Return to Transcripts main page

Quest Means Business

Europe's Vaccine Passport Program Gets Started; Carnival Gets CDC Approval To Restart Cruises; Robbery To Ransomware; Deadline Approaches For Proposed New Israeli Government Coalition; Fallout From Naomi Osaka's French Open Decision. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired June 02, 2021 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:25]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: We're an hour away from the closing bell ringing, and it's been a struggle. Well, there you will see,

when you look at the chart. Barely in the black, it is bobbing around with a few losses at various points.

The gains of the day have evaporated. I think we'll be lucky to hold onto any gains by the time the closing bell rings in an hour from now.

The markets and the main events of the day as follows.

Europe's vaccine passport program is up and running. I'll ask the chief executive of the world's largest travel leisure company, it is Carnival.

I'll ask Arnold Donald if it holds the future of the travel industry.

Joe Biden says all options are on the table following the latest ransomware attack they say comes from Russia.

And AMC shares have doubled in a day. The company is promising free popcorn for its investors.

You and I are together live from New York, mid-week Wednesday, June the 2nd. I'm Richard Quest, and of course, I mean business.

Good evening. We begin tonight with the transatlantic difference on the role of vaccine passports. While Europe is moving full steam ahead, in the

United States, these vaccine passports are the focus of political wrangling.

Some details: seven European countries have today started issuing digital COVID certificates, available to people who can prove vaccination or

negative COVID tests. The first countries include Germany, Poland, Denmark, Czech Republic, Greece, Croatia, and Bulgaria. Across the whole E.U., it

will be July the 1st.

Now in the United States, it is a less picture, where the governor of several states are forbidding companies from asking if people are

vaccinated, and for the cruise industry that could prove a real challenge.

As the C.D.C. is allowing cruise giant, Carnival to sail from ports in Florida and Texas with restrictions, unfortunately, of course, Carnival may

not actually be able to ask holidaymakers if they've been vaccinated.

Arnold Donald will be with us in a moment. We begin in Europe with Melissa Bell in Paris.

So, this much warranted digital certificate is now a reality. How did they decide who is going to start it?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, basically, it's up to European member states to decide when they want to start it. They have until July

1st, by which point, Richard, all 27 will be on board. And I think it's important not only because it finally allows people to get across European

borders, Europeans, but also other non-Europeans to come in and out of the European Union changing what we're looking at from, say, the COVID figures

in this or that country to the question of whether or not people have been vaccinated. That's the big shift here.

QUEST: And the way it's going to work, I mean, the technology involved. Those I've spoken to in the European Commission and the like, they seem to

think this is very doable, very run-of-the-mill for an organization that is well used to doing transnational or trans-European technology.

BELL: Well, there have been a lot of doubts, and I think it is remarkable, you're right to point out that it has happened as quickly as it has, in

just about two months really, they've managed to get it up and running. They've managed to get a deal technologically in those parts of Europe

where it is being used. It functions.

But it was a tool endeavor. Twenty-seven countries trying to decide on one hand; those that wanted tourism started again quick and others who had

worries about privacy, data collection and so on, and yet, they came to this agreement, Richard, simply because Europe desperately needs those

summer tourists that it can now hope to have.

QUEST: Right. But with Schengen restarted, there won't be border crossings and checks or will there or do we not know, from those countries where you

would normally zoom across the border at great speed with just a wave and a cheery smile. Will they be checking vaccination certificates with the

Digital Pass?

BELL: I think these are very much some of the questions that remain unanswered. We sought some clarity from the commission. We reached out to

them and said for instance, American tourists, will they now be able to get into these seven countries if they can prove their vaccination status. The

commissioner replied, yes, they will. It is up to the member states. They can let vaccinated Americans in already.

[15:05:07]

BELL: So, there is some confusion precisely as to how this is going to work. Does it mean that American citizens arriving receive a European

vaccination certificate that then allows them to travel across the E.U.? These will be some of the questions for the coming days.

But by July 1st -- that is in a month -- all of Europe will have the system and you will be able to travel across it and in and out of it again for the

first time, Richard, in more than a year.

QUEST: Yes, it is going to be -- there are going to be some teething pains. I am going to Croatia on Friday, and I have already been uncertain on

whether to answer on one of the Croatian forms, it says: is your digital certificate E.U. compatible? And I sort of tentatively had to decide which

way to answer that question.

