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Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp Suffer Widespread Outages; Facebook Whistleblower Says Company Put Profits Over Public Good; I.A.T.A Chief Says Airlines Are Through Deepest Crisis Ever; Biden Rips Republican Over "Dangerous" Debt Limit Impasse; World Fair Brings Nearly 200 Countries To Dubai; Facebook Down Sharply On Tough Day For Tech Shares. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired October 04, 2021 - 15:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:04]
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS HOST: The rocky ride continues for stock markets. The Dow is sharply lower to start the week. Those are the markets
and these are the main events.
Facebook's giant fail. WhatsApp Instagram and Facebook itself have all been offline for hours. The tech meltdown hits Wall Street as the NASDAQ falls
two percent.
And the airline industry warns of billions of dollars in global losses. You'll hear from the heads of I.A.T.A and United.
Live from New York. It's Monday, the 4th of October. I'm Alison Kosik, and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
Good evening. Tonight, Facebook, Instagram and the company's messaging service WhatsApp all suffering widespread outages. Down Detector has logged
hundreds of thousands of reports in the last four hours across all three Facebook owned platforms. The company turned to Twitter to let people know
it was aware of the sites that they were down. They said they were working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible.
Facebook didn't offer an explanation though for the outages and a company spokesperson hasn't responded to a request for comment.
Clare Sebastian is here with us now. So, any word now about these outages? Does it look like things will get back online soon? Do we know what's
causing it?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, as he said, Alison, no official comment from Facebook on this. So we don't know officially what's
causing it. But a lot of experts have been out there diagnosing this as a sort of -- it is called domain name system, that's essentially -- it's
known quite widely as the phonebook of the internet, the system that translates domain names like facebook.com into IP addresses so that
browsers can load them.
So what seems to have happened is something in that system has prevented the translation process between the domain names and IP addresses
happening, which is why the Facebook and Instagram sites have not been able to load, so that is what appears to have happened, according to experts.
But we don't yet know how long it's going to take to fix it. It seems to be a global problem and we don't know whether it's sort of internal to
Facebook or sort of a broader internet issue.
So a lot of questions still around us. And meanwhile, you know, the world has sort of had to take a collective break from these services. I think
it's showing us all just how reliant we are.
KOSIK: Not such a bad thing to take a break from social media. That's just my sidebar opinion.
Let's move on to stock, shall we? We're seeing the major U.S. averages in quite the selloff to start the week. It is sparked by the same inflation
and debt ceiling worries that roughed the markets up much of last month. The NASDAQ leading in the losses. Tech shares have been hit especially hard
because of their high valuations and sensitivity to higher interest rates.
Many investors, they've been deciding instead to shift their money into bonds. So the tech churn continues. But this is broader. Is this pile on
that's happening -- is this more of a rolling correction, you know, when prices go down, but not all at once, like in a standard correction?
SEBASTIAN: You know, I think, Alison, there is a rotation going on. We're now in the fourth quarter. This is likely to be the quarter where we're
going to get an announcement on tapering from the Fed. So what you're seeing in terms of, if you look at the sectors that are up today on the S&P
500, only two of them are up. One is energy because, of course, we see oil rallying today off the back of that OPEC announcement that they're sticking
to their original production increases, and utilities which is a sort of a value area of the market.
So it looks like people are coming out of tech stocks and into more value stocks like utilities. And that's partly because we've seen tech stocks
rally so much through the pandemic and now, life is sort of more or less getting back to normal. It looks like some of that froth is coming off and
also because of bond yields and the prospect of higher interest rates perhaps a little sooner than expected.
Tech stocks, they are all about betting on future growth and of course, higher interest rates in the future could crimp that future growth, so they
tend to get hit harder on worries about higher interest rates.
But this, as I said, I think it feels like a different stage in the market as we head into this fourth quarter.
KOSIK: And as we get closer to the closing bell, I did see the Dow is off of its lows for the session. We will keep track of it for the rest of the
hour.
Clare Sebastian, thanks so much.
A major outage like this is a nightmare for Facebook. The 2010 movie, "The Social Network" dramatized Mark Zuckerberg's reaction to one of the
company's early outages.
