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First Move with Julia Chatterley

Twitter Closes Offices as Staff Reject Musk's "Hardcore Work" Demand; Zelenskyy: 10M Plus without Power as Missile attacks Continue; Bahamas Seizes Digital Assets from FTX for "Safekeeping"; Twitter Users Express Fears for its Survival; Canned Water Company Liquid Death now Worth $700M; Ticketmaster Cancels Taylor Swift Ticket Sales. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired November 18, 2022 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALISON KOSIK, CNN HOST, FIRST MOVE: A warm welcome to "First Move", I'm Alison Kosik in for Julia Chatterley. Great to have you with us on this

day! Unprecedented turmoil and uncertainty at social media site Twitter, and what has been called a mass exodus a large, but still undetermined

number of Twitter workers have opted to leave the firm and take severance rather than sign Elon Musk's extreme hardcore work commitment pledge.

It is by all measures a stunning rebuke of Elon Musk's vision for Twitter, raising urgent questions over how he can keep the site up and running?

Twitter offices have reportedly been shut until Monday as Musk regroups. Later this hour, we're going to hear from a Tesla Analyst Dan Ives of

Wedbush Securities, who has been critical of Musk's Twitter purchase warning of the knock on effects that we'll have for the EV firm.

For now, U.S. stocks look set to rise for the first time in three sessions. Europe is also higher, a choppy week for stocks as Fed officials push back

on hopes for a rate hikes pause. Officials want to see sustained improvement in inflation first.

Inflation becoming a greater problem in Japan, new numbers showing core prices rising at their fastest pace in four decades the Head of the Bank of

Japan saying now is not the time to begin tightening policy. Japanese stocks finishing the week lower along with the rest of the major Asian

markets.

Alright, let's get straight onto Twitter and exactly who is left to run the ailing social media site. It's anyone's guess at this point, but we do know

many of the staff appears to have rejected Elon Musk's demands to work hardcore. One Former Executive describing what's going on there as a mass

exodus. It's probably no coincidence that Twitter's locking staff out of its offices, including its San Francisco headquarters, presumably for

security reasons.

Let's get more now joining me now, Oliver Darcy and Clare Duffy, two brilliant heads on this. Oliver, I'm going to start with you about these

resignations they come after musk. You know, fired half of Twitter staff last month reducing its workforce to around 3700 employees. Correct me if

I'm wrong.

So I'm curious at this point. How is Twitter even operational at this point? One thing I tweeted today was Hello, is this thing on?

OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: Yes, I think death is really in the air over at Twitter. And the question is, like you said, is can this

hugely important communications platform stay online? And I think we need to broaden this out.

Twitter has been so integral to the way world leaders communicate, to the way newsrooms gather news across the world, the way people express

themselves in particularly repressive countries and communicate. It's a very important communications platform that seems to have been basically

gutted from the inside at this point. I mean, you talked about how Elon Musk laid off about half the staff a couple of weeks ago.

At that point, they realize maybe they were cutting too much. Maybe they were cutting to the bone, and they rehired some of those people that they

laid off. Now you're having just a couple weeks later, a mass exodus of employees. Untold hundreds of employees last night basically submitted the

resignations and decided they weren't going to work hardcore with musk. And that's really thrown the future of the social media platform into question.

KOSIK: Yes, Clare, I mean, we are seeing RIP Rest in peace, Twitter trending on Twitter, I had to look twice when I saw that. Do you think this

really spells the end of the social media website?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN WRITER: Right, the vibe on Twitter last night was very much sort of like last day of high school. People are saying they might be

sending their last tweets and wondering what's going to happen next and you know we're already seeing some glitches pop up on the platform. You know,

people complained about seeing a test page go live on the trending section of the website.

This morning, I tried to go through and download my Twitter data and I couldn't because the two factor authentication feature wasn't working. And

so I think it's possible that, you know, we've seen some of these really important critical employees, people who are in charge of keeping the

platform online, exiting last night. And that could have a real impact in terms of the platform's ability to function.

I think we might also see Twitter just sort of become less relevant. People decide to leave the platform, decamped to other platforms. You know, the

conversation on Twitter the last few weeks has been all Elon Musk all the time. People are only talking about him and what he's doing to this

platform.

[09:05:00]

DUFFY: And so major users of the platform who have been used to getting attention for other things might sort of get tired of the fact that it's

the Elon show on Twitter now and go somewhere else.

