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First Move with Julia Chatterley
Antitrust Victory For Facebook; Big Banks Announce Bigger Payouts; Russia and Australia, the Latest Nations Reporting a Sharp Rise in COVID Cases. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired June 29, 2021 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:26]
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, FIRST MOVE: Live from New York, I'm Julia Chatterley. This is FIRST MOVE and here is your need to know.
Legal likes. An antitrust victory launches Facebook into the $1 trillion tele-tree.
Dividend delight. The big banks announced bigger payouts.
And delta danger. Russia and Australia, the latest nations reporting a sharp rise in COVID cases.
It's Tuesday. Let's make a move.
Welcome to FIRST MOVE once again. Fantastic to have you with us this Tuesday. Another sultry summer day on tap here in New York and across the
United States, with investors already reaching for some brisk market refreshment, most notably a tectonic perhaps with the NASDAQ sitting at
all-time highs helped along by some Facebook fears, as I mentioned a $1 trillion market valuation for the social media giant following two big
legal victories. We'll discuss them shortly.
Plus, a strong banking brew, too. Firms like Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo all announcing big dividend hikes and more. Are they
sticking with their traditional Lady Grey tea perhaps and hopefully won't want to drown my sorrows in something stronger after today's Euro 2020
match between England and Germany.
Clearly, I'm not biased at all, but go England.
On Wall Street meanwhile, futures lacking a Java jolt with the NASDAQ set to ease. Down some two tenths of one percent at this moment from record
territory. Investors also awaiting some new listing punch with Chinese ride sharing giant, DiDi Global set to price its IPO today and could raise some
$4 billion in the largest international Wall Street listing since Alibaba.
Let's take a look Europe, too. Higher today has economic sentiment data there hits 21-year highs; and the second day of losses, meanwhile, across
Asia, perhaps limited to some degree by the Chinese central bankers showing that it won't tighten too fast, even as the economy shows, quote, "strength
and improvement."
All right, let's get to the drivers and we begin with a trillion dollar status update from Facebook. The company hit the milestone valuation after
a judge rejected Federal Trade Commission complaints that it engaged in monopolistic behavior. At the heart of that complaint, its purchases of
Instagram and WhatsApp.
Clare Sebastian joins us on this story. Clare, the last time I checked, and that was this morning, the F.T.C., the regulator is a law enforcement
agency, aka it applies the laws as they stand today. So, it may be a win, at least temporarily for Facebook, but it's also a kick up the bottom, I
think for Congress that if they've got a problem, they have to change the laws.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Julia. This is going to pile pressure on those bipartisan -- that bipartisan group of legislators
who are trying to push through new sort of rewrites of antitrust law through Congress and have made some progress in doing that.
But the irony of course, with Facebook hitting a trillion dollars as a case on whether it is too large, is dismissed by a judge. It is of course
interesting this morning, the stock flat to lower, but up some 137 percent since the bottom last year in March, so seriously has gained from this
pandemic.
Facebook saying today, "We're pleased that today's decisions recognize the defects in the government's complaints filed against Facebook." And the
problems according to the judge, well, there were several of them. One was that the F.T.C. failed to define the market and thereby, prove its
assertion that Facebook has a 60-plus percent stranglehold over social media in the U.S.
He said this is sticky because, of course this isn't a traditional market. The products are free, so it's difficult to define a monopoly based on the
usual metrics of things like revenue. He also said that another key assertion by both the F.T.C. and the states who brought a separate lawsuit
was that the acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram were anti-competitive.
He said those were simply too old. They were too late in bringing this case because those acquisitions were seven and nine years ago. So, that was one
of the reasons he dismissed the state's lawsuit in particular, but he has left the door open for particularly the F.T.C. to refile its case. It says,
it is reviewing its options, but I want to read your tweet as well from Senator Amy Klobuchar, who is the antitrust chair in the Senate. She says,
"The F.T.C. should do everything it can to pursue its case against Facebook, but the ruling shows why our antitrust laws need to be updated
after years of bad precedent. We can't meet the challenges," she said, " ... of the modern digital economy with pared down agencies and limited
legal tools."
[09:05:10]
SEBASTIAN: So, it'll be interesting to see where the F.T.C. goes from here. Will it re-amend or amend its complaint and refile this case? Or will
it focus on changing those laws, so it can actually sort of apply them in a different way?
CHATTERLEY: Yes. 21st Century technology, and you're trying to apply 20th Century laws to look at consumer welfare. To your point, it's tough to
argue consumer welfare is impacted when the service like Facebook, for example, is free. Meanwhile, Facebook continues to take on competitors,
this time "Substack." Talk us through it. Bulletin. What's Bulletin?
