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Denver Ends Mask Mandate; Meta's Market Value Plunges; Bill Ford is Interviewed about Ford Motor Company. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired February 04, 2022 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D), NEW YORK: But we also need the coordination. President Biden promised after I met with him, after the primary, that he would come and look at and free up the ATF, FBI, and other federal agencies so we can have a 9/11 type response to the terror of violence in our cities, and we did that. And that's what we showed them at the 9/11 Center -- I'm sorry, at the center where we brought all of the teams together to fight this violence.

SCIUTTO: One of the steps that you're taking as mayor is to reinstitute the anti-gun unit with some changes, including to uniforms. How will this unit be different this time around, particularly in light of the criticism it faced when it was first constituted?

ADAMS: And there was rightful criticism because I was part of that criticism. I was one of the leading voices during the time after Amadou Diallo (ph) was shot, the Dursman (ph) shooting and other shootings in this city. And so this way we're going to get it right.

We heard from New Yorkers. One of the things they were concerned about, these officers will wear partial modified uniforms. They will use their body cameras for every interaction. We're going to have the proper supervision. And we're not going to have the blanket that we were using before, stopping and searching people based on their ethnicity and zip codes that they lived in. This is a precision policing, going after those 600 trigger pullers in this city that participate in 17 percent of the violence, although they're less than 1 percent of the population.

SCIUTTO: You and other members of the NYPD I've spoken with frequently talk about what's kwon as the iron pipeline, that is guns flowing into the city, particularly from the south, states with lax gun control laws.

As you know, national gun legislation really isn't going anywhere. Can you, as the leader of this city, truly address gun violence without changes to national policy on guns?

ADAMS: That's a great question that you're asking. And here's what I had to do when I produced my blueprint to end gun violence and other violence in the city. I had to show and identify the various rivers based on my reformist views, based on my law enforcement status and based on being a state lawmaker, I needed to lay out, here are the rivers we must dam.

Now, some of those rivers are beyond my control. I don't control the bail reform, where we need to give judges the dangerousness component or to raise the age part of it. And I don't control the federal laws. We're going to do our job. And I'm hoping that our partners see my experience of having justice and safety both together can turn around this violence that they are we are experiencing.

And if they don't do that, I still have the obligation of keeping this city safe. I am not going to take the position that because we didn't get the help from our partners that we can't be safe. We will be safe in this city.

SCIUTTO: The president is certainly aware that the rising crime, in addition to affecting people's lives in very real ways every day, is a political problem for him. It's part of the reason that he's pushing very publicly for anti-crime measures. You're a Democrat, of course, mayor of New York, a former police officer. Do Democrats, in your view as a party, need to be for more rather than less policing, more funding for police rather than less funding, more officers rather than fewer officers?

ADAMS: Well, I think that we have to be radically practical. We need to deal with those kitchen table issues that Democrats all across the country are calling for and general, but specifically, here in New York City. They're concerned about unsafe subway systems, the lack of education of our children, the affordabilities of the city.

I think the Democratic Party has done some amazing things, even as they pushed through the Build Back Better plan. We need to be clear on getting that message out to every day Americans, and every day New Yorkers. New Yorkers and Americans don't want just to be heard. I say over and over again, they want to be felt, that you're one of them. And that's what I am. I am one of them. I've come through the conditions people are living through now is what I have lived through. And that's how we must communicate to the Democrats across America.

SCIUTTO: Mayor Eric Adams, we do wish you best of luck in those efforts.

ADAMS: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: And thanks so much for joining the show this morning.

ADAMS: Thank you. Take care.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Strong interview there.

Once again, just reiterating the support that he has, right, for the police force here in the U.S. and solidifying that with the visit with the president today.

SCIUTTO: And taking an aggressive anti-crime line, right, as a new mayor.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Yes. That's what he ran on.

Well, still ahead, a return to new normal could be on the horizon in Colorado.

[09:35:00]

Some cities now lifting their mask mandates beginning today. We'll take you there live.

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GOLODRYGA: Well, beginning today, people in Denver will no longer be required to wear masks to enter businesses or other indoor places. Mayor Michael Hancock says the downward trajectory of Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations influenced his decision to lift that mandate.

SCIUTTO: Other counties in Colorado are ending their mask mandates as well as the surge declines.

[09:40:02]

CNN's Lucy Kafanov live this morning from Denver.

It's a big shift, Lucy, for families certainly, residents, but for businesses too.

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jim, a huge shift for businesses, including this Denver grocery store, which, as of this morning, is not requiring masks for employees or staff. Some employees and business -- and patrons are choosing to keep theirs on. The manager here says that he doesn't want his staff to be in the position of being the mask police. They're simply following the county guidelines that were set out as of this morning.

Now, some Denver restaurants are choosing to keep their mandates in place. It really is up to individual businesses now to decide what it is they want to do about the mask rules.

