[Ad break]
Kara Swisher · 21:51
Alright. We're back with Scott Galloway. Where are you now right, Scott? Where are you physically?
Scott Galloway · 21:56
I'm in New York.
Kara Swisher · 21:57
And You are back
Scott Galloway · 21:57
in New York. Is, Kara, has anyone heard from spring? What is going on here?
Kara Swisher · 22:02
It's freezing. I'm so over... It's I'm spending a lot of time in the East Coast, and I... I'm so overwinter. I don't even understand how you people deal with it all the time.
Scott Galloway · 22:08
It's done.
Kara Swisher · 22:10
It's done. I'm done. It's cold here today in Oh, Washington it's nice. Anyway, it's wins and fails. There's a lot this week.
Scott Galloway · 22:16
There's a lot there's a lot of good ones. AOC has literally mastered the clap back. Did you see her talk when she... When they went after her that that the the Green Deal was too expensive? And she said, she just is so good. She said
Kara Swisher · 22:28
She's a ticker.
Scott Galloway · 22:29
We're gonna pay for this one way or the other folks. Do you wanna pay for it as a reaction or proactively? And then someone else, some other poor Republican got up there and said that this is elitist telling peep... You know, people they have to retrofit their homes when most people can't afford it. And she said tell the kid in the Bronx who has asthma that this is elitist. I mean, she's just literally mastered the clap.
Kara Swisher · 22:50
Did you see that whole thing she was too emotional? Oh my god. That's what
Scott Galloway · 22:53
they're talking about. She's a rock.
Kara Swisher · 22:55
She's a rock. I have to say that was... Like, do you know what I felt like? I felt like it was like a movie. I was like, she's in the movie, and the star is making the big speech the end before they win everything. You know?
Scott Galloway · 23:05
She's a rock. I... So she's... I I think, by the way, I think her policies are are are, you know, way too left, and I think I think some of them are way off kilter. But gosh. What a... What an inspiring
Kara Swisher · 23:15
people support, by the way, FYI. They just make her. They paint her as that, a socialist.
Scott Galloway · 23:20
Yeah. I got a thing. So two other wins, and then I'll ask you Alright.
Kara Swisher · 23:24
Go ahead.
Scott Galloway · 23:24
I think actually Uber's acquisition of Kareem was a pretty good move. Their
Kara Swisher · 23:27
Take a good idea.
Scott Galloway · 23:28
Their valuation of the private market, a $120,000,000,000.
Kara Swisher · 23:31
Explain. Explain.
Scott Galloway · 23:32
Well, they went after the largest... They've acquired the largest ride hailing company in The Middle East, something called Karim. It's actually a pretty cool company. They
Kara Swisher · 23:39
It is.
Scott Galloway · 23:39
One, they call their drivers captains because they wanted to create this image that the drivers are actually in control and it's not a bad job. Two, they let people pay in cash because a lot of people don't have credit cards. And Uber is smart because Uber is smart enough to recognize that the value of their stock in the private market is inflated, so they're going out and making acquisitions. And I think that's a good move because the only thing these guys have, going back to our previous conversation, is scale. And the other gangster acquisition this week was Spotify buying a company. I might mangle this. Was called Parquet, a podcasting company.
Kara Swisher · 24:12
Another one. They're going heavy into podcasts.
Scott Galloway · 24:14
But this is... This makes a ton of sense, Karen. This kinda hits you and me because effectively, if you look at Spotify, the problem is... And again, we should all listen to Spotify twenty four hours a day because They
Kara Swisher · 24:23
gotta have something else.
Scott Galloway · 24:24
That's exactly right.
Kara Swisher · 24:25
It's They could... It could've gone into video. You know, when the Google was thinking of buying them at one point or looking at them, one of the executives there said, look, we gotta get them fast into video, and that's gonna cost me a fortune. You know what I mean? Like, they've gotta move out of music because you can't make money in music.