SEBASTIAN: Yes, this according to sources is going to be launching today. Facebook's answer to "Substack," a service that sort of allows for the
creation and distribution of newsletters, which of course has become enormously popular.
Facebook has apparently hired dozens of writers who are going to produce newsletters on a variety of topics, things like sport, science, health, and
things like that. And they're being paid initially to kick start these newsletters.
But eventually the hope from Facebook is that these new newsletters will be paid, that users will be willing to sort of subscribe to them, and that
looks like from Facebook, another monetization effort, another way of sort of diversifying their revenue streams away from just advertising, so
interesting to watch how that develops, as it launches today -- Julia.
CHATTERLEY: And watch we shall. Clare Sebastian, thank you so much for that.
All right, let's move on, bank bonanza. Morgan Stanley doubling its quarterly dividend to 70 cents a share and announcing share buybacks
following last week's Federal Reserve's stress test results. Are the big banks like Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, and JPMorgan also giving investors
news to cheer?
Paul La Monica has been watching their progress. Paul, stark contrast between the positive announcements from Morgan Stanley overnight and what
we didn't get from banks like Citigroup.
PAUL LA MONICA, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Yes, exactly, Julia. Citigroup holding steady with its dividend and its buyback plan. And I think, you
know, that is potentially a sign of concern for Citi investors and not the best way for CEO, Jane Fraser to have her tenure begin heading that bank. I
think Citi still requiring some capital buffers not able to really follow the suit of all of its rivals and increase that dividend and share buyback
program. That might be something investors will be disappointed in.
Wells Fargo, also I'd point out good news that they are increasing their dividend, but it is still well below the pre-2000, you know, the 2019
levels when they had to cut their dividend pretty dramatically because of the troubles that this bank continues to find itself in with, you know,
fake account scandal and all the problems that Wells Fargo has been dealing with for, you know, the past few years.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. No surprise. Morgan Stanley investors have most to cheer today. Paul La Monica, thank you so much for that.
To Russia now and tragic and alarming new COVID data. The country has just reported the highest number of daily deaths since the pandemic began. For
reference, only around 13 percent of the population has been vaccinated despite Russia being the first country to register a COVID-19 vaccine last
year.
And across Australia, new lockdowns and vaccination policies are being announced as the country grapples with the delta variant as Angus Watson
reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANGUS WATSON, CNN PRODUCER: Around 10 million people across Australia now impacted by lockdowns in the state of New South Wales, Queensland, and
Northern Territory, and West Australia. Other states worried about the spread, too, of this delta variant which has crept through Australia's
defenses.
Australia was famous around the world for using its border and its quarantine system to keep the virus out; this more transmissible strain of
COVID-19 now getting through those defenses. People here in Australia know that the only way out of that is vaccination, but vaccination rates have
been slow.
Here at Sydney's Olympic Park, the mass vaccination hub, people are taking it upon themselves to do something about that. Here is what one mother and
daughter said to me about that today.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's aware of how privileged she is in relationship to the population, absolutely.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, definitely. Especially with my age. I know a lot of people are going to wait a while but, I'll be okay.
WATSON: Australia's vaccination rollout has been dangerously slow, under five percent of the population here is fully vaccinated with two shots of
any coronavirus vaccine and the government has come under scrutiny for its vaccination rollout.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has continually said that it's not a race, while many people here disagree and he changed that sentiment last night
when he made vaccines available across the population, if people particularly under the age of 40 determine with their GP that it's safe
enough for them to get an Astra Zeneca vaccine.
[09:10:12]
WATSON: Australia's over reliance on that AstraZeneca vaccine, which comes with the very rare chance of blood clots has stymied the vaccine rollout as
important vaccinations of mainly, Pfizer have been slow.
The Australian government now wants to supercharge that and is telling people that work in aged care or the Australian quarantine system that they
must get vaccinated if they want to keep their jobs.
Angus Watson in Sydney, Australia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: And coming up on FIRST MOVE, get used to the tests and get used to the booster shots. We speak to a guest who says rules around COVID
could become the day-to-day norm. Stanford senior fellow Niall Ferguson joins us live on the program.
All right, let me bring you up to speed now with some of the other stories making headlines around the world.
For a sixth straight day, rescue workers in Florida are searching for survivors of last week's tower collapse. They have recovered two more
bodies bringing the death toll to 11. At least 150 people remain unaccounted for. Investigators still haven't determined the cause of the
collapse, but early signs point to structural degradation.
CNN's Rosa Flores is Surfside in Florida for us. Rosa, great to have you with us once again. I think heartbreak for those involved with this,
quickly turning to anger, too, that warning signs and for many years were met with insufficient or total inaction.
