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Quest Means Business

United Warns 36,000 Workers Could Be Furloughed This Fall; Mexico's President Arrives At White House For Trump Meeting; Facebook Has Failed Its Own Civil Rights Audit. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired July 08, 2020 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:00:00]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: This is CNN's Quest Means Business. The good gains of the day, the triple gains, double

digit gains of the day have evaporated. Look at the markets, and you'll see, well, it went down and down. It will all be surprising when you hear

the sort of issues that the markets are facing at the moment.

These are the markets, and the factors behind. United Airlines, one of the world's largest, says that it could furlough up to 45 percent of its

frontline staff.

The Mexican President is at the White House as exports to the United States are cut in half.

And those rights -- human rights groups, are upset with Facebook. They had a meeting with Mark Zuckerberg. I will speak to one of the leaders who was

there who said that absolutely really nothing happened.

Live from New York, on Wednesday, it is July the 8th. I'm Richard Quest. And of course, I mean business.

Good evening. A warning tonight from one the world's largest carriers, United Airlines, that it could be about to lose more than 30,000 jobs.

United has said its frontline staff, half of them got the warning that the jobs could go after October 1st.

Now, that's important because they are not allowed to lose any staff -- they are not allowed to force any staff out until October 1st as a

condition of receiving Federal bailout funds. United says it can't count on the U.S. government for more help.

Pete Muntean is our aviation correspondent. Pete is with me now. We sort of always knew, Pete, that the moment the deadline passed, they would ditch

staff. But this is a large number. What has United said?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, United says this is simply downright heart breaking. What is so interesting here, Richard, is that

just last week, United said that it was going to ramp up its schedule for August. Now, it's going back on that plan, only going to play 20 percent of

flights this month compared to this month a year ago.

Thirty six thousand furlough notices are going out to employees. The lion's share are flight attendants, 16,000 flight attendants, 11,000 in customer

service, 2,250 pilots. We know the restrictions of the CARES Act end October 1st. United says it is simply trying to be transparent and get the

word out to employees early and urge them to take early retirement packages and voluntary leaves of absence.

We have known all along that airlines have said that they would get smaller as this pandemic dragged on. Now, we are seeing simply how small.

QUEST: So, United received one chunk of money under the grant under the CARES Act, which also required them to give warrants and equity stakes. And

they have just announced that they are to receive a loan under the CARES Act, which will have to be repaired over some period of time.

So, despite all of this money, the airline is still saying, it will have to lose major jobs?

MUNTEAN: Well, United says it's losing $40 million a day, Richard, which is so interesting -- it is not sustainable, United says, even though some

employees have already taken these early retirement packages and separation packages.

United already received $5 billion from the CARES Act. You mentioned they secured that new Treasury loan. They simply feel that this is not

sustainable and they are not going to get another bailout from the Federal government -- not banking on it, especially considering the fact that it is

an election year.

QUEST: United under its new CEO, may be the first, but we are going to hear -- I mean -- I guess I am not really asking you, I am almost telling

you, it is going to happen, that the other airlines are going to follow suit.

MUNTEAN: Definitely the first in a long line here, Richard. And it is not going to be the last. We will see other airlines which have foreshadowed

more problems down the pike.

Delta Airlines said not that long ago that it will have come October 1, about 7,000 too many pilots. It has 14,000 pilots, so 15 percent of its

pilots will have to be let go. So, we will see sort of as this drags on what changes at other airlines as well.

QUEST: Pete, thank you. Pete Muntean in Washington. Now, remember, British Airways have said up to 15,000 staff will have to go. Lufthansa is talking

about 15,000 to 20,000 staff. Air France KLM has said that 7,000 to 9,000 staff.

You get an idea of just the large numbers involved. Emirate's President, Sir Tim Clark says the layoffs have been horrific. Sir Tim told me, the

airline when it is making its decision he believes up to 15 percent of Emirate staff will have to be let go.

But you can't let too many go because you need to be ready for when things come back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM CLARK, PRESIDENT, EMIRATES AIRLINES: We were already in the process of letting staff go. This is a horrific exercise for the airline because it

has never done anything like that. It has always been hugely expansionist in what it has done.

