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Quest Means Business

Egypt Asks its Airlines to Avoid Iranian Airspace Overnight; US Markets Drop as Middle East Tensions Simmer; Russia: 31 People Injured in Ukrainian Shelling in Kursk; New Democratic Running Mates Campaign in Full Swing; The Dilemma of the Ticket Resale Industry. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired August 07, 2024 - 16:00:00   ET

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

[16:00:11]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": Well, things when wrong, pretty badly well towards the close of the trading session.

Closing bell ringing on Wall Street, but as you can see, the market went sharply lower, a 700-point range, roughly and Madam, one, two -- ready, oh,

we've only got two there today. But it says any a two for a day.

The market is off sharply. The selling happened in the afternoon and the markets and the reasons are one and the same. Egypt is instructing its

airline carriers to avoid Iranian air space due to military exercises, and that's the reason the market has fallen, or one of them.

Two NASA astronauts might be stranded in space until next year. Don't worry, they are on the space station. It's the problem with the Boeing

Starliner.

And Europe's largest hotel company on accommodating thousands of athletes. The chief executive of that Accor, Sebastien Bazin will be with me in this

hour.

Live from New York, midweek, Wednesday, August 7th. I am Richard Quest, I mean business.

Good evening.

I started by telling you the market fell and it fell in the afternoon and one the reasons was this, Egypt has instructed all of its airlines to avoid

flying over Iranian airspace on Thursday morning. Between tensions in Israel and Iran, this has certainly raised the stakes.

Now bearing in mind that the talks have started in Jeddah over concerns that those tensions could escalate into a full-scale regional war, dozens

of foreign ministers from the Muslim world have gathered at the request of Iran and Pakistan. Iran has threatened retaliation against Israel after the

assassination of a Hamas leader on its soil.

Now, look at the market, the Dow being seriously higher all the way up and then it starts giving out its gains, were giving back its gains around

midday just slightly earlier. And it is largely because of these warnings, no terms that were given to Egyptian airlines to avoid Iranian airspace.

Clarissa Ward is in Tel Aviv. This is even more interesting because by and large, Egyptian airliners, avoid Iranian air space anyway on most cases.

So the fact that they were told specifically to avoid is -- I mean, this is sort of don't go there. Something is going to happen, but we don't know

what we don't know when.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Reason Richard that is being given are these military exercises and I should

actually add that it has been a couple of nights now that we have seen notifications for various airliners to avoid going through Iranian air

space during those hours of the night. It seems that this may be just a case that Reuters got wind of it through Egypt Air and put it out and then

everybody got spooked because they were thinking that possibly this pertained to direct knowledge of an imminent attack or retaliation.

And needless to say, Richard, the entire region has been on a knife-edge just waiting to see when that retaliation might take place. It is

interesting that nothing has happened eight days after the assassinations of both Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and also Fouad Shukur of Hezbollah, but

keep in mind, the last time Iran had telegraphed it was going to launch a major attack in mid-April, it was also almost two weeks after the attack on

Revolutionary Guard Corps men at the Iranian consulate in Damascus.

So, it is possible that we are in for a longer wait. It is also possible that the diplomats are making some progress, that there is some headway and

that potentially if all parties could come together and agree on some kind of a ceasefire resolution, that may be this retaliation could be averted,

but that is a lot of maybes -- Richard.

QUEST: So, what about the notion -- I mean, you've got the meeting taking place in Jeddah at the request of Iran and Pakistan. Is it likely possible

-- I mean, that would Iran take any such measures whilst that meeting is taking place simply on the grounds that it could well embarrass the other

participants if they did.

[16:05:10]

WARD: It would be pretty extraordinary, I would say for them to act while that meeting is ongoing, might be less extraordinary though, for Hezbollah,

which is a proxy of Iran, but which has also indicated through Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader speeches would be willing to act alone as well.

One really telling thing that I found interesting, Richard, was a readout of a phone call between France's President Emmanuel Macron and Iran's new

president, Masoud Pezeshkian, according to the readout of this call, Pezeshkian basically said, listen if you want to restore stability to the

region, the number one thing you need to do is put pressure on Israel to accept a ceasefire.

