Scott Galloway · 42:42
Put them on the hook for bad students.
Kara Swisher · 42:44
Put them on the hook. Yep. Then they'd be better at giving them out. Yep. You're right. Alright. This is a lot. Everybody will see what's happening. Just give me a very quick, and I mean pithy, prediction on whether legacy admissions will be overturned across the country?
Scott Galloway · 42:57
I don't know if it'll legally be overturned because I don't know if you can I don't know if you can legislate that? I don't know the legal ins and outs, but unless a university can show they're using that goodwill and that additional revenues to dramatically expand seats for everybody. And I I I have a bias here. I am a product of affirmative action. I applied to UCLA when it had a 76% admissions rate, and I didn't get in. I was one of the 24% that got rejected. Wow. I had mediocre grades. Wow. I'm being very honest I had mediocre grades, and I'm about to virtue signal in a second and flex. I had mediocre grades, but I didn't test well. And I was installing shelving, and I came home, and I'm like, this is it? I said to my mom, I was living with my mom. She's like, well, can we do something? Can we appeal? And I found out there was an appeal process. And my appeal process was pretty straightforward. It was in the truth has a nice ring to it. I said, I'm installing shelving. I'm gonna be installing shelving the rest of my life. UCLA is the only option for me because I don't have the money to live on campus anywhere. My mom is a secretary. We make $40,000. Like, this is it for me. I was just very transparent. And I remember the the director of admissions or one of the directors called me and said, you're not qualified, but you're a son of California, and you face some tough times. We're gonna let you in and change my life. And guess what? This year, and this is the flex, I'm giving $14,000,000 to the University of California. No organization can predict greatness at the age of 18. So here's here's what government's supposed to do. It's supposed to give as many 18 year olds as possible a shot. Anyway
Kara Swisher · 44:36
That's a tale. I didn't know that. What? Hello? We need to have a party at University of California.
Scott Galloway · 44:43
Adversity based affirmative action is a great thing. It should be based on income, and UC is doing it exactly right. They don't give a shit if a senator writes you a letter of rec. They don't give a shit. They they wanna know your household income. They give favor to people low income. They know letters of rec. They've been to that game, and they're not doing race based affirmative action. They're getting there through other ways. They're looking at adversity.
Kara Swisher · 45:07
Interesting. Interesting. Anyway, Scott, I didn't know that about you. I find things new every day. That's very generous of you, but at the same time, they deserve it because they gave you... Although, I have some shelves I need hanging, if you don't mind. Well,
Scott Galloway · 45:19
my point here is letting it at that point, what seems like mediocre 17 year olds, making a bunch of bets across what seem like mediocre 17 year olds, you never know. You never know.
Kara Swisher · 45:29
I wouldn't have guessed it. Anyway, let's give it to a listener question.
Scott Galloway · 45:35
You've got you've got I can't believe I'm gonna be a mailman. You've got mail.
Kara Swisher · 45:40
This question comes in via email. It came in right as the news broke that seven automakers are banding together to build a charging network to rival Tesla's now. BMW, GM, Honda, and Mercedes are among them. Here's what Amish asks. Tesla's sudden proposal to share its charging infrastructure and self driving tech raises concerns for me. It seems possible it may soon be charged via the X app. Had car manufacturers collectively invested in alternatives like Electrify America, could they have maintained independence and avoided potential curveballs from Elon Musk in the future? Love to hear your thoughts. Amish, first time, long time from Oklahoma. Well, I'm gonna take this because I was charging my car last night. Here, I have an electric car here in California. It's a rental. And I was thinking, Why are we gonna let Elon run the frigging electric system? He's gonna have us by the balls just like he did with Starlink. Why aren't these car makers doing something? And of course, I don't know if there needs to be two competing types of car networks, but it should be like a gas pump. It should work on every car, whatever, if you're using Exxon or whoever. And I do not want to be forced to use the X app to pay for charging, and that would be terrible if he dominated that. So I think this is a good thing, and I was literally thinking about it because was EVgo, I think, and it had all the chargers on it. It had the Tesla charger, it had a fast charger, it had a number two and a number one charger. It was interesting. It was a very small amount of money to do it, and it took me twenty minutes. I went into the supermarket and shopped, and by the time I got back, I was 80% charged, which was great, thirty minutes maybe, but I was shopping. I was doing something else while I was doing it. This has to happen. There has to be a competition to Tesla's chargers. And he was way ahead of the game by doing it. I give him that credit for that, but boy, does there need to be an alternative. Scott?