Our talent pool is extraordinarily good. We are having to let very good people go. But be that as it may. Now, we are hoping -- we have already

released 10 percent. We are in the throes of taking out another few percentage points. We're a little bit reluctant to let too many go because

it could leave us exposed if things come back during the course of the back end of the summer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:05:38]

QUEST: Tim Clark. Now, the airlines are saying, U.S. carriers particularly, that ticket sales were just starting to pick up. I say just

starting to, but then of course there has been the surge, the second wave - - whatever you want to call it in coronavirus cases and ticket sales, as United have pointed out have once again started to fall.

Northeastern states have restricted travel from hot spots in the rest of the country, sop domestic travel. And United says, bookings are down

steeply from last year. Domestic is off 70 percent. Recovery in June was short-lived, international travel is down 87 percent.

The LastMinute.com COO is Marco Corradino, joins us from Barcelona via Skype.

Marco, so we are not surprised by all of this, but as the summer gets underway, we are seeing a situation that was getting better, now

deteriorate again. What are you hearing?

MARCO CORRADINO, COO, LASTMINUTE.COM: No, I don't see this situation at the moment because in the last four weeks, we saw just a continuing

increasing in booking and commercial rate increase, so more people in the past in May at the beginning of June was just searching, now they are

booking.

And the last of the queue was U.K. that after the announcement of the government last weekend, the bookings increased a lot. So also the Brits

have started to book again.

So, I see in Europe, internal Europe, so local domestic Europe, I see an increase in bookings. For sure, if you compare year-on-year, we are still

at 50 percent versus last year, but I saw a change in behavior in the last few weeks.

QUEST: Marco, that of course is excellent news from the low levels, which we started. The fear though surely has to be if economies have to be shut

down or there are fears of it, Northern Spain, for example, Israel and the rising coronavirus cases.

If that was to happen in Germany, France, or the U.K., then you would see that trend reverse.

CORRADINO: Absolutely, that could happen. But at the moment we don't have any sign this kind of situation, because if you look at the data point that

is very important, the people in the hospital and also in intensive care therapy, the hospitals are quite empty.

So it's not my job talking about this kind of stuff, but this is a reality.

QUEST: What do people want? I know you have done your travel, but what do people actually want to know when they are booking these holidays? They

obviously want to be safe. Safety and health is number one. How can that be reassured to people? To travelers?

CORRADINO: I mean, I think, Richard, that the people have binary behavior. So the people that want to travel, they know the risk. They assess the risk

if they want to travel. So they are not coming to us to be reassured about safety. They decide and then they go.

And then there are people that this summer will stay local and will drive with the car. This is something that happens in Italy, France, Spain,

Germany, whatever, particularly Italy and France and Spain, people remain local.

But for the people that decide to travel, what they ask for us is flexibility. More than safety. Flexibility.

QUEST: Is it possible -- is it possible to save the summer?

CORRADINO: Well, yes. Everyone is saving the summer. I think Spain, Italy and France, this is happening. For sure as you correctly say before, the

level if you compare that to last year, the summer is gone. So, we will never see the level of last year this year. We need to accept this.

But if you think that in April all the world was shut down, particularly in Europe no one was traveling and if you think where we are now, I am quite

positive and happy about it.

QUEST: Good to see you, Marco. Thank you. I appreciate it. We will check in again as the summer moves on.

CORRADINO: Thank you, Richard. Thank you very much.

[15:10:10]

QUEST: Mexico's President is at the White House. It was President AMLO's first meeting with Donald Trump. We are expecting comments to be made

shortly. There is going to be a signing ceremony. They are showing off of course the revised trade deal, the USMCA amid rampant spread of coronavirus

in both directions.

Let's just look. There they met at the White House. They looked through this -- they are very close, the two Presidents, physically, I mean. So

far, no sign obviously, of a shaking of hands.

They are -- the journey for President AMLO was difficult in more ways than one. Now, the Mexican President famously flies commercial. He flies in

economy. He got an emergency exit row on that particular flight. I wonder whether or not they paid for it. He was upgraded.

There was a layover in Atlanta. He says private planes are for the neoliberal elite. That's one of the many differences to Donald Trump.

Now, however, they are unlikely allies around trade. The U.S. gets 85 percent of Mexico's -- I beg your pardon. The U.S. gets 85 percent of

Mexico's exports. COVID has put that at risk. The border remains closed. And so U.S. imports are now cut in half.

Matt Rivers is there. Matt, why did the Mexico President go to Washington once he knew that Justin Trudeau was not going?

