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Quest Means Business
Cruise Industry Conference; Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana Remarks Draw Fire; US-Cuba Relations; Durst Case Examined; Putin Reappears in Public; Facebook Announces New Standards. Aired 5:00-6p ET
Aired March 16, 2015 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[17:00:10] RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST: Another rambunctious day on the markets. Lots of volatility with the Dow Jones rising more than 200 points
when it closed just about an hour ago.
The market has now finished. Trading is over. It's Monday. It's the 16th of March.
Tonight: call it fashion's fury versus freedom of speech. Dolce & Gabbana spark a global outrage over gay rights and IVF.
Also bring on the $15 flight. Ryanair green lights a transatlantic service -- so say the board of directors.
And turning data into dollars: an exclusive interview with the chief executive of Microsoft.
I'm Richard Quest. Tonight live from Miami in Florida, where, of course, I mean business.
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QUEST: Good evening to you from Florida, where the near the Port of Miami and those indeed are the ships that you can see behind me. We'll be
talking about the cruise industry as it has its annual convention here in Miami and you'll be hearing also in the program from the chief executive of
the world's largest cruise line, Carnival, who'll be joining me live in the program.
We start, though, with a PR disaster, which is now knocking at the door of one of the world's most famous fashion houses. Outrage is growing after
the founders of Dolce & Gabbana voiced their disapproval of gay adoption. They also hit against the use of IVF -- in vitro fertilization -- and
called the resulting babies "synthetic."
In an interview in an Italian magazine, the two designers said -- and we quote -- "We oppose gay adoptions. The only family is the traditional
one."
They then went on, "No chemical offsprings and rented uterus."
Well, now the singer, Sir Elton John, who has two IVF babies was infuriated by the comments and immediately took to Instagram. He has two children
with his husband through IVF treatment.
Sir Elton has vowed to boycott D&G, saying, quote, "I shall never wear Dolce & Gabbana ever again," with the hashtag #BoycottDolceGabbana.
And this has turned into a major issue.
Dolce & Gabbana say they have the right to express their own opinions. And they are now urging fans to #BoycottEltonJohn.
As you can see, this is turning into an extremely nasty battle. It's kicked off a hashtag battle online -- #BoycottDolceGabbana is very much at
the moment in the ascendancy. It's been tweeted almost 50,000 times over the past day.
#BoycottEltonJohn has just under 2,000 retweets.
If it wasn't so serious and it didn't go to one of the greater social issues of our time, it might almost be comical. But the reactions in the
comments has taken on a life of its own, both on and offline.
CNN's Clare Sebastian reports from New York.
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CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Motherhood was the theme of Dolce & Gabbana's show in Milan this year. Pregnant models, even though
carrying young children, were met with enthusiastic applause.
Just a few weeks later and those images are being pushed aside by controversy. Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana are facing a social media
firestorm and calls for a boycott.
What began with Elton John has now spread. Celebrities from Ricky Martin to Courtney Love and tennis star Martina Navratilova have tweeted support
for the boycott. Even Victoria Beckham, a long-time friend of the designers, tweeted, "Sending love to Elton, David, Zachary, Elijah and all
the beautiful IVF babies."
And Dolce & Gabbana are not staying silent, casting themselves as defenders of free speech, they even posted an image on Instagram proclaiming "Je suis
D&G."
Their views are perhaps surprising as the business partners themselves were in a romantic relationship until 2005. A few years ago they told CNN that
corresponds with the cornerstone of their multibillion-dollar business.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (from captions): If we had never loved each other this much, Dolce & Gabbana could not exist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CLARE FLEURY, FASHION DESIGNER: I think as public figures, they have responsibilities.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Clare Fleury is an openly gay fashion designer in New York. She says she was shocked by the comments.
FLEURY: They hurt a lot of people by saying that. And then I think at least for that part, they could apologize.
SEBASTIAN: Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana aren't the first business leaders to find themselves in hot water over their views on gay rights and
the family.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (from captions): In my entire life I have always respected every person I've met, including gays and their families without
any distinction.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Italian pasta maker Barilla's chairman apologized publicly after saying he would never use an ad with a gay family in it.
And the CEO of Mozilla, the maker of search engine, Firefox, stepped down last year over his support of a 2008 anti-gay marriage campaign.
[17:05:02] SEBASTIAN: Dolce & Gabbana have a combined net worth of around $3 trillion (ph) according to "Forbes" magazine and their brand has a
powerful international reputation. A lot to lose if this controversy continues to spiral -- Clare Sebastian, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: With me now is the brand expert, Bruce Turkel.
Good to see you, sir. Thank you for joining us here in Miami.
Now look, when you heard this story and when you saw and you heard -- because obviously you're an expert in dealing with reputational crises,
what did you think?
BRUCE TURKEL, CEO, TURKEL BRANDS: I thought a couple things. First of all, I thought, wow, a potential client. But more importantly I thought,
how could someone put their foot in it like that, a brand of that value, of that quality, say something so ridiculous and look what's happening?
QUEST: Right. But if we talk about the issue of freedom of speech, they clearly have the right to say it.