Scott Galloway · 24:38
A 100%. When you listen again, you have Spotify on all the time because for every dollar you're spending on Spotify, they're spending a dollar 30 on artist royalties. Because Michael Bolton is used to the good old days and there's basically three or four labels that control everything. They have cartel power and pricing power.
Kara Swisher · 24:53
So they gotta get in another business.
Scott Galloway · 24:55
And what's a great business with huge profit margins? Said the guy speaking into a mic.
Kara Swisher · 24:59
This podcast. So when are they gonna back up the truck for us?
Scott Galloway · 25:02
That's right. I'm ready.
Kara Swisher · 25:04
I'm ready.
Scott Galloway · 25:05
I'm ready. Bring it.
Kara Swisher · 25:06
You know him pretty well. He's a
Scott Galloway · 25:07
nice guy. Bring it.
Kara Swisher · 25:08
Another nice
Scott Galloway · 25:09
Another guy. Parquet. Is it called Parquet who they acquired? Anyways, they acquired another Parquet
Kara Swisher · 25:13
last They also bought Gimlet, obviously.
Scott Galloway · 25:15
Yep. So Yep.
Kara Swisher · 25:16
Interesting. Interesting times. Alright. Mine is the EU hitting Google with a third antitrust fine. I think Margaret Bestega, I just did an interview at South by Southwest, is just at least she's moving forward. Whether you like what they're doing or not, they're, like, talking about the issue, and it'll eventually come here with the FTC and some other other other things once The US regulators start to get in the business. But I think that was a pretty big deal. I think it was it was good. I know you don't like fines, but at least they're, like, discussing these issues.
Scott Galloway · 25:45
How big was the fine?
Kara Swisher · 25:46
It was like 1,000,000,000 and some. I forget. Was a lot. It was another big
Scott Galloway · 25:49
So like eleven minutes of cash flow?
Kara Swisher · 25:51
Yes. I know that. But the issue is at least someone's paying attention.
Scott Galloway · 25:55
Yeah. But here's the bottom line is that as long as your business practice gross margins are greater than the risk times the fine I
Kara Swisher · 26:01
know. You pay the fine. Like Steve Jobs used to pay parking tickets because he didn't care. Right. Or Barry Diller does that. He parks everywhere in New York and doesn't care because it costs him more to, like, not park where he's parking, if that makes sense.
Scott Galloway · 26:13
That's a great story. Do you have more of those?
Kara Swisher · 26:15
No. They all do. Do you
Scott Galloway · 26:17
have other parking patterns of famous people?
Kara Swisher · 26:19
You know, I hate to say it, but I did it the other day. I was like, this is gonna cost me $40 to
Scott Galloway · 26:22
park. It
Kara Swisher · 26:22
cost me 40. Who cares?
Scott Galloway · 26:24
That's how you roll.
Kara Swisher · 26:24
And and I may or may not get a ticket, and I didn't get a ticket. So was fine. I was like, I
Scott Galloway · 26:28
for well unicycles? You want a unicycle?
Kara Swisher · 26:30
No. Because I'll carry it in
Scott Galloway · 26:31
with awkward vision.
Kara Swisher · 26:33
It's not a unicycle. It's an electric whatever you call it. It's a... It's this... I saw them in the streets of New York this week, and I was entranced by them. And I thought, I'm gonna have one. I've seen them around Silicon Valley, but I I saw them at work in New York. And I thought, yes. This is me. Mhmm. Yeah.
Scott Galloway · 26:49
I roll in a Gran Torino that gets eight miles per gallon.
Kara Swisher · 26:51
Oh my god. I can't... You know, I wrote about getting rid
Scott Galloway · 26:54
of my cars. It's hugely popular.
Kara Swisher · 26:56
You read my column at all? It was enormously popular in The New York Times.
Scott Galloway · 26:59
Well, of course it was. Well, of course it was.
Kara Swisher · 27:02
Just saying.
Scott Galloway · 27:03
Was the column about? About you giving up cars?