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think because he looks at the United States and says it is not Canada, it is the United

States that we are absolutely 100 percent reliant on when it comes to solving what has turned into an economic crisis here in Mexico despite the

fact that the coronavirus here and in the United States is raging. That is obviously not the top concern for Mexico's President.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RIVERS (voice over): You might think that President Donald Trump and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wouldn't get along.

Demonizing Mexicans has been a key part of the Trump playbook. Build that wall, Mexican immigrants are criminals and invaders and so on. And for his

part, Lopez Obrador was asked in 2017, is Trump a racist?

Yes, yes, he says. He incites racism.

But since he become President in 2018, Lopez-Obrador, known here as AMLO, has, for the most part, refused to publicly criticize Trump. And when the

two men meet this week, expect it to go well. Trump has said he likes the Mexican President and AMLO said this last month. "I am going to the U.S. to

thank President Trump for his support and solidarity."

The two Presidents will mark the start of a new, free trade deal that replaces NAFTA and AMLO says he'll thank Trump for sending ventilators

during the pandemic. But critics in Mexico have urged him not to go, saying an Oval Office visit gives Trump and his supporters a pass for their

rhetoric on immigration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: How do you stop these people?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shoot them.

TRUMP: You can't. There's no -- that's only in the panhandle you can get away with that stuff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIVERS (voice over): Some have also argued Lopez Obrador could be used as a political prop, saying the Oval Office photo-op could be used to

demonstrate international support for an embattled President in a re- election fight.

Asked about that criticism, Lopez Obrador dismissed it and said the U.S. and Mexico have an essential economic relationship. He says, I'm not going

to the U.S. for politics or elections issues. Politics is like walking a tight rope. You need to take risks and make decisions.

So, as Mexico's economy has been crushed during this epidemic, shoring up the country's most important economic relationship could be at the top of

his mind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY RUBIN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MEXICO: Almost 85 percent of all exports go to the States, which is obviously a huge number. So Mexico

is highly dependent on trade.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIVERS (voice over): Plus, there's a lot the two men have agreed on recently. They both have routinely ignored scientific advice during the

coronavirus pandemic, they don't wear masks in public, have pushed for an economic reopening and aren't pushing for more testing.

A new free trade agreement is the reason for the meeting, but it seems like there could be a lot of common ground.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIVERS: Another big of common ground, Richard, is that neither man is faring well in terms of public polling in their countries about how they

are responding to this pandemic.

So, this meeting could be viewed a distraction for these two Presidents to talk about something else.

QUEST: Matt Rivers who is in Mexico City. Matt, we appreciate it. Thank you.

Now, Mark Zuckerberg met some of the activists who are boycotting Facebook and leading the claims against Facebook. The meeting didn't go well. And

internal auditors revealed deeply troubling issues of Facebook on Civil Rights issues. We will have one of those who was at the meeting with us in

a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:17:49]

QUEST: Facebook has failed its own Civil Rights audit, the fault of the platform for placing free speech above hate speech and says it could become

an echo chamber for extremism without stronger measures.

It follows Facebook's Chief Executive also failing to satisfy the boycott of leaders in a meeting on Tuesday. The organizers of Stop Hate For Profit

campaign says Facebook still has not taken calls to action seriously. Says it was treated as a PR exercise.

Advertising protest brought by more than 900 major companies. Derrick Johnson is the President and the Chief Executive of the NAACP. He joins me

now. Well, you went to your meeting with Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sanberg and I am sure it was cordial to a point. But did you really except them to

sort of agree on your nine or ten-point plan?

DERRICK JOHNSON, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE, NAACP: Well, we expected to be in the dialogue. We were hoping that at least we provided them with

information three weeks prior, they asked for the meeting. That they were going to come prepared with a response to at least some of the questions.

What we have since learned as a result of the release of the audit, the problem is as bad as we thought. A third party independent audit they are

paying for said the very same thing that we are saying.

For us and our partners, we took the stand, how do we keep people safe? The platform is a public utility. There are no competitors. There are no

regulatory restraints. There is not even any shareholder accountability because Mark Zuckerberg owns 60 percent of the stocks, but there is

corporate responsibility and they need to step up to keep people safe to protect our democracy.

QUEST: All right, now, the nine points accountability, independent audits, refund to advertisers, decency, and the like, what's the next stage for you

and other such groups? This as far as he is going to go, Zuckerberg.

We have already seen they are shrugging off the boycott. He has already told lawmakers, do I really -- am a global business here. So, if you are

not to make paper threats with idle moments, what's your next move?

