Pivot · Mar 15, 2019

LIVE! From SXSW it's Kara and Scott

Automatic transcript of the end of the episode, from 15:57. Speakers are labeled by software and may contain errors. Highlighted passages are Scott’s predictions.

Kara Swisher · 15:57 He was like, you know, he stood up and yelled and screamed. It didn't work. Developers. It was like developer. But that was so good. That was so good. So so again, the the antitrust is probably the way this is gonna go down. But who's going first? Who's gonna get... Is it Amazon? Is it Google? Is it... I'm going to go with Google. Scott Galloway · 16:14 Why do you think it's Google? What What do they gets broken up? Kara Swisher · 16:18 I think they pull apart the advertising from the search maybe, something like that. Because I think they have the most history of being investigated. I think they've got it's hard to, and with Facebook, I suppose Snapchat will have to turn on them in some way and prove. You'd have to use Snapchat as the net scape of that. Because in this latest round with Mark, we even talked about it with Mark proposed, it's literally Snapchat. He's like private messaging is really important and public posting is not as good. And I'm like, what? It's called Snapchat, right? Like I'm pretty sure that's called. He's going right for their heart. Scott Galloway · 16:53 Yeah, if you were more honest, you would call the next version of Instagram Snap. Kara Swisher · 16:56 Right. Scott Galloway · 16:56 Right. Exactly. Kara Swisher · 16:58 Well, I always say that Evan Spiegel is Facebook's Chief Product Officer. Scott Galloway · 17:02 But speaking of antitrust and Facebook and Snap, so I don't know if you saw, but T Mobile and Sprint are threatening have said we want to merge to create a third competitor. And the DOJ and attorneys general in Florida, Tennessee and New York have said, oh, we've got to look into this. This is a threat. The total user base of a combined Sprint and T Mobile is 130,000,000 people. Integrating across one communications platform, Facebook, Instagram and Messenger, is 2,700,000,000 people. Kara Swisher · 17:32 Right. Scott Galloway · 17:33 So one of two things is happening. Either the call to restrain the merger of T Mobile and Sprint is insane, or we should have been looking at this crazy notion that one man who's a college dropout who started his career with a website evaluating women on their physical appearance, who is, in my view, a broken sociopath, we are going to give him and cannot be removed from his job, by the way, cannot be fired, cannot be booted out of office, cannot be diselected, and billionaires never go to jail, so he will be around. We are gonna put him in charge of the communications backbone of a population greater than the some of the Southern Hemisphere. But oh, no, don't let T Mobile and Sprint merge. Kara Swisher · 18:19 Broken sociopath? Scott Galloway · 18:21 I think that's kind, right? I mean, seriously, I wrote about this in my He would Kara Swisher · 18:28 be so hurtful. Scott Galloway · 18:29 I wrote this in my blog today. Kara Swisher · 18:32 Had Are a sociopath? Scott Galloway · 18:33 I had an individual at work last week go out with me and got so upset with me, this person started crying because she felt I had really let her down. And I mean, I'm getting emotional with them. Totally fucked with me. I couldn't sleep. The next day, I felt you know, when you feel a little depressed, like your feet are hollow and you just feel a little light and insecure and like you're gonna to faint if the like the wind could blow you over? No. And I'm like, here are these people. You don't know that? Okay, I know that. Hold me. Hold me. Kara Swisher · 19:04 No. No. Scott Galloway · 19:05 Anyways, anyways, and here are people who are like, oh, the Miami the Miami Marines military is using our platform to incense genocide. Oh, a guy, an innocent guy was pulled out of a car in India and hanged because of a rumor that spread on WhatsApp and we could have limited the number of spreading. I mean, how the fuck do these people get up in the morning? I think it is a I truly admire this about them. I would be a walking set of insecure jambled nerves. Have any two individuals done more damage while making more money than Mark Zuckerberg or Sheryl Sandberg in the history of mankind? Kara Swisher · 19:46 You know I asked him about this. He wouldn't answer. You know I had the blog with him and I asked him six times about this. I said, How do you feel about Scott Galloway · 19:55 And he kind of, he said, I Kara Swisher · 19:56 feel No, said, No, he did not say I feel fine. He wouldn't answer it. So I said, How do you feel about what happened to Myanmar in India? And he goes, You know what I like, Kara? Fixing things that are broken. And I was like, Okay, but you broke them. So how did that happen? How did you break it? Goes, I like to look at the future. I like to lean into the future and figure out solutions. I'm a solutions based guy. And I was like, yeah, got that part. But you broke it. So I'd like to