Melissa Bell, you will tell me how to answer it later. I appreciate it. Thank you, Melissa Bell in Paris.

BELL: Next time.

QUEST: So, to the largest cruise company in the world, the largest leisure company, Carnival Cruises, now, they've already been running some cruises

around the Mediterranean with its AIDA and Costa brands. Now, Carnival is desperately trying to take to the high seas once again in their largest

market.

So, the winds are at the back in the Caribbean where Carnival's Seabourn will soon resume trips for vaccinated passengers -- vaccinated passengers -

- starting in Barbados and visiting several other islands.

Choppier waters in Europe. The ships are sailing in several countries, PNO and the like, but they favor restrictions. For now, it is PNO and Princess

cruises in the U.K. and can only take on board vaccinated British residents.

And calmer U.S. waters with dangers as Republican governors in Texas and Florida say they won't allow a vaccine requirement.

Arnold Donald is the Carnival CEO. He is in New York. Arnold, I hope I gave a fair summary of the situation. But the truth is, are you going to be able

to ask your Houston and your Florida passengers have they been vaccinated.

ARNOLD DONALD, CEO, CARNIVAL: You know, Richard, first of all, always good to be with you.

You gave a fair summary, but you left off Cunard, which will also be sailing in U.K. coastal waters later this summer, and we are excited about

that. We're just happy to be talking about actually resuming cruising with guests.

And eight of our nine world cruise line brands will in fact have some ships sailing by September. Your question on, in Florida, we're waiting for

clarifications, we're in dialogue with the Governor's Office. Obviously, Texas joined in with Governor DeSantis's lawsuit on behalf of the people of

Florida, et cetera.

And so we're waiting for some clarifications there. But we're very optimistic that we'll be able to make certain that we have offerings over

time for all of our guests, for all the guests, and that we will also have Floridians and Texans back at work in the ports, all the people that depend

on the cruise industry, and that together we'll find a way forward in this.

We're not sailing until July, and so we're optimistic that we'll be able to work with all the interested parties to come up with something that serves

the best interest of public health and all those people that want to have a vacation experience.

QUEST: Arnold, you are always the consummate diplomat in handling these difficult areas, but we cannot ignore the fact that you want vaccinated

passengers to be able to prove they are vaccinated, and the Florida governor doesn't want you to be able to ask that question.

DONALD: I think, again, the governor and his staff can speak for their own interests. I think the question here is inclusiveness, that if we are at a

state where the community is in great shape in terms of risk of spread of the pandemic that some people, for whatever reason, choose not to be

vaccinated. And of course we will encourage, I, and we would encourage everyone to be vaccinated. It's the best protection for themselves and for

their loved ones to be vaccinated.

But that is a choice. That's their choice. And my understanding is that the governor is just looking to be inclusive so that if people chose not to,

they're taking a risk unto themselves, the vaccinated person actually is taking very little risk because they are vaccinated. The chances of them

having a serious consequence from COVID is pretty much eliminated with the vaccine.

So, we will serve in the best interest of public health. The reason we're doing vaccinating now is because that's what we can do. That's what the

C.D.C. has allowed us to do, and so, you know, we are just saying we're offering itineraries where people if they are vaccinated can sail.

And then we're looking to give them this, we offer open cruises as well, when we can and when it's okay to do so in the various places we go.

[15:10:10]

QUEST: Yes, the extraordinary thing is, and first of all, that your cash burn in Q1 is better than expected. But that still means you've got more

going out than coming in. Hopefully that will adjust as we go throughout the thing.

The share price suggests things are getting better, and your forward bookings, I quote you from this thing, forward bookings are accelerating,

and they are 90 percent of last year obviously, but they are always rivaling and may even be beating 2019.

DONALD: Absolutely. In terms of forward bookings, we're at the high end of our normal range in terms of bookings, which -- that story just shows the

confidence people have in cruising and the desire to cruise.

Hey look, people are anxious to have experiences. People want to travel. They all want to do it safely, but they're ready to do it and cruise is the

best vacation experience there is, and it still remains one of the best vacation values.

QUEST: How is your investment plans for new ships? I know you had a robust plan, but of course, you've got to pay for them now. Do you think you're

going to cut back on the demand for new ships? Because you're right, you've got $11 billion in the bank in terms of short-term assets. But is this the

time to consolidate? Or is this the time to really to expand?