That is a slightly different tone or rhetoric than we have seen before, calls for an imminent and harsh punishment and maybe it is opening the door

that if someone or some actors possibly and most probably the United States and others could push Israel to agree to some kind of ceasefire that again,

as I said before, maybe could persuade Iran not to go ahead with this retaliation -- Richard.

QUEST: Clarissa, thank you. Clarissa Ward who is in Tel Aviv.

The other escalating conflict that we are watching very closely, Russia's Health Ministry says 31 people were hurt when a Ukrainian shelling took

place, apparently during an incursion into Russia's Kursk region.

Now, the region's acting governor has declared a state of emergency. The Russian National Guard has beefed up its security to a nuclear plant

roughly 50 kilometers from this shelling.

A mayor of one of the towns just inside the border described the situation there as very tense. The town is home to a key natural gas transit there.

Nick Paton Walsh is with me.

Nick, when the Russians described this as gross provocation, major provocation, are they using a term of art that they are trying to signal

somebody has crossed the line here, and therefore, we will do something that we weren't going to do before?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: There is not a huge amount left in their toolkit, frankly, outside of nuclear

weapons, which they appear to have only referred to in bluster in the past. So, no, Russia is deeply struggling inside Ukraine on multiple fronts to

make the head way that it wants, so it is moving slowly forwards.

The major and provocation line I think is a reflection of the Kremlin being caught off guard. A bid by Moscow, Vladimir Putin to sound like they are

the ascendant power here, although quite clearly Ukrainian forces, although they have not confirmed this on the record themselves, moved in yesterday,

and I've seen significant headlight towards a town called Sudzha.

Now, we don't know the entire significance of this onslaught. It is going in multiple different directions. Video show clashes inside that city. You

said the mayor there calling it very tense side. Evacuations possibly of thousands of people from the area around.

This is probably the most trenchant move we have seen by Ukraine into Russia since the war began. There have been Russian citizens forming

groups, doing various militant operations in border areas in the past, but if we believe what the Russians are saying, this seems to be Ukrainian

regular troops, despite silence, complete silence from Kyiv before.

Why here? Well, certainly it is a rare occasion of us talking about good headlines for Ukraine in this war. Certainly, it embarrasses the kremlin

and there's also the possibility that a gas terminal on the border area there that gets gas from Russia to Ukraine, to Europe maybe now in

Ukrainian hands, unclear, but many asking what the real goal here has been -- Richard.

QUEST: When do we expect -- on a sort of separate subject, but related -- when do we expect to see evidence one way or other of any effect that the

F-16s are having?

WALSH: Yes, I mean, look, we heard at the weekend that they're now in Ukraine and it may be that they have already been in the airspace and

simply not announced it. Maybe they will start seeing their role on the frontline, expediting the ability of Ukrainian troops to move forwards or

slow down Russian advances.

But it is key because it is very much being heralded by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a turning point in the war, a new chapter, Ukraine finally,

having really, the volume of air defense to hold back Russian air superiority. That's been so key to Russia being able to grind Ukrainian

positions down.

Now, we are talking about this extraordinary Ukrainian move into Russia. The strategic impact of which we are going to see in the days ahead. Is it

just a flash irritant for the Kremlin or something more significant? But it comes after weeks of bad news for the Ukrainians in Donbas, Russia moving

forward very incrementally, but very deliberately and slowly towards key Ukrainian military hubs, and that has been the story of the past month or

so, lacking Ukrainian manpower, questions inside Ukraine about direction of the war, the command strategy.

There were more questions about this incursion into Russia. Is that the best use of resources? Many are asking today. And so, I think the next 48

hours will let us find out if this move into Russia had a wider point or is just about us being able to talk potentially about Ukraine's military

maneuvers, as though they are an active positive development.

[16:10:22]

QUEST: Nic, I am grateful to you, sir. Thank you.