Scott Galloway · 47:33
Yeah. Think you're exactly right. Competition is an amazing thing. We're building this bot, and we're we're using... We're testing both ChatGPT and we're testing LAMA. And you can tell... You know that both of them are gonna have to keep their costs low and keep keep adding more and more features. One charging station brought to you by Elon Musk, that just does not have a good ring to it.
Kara Swisher · 47:54
Yep. I think it... Amish, this is exactly what has to happen, and they have to compete, and they have to do it right because... I mean, I don't think he would hold on to that for very long, for a long, long time, especially because he might become abusive. But what happened with Starlink is a very good example. This stuff is not as expensive as all that, and these carmakers should absolutely... This is a critical investment, not just for the carmakers, but for the government to help them do it. It's like building gas stations. Gas stations should be converted into charging, and there should be innovation in charging so that it's fast, so that you go to a movie and you charge your car. I'm thinking a lot about it this week because I have this electric car, and at home, I have a charger, as you do, I think, at your house in Florida at least. And it's really important to be able to not worry about distance. And as batteries get better, certainly it'll get to 500 miles, etcetera, so you don't even think about it very much for most trips you have. But this is critical that they're not at Elon's beck and call on this. And again, I give them credit for being out early. So we'll see. Again, I not pay $8 in order to charge my car, and I don't want that to be the situation that happens. So we'll see. If you've got a question of your own and would like it answered, send it our way. Go to nymag.com/pivot to submit a question for the show or call 85551 Alright, Scott. 1 more quick break. We'll be back for predictions.
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— Predictions segment begins —
Kara Swisher · 50:25
Okay, Scott. Let's hear a prediction. Let's hear a prediction.
Scott Galloway · 50:28
Well, I referenced it earlier in the show. I think something happens with Snap. I think it's such a great product. It has the least awful brand in social, even the even the nicest brand. It has 400,000,000 of what are some of the most attractive consumers to advertisers in the world, and that is young people who probably probably over index a little bit wealthier, who brands love because young people are stupid and they'll spend $6 on coffee and a $160 on tennis shoes. They love high margin products and signaling because they're about to enter their mating years. But the the the company subscale, and its ad tech has never been able to compete. And as a result, it has a $17,000,000,000 market cap, which is obviously real, but it's nothing in that world. And I think you have a set of players that would love to have those 400,000,000 users, and then you have a set of legacy players, and the one that strikes me, Disney from a brand fit, need, after they get through the cost cutting, need something to inspire growth. And as more people don't access Disney content through traditional cable, this would give them a new channel of what would probably by then be about a half a billion people of the most attractive consumers to advertising. And Disney's unique IP plus that new distribution channel, to me, it just feels right as rain.
Kara Swisher · 51:43
Yep. I like it. I have another purchaser. Tell me what you think. Apple. They would love to be... Let me just say, Snap would love to be bought by Apple. Love it. That would be their number one choice.
Scott Galloway · 51:54
The problem is of all of them, Apple is the least acquisitive.
Kara Swisher · 51:57
I know. But young executive for Apple that they would like who is classy and has the Steve Jobsian kind of... Well, he has the style and creativity. He would fit with them and be part of... Speaking of older people, most of the executives of Apple have been there for a hundred and nine years and they're great, but they're older and it would bring in a young person who has the same qualities, I guess, of of Steve Jobs.
