Scott Galloway · 51:08
Shit called Paramount that's declining every fucking day. Your thoughts?
Kara Swisher · 51:12
I think that that she... I think she's doing untold damage to the to the brand. Whatever's left of it. Right? I I think it just... She's literally selling the seed corn. And to... I don't know if she has a choice, but on the other end, she's gonna get a bribery. Eventually, the Democrats will be back in power, and she will face that. Right? And I don't think she's gonna get out of this. I think she's in a jam of beyond jams. So whatever choice she makes is a bad one, like, every single choice. And what's interesting is the new owners, if they really think this is a good idea, I can't imagine, they're gonna be... They're sort of... They have a tainted fruit. Right? They have a a poison fruit here because all these reporters are gonna be now more difficult than ever. You have a brand. Maybe that brand should end. I don't know if sixty minutes should end. It's... That's up to their owners. But they certainly are trading away any kind of credibility. I just... There's no good answer here for these people. I mean... And you're right. This is... It doesn't matter really because these these these media companies are worth less and less every year unless they make significant changes. So I guess a new owner might try something fresh, the new owners, with lots of money. So any way you get there is a good way, but it definitely is is disappointing on every level. And as to Warner Brothers discovery, it's just not you know... He's making a lot of money, and the company's still struggling to figure out which way to go. I would assume a lot of mergers here, presumably. Correct? I mean, I don't know.
Scott Galloway · 52:42
Oh, there's gotta be huge consolidation. And I said Warner Brothers board is the worst board in America. They've managed to destroy so much... Two thirds of shareholder value. Their debt just got downgraded to junk, and yet they've... The compensation committee at this board has decided to pay David Zaslav a third of $1,000,000,000. I mean, that's
Kara Swisher · 52:59
just Well, they're doing that because it's based on the cutting of the debt. Right? Is that correct?
Scott Galloway · 53:03
That's why he's I'm sure that's how they rationalized it. But
Kara Swisher · 53:06
if No. It is. That's... I mean, Bill Cohen wrote a good piece about
Scott Galloway · 53:09
it. But... And the tail wolves wag the dog here. If that's the case, they should fire the guy. Because it just is an affront to shareholders to be paying someone a third of $1,000,000,000 when shareholders have lost two thirds of their value. I don't care what your compensation package was. You either say, boss, we need to revisit your compensation package or we're gonna have to make a change in leadership. And the... But just going back to Sherry Redstone, I don't... I know I'm not a lawyer, but I don't see how she can be found guilty of saying, look, the president wanted... We settle cases out of court all the time because we decide that they're a nuisance and it's worth it just to move on with our business, and that's what we did here. So I think some of this notion that it's a quote unquote bribe is a little bit of left wing posturing. I don't think there's a legal case against her. CEOs pay off lawsuits all the time.
Kara Swisher · 54:08
That may be the case, but this is what she's gonna do the rest of her life. Right? They're still gonna come at her. They're gonna steal the bribery thing, whether it sticks or not, they're gonna go for it.
Scott Galloway · 54:17
When you say they, who do you mean?
Kara Swisher · 54:18
The the the California or the Democrats or whatever. I think she's not. She's gonna be in litigation for a very long
Scott Galloway · 54:25
time. I think they'll move on to bigger fish to fry.
Kara Swisher · 54:27
Really? Interesting.
Scott Galloway · 54:28
Okay. I mean, I don't... What do you... Do you think there's really a case here? They settle suits all the time.
Kara Swisher · 54:33
I guess. This one's particularly ridiculous. Like, it's particularly... Like, you know, they're all somewhat ridiculous. But I suspect the ABC one, there was probably emails. There was probably embarrassments. In this case, it's just ridiculous. And with the... With these executives quitting, it's just not a good look. The whole thing is is just... It brings down a brand unnecessarily. And I get they have to make weird contortions because of Trump, but they're looking particularly bad in the way they're behaving, it seems.
Scott Galloway · 55:01
But if you look at all the points of light here or the path to an autocracy or fascism or a kleptocracy, pick your favorite, you know, oppressive form of government, it's try and put a chill on the press. Right? Now that's clear. And then the most recent one, let's let's try and normalize political violence against our adversaries. Don't know you're talking about most recently, but Trump is talking about pardoning the people who planned... Plot of the kidnapping of governor Whitmer.
Kara Swisher · 55:27
Talked about that.
Scott Galloway · 55:27
And let's just remind people, these quote unquote people who who he says were railroaded, they had a
Kara Swisher · 55:33
Or they were drunk.
Scott Galloway · 55:34
They set up a shooting room to practice the extraction. They had maps of the bridge to figure out how to sequester her from her security detail. So how do you move to an autocracy? You, a, use political power to enrich yourself. You reward your enemies. You punish your enemies unfairly. You refuse. You normalize violence against your political enemies, and you create a chill across free press. I mean, other than him standing up and dressing like Putin, I mean, what is it we want before people are just gonna come out and say, okay, this guy really is an autocrat embracing very fascist ideals. By the way, just back to mental health, I found out that... I don't know if you knew this, but I've been participating over the last thirty years in this study on the relationship between sex and mental health. And I'm so depressed, Cara, I found out that I've been part of the control group.
Kara Swisher · 56:39
On that note
Scott Galloway · 56:43
But think about Paramount, though. You know what defines America other than other than the world's richest man killing the world's poorest children is the fact that the three central figures in the Paramount deal are Sherry Redstone, Edgar Bronfman, and David Ellison. What do they all have in common? They're all the children of billionaires. The only people propping up media right now are billionaire kids who want an excuse to hang out in LA, drive Porsches, and bang actresses.