KOSIK: Yes, Oliver, I can see confidence suffering on Twitter just through, you knows, reading other people's tweets. Where do you think people would

go if they leave Twitter? And can you tell right now, how many Twitter users are actually leaving the platform?

DARCY: Well, I mean, there are other social media platforms. Obviously, I'm noticing, for instance, that I'm getting a lot of Instagram requests in the

past 24 hours, because I think people are trying to prepare for what happens if Twitter leaves. I think a main point is something to bring up is

that trust is just so key to Twitter trust between users and the platform, and trust between Twitter and advertisers.

And you've seen that trust has basically evaporated over the past few weeks as Elon has taken over this platform. And what I'm curious about is, our

world leaders or celebrities, people who want to make sure that they're on a secure platform, are they going to remain on Twitter, because I think

once they start leaving and decamping for other platforms, you're going to see a lot of other users do so as well, in a big way.

KOSIK: Yes, safety is a huge issue. Right, Clare? I mean, you spoke about the technical issues. I mean, the reality is, is Musk really doesn't have a

lot of experience managing a social media company? How much do you think he's over his head there?

I mean, we did see him tweet, after this mass exodus. How do you make a small fortune and social media? Start with a large one, but the thing is,

he doesn't really have experience in managing one of these, right?

DUFFY: Right, Alison, I mean, Elon tried to get out of buying Twitter. He tried release for months to get out of buying this company. He did not want

to do it, and then ended up being forced to take over Twitter. And now it sort of has to grapple with that.

And, you know, I think that on one hand, you're seeing all of the potential fallout of letting all of these employees go, but he's also going to have

these debt payments from paying $44 billion for Twitter coming up real- quick, and he's got to find that money somewhere. And so I think you'll also see him sort of scrambling to try to cut costs, because he really

overpaid for this company. And now he has to sort of deal with that and move forward.

KOSIK: Yes, where will Twitter be in six months, let alone a year? Oh, yes, this conversation is just beginning. Clare Duffy, Oliver Darcy, thanks so

much. And later in the show, we'll be live outside Twitter headquarters in San Francisco for the latest.

A red card given to beer the Qatar World Cup decides to ban the sale of alcohol at stadiums. Just two days before the big kickoff, Budweiser

tweeted and then deleted the response. Well, this is awkward.

We are bringing Amanda Davies she is live in Doha with the details. This is kind of awkward. You know, Budweiser had a huge sponsorship here $75

billion. What happens with that? And let's back up. Why was this decision made in the first place to ban alcohol?

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: Yes, Alison it was only three weeks ago that Budweiser were talking about this expectation of sky rocketing

beer sales over the next five weeks with expectation that the amount of beer sold here over the next five weeks was going to exceed what is

normally sold in Qatar in the space of the year. They have been a long standing major sponsor of the Football World Cup for over a decade. And

what we are seeing in reality is a real hardening of Qatar's stance that this World Cup is happening on their terms of first World Cup in the Middle

East of first World Cup in a Muslim country.

And they've said yes, everybody is welcome. That has always been their message, but please respect our culture, and our religion and really since

day one with the awarding of this tournament on that now infamous day in Zurich in 2010. They have challenged the norms not only with that double

bidding process of 2018 and 2022.

But then this World Cup being moved to the winter time of first ever winter World Cup, not that traditional June, July period of time. And then we had

the long standing long schedule opening game of the tournament due to take place on Monday the 21st moved a day earlier to Sunday the 20th cattle

against Ecuador. So Qatar get their big moments in the spotlight, which is their first ever match at a World Cup finals with the eyes of the world

watching.

The feeling is our lesson that yes, football needs to respect and embrace cultures from all around the world. It shouldn't be judged just on Western

rules, but when you look at the statement that's been issued by the football supporters Federation, they say this if they change their minds on

this at a moment's notice, let's just remind ourselves less than 48 hours until they kick off with no explanation.

[09:10:00]

DAVIES: Supporters will have understandable concerns about whether they'll fulfill other promises relating to accommodation, transport or cultural

issues. And yes, there are 1.2 million fans expected from across the world over the next five weeks here into Doha, but this is not just the local,

the international fans that we're talking about. What we're also looking at is what happens to the local concerns, the local issues, the promises that

have been made about the treatment of the LGBTQ+ community and what about those promises that have been made of better conditions for the migrant

workers that we've heard so much about?

KOSIK: Yes, there's been huge criticism of those policies toward LGBT culture and foreign workers. So there's a lot of talk around it. What about

action?

