Scott Galloway · 29:24
Base and the... And and the MLB have to pay their players more because there's 42 guys with helmets on, and they never get that much brand equity unless you're Tom Brady. And the same thing in The Mandalorian. They're all wearing costumes and makeup, so they're probably their costs on talent are way lower. Instead, they've got to pay Jennifer Anderson and Reese Witherspoon and Stephen Carell just a boatload of money. Also, the production values, you could see The Star Wars and The Mandalorian. It was kind of 80% of Star Wars for what was probably 20 to 30% of the budget. So as someone who thinks about business, The Mandalorian probably cost a fraction You're a man.
Kara Swisher · 30:02
It probably does.
Scott Galloway · 30:03
Here's morning show cost.
Kara Swisher · 30:04
Here's a... Let me just say, though, Disney has spent a lot of money on online stuff for decades. I've been covering it for decades since Eisner was there who made so many mistakes. It was crazy and things that they bought. They have made so many errors over the years, and they finally are there, I think. They... You know, they bought... Even just recently when they bought Makers and stuff, like, they've been they've been sort of stumbling around. They thought about buying Buzzfeed. They thought about buying Vice and stuff. I gotta say, this is... They finally figured out what they do well is make great content, and they just need to deliver it in a way that's attractive to people. It's just... I... It's taken them a long time to lose their we need to be like techies and they need to be like Disney with better tech is what they need.
Speaker · 30:42
But if
Scott Galloway · 30:42
you look at Hulu, if you look at Peacock, if you look at Amazon Prime, if you look at Netflix, I don't think anyone has had the successful launch
Speaker · 30:51
Yeah.
Scott Galloway · 30:51
That Disney plus has had.
Kara Swisher · 30:53
It's a content.
Scott Galloway · 30:54
But it's so interesting, isn't it? Because it is a content, is a distribution. What is distribution? Is their distribution, their theme parks, and their retail stores? And what's really interesting is you could argue, you could argue. I'm thinking a lot about the streaming wars because I just think it's just fascinating, the war that's broken out this quickly with this level of armament. Would the winners... Somebody asked me yesterday, who are the winners, who are the losers here? And if I had to pick one theme, it would be who can monetize the goodwill and the loyalty you get from media across other high margin categories?
Kara Swisher · 31:25
They can. They bought some good shows. They bought some good shows.
Scott Galloway · 31:27
Well, The Mandalorian......
Kara Swisher · 31:28
My my kids... You and The Mandalorian... There's also I think they bought... One in South Park, one family guy... One of them. They bought a couple of others that were friends.
Scott Galloway · 31:36
But here's
Kara Swisher · 31:36
They bought a few.
Scott Galloway · 31:37
But here's how they increase market cap. Is is they're gonna sell a bunch of Mandalorian action figures over Christmas at 85 points of gross margin.
Kara Swisher · 31:45
Paid by Mandalorian? You're like, Adam,
Speaker · 31:46
shit is know gangster.
Scott Galloway · 31:47
It's really good.
Kara Swisher · 31:50
Alright. Calm down. Now listen to me. We need to fail though. I have to say this is a this is a real thing is a real coup
Scott Galloway · 31:55
for Bobbi. Not even... We didn't talk about this and I'm gonna guess you and I have the
Kara Swisher · 31:58
same You... No. I have I have several, but go ahead.
Scott Galloway · 32:01
Dara.
Kara Swisher · 32:01
Alright. You talk about that.
Scott Galloway · 32:03
Well, look. Okay.
Kara Swisher · 32:04
I have spoken
Scott Galloway · 32:05
to It's it's these interviews are important. And the the the best or I think one of the best things that you've done professionally where you've had the most impact is when you have these unscripted moments on stage when it's a human asking another human for the response.
Kara Swisher · 32:19
Right. Let let's be fair to him. So let's go to a tape from Axios who interviewed Daraghost Roshahi.
Speaker · 32:25
I think that government said that they made a mistake.
Speaker · 32:29
Well, they made a mistake that...