Nick Paton Walsh in London.

Two astronauts aboard the International Space Station may well be stranded there until next year. They are Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. They were

the first astronauts to fly and arrive at the space station aboard Boeing's Starliner.

Now unfortunately, the return has already been delayed by seven weeks because of mechanical issues with Starliner.

As a result, NASA now says it may have to rely on Elon Musk's SpaceX to bring the two back.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

STEVE STICH, PROGRAM MANAGER, NASA COMMERCIAL CREW PROGRAM: We have been working with SpaceX to ensure that they are ready to respond on Crew-9 for

a contingency of returning Butch and Suni on Crew-9 if we need that.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

QUEST: Right. Kristin Fisher is with me.

There is much to unpack here. First of all, there seems to be no problem with the two of them staying up there. It is not like they are going to run

out of underwear, food, or air, is it? I mean, they can stay up there until the next year?

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: That is right.

Supplies are not an issue. In fact, Richard, a different spacecraft just brought a new resupply mission to the International Space Station just

within the last 24 hours. So they have the supplies that they need.

But Richard, let me tell you, Butch and Suni were not mentally prepared for what was supposed to be an eight-day mission extending to what could be

now, potentially an eight-month mission, though, you know, NASA astronauts do prepare for these types of contingencies in worst-case scenarios --

Richard.

QUEST: All right, so now let us focus on the next bit, the Starliner. Now, Boeing says it has assured NASA, it is safe. They can fly it back. I mean,

there are problems with the helium and with the thrusters. NASA seems to be saying, we don't trust you or we are not taking the risk.

FISHER: Well, they are saying they just don't know yet, Richard and you know, it is not up to Boeing to get to decide whether or not their

spacecraft is safe to return NASA astronauts. These are NASA astronauts flying on board Boeing's spacecraft.

And so what is happening now is some heated internal debate within NASA, which top NASA leadership confirmed at this press conference just hours ago

and what they said is, look, we are having big differences right now in terms of whether or not this spacecraft is safe, and Richard, one of the

things they are really zeroing in on, you mentioned those thrusters, you mentioned the helium leaks.

There is always risk in spaceflight, but right now, they are trying to determine what is an acceptable risk, especially when you have another

spacecraft that is very capable, like SpaceX's Crew Dragon.

QUEST: Okay, so they are going now basically reach -- as I understand it, and please feel free to correct me, they are going to reschedule all the

future flights for the next few months or whatever, they are going to send two up and then they will bring the other two down.

If they have to, they are going to fly them back on one of the dragons on one of the -- and make them part of the crew, et cetera.

But what do they do with the Starliner? Until -- I mean, if you've got to repair it, I was just having to think about it as was having a cup of tea.

I mean, what do you do? Just cut it off and send it off into space? Can they bring it back down to Earth unmanned and uncrewed? Is it space junk?

FISHER: So there were two uncrewed test missions prior to this crewed mission of Starliner. So, this spacecraft is capable of flying without a

crew onboard, totally autonomous.

I think the bigger question here though is what happens to Boeing's Starliner -- the whole program, right? I mean, this thing was already

billions over budget, behind schedule. If it can't bring Butch and Suni home on this spacecraft, what then happens to Boeing's Starliner program?

It is already a big black mark on the company, but what happens next? That is the big question.

And just one more thing, Richard, just to be very clear here. NASA has not decided yet whether or not they are going to send these astronauts back on

Starliner or on that contingency plan, the SpaceX Crew Dragon.

But NASA official said today that they need to make a decision by mid- August, that is just next week or the week after, so they really are starting to close in on that deadline.

QUEST: Why? Why? Sorry, Kristin, why is -- what is this date of mid-August? Is this sort of logistics and scheduling?

FISHER: Logistics, scheduling -- they need to free up some of these docking ports at the International National Space Station to make room for resupply

missions.

[16:15:06]

Other crews coming up there, but there is also a battery pack issue. Starliner's batteries, Richard have only been recertified for about 90

days. Mid-August is around the time that that certification runs out. So they want to undock Starliner from the space station before they send that

SpaceX Crew 9 up to dock at that port.