(VIDEO CLIP OF "THE SOCIAL NETWORK" BEGINS)
JESSE EISENBERG AS MARK ZUCKERBERG: Okay, let me tell you the difference between Facebook and everybody else, we don't crash ever. If the servers
are down for even a day, our entire reputation is irreversibly destroyed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: It was a different kind of reputational hit from a whistleblower that helped send the company's shares down today. A former employee told
"60 Minutes" the company knows that if it stopped fueling hate violence and misinformation, it would make less money.
[15:05:03]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANCES HAUGEN, FACEBOOK WHISTLEBLOWER: Facebook has realized that if they changed the algorithm to be safer, people will spend less time on the site.
They'll click on less ads, they'll make less money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Facebook Vice President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg told CNN the idea an algorithm fix could rid the U.S. of its polarization was an easy
out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK CLEGG, VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL AFFAIRS, FACEBOOK: I think it would be too easy surely to suggest that with a tweak to an algorithm, somehow all
the disfiguring polarization in U.S. politics would suddenly evaporate. I think it absolves people have asking themselves the harder questions about
the historical, cultural, social, and economic reasons that have led to the politics that we have in the U.S. today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Oliver Darcy joins us live now. So, Oliver, what are you learning from the company about these accusations about what it is saying?
OLIVER DARCY, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: Yes, I think we heard Nick say right there that if Facebook tweaked the algorithm, that it would
simply solve societal issues regarding polarization, divisiveness, and misinformation regarding vaccines, I don't think anyone is actually saying
that. But what you're not hearing Nick say or Facebook say, really, is that they are responsible for contributing to a lot of these things, to
contributing to vaccine misinformation, to contributing towards divisiveness, the kind of divisiveness that we saw on January 6th lead to
violence on Capitol Hill.
And what this Facebook whistleblower is coming forward and saying is that they have made decisions to not tweak the algorithm in favor of profit. Her
point is that Facebook knows that anger is the issue or the emotion that keeps people on the platform, that keeps people clicking, engaging with its
product, and if it were to get rid of that, then you would have less screen time on the apps and therefore less money.
And so that is the issue really at the core is, how does Facebook get this balancing act correct? I think that's what we're going to hear on Capitol
Hill tomorrow during the Senate testimony.
Now Facebook is saying that, basically everything that whistleblower said on "60 Minutes" yesterday, and probably tomorrow is not correct. It's just
out of context and it is not accurate. A Facebook spokesperson said in a statement yesterday that: "Every day, our teams have to balance protecting
the ability of billions of people to express themselves openly with the need to keep our platform a safe and positive place."
The Facebook spokesperson went on to say that: "To suggest we encourage bad content and do nothing is just not true."
And again, so you're going to see this tug of war between how they really manage the algorithm on their site play out in the next coming days.
KOSIK: And so Capitol Hill obviously getting in the mix with this hearing coming up. Do you see anything really coming out of the meeting, though? I
mean, listen, Capitol Hill is famous for having hearings, and just sort of creating headlines, but what actionable things could come out?
DARCY: I think that's the million dollar question. Right? Will this actually change the way Facebook operates as a business? This certainly is
the worst PR crisis I think the platform has dealt with since the Cambridge Analytical scandal a few years ago, but you really haven't seen a Facebook,
at its core, really evaluate what it does to societies.
And I don't know if this is going to be the issue. I think it's soon too soon to tell. What you have seen as lawmakers get a lot more serious about
scrutinizing Facebook and social media at large. And you really seeing Republicans and Democrats come together on this issue.
So it is possible this will lead to change, but it's probably a step -- you know, one of the steps along the way. It's probably not the thing that
immediately leads to a lot of change, if that makes any sense.
KOSIK: It certainly makes sense. Oliver Darcy, thanks so much for all that great context.
DARCY: Thank you.
KOSIK: In a year that started full of promise for airlines, the airline industry is now facing a fresh year of losses. Its biggest leaders are in
Boston for an in-person meeting, you'll hear from the head of United and the International Air Transport Association, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:11:48]
KOSIK: Airlines say business this year has been even worse than expected. The International Air Transport Association now expects the industry will
lose $52 billion this year, and the pain is set to continue through 2022.