We have seen several Denver metro area front range counties dropping their mandates. Denver, which has a 78 percent vaccination rate, and Broomfield County today, Arapahoe and Adams County tomorrow, Boulder, keeping their mask mandate in place for now. But it doesn't mean that folks can ditch their masks for good.

The Denver Public School System is continuing to keep its mask mandate in place, as well as other childcare facilities. The public transportation system and the airport under federal rules also keeping its mask mandate in place. We have seen Covid cases plummeting across Colorado. Below 3,000 cases a day. A significant drop from that peak in January where we were seeing nearly 19,000 and more Covid cases a day. But local health officials and Colorado health officials are warning against complacency. Yesterday some health officials came out saying people should be still encouraged to wear their masks indoors because the transmission rate of the virus remains high. Guys.

SCIUTTO: It's a big change. Seeing you there without a mask, that's a big change too.

Lucy Kafanov, thanks so much.

SCIUTTO: Well, shares for Meta, as Facebook's parent company is now known, tanked Thursday after a bad earnings report, losing in the market at least $230 billion in market value.

GOLODRYGA: Now, that amount, to give you some context, is more than a lot of large companies are actually worth.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: The mega drop comes after Facebook reported a shocking decline in daily active users.

CNN's Matt Egan joins us.

And, Matt, aside from the decline in active users, they're really pointing to an unprecedented sea of competition too.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, that's right.

Well, happy Friday, guys.

I really hope that Facebook employees are tiptoeing around Mark Zuckerberg today because their boss just lost, at least on paper, $30 billion. Billion with a b. And that's in one day.

Now, no one's going to shed any tears for Mark Zuckerberg. He's still worth something like $90 billion. But that still qualifies as a bad day, at least in my book.

The numbers here are really mind-boggling. Meta, that's the Facebook owner, lost 26 percent in just a single day. Worse since this company started trading in 2012. That translates to, as you mentioned, a loss of something like $232 billion. And context around that, that is more than any of the following companies are worth, McDonald's, AT&T, Goldman Sachs, or Ford. And that's how much Meta lost in one day.

So, why did this happen? They reported this rare decline in profits. And it was really driven by a few factors. One, the fact that user growth declined. They had -- they used to have this explosive growth in users. No longer. And that's partially because people are flocking to other platforms, including TikTok, particularly younger users.

Meta also said that their ad revenue has slowed down. That's for a number of reasons, including some rule changes by Apple. And then also Meta's plunging down a ton of money on the metaverse, which, if you haven't heard of it before, it's Mark Zuckerberg's vision for the future of the Internet built on augmented reality and virtual reality.

And I think the key here is that that is his vision for the future. Even though they've renamed the company to Metaplatforms, metaverse doesn't really exist just yet.

So, anyway, whatever you want to call this company, Facebook, Meta, terrible day for them.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

EGAN: And really one of the worst days we've ever seen any company have.

SCIUTTO: Is this the first time that they've seen a decline in new active users?

EGAN: It's very rare. I believe it's one of the only times since this company launched that they -- that they've suffered a decline in user growth.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

EGAN: And it just speaks to all of the competition that they face now, which probably is one of the reasons why they rebranded the company as well.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: Well, the strategy had always been to buy the competition.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Yes.

GOLODRYGA: Shows that you've got to be creative and innovative as well.

SCIUTTO: Buy and sometimes shut down.

EGAN: Exactly. And that's part of the reason why they face all these anti-trust issues (ph) as well.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: Right.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: Matt Egan, thank you, as always.

EGAN: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Well, still ahead, a new partnership between Ford and Google that promises new jobs. I talk one on one with the executive chairman of the Ford Motor Company. That's up next.

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[09:49:08]

GOLODRYGA: New this morning, Ford Motor Company has just announced a partnership with Google. The company is adding the tech giant as a founding member of Michigan Central, a mobility focused innovation district that Ford is spearheading in Detroit.

The news, though, comes as Ford revealed an unexpected drop in its fourth quarter earnings. Its stock, subsequently, taking a hit as a result.

Joining me now to talk about all of this is Bill Ford. He's the executive chairman of Ford Motor Company.

Great to have you on.

You are there at Michigan Central. This is a project that began, I believe, a few years ago. Here you are bringing it to an end with this partnership with Google.

Talk about what you're hoping to see in terms of jobs of the future and innovation with this new partnership.

BILL FORD, EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, FORD MOTOR COMPANY: Well, first of all, you know, this train station, which will be the center piece of what we're doing, you know, I drove by this for years when the national stories always used this visual as the decay of Detroit.

[09:50:06]

And I said, OK, we're going to change that narrative. So we're renovating this beautiful train station. And it will be open in about 18 months from now.

And, you know, I -- it's going to go from really being the national punch line into being a national treasure, I believe. And so -- and it's not just a Ford campus. We're inviting a lot of people down here. And Google is one of them. And Google has decided that they want to come down here. Here is where we're also going to experiment on all the new transportation forms of the future. Google will be part of that.

But what's really cool is Google has also committed to the city, they're going to open a lab here for high school students where they're going to actually teach them computer science, and in the end they'll get a certificate so that they'll be employable by companies like Ford.