TURKEL: Of course they have the right to say it. You have the right to say lots of things. Your right to swing your fist, though, stops about a
foot from my face. But it's not smart because these two guys represent a brand, meaning they represent a company, shareholders and employees.
So their opinions, what they think, regardless of their rights, now affect everyone who has invested their time, money, effort, love in their company.
QUEST: Right. So is this a moral issue?
Is it a brand issue?
Is it a commercial issue?
TURKEL: You know the old saying, if the only tool you have is a hammer, every solution looks like a nail. I'm a brand guy so, to me, it's a brand
issue and it's a business issue. This will cost them money.
QUEST: It will cost them money from the likes of Elton John, who might not -- who will now throw away -- and indeed, others have tweeted as well --
that they will throw away all their stuff.
But there will be those who will agree with them.
TURKEL: Of course. There's always people who agree with you no matter how distasteful your message is.
The question is what will it do to the desirability of their products? And I'm telling you what it's going to do is damage it severely.
QUEST: What are people saying here, for example, here in Miami?
It's a big fashion industry. It has a very large gay population on Miami Beach and it's exactly the sort of place where Dolce & Gabbana might expect
to make quite a lot of money selling goods.
TURKEL: You're exactly right. And people are horrified. People are angry. And I don't think this is a gay issue, although of course it was
insulting to the gay community, but it's a human rights issue. They insulted people in general.
What's going to happen is wearing a D&G outfit is going to be a mark of shame. It's going to --
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: Well, I'm going to challenge you on that.
TURKEL: OK.
QUEST: Because I suggest that memories are fairly limited when it comes to this.
Do you remember the pasta company where the -- that we heard in that report?
TURKEL: Barilla, I do.
QUEST: You're a brand man; you would know them.
What about the Mozilla chap who made his comments?
What about Chick-fil-a, all these examples?
Do people remember longer term these incidents?
TURKEL: Some do and some don't. Chick-fil-a, in fact, people do. Hobby Lobby, people do. How about Lululemon? Was it a gay issue? It was a
women's issue. It was a misogynistic statement. But their stock price dropped precipitously after this happened.
Yes, people care. And people really care if it's fashion.
QUEST: So finally, if you're D&G, do you just SU -- shut up?
And you don't make the comment in the first place?
TURKEL: Well, it's too late. They made the comment.
Yes --
(CROSSTALK)
TURKEL: -- comment.
If they want to fix it, you do a couple things.
Number one, you apologize sincerely, strongly and quickly.
Number two, you show what you're going to do to make the situation better. You got to put your money where your mouth is.
Number three, you demonstrate through your business practices that, yes, indeed, you learned the lesson; you're sorry and you're fixing it.
And number four, you do what you said, you shut up.
[17:10:04] QUEST: Which is what we will have to get you to do.
TURKEL: Thank you, Richard.
QUEST: Great to see you, sir. Thank you for joining us.
TURKEL: Thank you.
QUEST: Marvelous, the reaction from here in Miami, not surprisingly it was vociferous.
There's another triple day on the stock markets for U.S. shares. The Dow Jones was up 228 points. Investors are waiting for the Fed meeting on
Wednesday. There is considerable uncertainty about when the Fed will raise interest rates.
Of course, everybody's going to be looking to see if the word "patience" and others is removed from the statement which comes out after the Fed
meeting, particularly bearing in mind what we heard from the chair, Janet Yellen, at her congressional testimony.
To Europe, where the stocks rose sharply on Monday and the German DAX set a record. It closed about 12,000 for the first time. German automakers and
manufacturers were among the biggest winners. Investors hope QE, which is now underway, care to see if Mario Draghi's going to boost exports and
profits.
When we come back, in a moment here in Miami, the cruise industry is changing rapidly. We'll have one of its biggest players, says it's at a
watershed moment. And in fact, there are two of his ships.
Why are they still in port, not out there earning Carnival money?
We'll ask the chief executive that very question when we return. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS live in Miami.
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QUEST: Welcome back. We're coming to you tonight live from the Perez Art Museum here in Miami, fascinating, beautiful place, beautiful museum and a
stunning view over Miami Harbor, as you can see behind me.
Now roughly 350 kilometers south of where I am, the latest round of talks are taking place between Cuba and the United States. They have begun in
Havana. The goal, as you'll be well aware, ever since President Obama's statement last year, the goal is to restore full diplomatic relations after
more than half a century as bitter rivals.
CNN's Patrick Oppmann is quite literally our man in Havana. He joins us now live from the Cuban capital.
My apologies, Patrick; you must have heard that joke more times than is honest or decent.
But, Patrick, we know the president made the statement and we know there have been incremental advantages, such as a telecoms deal and the like.
What is the core of the negotiations now taking place?
PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, we keep hearing that progress is being made, Richard, but this is the third round of talks
tomorrow. It'll be three months since President Obama and President Castro addressed their respective people, saying that the relationship would move
forward, that they would move first towards reestablishment of diplomatic relations and then over the next few years, normalization, reaching a point
where there isn't a U.S. embargo on Cuba, that there are full trade relations, people are able to go from places like Miami and visit Cuba and
not need special permissions.