know how you broke it. Then we can figure out how to fix it. And he goes, together, we should all try to fix it. I said, yeah, but I didn't break it. You broke it. Like, you killed it. Your fault. I know. And it went on like that. It was kind of, it's like talking to one of my teens. Like, you made the mess of the room or you were smoking pot or whatever the hell the topic is of the week at my house. And so he literally wouldn't do it. And six times, he finally did get frustrated. He goes, well, what do you want me to say? And I said, might start with I feel terrible. And then we can go from there. Like, that's great. Scott Galloway · 20:50 But Kara, we need to do better. But we're proud of the progress we've made. And Kara, what kind of internet do we want? What the fuck? I'll tell you. Kara Swisher · 21:00 Oh my god. Scott Galloway · 21:01 How about an Internet that doesn't depress our teens? How about an Internet that doesn't catalyze genocide? How about an Internet that doesn't hollow out the middle class? Let's start with those zeros and ones. Speaker · 21:11 I'm down with that Internet. Okay. Kara Swisher · 21:12 All right. Thank you. Are you running for president? Because everyone else who is Way Scott Galloway · 21:16 too many skeletons. Kara Swisher · 21:16 I know. That's true. That's a fair tip. I just literally had that conversation of we're that what you just said at the beginning of that. I literally had that conversation with someone rather prominent on that. We're working as hard as we can, and we know that we've made mistakes. Scott Galloway · 21:29 We're doing as much as we Kara Swisher · 21:36 Texas. [Ad break] Speaker · 22:55 if we added that this magical substance can dramatically lower your cholesterol, improve your mood, and keep your weight stable. [Ad break] Speaker · 23:08 But what is fiber? How could one nutrient do all those amazing things? And how can you get enough? Is a powder you stir into some [Ad break] Kara Swisher · 23:30 Welcome back to Pivot listeners. Now back to our live show at South by Southwest from Austin, Texas. All right. We're going to move on to one thing because we're to have a question from the audience. Wins and fails this week. What are your wins and fails? I'm going to do one. I just interviewed Kathy Griffin. I recommend that you watch that. It was an astonishing interview about what happened to her after she put up the photo of Donald Trump where she was holding his head, which was some people the worst she could say is a tasteless joke. Was Which is mistake. But she's a comic. They do them all the time, right? She was she's on the no fly list. She was investigated by the Scott Galloway · 24:06 Justice And hasn't Department been able make a living. Kara Swisher · 24:08 She was utterly canceled by the Internet. She's been stalked by Nazis. She's stalked by it was an incredibly fascinating conversation. And it shifted her viewpoint of what kind of comic she is. She's like, used to be able to talk about Desperate Housewives and make fun of them. And now, she's talking about politics and things like that. Incredibly funny. Think this is, she's trying to, she's not, no one will run this amazing documentary that she's made, which I love. It's a great documentary. And none of the people in Hollywood will touch it right now. But, was in a I was super surprised because most people think of her in a certain way and she really is talking about these issues of canceling people because of something and how the Trump right wing thing went into full gear and sort of just ruined Scott Galloway · 24:53 him. I think it's our fault though. I think that we have become we created this environment where we have this gotcha culture where you get virtue points for being offended. And it's very easy to be offended. And the moment you're offended, you're right. And so there's a certain status in being upset or indignant around what people say. I think especially with comedians, I think comedians should be a protected class. I think they should allow to be vulgar, say inappropriate things and realize when Lenny Bruce said really inappropriate things and was arrested, these people ended up being cultural Kara Swisher · 25:28 Yeah, well he was arrested by police departments, not targeted by the Scott Galloway · 25:31 Trump But we on the left are the first to get very indignant or angry at anything. So when someone says something about the right, they hold us accountable and say, You know what, Kathy Griffin shouldn't be doing that. So my sense is we have to, your beliefs are Alex Trebek who's dying, I don't know why, I'm just like a huge fan of Alex Trebek. And I started reading about him. And he's had this great quote, he said, Don't tell me what you believe, I'm going to observe your behavior and I'll make a decision around what you believe. And we spend so much time getting angry at other people and being indignant Kara Swisher · 26:04 Just like like you just you just did, but go Scott Galloway · 26:06 I'm just waiting. At some point, I'm going to say something