DAVIES: Well, that is a very big question. And that is what so many teams and organizations have been calling for in the recent weeks in the run up

to this tournament when 2010 happens and Qatar was awarded this tournament. There was nothing in the FIFA statutes that took account human rights in a

country that the World Cup was visiting as of 2017.

That policy was inserted into the rules of voting and bidding countries for these major tournaments. But obviously, where we are here and now, is the

pressure is on what is happening in Qatar? There is a widespread concession that there have been huge improvements in the Kafala system, the treatment

of migrant workers in Qatar since 2010, in the build up to this tournament, but things haven't changed enough.

And there is, those widespread reports we have seen from the human rights organizations, the likes of Human Rights Watch the likes of Amnesty

International. They have talked about the thousands of migrant worker deaths that have happened here in Doha in the run up to this tournament.

That is something that Qatari officials vehemently deny.

They say the number is less than 10 with more who have died in non-football related incidents, but that is not stopping the now weekly, week on, week

off reports that are coming out of these human rights organizations putting the pressure on Qatari authorities and FIFA. World football's governing

body to do more even within football. European football's governing body UEFA have sent a letter signed by 10 of their member associations saying

what real change is happening?

We want to see real compensation for the victims of the migrant workers who have died over the last few years. We want to see the establishment of a

migrant worker center to help the workers here in Qatar. Interestingly, the FIFA President Gianni Infantino hasn't yet publicly addressed the media. He

is due to does that here in Doha on Saturday morning? It's set to be I think it's fair to say fairly explosive.

KOSIK: OK, Amanda Davies, thanks for all that great perspective, live from Doha. In Ukraine, President Zelenskyy says more than 10 million people are

without electricity, as Russia continues a wave of missile attacks. The blackouts come as temperatures across Ukraine are plummeting.

Nic Robertson is live for us in Kyiv with the latest. So with so many people facing the cold without power, I'm curious what more of anything can

Ukraine do to protect its power grid, Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: More Air Defense systems, that's what it continues to say and the reality is that's what's

required to protect it from those barrages of missiles that come and it's not just the electricity that's being impacted. Now, one energy company

here says 40 percent of users are without electricity. We know that the communications and are being affected the big City of Kharkiv and the east.

That was cut off from phone communications because of the impact of not enough electricity to keep those phone relay stations up and running and

that's happening to other cities. Also the gas suppliers in the country saying they are seeing their facilities being hit more often now. So what

can people do?

Get back to basics, it's fine, somewhere warm and safe that you can survive through during the power cuts that are now plentiful. If you can, and you

can burn wood or a wood substitute get that a few lucky people do still have those gas supplies, but it's not just the big cities we route in the

east of the country close to the frontlines there and even that medium sized cities out there.

[09:15:00]

ROBERTSON: People are just going to be struggling through this winter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (voice over): Gas just came back to Kramatorsk, a boon of Battlefield games. Maria, a 70-year old pensioner wasn't expecting it had

bought a wood burning stove. It was hard without gas, she tells us and now thanks to God, we're OK, but for how long?

ROBERTSON (on camera): When the government turned the gas back on here at the beginning of November. They did it without any big announcement,

because like every other critical service here gas depends on electricity and that's what Russia's targeting.

ROBERTSON (voice over): When I met the mayor here three months ago, he was urging residents to leave ahead of winter.

OLEKSANDR HONCHARENKO, KRAMATORSK, MAYOR OF UKRAINE: We don't have on have fire gas at all and it's not possible to repair gas lines.

ROBERTSON (voice over): When we meet now he tells me the population has actually increased by 30 to 35,000 people, over 80,000 totals. Residents

returning home even though the situation because Russia is targeting the power grid is much more precarious. Lives he fears may be lost in what he

expects to be the harshest winter since independence 30 years ago.

HONCHARENKO: Country electricity disappears cities are plunged into darkness. Anything can happen. Boilers can stop gas distribution, networks

can stop, it can be left without everything, even without heat.

ROBERTSON (voice over): Keeping warm is on everyone's minds this factory making heating logs from sunflower seeds demand outstripping capacity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our requests have gone up three or fourfold. We don't have enough trucks for deliveries.

ROBERTSON (on camera): They're working at full capacity here everything that's ready shipped out immediately, but the whole system here extremely

vulnerable. The electricity could go off at any moment.

ROBERTSON (voice over): Every log delivered a few hours spared from the cold. Each sacks perhaps a week's peace of mind.

ROBERTSON (on camera): Did you got everything that you ordered?