Richard looks back at a year that never was for the industry despite some recovery.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR (voice over): After a year that had brought aviation to its knees, 2021 offered the chance for it to get back
on its feet.
Hope arrived in the form of coronavirus vaccines, which thanks to the aviation industry, were transported all around the world. And as more
people got vaccinated, so more routes began to reopen.
SHAI WEISS, CEO, VIRGIN ATLANTIC: Given the fantastic rollout of the vaccine program, especially here in the U.K., but in the UAE, Israel, the
United States and hopefully in the European very soon, we have greater confidence.
QUEST (voice over): The E.U. set up a Digital Green Pass and travel corridors around the world began to spring up. Still, the recovery was
often unpredictable, with many countries still suffering badly.
And while domestic travel in lots of markets bounced back, when it came to long haul, international routes stayed shut.
WILLIE WALSH, DIRECTOR GENERAL, I.A.T.A: I think what you'll see is a few months difference between the recovery in the U.S. and a recovery when it
starts in Europe. But you know, getting international travel moving again is very important.
QUEST (voice over): The problem didn't end at the borders. Even when planes did get back in the air, some passengers were causing trouble. Flight
attendants had to deal with a surge in cases of unruly behavior. Mask mandates and other COVID rules were regular flashpoints, added to an
already stressful situation.
And amid all the uncertainty, airlines were being creative about bringing in money. They came up with new ways to change their business and make it
through uncertain times.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the pandemic hit, clearly the business model that we were operating was no longer valid.
QUEST (voice over): Whether it was turning passenger planes into cargo carriers, or even scenic flights to nowhere. The entire industry has
learned to adapt.
GUILLAUME FAURY, CEO, AIRBUS: But it's been a very difficult period of time and continue to be and it takes a lot of work, a lot of negotiation, a lot
of creativity as well.
QUEST (voice over): The opportunities will continue. Transatlantic travel is about to open up again. And the COP 26 Climate Summit will put fresh
focus on sustainable futures for all, including airlines.
As the industry looks forward. It's also had a chance to reflect on its past.
[15:15:00]
QUEST (voice over): Last month, when the world marked 20 years since the 9/11 attacks, a reminder of how resilient aviation has become.
Aviation has recovered from crises before, and aviation is ready to do so again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: Richard is that I.A.T.A's annual meeting. This year, it is happening in person in Boston. All this week on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, he is sitting
down with some of the world's biggest carriers and companies -- United, Lufthansa, Emirates, Delta, Airbus, KLM and IAG.
First, the man who represents the World Airlines himself, I.A.T.A Director General Willie Walsh says fully vaccinated passengers should be allowed to
travel internationally without restrictions.
He spoke with Richard just as the U.K. travel rules becomes simpler. The traffic lights system has been scrapped and fewer tests are now required.
Walsh wants governments to go further. He told Richard, the scale of the challenges has been unprecedented.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALSH: This is the deepest crisis we've ever gone through. You will have heard me say this before. Now, during the global financial crisis, revenues
in the industry fell by 16 and a half percent. So that was 2009 versus 2008.
2020 was 56 percent down on 2019. You know, we've never seen anything like this. So it was inevitable that airlines would go out of business. In fact,
the surprising thing for me is that more didn't go out of business. And I think that's a testament to the actions that management in various airlines
and staff took to survive. But also I think we do have to acknowledge that in some cases government support was provided.
QUEST: And not government support, which is being paid back, do you think it was done correctly, the government's point -- some case, some didn't
take any like your former, British Airways, just took loan guarantees. Others like Lufthansa got billions and the U.S. carriers got grants.
WALSH: Yes.
QUEST: How's that unleavened the playing field?
WALSH: I don't think so, because what you've got to do is look behind what was the front loaded government support. Behind the scenes, you know, there
was a lot of support for employee support schemes that kept people employed that otherwise would have lost their jobs, you know, where airlines would
have been forced to restructure even deeper, which then, of course, would have led to problems for the airlines trying to recover those important
employees and rebuild.
So yes, I think we've got to recognize that this is on a scale, unlike anything we've seen. Some governments were really quick to step in and say
we see airlines, they are strategic and we want to protect them.