But you haven't seen many signs of at least a diplomatic progress and it's getting closer by the day to April when President Obama said that he would
like to see a U.S. embassy before the Summit of Americas in Havana.
So it's a very different setting for this round of talks. The media has not been allowed in; we haven't been able to get any photo ops of the two
sides sitting down and talking. There in an off-limits area of Havana. And you really get the sense they're trying to hammer out a deal here on
the Cuban side. What they would like immediately is to be taken off the U.S. State Department list of countries that support terrorism, which of
course incurs more sanctions for Cuba.
And the U.S. side, as part of opening up that embassy, Richard, they would like to see their diplomats be able to travel freely throughout the island.
Right now they're limited to Havana; to be able to increase their staff here in Havana.
[17:15:10] So as always with these kinds of diplomatic meetings between former rivals, we're waiting for one side to perhaps budge for a deal, a
breakthrough to happen. And as of yet, that just has not happened. But of course people in the States, people in Cuba are not waiting. We've seen
that telecom deal. We've seen other deals coming through the pipeline.
And tomorrow, the first flight from -- first direct flight from JFK to Havana will land here as expected, to land here, first flight since the
historic announcement. And it'll be adding only more U.S. visitors to the island. We're seeing more and more of them each day -- Richard.
QUEST: Patrick, good to see you, Patrick. Thank you, Patrick Oppmann, who is in Havana.
And this time next week, well, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, this program will be coming live from the Cuban capital. We will be there. QUEST MEANS
BUSINESS, live from Havana, as Cuba stands on the brink of history. That's at the usual time. It'll be 5:00 pm in Havana, 9:00 pm in London, 10:00 pm
in Central Europe, CET.
Miami is the epicenter of the global cruise industry. And this week, it's the meeting place for the industry's biggest players.
The chief executive of Carnival says that the cruise industry is at a watershed moment, as I found out for myself last year, when the cruise
experience has changed dramatically over the decades.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST (voice-over): It's 1969 and the mighty Queen Elizabeth II arrives in New York, a maiden voyage heralding the dawn of the modern cruise age.
Nearly half a century on and cruising has been brought to the masses with these floating cities. Good grief, it's vast.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: The ships are massive and behind me, there are several of them waiting to leave harbor.
Arnold Donald runs that ship that we were reporting on, along with the rest of Carnival's fleet. And he's with me now.
Largest cruiseliner, cruise company, cruise group, cruise whatever you want to call it, in the world
ARNOLD DONALD, CEO & PRESIDENT, CARNIVAL CORPORATION: Absolutely, thank you, Richard. Glad to be with you.
QUEST: Now, it's a beautiful day.
Why are your ships still there, not out making money for you?
DONALD: Well, our ships are going to be taking off in a few minutes. People are embarking. Earlier today, a few thousand people disembarked and
now a few are embarking. As you know, we have nine brands. So you're looking at is two of our Carnival ships. We have eight other brands and we
have 700 ports around the world.
QUEST: What's going to be the big issue for the cruise industry at your convention here in Miami?
DONALD: Well, I think at the convention, there's no one big issue. All the ports are here representing the ports and trying to get additional
ships to come into the ports. A lot of travel professionals are here with some training and learning different things.
And then of course a lot of vendors and providers.
[17:20:06] But the big thing that they were all excited about is the continued growth of the cruise industry. You know, there's over 22.1
million people sailed the last year and probably 1 million more will sail on this coming year.
QUEST: When do you hope to be able to send your first ship into Cuba? Because I am guaranteeing -- tell me if I'm wrong --
DONALD: I like guarantees.
QUEST: -- but I'm not wrong. I'm guaranteeing that somewhere in an office in your headquarters, probably in the safe under your desk, there is a file
that says when we can go to Cuba legally.
DONALD: You know, when the embargo is lifted, we will be ready to go. Cuba, there's a lot of pent-up demand as you know in the United States to
visit Cuba. There are 11 ports. The Havana port is a shallow depth port. There's a tunnel, so you can't dredge any deeper. Only small ships that
will go direct into Havana.
But there are other ports. And where we --
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: You're ready, aren't you? You've got a plan ready? You've got a plan ready.
DONALD: We have a plan ready and I'm sure so does everybody else in the industry.
QUEST: There were a lot of concerns -- you and I talked about them last year about safety and about environmental issues and all the controversial
aspects of your industry. Now it's a bit like flying. Two planes fell out of the sky last year in very public circumstances. Flying is still the
safest form of travel. But it tarnishes an industry.
DONALD: Yes, you know, for us, we've moved beyond the voice disruptions and what have you. But the reality is that there are people who haven't
cruised yet. And whenever they hear any kind of negative news story it's additional reason for them not to cruise. So we're into buffing (sic) the
negative myths about cruising. Cruising is the greatest vacation value there is and it's the greatest experience there is.
QUEST: Last week you were in the U.K., week before last you were in the U.K. And you launched the Britannia in Britain. It was -- well, you
didn't launch it; Her Majesty the Queen launched it.
