Pivot · Jun 22, 2021

American Airlines cancellations, Bitcoin mining bans, and Friend of Pivot Chuck Todd

Automatic transcript of the end of the episode, from 56:33. Speakers are labeled by software and may contain errors. Highlighted passages are Scott’s predictions.

Scott Galloway · 56:33 Well, they're all about a 105. We need to think about that for a lot of them. K. Guest · 56:37 Not poor Obama, man. He... That's a guy that, you know Scott Galloway · 56:40 He's on Netflix. Guest · 56:40 You know, to be done, and all of a sudden, you're you're just in your sixties? Kara Swisher · 56:45 Don't you get the sense Scott Galloway · 56:46 you say? Think it's laundering Kara Swisher · 56:47 a little. Now, Chuck. Scott Galloway · 56:48 You None on the... Kara Swisher · 56:49 I don't know. Alright. Guest · 56:49 Last... But, I mean, so Spielberg. Yeah. Everybody's on Netflix now. Kara Swisher · 56:54 Yep. Alright. Last... Very, very last question. Looking at all these mergers and acquisitions, you can't help but think about them. When you're... You know you know, NBC bought... Comcast bought NBC a long time ago, but... And it it was sort of early to this, but it's... There's gonna be more and more and more. How do you look at it? I mean, like, Paramount's a possibility. There's a whole bunch, you know, there's a whole bunch that are that are are possibly gonna get bought. How does it feel like to be part of a news organization that's gonna probably be part of a bigger thing? Even the Internet companies will probably get involved at some point. Guest · 57:24 It used to scare me a little bit that we would just, you know, get marginalized more and more, but it now feels like you need it to happen to survive and get the resources. You know, it's funny. It's like... You know, I... What I'm interested in is is sort of where does the New York Times go? You know? Does it get does it get consumed by one of these big entities? That's my theory. You know? And that's just in our space, in the new space. I've been I've been... I've pondered that for a while. And and where... What happens to the... You know, when when does Amazon merge the Washington... When when does the Washington Post and Amazon fully fully sort of get together. And, you know, the next big thing to me is is does Netflix buy one of these legacy... One one of these remaining legacy media companies? I mean, it it is... I feel... Look. I feel confident. The reason I'm happy about Peacock is that it's funny. It's like, I don't know who survived. I would feel less comfortable being at CBS right now than I would here. You know? Kara Swisher · 58:28 I think Guest · 58:28 everyone at CBS agrees. Yeah. And and by the way, I feel that way about CNN. Like, on one hand, they have this amazing brand, global brand. On the other hand, I've... They've always had owners that don't know what the hell to do with them. And, you know, they're they're they're this... To me, the the the second most fascinating place is, you know, does... Do they become the tent pole for WarnerMedia? Mhmm. Or is Warner swallowed? Right? Yeah. We think they swallowed. Kara Swisher · 58:58 We have said swallowed. Guest · 58:58 It's too small. You know? Kara Swisher · 59:00 It's too small. Guest · 59:00 You think it is too small? Scott Galloway · 59:02 Yeah. By the way Guest · 59:03 the question I have is I don't know if we're big enough or not. Know? Check. We're... I feel like we're... Right? Some people think we're right on the edge. Kara Swisher · 59:10 You are. Scott Galloway · 59:10 We're too Guest · 59:10 big to be consumed. Nobody can con... We're we're too big to be swallowed. So it's no doubt we're probably gonna be consuming. I I I know this. I I thought we would get into the... You know? But if Amazon's gonna overpay for MGM, then it... It's hard to get into this game sometimes. Right? So I think that's been... It's pretty it's pretty clear that my company wants to be a consumer in the... In in in that sense. — Predictions segment begins — Scott Galloway · 59:39 So pretty good. Do expect to check it. Kara Swisher · 59:41 Prediction. Scott Galloway · 59:42 Go ahead. Check, Todd. You'll be working at CNN within a year. They're gonna throw up in earnings and the Roberts family is sitting there in the weeds waiting for that stock, that single class of share stocks with a $250,000,000,000 market cap, which Comcast has. New head of CNN politics, Chuck Todd. Within Oh. Within twenty four months, Comcast Guest · 1:00:02 will answer. Will tell you this. That... If I ever didn't wanna be on air anymore, I would love to try to... That... To to sort of strategize where all this is headed