QUEST: If you look at where we are now. What change -- what do you now need more than anything else? I mean, vaccine mandates in the U.S., arguably not
yet in Europe. Certain routes open. As we move into an endemic phase, what does the aviation industry want?
WALSH: We want recognition of the fact that people who are fully vaccinated shouldn't be restricted when they are traveling internationally. The risk
doesn't exist. So yes, we also need people to recognize that measures that were put in place, and I will accept may have been reasonable and
understandable at the beginning are no longer relevant today, and therefore they should be removed.
So you know, if you don't have to wear a mask when you're sitting in a car, why should you have to wear a mask sitting on an airplane? There comes a
point when you have to look at the data and say, it's no longer necessary to take this measure, and therefore, which should be removed. And that's
what we want. We want people to reassess the risk and when no longer relevant to remove the restrictions.
QUEST: Sustainability. Net zero by 2050, the Board of I.A.T.A is going to vote. You don't need to say this. I will say it. It is going to pass in
some shape or form, because you've got the numbers. Why does it matter? Individual airlines have to do it. Governments have to do it. Why does it
matter that I.A.T.A says 2050 net zero.
WALSH: Because we have to be in a position to represent the industry and to represent the industry, the industry has to have a credible position that
is aligned to the Paris Agreement, that is aligned to what people expect as a minimum that you will achieve net zero by 2050.
QUEST: People still believe this is the major polluter, the major problem, and you can faff around with SAFs and you can do this, that, and the other,
but you still find the same planes, and the same airports and the same procedures.
WALSH: What we have to do as airlines is we've got to demand better performance from others. We've got to demand that the fuel companies commit
to the developing sustainable aviation fuels. They have talked about it for years, we've not seen enough action.
We've got a demand that the manufacturers -- Boeing, Airbus, GE, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce -- we have to have accelerated technology, and we've
got to demand that air traffic control systems sort themselves out.
[15:20:19]
QUEST: You've demanded from the SAP, from the fuel; you've demanded from the OEMs. You've demanded from the governments. There's a lot of demands
here.
WALSH: Yes.
QUEST: What do the airlines have to do?
WALSH: But we're doing it and that's the issue. And these others, we call them partners in the industry, have stood back and said, you know, this
will be achieved by the airlines. It will only be achieved by the airlines if they are all performing at the highest possible level.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: The Chief Executive of United Airlines agrees with Willie Walsh and says that carriers need help in hitting their green targets. United has
made headlines recently for its vaccine mandate policy for staff, and Scott Kirby says the same principle applies when it comes to acting on the
environment. In his words, "It's the right thing to do."
With United shares up more than 40 percent over the past year, Kirby says, "Now is the time to invest." He told Richard, he is betting on a big
comeback for travel.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCOTT KIRBY, CEO, UNITED AIRLINES: After everything we've been through during the pandemic, we feel better about the future than I think we've
ever felt, and it is widespread across the company that we've done what we had to, to get through COVID. But importantly, we've set ourselves up to be
a customer-centric, growing airline.
And we've been different. We're the only big airline network carrier across the Atlantic that didn't retire a bunch of wide bodies. We ordered another
-- we got another 500 airplanes coming in the next five years.
So we're in this unique position where everyone else left us an opening on the playing field, I think, to run through and be the biggest investor
airline in the world.
QUEST: What is that opening? Because if --
KIRBY: That --
QUEST: No, but hang on, if they got rid of old planes and they didn't expand, what do they know that you're going to discover?
KIRBY: Well, they're worried that business travel and international travel are never coming back. We have believed from the beginning that business
demand and international are going to come back.
So I think we've made the right bet. But also because we're the only one that made that bet, it amplifies the stakes of the bet even higher.
QUEST: So you admit -- I'm not using the phrase, you've bet the house, but you've bet a large part of the house on this strategy. If you're wrong,
Scott --
KIRBY: Well, you've got to make a bet. You know, there's no -- there is no avoiding making a bet. We're at the table. We're either betting on business
travel is not going to come back or it is coming back. And I think the much better bet is that business demand is going to come back.
That's not the only bet we've made. The other big bet we've made is that customers care about the quality of the product and customer service. For
far too long, people have tried to -- airlines have commoditized the travel experience. Our bet is customers care about quality.