Speaker · 32:30
That in somebody's death. Listen. It's it's a serious mistake. We've made mistakes too, right, with self driving, and we stopped driving, and we're recovering from that mistake. I think that people make mistakes. It doesn't mean that they can never be forgiven. I think they've taken it seriously. And the CIA didn't
Speaker · 32:48
suggest that they made a mistake and it was an oversight. Like, it was self driving. That was basically a bad censor. Correct? This was... The CIA suggested that the crown prince had a role in ordering an assassination.
Kara Swisher · 32:58
Woah. And he came he came back pretty quickly. I... From what I understand from insiders, he, like, he immediately, you know, his PR people just... Their heads blew off, and and he started backtracking and saying he was sorry and he misspoke and this and that. So, you know, and again, the Saudis are Uber... I wrote a big column on this in The Times this week. Saudis are Uber's fifth largest investor. They've been a big investor through PIF, their public investment fund. And one of the one of the people... The person who runs that fund is on the board. I would remove that person immediately. I mean, but they've gotta figure out what to do without looking like they're trying to whitewash this thing.
Scott Galloway · 33:30
Well, here's what's going on. So the gentleman who serves on the board, who represents PIF, this is what happens with the CEO. The guys who are on your board, you want to become friends with because they get to decide how much money you make. First off, they decide if you survive. So the board right now could figure out a way to justify firing Daragh Khoso Shahi. They could say it's the wrong strategy so far. The IPO was a disaster. You're out. They could also decide to pay him a $100,000,000. So when you're the CEO, when you're Dara Khosrowshahi, you find ways to really like your board members and say nice things about them even when an Axios interviewer makes you look like a total ass, which this interviewer did. So the CEO has a habit of really liking his board members because a, he usually does and they're usually very charming, smart people. And b, because it's in his or her best interest to say really nice things about them. But the fact that this individual on the board and the fact is on the board is probably wrong. I agree with you. I think the nominating committee, the chair of the nominating committee should probably say, maybe you should roll off naturally and we'll come up with some excuse similar to what Susan Desmond Hellman said, that, oh, I'm leaving for x, y, and z reasons. But to conflate a mistake... Like, I left a garage door open. That's a mistake. Conflate a mistake with a state sponsored murder of an American journalist kinda says one thing, that Dara Khosrowshahi has really poor fucking judgment. I mean, this was Yep. This No was good. Literally
Kara Swisher · 34:58
like Okay. When everything else is going on.
Scott Galloway · 34:59
Let's be clear, Dara. That wasn't a mistake. That was a huge tell that you probably shouldn't be running a company as large as... I was a fan of Dara Khosrowshahi. I said he's the new lipstick on cancer. Sheryl Sandberg has graduated just to cancer. And so he's the new lipstick on cancer. But boss, that was just... If you really believe what you said, and then my favorite thing is, and I know how much you hate this, he decided to clarify his comments when he realized how badly he'd fucked up. And here's the thing. When anyone clarifies their comments, they might as well say, that was the real me, and I gotta put that shit back in a box.
Kara Swisher · 35:36
Well, he's... I think he's gonna come on my podcast. So if you'd like to join, I'd be be happy to. I agree. I I think they can't make any move. They can't, like, give money to, like, oppress. They're... I think they're struggling to figure out how to deal with this because they were dealing with other actual issues too that were already problematic. This is just a terrible... It's not even a mistake. You're right. It's it's something worse than a mistake. But they were... They're already dealing with the sell offs. They're dealing with the with the stock.
Speaker · 36:01
They're doing their
Kara Swisher · 36:02
business plan.
Scott Galloway · 36:03
What's your fail?
Kara Swisher · 36:04
I think this is probably it. I think, you know, I think the same related Facebook, had deemed Breitbart a credible news source in this news tab, and, of course, leaked emails from Stephen Miller of the White House, emailed Breitbart to tell eugenics and white nationalist conspiracy theories and offer tips how to cover immigration, amplify stories about black and Hispanic crime. I mean, like, two things. Garth... Sociology has to throw this guy off the board, the PIF guy. Do it like... Just say, I'm... Do something more than a clarification, and then Facebook should throw BrightBart off of its credible news source tab. They can distribute it all at once, but I don't know.