QUEST: This is fascinating. I am very grateful for you, Kristin. Keep a watch on it. We will talk to you anytime you like about this one. Thank

you.

FISHER: Thanks, Richard.

QUEST: Now, it is like running 150 hotels all at once and they all had to be opened at the same time. That's how Accor described the Herculean task

of managing the Olympic Villages for both athletes and the media.

The chief executive -- there he is in Paris. He has got a room or two for you. He has got more athletes than he knows what to do with, staying on

these cardboard beds, after the break, Sebastien is with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Airbnb and Disney both say they expect demand to slow in the coming months, a sign that the post-pandemic spending boom, the bucket list spend

if you will, the savings that we all put away it could be coming to an end.

Shares in both companies fell after their latest earnings, quite sharply in the case of Airbnb, which also reported lower second quarter. Disney said

its theme park business was running into difficulty.

Now, the Paris Olympics made an appearance in both reports. Airbnb says it is a strong point for them, obviously, people not wanting to -- they wanted

to save a bit of money. On the other hand, Disney says The Games is hurting attendance at Disneyland Paris because of course, there the people are --

they aren't going or they are going to the Games.

At The Games themselves, the quarter finals for the women's basketball is underway. Nigeria is playing the US. The US is up by 19 points at halftime.

The closing ceremony is only a few days away and so far, one of the biggest stars is the 22-year-old swimmer, Leon Marchand from the host nation,

France.

He told Coy Wire about his experiences at The Games.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEON MARCHAND, TEAM FRANCE SWIMMING: This week has been Christmas for me, you know, just opening my gifts every day, I trained a lot for that, so it

is really rare and really special and really unique.

I really focus on my energy when I am in the call room before the race and the French public has been amazing to me, so I am always using that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[16:20:05]

QUEST: Now, the hotel group, Accor is managing the Olympic Village for both athletes and the media. It is basically responsible for 80 buildings

hosting more than 14,000 athletes and more than a thousand journalists, and it includes everything from making sure towels, beds, and sheets, that

everything is properly prepared, including the famous cardboard bed frame.

Basically, it is like winning dozens of hotels all at once, which all have to be opened at the same time. Laundry, cleaning.

Sebastien Bazin is the CEO of Accor, Europe's largest hotel company joins me from Paris.

Before we get to anything, have you actually slept on one of those cardboard beds?

SEBASTIEN BAZIN, CEO, ACCOR: No, I did not even try it myself, but you know what, Richard, you're missing the unmissable. What the hell are you still

doing in New York? You still can get an 8:00 PM flight, come to Paris, come my way, and try it with me. We miss you.

QUEST: You're just a tease. I was warned about people like you.

All right, now, listen --

BAZIN: No way. No way.

QUEST: How good is it? I mean, how difficult has it been? This is an amazingly complex, even -- even for Accor, which has thousands of rooms,

tens of thousands of rooms, this has still been challenging. What has been the biggest challenge?

BAZIN: The biggest challenge is not to miss. We had a lot of weight on our shoulders. We had to welcome them the world. We had have to welcome 20,000

athletes. We had to make sure everything was ready on time. We had to make sure they can actually get the check-in, the check-out being the curator,

being the guide and you just cannot fail.

And we trained 40,000 people and it is being quite fun and it is being formidable. It has been exceptional and a lot of people who actually miss

the Olympics is going to regret it for the next 20 years.

Although Parisians have left and many of them wants to go back, but it is a bit too late.

Now, it is being a splendid success for Accor for sure, but for all the sponsors, it is being extraordinary, probably beyond anybody's expectations

and people are just having fun in Paris.

QUEST: Just, lets listen to some of the athletes, Sebastien, who have been speaking about that energy, that enthusiasm. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATIE LEDECKY, TEAM USA SWIMMING: The energy here in Paris has been incredible. So, I think they had just joined in on the cheering that all

the Parisians have been giving to all the athletes here. It has just been a great environment, great atmosphere.