Kara Swisher · 27:05
Gaving up cars. No. Car ownership. Not cars. Car ownership.
Scott Galloway · 27:08
Car ownership. Okay.
Kara Swisher · 27:09
It was good. I got all these mad people in the Midwest. You lived in the farm... Like, I'd never live on the farm in, like, some small place. And keep your car people there. I wasn't telling them not to have it. I said most people in cities where most people are gonna live are not gonna own cars. I think I'm correct.
Scott Galloway · 27:23
I'm about to buy another car.
Kara Swisher · 27:25
Where are you? Why? Where? Where do you drive?
Scott Galloway · 27:28
Dan... Well, I take my kids to school. I'm buying this in Nor... I'm buying the newest biggest BMW ever made. And it says to the world, I am macho. I am German. Have sex with me. He's so interesting.
Kara Swisher · 27:38
What? It's
Scott Galloway · 27:39
just In his BMW. His like BMW the size of a Winnebago.
Kara Swisher · 27:42
At least all your incentives
Scott Galloway · 27:43
are BMW has a new x seven. It's a three row thing. No. No. You. No. Know when you're riding your
Kara Swisher · 27:48
kids, you're selling SUV. Fiesta Turbo is going and that's gonna be the end of it. I'm not gonna have another car. My kids can take public transit. Thank you.
— Predictions segment begins —
Scott Galloway · 27:55
So should we talk about a loser or predictions?
Kara Swisher · 27:57
Okay. Loser. Do one loser, then we gotta go predictions.
Scott Galloway · 27:59
Loser. So... And I know that we'd like to think we're doing this real time, but we do this the day before. So it's Thursday afternoon whenever. Tomorrow morning, Lyft prices.
Kara Swisher · 28:10
Okay.
Scott Galloway · 28:10
So the double entendre here, double prediction. Lyft pops to 100. Supposedly coming out at $71. And then within a year, it's a broken IPO.
Kara Swisher · 28:19
Okay.
Scott Galloway · 28:20
This whole category is a You're Snapchatting it.
Kara Swisher · 28:23
You're saying Snapchatting.
Scott Galloway · 28:23
That's exactly the right analogy. Exactly the right analogy. You're going to have Uber raise more capital. It's going to be a price war. They haven't... There's no network effects. They haven't been able to find, as far as I can tell, another more profitable industry that they're
Kara Swisher · 28:38
cheap I agree. At
Scott Galloway · 28:38
think they
Kara Swisher · 28:39
gotta get bought.
Scott Galloway · 28:39
So a $100 triple digit. And this is, you know, this is gonna age really well or really poorly because this thing comes out tomorrow. Yeah. So I think it supposedly is pricing at 71. First trade is triple digits. And then within twelve months, this is a
Kara Swisher · 28:52
bribe for would you would have it and then get rid of it. Right?
Scott Galloway · 28:56
Get the hell out Yep. Of the
Kara Swisher · 28:57
Okay. Alright. Okay. Alright. That's a good that's a good one. We'll be able to tell.
Scott Galloway · 29:01
Be able
Kara Swisher · 29:01
to tell rather quickly. We'll be able tell. Prediction. That's your prediction. And also prediction. Your fail. Okay. Do have any more predictions?
Scott Galloway · 29:09
Well, I think that's pretty good. What I would say tomorrow what I would say tomorrow is that if that's not right, my tagline is judge me. Or no, wait. No, no, wait. I'm sorry. Love me. Don't judge me. Because I'm going on a limb here. This thing's pricing tomorrow morning. Okay. 25% gain on first trade and then tears for the next twelve months.
Kara Swisher · 29:29
And then we have to watch for the other IPOs. I said I want to do... And then same, what about your predictions for Uber and Airbnb and Pinterest?
Scott Galloway · 29:36
Well, one that we should... I think we should kind of go deeper as we've sort of did with Lyft every time they're about to come out. But the one that is gonna be the gangster IPO of '19 if it happens and the one company that has network effects and will be one of the most valuable companies Airbnb. A 100%. Airbnb.