[15:20:16]

JOHNSON: We will continue to advocate to push this. We had a Log Out Facebook campaign in January of '18. A partner organization, Color Change

called for the audit that we just have seen released. We are going to keep pushing.

NAACP, we are 111 years old. Our mission is to fight against discrimination. It is our job to fight. We have got to continue to fight

until we win. It is our role to make what others think is impossible possible and that's what we are going to continue to do.

QUEST: Facebook has basically said, we will not sensor politicians. If they choose to lie, let others point out those lies. That is not our

responsibility to do it. In the same way, as vaccine misinformation or climate denialism.

I have asked others this. I am not sure I fully accept it yet. What -- where do you draw the line between Facebook being allowed to put out stuff

that you don't agree with and crossing that line?

JOHNSON: This is not about stuff we disagree with. We believe in the first amendment right in the United States as a constitutional right of free

speech. But the limitations to free speech is when that speech is causing harm to others. And that's where the line has always been in our law. It is

where the line needs to be on this platform.

Being on that platform and allowing white supremacy groups and racial hatred groups to convene, recruit and execute plans to cause harm is akin

to screaming "fire" in a theater, which is prohibited. Therefore their activity should also be prohibited.

QUEST: Derrick, we will talk more. I would be very grateful because we can come back because as this progresses, one way or another, we need to

understand whether you think actually, they are making any real progress or not. And certainly, at the moment, it would appears to be the latter. Thank

you, sir. I am very grateful for your time today. Derrick Johnson.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

QUEST: Now, the iconic men's wear retailer, Brooks Brothers has filed for bankruptcy, Chapter 11 bankruptcy. So it is not going out of business, it

is protecting itself from its creditors.

For 200 years, it has been dressing Wall Street, the CEOs, and U.S. Presidents. When FDR met Winston Churchill in Starling at Yalta in 1945,

the colored cape was Brooks Brothers, their handy work.

The company struggled in the online arena hurt by the shift towards casual work attire, pandemic losses were the final nail, closing one fifth of its

stores. Clare Sebastian is with me.

So, did -- if I am not mistaken, I don't think it is the first time they have been down this Chapter 11 road. Certainly, we go back to the days when

they were owned by Marks & Spencer, they didn't do particularly well. But this has got a different ring about them.

They have failed to capture the consumer's imagination with their stuff.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Richard, and I think that's the point here. This is not just a coronavirus-related bankruptcy.

This is a company that was struggling to stay relevant even before this.

What we are seeing under the sort of pandemic world of people shifting towards working from home, more casual attire, that was already happening.

Pinstripes and button down shirts were no longer really the office uniform that they once were. And Brooks Brothers was struggling in that climate to

stay relevant.

They had done a little better after the move away from Marks & Spencer, now run by Claudio Del Vecchio, the Italian businessman who owns the company

and he had sort of breathed new life into it for a bit.

But since the financial crisis in 2008, and especially in the last couple of years, they had really struggled. So coronavirus, the closure of stores,

the furloughing of staff, that really was the final nail in the coffin.

They do say though, as you point out, they want to stay in business. They have $75 billion in debt or in possession of financing and they are looking

actively for a buyer. They say they hope to find one over the next few months -- Richard.

QUEST: Clare, you spend most of your time in some shape or another looking at the retail retailing industry, a large part of it. Tell me, why didn't

they manage to get the smart casual business? Because if we moved away from pin stripe and you know, it doesn't sell particularly a lot of suits. A lot

of what is in Brooks Brothers is smart, casual, chinos, which each the GAP seemed to steal their business. So what went wrong there?

SEBASTIAN: You know, I think there is a number of things, Richard. People are shifting in the way they shop. Brooks Brothers stores look very similar

to how they always did, and I think the efforts to attract customers into stores was under way at so many other stores. The competition in terms of

sort of experience in retail was mounting.

Now, they do sort of what they call sports wear. That is quite popular. But I think given the climate, given that there was so much competition and

that fashions were changing, I think this was a sort of an inexorable shift that was taking place in the world of sort of Silicon Valley tech companies

where people no longer sort of wore suits or needed suits or needed tailoring or things like that. They just sort of got left behind, and I

think that's really the issue here.

[15:25:39]

QUEST: And it will be interesting the see, Clare, whether they manage to come back. If we take an overview of the opening for retailers, Amazon once

again is at record highs. Walmart is now looking at doing a Walmart version of Prime. Can anybody take on these behemoths?