RYAN CROUSER, TEAM USA TRACK AND FIELD: Here in the Paris Olympics, if anybody see the gold medal, it is like, the crowd comes up to you faster

than you can take photos.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: I mean, that sort of sums it up, doesn't it? It has been -- despite the rain and the water in The Seine and the atmosphere has been phenomenal.

BAZIN: Richard, we been through the rain, opening ceremony. We had to serve, we have our own caterer called Potel & Chabot. We served 5,000 meals

under pouring rain and we happen to actually get all through it.

We missed a lot of actually, VIPs actually went home to back to the hotel. But you know what the gentleman just said on TV, I've been to many events.

The noise of the crowd, people applauding, clapping, happy, friendship, generosity, it is just -- you feel something in each of the stadium and a

bit, despite who is winning, so it is something which we -- probably France has been awaiting for since 1998 for the World Cup, so it has been 20 years

we missed it.

QUEST: On the question of the business and let's not get ourselves too tied up about whether Paris has done full or not, or whether other people have

stayed away, are you more generally across Europe, across this business, in this summer are you seeing the weakness that Airbnb and Disney are speaking

of or are you seeing just a repricing or reducing of different types of accommodations?

BAZIN: Well, it depends what your question is. If your question is on Europe, yes. It has been a bit of a slower growth in Europe, but we are

still growing at two to three percent with a growth of 45 percent last year, but we are still having a better pricing that we had last year, which

was a splendid year.

If you look outside of Europe, you go to Southeast Asia, you go to the Middle East, you go to Australia and you go to South America, the growth

has never been that strong.

And at Accor, we've been having great H1 result and we've been uplifting the guidance, contrary to many of my peers, so we are doing fine because of

being so diversified in so many geographies.

So I am certainly bullish when it comes to hospitality and it is going to be better and better in the next six months for sure, but in the next two

or three years.

So we just have probably to be cautious on the US economy, but in terms of demand of travelers, demand of people actually wanting to discover the

world, it has never been so strong today than for the last 20 years.

QUEST: So, in this environment what is the key trend? I know that is how long is a piece of string. I realize there are different trends at the

bottom and different trends at the top. But what do would you say is the commonality that somebody like yourself in your business can draw out?

[16:25:10]

BAZIN: I can tell you two things. Number one, people probably will travel less in terms of frequency, but it is going to stay longer when they

travel, an extra couple of days when everybody travels.

Second thing people go to remote places, kind of actually moving away from capital city and mass tourism. So remote location, basically traveling less

but staying longer. And for Accor, it is just wonderful because we happen to have so many hotels in so many remote places and Paris will always be

Paris.

And you have a younger generation that is going to be looking for a lot of planet-friendly, water consumption to be preserved. Anything which he CSR

inclusiveness, so the value of a company probably have to stand out very firmly now.

QUEST: I've just worked out, Sebastien. Thank you by the way. I just worked out, I cannot make that eight o'clock flight. I am on air for at least

another half hour, then I've got a bit more work. I am sorry.

I'd love to have joined you, but I can't make the eight o'clock. Sorry, mate.

BAZIN: It is not too late. It is the first time you're missing something. Gosh. You have another three days to go. I'll host you.

QUEST: Good to see, sir.

BAZIN: Good to see you, Richard.

QUEST: I am grateful.

BAZIN: Bye-bye.

QUEST: Thank you very much.

Breaking news now: Three -- three Taylor Swift concert in Austria have been canceled because of security concerns. Two suspects have been arrested in

connection with plans for an attack. The authorities say one of them had sympathies with the Islamic state and both have become radicalized.

Interesting.