DONALD: Well, Richard, as we talked before, you're always going to build new ships because they're far more efficient and they allow for better

margins and better returns.

So, yes, we have new ships coming. We have a number of new ships. We are going to welcome the wonderful Carnival Mardi Gras, the new flag ship for

our Carnival brand here on Friday in Cape Canaveral. We have recently welcomed our new ship for PNO, Iona. We have several new ships coming.

Also, the Enchanted Princess, earlier this year. Both Iona and Enchanted, and Mardi Gras, none of those have sailed just yet. But we will have new

ships coming.

In '24 and '25, we will have fewer new ships across our nine brands than we usually have in a given year and that will allow us accelerate repayment of

debt. We had to take on a lot of debt as you know, to survive this pandemic.

And so -- but overall, we will continue with new builds. We have many new ships coming for Seabourn, adventure ships would carry a couple hundred

people with submarines on board. Those ships will be fantastic, and we have other ships in the other brands as well.

QUEST: Finally, the way in which the company will operate, and I'm not talking about health comes first, I get that.

DONALD: Yes.

QUEST: But in terms of strategic direction. You've obviously taken the opportunity to reform, to restore, to reconstruct, all of the sort of

things that one does in a crisis. How would you describe it now?

DONALD: I would say, look, first of all, our highest response, and therefore, our top priority always, always is compliance, environmental

protection, and the health, safety, and wellbeing of our guests, of the people and the communities that we touch and serve, and of course our

Carnival family and thus, our shore side and ship board personnel. So that's our foundation.

After that we have the right -- we earn the right to provide unbelievable vacation experiences that exceed guest expectations, and deliver

extraordinary returns. What we have done during this pause is we've gotten leaner, we eliminated less efficient vessels. We exceed at 19 vessels,

which gives us a fleet now that's even more robust than prior.

We rationalized a lot of shore-side activities and other activities, so we've become much more efficient. We've enhanced our ability to operate in

a compliant way, and we sustained our commitment to environmental protection and our other sustainable efforts.

And so, while it's been difficult and we had to raise a lot of money, as you pointed out, over $23.6 billion cumulatively, we've been able to do it

and do it well and leave the company in a position or have the company be in a position to perform well and you see that somewhat reflected in the

market.

QUEST: I had to ask, there is the always the diplomat, I love your description of a year's closing and no sailings as a pause with the raising

of $23 billion. But I take on board what you beautifully said, although, it is good to see you. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.

DONALD: Thank you, Richard. Always a pleasure. Thank you very much.

QUEST: It is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS tonight. The meat producer, JBS, the newest victim of a corporate ransomware hack. Where the hack came from. The

White House response, and does it really pay to pay the ransom?

Also, talking about those in power, Benjamin Netanyahu's time as Prime Minister, we are literally talking hours to decide whether his time is up?

We will discuss as we continue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:17:43]

QUEST: The White House is blaming Russian criminals for the cyberattack that shut down a major meat supplier. And now the White House says all

options are on the table for a response.

It was JBS, the meatpacker that said nearly all its plants should be up and running by the end of today. As for the ransomware attack, it affected nine

of its U.S. beef plants, as well as sites in Australia.

The White House says the Kremlin bears some responsibility.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: President Biden certainly thinks that President Putin and the Russian government has a role to play in

stopping and preventing these attacks. Hence, it will be a topic of discussion when they meet in two weeks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: To pay or not to pay, that is the question. Gangsters and thieves have always looked for an easy way to strike it rich by hitting companies.

The only thing that has changed are their methods.

In the 19th Century America, they held up trains and banks, stand and deliver. Wells Fargo stagecoaches were frequent targets for highway

bandits. In the early 21st Century, pirates off the coast of Somalia held massive ships to ransom and some shipping companies paid up.

Now, criminals don't even have to leave their homes, weaponizing the internet to steal information and hold I.T. systems hostage.

The F.B.I. warns against paying ransoms. After all, there is no guarantee hackers will return your data. But companies have done it. Colonial

Pipeline being the most recent example of those who have paid.

Lior Div is CEO of Cybereason. He is with me from Boston via Skype. We always turn to you, sir when we need to understand it. Now, we don't know

whether JBS paid. We don't know the nature of it. I know you're aware behind it, same people as Colonial, do you think?

LIOR DIV, CEO, CYBEREASON: No. In this case, JBS, this is another, yet another attack that came to us from Russia. The group behind this attack,

this is a group called REvil, Revil in some cases, this is the largest ransomware cartel that exists right now in the world.