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, you're absolutely right. It almost seems like every single day, we get a new nugget of information that begins
to paint a grim picture of the structural integrity of this building leading up to the collapse.
We started by talking about a 2018 report that described structural damage, and it warned that if for example, waterproofing wasn't replaced, that it
would create an exponential degree of deterioration. Well, fast forward time to 2021, CNN has obtained a letter that was sent to residents saying
that their assessment had increased from $9 million in 2018, to $15 million in 2021 because indeed, that deterioration had happened, acceleration of
that deterioration have happened.
And so, what a lot of these families are learning now is that there were these warning signs, there were these reports of some of the dangers. Now
as for the rescue efforts, right now in what is going on, there's a lot of challenges that they're facing.
We're expecting thunderstorms starting today and for the rest of the week. Once it rains, the debris pile becomes very, very slippery. We learned from
officials yesterday that there was a rescue worker that tumbled down 25 feet. The families were actually at the site at the time that this
happened. And that just goes to show some of the dangers that they're facing.
Now officials, of course, are extremely worried. But they know that these search and rescue teams want to do this type of work because their goal is
to find signs of life in this rubble. We talked to the Mayor of Surfside and here's what he had to say about these dangers. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR CHARLES BURKETT, SURFSIDE, FLORIDA: They put a little bit of a line on the pile of debris because they did have -- overnight, they did have
some stuff falling down from the building that's still standing, and that's going to have to be addressed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FLORES: And Julia, I can tell you from talking to the Fire Chief, they continue the search and rescue efforts. They are going on 24 hours a day.
They are tunneling, which means they are going and finding voids and securing that area so that search and rescue teams can go inside to find
signs of life.
They also have bucket brigades. Those are the teams that you see over the pile of rubble with buckets. And then they are also delayering, peeling
some of those pieces of debris to try to find voids and those are some of the more dangerous things that they have to do because as you saw in
probably some of that video that includes removing very large pieces of concrete from the pile of debris -- Julia.
CHATTERLEY: It is a monumental task. Rosa Flores, thank you for that update there.
Okay, South Africa's highest court found former President Jacob Zuma guilty of contempt of court today. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison. The
landmark judgment stems from Zuma's refusal to appear before a commission to answer questions about his alleged involvement in corruption during his
presidency. Zuma denies the accusations.
The United States wants a U.N. Security Council to meet on Friday to discuss the brutal Civil War in Ethiopia's Tigray region. Yesterday, Tigray
forces gained control of the capital city forcing Ethiopian soldiers to withdraw.
[09:15:10]
CHATTERLEY: This comes after the latest CNN investigation into extrajudicial killings in the conflict. We'll have a full report on the
escalation of events. They're coming up in about 45 minutes on "Connect the World." Don't miss that.
Still to come variants, vaccines, and COVID limitations forever. My next guest warns we may never get to see a post-pandemic era.
And a new dawn at Qualcomm, we speak to the incoming CEO as the chipmaker unveils ambitious 5G plans. Stay with us. There's more to come.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE live from New York where the temperatures may be hot, but the futures are not. Little market movement
overall, some caution perhaps as we await key employment data later in the week.
Boeing meanwhile, though set to give the Dow a boost, rising more than one percent premarket after an uplifting order from United Airlines. United
buying a record 200 Boeing 737 MAX jets and 70 Airbus planes with a list price of some $30 billion. That's a big bet on a domestic travel rebound.
In the meantime, though, imagine a world where COVID level restrictions become the norm. Just in the past week, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia
announced new restrictions. Japan, of course, still battling to hold a safe Olympics, and the U.K. continues to delay full reopening. That's just to
mention a few, quote, "Get used to the online forms, get used to the tests, get used to the test and trace calls. You probably should get used to the
vaccines too, as you'll doubtless need a booster shot before the year is out. Above all get used to the regulations."
It's a pretty stark warning from our next guest, historian, Niall Ferguson. He's a Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and author
of the new book "Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe."
Niall Ferguson, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution joins us now. Great to have you on the show with us.
I have to say I read your op-ed this week. And I was sort of depressed, I have to say, but for many reasons and travel actually between the United
States and the U.K. crystallized it for you. Talk us through it.
NIALL FERGUSON, SENIOR FELLOW, STANFORD UNIVERSITY'S HOOVER INSTITUTION: Yes, Julia, you're probably thinking, oh, no. Dr. Doom. Of course, if you
wrote a book called "Doom," you're kind of asking for it.
CHATTERLEY: You said it, not me.
FERGUSON: But my point in this piece is not -- it is not so much that we can't get the better of the virus. I think the vaccines are proving that
that we do have the technology. What worries me is more that by the time we've done that, i.e. by the time we've got enough of the world's
population vaccinated to bring this virus under control, we'll have got so used to these darn restrictions that it will be hard to get rid of them.