stupid and fuck up on this show and my career is going be over. I literally think there's like a 10% chance anytime I'm on stage I'm about to end it all. And the reality is if we don't be a little bit more generous with people and say, yeah, was a stupid thing to say, call them out and then move on, not call for them to be fired, not have petitions that they shouldn't be able to perform, then the right is going to hold us to the same standard. So we all need to I think we need to move out of this. Kara Swisher · 26:36 Well, her case though, she got death threats and they were astonishing death threats and Yeah, that's out of stuff like that. She got like mail bags full of death threats. What was fascinating, because now she's best friends with the FBI because they bring her all the threats and stuff like that, and she loves the FBI. Scott Galloway · 26:50 Samantha Bee, your friend. Kara Swisher · 26:51 Samantha... This is Kathy Griffin, but Samantha Bee also had a... Same thing. We were walking in New York and there was someone following us. I said, Who is that? And she's like, That's my security because of one errant feckless we know what the word was. It was feckless cunt. So, she called him aka trucker. Scott Galloway · 27:09 So, you can say that. Kara Swisher · 27:10 Well, Scott Galloway · 27:10 And if we were in Britain, could all say it. Right. But you're a straight white guy, never ever Kara Swisher · 27:17 All right. Scott Galloway · 27:18 Ever say that. Kara Swisher · 27:19 In any case. I don't think you have to say it anytime recently. That's okay. Besides the point, the point I was making is she's what was fascinating, she got a lot of she decided Trump people liked stamps and so they sent her a lot of letters. And a lot of them put their return address with these death threats. The return address. Scott Galloway · 27:38 These are dumb psychos. Kara Swisher · 27:39 Yes, exactly. So she would give it to the FBI and they're like, oh, we'll look into this. She goes, well, the return address is right there. And they're like, oh, okay, this will take three minutes. Okay, it was like it was kind of an odd thing. All right, you're a win or fail? Scott Galloway · 27:52 I think Senator Warren. I don't I personally, unfortunately, don't think that a progressive from a blue state can take the election. I think we're going to need someone from a Colorado. I it's going to be difficult for someone who's seen as very liberal to win Pennsylvania and Colorado and Florida and the states we need. But I think Senator Warren actually putting some meat on the bones beyond a platitude, I think that's the win. And I think she's identified herself as the intellectual leader of the Democratic Party. But I want to go back to just the media text because you and I haven't talked about this, but do you realize the right, specifically News Corp? There's a very dangerous thing going on right now and I think it happened to Samantha Bee, I think it happened to Kathy and I think it's happened to you a little bit. And that is emerging progressive powerful female voices come under a coordinated attack from media on the right. There was a I don't even dignify the story, but there was a story about a media executive, progressive emerging female voice, and there was a coordinated attack against her from the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and Fox. And it's no accident it was all three of them. So there is what I would call and I was trying to think, does the left do that? Do progressive do they all coordinate and go after emerging Kara Swisher · 29:17 They're not quite as organized. It's really it's interesting. With me, it's only Tucker fucking Carlson. I mean, really. Such a douche. [Ad break] Scott Galloway · 29:27 I've been on Tucker Carlson. I know Kara Swisher · 29:28 you love him. What's the Scott Galloway · 29:30 you don't love him. Do think he's good looking? Kara Swisher · 29:32 Okay. I Scott Galloway · 29:35 think the guy that everyone I just think he's got the bow tie. I think he's kind of dreaming. I would make out with Tucker. Really? Kara Swisher · 29:41 Do you know what I always said about him? Scott Galloway · 29:43 What's that? Kara Swisher · 29:43 He's the guy I dated before I became lesbian. Anyway, he sort of moved me oh yeah, okay, for sure. Scott Galloway · 29:51 Male Yeah, it pushed you over Kara Swisher · 29:52 the edge? Right over the edge. I mean, like 10 miles into the border. Scott Galloway · 29:56 I was thinking about it, but now I'm sure. Now I'm sure. I've also found that I think it's fun to objectify people and I find as long as I objectify men, I'm fine. Kara Swisher · 30:07 Okay. All right. All right. But I do agree with you. I had some wrangling with News Corp and their tactics just with Walt and I. I haven't gone into them in detail, but it was an someone warned me, a very high ranking News Corp executive when we were leaving, they said, They're going come and get you. And I was like, How ridiculous. We're so small. And they did so many dirty, sneaky