ROBERTSON (voice over): His answer everything, everything all good, perfect, I don't have words. Food is also on people's minds this winter

mostly pensioners, mostly poor, bundle up against the cold a free bread distribution, tempting them out of frigid homes.

If they help us like they do here, it will be fine. 84-year old Julia tells us. I'm a child of World War Two, she says. We were cold hungry, but we

survived. Across town, another pensioner 82-year old Alexandra shows us the basement she shares with neighbors already stockpiling food for winter. No

gas for warmth here, just an old electric heater. But when there's no electricity, you have no heat. How do you stay warm?

We just have to put on our coats, wrap ourselves in blankets and go to bed, she says. That's how we live. That's how we exist. Born into war, she says

I'll probably die in war.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: And it's a very real concern. As the mayor said the conditions are going to be harsh. The population that he has there, some of them is

elderly; some of them are frail and without some bit of heating every day in the life of them is going to be nearly impossible.

He said the government is trying to set up these sort of heating stations where people can get charge phones get some little bit of heating. But

people in that town for example, and so many others are just afraid to go outside when they don't need to. They're afraid of shelling while we were

there the town was shelled on more than one occasion. It's a compound of everything that's going to make this winter so difficult.

KOSIK: Well, thanks for bringing their stories to us. Nic Robertson thanks so much. The Biden administration says Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin

Salman should be granted immunity from legal action over the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. His fiance who filed a lawsuit

against the Prince said Jamal died again today.

Alex Marquardt joins us now with the details. Alex, good to see you! Talk us through why this U-turn by the Biden administration. You know why did it

back out of its promise to hold MBS accountable?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you're absolutely right, Alison. A lot of people are asking that question today

accusing the Biden administration of going back on its promises.

[09:20:00]

MARQUARDT: What they are saying simply is that they are standing by past precedent by principles that have been laid out by common and international

law and treating MBS as they would like to see American heads of state and heads of government treated. Now, just a few weeks ago, Crown Prince

Mohammed bin Salman was just that he was the Crown Prince, the son of the King, he was the Defense Minister. He would not have qualified for immunity

in this case, but then his father, King Salman made him the Prime Minister and that made him the Head of the government and so he then qualified for

immunity in this case that was brought.

As you said, against him back in October of 2020, 2 years after Khashoggi was killed by Khashoggi's fiance, and the human rights group Dawn, that he

found it here in in Washington D.C. And it is that the Department of Justice pointed to his status as the head of the government in their filing

that they made late last night which was really the 11th hour of the deadline, which was yesterday in saying that, and pointed to this

recommendation from the State Department that he get immunity. I spoke to someone at the State Department.

This is part of this spokesperson statement. This suggestion of immunity does not reflect an assessment on the merits of the case. It speaks to

nothing on broader policy or the state of relations.

This was purely a legal determination, across administration's there is an unbroken practice of the United States recognizing immunity for heads of

government while they are in office. So Alison, legal determination, unbroken practice, that is the essentially the excuse that the State

Department is making. We should note they were under no obligation to make this recommendation to the court they had been invited to do so.

Here they're saying that they are upholding past precedent and principle, but again, there's going to be a lot of anger today, a lot of sadness. I

actually heard from Jamal Khashoggi's fiance overnight. She told me today that she is absolutely devastated and she holds President Biden personally

accountable, Alison.

KOSIK: Interesting word you use, they're excused. Alex Marquardt, thank you. Straight ahead, more on Twitter talk about projecting hostility, pouch

Elon, let that sink in. We're live at Twitter headquarters, San Francisco, where the writings on the wall literally, for the new boss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:25:00]

KOSIK: Welcome back, I'm Alison Kosik. It's been a wild week in the world of crypto particularly for FTX. Overnight, we learned that authorities in

the Bahamas have seized digital assets from the now bankrupt FTX for "Safekeeping". The Securities Commission of the Bahamas said Thursday,

urgent, interim regulatory action was necessary to protect the interests of clients and creditors.

Let's get more now with Matt Egan. He joins us now, great to see you. So you know, another day another new headline for FTX. Do you know

specifically what digital assets were seized, and I mean, is there anything even left?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, great questions, Alison. The statement from securities regulators in the Bahamas was relatively vague. They said that

they have taken control of digital assets.

Presumably we're talking about Cryptocurrencies from FTX digital. That is the Bahamas based unit of the FTX empire that filed for Chapter 15

bankruptcy earlier this week. Regulators in the Bahamas say that they have taken control of these assets for safekeeping.