SEBASTIAN: That's a really good question, Richard, and I think it has become more difficult over the last few months during the pandemic. We

already had a situation where the big were getting bigger in retail and the small was sort of undergoing the sort of Darwinist shift to e-commerce. I

think the interesting thing if you look right now is that retailers are at a crossroads again.

We saw that huge uptick in retail sales in May. We are about to get the numbers for June. You know, I think we are hearing from retailers,

certainly Macy's for example pointed out on their recent earnings calls that in some states likes Texas where we are seeing an uptick in cases,

that surge in traffic is now modulating.

I think they are going to struggle for a little while to come and I think you might see more bankruptcies because retailers, many of them will have

had to wait until stores could reopen so they could hold the closing down sales.

I think that's critical to watch.

QUEST: Clare Sebastian, always grateful. Thank you. Clare Sebastian joining me.

Three million and counting, the number of coronavirus cases in the United States. We are live in Washington to hear exactly how the administration

plans to continue dealing with it. It's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. good evening to you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:30:18]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. A lot more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS coming your way in just a moment. We'll be in

Washington. The President of Mexico and United States are set to speak on USMCA. Canada is not there. We'll show you, of course, we'll take you to

the Rose Garden. And Slack is showing up its corporate Rolodex itself. It has bought a new company that will help deepen the search for employees on

particular projects. We'll have the CEO of Slack in the program in just a moment. It's all after we have the news headlines, because this is CNN, and

on this network, the news always comes first.

Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, a key witness in President Trump's impeachment inquiry. He will retire after 21 years of military

service. He says his fear his army career is in jeopardy of political reprisals. His lawyer says Vindman suffered a campaign of bullying and

retaliation. Serbia's president is urging protesters to stay home after a night of violence in Belgrade. Demonstrators clashed with the police and

tried to storm the Parliament after a new weekend curfew was announced to combat a surge in Coronavirus cases. Dozens of people were injured in the

melee.

Harvard and MIT are suing the Trump administration over its recent guidance on international students and online classes. The order would deny visas to

students who are not enrolled in in-person classes. Harvard's announced that all classes will be virtual in the autumn due to the pandemic. It says

some 5,000 international students at the university could be impacted.

Nearly one percent of the U.S. population has now tested positive for Coronavirus, as the number of confirmed cases reaches 3 million. The rate

of new infections is still continuing to rise in 35 states. Hospitals in Texas, in Florida, in Arizona are now becoming overwhelmed once more. And

despite the bleak milestone, the Trump administration is pushing for schools to reopen in the autumn. Here's the vice president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are here to assist with the shared objective that I think is shared by every parent in America,

which is we want to get our kids back. We're going to get them back in the classroom; we want to get our teachers back in the front of those

classrooms. We got to get our kids' learning in person once again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Kristen Holmes is with me, our correspondent, she joins me from Washington. And now, I heard the Vice President say, we want to get people

back in -- back into schools, and he -- but if I'm not mistaken, and you will correct me, the latest numbers on confirmed cases is, once again, at a

record in the United States.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's absolutely right. We've hit the dire number of 3 million cases. And yet, they still want to

continue this push to open up the United States, and particularly when it comes to these schools. Now, I do want to touch on one thing that the vice

president said there, and this is coming from conversations that we're having with numerous educators on the ground as well as parents who say,

yes, of course, they want their kids to go back to school, especially those who are the children of essential workers who are having to work every

single day. However, they would like their children to go back to school in a safe manner.

Now, President Trump today trashed the Centers for Disease Control and their guidelines. They said -- he said that they were too tough. And now,

we have Vice President Pence saying that the CDC is going to issue new guidelines that are going to be seemingly less tough here. And you heard

Robert Redfield, he is the embattled director of that health organization, saying over and over again, that these guidelines were not meant to stop

schools from reopening. So, this is just the latest in this push by the Trump administration to essentially act as though the virus doesn't exist.

And we've heard this from numerous members of the administration, including the President himself, who continues to say that this is going to end soon.

I mean, how many times have we heard President Trump say that the virus is going to just disappear? And Richard, I mean, we need to be very clear here

that while the president is saying that we have some of his top health advisors saying the complete opposite that we are in a very dramatic and a

very dangerous place as we continue to see these numbers go up.