QUEST: Okay, I'll declare a conflict of interest. I am a United flightee, so I'll declare that conflict. But I'll also declare that you had you had
had a lot of work to do.
KIRBY: Yes.
QUEST: Why should I believe that you're going to do it?
KIRBY: Well, we'll prove it to you. You can see it in the data. Hopefully you see it when you're flying today. We can see it in the data from our
customers. Our NPS scores are up, you know, 30 plus points. They continue to get better even now as we're back to ramping up full service.
I also know all the investments that we're making in the product. I can feel and hear the frontline. The most important and hardest thing to do is
the customer service culture. And our frontline employees feel proud of where the airline is. They are excited about the future. And when they feel
like that, they want to take care of you.
When something goes wrong, they want to fix it because they want you to love the airline like they do.
QUEST: Finally, I want to talk about sustainability because I've heard Willie Walsh here, who basically says the OEMs, the fuel manufacturers, all
the various partners you've got have got to step up to the plate. That it's a technology. And I think you'd probably agree, it's a technology driven
issue.
However, do you think the traveling public really understands the difficulty of going net neutral by 2050?
KIRBY: What I would say is, I personally and therefore United Airlines are probably the most aggressive of any airline in the world of wanting --
believing we have to take personal accountability for it.
I agree with Willie, we need help, we need support, but I am a little further on the edge of we have got to draw -- that's why we've been
investing in sustainable aviation fuels. United Airlines, our commitment to sustainable aviation fuel is more than double all the rest of the world's
airlines combined.
We are going to have to do work to help create this industry. We can't just sit back and wait for others to do it for us. I wish we could, but we
can't. We're going to do it United.
QUEST: Where's the pressure coming from? Is it coming from passengers? Is it coming from corporations that say we won't fly you unless? Where is the
--
KIRBY: You know, to me, this is a lot like vaccine requirements. There's -- I don't feel any pressure at all to do what we're doing about
sustainability. It's the right thing to do. We're doing it because it's the right thing to do.
It is as simple as that.
[15:25:11]
QUEST: And to the viewer who says, well, he would say that, everybody is saying that at the moment.
KIRBY: We're one of the few that are actually doing it. You know, we're putting our money where our mouth is, whether you look at sustainable
aviation fuel. The only airline that I know of in the world that's invested in carbon sequestration.
By the way, we're never going to get there with offsets, that's why we've done it. Like I understand what we have to do -- I understand the math. And
the math for solving this problem doesn't work unless we start doing real solutions and carbon sequestration is a big part of it. In aviation,
sustainable aviation fuel. But we're doing real things that no one else is doing.
QUEST: Have you relaxed yet? Last time we spoke, have you taken time?
KIRBY: Yes, you know, it would surprise most people. I sleep eight and a half hours a night. I'm the most -- I'm one of the most relaxed people you
know. I am never stressed. I'm pretty, pretty relaxed all the time.
QUEST: I don't know what to say after that. Thank you.
KIRBY: Thank you, Richard.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: Blue Apron has been struggling the past few years, but lately, things have started to look up for the meal kit company. How is Blue Apron
turning things around in such a competitive market?
I'll talk to the CEO in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: President Joe Biden is telling Republicans to get out of the way as he blames the party for blocking efforts to raise the U.S. borrowing limit.
Lawmakers on both sides are seeing who blinks first over the nation's debt ceiling.
It must be raised or suspended within the next couple of weeks or the Treasury Secretary says the government will run out of cash to pay the
government's bills. A U.S. default could trigger a financial catastrophe, but as we've seen so often, there is no bipartisan consensus on how to
address the problem.
President Joe Biden is placing the blame squarely on Republicans.
[15:30:09]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let's be clear. Not only are Republicans refusing to do their job. They're threatening to use the power,
their power to prevent us from doing our job, saving the economy from a catastrophic event. I think quite frankly, hypocritical, dangerous and
disgraceful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Concerns about the debt ceiling are adding to a list of worries for Wall Street. The Dow is off some one percent on fears that rising oil
prices could push U.S. inflation even higher. The losses are even worse for the tech heavy NASDAQ. Friday's jobs report could be strong enough to allow
the Fed to begin pulling back on some pandemic era stimulus. That's weighing some stocks -- on stocks as some investors see as overvalued.