Scott Galloway · 36:39
Or should we... Just while we're just while we're there, should we also show the white nationalist out of Washington DC? Can you believe this? Can you believe we have a white national... And you gotta love AOC. I mean, don't love her policies and I I I can't... I'm angry that she would be, in my opinion, strategically dumb enough to get in wars with Nancy Pelosi or shouting matches. But she was awesome saying, well, me get this. We have a white nationalist in the administration. We have an admitted white nationalist with Stephen Miller. Anyways, we're not supposed to talk about politics. Let's move on. Okay. My win is I think there's some wonderful... I love this idea of unlocks just vis a vis talking about things and acknowledging the issue. And I've noticed, and I don't know if you've noticed this or I'm just more attuned to it, this Veterans Day, there's been a lot of really open, honest, and wonderful conversations about the fact that suicide will take 20 veterans' lives each day. And that right now, is the enemy combatant that is taking more lives of our of our brave young men and women. And the notion that we're talking about it, think is in a very... I turned on Stephanie Ruhl's show on MSNBC today. I was listening to the BBC last night and they were talking about suicide among American servicemen and servicewomen. But it feels like more than just having halftime flyovers and as most sports leagues do wrap themselves in an American and veterans flag when in my view, it's mostly just show and bullshit. But it does seem like we're talking about a very uncomfortable topic and that is when our young men and women return. They're having trouble integrating society and that the largest enemy right now is is suicide. And to think that more people are dying from suicide than actual fighting and battle really highlights the issue here. Anyways, my win is that I think there's a lot of women in and men in the service and generals. There was a great article from a guy who runs the Air Force Base down in San Antonio this week talking about it in an open, honest conversation for Veterans Day. I think it's really productive and really wonderful that we're actually having an open, conversation about it.
— Predictions segment begins —
Kara Swisher · 38:36
Good. And same thing with police officers. Excellent, Scott. That's a really nice thing. Scott, predictions. I'm taking a victory about about Michael Bloomberg. There's another one I got right. I can't remember. There was two that I got right. But what what what was... What's your prediction?
Scott Galloway · 38:49
Doubling down on a prediction.
Kara Swisher · 38:50
Double beep. Let me say beep Pete Buttigieg is leading in the polls in Iowa for the first time this week. So you were right about this
Scott Galloway · 38:56
stuff. Repeat
Kara Swisher · 38:56
that here.
Speaker · 38:57
What was that?
Kara Swisher · 38:58
Pete Buttigieg is leading
Scott Galloway · 39:00
That's right.
Kara Swisher · 39:01
In polls in Iowa for the first time this week, and that his things are coalescing around him. It's moving towards him. And when
Scott Galloway · 39:06
did the dogs stick his nose in the air and make that prediction? When Pete And got so let's be clear. Unless... So let's be clear. Let's double down on that. The surprise winner the winner of Iowa is gonna be Mayor Pete.
Kara Swisher · 39:20
Mhmm. Alright. And then New Hampshire?
Scott Galloway · 39:22
I I don't have enough visibility into that. New Hampshire
Kara Swisher · 39:25
He's doing well there.
Scott Galloway · 39:25
New Hampshire takes pride. As soon as someone is about to win in Iowa, New Hamptians are like, this is our one moment every four years to let people know New Hampshire exists. And they like to go a little gangster and a little contrarian. And they'll say, well, we can't pick that
Speaker · 39:39
person because we need to
Scott Galloway · 39:40
be in the news cycle for our three minutes every four years. And they also see themselves as rebels. They're like, we're so not different. We want to be different. And they kind of do something different. So I don't know about New Hampshire. But look, Mayor Pete wins Democratic Iowa caucus.
— Predictions segment ends —
Kara Swisher · 39:56
All right. Okay. Well, think I think the entrance of Deval Patrick is problematic for Elizabeth Warren. They are allies in Massachusetts that that ruins... That sort of moves her off of her game. And then, obviously, Bloomberg is a problem for Biden. So, yeah, you're right. He's moving through the cent... He's moved... Like, what does a horse do? They move through the cent... Like, he run... I don't know about... You know, when they run through up No idea what you're talking about.
Scott Galloway · 40:17
No idea what you're talking about.