When we come back in just a moment, we will be talking to the chief executive of the online ticket seller, Viagogo about this story and about

calls to cap ticket resale prices, in just a moment. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:30:28]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Ninety and counting, 90 days. That's how long the brand new Democratic ticket has to win over American

voters. Vice President Harris and her running mate, Governor Tim Walz, kicked off their campaign in Pennsylvania yesterday, and Wisconsin today,

and then Michigan. Meanwhile, Donald Trump's running mate J.D. Vance has also been on the campaign trail.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The path to the White House runs right through this state. And with your help, we will win in

November. We are going to win.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The new Democratic ticket on the road tonight as Vice President Kamala Harris and

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz barnstorm battleground states 90 days before the November election.

GOV. TIM WALZ (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I couldn't be prouder to be on this ticket to help make Kamala Harris the next president of the United

States.

ZELENY: One day after making a Philadelphia debut, Harris and Walz visiting Wisconsin and heading to Michigan as a bitter battle with the Republican

rivals take shape.

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: What Kamala Harris is telling all of us by selecting Tim Walz is that she bends the knee to the

far left of the Democrat Party.

ZELENY: Senator J.D. Vance, taking the lead in the furious scramble to define Walz, attacking his record as governor and his service in the Army

National Guard.

VANCE: He has not spent a day in a combat zone. What bothers me about Tim Walz is the stolen valor garbage do not pretend to be something that you're

not.

ZELENY: Vance accused his rival of ducking his service to Iraq when Walz left the National Guard and ran for Congress in 2005. But Walz actually

retired two months before his unit received alert orders for deployment.

WALZ: For 24 years, I proudly wear the uniform of this nation.

ZELENY: The 2024 race is now fully joined with Harris and Walz crisscrossing the country together this week, an itinerary Vance is closely

shadowing. Tropical Storm Debby interrupting plans for the candidates to visit North Carolina and Georgia. Their paths or planes at least crossed

today on the tarmac in Wisconsin.

VANCE: I just wanted to check out my future plane, but I also wanted to go say hello to the vice president.

ZELENY: Former president Donald Trump spent the day away from the campaign trail, calling into a FOX News program to try and diminish Harris and Walz.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Nobody knew how radical left she was, but he's a smarter version of her.

ZELENY: A full look at the Minnesota governor complicates the liberal brush Trump and Vance are seeking to paint him with. A social studies teacher and

football coach, elected to a Republican-leaning congressional district, and now in a second term as governor, where he's defending his progressive

agenda.

WALZ: There's a golden rule. Mind your own damn business.

ZELENY: The spotlight on vice presidential hopefuls will soon give way to the top of the ticket and back to a debate over debates. Trump signaled a

new willingness to meet Harris on a network other than FOX.

TRUMP: I don't know how she debates. I heard she's sort of a nasty person but not a good debater. But we'll see because we'll be debating her I guess

in the pretty near future.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Tim Walz is amongst the U.S. politicians pushing for tighter regulation of ticket resellers. The Minnesota governor signed a bill

earlier this year to protect concertgoers against junk fees. And in Britain, the Labour government is also considering new restrictions on

ticket resales. Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to cap prices and regulate platforms.

This is Cris Miller. He is the global managing director of Viagogo and says that would be a big mistake. It says it'll leave fans disappointed,

encourage illegal activity.

Before we get to you, sir, to talk about ticket, this business of Taylor Swift, interesting to promote and we think it's the promoters that have

canceled it because they said they can't guarantee the safety. Now we understand that everybody is going to get their money back in short order

but it does prove it depends where you buy your ticket from how you get your money back.

If I bought it from a scalper outside the front door or on a credit card that somebody else had bought it from, I could be in trouble here, couldn't

I?

CRIS MILLER, GLOBAL MANAGING DIRECTOR, VIAGOGO: Yes. That's right, Richard. First of all, thanks for having me and obviously it's -- I just heard the

story myself. It's devastating. We, you know, we participated in that market and there were thousands and thousands of people that use Viagogo

and StubHub here in the United States to, you know, gain access to that event. And that's exactly the reason why we exist. We exist to protect fans

that want to get into these events.

[16:35:01]

And when we are a regulated marketplace, we do, you know, have all the safety measures in place and that's exactly right. If someone who is

desperate to go to this event wanted to, you know, use somebody on the street or social media, you're out of luck. And so obviously every single

customer that bought a ticket on our Web site is going to get their money back in full.