They've directed that they get transferred to a digital wallet that is under the control of regulators. Another stunning development in just a

series of amazing developments in this bankruptcy I mean, it's hard to think of anything in the relatively brief history of crypto that has caused

as much chaos in a short amount of time as the FTX collapse and here's one of the ironies.

One of the reasons why people have been drawn to Cryptocurrencies is that they've been thought to be somewhat, or mostly out of the reach of

government regulators of authorities. And here we have a situation where FTX imploded so spectacularly that government authorities are actually

taking control of the crypto assets from customers who were keeping their money at FTX and through no fault of their own now can't get those get

can't get those funds back.

KOSIK: Yes, the irony of it all, it really does sting. I mean, how much does this append the confidence of other exchanges like finance, like coin

base, you know, considered to be the stronghold in this arena?

EGAN: I think that is an open question. I mean, when you think about how trusted FTX was? How big of a name? It was basically a household name. Tom

Brady, Gisele, Steph Curry, other athletes, and celebrities had lent their star power to FTX and Bankman-Fried, one of the faces of the crypto

industry and so for this to happen to them, of course, it's going to undermine confidence to some degree.

Now, other exchanges would tell you that, you know, things are differently there that they might not do some of the things that FTX is accused of

doing that. They are more closely regulated and audited, but you know, I think that ultimately, that's going to be up to customers and it will be

interesting to see if we see some people move away from exchanges altogether particularly given some of the findings that have come out of

the bankruptcy filings in the last 24 hours from FTX the former lawyer who oversaw the liquidation of Enron.

He painted the picture of basically a train wreck at FTX, a company where he says he's got no confidence in the financial statements, calling them

unreliable, saying that there's been a mishandling of confidential data diversion of corporate funds to be used to buy homes in the Bahamas, for

employees. Again, all of that coming out of his bankruptcy filing and Alison, it's never a good sign when the former Enron guy is shocked and

appalled.

KOSIK: The worst corporate failure that he's ever witnessed, and yes, he oversaw the downfall of the bankruptcy of Enron. Yes, I know, it is just

stunning, I'm sure. We'll talk again soon with a yet new headline for FTX, thanks very much.

After the break, a company in Crisis, staff leaves in mass a social media platform teetering towards collapse, and a billionaire CEO struggling to

regain control we're live at Twitter headquarters next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:00]

KOSIK: Welcome back! I'm Alison Kosik. We are back on "First Move" here. U.S. stocks up and running for the last trading day this week a higher open

for the major averages with the bowls trying for a second straight week of gains. Sentiment getting a boost this week from a softer read on wholesale

prices but Fed officials says they need lots more evidence that inflation is falling before easing up on rate hikes.

Returning to the social media mess that is Twitter, which has locked out its remaining workforce after many of them, said no way to Elon Musk's

demand for hardcore work. Badge access has been suspended at all of its offices, including at San Francisco Headquarters, where last night a

projector beamed insults on the wall about the billionaire owner.

And that's where we find CNN Correspondent Camila Bernal. She is at Twitter Headquarters for us. So I'm curious what activity if any, you've seen their

outside Twitter's Headquarters there? Have you seen anybody any workers go inside or out?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Alison so nothing this morning. It is still very early here in San Francisco. So we'll be here throughout the

day. But it's still unclear exactly how many people are going to want to come back and how many people frankly, are choosing to leave?

We do know that many of the employees were posting messages on Twitter and on the company's Slack Channel, essentially saying their goodbyes. There's

a former executive that talked to my colleague, Oliver Darcy, and said that this is basically a massive exodus.

Look, there is anger. There is confusion. There is sadness among Twitter employees, former employees, and even Twitter users and many, many people

posting with the #RIPTwitter and many of them were actually heartfelt messages in motional tweets while others were jokes and memes and even Elon

Musk tweeting out some of these memes.

But he also tweeted something that's important. He said you know we just hit another all-time high in Twitter usage. He followed it by 'LOL' or

laughing out loud. And then by let that sink in. So yes, high Twitter usage but the problem here is that he is still going to need the money, the

advertisers.

He's going to need people to stay at this company to run this company. He will have to convince some of these key players to stay or he's also going

to have to just try to bring in engineers who maybe have no idea what to do at Twitter but that will have to do this hardcore working for him.