Kara Swisher · 29:53
Agreed. Great guy runs that company too.
Scott Galloway · 29:55
Oh, really?
Kara Swisher · 29:55
Yeah. He's lovely.
Scott Galloway · 29:57
Do you have a prediction, Kara?
Kara Swisher · 29:59
I think Airbnb. I was gonna say Airbnb, I think, is gonna be the big IPO. And I think it's... It'll be interesting. They definitely face some massive problems around in the in the markets, you know, in terms of people passing laws against what they're doing. And they definitely have to sort it out because people are really unhappy. There was another story in the New York Times about stuff in Miami and facing issues all over the place, especially in certain... There was a neighborhood in my... Near Miami and Florida. You know? And these issues are really... They need to sort them out. Now, thankfully, this is a group of people who are trying to sort them out, but they're they're... Some of them are intractable. They're fighting with hotels. I think unions will be an issue. I think they've got to really start to cooperate with cleaning people. Like, maybe they they do some deal. They've gotta come up with creative solutions because they'll be hitting lots of roadblocks across the country from lots of different things, not just citizens who don't like Airbnbs in their neighbor... Popular neighborhoods, unions, hotels. There's all... You know, politicians, the whole thing. I think they've got a... It's a it's a tough business to handle. But they're very... They're good in that. There's... They're not... And then they've got to find other businesses. They've tried experiences, and it's sort of growing. It's it's... They're well done. They've got some other things. Like, could they do planes? Could... That's a business that's really... Speaking of all these terrible tragedies now. But look at this. Wow. Just went out of business. So just all of a sudden, could they get in other adjacent businesses, and what would they be, and what would that look like? I think that's an interesting thing. But I think that they've changed the way people travel for sure.
Scott Galloway · 31:26
And what do you think is gonna happen with Uber this year?
Kara Swisher · 31:28
I don't know. They'll go public, and we'll look at their numbers and go, are you kidding me?
Scott Galloway · 31:32
Mhmm.
Kara Swisher · 31:32
And then they'll get all the money. They'll get all the money. I don't know. I don't know. I mean, so this is this is a trend that isn't gonna go away. Right? And so how do you make it how do you make it so that it's affordable and at the same time not losing tons and tons of money? Yeah. I'll... I can't wait to see there are numbers. Right? Are they out? No. They're not out yet. Right?
Scott Galloway · 31:50
They're I don't think... Yeah. I don't think it... Yeah.
Kara Swisher · 31:52
You know, you've seen parts of them. You know, it's... They're not good. They're not like, wow. What an amazing thing. Like, it's just it's tough. And I think... But at the same time, they've changed the way we think of things. I just... You know, people use them. It's a... People like the service. But do they like it because it's cheap or they like it because it's convenient? I think both.
Scott Galloway · 32:10
And do you think... I know I'm backtracking here. Do you think six months in Apple Apple's new TV announcement, do you think we'd look back on it as a thud, or does it start to become meaningful?
Kara Swisher · 32:19
I don't know. I just I don't know. I don't know how much commitment they have to this. You know what I mean? Like, I just feel like they have a commitment to devices. And so they've gotta find new ways just like everybody else. You gotta find... You can't just settle on your laurels, you know, and even though they have amazing laurels. I think that's the issue. And I think how committed are they to content and how much expertise they have. Content's tough. You know? And by the way, look, Netflix has been super innovative and interesting. At the same time, they'll run into the wall, right? They've got a million shows. They cut a bunch that people got mad about, the one day at a time and stuff like that. So
Scott Galloway · 32:52
Well, the line in the reads there is Disney. Everyone's kind of waiting to see what Disney does. Yeah. They're the only ones with the assets to really
Kara Swisher · 32:58
Yep. And the expertise. But they don't have good distribution expertise, so it's hard. You know? Gravity hits us all, Scott. That's the way it goes.