[15:34:58]

QUEST: And at the White House, the President of Mexico is visiting. First (INAUDIBLE) to visit, and I mean, they've cobbled together some form of

ceremony for the USMCA, but Canada isn't there. And these two men are not politically, ideologically together. What's the point of today?

HOLMES: The point of the day is that you have two leaders who are looking for victories that go beyond their defeat or their embattlement with

Coronavirus. I mean, look at President Trump, he is looking for anything that can propel him beyond Coronavirus. And we've been saying this now for

weeks. He wants to act as though everything is back to normal. Obviously, this is now the second meeting of a foreign leader that he's had since

these Coronavirus numbers have started to go back up. But this is really, overall a way for the President to say things are back to normal.

Look at this, this is something historic that I am doing and we know that this was something that he wanted to be one of his legacies, this trade

deal. However, of course, as you mentioned, Canada isn't there today. They're saying there that that he didn't want to come because he wanted to

see if it even made sense to come down. Trudeau, of course, is who I'm talking about there. So, it does seem to be a little bit of a disconnect

here, particularly given there are still so many health risks. I mean, we've learned that the Mexican president flew here yesterday on commercial

air. Took a Coronavirus test Tuesday, came up negative, but as we also know, there is an incubation period of three to five days.

So, just this idea that this could be so risky here and not just for the president, we saw the two leaders interacting without masks on as soon as

they got to the White House, but also for the staff around the president. And it just goes to show you how far this administration is willing to go

to show that things are normal, that the Coronavirus is not a problem. And again, this is something though that both of these leaders want. They want

some return to normalcy. They want to get beyond Coronavirus, which is why you're seeing them today.

QUEST: All right. Kristen, Kristen Holmes who is in Washington watching that. And when those two leaders come out and talk, we will bring it to

you.

Slack is acquiring a corporate directory start-up; it's called Rimeto or meto. Now, the stock -- the stock of Slack is obviously sharply on the

news. We'll talk about that in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:40:00]

QUEST: Welcome back. Slack is up sharply after to cross the corporate directory start-up Rimeto. Now, the -- we're all familiar with Slack. I

have to say I'm most familiar as most. But it is -- it does seem to be the backbone these days of the way many companies and groups and organizations

not only operate, but also operate between each other. Having Rimeto is part of an expansion plan that allows a greater integration into enterprise

directory software. With me, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield who joins me from San Francisco. Now, this is -- first of all, I'm fascinated by all

companies and businesses that are managing to do transactions during Coronavirus times. It's a sort of -- it's a touchstone, isn't it, that life

goes on, and we managed to get these things done somehow?

STEWART BUTTERFIELD, CEO, SLACK: Yes, it's getting transactions like this done. A couple months ago, we did a convertible debt offering, which the,

you know, everything was handled in an offline world, the roadshow, the working with the bankers, of course, a little plug for Slack. We did that

with shared channels using the Slack Connect feature. And we also used that extensively with this deal. But I think it's, you know, pulling back a bit.

It's indicative of a lot of change. And we'll see which of, you know, kind of the current situation of work turns out to be permanent. But there's no

question that it's an enormous change; there are going to be some aspects of this that are permanent.

And when there's a real profound change, there's an opportunity to imagine new possibilities. I've always like the phrase, never waste a crisis. So, I

think you know, that's true for us as a company as a business as a culture. But I think it's also true for customers all over the place. And when I

talk to other CEOs and I talk to customers, one of the biggest challenges I hear about right now is feeling connected; it's that kind of the social

ties, the culture, and what we miss when we don't have physical colocation, and that's what Rimeto is designed to solve.

QUEST: And one of the -- one thing I'm interested about Rimeto is that you're keeping it separate. Well, you're integrating it, obviously. But

you're also keeping it separate as an -- as its own entity for its own customers and the like. And I'm wondering if that speaks more to the way

Slack has grown up and has matured, that you now can have many strings to your bow. They don't all have to fold into Slack itself, the main channel?

BUTTERFIELD: Yes, I think that's about right. And to be honest, you know, this was actually a late realization in the process. We had already kind of

done -- made the agreement. We are in the process of closing the deal when we realized the world needs this right now. We should really continue to

sell it independently. We have 122,000 customers, Slack does, and you know, they include some of the biggest companies in the world, like Amazon. And

they also include, you know, tens of thousands of small businesses up all over the place. But that's all minority of businesses. And there's more

people who I think would benefit from Rimeto than currently use Slack. Though, of course, in the future, we hope they use both.