It's a bit like the way after 9/11. We just kind of got used to those T.S.A. lines at U.S. airports and I had to fly from San Francisco to London
just a couple of weeks ago, because I hadn't seen my family for 18 months and I was itching to do that. But it was not a fun experience.
The form-filling, the testing that you have to do, wearing a mask on the entire flight. I mean, it's certainly not transatlantic travelers as it
used to be. And, and I'm concerned that these are like habits that we get used to, and the bureaucracies both public and private also say to
themselves, well, now that we got into the habit of doing this, we might as well keep doing it because who knows, there might be another pandemic along
and that's the trap. It's a bureaucratic trap more than it's a public health or medical trap.
[09:20:34]
CHATTERLEY: You describe it as an inertia about bureaucracy, we all end up just accepting these rules and sort of getting on with it as best we can.
Do you think we're overdoing it with national restrictions in the face of the delta variant, because you also say in the piece, you know, I sort of
worry less about delta, wait for the next Greek alphabet letter, and there's plenty of them, perhaps omega, you worry about the sheer quantity
of variants as the virus continues to spread around the world?
FERGUSON: Well, this is a serious concern. I'm a historian, but I do talk to people who work in the fields of epidemiology and virology, and clearly,
this vaccine is more of a -- this virus, I'm sorry -- is more of a shapeshifter than we thought a year ago.
And of course, the time it takes to get people vaccinated is time for further mutation to occur. The good news from the U.K. vantage point is
that the vaccines do seem to have efficacy against this very contagious delta variant. That's the good news and we're seeing the same,
incidentally, from the data out of Israel, not a big increase in hospitalizations and deaths and fingers crossed, it stays that way even
though case numbers are shooting upwards.
But hey, this is just the delta variant. There are 24 letters in the Greek alphabet, that's only the fourth and I wonder just what lies in front of
us, there's a long way to go. There is almost no vaccination in the poorer countries of the world to date and it's going to be a slow, long haul to
get there.
Plus, there's lots of resistance to vaccination, a really large proportion of Americans, 28 percent say they're not going to get vaccinated and that
makes them vulnerable to new strains. And of course, the big worry is a strain that actually becomes vaccine evading, and then, I do think we'll be
looking, we almost certainly already are looking at further shots, even for those of us who are fully vaccinated.
So, I think one shouldn't be overconfident. I think we have the technology because I think the vaccines can be tweaked. I don't think this is HIV.
HIV, which ultimately defeated vaccine makers.
But I think the longer this takes, the more accustomed we're going to get to endless testing and form filling, not to mention those masks, which I
hope you aren't throwing away. The U.K. is about to reopen. I think it's the right thing to do because as long as the hospitalization numbers don't
shoot up, we can say the vaccines are working. That's what the vaccines are for.
But just wait and see how quickly the regulations fall away.
In the U.S. at the state level, sure, they are definitely being taken away. But I was very struck when I was researching "Doom" to find that there are
an enormous numbers of states of emergency imposed by President still on the books. There's a state of emergency Jimmy Carter imposed, that still
actually extant, and that illustrates the tendency of bureaucracy towards inertia.
Very few statutes, very few regulations have sunset clauses that say they have to expire. And there are many, many more people employed to create new
regulations than there are to get rid of them.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's far easier to apply to remove, and it also goes to the point that you made, there is some sort of vaccine resistance out
there. But the point where you're making the benefits of actually getting vaccinated, so negligible. And actually, we're seeing that and you talk
about this in your op-ed with regards the challenges that you and your wife went through with your family and you're both vaccinated. It sort of plays
into it, too.
FERGUSON: I think some of the rules and I could give a long list do seem like bureaucratic overkill. My wife and I are both doubly vaccinated, have
been for some time, and it seems a little odd to kind of require the same quarantine rules for vaccinated people as for unvaccinated people, that
that doesn't make sense.
And just in the same way that it didn't make any sense last year when they closed all the public parks and beaches in California for a virus that
doesn't really get spread that much outdoor. So I do worry that we have a regulation habit in the West. This is nothing new. We've been responding to
problems with evermore regulation.
The Federal Register, which lists all the Federal regulations in the United States only gets bigger. It's only shrunk under one President in the last
half century and that was Ronald Reagan. And I'm afraid we have the same problem in the U.K. Many people blame Brussels for regulations that were
actually homemade, so the regulatory state is having a field day on the back of COVID. And a great many regulations have undoubtedly been created
that are superfluous, that really don't have public health benefits.
[09:25:20]
FERGUSON: I mean, just looking through the regulations that I had to comply with, as I happened to be in Wales, took me a remarkably long time.