Kara Swisher · 57:10
I guess. Well, whatever.
Scott Galloway · 57:12
Which, by way, I'm down for. If I had billions of dollars, that's what I've been doing.
Kara Swisher · 57:15
Perhaps. Anyway, we'll see. I have to tell you. Well, Mission Impossible is doing well. I don't know what to Anyway, good job.
Scott Galloway · 57:22
That's the key. It all comes back to Tom.
Kara Swisher · 57:24
To Mission Impossible. Although, Lilo and Stitch is doing better. If you've got a question of your own that you like answered, send it our way. Go to nymag.com/pivot to submit a question for the show or call 85551 And listen up. We're gonna be doing another call in show soon. Submit your questions and let us know what you'd like to talk to us about live, and the producers will be in touch. We like those shows. We think our listeners are so smart. Alright, Scott. One more quick break. We'll be back for predictions.
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— Predictions segment begins —
Kara Swisher · 59:44
Okay, Scott. Let's hear a prediction.
Scott Galloway · 59:47
Okay. So my prediction is sort of a boring one, but Trump is feeling his oaths around the macho steel industry. He's He threatened to take tariffs from 25% to 50%. And as a result, you've seen a surge in the stock prices of our few remaining steel manufacturers. Cleveland Cliffs jumped 22%, which for a boring manufacturing stock is enormous. Steel Dynamics jumped 13%, Nucor up 12%, Van X Steel, ETX rose more than 3%. And just that alone, there are few prosperity killers like a steel tariff. Because here's the thing. This is an unimportant small industry. This is not a big business. It's not an important business. And we can easily import steel from Mexico and Canada. We don't even have to have the security risk of importing it in from China. And importing it in from Japan, which is a hugely important ally of which our ships that we're worried about building actually defend Japan. But we've decided this is super important. But what it will do, while actually supporting very few employees or growing the business a great deal, what it will do is raise the cost of housing and cars dramatically. And by virtue of the fact of these companies that are sleepy companies, when you see their stock price accelerate, it's based on the following, that these companies are gonna be able to charge usurice prices now that tariffs are going from 25 to 50%. And folks, who do you think is going to pay for that increase in stock price? Consumers buying cars, consumers buying housing. So my prediction is, as has happened with the taco trade, coined by Financial Times journalist Robert Armstrong, you are going to see Trump back down on the steel tariffs when he starts to recognize and gets calls from the many more people than the small union or the small number of employees benefiting from the increase in these tariffs. And the huge number of consumers, automobile, and and homebuilders that are gonna get punished radically by this. He will back off the tariffs, and we will see the stocks of these companies return to their pre tariff prices. In sum, my prediction is Cleveland Cliffs and Steel Dynamics give up all the gains as evidenced by what has taken place with the taco trade thus far in 2025. That was a snoozer, wasn't it?
— Predictions segment ends —
Kara Swisher · 1:02:17
That's a snoozer.
Scott Galloway · 1:02:18
Was snoozer.
Kara Swisher · 1:02:19
Why don't you yell at Piers Morgan again?
Scott Galloway · 1:02:21
I'm done. I'm out. You're done. You're done. Alright. Can I call you an Uber? I'm going to sleep.
Kara Swisher · 1:02:26
Why don't you go, steel trade is depravity. There you go. Say depravity. Yell depravity one more time for me.
Scott Galloway · 1:02:32
No. I won't. I can't. Sorry, Kara. I'm not I'm not your beefy, the dancing poodle here to entertain
Kara Swisher · 1:02:36
you. Depravity.
Scott Galloway · 1:02:38
You know, eating your ice oysters on the bay, injecting jellyfish semen into your blood so that you can look 61 again. I will not be a part of your circus of hell.
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Scott Galloway · 1:02:49
Jeffrey Swisher, call me.
Kara Swisher · 1:02:50
Elsewhere in the Kara and Scott universe, this week on Prop G Markets, you spoke to Robert Armstrong, The US financial commentator for the Financial Times, the person who coined Trump's favorite phrase, taco trade, which is Trump always chickens out. Let's listen to a clip.
Guest · 1:03:05
The best thing about the president's tariff policy is the chickening out. Hooray for chickening out. I'm all for it, and I hope that it may continue forever. So the idea that I've made this stupid gag and I might actually, at the margin, make the president less likely to chicken out is a very negative unintended consequence I wish, if possible, to wash my hands off.
Kara Swisher · 1:03:35
That's funny. The chickening out. That's such a good word. Chicken. Bop. Bop. Bop. Okay. That's the show. Thanks for listening to Pivot, and be sure to like and subscribe to our YouTube channel. We'll be back next week. Scott, read us out.
Scott Galloway · 1:03:49
Today's show is produced by Lara Nayman, Zoe Marcus, Taylor Griffin, and Kevin Oliver. Ernie and Retod introduced this episode. Thanks also to Dubrowz, Miss Severio, and Dan Shalon. Nishat Kurwa is Vox Media's executive producer of podcasts. Make sure to follow Pivot on your favorite podcast platform. Thanks for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media. You can subscribe to the magazine at nymag.com/pod. We'll be back next week for another breakdown of all things tech and business. Kara, have a good weekend. I'm rooting for the bullets.
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