The interesting thing about this is the demand for these ever-larger ships. But at the same time, how do you, sir, balance that between the more
profitable luxury cruise demand as well, which is the -- where's the growth?
DONALD: Well, the growth is in both places, in the contemporary mass market; that's actually the largest market is sort of like Walmart versus
Neiman-Marcus, you know. So the contemporary market, we make good returns there.
But also in the luxury end we do. The Britannia is a beautiful ship, engineered by our PNO guests. It's a PNO ship. Her Royal Majority did, in
fact, christen her. It was called Mother. But she's a spectacular ship.
At the same time --
(CROSSTALK)
[17:25:03] QUEST: How many ships were -- have you got at the moment in your fleet?
DONALD: We have 101 ships. Some of them -- some of them carry 400 guests and some carry over 4,000.
QUEST: How many would you like to have?
DONALD: We're pacing. It's moderate growth. There's only so many shipyards and only so many slots. But we're looking to additional growth
and it's a great time for our industry.
QUEST: Those ships still haven't gone.
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: (INAUDIBLE) the captain. He's costing you money.
(LAUGHTER)
DONALD: Thank you, Richard.
QUEST: Thank you very much.
Now, when we come back, from ships to planes. Flights from Europe to this very city could soon cost less than a ticket to Miami's art museum. We're
going to be talking about. Ryanair's board has now approved a plan to launch transatlantic service to about a dozen destinations in the U.S.
Fares would start at $15. It's a radical departure from Ryanair's existing business model and it's a scheme that hasn't seen much success in the past.
Let's go back in history. Laker Airways Skytrain launched in the 1970s and probably went bust five years later, largely as a result of collusion and
activity by Pan Am, British Airways and the other carriers.
PEOPLExpress suffered the same fate. And last year losses from Norwegian Air Shuttle's transatlantic services pushed the airline into the red for
the first time in almost a decade. Admittedly, it was Norwegian's first time running these major lines.
Joining me now from London, John Strickland, who's the director of the independent aviation consultancy at JLS Consulting.
John, when we look at the problems, when we look at the reasons why low- cost transatlantic doesn't work, when low-cost short haul Europe, Asia, the United States has been such a great success, what's the sticking point?
JOHN STRICKLAND, JLS CONSULTING: Well, there are many ways into airlines are pretty short low-cost can improve productivity and cut costs compared
to their peer group airlines or legacy airlines like British Airways, like Air France and Lufthansa. They can fly their planes on more flights a day.
They can offer additional services for buying meals and so on. They can sell directly through the Internet and they're offering simple point-to-
point journeys.
Many of these elements cannot be replicated on long haul, because once you've done one long-haul ship a day, you can't do another. You might be
able to squeeze in part of a third sector, starting an outbound journey. But that wouldn't be a particular advantage because the long-haul legacy
airlines are already doing that.
So that's the challenge.
QUEST: The -- obviously if you get the economics right -- and by that I mean you manage to get the planes -- probably A330s at the cheapest price -
- fuel remains cheap and you have a low -- as the industry calls it -- CASK -- cost available seat kilometer -- then surely in a Ryanair scenario, you
can do it.
STRICKLAND: I would say if any airline can do it successfully, Ryanair would be the one I'd want to place a bet on. You mentioned about planes.
Planes is really the key factor. We see some airlines now flying long-haul low cost with very new, very efficient aircraft; Norwegian's doing it with
Boeing 787s. But these are, nevertheless, very expensive aircraft.
Ryanair's been apace to say they don't seem so doing it as quickly because they have to get those aircraft at the right cost. And as you said, it may
not be the latest aircraft. It may not be Dreamliners or A350s. It could be A330s. It could be Boeing 777s. But they will want to negotiate a deal
on the ownership of those aircraft at the lowest possible cost.
QUEST: John, when the first 10-pound or $15, $20 fare comes along, you and I will be on board and we'll get your opinion on it then. Thank you very
much for joining us.
STRICKLAND: Happy to be with you, Richard.
QUEST: After years of -- I'll pay your ticket.
After years of suspicions and accusations, a comment that was made heard on a forgotten microphone -- it could be the downfall of the real estate heir,
Robert Durst. They'll be talking about the details on his bizarre case.
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QUEST: The quote, "What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course," well, that comment was caught on a live microphone during the taping of a
documentary in the United States. And it could be the downfall of the real estate heir Robert Durst. He was arrested this weekend in connection with
the murder of a long-time friend in 2000.
Miguel Marquez is in New York and has been following the details -- Miguel.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Richard, what is incredible about this story that could have been written, I suppose, if there was
modern-day William Shakespeare, there's so much drama going on here, is that that conversation was recorded two years ago; the filmmakers didn't
realize it until recent months and then they realized they had a gold mine with this admission.
In this case, Robert Durst, who was well-known to police around the country, his legal woes are self-inflicted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. There's more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in a moment. This is CNN and, on this network, the news always comes first.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERT DURST, REAL ESTATE HEIR: There it is. You're caught.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Robert Durst mumbling to himself in the bathroom, seemingly admitting to murder.