[09:35:00]

BERNAL: Despite the fact that there is a lot of questions about the future of the company as well. One thing we do know for sure is that the office

will be closed today. There was an email that went out to employees that CNN obtained, there is no explanation as to why they're actually closing

the office, but they did say they would open up again on Monday.

But of course, many people just wondering what will happen next? Those that choose to stay and who will come back on Monday, will come back to a very

different office. And look, Alison, I've talked to employees, one of them a former employee who left before Elon Musk got there.

She spent seven years at Twitter and told me, I am heartbroken. And she pointed me to another one of her colleagues who said that he was in

mourning, so just people who have spent so much time who have devoted many years of their lives to this company who are now watching and are honestly

just heartbroken, Alison.

KOSIK: Yes, it is heartbreaking not just to lose your job, but to lose your job in what you did something where you build something from the ground up.

Camila Brunel thanks so much! All right, let's bring in Dan Ives; he's Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at Wedbush Securities. Great to

have you on the show, Dan!

DAN IVES, MANAGING DIRECTOR, SR. EQUITY ANALYST, WEDBUSH SECURITIES: Great to be here.

KOSIK: So I have to ask you about your reaction to the latest Twitter chaos. Chaos is the word I'm seeing thrown about. What's your reaction?

IVES: I think chaos is almost an understatement. Look, in a day this just continues to be a circus show. And it's really a game of thrones that's

going on internally between Musk and Twitter employees. Now as you've said, I mean, you could have Twitter usage go up.

But you need the engineers and developers to maintain the sort of ship and also increase advertiser dollars. That's the problem and Musk culture with

Twitter. I mean, yes, I wouldn't expect any candlelight dinners anytime soon.

KOSIK: And come on, I just have to point out. He tweeted that Twitter usage is up. He did put it 'LOL'. I mean, first of all, how can we even trust

what he's saying? And who's minding the store anyway, to count the numbers, right? I mean, it's a problem here, isn't it? I mean, this is a company

yes, that he did and then didn't want. And now it seems like he's just - it feels like he's just throwing it away? Well, I mean, how is this going to

end?

IVES: Well, it's not going to end well. I mean, it comes down to like, if he wants to throw away 44 billion. He's doing a good job in terms of going

down that path. And I think you really need to play nice in the sandbox to turn this around me.

OK. Cuts need to happen. Right and there's ways to go about. There's ways not to go about. It's been a black guy from Musk in terms of how he's

handled it? And I think it's been frustrating for Tesla holders, just because of that brand is so associated with Musk.

KOSIK: Yes, and you make a good point. I mean, Musk's attention has really been split between Twitter and Tesla and investors, they've been concerned

about him being stretched too thin. And, you know, leads us to the next headline that came out saying that Elon, had successor in mind to take a

CEO role at Tesla.

I'm curious how much this would calm investors at Tesla? And but what it also does it mean for Tesla's future with Elon Musk possibly stepping away

as CEO? Does that mean his focus isn't on Tesla, either?

IVES: Yes. Well look, I think Musk ultimately remains CEO of Tesla likely through the end of the decade. I'd be shocked if it was sooner. He'll have

potentially a successor someone that could, you know, come in down the road.

But I think a big part of the Tesla story, the hearts and lungs is Musk, a big part of the multiple is Musk. And that's why it's something where he is

not going to really control in terms of Tesla, but it just comes down to a balancing act between Twitter, SpaceX and Tesla, in what was really been a

twilight zone that just continues to go from episode to episode.

KOSIK: Yes, there's also a money issue here we would think. Twitter is estimated to have $1 billion of a debt service payment, that Musk's

security - to complete his takeover and the company's ability to make that payment. It's been in question, how concerned are you that he may have to

sell more Tesla's stock?

IVES: Well, you just now that I think that's a lingering concern because right now, Twitter is essentially quicksand in terms of bleeding money. He

cut cost, but the debt that put an albatross over on the store in terms of what they have to pay.

You know, they continue to be in the red a lot - find partners or fund more in terms of Twitter and then that goes back to frustration you're selling

diamonds, in terms of Tesla to buy a $2 slice of pizza in New York City.

[09:40:00]

KOSIK: So I'm curious where you think you, Twitter's going to be in six months or even a year from now? What is the site going to look like will

even exist?

IVES: It's a fork in the road. It either goes down, you know that he starts to turn this around monetizes the freedom of speech issue. He's able to

kind of talk the game and not in reality really do many changes, advertisers start to come back on the platform you cut costs. And then you

can start to move this in the right direction and eventually down the - WeChat type model.