It's sending those stocks lower. Blue Apron seem to have the perfect pandemic business model. Meal kits delivered to your home at a time when
dining out just wasn't an option. But it's been a tough few years for the company. Its shares have fallen 94 percent since it went public four years
ago. In 2019. Blue Apron brought in a new CEO to turn things around and launched new products to bring in more customers.
Recently, it branched out into the frozen microwave -- microwavable food space for the first time. And there are signs the company is bouncing back.
Shares have almost doubled over the past month. But the challenges remain with more competition and more people now going out to eat. Joining me now
is Blue Apron's President and CEO Linda Kozlowski. So grateful for your time today.
LINDA KOZLOWSKI, PRESIDENT AND CEO, BLUE APRON: Thanks so much for letting me be here.
KOSIK: So let's talk about first a Blue Apron's capital raise of $78 million of equity. What will the proceeds be used for?
KOZLOWSKI: So the proceeds are -- the deal is still in process. But the proceeds are really going to be divided amongst three main initiatives. One
is to accelerate the growth strategy to drive new customers and associated revenue. The second is really to put new implementation around ESG
initiatives that we're working on, including carbon neutrality by the end of the first quarter of 2022.
And then third is really focusing on labor and an increasing our wages per hour to $18.00 per hour starting for our employees and our fulfillment
centers. Along with all of that we also collapse to the AB stock structure of the company, in order to -- in order to improve governance across our
board.
KOSIK: OK. I want to take everybody back to the situation that Blue Apron was in. Back, let's say in April 2019, when you took on the task of turning
the company around, Forbes called it a sinking ship, and Forbes said that you were doomed to fail. First of all, why did you take on that challenge?
And secondly, do you think Blue Apron can survive?
KOZLOWSKI: I've taken on a lot of challenges in my life. And I think this is one of the more interesting ones because this is an incredible product
with actually a very, very rich market ahead. When you think about the competition in the space, the reason there's competition in the meal kit
space is because this is such a huge market. When you look at the food opportunity across grocery and across meal kits and across eating out and
delivery, there's a lot of opportunity as people continue to evolve and adapt to the way that they eat.
But the thing that we see very clearly is people are continuing to put more and more emphasis on what they put into their body, the quality of what
they put into their body. And the combination of the brand and the legacy here that's really, really strong when it comes to quality of product with
the opportunity to improve execution is just exactly in line with a great recipe for something that that can grow and can thrive.
KOSIK: But the competition is fierce. And then you've got on top of that higher food and shipping costs. I'm curious how those are impacting your
gross margins.
KOZLOWSKI: Yes. So the competition is fierce because it's an interesting space. And what we're seeing is through the pandemic, people started to see
a lot more about the value of meal kits, beyond just the convenience factor. And really think about adding variety, adding sustainability
through reduced food waste, and really adding a lot more discovery when it comes to Blue Apron because of the fact that we do bring new ingredients
and techniques into the box.
There are of course pressures, as we've seen on logistics and on food costs. But this is one of the areas where the benefit of being able to
reduce food waste go direct to the consumer, cut out a lot of the middleman and the process really starts to help drive value for the customer in the
box. You know, we're at the point where we've been able to continue to provide high-quality ingredients to our customer at prices lower than they
be able to buy those same ingredients in the store. And that's something we're very proud of.
KOSIK: Is it also key to be unique because it's so competitive to stand out? And what are you doing in that -- in that area?
[15:35:02]
KOZLOWSKI: I actually think this is going to be an interesting phase that you see going forward is continued differentiation. Some people are going a
lot more mainstream. We've always focused on quality of ingredients, direct sourcing, high animal welfare standards, and really great recipes that sort
of surprise people and teach them new skills. So, I do think you're going to see more differentiation going forward just because again, it's such a
large space when you think about the entire food space.
You're always going to see multiple players that really play to different audiences. And that's where I think you'll see the meal kit industry going
as we start to say, OK, here is our best audience which, you know, we know really well and we continue to grow. And other kits might have a different
type of audience that they might be going after to try to continue to grow the market.