tactics. It was really it was riveting. Scott Galloway · 30:28 But did we start? I think there should I don't call them protected classes, but I think it's important comedians are given the cloud cover to say inappropriate things. Kara Swisher · 30:34 Okay. Scott Galloway · 30:35 I think it's important journalists have a certain code that we're out there, we're trying to protect. Journalists' job is to protect the governed, not to protect the governors. And in order to do that, you have to give them a little bit of license and credibility. And there was a whole industry set up to make a lot of people on the right just look stupid every day. And so now they've adopted that industry and they go after and coordinate and tax people on the left. And I feel like the media has been the most effective FBI not to carry guns and badges in the history of mankind. And when too much of their energy is spent going after each other, I just think it's I think we need more reverence for what I'll call legitimate media in the journalists. Yeah. I'd sort of loosely include you in that, Kara. Kara Swisher · 31:16 Thank you. Scott Galloway · 31:17 Thank you. Kara Swisher · 31:17 Appreciate it. Scott Galloway · 31:18 But anyways, I don't know where we were going. — Predictions segment begins — Kara Swisher · 31:20 All right. So predictions, very quickly and then we have questions from the audience. We just have another fifteen minutes left. Prediction. Scott Galloway · 31:25 So this is the year that Tesla absolutely implodes. The and I've just been reading about all the people in accounting and finance. I've run companies, not big companies, but I've run small and medium sized companies. And it's really true, this isn't a platitude, the team of the best players wins. And if you look at how many people are leaving that company, I mean at some point there's no one even to like drive the damn cars off the assembly line. So I think this is the in addition, key to a successful the key to Google and Facebook was A, their genius and their technology talent, but it was also the fact that the media industry had been raising prices faster than inflation while viewership went down. So Academy Awards commercial thirty second spot thirty years ago to reach 55,000,000 people was a $250,000, now to reach 25,000,000 people is $3,000,000 So they set themselves up for disruption and in came these fists of stone called Facebook and Google. The auto industry is not ripe for disruption. Cars are amazing. They're better and they're less expensive than they were. So a combination of a robust industry, an individual who the key to a manager, really the key at some point is you're just all about retention. It's all about figuring out how you key people in your company. Would you And he is failing. Kara Swisher · 32:38 Okay. Would you say though he's moved forward the idea of this self driving car idea and stuff like he has been the Scott Galloway · 32:43 So is the question, is Tesla going to fail or will Tesla change the world for the better? The answer is yes. Kara Swisher · 32:52 Okay, for both of them. All right. Okay. All right. I'm going to predict Last week, last week, I had the I was at Lesbians Who Tech which Scott Galloway · 33:02 Oh, so was that? Oh, an MSN. Kara Swisher · 33:03 No, you weren't. Scott Galloway · 33:05 Lesbians Who Tech, LWT, is that a hot ticket? Kara Swisher · 33:08 It is a hot ticket. It is a hot, it's a great, it's actually Where Scott Galloway · 33:11 does that happen? Kara Swisher · 33:12 In the Castro Theater, it's a thousand screaming geek lesbians, it's fantastic, it's wonderful. It's great. Anyway, I've interviewed Mark Benny off there, I've interviewed Sheryl Sandberg. They all like the audience and stuff like that. And this year, I did Susan Wojcicki. Interviewed her and also Lorraine Powell. And she I'm going predict this because she said it out loud, that she will be buying some more big media She said that. She's open. What's left open? Scott Galloway · 33:35 I Kara Swisher · 33:35 don't know, I don't know. But I think she's looking for some big even bigger investments than she's made in The Atlantic and other places. Scott Galloway · 33:41 Mean, Marc Benioff bought Time. Time. That's the weakest flex in the world, isn't it? I mean, do what any good midlife crisis guy does and buy the Mavericks. Okay. I mean but Ben, I mean buying time, is that going to get you into the med ball or get you a date with Carly Kloss? I don't think so. If you're going to have a midlife crisis, do it right. Kara Swisher · 34:08 All right. What do you think she should buy? Scott Galloway · 34:10 I don't know what's left. What are some great media properties that are left other than TV? I don't you know, the Times won't be sold. Washington Post has been purchased. I was sincere in my question. Don't know why. Kara Swisher · 34:23 Maybe she'd make a big investment in something. I've been trying to get her to give $1,000,000,000 to New York Times. Scott Galloway · 34:28 New York Media, I think New York Magazine does