I could tell you how many pages if they weren't just doom scrolled online, you go through these, what feels like pages and pages of regulations with
of course, the inevitable exemptions, my favorite being the exemption for rehearsals for choirs and brass bands, a wonderful little bit of regulatory
creativity in Wales, which was very beneficial to us as I play in a septet that needed to rehearse.
Now, the rule of six would have been fatal to our plans, but the regulators have thought of it.
CHATTERLEY: Okay, so I have a solution to this for policymakers, and I don't often feel sorry for them. But I do feel a little sorry for them on
this point, and to save you from being called Dr. Doom, and for me, for encouraging you is a point that the I.M.F. and the World Bank have made in
the past two weeks on this show, and it is actually developed nations, governments have to step up more, and they have to provide more money, and
they have to release excess vaccine doses as soon as possible and to get them to the parts of the world that don't have them at this moment and
prevent the out of control virus spread and the propagation of a further variants.
This has to be part of the solution. Would you agree?
FERGUSON: I entirely agree that the G7 commitments were not sufficient. The truth is that Western countries have been hoarding -- the developed
countries have been hoarding vaccine and that's really an inexcusable one. The crucial thing is to get vaccination to as many people as we can, as
fast as we can. And we've fallen so far short of that. And it's in self -- it's not a matter of altruism, this is in our self-interest.
It cannot be in the self-interest of anybody in the U.S. or in Europe, or in the U.K. to allow this virus to mutate further, whether it's in Africa,
in South America or South Asia. That will come back and bite us by making our vaccines obsolete.
So yes, I'm absolutely sure you're right, and that's the note on which I think one wants to end. It's an upbeat note.
I'm not Dr. Doom in the sense that this wasn't the end of the world and we did find vaccines that work and the technology does allow us to tweak those
vaccines. But we won't succeed until we've achieved a successful global vaccination. We're a long way short of that.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. And that's our conclusion together, I think. Absolutely. You're not Dr. Doom was we said, but your book is called "Doom." Please
come back and talk to us about the book and I'll have read it by then, too. And we can -- we can talk through your conclusions on that. Great to have
you on the show with is Niall, as always, fantastic to chat.
Niall Ferguson, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. Thank you for your time, sir.
FERGUSON: Thanks, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: As always. All right, the market opens next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:31:09]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. U.S. stocks are up and running this Tuesday. Cautious trading overall, but the majors still very close to
record highs. Reflation, stocks underperformed on Monday chalk that up to rising concerns over the delta variant as we've been discussing, but
today's record jet order from United as being seen as a strong bet on the economic reopenings and recovery.
IPO enthusiasm, too. Investor demand for DiDi Global's upcoming listing is said to be so strong that shares could price above their indicated price
range later today. A good omen perhaps for the more than a dozen other companies set to go public this week, too.
And as for banks, it's Morgan Stanley's moment. Morgan Stanley shares rallying after announcing a post stress test splurge. It will double its
dividend and buyback of more than $12 billion worth of stock. Morgan Stanley, of course, just one company that's encouraging its workers back
into the offices and many people found themselves working from home during the pandemic and a lot actually prefer it.
But now that more are vaccinated, some employers want their workers back. Anna Stewart takes a look at the debate on the future of working from home.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER (voice over): The morning commute, a welcome return to normal for some, but others are less keen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm looking forward to maybe two days in the office.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I work from home. And I actually do like working from home. But I'd like a bit of both to be honest, moving forward.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do work out of office and prefer that actually.
STEWART (on camera): The divide is only deepening as businesses implement their post-pandemic strategies.
For those at Twitter, Facebook, and Google, remote working part-time or full-time is now a permanent option. Apple and Uber want their employees
back in the office for part of the week and then, there are the banks of Wall Street, some of which want to see their workers back at their desks
full time.
STEWART (voice over): Goldman Sachs's CEO David Solomon called working from home an aberration, saying: "For a business like ours, which is an
innovative, collaborative, apprenticeship culture, this is not ideal for us and is not a new normal." Its New York employees are already back in the
office.
Meanwhile, the CEO of Morgan Stanley made clear that the bank's New York employees should be back by September. Saying, "If you can go to a
restaurant in New York City, you can come into the office and we want you in the office."
MICHAEL SMETS, PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT, SAID BUSINESS SCHOOL: If it is so beneficial to be in the office, why are so many people choosing not to be
there and, in fact, you have to start threatening pay cuts for them. That is a little bit of a kind of cultural disjoint, I would say.
STEWART (voice over): Telling people to go back to the office may not be popular, but can they actually compel employees to comply.