When we investigated, we believe that if it's not a state sponsor, at least this is a state ignored attack that comes from Russia.

[15:20:06]

QUEST: We'll leave -- we will leave the States side, if you like, to the White House. I'm curious about this business of paying ransoms. Do you

believe that REvil, they're in this for the money, like the other lot were?

DIV: Yes, absolutely. Ransomware right now, this is a business model. They operate like a regular company. In some cases, they have hotlines, they

have support lines, and if you have problems, you can call them and they can help you.

They are in for the money, and they are aiming to generate as much revenue as possible for themselves. So, as long as people are going to pay, we

believe that they are going to keep operating in order to generate this massive amount of revenue that they are generating every year.

QUEST: How do they do it, though? These are major companies, particularly in the case of Colonial, that should have but didn't have sophisticated --

should've had sophisticated systems that would prevent this sort of thing. From what you're saying, it's not easy, but it's not that difficult,

either.

DIV: Yes. So, REvil developed a technology to basically bypass technologies, specifically right now the market is flooded with ancient

technology that is coming from Symantec and McAfee that is still trying to fight the fight from 20 years ago. Right now, there is a solution in order

to deal with this. Cybereason is the company and companies like us has a solution called EDR that can deal with it.

QUEST: Okay. Assuming then one is hit by ransomware and your company is paralyzed and the likes of Darkside or REvil are not asking for $100

million, they're asking for $2 million or $3 million or $5 million, which is almost the rounding error in your annual accounts. And, you know, it is

Darkside, and they are gentlemen in a sense that they prove that if you pay, they will get yourself back up and running, you would pay if you're a

CEO.

DIV: Make no mistake, we are dealing with criminals that they are in the borderline of being a terrorist. They are in for the money, but I am pretty

sure that we have no guarantees that they will give your information back to you or not going to hack you again.

We did kind of a deep research on this topic, and what we discovered that if you paid once, the probability that they come after you again, this is

like 80 percent of the times.

QUEST: Wow. That's something you and I need to talk about a bit more in the future, Lior. Thank you very much. I appreciate your time tonight. Thank

you.

DIV: Thank you, Richard.

QUEST: And so to our old friend, AMC, the movie company and the shares which have doubled thanks to a big box office weekend and a retail trading

frenzy.

Halted twice with trading on Wednesday. At one point, the shares were up 120 percent reaching an all-time high. They're up now 106 percent.

Paul is with me. Paul La Monica, I am kicking myself. I am kicking myself. You and I talked about this. We should've bought right at the height of the

pandemic when they were all closed, and we were wondering whether they were going to go into Chapter 11.

PAUL LA MONICA, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Yes, it's a great point. Clearly, the return to normalcy trade is taking place with AMC to some respect.

Obviously, you have people going back to movies. That's good news for AMC.

But you can't help but look also at what's going on with the Reddit mob that is trying to push this stock higher penalizing all the short sellers

that are betting against it because no other movie stock is doing this well. They are having a good year, but Cinemark, IMAX, some of the others,

they're not surging to the same extent that AMC is.

AMC just has this fascination with the Reddit/Wall Street Bets crowd. They want to penalize those short sellers and they are succeeding.

QUEST: I mean, because it is a reputable company with assets, and it is speculative if you're following the Reddit. But if you got in at, say, nine

bucks in March, your upside was there. This is just me. I'm just expelling my own frustration at a failure to recognize this.

LA MONICA: Yes. I think you could say that there are many investors, professional investors that failed to recognize the magnitude that we would

have with regards to the comeback in the U.S. economy.

People getting vaccinated, people returning to normal, that's being good news obviously for AMC. I think you can argue that GameStop, another one of

these meme stocks that Reddit really likes also benefitting from a return to normal as stores reopen and as new management comes in and tries to

shake things up and have more of a digital presence.

[15:25:07]

LA MONICA: So there are a lot of stocks that have been unloved by professional Wall Street analysts and hedge funds that the smart money may

no longer be those guys. The smart money may be the people on Reddit that are doing their work and finding uncovered gems. I mean, maybe I am

overstating it a little bit, it is not as if Wall Street is going to go away and we are down in an environment where it is just commercial media

stocks, but still.

QUEST: Paul, how much of the AMC rally is fundamentals? And how much is speculative? Maybe we don't know, maybe we can't know at this point

because, you know, the airlines aren't up this much. The cruise ships aren't up this much.