a fantastic job. Conde Nast will begin selling itself. Kara Swisher · 34:33 There were rumors of New York magazine getting invested in by Ev Williams. She could, she could do that. Scott Galloway · 34:39 That's right. There's some great Conde Nast properties. At some point, the new houses will get sick of the shit show that's been Conde Nast for the last twenty years, ten years Kara Swisher · 34:46 All right. Scott Galloway · 34:47 And start selling iconic properties there. Would fun to own Vanity Fair, right? Kara Swisher · 34:50 Right. Scott Galloway · 34:51 Don't know. Kara Swisher · 34:52 All right. Scott Galloway · 34:52 But she's invested in The Atlantic. — Predictions segment ends — Kara Swisher · 34:54 The Atlantic Pop Up Magazine and several others, smaller ones. She's been doing a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Alright, so questions from the audience? We would like some great ones. Let's start here and then go here and then in the back. Speaker · 35:07 This is a question for Scott. Kara Swisher · 35:09 Can you stand up and identify Can you Scott Galloway · 35:10 introduce yourself? My name Speaker · 35:11 is Mark Hu. I work for Amazon. This is a question for Scott. Kara Swisher · 35:14 Oh, dear. Scott Galloway · 35:21 So by the way, I just want to be clear, love Prime. Amazon is Amazon seriously, Amazon is the biggest recruiter out of my class. I'll do 190 kids, 17 will go to Amazon this year. I was run over by the recession economically in 2008. I took what little money I had left and I divided it between Apple and Amazon, restored economic security to my household. I love Amazon, I just think you're bad for the planet and bad for society. All Kara Swisher · 35:49 right then. Speaker · 35:50 Have you spoken with Jeff? Have I spoken with Jeff? If you could. Scott Galloway · 35:53 If I could. Speaker · 35:54 What would you tell him and what should he do to if if he was to be broken up? Scott Galloway · 36:00 What would I tell him? First off, never put your finger on, a picture button on your phone. Oh, give me a fucking break. But let me get this supposedly, literally, literally the brightest mind in technology is sending out pictures of his junk. I mean, I've done some really stupid fucking things. Never have I thought, oh, I'm going to sound out of pick a big Ed and the twins. It's literally, it's literally never crossed my mind. There's the moment. Literally never crossed Kara Swisher · 36:35 And I think we just had that moment, but Scott Galloway · 36:36 go So beyond that, okay, my advice to him, my advice to him would be on a business level. I don't know the man would be to spin AWS. I think AWS on the spin, it would prophylactically protect from antitrust and on the spin, it would be one of the 10 most valuable companies I in don't have any advice for him as a person. I don't know him. I'm so I don't but it's been AWS. Kara Swisher · 37:00 I agree. I did interview Andy Jassy and he was sort of pushing down that idea to me pretty clearly saying no. Scott Galloway · 37:06 Everyone I talked to says absolutely no way. Kara Swisher · 37:08 No way. That's right. Eddie said it on stage. Andy Jassy who's been there since he was, I think, 18 years old. Scott Galloway · 37:13 No way. Can't see your reaction so I don't know if you like this or don't like this. I just see your silhouette. Kara Swisher · 37:19 I think one of the things let's get to the next question. I think one of the things about Jeff who I did used to talk to a lot is he's much more stubborn and, you know, he seems like a laughing, friendly guy. He's a tough customer and I think he doesn't listen to very much Scott Galloway · 37:33 By the way, talk about a win of the year, the best handled PR crisis probably since Johnson and Johnson was him turning around and showing courage around that. And he really, I mean, this is the mother of all turning chicken shit into chicken salad. And a lot of it because there was this reservoir of goodwill from every journalist because he's largely seen as someone turned around to save this national treasurer of the Kara Swisher · 37:54 Washington Post. Yeah, that's not why. I think he just did a good job. I think that was very much like him. That was a lot like what he would do, like, fuck you. Like that, I can even if he wasn't the world's richest man, that's kind of his attitude. Scott Galloway · 38:06 What would you tell him to do? What's your advice? You know him. I don't know Kara Swisher · 38:09 He should spin off. Don't He do And, you know, go on a talk to every journalist like myself. My Speaker · 38:17 name is XR. I live in San Marcos, South America. XR? XR. Okay. Scott Galloway · 38:21 By the way, XR, you literally been talking about three seconds. In my next life, I'm coming back as you. Look at Alright. This Kara Swisher · 38:27 Quick quick question. You got six minutes. Hot man. Speaker · 38:30 Stop me. Come on. Look at this guy. Scott Galloway · 38:32 The name XR in that hair. Dude, I have your looks, my rep. We're the junior fucking senator from