SINEAD CASEY, PARTNER, LINKLATERS LAW FIRM: Generally, yes. Governments around the globe have taken the approach of ensuring that an employer has
some discretion to refuse a request to work from home if it's not feasible for the work to be done from home, and you can see why there's legitimate
grounds for that because clearly, not every job can be done effectively from home.
STEWART (voice over): Forcing workers back to the office full time may have some undesired consequences.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wouldn't do it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not sure I'd feel so comfortable about that at this point because I think we've shown that it's not necessary.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's up to the individual really, but, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Personally, I wouldn't be happy to be forced to be back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
STEWART (voice over): Anna Stewart, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: We're back after this. Stay with CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:37:11]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm has been rather busy aside from its core business. In the past four years, it's
survived a hostile takeover attempt by rival Broadcom, a legal battle with Apple, and another with the U.S. government. It was also caught up in the
tit-for-tat trade tensions with China, but now the chip maker is hoping to turn the page with a new CEO as we enter a new post-COVID world.
Joining us now is Cristiano Amon, he is President and incoming CEO of Qualcomm. He takes over on Thursday, July the 1st.
Sir, fantastic to have you with us, a brave new world and new times to Qualcomm. You know, for many of us, I think, beyond the challenges of
COVID, connectivity has kept us sane. Where do you see the world today and what that represents in terms of opportunities for the future?
CRISTIANO AMON, PRESIDENT AND INCOMING CEO, QUALCOMM: Very good. Good talking to you, Julia.
We're very excited about the future of technology and the future of Qualcomm. You know, connectivity really proven to be essential to our
society today and we're just to the very beginning of the 5G transition. And with 5G, the company is changing dramatically and we are diversifying
away from mobile, continue to be in mobile, but diversifying into automotive, into Internet of Things, and will have a major role to play in
the digital transformation of many companies and that's all been accelerated over the past year.
So, we're very excited about that.
CHATTERLEY: Oh, and there are so many exciting things to talk about in there. I can't wait to talk to you about potential for disruption as we see
greater adoption of 5G technology. And I know that's core to the strategy going forward in addition to, I mean, what's provided, let's be honest,
great diversification for your business in the mobile and smartphone strategy, given the supply chain challenges that we've seen.
Let's just talk about that briefly and how you see that persisting or how long you see that continuing for and sort of what that means for not only
for you, but for the broader market?
AMON: Yes, there's no question. I think we all see this supply chain issue with semiconductors. If anything, Julia, it underscored the importance of
semiconductors in digital and connectivity for all the business going forward.
On the bright side, we put our scale to work and we have taken a number of actions since the beginning of the supply chain crisis, and we have our
line of sight to have this behind us around the end of this calendar year. So by 2022, we see opportunities of supply to meet demand and we get behind
this crisis.
CHATTERLEY: And we, as we look around the world, it's also illustrated for the United States in particular, but I think for the West, our reliance on
nations like Taiwan, for example, China who are all ramping up investment and the United States in particular, at a government level now has
responded with a $50 billion investment -- future investment. Is it enough in your mind, Cristiano, in line with what we're seeing from the private
sector, too and ramping up manufacturing and development of chips?
[09:40:22]
AMON: Look, it's very important, and the current environment, as we just talked about it, you know, as we learned from the pandemic, connectivity in
this is now part of everything we do and it was this -- there is an acceleration of all enterprises, basically transforming themselves with
technology and semiconductor becomes super important at the very center of this, as well as 5G.
And what happened is, it brought to the front of the conversation, the importance of having a reliable supply chain and diversity of supply chain.
So, we've been very supportive of the United States Chips Act brought a large amount of investments into manufacturing and design, advanced design
of semiconductors, that's kind of what we do.
And we welcome having a regional distribution of supply chain for semiconductors, not only with our existing suppliers in Asia, but also
building that capability in the United States and Europe. I think diversity of supply chain is going to be good for the industry and we welcome more
suppliers, so you will make the industry much stronger and support the growth of technology that we have ahead of us.
CHATTERLEY: Ye, and as we see the accelerated adoption of 5G technology in that transition from 4G to 5G, I want to tap into this because I know this
is core to Qualcomm's future as well and why you're so excited I think about the opportunities.
I mean, I was watching the keynote speech at the Mobile World Congress and just the opportunities and we've already seen it to some degree in in
healthcare, in automotive, in education as well, what greater connectivity can mean. Just talk about where you see greatest potential for disruption.
I've seen some pretty pointed comments from you, for the automaker, and the automaker segment.
AMON: Yes, and by the way, thank you for watching. Look, it's very exciting time because unlike the other technologies in cellular, like 3G or
4G, 5G is going to benefit every industry and in addition of transforming our smartphones, it is really going to drive this intelligent, highly
connected edge when everything is going to be connected to the Cloud, and we see with that massive transformation.