— Predictions segment ends —
Scott Galloway · 33:06
Oh my gosh. It's hitting me like a ton of bricks. Have you seen
Kara Swisher · 33:09
That's me about my Onewheel device. I probably should rethink the Onewheel device cause gravity does get us all eventually.
Scott Galloway · 33:15
Yeah. You know
Kara Swisher · 33:15
what mean?
Scott Galloway · 33:15
Oh, it's happening.
Kara Swisher · 33:16
There you go. That's deep. That's my deep thought. Do know, speaking of which, I interviewed this week, and then we'll get to go the the founder of WeCroak, my favorite app, my death quotes app.
Scott Galloway · 33:25
What's it called?
Kara Swisher · 33:27
WeCroak. It gives you five death quotes a day.
Scott Galloway · 33:30
I love... I I I
Kara Swisher · 33:32
was 99¢. They've sold a 100,000 of them. It's not a big business, but it's really interesting.
Scott Galloway · 33:36
So give us an example.
Kara Swisher · 33:37
He doesn't link to anything. He doesn't link to any social media. He doesn't sell anything. He's just selling death quotes. That's it.
Scott Galloway · 33:43
Right.
Kara Swisher · 33:44
I love them. Here, I'll I'll read you one. Here, I'll you one of my death quotes that I just... I save them all the time, and then I read them to my children who hate me
Scott Galloway · 33:50
for I have a few about aging. I'm fascinated aging. I'm 54, but naked, I look 53 and seven eights. Okay.
Kara Swisher · 33:55
We're we're still on that. Okay. Alright. Mary Oliver quote.
Scott Galloway · 33:58
Tell me what Everything's coming together since the scrotum lift, Kara. It's all coming together.
Kara Swisher · 34:03
Tell me... Oh, I just don't know. Tell me what it is you plan to do. Listen to this quote. Listen to this quote. Try to have some depth, Scott. Okay. Tell me what you plan to do with your one wild and precious life. We already know what you're gonna do with that. And then my favorite inspirational. Fuck this guy. I know. Listen to this. That's Mary Oliver. She's a famous poet. She just died. This is my favorite quote. Dorothy Salisbury Davis, don't sell your soul to buy peanuts for the monkeys.
Scott Galloway · 34:30
Don't sell your soul to buy peanuts for the hate it. Mine are better. I hate my life less and less every day. Boom. That's worth a buck 29.
Kara Swisher · 34:37
Don't sell don't sell your soul to buy peanuts for the monkeys.
Scott Galloway · 34:43
Let's just say There you go. Alright. 99¢.
Kara Swisher · 34:46
I spent my life arguing how I mattered until it didn't matter. Boom. Smith. Alright. That's the kind of thing I get every day, five times a day.
Scott Galloway · 34:54
I'm just saying. That's nice. There's a bunch... Yeah. There's a ton of I'm
Kara Swisher · 34:57
just saying.
Scott Galloway · 34:58
Ton of great stuff on on aging.
Kara Swisher · 35:00
We croak. 99¢. Best 99¢ ever spent.
Scott Galloway · 35:04
Nice.
Kara Swisher · 35:04
Anyway, life is hard. According to Katharine Hepburn, life is hard. After all, it kills you. Done.
Scott Galloway · 35:10
There you go.
Kara Swisher · 35:11
Thank you. Scott, next week, we'll have plenty to talk about. Yeah. I'm so glad we managed not to talk about Donald Trump this this episode.
Scott Galloway · 35:18
No. Good. Whatever. Good stuff.
Kara Swisher · 35:20
Whatever. Anyway, Rebecca Sinanis produces the show. Nishat Kerwa is executive producer. Thanks also to Eric Johnson. Thanks for listening to Pivot from Vox Media. We'll be back next week with more of a breakdown of all things tech and business. If you like what you heard, please subscribe, rate, and review Pivot on Apple Podcasts. Goodbye from the father and mother of the Internet.