Pennsylvania, dawg. Boom. Boom. Kara Swisher · 38:42 Nice. Okay. Alright. Speaker · 38:43 I'm I'm Speaker · 38:44 I'm a Scott Galloway · 38:45 Matt O'Rourke. Blah blah blah. XR. XR. I'm sorry. Go Speaker · 38:50 ahead. I'm a reporter for a small paper in Hays County, is South Of Boston. Scott Galloway · 38:54 I'm not here Speaker · 38:54 for work, but because I love listening to you all every Friday. Yeah. But I will say the big news of the week was Mark Zuckerberg's blog post. Kara Swisher · 39:00 Yeah. Scott Galloway · 39:00 And Speaker · 39:00 when it comes to private communication Yeah. Talking about Instagram, Facebook Messenger, or WhatsApp. Look, WhatsApp, when Facebook bought it, already had end to end encryption. But my biggest thing as someone who uses all three is I don't know if I trust Facebook... Speaker · 39:12 You don't know. Scott Galloway · 39:13 You don't know. I don't trust Facebook with end to Speaker · 39:16 end encryption when it comes to the other platforms. Now, know Scott Galloway · 39:19 you all have been Speaker · 39:19 very critical of this, but given their track record and Mark Zuckerberg's, you know, his his rhetoric, his speech about end to end encryption with his other platforms, do you all trust that his company can provide that on their other platforms besides 100%. Kara Swisher · 39:32 No. Right? Scott Galloway · 39:35 So I'm going to bum everybody out. I was just in Africa and I went to the Kigali Genocide Museum. And so as a species, we're really good at genocide. Like We to think it happened once in the middle of the twentieth century and that we learned and we got over it. Keeps happening. Keeps happening, literally. In one hundred days in Rwanda, they killed a million people. Kara Swisher · 39:53 Yes, they do. Scott Galloway · 39:54 And the wonderful thing about this memorial is that they also revisit all the different genocides Sarfur, Armenia, Bosnia Herzegovina. And the one thing that's in common that you have in common with all genocides is you have a centralized media that someone takes control of. Centralized media is bad. Bad. And the idea and I'm not saying anything negative in this instance about Mark or Cheryl, no one individual organization should control 2,700,000,000 private What Kara Swisher · 40:24 is trying to say is it's very hard for individual people to run it's gotten beyond them in a way that is so far beyond them that it's really a little frightening. Years ago, I was talking to one of the founders of Google. I usually couldn't tell them apart. And I said they were I think I wrote something when they were trying to take over Yahoo search and I wrote a piece saying the line I wrote, which is a little not nice, at least Microsoft knew they were thugs. And that was tough. And I was saying that Google was thugs, essentially. And they called them all hurt and like, Oh, that was so mean, Kara, which I get a lot. And I said we're nice people. We're nice people. We're trying our best. That's what they tend to do. And I said, that's fine, but and I had been a student of the Holocaust, the German Holocaust. And I said, you know, I don't know, we're nice people, we have good intentions. And I said, I just wonder if someone like Hitler had gotten a hold of a power like this, what would happen? I said, I think about that all the time. And, of course, they were like, Woah, that's not going to happen. I'm like, Well, how do you know? Like, it was the centralization of power among a small group of people is frightening and it's something that we have to think about. So they have proven themselves time and again to not care about your data since the very beginning and they continue to do it and then apologize for it. And if it happened once, maybe it happened twice, it's happened a dozen times and it continues to happen. And so, at some point, you have to say they're either willfully ignorant of what they're doing or they're just doing it. They don't care. And I think it's not inbred in that company to care about your data. It just and I think there's a lot of nice people there and they're lovely. And when they give you the hang dog look of victims when billionaires act like victims, you just, you know, it's just stop it, like stop it. Scott Galloway · 42:16 And the second level here, think about what is the most important process in the world? Is it when a solar flame comes off the sun, source of all life? Is it the moment of conception that creates so much controversy? I would argue that perhaps the most important process in our species is when intention becomes action. Kara Swisher · 42:31 Yeah. Scott Galloway · 42:31 When you're thinking something and you're angry or you're depressed or you're happy or and then how does that translate to actual actions? And right now, the company that decides 93% of the time, 3,000,000,000 times a day, when people are trying to figure out how intention is going to become action, when people go on and say, how do I overthrow my government? That's an intention. Is the recommended action a voter registration