QUEST: Now, you will be living down for years. The fact you had to use Zoom recently in a meeting. And you won't escape that for some time, but -- and

I'm certainly not one to offer any (INAUDIBLE) in any way or form. But I do wonder, are we moving to a scenario where users need multiple platforms;

they need -- which might not be the best news for you. But you need multiple platforms for different purposes, at different moments in one's

work and personal life. I always remember, forget the name dropping, Bill Gates said in an interview once, one company won't be able to do it all, do

you subscribe to that?

BUTTERFIELD: Absolutely. And in fact -- so first of all, Zoom is a great partner of ours. We're a customer of Zoom and we use it all the time

internally. But you know, one of the theses on which this company was founded was that the number of software product categories is going to

continue to proliferate. There's 1,000 cloud services in use for the average large American Enterprise now. We're a company of 2200 employees

that buy software from 450 different vendors. So, Slack aims to be kind of a lightweight fabric or systems integration. So that, you know, this is

something that we're strategically oriented towards. Not bad news for us at all.

I think Slack is very well used inside of our customer companies, people spend hours a day, but we don't need to have a monopoly on their time. We

want them to use the best systems. What we do want to see and Rimeto, I think, will be a step forward for this, is more interoperability because

given that, you know, you're going to have hundreds and hundreds of different types of products and use across the company, they need to work

together.

[15:45:06]

QUEST: Good to see you, sir. Thank you in joining us. I much appreciate it. Stewart Butterfield, in San Francisco --

BUTTERFIELD: Thank you so much for having me.

QUEST: -- with an extraordinarily gorgeous view from behind him. So, thank you. Now, London's National Gallery has a few wonderful views of its own.

And the paintings that you can see that are now going to be back on display, as Britain's opens its stores, the first museum in the U.K. to do

so. The director of the National is with me next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: U.K. is rolling out to nearly $40 billion plan to help save the British economy and to create new jobs particularly for youngsters through

a kick-starter type scheme. The Chancellor Rishi Sunak made the announcement today, as he also brought forward various tax changes designed

again to help those spend money. Anna Stewart is in London.

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Richard, it was a budget all about jobs. Nine million people's salaries are being supported by the government furlough

scheme and that ends in October, which means potentially mass unemployment looms. This mini budget had big tax cuts and major spending plans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RISHI SUNAK, BRITISH CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER: We have taken decisive action to protect our economy. But people are anxious about losing their

job, about unemployment rising. We're not just going to accept this. People need to know we will do all we can to give everyone the opportunity of good

and secure work. People need to know that although hardship lies ahead, no one will be left without hope.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: Companies which take back furloughed workers and retain them through January could get a 1,000-pound bonus per employee. Businesses are

also being encouraged to take on younger workers, a demographic that's been badly impacted by the pandemic. If companies hire under 25-year-olds, the

government will pay for their minimum wage salaries for up to six months. Companies can also get grants for taking on apprentices.

And then there were the tax cuts, a cut in the VAT rate such as a tax on consumption. And this was targeted for the hospitality and tourism sectors

taking it from 20 percent to just 5 percent. The government has also raised the threshold on attacks for buying homes. It's called stamp duty here in

the U.K.

[15:50:07]

STEWART: And not only will that hopefully get more people buying homes, but all the other spending that goes along with it, builders, plumbing,

furniture and so on. The most surprising measure announced was the eat out to help out discount scheme, encouraging Brits to go to restaurants and eat

out with 50 percent off up to a certain amount on certain days. How to pay for those expensive measures, not much detail on that.

The Chancellor said it was the next phase of his economic plan. No detail of how and when but he says he will bring public finances back on a

sustainable footing. It's likely to be a long way off, given just how deep this economic slump the U.K. finds itself is. Back to you, Richard.

QUEST: Anna Stewart. How is business doing? From VOICE OF THE CRISIS through to a house business now reopening is underway. Earlier this week,

the British government announced help for the culture for museums and art galleries and the like. Tonight, one of the British meet one of the best

museums in Britain National Gallery reopens with new rules on how you go round the gallery. Three one-way routes, certain restrictions on number of

people, increase cleaning and all those other things and social distancing. But the art is still there. The people are most welcome.

And Gabriele Finaldi is the director of the National Gallery, joins me from London via Skype. Well, this is exciting, isn't it? In the sense that you

really had to rethink the way in which people can go safely to a museum where you might want to stand and linger, but still have a good time.