DURST: Killed them all, of course.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): "All of them" could be a reference to the death or disappearance of three people close to Durst, the scion of a
multimillionaire New York City real estate magnate.
First, his young wife, Kathy, disappeared in 1982 after arguing with Durst, her body never found. When investigators reopened that case in 2000 and
requested an interview with Durst's friend, Susan Berman, she was then murdered execution-style inside her L.A. home on Christmas Eve.
Soon after, Durst moved to far-off Galveston, Texas, claiming he wanted to escape his New York notoriety. He went so far as to pose as a woman,
masquerading in a wig and pretending to be mute to hide his husky voice. But the shadow of death followed him to Texas and he was soon arrested for
the murder of his neighbor, Morris Black, whose dismembered body was found floating in pieces in Galveston Bay.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not guilty.
MARQUEZ: Unbelievably, Durst beat the charges by claiming self-defense, even though he admitted to cutting the body into pieces.
All three cases back in the spotlight after Durst agreed to talk to filmmaker Andrew Jarecki for his new HBO series. During their interview,
Jarecki confronts Durst with a letter, telling police back in 2000 the location of the body of his longtime friend Susan Berman. The filmmakers in
their exhaustive research found another letter Durst had previously sent to Berman, the address on both envelopes written in near identical block
letters and the same misspelling of the word "Beverly."
When confronted, Durst becomes nervous, even burping uncomfortably on camera.
DURST: Would conclude they were both written by the same person.
MARQUEZ: Durst's lawyer calls the bathroom admissions "ramblings" and that his client admitted nothing.
DICK DEGUERIN, ATTORNEY FOR ROBERT DURST: Bob Durst didn't kill Susan Berman. He's ready to end all the rumor and speculation and have a trial.
MARQUEZ: Filmmaker Andrew Jarecki told "GMA" the critical interview was done over two years ago, but didn't realize Durst's off-camera admission
until more recently.
[17:30:10] Long before Durst's arrest, he went to police and said, you might want to hear this.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
Male: It was so chilling to hear it. It was disturbing to hear it -- makes you very uncomfortable. (AUDIO GAP). and once you hear it - (AUDIO
GAP).
(END VIDEOCLIP)
MARQUEZ: So Durst was in a New Orleans court today, he did not - he said he wouldn't fight extradition to Los Angeles, so you'd think he's going to
be on his way there - nope. The twists get twistier in this case. He's now being held on a gun charge.
Apparently he had a 38 revolver in his hotel room so he may face gun charges in New Orleans before going to Los Angeles to face murder charges.
All of this for a 71-year-old. I don't think he's going to see the light of day for some time to come. Richard.
RICHARD QUEST, INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT AND HOST OF "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": Thank you very much, Miguel Marquez, for that report and
you will obviously be following it very closely in the days ahead.
After the break a look at Microsoft's latest moves - an interview with chief exec Satya Nadella. "Quest Means Business" from Miami.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard quest in Miami. There's more "Quest Means Business" from the Perez Art Museum in just a moment when you'll hear how
they go from naught to 100 in just three seconds, and they don't use a drop of petrol. I'll be speaking to the chief exec of Formula E electric car
racing.
And bare bottoms get banned from Facebook as part of a new sweeping rule change. But before all of that, this is CNN and on this network the news
always comes first.
Vladimir Putin has made his first public appearance in over a week. The Russian president's unexplained absence sparked a number of rumors about
his whereabouts and his health. Matthew Chance reports from Moscow.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Finally Russian state television has come out, broadcast these pictures. They broadcast
them live of Vladimir Putin meeting his counterpart from Kyrgyzstan in St. Petersburg. He looked very well - no sign of any illness that would have
explained his absence for so long.
But that absence started all sorts of rumors - not least that he was ill. There was speculation he got cancer and was recovering from that or being
treated for that, a speculation he'd suffered a stroke, that he'd hurt his back, that he'd got flu. All along the Kremlin categorically denied that
he was ill, saying that he was in perfect health.
[17:35:09] Another strand of the speculation was that he wasn't even the country - that he'd traveled elsewhere - to Switzerland in fact to witness
the birth of his love child.
That of course was not confirmed by the Kremlin because Vladimir Putin for one reason keeps details of his personal life under very tight wraps
indeed. And so we're still none the wiser about that.
A third strand though of rumor or speculation was that there were internal machinations taking place in Russia and that Vladimir Putin had been ousted
in some kind of palace coup - that he was no longer in charge. And so this appearance going someway to put pay to that speculation as well. He still
seems very much to be the president of Russia.
And for his part, he seemed his usual self, even made light of the fact he'd been absent. He didn't - he didn't explain it, but he said, look, you
know, the world would be a very boring place if it weren't for gossip. Matthew Chance, CNN Moscow.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
QUEST: Benjamin Netanyahu says there is no chance of a Palestinian state as long as he remains (AUDIO GAP) minister of Israel. The country votes in
national elections on Tuesday. Mr. Netanyahu's Likud Party is polling slightly behind the Zionist Union Party.
Meanwhile, Iran and the United States have begun their latest round of nuclear talks in Switzerland. Iranian delegates mentioned the letter sent
to Iran by a group of U.S. senators warning that any future deal may not be permanent. Both sides are trying to reach an agreement by the end of the
month.