Kara Swisher · 40:18
Nonetheless, he's taking advantage of this situation. I think this will be really interesting. I really like his campaign Senator
Scott Galloway · 40:23
Warren's special. She's so Professor Warren, who I think I think is fantastic and smart. Her problem is that America's coming to the realization that free health care, free college, that at the end of the day, what... I think what a lot of the Democrats candidates have mistaken is that America believes... The populace here believes in winners and losers. And that's a tough thing to say, but we believe in winners and losers. We just don't believe in the hunger games that has emerged. And I think that the Democratic Party has pivoted too far left to say, well, there aren't gonna be any winners and losers. But have you... By the way, did you see that article estimating what the wealth of Bill Gates, Bezos would be had had her wealth taxed?
Kara Swisher · 41:01
Yeah. A lot less.
Scott Galloway · 41:02
It it was literally like Bezos was 30,000,000,000 instead of $1.50. I thought that was really it was really interesting that just 2% a year basically cuts everyone's wealth in half repeatedly.
Kara Swisher · 41:14
Yeah. That's a lot. Yeah. I was at a dinner party with someone who was there in Washington, but it was someone visiting from Kentucky and sort of was like... They were like, I... Don't take away their money. They didn't want... Like, it was really interesting to get a different person. They couldn't stand the guy who lost, Matt Bevin, but... Which, you know, which was... They were talking a lot. It was fascinating to hear, like, thoughts from Kentucky... From that race. But the reason they liked Andy Bashir was he talked about health care. He talked... Trying to figure. Maybe everyone can't have universal health care. We've got to think about how to do the health care system in a way that everybody does get universal, in a way that's affordable rather than make these horrible trade offs for poor people. We've got to get... The idea of it is absolutely fantastic. It's how we get there, whether it's by public option or or some other way. But the way it's currently configured, the poor get screwed, and every... Not just the poor, everyone gets screwed. So it's nothing wrong with saying we should think about giving everybody health care and how can we do this. We should think about getting everybody affordable education.
Scott Galloway · 42:23
That free college is nothing but a transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich. The rich can afford college and the majority of people in college are the rich. So free college
Kara Swisher · 42:32
College should be cheaper. College... Like you say, college should not... They shouldn't have these luxury brands. Like Harvard should not be... I'm looking at the college things with my kid. I'm like, woah. Woah. Woah.
Scott Galloway · 42:42
That's... And it probably should be very expensive for Kara Swisher because she gets paid a lot of money to go to Melbourne.
Kara Swisher · 42:47
Yeah. It's really expensive. It's really... But it's still even. I do make a lot of money. But I was like, wow. That's a lot of money. Like, it's like a lot
Speaker · 42:56
of money. Dog needs his own It's crazy, man.
Kara Swisher · 42:58
Yeah. Okay. I have to pay him. My kid... And people who don't know, my kid wants to go to NYU, and so I... I'm a little bit nervous about him being near Scott Galloway. Oh, that'll be awesome. To Scott.
Speaker · 43:07
That'll be awesome. He'll come over. I'm a watch the Mandalorian guy.
Kara Swisher · 43:11
Do any Felicity... You can write him a nice note, but no Felicity Huffman action on my part because I'll get dragged into your scandal. Okay? Like, let's let's be clear.
Speaker · 43:20
Becky. Anne Becky's going to prison. She's going to the big She's
Scott Galloway · 43:24
going to the big house.
Kara Swisher · 43:24
No trouble on my part because I will be dragged into a scandal with you, and then it will be the end of everything. Okay. On that note, we have to close. It's time to go. Well, we love our listener mail. Please keep questions, requests, suggestions coming to our inbox. We can be reached at pivot@voxmedia.com. Scott, why don't you read the credits?
Scott Galloway · 43:42
So, Kara, today's show was produced by Rebecca Sinanis. Erica Anderson is Pivot's executive producer. Also, thanks to Rebecca Castro, Drew Burrows, and Nishat Kerouwah. Make sure you've subscribed to the show on Apple Podcasts. And if you like this week's episode, leave us a review. Thanks for listening to Pivot from Vox Media. We'll be back next week for another breakdown of all things tech and business.