is is... You know? I'd I'd love to do what you guys do. — Predictions segment ends — Kara Swisher · 1:00:15 You can, Chuck. You can do it. You can just do it. You just say it. You just vomit up information like we do. Scott Galloway · 1:00:19 Anyway, Chuck Todd how much would we love to see Chuck Todd and Anderson Cooper at the same desk? Oh my gods. Just talk about brains and dreamy. That is chocolate and peanut butter. Kara Swisher · 1:00:30 Stop. Don't talk about this. Scott Galloway · 1:00:31 Chocolate and peanut butter. That's a dumb Baker Kara Swisher · 1:00:33 and Cooper love. Scott Galloway · 1:00:34 Go great together. Kara Swisher · 1:00:35 You don't understand what's happening here, but he's got a weird obsession with Anderson Cooper. In any case Guest · 1:00:39 Is that right? Kara Swisher · 1:00:40 Thank you. Yes. Scott Galloway · 1:00:41 Please don't. Kara Swisher · 1:00:42 Please stop. Please stop. Anyway, Chuck, thank you so much. This is incredibly smart, and we really appreciate it. And we're looking forward to going over to Peacock to Scott Galloway · 1:00:50 see Chuck's you Floridian. Peace out. Word to my Floridian brother. Kara Swisher · 1:00:54 Alright, Chuck. Thank you. Scott Galloway · 1:00:55 Come home. Guest · 1:00:56 Thank you Kara Swisher · 1:00:56 so much. We appreciate it. Have a good day. Scott Galloway · 1:00:59 See Kara Swisher · 1:00:59 you. Alright, Scott. One more quick break. I think you and Chuck had a little mind meld there, but asking for a drink was, I think, a little forward. Scott Galloway · 1:01:05 Can you imagine him and Anderson Cooper on the same stage? Kara Swisher · 1:01:09 No. I can't. Scott Galloway · 1:01:09 Mind blown. Guest · 1:01:11 Alright. Scott Galloway · 1:01:11 Mind blown. Kara Swisher · 1:01:13 We'll see. I don't think they're... They have the guts to do stuff like that. I don't think... I don't... I think they should, and we'll see what the government does. Scott Galloway · 1:01:18 You imagine those two... Seriously. Can you imagine those two hosting a program Kara Swisher · 1:01:21 at all? Would own They or whoever their progeny are would. Scott Galloway · 1:01:24 They would own it. Kara Swisher · 1:01:25 Yep. Yep. It's it's theirs for the taken for... If they do it. I don't... I think the government Scott Galloway · 1:01:29 would have great voice. Ando's got the tries and the buys. Kara Swisher · 1:01:32 Do you think Rupert Murdoch is keen to let stuff like that happen? It's gonna be one of the biggest fights in Washington, speaking of Washington. Anyway, Scott, one more quick break. We'll be back for wins and fails. [Ad break] Kara Swisher · 1:02:36 Okay, Scott. Wins and fails. What is your wins and fails today? Scott Galloway · 1:02:41 Unanimous decision from supreme court that the NC2A and universities are engaging in antitrust by not allowing athletes to make more or make any money. And it just shocks me. If you wanna look for what feels like systemic racism, I was a college athlete. I was a road crew. All white sport loses money, university subsidizes. And then the two sports that over index and people of color, I... You know, essentially black people was basketball and football, which make a shit ton of money, but we've decided the sport needs to be pure. And we can't pay the guys on the court or the gals on the court, but we can pay the white people, the coaches. And if you look at the coaches of the top 25 schools, and I am engaging in identity politics here, the top 25 schools, the coaches make between 3 and $8,000,000 and the athletes don't make anything. And yet the NC two a, which is again, more boomers, they make a shit ton of money. The university and administrators, it comes down to this. We continue to ask ourselves at universities, the administrators and leadership and the older people and the coaches, the administrators ask themselves the same question every day. How can we reduce our accountability and increase our compensation? An illegitimate answer for the last fifty years has been let's pretend that there's a purity. Do you know how many actual paying jobs there are in the NBA? There's maybe 20 or 30 a year. And when do a lot of athletes peak? Between the ages of 18 and 23. Why on earth wouldn't you make... Let them make... Capture a fraction of the value they are creating? Kara Swisher · 1:04:26 They are being used as as as fundraising and money raising for these these editors. And you Scott Galloway · 1:04:31 know what the NCAA's defense was? Kara Swisher · 1:04:33 What? Scott Galloway · 1:04:33 That the fans would be turned off if the athletes got paid anything. That's like saying that we're gonna define