GABRIELE FINALDI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL GALLERY: That's right, Richard, and as the first gallery that's open, the first major gallery that's open in

London, we had to get it right. So, we've looked at very, very carefully a best practice in other museums and galleries throughout the world and the

advice that we've been given by our in-government here in Britain. And we wanted to make the visit as pleasurable as possible and as similar as it

was before, but taking into account you know, making the gallery COVID safe, and we want people to feel safe when they come to the gallery.

QUEST: So, obviously, contactless, one-way corridors through the place, but if I want to just stand or sit and look at your work and amuse and pose and

think about it, can I still do that?

FINALDI: You can do that. And of course, that's what you know, coming to a gallery like ours is all about. You know, you want to be able to sit in

front of the (INAUDIBLE) 1550 [0:02:53] or in front of the Balaskas, or stand in front of van Gogh and just absorb the works, spend the amount of

time that you want to. So, people, of course, must linger. You know, there is limited capacity because with the two-meter social distancing in the

gallery, there will be fewer people than usual.

But I'd also say at this time, fewer people anyway will be wanting to come into the center town, and will be wanting to come into the museum. So,

we'll gradually see those numbers rising. But it's very important that people have the experience that they want, when they come to a major

museum.

QUEST: Now, normally, in this part of the program, we call house business because we talked to those who have lost business, customers haven't been

there. It's slightly more difficult or different with a gallery, but even so, a revenue shortfall as a result of what's taking place is on the cards.

So, if I ask you, how are you going to handle that in the future?

FINALDI: So, it's a big question for us. It's a big question for all the cultural sector because we've all been very hard hit, we depend on

audiences. If you're a small theater, you're in great difficulty, you're living hand-to-mouth anyway, if you're a big museum, your financial model

depends on large numbers of people coming through the door. And we're not going to see that for quite a while. So, we've been hard hit. We've had to

look very carefully at our finances this year.

And you mentioned earlier, of course, that the government has put in place a plan. We want to know a bit more about the detail, but I think the

government is concerned and will take action to help the cultural sector which is so important for the U.K. economy.

QUEST: Gabriele, thank you for joining us, much appreciate it. Your business is in good form tonight, and the gallery delighted that you're

going to be opened up again. Thank you. Now, the markets and how they are trading, as we take -- come towards the break. They're up and down for the

whole of the day. I mean, the Dow has been simply all over the place, likely to close slightly higher. Look at the way that went, it went sharply

lower, bounced around, and then rolled it back at the end. Who knows what's behind all of that?

[15:55:08]

If you look at the Dow 30, it's been led by Disney, Microsoft and Apple, three stalwarts. Disney interestingly because we also have Disney Plus. But

by and large, the red is still there. So, we will take a profitable moment after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Before we do tonight's profitable moment, I just need to clarify one thing, as soon as I saw that Dow 30 a moment ago, I knew something wasn't

quite right. The numbers were not right. For some reason, the machine's stuck and showed us yesterday's Dow 30. The market is correct. It is up 160

odd points. That is not correct. That is yesterday's market. Let it go as we continue tonight's profitable moment. Well, I can honestly say I've

never really -- I've never bought anything in Brooks Brothers.

Every time I've gone into the store to buy something, I want to look around. And I always find it either overpriced or not my style or frankly,

even though I'm middle age, I wanted something a bit more young and stylish. So, it's not surprising that Brooks Brothers has bitten the dust

and gone into chapter 11. But the story is much greater than a retailer that can't keep up.

United Airlines going to lay off perhaps tens of thousands of staff. We knew this was going to happen as soon as the shackles of the Kazakh were

being released. The airline has to read -- redraw itself, resize itself for the new economy. And that meant losing a large number of staff. And

American Delta, they'll all do it. Airlines across the world are shedding staff. And this is why the area we're now going into in this crisis is by

far, the trickiest.

The crisis was one thing, but now we're in an area whereby companies are going to find it difficult to trade. It's going to be slow going, it's a

trudge, it's not a sprint. It's no crisis. This is foot by foot by foot. And we've got a long way to go. And I'm afraid this is when investors need

to be careful. This is when the true investor looks for long term growth, long term value and make smart decisions. It was easier in the beginning,

now, it gets difficult.

And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in New York. Whatever your up to in the hours ahead, I hope it is profitable. The

closing bell on Wall Street. THE LEAD is next.

END