GOLODRYGA: Well, this speaks to sort of the issue we're seeing throughout the country. With the great resignation, we had a better than expected jobs report today. But as our colleague said, that perhaps there's a shift from calling it the great resignation and the great job upgrade now, that people are looking for jobs of the future.

For an industry like yours that's now investing in electric vehicles, requiring so much more technology, are these the types of jobs that you're hoping to recruit and train for?

FORD: Well, absolutely, we are. And if you look at, you know, this -- this beautiful train station in this whole court town area, which is filled with iconic old buildings that we're renovating, what a great place to work if you're a software engineer, for instance. So, yes, I mean, I think that we're seeing a lot of competition for,

in our case, particularly software jobs. And so that's why having Google here with us and having them train Detroit High School kids I think is a wonderful thing.

GOLODRYGA: So we're talking now about investing in the future. Let's talk about where the company is today and the disappointing earnings report. A drop in sales that the company describes as attributed to persistent supply chain disruptions. You and other car companies, you're not alone here, continuing to deal with supply chain issues and specifically microchips that come in and we're so dependent on in Asia specifically. When do you start to think that we'll see that alleviated? Is it later this year? Are we looking into next year? And what does that mean for consumers?

FORD: Well, so, right now it's clear that we're still in the middle of the chip shortage. And we're going to probably struggle for the first half of the year with it. It should start getting better as the year goes on.

And, you know, inventories are tight for sure. Across the industry, used cars are really tight. And you've seen the priced on used cars go very high.

I mean the nice thing, in the middle of all of this is, you know, we're actually making a lot of money, and we guided that this year is going to be a very good year for us. So -- but, nonetheless, we are all struggling with these shortages.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, you're making a lot of money. A lot of that having to deal investments in electric vehicles. And let's be honest, quite frankly, by keeping prices relatively high. That's not necessarily a great thing for consumers who are going to car dealerships and not seeing a lot of inventory and not seeing prices at a level that they find affordable for themselves. When do you think you can start to say to them that prices will begin to go down, because I know a lot of that is connected with the supply chain issues?

FORD: Well, it is, but also affordability has been an issue we thought for some time. And that's why we just came out with the Maverick, which is a $20,000 pickup truck. And because of that, I mean, it's hit the ground running. In fact, we're sold out on the Maverick. Because we thought affordability was an issue, even before this chip crisis. Because prices had been drifting upwards in our industry, and we really wanted to make an affordable vehicle. And there aren't many of them out there.

But there's no question that it -- that it has been exacerbated by the chip shortage. And, you know, as we start to normalize, as we get through the year, I think you'll start to see more normal inventories and trading kind of behaviors.

GOLODRYGA: How would you assess how the administration is approaching this shortage and this current crisis? We know that the Competition Act is now maybe passed this week in Congress. That includes a large chunk of it dedicated to the Chip's Act. That having been said, we know it's going to take a long time to get

all of that implemented, to bring chips here, to be produced domestically and manufactured in the United States. Has the administration done enough to keep the U.S. auto industry competitive with its -- our international competition?

FORD: Well, as you point out, I mean, a lot of these things have very long lead times. But I would say the administration has been terrific to work with. They have been very responsive. They've been listening to us. They've been -- they've been working with us.

[09:55:03]

We have a great relationship. You know, I do with the president. We do with the cabinet secretaries. And they're very eager to help solve this.

I mean, look, this is jobs in the United States. You know, we're -- Ford is the most American of the automakers. We -- we make more vehicles here. We employ more Americans. We're not the biggest, but we're the most American. And we want to continue that. And so the administration has been great to deal with. But it takes some time for sure.

GOLODRYGA: On that note, as we wrap up here, if you're looking back for lessons learned going into the pandemic, you never know what the next crisis will be. Should the company and other U.S. manufacturers have been more better prepared in terms of contingencies with regards to microchips or whatever crisis may come their way?

FORD: Well, look, I mean, you know, something like Covid hits you completely out of the blue. And I would say that no business in the world was ready for Covid. In fact, you know, it was interesting, if you look back at the beginning of Covid, we actually thought it might be like the financial crisis where people would just stop buying vehicles. Quite the opposite happened. Demand was great. So I think as an industry we completely under called the demand that might exist. And, in the end, that's actually a really good thing. I mean it's better than the alternative for sure.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. May have led to some of the inflation we're dealing with now. But, nonetheless, consumers did have money in their pockets to spend.

Bill Ford, thank you, as always. We appreciate it.

FORD: Thank you, Bianna. Thank you so much.

SCIUTTO: Yes, interesting to hear him say he expects the chip shortage to at least to the second half of the year.

GOLODRYGA: To continue.

SCIUTTO: Other story we're watching this morning, let the games begin. The 2020 winter Olympics have officially started in Beijing. This amid the coronavirus pandemic, political tensions, also human rights abuses by China. We're going to have live team coverage, next.

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