Uber's business model because I want drivers to make less than minimum wage so they can continue to engage in that Kara Swisher · 1:04:47 business I think there's a question of, like, how money could really coarsen it in a lot of ways. And they... There is... They're they're... At the top, you know, I get it. I don't think... I... Nothing about sports is ever pure as far as I'm concerned at all from... Which is probably why I don't watch it as much. But I do think you're right. I think there's... It's sort of like, here's the colleges and the coaches and the alumni making all this money and these these these people who are performing for the audience are are free. Yeah. I agree. I agree. I hate Scott Galloway · 1:05:14 to And what do you know? What do you know Kara? It's the two sports that's predominantly black kids, right? It's baseball. I'm sorry, it's basketball and it's football to make all the money. And guess what? They make no money. They they don't get anything. Whereas the sports like lacrosse and crew, we get subsidized because we we don't make any money. But... Anyways Right. Kara Swisher · 1:05:34 Right. But this is different. You wouldn't get paid for that. Nobody wants to pay a lacrosse player to... You know what I mean? Like, that was... This is just they are the they are... That's where the money is happening, and it's the only group of people in this money machine that isn't making money. It has to be done right. I think that's really... I think there is some feeling of not cheapening college sports, but it already has been cheapened in a lot of ways. Alright. What's your win? What's your win? Scott Galloway · 1:05:57 Well, my win and my loss is, I've been watching the Kaminsky Method. Have you seen that? Kara Swisher · 1:06:02 No. I haven't. I've seen I've seen it. Scott Galloway · 1:06:05 Yeah. It's about old... A couple of old, white guys. But it's it's really Kara Swisher · 1:06:10 Michael Douglas is one of them. Scott Galloway · 1:06:12 It's really it's really a nice show. Actually, I think the star of the show is Alan Arkin and the woman who plays, Michael Douglas's daughter. I think they kinda steal the show, but it's, it's a really well done elegant show. And I... I've never been a big fan of Michael Douglas, but he's outstanding in this. Kara Swisher · 1:06:27 He's... I... Really, why not? Scott Galloway · 1:06:29 I like him. I think he's like one Kara Swisher · 1:06:30 of those people who performs and even in bad stuff. I watched him in a movie called The Sentinel the other night. I I love... I stay up late and watch, like, action movies, and I've never seen this movie. And he played a... Is it Daryl? Scott Galloway · 1:06:40 Kathleen Turner makes a guest appearance in season three? Kara Swisher · 1:06:43 That's right. They were together in Romancing the Stone. Scott Galloway · 1:06:46 Yeah. And it's really... It reminds me. It's a little bit like Schitt's Creek. I don't know if you watch that. It's not what I call it. It's not a profound show, but it's nice and relaxing. It's like a little, it's like a dessert almost. Kara Swisher · 1:06:56 I like that. Scott Galloway · 1:06:56 Anyways, it's it's it's it's it's in its third and final season. Mhmm. And I think they do a great job and it's nice to see a show about people in their seventies and eighties. I think Alan Arkin is a genius. I think he is wonderful. I love watching him. Anyways, that's... I wanted Kara Swisher · 1:07:11 to bring great. I just think I think Michael Douglas is one of these. I used to watch Michael Douglas in the streets of San Francisco. Scott Galloway · 1:07:17 That's right. I remember that with Carl Muldin. Kara Swisher · 1:07:20 Yep. Carl Mauldin. He was the best. He was the best. In any case Carl Mauldin. Scott Galloway · 1:07:24 Those are very nice commercials. Those are nice wins Kara Swisher · 1:07:26 and fails, I gotta say. I don't have any Scott Galloway · 1:07:28 Well, thank you. Chuck Todd and Ando. Kara Swisher · 1:07:29 Chuck Todd. Scott Galloway · 1:07:30 One... On one screen. Kara Swisher · 1:07:32 Can we pick some more interesting pairings if you don't mind? Scott Galloway · 1:07:35 That's civil shepherd of Bruce Willis of the news age. Kara Swisher · 1:07:38 No. It's not. But I like the concept on it. I think he was blown away by that, by the way. He was like, Scott Galloway · 1:07:43 He was Kara Swisher · 1:07:44 He hadn't Scott Galloway · 1:07:44 thought of humbled. Kara Swisher · 1:07:45 He was humbled. Was like, interesting. No, I think he's always tried to be different. He gets the... He referenced it very briefly, but boy does he get beat up on... Sometimes he says