Welcome back to "Quest Means Business" from the Perez Art Museum in Miami. And behind me you can see of course the port of Miami. We'll be talking
more about the city, the tourism, and we'll have the mayor a little later in the program.
The head of Microsoft Satya Nadella says his business is all about empowering individuals, organizations and even entire industries.
Microsoft has unveiled Windows 10 IoT which of course stands for Internet of Things. It means the company is jumping into the race to connect all
your different gizmos and gadgets - everything from maybe your fridge to your car to your computer.
Satya Nadella spoke exclusively to CNN's Maggie Lake who asked him what the Internet of Things and the big data that comes with it means to Microsoft.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
SATYA NADELLA, MICROSOFT CEO: One of the things that's happening is if you look at our lives today, you have computing everywhere - it's ubiquitous.
And the one thing that happens when you have computing everywhere and that - and all that computing is connected.
You collect a lot of data. In fact, you know, analysts estimate something like first of all there would be 30 billion or so of these internet
connected devices, generating something like 44 zettabytes of data by 2019. And the thing that happens though is with all this data, the key is to
figure how to get to insights.
So I think about this as - on all this big data - (AUDIO GAP) finding the small patterns. And then to be able to act on that insight - either
individually or at an organizational level or even these industry business processes.
MAGGIE LAKE, BUSINESS ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT FOR CNN INTERNATIONAL: OK, if I'm a client, what am I buying from you? Am I buying a suite of
applications, are we talking about services?
NADELLA: For us it's actually we think about individual empowering individuals, organizations and even entire industries. If you were an
individual, so you could say for example get Microsoft devices - either a phone or a PC and you're going to have an intelligent agent. In our case
it's called Cortana that's intelligent -- the agent or the assistant - a personal assistant - is going to help you leave meetings on time so that
you can catch your flight, it'll help you reschedule your, you know, dates.
So things like that individually as well as if you're an organization. We have tools in Office and Office 365 where you can discover the information.
And one of the tools that we actually launched today is something called Power BI. It brings all of the data that you have into your fingertips so
you can make decisions and you can gain insight.
LAKE: Is that enough of a business to replace the cash cow that was Office? Is that what the replacement is going to be?
NADELLA: See for us, if you look at - through any of these changes in computing paradigm. Today we've been talking a lot more about it's the
mobile experiences. It's not about just one single mobile device. It's in fact I have multiple devices in my life, and you want to be able to have
your data and your applications run through all of that. And that's what the future of Windows is. Office is no longer just about Word, Excel,
PowerPoint everywhere, it's about these new capabilities. So that's the way we're driving our business going forward.
[17:40:02] LAKE: It sounds like there's a big focus on productivity. Is it - is that fit it in with being an innovative consumer brand? Like where
does gaming fit in with that for instance or are these different sort of portfolios?
NADELLA: I mean of - gaming is one category that we have obviously with Xbox, have a great brand and PCs in fact - 10 percent of the PCs are bought
for gaming. So we (AUDIO GAP) gaming for gaming's sake. But the rest of the company is all focused on productivity and platform.
And productivity to me has very broad and deep meaning. It's not just about work as I said because for us, you and I even managing our schedules,
managing our time in our overall life is that important as what it is to have a very successful meeting or a conference or what have you.
LAKE: We've seen reports that people are not buying new PCs - they're not refreshing their PC purchases. Is that going to impact your business based
on what you just described to me?
NADELLA: I mean, overall if you look at what's happening as PCs have some headwind, it's tailwind in new device categories. There's new tablets,
there is new smartphones. These are all categories that Windows now spans. So I don't define our long-term success based on one form factor's rise or
fall, it's a question of our reinventing our software, our operating systems, our devices so that it can span what's going to be an ever-
increasing set of devices that we use in our lives.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
QUEST: That's the chief executive of Microsoft - Satya Nadella talking exclusively to Maggie Lake.
Facebook has updated what it's calling its community standards. In doing to, it's clarified what you can and you cannot post on the site. It's
policing the behavior of 1.4 billion users in dozens of countries. And it's a task that's proved extremely difficult for the socially-network -
social network - site.
Samuel Burke joins us now from New York to put this into context. So what can you do that you couldn't and what can't you do that you could?
SAMUEL BURKE, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, they've made it much clearer, even for those of us who have followed every single word, Richard.
It's often been hard to understand. Nudity has been one problem where it just wasn't clear.
Women have been upset a lot because of what you couldn't show. So now you can show breasts, but only if it's breastfeeding, Richard, or you're
showing a mastectomy scar. Those were taken down before. You can't show nipples, but you could - and you cannot show the full buttocks.
Now this has made a lot of women's groups happy today saying that they were very unhappy before, Richard. Makes it much clearer. Now if you move on,
here we go from nudity over to bullying. Now what Facebook says - they've made this much clearer. If you alter an image of somebody to humiliate
them - of a school child for instance - that will no longer be permitted. They also say that they're going to remove videos where somebody's shown
being physically attacked.