I am just going to focus on automotive as an example. The car is going to be a computer on wheels. Connectivity of the car with the Cloud is changing
the business model and creating a number of services to the point that eventually services will actually be more profitable and more valuable than
the profit of selling the car as a hardware in the first place.
And it's going to transform the automotive industry and developing new capabilities, we see the transformation of the digital cockpit and more
important to car now, we talk about a new assets for the companies to have, which is a digital chassis of the car. And that's not unique to the
automotive space. We see manufacturing transforming. What you could not do before, you need high scale manufacturing. Now, you'll see manufacturing
coming back to Europe and to the United States by using 5G to have a Cloud controlled smart factory that you can do in multiple locations.
And the list is very long. So, there's a number of exciting opportunities and our company is growing in diversifying itself as we provide the engine,
the technology engine for this digital transformation of many industries.
CHATTERLEY: You know, one of the beauties of the internet and social media is it's a window into the world that takes place behind the scenes in the
meetings that you have. And I see the beautiful backdrop. I know you're in Paris, that you met personally with Emmanuel Macron, too.
What can you tell me about what that meeting suggests, perhaps about your interests and investment in Europe? And what came from that discussion?
AMON: Yes, we're very excited about the opportunities in Europe. We did start 5G R&D Center in France. We also had some R&D in France, in security.
And what is unique about this is about creating a technology platform that can support many other industries. We're already engaged with a number of
startup companies now and some of the existing companies in France and Europe about their transformation with 5G.
We also, you know like that fact now, there is opportunities for investment in Europe in technology. We also talk about the importance of -- I talked
with President Macron the importance of the competitiveness of the European industry and the French industries as they embrace technology, which is
going to be a requirement going forward for all industries, and a policy to promote investment in technology.
So, it was a very good meeting and I hope to be the beginning of a very important success story with 5G all over Europe?
CHATTERLEY: Cristiano, while, I've got you -- and speaking of investment, I just want to get a quick comment from you if I may, on one of the biggest
deals that we've seen obviously in the chip space and that was NVIDIA'S bid for ARM.
There have been rumors that Qualcomm perhaps would consider a strategic investment in ARM if that deal failed or was blocked by the regulators. I,
perhaps know what you're going to say to this, but any comment to make on a potential investment in ARM if that deal fails?
AMON: Oh, happy to talk about it. We were one of the largest -- we are one of the largest customers of ARM today and we're not alone. All of major ARM
customers across, you know, the hyper-scale, across mobile, across automotive, we like ARM to be independent, and ARM already won. ARM has
been extremely successful in mobile, in compute, in automotive, in data center and they won by adding the collective R&D of the ecosystem that
supports ARM and we like the independence of ARM, it has proven to be a success for all the industries and if there is another path for an
independent ARM, Qualcomm is very happy to invest in addition with many other ARM customers who feel the same way.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, ready with the cash, basically, if that deal fails. I get the message. You're happy to talk about it. We are happy to talk to you.
AMON: Yes.
CHATTERLEY: Go on.
AMON: Very good.
CHATTERLEY: Cristiano Amon, sir, thank you so much for talking to us today. President and CEO elect of Qualcomm. We will speak to you soon, sir.
Thank you.
All right, next, in the face of prejudice, we turn to pride. We meet the teen artist who is pairing up with Christie's to prove that with art on
your side, you're never truly alone. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. To an incredible individual now who is proving that sometimes our greatest pain can become our greatest
promise.
Victor Langlois said he spent much of his adolescence struggling fundamentally with who he was. After hiding himself for so long, he came
out as trans, something that was simply not understood by his parents, his friends, or his teachers.
With no one to turn to, he turned instead to art and the results are astonishing.
Victor, also known as FEWOCiOUS has now secured a partnership with Christie's, which is offering five of his NFT-based works to celebrate the
end of Pride Month. He is the youngest ever artist to do so, he is just 18 years old.
Oh, and one more thing. The auction has currently raised more than a million dollars. And Victor is here now to talk us through it.
[09:50:24]
CHATTERLEY: Wow, Victor, you are incredible. You know, it's my job to express what moments like this feels like. And I have to say, I'm simply
blown away, and I am, for once lost for words, but I'm confident you can do a better job. How does this moment feel?
VICTOR LANGLOIS, AKA FEWOCIOUS, NFT ARTIST: Oh, my goodness, this moment is insane. You know, I make my art on my iPad in my room. I'm drawing my
feelings, crying, feeling everything that I'm thinking. And then I'm realizing oh, it's real. We're on the news talking about it, my friends are
talking about it.