They are over several months by the way, they are over several months. They have gained this sort of amount, but not in a single day.

LA MONICA: No. I think what you really have here is a stock that has captured the imagination of people on Reddit who are taking pride and glee

from punishing short sellers that are betting against these stocks.

And you know, obviously, AMC has so much of a high level of short interest that you can have this squeeze effect. The higher it goes, the more painful

it gets for a short seller to stay in their position, they have to exit, and the only way to exit is to buy back the stock that they borrowed and

that pushes shares even higher.

QUEST: That is interesting. Well, Adam Aron who is the CEO, he's run a good ship during the pandemic, it's not easy. He doesn't have -- like Arnold

Donald before who we were talking to.

Good. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.

Now, after Naomi Osaka dropped out of this year's tournament, the French Open is fighting off criticism. The Director General of the French Tennis

Federation will be with me after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:30:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

QUEST: Israeli opposition leaders have less than two hours from now to form a new government to unseat Benjamin Netanyahu, the country's longest-

serving prime minister. Yair Lapid, who is the centrist and Naftali Bennett, the right-wing leader, are trying to reach a power-sharing

agreement. It involves at least eight parties.

And the shared goal is essentially to end Netanyahu's 12-year rule. Yohanan Plesner is a former member of the Knesset, now president of the Israel

Democracy Institute. He joins me from Atlanta.

Can they, will they do it?

They've got 90 minutes left.

YOHANAN PLESNER, PRESIDENT, ISRAEL DEMOCRACY INSTITUTE: Well, Richard, thanks for having me. You are speaking to me in a very significant moment

in Israeli politics in public life.

Ninety minutes are left before Mr. Lapid has to return the mandate back to the president if he's not able to form a government. And they are still

negotiating the final deal -- details of the agreement. Perhaps you can jump in and help them finalize the agreement.

But it seems that they will be able to do so; most of the major issues have been agreed upon and, therefore, perhaps, starting from just within an hour

or so, Yair Lapid will announce to the president of the state of Israel that he was able to form a new government and this will mark the supposed

end of Netanyahu's long rule since 2009 in Israeli politics and, perhaps more significantly, the end of a 2.5-year period of political paralysis and

political stalemate.

QUEST: Oh, oh, hang on a second. Hang on. It may end paralysis from the previous four elections but this coalition is a coalition of the unwilling

and the disparate and the disagreeable in the sense that they've got such a spectrum of views, from Bennett on the right to Yair Lapid in the middle to

the Arab-Israeli on the left. They will never be able to agree on anything.

PLESNER: Richard, you're absolutely right. The fact that it's a very heterogeneous government is both its biggest advantage and biggest drawback

or risk factor.

On the one hand, it's an advantage because it will force them to seek the common denominator to achieve broad understandings in order to continue to

rule and remain in power.

And therefore it will help lower the levels of rhetoric, lower the level of the discourse. Israeli politics has been exceedingly divisive over the past

2.5 years. And the Israeli people are looking for a more normal type of politics.

And this government can possibly -- if it will succeed, provide --

(CROSSTALK)

QUEST: Right.

PLESNER: On the other hand, they will probably not focus on controversial issues but mainly on repairing the internal discourse and repairing the

economy --

(CROSSTALK)

QUEST: But do you think that --

PLESNER: -- and just getting the government back to function.

QUEST: Right. But if they don't deal with some of the issues -- the settlements, right of return, Jerusalem. Look, I know there's no answers to

these things at the moment. I'm aware of that.

However, those are the issues that are on the table that need to be looked at. And this coalition, if it comes to fruition, will have no hope in hell

of dealing with those issues.

PLESNER: Well, Richard, genuinely, there's no real prospect of moving forward on the Palestinian front. This government will not promote any kind

of annexation or expansion of settlements. And they will also not probably lead to a breakthrough in the peace process.

But there's no real prospect for a breakthrough right now. As you're probably aware, Palestinian politics is in a complete standstill. Abu

Mazen, the head of the Palestinian Authority is in his mid-80s. He's not in any kind of a position to make any kind of serious compromises.

So the collaboration and security cooperation with the Palestinian Authority will continue; economic cooperation will continue.

And with respect to Gaza, anyway, there's no real dispute within Israel; Gaza is controlled by Hamas, that has a declared goal of annihilating the

state of Israel. So it doesn't really matter who's in power. We will somehow have to deal with the threat.

