 We're sisters from another mother on this. Kara Swisher · 53:33 Tonight, we're agreeing on so many things. Third party apps can... Other groups do push it. Mastodon and other Fetaverse services encourage developers to build their own apps, and it can create a really exciting ecosystem. Often, the company buys the most popular of those in the end, you know, the one that's most creative, and it does. It definitely leads to creativity around usage of these things because the companies... You have to wait for the company's app to update or be... To add features and stuff like that. So there are good parts of these third party apps. But ultimately, they always end up being, you know, at the mercy of the bigger companies, and they change... They always end up charging or limiting or whatever. Scott Galloway · 54:11 They give it away to build traffic and affinity, and then they start typically charging. That's the model. And Yep. I think as a percentage of gross revenue, retailers on Amazon, third party retailers have gone from something like 24% of revenue to Amazon to 50. I mean, is just Yes. This is how the game is played. Bigger question is, is this specific industry, and I don't know what you would call this subset of this industry, is it so concentrated that they have monopoly power and they need to be broken up? I think that's a fair question that should be asked. But as Kara Swisher · 54:40 Absolutely. Scott Galloway · 54:41 But as it relates to a group of people, you know, getting upset, well, okay. You know? Yeah. Kara Swisher · 54:47 Well, Amazon gets some ads. Scott Galloway · 54:48 Expensive than a mixed reality headset. Kara Swisher · 54:51 Stop with that. I'm gonna see it. I'm so excited to see it. Scott Galloway · 54:54 Oh god. Kara Swisher · 54:55 In any case, Reddit person, sorry. So sorry. Guess what? It's... It is capitalism after all. The the CEO, Steve Hoffman, probably would say the same. Anyway, if you got a question of your own that you like answered, send it our way. Go to nymag.com/pivot to submit a question for the show or call 85551 Alright, Scott. One more quick break. We'll be back for predictions. [Ad break] — Predictions segment begins — Kara Swisher · 56:31 Okay, Scott. Let's hear a prediction. I've been... This is the third prediction I got right. I'm just saying. I'm getting good at it. I'm learning at your feet Scott Galloway · 56:38 Oh, yeah. Kara Swisher · 56:39 So to speak. Scott Galloway · 56:41 So mine are... My... I have two that are really boring. The first is Jay Monahan. I love the term that someone used for Chris Licht that he'd lost the room. Mhmm. Jay Monahan has lost the locker room. Kara Swisher · 56:52 Ah, Scott Galloway · 56:52 yes. I can't imagine how many golfers who stood to make 10 to $100,000,000 Kara Swisher · 57:00 Right. Scott Galloway · 57:00 Over the next few years have now been totally Posed. Totally fucked. Because now they work for the same monopoly they used to, and Liv's gonna say, oh, okay. Great. You know, you're now in a worse negotiating position than you were. And they're like, Jay, we fucked up. We believed you. Kara Swisher · 57:18 Mhmm. Scott Galloway · 57:18 Yeah. I think that he's gone. Kara Swisher · 57:21 Yeah. All the agents must be calling him. Scott Galloway · 57:22 And I think that that in order... They'll they'll try and put a good face on it and say, and Jay will declare victory and say this is a good moment for me to move on. He's out. And then I think the next big issue we're gonna hear about in the present Maybe Kara Swisher · 57:38 he could work at CNN. But go ahead. Scott Galloway · 57:40 There you go. There you go. Just... Yeah. Did I tell you Chris looked off for me a show, and then he was fired eleven days later? Kara Swisher · 57:47 Earlier. You're you're you're typhoid Mary, as you said, but go ahead. Scott Galloway · 57:51 Oh my god. Kara Swisher · 57:51 Yeah. That's not happening, Scott. Scott Galloway · 57:53 Just FYI. No. I've gotten used to that. I've gotten used to my face for podcasting. Kara Swisher · 57:56 Very nice Amy Antellis. You stay away Scott Galloway · 57:58 from her. Yeah. No. Yeah. Trust me. No one's gonna call me. Anyways... And then I think the political hot potato that's about to emerge in the presidential race, especially on the Republican side as they go after Biden, is, the listening station and facility that the Chinese are building in Cuba. Oh. That's gonna be a big deal. Kara Swisher · 58:17 I agree. I agree. For people who don't know, there's this report in several news organizations that China is paying Cuba to create a listening station a 100 miles from The US, which, of course, they would do. It's sort of the Cuban Missile Crisis two point o cyber version. I think it's a big deal. Scott Galloway · 58:34 Do you have any predictions? Kara Swisher · 58:35 I do. I do think the entry of Chris Christie into this depress I Scott Galloway · 58:39 didn't see that. How was it? Kara Swisher · 58:41 Oh, he's so funny. He's so... He's really good. Scott Galloway · 58:44 He's Kara Swisher · 58:44 so You know, a friend of mine worked for him when he was a prosecutor in New Jersey, a federal prosecutor, and said he's the most talented speaker, you know, argument argument maker. That... And not a not a fan of his politics in any way, but was like... Had to give it to him kinda thing. And I gotta agree. He's he's already on the move doing really good explanations of why Trump sucks. He's being the flag jacket, and he's... I don't know if it's effective, but I have to tell you, my... Again, my mom was like, well, did did Trump cause all that deficit? I didn't know. Like... And now... And it was inter... I was like, oh, yeah. And she goes she goes, well, that's terrible. And I'm like, interesting. Like, right? Like, works. I think he's gonna be a really interesting... I think he's gonna... People think he's not gonna be effective. I think he's gonna be very effective at at calling out a lot of the the Trump stuff that's ridiculous. Just, you know, the Scott Galloway · 59:36 Chris Christie comes across as authentic. Kara Swisher · 59:38 He does. He's really... I mean, he was way too close with Trump, obviously, but... And that's where that's where he'll get dinged. It's like you liked him until you hated him, but you know what? That... So what? So what? I don't care about that. He also did a really good thing. I guess Trump calls him fat, which is sort of pot kettle kind of situation. Mhmm. He had a great comeback for that too. It's just he's really good at... It's really a mistake to argue with him. I think he's gonna be effective. That's my prediction. That's my prediction. Scott Galloway · 1:00:03 I like it. Kara Swisher · 1:00:04 Mike Pence, less so. Although he was pretty firm against Trump. What he did, interestingly, I'll finish on this, was on Abash. He was on CNN. A very good interview. Dan did a good job. He said, anyone who violates the constitution should never be president. Anyone who tries to make someone violate the constitution shouldn't be president. He's referring to Trump. Scott Galloway · 1:00:22 Mhmm. Kara Swisher · 1:00:23 And then she asks, will you support the Republican nominee? And he goes, yes. No matter who. Scott Galloway · 1:00:27 Okay. That makes sense. Kara Swisher · 1:00:31 Like, you're like, oh, god. Mike Pence. Mhmm. Consult the bible immediately because this is really crazy. Alright, Scott. That's the show. We'll be back on Tuesday with more pivot and lots of news, I think. The indictment for Trump is coming down. There's all kinds of stuff. Well, hopefully, the haze will be gone. Please read us out. — Predictions segment ends — Scott Galloway · 1:00:47 Today's show was produced by Lara Niemann, Evan Engel, and Taylor Griffin. Ernie Intertaught engineered this episode. Thanks also to Gibralose and Mil Savario. Make sure you subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Thank you for listening to pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media. We'll be back next week for another breakdown of all things tech and business. Two things. The first is lucky. The second is Jell O shots. Kara Swisher · 1:01:15 They had Jell O shots at at the at the event, by the way. They were good. Yeah. Scott Galloway · 1:01:20 Let's do those in college. [Ad break]