form or instructions on how to build a dirty bomb? And one company decides 93% of the time how your intention should translate to action. And I'm not saying they're evil, but should we have one entity deciding Kara Swisher · 43:08 Facebook that 93% and of Google, right? What's that? It's Facebook and Google together. Scott Galloway · 43:12 Well, but Google, search has its own unique intention and it goes back to antitrust, split up YouTube because in the first corporate strategy meeting of YouTube where they're all trying to get their own jets, they say how are going to grow this thing? Simple. Let's start doing text based search results. And then Google says, you know what, let's get into video. And then we have competitors. Competition is just a wonderful thing for diversity of viewpoint and one of them might raise their hand and they go, you know what, in order to get P and G and Caris Swisher on our side, we're going to be the thoughtful, safe ones that will never ever have controversial content next to kids searches. We just won't We do will make sure. We'll spend billions of dollars making sure an intelligence arm of a foreign government can't weaponize our data. Someone will do it. Right now, P and G and Kara Swisher, we have no choice. Right. You have no choice. Kara Swisher · 44:02 I think that it took them so long to do this pedophile thing. It's just in the comments, anyone. It's just you they're not thinking about it. And because one of the things we talked about recently was proximity. They aren't feeling unsafe. These people don't feel unsafe. They've never been attacked. And one of the big Twitter executives was attacked a couple of years, a year ago on Twitter and said, oh, that was hard. And it was like, welcome to the world of women, people of color, gay people, people marginalized because that's what they get every day on your shitty platform. And so, you know what I mean? Like it was and some of us can take it, some of us can take it but others shouldn't have to. So, it's not that we want to baby people. Anyway, last question in the back right there. Oh, right over here. Was someone Hi. Else in Speaker · 44:43 My name is Amber. I'm a professor of digital advertising at SMU. Be kind to me. I use your book as Kara Swisher · 44:48 a textbook, Scott. Scott? He has a new book coming out called the what is it called? Algorithm? Scott Galloway · 44:53 The Algebra of Happiness. Thanks. It's clear you haven't read it. Kara Swisher · 44:56 No, I have not. The Algorithm of Happiness. We're going to Scott Galloway · 45:00 do a Kara Swisher · 45:00 whole Ricodecode on it. I'll read it before that, probably not. Algebra. Algebra. Scott Galloway · 45:07 You know? Kara Swisher · 45:08 I will read it. Scott Galloway · 45:09 Finally. Know, you need to start investing in this relationship. Kara Swisher · 45:13 Amber, go ahead. Do you think Speaker · 45:15 the aggressive rhetoric against tech by the Democratic candidates will just signal to tech to funnel money to the Republicans out of self preservation? Kara Swisher · 45:24 Good question. Thank you, Amber. That's an excellent question. Scott Galloway · 45:28 I don't know. So, first off, I don't think there's so much controversy. I wrote an article in Esquire talking about the size of big tech and I heard from the same day Senator Warren and Senator Cruz's office. And I thought this really is a bipartisan issue. They all hate tech, they hate them for different reasons. And the thing that people have to realize about tech, on the right, they say that, well, they're biased against conservative voices. And I think we've both talked about this. We know these guys, when they come into work, they don't lean left, they don't lean down, they don't lean left, don't lean right, they lean down. They would They are all about the Benjamins, they don't care if it's far right or far left content. So the notion that they're being biased, I don't see money being funneled in. Tech is geography is important. The majority of tech is in San Francisco which is crazily left, So I still think you're Kara Swisher · 46:19 going They're not see as left as you think. Speaker · 46:20 No. Think You live there, I don't. Kara Swisher · 46:22 Yeah. No, they're more libertarian light, sort of this icky kind of libertarian. They're not even smart about it. You know, I'm socially liberal. It's like it's so it doesn't make any sense when you talk to them largely because nobody has taken a humanities course in their life. Scott Galloway · 46:37 Facebook is what you get when we start when replace in high schools civics courses with CS courses. You get Mark Zuckerberg. Kara Swisher · 46:46 Right. Okay. But one of the things I think they will Zuckerberg: not. I think they will not I think they'll sit it out like they think they did sit it out in the Clinton election. They didn't give her a lot of money, but they're obviously not going to fund Trump. There's no way. Scott Galloway · 47:00 A But lot of tech executives are getting pretty involved. Mean, Reid Hoffman, lot