So there isn't much to sort of move forward on and, therefore, we're not really paying a price and the post-COVID economy needs to be reignited. And

in this respect, we do need a functioning government.

[15:35:00]

QUEST: And you'll find out within an hour and 25 minutes if you'll get one. And you and I will talk tomorrow, hopefully, on whether it'll happen. Thank

you, sir.

PLESNER: One qualification, Richard, even if they declare that they succeeded, they still need to swear in the government within a week or so.

And anything can happen in this period of time.

QUEST: Oh, please, let's just get through the next 24 hours first. We'll worry about that after. Good to talk to you, sir. Thank you.

The world's top-ranking tennis player, Novak Djokovic, is backing Naomi Osaka's decision to withdraw from this year's French Open. Osaka referenced

her depression and anxiety in Monday's announcement.

Djokovic called it brave and bold and the sign of a new generation taking over the sport. Osaka was fined by the tournament for refusing to

participate in a post-match news conference.

The French Tennis Federation later released a statement of support for her. It initially avoided reporters' questions about how it handled the

situation, despite fining Osaka for the same thing.

Amelie Oudea-Castera is the director general of the French Tennis Federation, which runs the French Open, and joins me now.

Ma'am, thank you for joining me. I know this is difficult and I'm guessing that there are lots of people who wish they had done things differently

earlier in the week or taken different decisions than they did.

Would you agree?

AMELIE OUDEA-CASTERA, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, FRENCH TENNIS FEDERATION: Well, I think, you know, this was a difficult situation. And we did what we had to.

We are very sad for Naomi. We are very sorry for her.

I think she was right to explain, you know, what happens in her mind. And she had her own words to explain that, which leads us to think that she

probably made the right decision to withdraw from the tournament, given the suffering she's in.

So we really wish her, like, the best possible recovery. And we look forward to having Naomi at our tournament next year.

But you know, as grand slams, we also had to remind everyone of the rules. And we really wanted Naomi to be very, you know, clear on the consequences

she was exposing herself to. And we had to remind everyone of the rules, which are there to secure that there is a level playing field for all

players.

QUEST: I guess what people are saying is, if she had come to you earlier and said, I have this depression, that means I cannot go before the press

because of anxiety issues, medically recognized, would you -- and going forward in the future, will grand slam turn around and say, we recognize

that mental health issue and you don't have to do it?

OUDEA-CASTERA: Well, you know, the very difficult point in that situation is we didn't manage to get directly in contact with Naomi. We tried to do

that; we went to her practice court; we tried to engage with her several times.

We even wrote a letter to her privately before we made the public statement from the slams. So we wanted to have that dialogue. And for us, it was not

really possible to understand how she was, whether she was defending her cause or if she was personally affected.

And what we regret is that we didn't have the ability to get into that dialogue with her. Then, if a player has such difficulties, of course,

together with the tools -- and the spirit of the grand slams is always to find pragmatic, you know, ways to handle those difficult situations.

You know that players are of the utmost importance for us and we, of course, would've taken that into consideration, to sort of manage something

that would be easier for Naomi to handle, even if press conference --

QUEST: I guess the issue is what you do next -- and I don't mean in Naomi's case because I'm sure that can be sorted and settled in some sort of way.

It's how you deal with the issue of mental health and players and, at the same time, whether it's the press conference or the pressures of the game,

without just paying lip service to it because now the world's watching.

OUDEA-CASTERA: Yes, sure. There are many things done at that level. There is a strong investment. We have very good experts that travel all year-

round with the players. We probably need now to gather all together the overall ecosystems, the players, whatever the ranking, the position, the

age.

We need to have the young ones, the most experienced ones and, together with the medical people, also with the media, and find ways to maybe keep

improving the way we handle that.

Again, well-being has always been at the center of our attention and we really secure that players every day have access to the best experts, who

are able to enter in that dialogue with them and we follow them very closely.

[15:40:00]

QUEST: Grateful that you've taken time to speak to me today. Thank you, ma'am. I appreciate it. A busy week and your time is appreciated. Thank

you.

OUDEA-CASTERA: Thank you very much.

QUEST: And, so, that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for the moment. The market's still open, it's got another 20 minutes to go. So at the top of the hour, I

will have a dash to the bell. And coming up next, "MARKETPLACE ASIA."

END