KOSIK: Revenue has taken a hit though and analysts are saying that consolidation is really needed to keep meal kit companies alive. What do
you say to that?
KOZLOWSKI: I think revenue is really interesting when you look at the seasonality of revenue across the different parts of the year in different
phases of people's lives. And so one of the things that we're always thinking about is how can we innovate on products that meet customers'
needs during multiple times of the year? So I think long term, there's going to be a lot of differentiation. And you may see some consolidation in
the future depending on synergies between companies.
KOSIK: OK. Linda Kozlowski, CEO and President of Blue Apron. Thanks so much for your time today.
KOZLOWSKI: Thank you.
KOSIK: The World Fair is opening in the Arab world for the first time in its 170-year history. It's the final chapter in Dubai's eight-year
preparations after winning the Dubai to host. All this week, we'll be looking at the years of planning that have gone into delivering Expo 2020.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hereby declare Dubai as winner with the right to host Expo 2020.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When it was announced, the feeling of pride is -- was undescribable.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I could see the city, the entire city felt different. People were smiling, were happy, and it's really, really a celebration, it
was so many mixed emotions.
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As celebrations continued across Dubai, attention quickly turned to finding a location to host a massive global
event.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A few years ago, this site sunk, with a single candle farm on it.
GIOKOS: From a desert oasis to building a vast new city. Ahmed Al Khatib set about overseeing every aspect of its construction.
AHMED AL KHATIB, CHIEF DEVELOPMENT AND DELIVERY OFFICER, EXPO 2020 DUBAI: This is the biggest I will be doing in my life. We have 23,000 workers
working on site. We have about 45 tower cranes. Also we have moved around five million cubic meters of sand.
GIOKOS: Making it a success would be an enormous task, hundreds of buildings needed to be constructed, posing numerous engineering and
architectural challenges.
AL KHATIB: In less than five years, we just like transform to a city that has everything that anybody in the world wishes for. It's a city that is
worth twice the size of Monaco as just the scale of it.
GIOKOS: With key messages and clear aims Dubai is set about bringing the world together by hosting 192 countries.
MARJAN FARAIDOONI, CHIEF EXPERIENCE OFFICER, EXPO2020 DUBAI: The overall theme of the Expo is connecting minds creating the future with the focus on
the themes of mobility, opportunity and sustainability.
GIOKOS: Expo 2020 is aiming to focus on sustainability more than any other World Fair in history. And over the next six months the latest innovations
around this theme will be showcased to the events millions of visitors. Eleni Giokos, CNN Expo 2020 Dubai.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. I'll be back at the top of the hour as we make a dash for the closing bell. Up next, Connecting Africa.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:58:11]
KOSIK: Hello. I'm Alison Kosik. It's the dash to the closing bell and we're just two minutes away. Shares of Facebook are headed for their worst day in
almost a year. Facebook and its platforms Instagram and WhatsApp all suffering outages one day after a whistleblowers damning criticism aired on
T.V. The Dow has given up most of its gains from Friday. It's down 315 points and 800 points in the last five days.
The NASDAQ is down even sharper on the day. Tech stocks that are sensitive to rate hikes are getting hit by inflation fears. The chief executive of
United Airlines says he's making a big bet that demand for international travel will come back. That's despite warnings of big losses for the sector
as a whole. The International Air Transport Association now expects the industry will lose $52 billion this year, and the pain is set to continue
through 2022.
That's not the turning United's chief executive at the IATA annual meeting in Boston, he told Richard Quest he was optimistic about the future and
would put his money where his mouth is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT KIRBY, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, UNITED AIRLINES: We have believed from the beginning that business demand and international are going to come
back. So I think we've made the right bet but also because we're the only one that made that bet. It amplifies the stakes of the bet even higher.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: OK. Let's take a look at the Dow 30 components, a sliver of green on a wall of red. Merck posting solid gains after its announcement Friday
about a new pill to treat COVID. Apple and Microsoft are at the bottom as tech continues to drag on the broader markets. And that's your dash to the
bell. I'm Alison Kosik. The closing bell is ringing on Wall Street. "THE LEAD" with Pamela Brown starts now.
END