of them are getting involved in trying to Kara Swisher · 47:04 Yes, they will. Some of them will put a lot of money towards it. Some of them won't. But some of them will, I think, sit it out is what you're going to see a little bit more. And, you know, you're not going to see Sheryl Sandberg funding a Republican ever. Don't think that is going to you're going to see that happening or some of the others. So, I doubt that. What I think is that they are I don't think they know where they belong, but what's interesting, there was a great story in The New York Times this week about all the IPOs coming, there's going to be a lot more millionaires and billionaires coming and some of the new ones are quite Kylie Scott Galloway · 47:37 Jenner, right? Kara Swisher · 47:38 Kylie Jenner, apparently. But this I'm thinking about Airbnb, Pinterest, Uber, and the CEO of Airbnb is most certainly leaning left, like Brian Chesky and he's been very thoughtful about immigration. Scott Galloway · 47:51 Mean, come on. Kara Swisher · 47:52 So, there's more money coming from not necessarily those companies, from other places. I think the Uber executives might be more Scott Galloway · 48:00 70% of the Senate is elected by red states because a lot of the smaller states that people don't want to live in get two senators and because they don't have the economic opportunity to lead to leave, you're going to see this enormous woke as a business strategy which leads into what I most of the money is I think going to go to Democrats this time because it show me all the two thirds of the economic growth is moving to 10 cities in The US and it's scary. But show me someone who's an urban dweller, show me someone who lives in a same sex, a household headed by a same sex couple, show me college grads, show me women who are increasingly economically independent, I'm going to show you a Democrat. So you're going to see in the corporate world all of these companies discovering their new woke values. They're all going to decide they want to support Kaepernick. They're all going to not all of them, you're about to see corporate America get in touch with its woke side. It has nothing to do with their principles, it's just the right Kara Swisher · 48:57 shareholder But to describe ahead, go ahead. Scott Galloway · 48:59 What's the word? Speaker · 49:01 Woke. Woke? Kara Swisher · 49:02 Yeah, just What? Whatever. Anyway, keep going. Keep going. Anyway, they're That going to be more They probably are going be progressive. Scott Galloway · 49:09 That was the theme of the last lesbians who woke conference. Do you know, lesbians Was that 10%? That was rolling to die right there. Okay. Speaker · 49:20 That's the Scott Galloway · 49:20 last time we hear from He was cute. It was formal elastic. Kara Swisher · 49:27 Lesbians are so far beyond y'all. It's not even funny. Scott Galloway · 49:30 You were interviewing the cast and you were supposed to interview the cast at L Word. How many people here would like me to interview the cast from the L Word? Kara Swisher · 49:39 Said no one. Scott Galloway · 49:40 Because I have a lot of questions. Kara Swisher · 49:42 Have a Said lot no one, never. I'm not even letting you near Jennifer Beals. I'm just gonna tell you that right now. Speaker · 49:49 What a feeling. Kara Swisher · 49:50 Okay. Stop. And on that note, thank you very much. This is Pivot with Scott Scott Galloway · 49:55 Dell. Access. Kara Swisher · 49:57 Thank you. You. Thank you very much. We'll be doing we'll be doing more of these live shows a lot because, obviously, hello. Hello. But thank you so much for coming, and please listen to Pivot and tell your friends about it. Thank you. Scott Galloway · 50:10 Thank you. Kara Swisher · 50:15 Alright, everyone. This was our first Pivot in front of a live audience at South By Southwest. We'll be back next week in the studio. Rebecca Sinanis produces this show. Nishat Kerwa is the executive producer. Thanks also to Eric Johnson. Thanks to all the extra South by Southwest production crew. Thanks for listening to Pivot from Vox Media. We'll be back next week for more of a breakdown in all things tech and business. If you like what you've heard, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening.

Came true

Resolved Mar 15, 2020 · 12 months after it aired

Pivot #26 · Aired Mar 15, 2019

The New York Times will not be sold to a new owner.

The New York Times Companyen.wikipedia.org

2 more sources

How we graded it

Counts as true if: No sale or change of ownership of The New York Times occurs within the period.

As of October 2026, over seven years after Galloway's March 2019 prediction, The New York Times Company has not been sold and remains publicly traded under Sulzberger family control via the dual-class share structure and the 1997 Trust. No change of control occurred; the company was instead an acquirer (The Athletic, Wordle, Serial Productions) rather than being acquired itself.

Researched and graded by AI on Oct 13, 2026

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