things that really just... I'm like, oh, Twitter's gonna kill you now. Every week he says something like, oh, Twitter's gonna kill you now. Like, really... Scott Galloway · 1:08:01 That guy threads the needle. Meet the press right now. It's interesting. I like Kara Swisher · 1:08:05 Chet Tod. It's a complex thing. He's definitely... Speaking of lightning rods on Twitter, he is one of them. He's really... Scott Galloway · 1:08:11 Chet Tod? Kara Swisher · 1:08:12 Oh, yeah. Scott Galloway · 1:08:13 Oh. I didn't know that. But when you think about it, there's so Kara Swisher · 1:08:15 left and the right and everyone. Yeah. Scott Galloway · 1:08:18 There's so few media properties that have been able to establish themselves or maintain some level of being perceived as, balanced or neutral arbiters, and Meet the Press is one. And literally nobody else has been able to maintain the position. Kara Swisher · 1:08:31 Not everybody thinks so. Just go on Twitter one... Any any one day after anything and watch. I I don't... Again, I think Chuck is right. Twitter does not represent the world. Scott Galloway · 1:08:38 But But do people think that... Do people think Meet the Press has got a liberal or a conservative bias? Kara Swisher · 1:08:43 Oh, if he's if he... If he's not tough enough on a Republican, they, you know, they slap him silly every week. I think a particular Republican or you didn't ask him this question, then if he asks something that's tough, they... It's interesting. It's interesting to watch. I just... I feel like like a lot of things, it's sort of like, wow, that was... You know, I I don't know why people who are on Twitter who talk about Meet the Press are not there for illumination. Let's just say. I just... I don't know how else to put it. They're not there for illumination. It's just not... Never good enough. And at the same time, you know, there's there's there's feedback and criticism to be had of every new show, including ours. And in that case, it it takes on a weird life of its own and it centers around Chuck Todd. Scott Galloway · 1:09:22 He does a great job. I I... I'm not... I wasn't exaggerating. I watch Guest · 1:09:25 many episodes every week. Kara Swisher · 1:09:26 I think it's a lot Scott Galloway · 1:09:27 They do a fantastic job. Longest running TV series in history. Kara Swisher · 1:09:30 They they could have gone a certain way and they've managed to keep relevant. It is... I think he himself, as he was talking about, gets exhausted by the reductiveness of it and that's why he wants to do the longer form stuff. He's he's a real political nerd in that way. Anyway, Scott, that's the show. That was really interesting in any case, and we'll see if it comes to pass, if your prediction comes to pass. We'll be back on Friday for more. I will still be in this closet, but Rebecca and I are gonna keep trying to make it sound better and better. Maybe I'll put a blanket over my head in the next show. Go to nymag.com/pivot to submit your question for the Pivot Podcast. The link is also in our show notes. Scott Galloway · 1:10:04 Today's show was produced by Rebecca Sinanis. Ernie Indotot engineered this episode. Thanks also to Drew Burrows. Make sure you subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. Or if you're an Android user, check us out on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you liked our show, please recommend it to a friend. Thanks for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media. We'll be back later this week for another breakdown of all things tech and business. Fred and Ginger, Shamu and Orca, I don't know, other famous, Cher and Sonny, Chuck Todd, and Ando. [Ad break] Scott Galloway · 1:11:32 See you [Ad break]

Didn’t happen

Resolved Jun 22, 2023 · 2 years after it aired

Pivot #213 · Aired Jun 22, 2021

Chuck Todd will become the new head of CNN politics within 24 months (by approximately June 2023).

Chuck Todd Is Leaving NBC's 'Meet The Press'forbes.com

1 more source

Chuck Todd is leaving NBCcnn.com

How we graded it

Counts as true if: Public confirmation that Chuck Todd has taken a role as head of CNN's political coverage/division within the stated timeframe.

Chuck Todd never became head of CNN's political coverage. By June 2023 he stepped down only as moderator of NBC's Meet the Press, remaining at NBC as chief political analyst until leaving the network entirely in January 2025 to launch his own independent media venture (Noosphere), where he holds 'Head of Politics' for his own company—not CNN. Comcast also never spun off or sold political coverage to CNN as Galloway speculated.

Researched and graded by AI on Oct 13, 2026