Now the other ones a darker path continues to go down the circus show route. You know, ultimately employees we've you know, and then you start to

down the road via potential MySpace or AOL. So this is a key three to six months ahead in terms of what the future of Twitter is?

KOSIK: And his brand - his name has certainly taken a bruising here?

IVES: Look, for some it's been almost tough on like on among the loyalist. It's a black eye in terms of how he's handled it? And it was one thing he

ultimately acquired a house he didn't want. OK, everyone gets it, but now turn around, have those experts ultimately manage it? The way he goes back

on an hourly basis. It's exhausting and it really continues to be just a black cloud over the name.

KOSIK: Exhausting. Yes, it has. Dan Ives Senior Equity Analyst at Wedbush Securities great to have you on the show!

IVES: Thank you.

KOSIK: Still to come on "First Move", a new water company is taking a heavy metal approach to ending plastic pollution. I'm going to talk with the CEO

of a Liquid Death after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: Welcome back to "First Move". A startup with an unconventional name is making a splash on the beverage scene while helping to fight plastic

pollution. Liquid Death sells water in 16 ounce cans that yes, look like beer. It raised $70 million from investors last month bringing its value to

$700 million.

But it's not just about the company's words, murdering your thirst. In addition to a partnership with Live Nation to help end the use of single

use plastic water bottles at concerts and events. Liquid Death donates 10 percent of profits to combating plastic pollution with its death to plastic

campaign.

Joining me now is Mike Cessario. He is the Co-Founder and CEO of Liquid Death. Mike pleasure to have you on the show.

[09:45:00]

MIKE CESSARIO, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO OF LIQUID DEATH: Thanks for having me.

KOSIK: All right, for those who don't understand Liquid Death and the cult following that you have just the point out here this is water straight

water. How can water in a can be on pace to be the fastest growing non- alcoholic beverage of all time? Something one of your investors recently said.

CESSARIO: Yes, I don't think a lot of people realize how big the water category is beverage? Beverage is now the largest or sorry, bottled water

is now the largest beverage category above carbonated soda.

Brands like Dasani and Aquafina that are just water in a plastic bottle, do over a billion dollars each a year in the U.S. alone. So it's a huge

category. And at the end of the day, we're really building a brand that is far bigger than just what the liquid is in the can.

And we've started with still water. We then went to premium sparkling. We recently launched flavored sparkling in early January. And then next year,

we're actually launching Liquid Death Ice Tea. So we're building a brand that's definitely bigger than just water in a can.

KOSIK: I'm going to get to the brand aspect in just a moment. But I want to talk about the sustainability factor of your product as well, because you

tap that the water and its packaging are eco-friendly. It's in recyclable aluminum can but wouldn't the most environmentally friendly and cost

effective way to drink water be to simply fill a reusable bottle?

CESSARIO: Yes. I think it depends on how you look at it? Yes, at the end of the day, everybody 100 million Americans using reusable water bottles

anytime they want water would be ideal. It would also be more eco-friendly for you to make your own clothes at home and not buy them from the store or

to make your own ice tea on the stove versus going and buying a ready to drink.

I think that's an extreme end, what we're really trying to do is offer a legitimate mass solution to plastic bottles. And I don't think that trying

to get everybody in the world to use a reusable container is going to be a realistic solution to the plastic problem immediately.

KOSIK: Well, let's get back to the branding aspect of all of this. When you look at your success, I'm curious what you think about this? What

percentage of that success would you say is because of the branding versus the product itself? I mean, this is water we're talking about?

CESSARIO: Yes. I think in packaged goods, there are not a lot of truly powerful brands. So I think it's hard for people to wrap their head around

the value of brand, where I usually use an example that people understand look at fashion.

A Gucci T-shirt goes for $750; it's made of 100 percent Cotton. You can buy the same shirt made from the same material that serves the same function at

Target for 15.99 same exact thing but people understand oh, I get why a premium fashion brand could command that because it's about brand. But I

just don't think people think that way when it comes to beverage and packaged goods.

KOSIK: It seems like you've relied a lot on social media like Twitter and Instagram for a lot of this branding. And I'm curious what you would do if

Twitter collapses? And what other social media would you turn to?

You know, what other ways would you communicate with their fans? Obviously, you have a huge following on Instagram at over a million followers. I need

to follow you on Instagram to be over healthy with that million. But I'm curious what your thoughts are there with Twitter?