And lastly and probably most importantly, when it comes to terrorism - this has always been a problem area. Now they say that they will take down any
organization that has a presence that is a terrorist group or is related to organized crime.
But I think that this is the most important part - they made it clear that when it comes to supporting terrorism - if you make some type of verbal
support of terrorism, that will be taken down. So just because you're not part of an organization, if you give verbal support for it, no longer going
to be tolerated on Facebook, Richard.
QUEST: We could talk more about this for hours, particularly how are they going to police this when you've got over a billion users. But, Samuel, I
need to ask you - some breaking news this evening. The CFO of Uber - the chief financial officer - has resigned. Do we know why?
BURKE: It's a big surprise. "The Wall Street Journal" has just reported a memo that was sent to investors by the CEO of Uber. He's saying that the
CFO who's been there for two years and seen this company to a $40 billion- dollar valuation, Richard, -- $40 billion dollars - wants to spend more time with his family and put his children in the front seat -
QUEST: Ah!
BURKE: -- he'll stay with - I think you've heard that before - he'll stay with the company they say -
QUEST: Ah!
BURKE: -- but now they need somebody who will get in that front seat and take them forward to that IPO, Richard.
QUEST: The old spending more time with the family routine. Ah, yes. Yes, that well-known bromide in times of resignation. Samuel Burke, many thanks
indeed.
Now before we take a break, let me just point out to you - you may have seen over the last - over the last hour of the program - a little bit of
strobing of light as the night light and the sun starts to go down here in Miami. Well the reason is this magnificent lattice roof that was designed
by Herzog & de Meuron at the Perez Art Museum here in Miami.
[17:45:01] It's magnificent, but of course as the sun goes over it, it makes me look like a duffled pony the way it's just coming through which is
of course I'm sure Herzog & de Meuron never really thought about that when they designed this veranda, but it is spectacular.
As indeed is this - look at the size of that thing. How would you like to drive that? You basically have to bring it in, turn it `round and send it
out again. That's what you call difficult driving.
Well there'll be more difficult driving this weekend - this past weekend - downtown Miami was filled with the high-pitched hum - hardly a roar -- but
maybe a hum of Formula E Racecars - that's E for electric. The chief executive of Formula E joins me after the break. It's "Quest Means
Business." We've got boats, we've had planes, next we've got cars and we're in Miami.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Look at that! Look at that - that's one of those jetpacks. Somebody doing it on the harbor near the ships in Miami. It's much more
difficult than it looks as I discovered just a couple of years ago.
This was my effort at having a go, and I assure you the waters and docklands in London was far colder and more miserable than the beautiful
waters here in Miami where the temperature is just - is about 80 degrees today. Not sure what the water is. But that looks pretty beautiful.
Welcome back to Miami where Norwegian Cruise Lines is turning one of its ships just behind me. That takes skill - no question about it. Richard
Branson says he hopes in ten years the smell of exhaust from cars will be a thing of the past. Sir Richard was speaking before the first-ever Formula
E race on a U.S. track. It was held here in Miami on Saturday. Formula E is F1-style racing with the gas-guzzling petrol engines swapped for
electric cars. Branson's Virgin Group sponsors a two-car team. Supporters say the sport will drive innovation and change, and change the perception
of electric vehicles.
And joining me now to talk about this, the CEO of Formula 1(ph) is Alejandro Agag and he's with me now. Sir, good to see you.
ALEJANDRO AGAG, CEO, FORMULA E: Thank you.
QUEST: We've talked before about this.
AGAG: We have - (inaudible).
QUEST: You promised me this event was going to take place and it did.
AGAG: Yes, it did.
QUEST: What was the high point for you in it?
AGAG: Well the race is first race ever in the U.S. and sold out. All the fans and especially young fans - we wanted to communicate to kids that when
they buy a car, the first car they buy is electric. And there were a lot of them here and they loved it.
QUEST: But the level of excitement of a car going 150 versus 2 or 300 miles or whatever a Formula 1 - without the noise and the roar and the
smell - does it create a difference that you noticed?
AGAG: Well, people don't care so much now about speed, they care about technology. Everything now is about technology and this technology's new.
You know the Stone Age didn't finish because they ran out of stones. Something simply another technology came that was better. Stone Age is
combustion, the future is electric. So what excites people is the new technology.
[17:50:08] QUEST: Right. You say it's not all about speed, but I'm guessing that every one of those teams is working on the technology to try
and get the speed up and the acceleration - 0 to 100 in three seconds is impressive, but they want to do it in 0.6.
AGAG: Oh yes, they all want to win and they will do anything to win. But they want to improve the technology and then that technology we can put it
on the road cars - the cars that you drive or I drive - will be better and then we will all have electric cars.
QUEST: When we look at electric vehicles, there's lots of rules in F1 about how much petrol you can use, when you can gas up the bladder. I
mean, I assume you have the same rules as longer races because you've got to conserve your power in the battery.
AGAG: Yes, exactly. We are regulated like the FIA - same regulator as the Formula 1. We have very strict rules, we have a certain amount of energy
in the battery and actually it's not the fastest driver win. It's the smartest and the clever one who manages the energy and attacks at the end.