Scott Galloway · 52:21
Yeah. I... I'm I'm I'm super impressed with Snap, and this is why I don't like to meet with people as I end up liking them. But I like him a lot. I like Evan a lot. And this is... It's it's a super impressive company right now. It's it's subscale. The thing about Apple, though, is that Apple really doesn't like to make acquisitions. They've decided their culture is the most important component. They just... They're the least acquisitive of all of them. But from a brand fit standpoint... And does Apple... I I don't know. I think Disney I think Disney is probably a more likely bet than Apple. But just to give you a sense of the numbers here, say that Apple paid a 100% premium... And by the way, Evan Spiegel gets to decide all of this because he has a dual class shareholder. He controls it. He owns 51% of the voting stock, so he gets to decide. But say Tim Cook called him, and he wouldn't have to pay a 100% premium, but Tim Cook could pay a 100% premium, and this is how out of control the valuations are, it would be a 1% dilution because that would be a $34,000,000,000 acquisition, and Apple is now worth over 3,000,000,000,000. So literally, could Apple could buy Snap and in two years decide we were wrong, shut it down, and it would mean... Have no impact on the stock price.
Kara Swisher · 53:31
I like that you like my idea. I just feel like Apple's the right place for it. But Disney's... Disney would be interesting, another elegant solution, there, and bringing in bringing in an executive like Evan and his team, which would be interesting, would invigorate both those companies if they were allowed to do what they need to do. And I think at a place like Apple, they'd have more landscape, that's all, to operate. Anyway, well, State would be interesting. And Spotify, no, no, you think they're gonna get bought. He's so stubborn. I can't imagine him ever admitting that he needs help.
Scott Galloway · 54:06
I absolutely love Spotify. There is no other company that has been able to distill an entire medium down to one searchable app. I mean, what they've done is incredible. They've raised prices. They do have pricing power. They're taking the charges for their for their adventures in podcasting where they were overpaying, which didn't work out. The problem is the studios... The only way this... They basically become almost a co op for this... For the music labels, and that is they have to give most of their money away to the music labels. So I I don't... Spotify probably, ideally, they need to do something, but here's the problem with dual class shareholder companies. Daniel Ekka is a billionaire. Evan Spiegel is a billionaire. Why do they need to do anything? Control is an addictive substance. And if you're already worth billions, whether you're worth 1,800,000,000 or 3.6, you don't care. The control is more important to you.
Kara Swisher · 54:55
Well, in Evan's case, I think he would. I think he very much would sell. Don't think he's got the same... I like Daniel, but he's got an ego on him much higher. And so...
Scott Galloway · 55:04
He seemed very humble to me. I had dinner or I...
Kara Swisher · 55:06
He likes being the CEO of Spotify. He likes it. He likes... You know, it puts him on a level of all the other moguls, and so just being an executive at whatever Netflix is not the same thing. I I think Evan would would relish being owned by Apple or Disney. I think he would he would relish that.
Scott Galloway · 55:23
So if in the middle of dinner or in the middle of Daniel introducing everyone at Cannes, he just stopped for fifteen seconds because he had some sort of cognitive problem. They wouldn't allow him to run a music service, but we allow these people to make loss.
Kara Swisher · 55:40
Oh, stop it. You're terrible. You're terrible. You're terrible. Just be... Say nothing nice. Don't do not We dance on someone's
Scott Galloway · 55:48
need age limits. We need more young people in leadership positions. More young people, more women.
— Predictions segment ends —
Kara Swisher · 55:53
Yes. I agree. Anyway, that's the show. We'll be back on Tuesday with more pivot. When Scott turns, turns 70, I'm gonna have to put him on a nice flow and send him out. Anyway, read us out, Scott Galloway.
Scott Galloway · 56:05
Today's show is produced by Lara Naaman and Taylor Griffin. Ernie Intertot engineered this episode. Thanks also to Drew Burrows, Neil Silverio, and Gatti McBain. 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. Kara, have a great weekend.
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Scott Galloway · 57:41
fall
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