CESSARIO: Yes. We actually - Twitter is our probably least used platform. And I don't even - we don't even do much advertising on Twitter. It was

never super effective for us compared to some of the other platforms. I mean, we're on Twitter. And you know, we do some fun things on the

platform, but for us our main platforms, by far are TikTok and Instagram.

KOSIK: OK, so you talked about how you're branching out into other drinks. I'm curious where an IPO fits in all of this. And I know and you have said

that you know you're exploring an IPO. But I'm curious, what are the factors for you and your company and beyond considering an IPO to actually

committing to going public and how soon?

CESSARIO: Yes. I mean, we're growing. We've been growing consistently over 200 percent every year since we launched. I mean, we only first started

selling product in February of 2019. We think we've got a ton of growth ahead of us and, you know, looking at some of the other comparable beverage

companies in the public market I think there's excitement from us and in our board to go that direction.

If and when it makes sense you know, not opposed to the M&A route in the future if that ends up being where it's going but ultimately we want to do

what's going to bring most shareholder value and what makes most sense for us and where the growth trajectory is.

[09:50:00]

KOSIK: Well, I certainly love the cleverness of Liquid Death and the cleverness I noticed on Twitter, you had a post have a taste test of two

haters. I really enjoyed watching that. If you haven't seen it, you should go to Twitter. I'm not looking to advertise for Twitter, though. But go to

your - I would say go to your account. Mike Cessario, CEO of Liquid Death pleasure talking with you.

CESSARIO: Thank you. Take care.

KOSIK: We knew it was trouble; Ticketmaster is shutting out this Swiftest and canceling public ticket sales for Taylor Swift's upcoming tour, the

latest on the ticket turmoil next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: Welcome back! I'm Alison Kosik. Ticketmaster are taking heat from diehard Taylor Swift Fans this Friday the ticket site canceling public

sales for the pop stars' upcoming tour after a chaotic pre-sale period. Swifties not ready to shake it off. Christine Romans joins us now. So talk

us through why these tickets were taken off the market?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Sure. So there was a pre-sale fail, I guess you could say. I mean, the presale was for verified

Taylor Swift Fans who had a code so that they could get by the tickets a day early the public sale was supposed to be today. And that presale was

just totally oversubscribed. And there were all kinds of glitches and problems.

I mean, people who thought that they were verified, you know, Taylor Swift, fans found themselves their code wouldn't work. They were in a queue

forever. They were getting mixed messages back from Ticketmaster.

So it was really a hot mess. And Ticketmaster says that they just weren't ready for the volume of demand. And we're also told that there may have

been bots that aren't supposed to be involved, but that were.

So you had literally millions and millions of requests for these tickets, way more requests than they had actual physical tickets. And this thing

really all fell apart. You got the Texas Attorney General and others now starting to look into this. You have members of Congress who are saying,

hey, wait a minute, this sounds like a monopoly when there's not.

This doesn't happen in Europe, where there's more competition. You know, why is this one company allowed to have just this iron grip on all these

tickets and such a waste of time and energy for so many Taylor Swift Fans?

No word from Taylor Swift about this, by the way. But if you look at some of the prices that are out now going on StubHub, I mean, $5,000, one of the

highest prices for ticket at MetLife Stadium, SoFi Stadium, that's an August 4th date next year, lowest price 460 highest of 5700.

So you can see already these presale tickets, which were supposed to go to verified users are already out there on the secondary and tertiary markets

and they're way more than the state of ticket price.

KOSIK: Well public sales open back up are you getting any information about that?

ROMANS: I mean they canceled it today so we'll have to see if they're going to open up other public sales but at this point that presale that was a

total mess. Those are the tickets that are out there and they have not announced whether there will be more tickets open for sale.

[09:55:00]

KOSIK: You know about this, you know the politicians they're wringing their hands about this. They're upset about it. But you know, we've been talking

about this, at least since the 90s. Just concert goers to musicians upset about this.

ROMANS: Yes.

KOSIK: I mean, quickly, is anything going to come of this do you think? Yes or no?

ROMANS: So - I don't know. Pearl Jam testified about this in 1994. Nothing happened. Bruce Springsteen fans were outraged last year when it was $5,000

to get a ticket nothing happened. Now the Swifties though maybe they're the ones with this way.

KOSIK: Yes, we shall see. Christine Romans thanks so much! And that's it for the show. I'm Alison Kosik. Follow me on Instagram and Twitter

@alisonkosik. Thanks for joining us. "Connect the World" is next have a good weekend.

(COMMERCICAL BREAK)

END