QUEST: Right at the beginning of this program we heard the talk about Dolce & Gabbana's comments about IVF and all of that and the brand. Here
you're talking about brand F1 and brand F-E that you're now trying to report (ph). When does the big money come your way do you think - the
seriously big money?
AGAG: Well we are - we're happy - we just announced five days ago big investment from Liberty Global and Discovery Communications.
QUEST: How much?
AGAG: Well I can't say because we haven't even started but it's quite significant. It guarantees the future of Formula E. And it's a sign that,
you know, the big money really is looking out to bet for this electric championship.
QUEST: Good to see you, sir, Alejandro.
AGAG: Thank you very much.
QUEST: If we see you in New York -
AGAG: Pleasure to see you. Come buy the car any time.
QUEST: (Inaudible) - buy a car, I'll drive one.
AGAG: (LAUGHTER).
QUEST: Twenty-six degrees Celsius and sunny in Miami. It's not difficult to see why tourists continue to flood to Miami - to this part of the world,
especially when you have these vast cruise ships heading out - heading toward the Caribbean.
Miami-Dade's mayor will be with me next. It's "Quest Means Business" in Miami. (RINGS BELL).
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tourism is worth more than $20 billion a year to Miami. The city is one of the busiest destinations in the world and the number of visitors
is growing. Joining me now, Carlos A. Gimenez is the mayor of Miami-Dade County.
And Mr. Mayor, we are delighted and thank you, sir, for we're in your area.
CARLOS A. GIMENEZ, MIAMI-DADE MAYOR: Yes, well it's my pleasure.
QUEST: Tourism - you know - -many parts of the country, many parts of the world don't understand the significance of tourism. But for you it's Latin
America, it's Central America, it's European, it's American. You've got the lot, isn't it?
GIMENEZ: Right. And - well - we're the gateway to the Americas and it's very easy for all of South America, Central America and the Caribbean to
get here. And plus we speak their language. And so for them it's very easy for them to come up. Europeans come because we have, you know, the
climate. When everybody else is freezing, we're not.
QUEST: So what do you want from policymakers? What does Miami need both at the state level and at the federal level to continue to prosper in a
tourism environment?
GIMENEZ: Well, the - it's the infrastructure and so, you know, one of the things you saw was the cruise ships and so we are now endeavoring and we're
on - we're dredging - our port to 50 feet. We're going to have post- phantom night ships that come here. It's not - it's just - it's not just about tourism, it's about the economy and how we can grow the economy here.
[17:55:04] And so what we need is our partners at the state and the partners of the federal government to be partners with us as we make these
big infrastructure improvements. We just dug a billion-dollar tunnel underneath the - this waterway right here that goes from our expressway
system right into the port of Miami. That took the state and the feds to help us.
QUEST: And yet at the same time - look, I've been covering tourism a long time.
GIMENEZ: Yes.
QUEST: It's one of those industries that people often fail to recognize its economic value --
GIMENEZ: Oh yes.
QUEST: -- and the employment ability that it creates. Because in many cases, this is at the lesser end, at the lower end.
GIMENEZ: Well Miami Beach over there -
QUEST: Yes.
GIMENEZ: -- which is where, you know, a lot of our tourists go - it supports 60 to 70,000 jobs. And so that's very important to the economy in
Miami-Dade. There is about - the Port of Miami itself - all the people that are going on those cruise ships are also, you know, tourists. That
supports about $22 billion in economic value.
QUEST: And all those planes that we can hear going overhead.
GIMENEZ: Well that is the number one economic generator of Miami which is MIA. It is the second-busiest international airport in the United States.
It is the busiest cargo airport in the United States -
QUEST: Right.
GIMENEZ: -- international cargo airport in the United States. So all those things, you know, make this a great community.
QUEST: I freely admit this last question is deeply unfair.
GIMENEZ: OK.
QUEST: Deeply unfair.
GIMENEZ: Go ahead.
QUEST: Choose one thing amongst your children that you have to see if you come to Miami - the one thing you have to do, you have to see, you cannot
leave without doing it.
GIMENEZ: Well, you have to go see Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. That's our jewel of our park system, it's over in the Grove. It was built in 1911 by
James Deering and it's spectacular. It's something that you wouldn't think would be in Miami. You're going to think that, you know, you're in Italy.
You need to go see Vizcaya.
QUEST: Mr. Mayor, thank you so much. Lovely to meet with you as it always is.
GIMENEZ: Well thank you - thank you for coming. Come on back.
QUEST: Thank you very much indeed. When we come back, a "Profitable Moment" after the break. "Quest Means Business in Miami.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tonight's "Profitable Moment." It's a salient fact there are only 23 million cruise journeys a year taken. I thought it would be in the
hundreds of millions. After all, there are three billion people who take a flight every year. But despite all the fuss and furor, it's true. Only 23
million people globally take a cruise.
And that's "Quest Means Business" tonight. I'm Richard Quest live from Miami. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, (RINGS BELL) I hope it's
profitable. I'll see you tomorrow.
[18:00:08]
END