It's a real thing. It's not just my bedroom. It's beyond that. It's insane.
CHATTERLEY: I mean, let's just discuss, because it's a journey. These five pieces of art are a journey and the evolution of who you are, I think as a
person and your ability to express that from sort of 14 to 18. And at 13, you were having a therapy session and the therapist said, look, I think
you're depressed and your family didn't accept that.
And this was, sort of the evolution of a view, saying this is who I am and I'm sort of ready to show it. Just explain your art and what it is telling
people.
LANGLOIS: So, my art started as a way for me to talk. When I felt unheard, when my family was being transphobic and I had no one I could speak to, art
was my best friend and my one friend that could hear me out and hear everything I had to say.
So art, to me is an expression of whatever I'm thinking, either happiness or struggle, and I think it says, just me and my heart and everything I'm
feeling.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, well, you can see that when you look at the art. It's pretty magical. And I have to say, let's talk about -- we can talk about
the emotions of this and we can talk about, I think the power that this represents of you as an individual at just 18 years old, whoever bids on
this art, you're going to personally deliver it to them.
You've also created and custom-made luggage, which is also I think, a pivotal part of your story and actually how art has empowered you both as
an individual, but also financially, you've living somewhere else now. Talk me through the importance of the luggage and the delivery.
LANGLOIS: So me delivering these luggage to the collectors is really important to me, because these pieces are my life, the collection is
"Hello, I'm Victor FEWOCiOUS, and this is my life." I want to meet the people who I am giving my life to, my art to, my little babies. That's how
I view my paintings. And the luggage specifically when I was in Las Vegas, and I felt unheard and really sad, when I wanted to escape, you know, I had
to get a suitcase.
I got one really big suitcase, I was lugging it around the airport and it was so heavy because clothes, I could buy new clothes, but journal entries
from 14 years old, paintings, drawings. You can't revive that. It's one of a kind.
So, I just filled that suitcase with all my art stuff and lugged it around. And so when I give these collectors the suitcases I designed, it's me
remembering what I brought with me, how I moved out, how I escaped, and it's also like a physical representation of emotional baggage.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I understand that. Never mind the clothes. It's all about the things that make you, you. Your heart was in that suitcase.
Okay, I spoke to the CEO of Christie's recently because you're not only the youngest artist ever, let's be clear, to have art being sold at Christie's,
to be auctioned at Christie's. I also spoke to the CEO of Christie's and talked to him about the idea that known artists should be selling an NFT,
they should also be selling the physical artwork and then you combine two audiences, two potential audiences and buyers for your artwork.
Well, fast forward to today, Victor and you're the person doing this. It's not just about an NFT, which is powerful, I know, in its own right, but
you're also selling physical art with it, too. Smart.
LANGLOIS: Yes, I feel like the world art is about expression and expression can hold different meaning, expression can be digitally,
expression can be physically, and I think with NFTs hopefully, I can show someone who doesn't get NFTs or like what is this? I don't understand it,
but maybe if they see a painting I did, and they're like, oh, that's really cool. Oh, it's paired to an NFT. I don't really get it, but the artists,
cool, I like the story, oh, NFTs are this really cool tech, but oh, you can tell stories through it.
Oh, what is this? And then they'll go down a rabbit hole like I did when I found out about it.
[09:55:15]
CHATTERLEY: That's definitely a rabbit hole, my friend. We talk about it a lot on this show. We were just showing the artwork just previously, your
final piece. And it says at the top of it, "I taught myself to fly." And I love that, hearing your journey, hearing the challenges that you've been
through, that sort of gives me a frog in my throat to hear.
Victor, for other people that are struggling to be honest, to talk to people that feel like they don't belong, that no one understands them,
what's your message today about finding the strength somehow to go on and to achieve amazing things?
LANGLOIS: I think there will always be people out there who will see you and who will hear you and who will accept you. It may take time to find
those people, but they are out there. I promise they are out there and if you are pursuing something whether it be music, art, any passion of yours,
if you like making pickles, like anything, like go for it.
And if people around you don't accept it, you have to keep going and search out for other people. I mean, I thought it was hopeless to find new friends
who like art like me and like this technology stuff, but you know, it took me a whole, but I found my people and for once in my life, I can proudly
say that I am the happiest I've ever been.
CHATTERLEY: Love me this way or lose me, and it will be your loss. Victor, you are the best. You are also known as FEWOCiOUS and you truly are.
Good luck with the auction. Huge heart to you. Thank you so much for joining us on the show today.
LANGLOIS: Thank you.
CHATTERLEY: And giving us your time. You're the best.
That's it for the show. Stay safe.
"Connect the World" with Lynda Kinkade is next and I'll see you tomorrow.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:00:00]
END