QUEST: Right. So, but you are a third party in a sense to the transaction.

MILLER: We're just simply the marketplace. So just think of us as just there to make sure that everything is safe and secure. So when we started

StubHub in the --

QUEST: Right.

MILLER: Go ahead, yes.

QUEST: But when -- I remember, you know, the Taylor Swift concerts in Australia, the Taylor Swift concerts in the U.K., when you start seeing

prices becoming obscene multiples of the face of the ticket face, don't get me wrong. Capitalist, free-marketeer.

MILLER: Marketplaces. Yes.

QUEST: Yes, I understand that. I just sort of think when the price gets -- when a 100-buck ticket gets to 1,000, is there something wrong?

MILLER: Well, so first of all, it's important to look at the entire market and to understand how tickets are ultimately distributed initially. So look

no further than the Olympics and all the empty seats. As great as those games are there are scores and scores of empty seats that around. And this

is really about the distribution of the tickets.

Number one is, is that buyer behavior about going to these events, whether it's a bucket list event like the Olympics or Taylor Swift in Australia or

in Vienna or any other place, you're not going to change that because there's a price cap. But they ultimately they're going to go and look for

these events. We're merely there just to make sure that everything is secure and everyone gets into the event.

QUEST: Right. But there's two things here. You've got a question of a price cap and you then you got the question of a, if you like a restricted

distribution channel. In other words, you can't have a resale. How many times have I seen on ticket, resale will void the ticket, et cetera, et

cetera?

MILLER: Right. Yes.

QUEST: And --

MILLER: Olympics is a great example of where things are overly restricted, right? And so you've got a circumstance where it's in France, it's in

Paris, it's in, you know, a global destination where millions and millions of people want to go. And unfortunately, they've decided to not offer

resell service or allow the market to do what it's going to do. And that disincentivizes people from actually buying the ticket in the first place.

If the ticket itself was actually transferable or resalable, then that gives him a lot more comfort to actually make that purchase on the primary

market.

QUEST: So what restrictions would you accept as being desirable on resale and transfer to prevent, you know, again, I'm talking about gerrymandering

the free market. But to make it more acceptable?

MILLER: First of all, having more transparency in the market is entirely, you know, important and making sure that we understand, well, how many

events are actually going on sale, how many tickets are actually making it to the general public? Most of the time, if you look at the Olympics, you

don't even know how many tickets are actually making it to the general public. And most of the time in these high-demand events, it's very, very

limited in nature.

So more transparency, more information available to the consumer, so they can make their decisions for themselves. And a lot of times when it comes

down to price, let the buyer decide if they want to make the decision to go to an event and spend a certain amount of money.

QUEST: How -- but stopping rampant speculation that it's going to push prices higher thus cutting out, you know, legitimate fans are or people

just want to go. How do you stop rampant speculation?

MILLER: You have to -- in our position, it's ultimately making sure that the security and order is around it.

QUEST: Right.

MILLER: So you got to make sure that the market allows to do what it does because the most important thing is the prices go up and down. It's very

volatile and you have to wait and see to determine what's ultimately best for you.

QUEST: OK. Number one, number one tickets event at the moment, put the Olympics aside. What's the number one ticket event at the moment?

MILLER: It's been Taylor Swift. It's been an anomaly on its own.

QUEST: Yes. Thank you, sir. I'm very grateful.

MILLER: Thank you, Richard.

QUEST: Come back please. Thank you.

MILLER: Take care.

QUEST: The chief executive of the shipping giant Maersk says he sees no sign the U.S. is headed for a recession. Vincent Clerc spoke to Julia

Chatterley who told her consumer demand remains strong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VINCENT CLERC, CEO, MAERSK: So, so far what we have seen is that after two years in Europe of having a lot of customers running down their inventory

as they expected a recession in Europe, they have had to come to the conclusion that actually there is more resilience in the Europe consumer

than they were expecting. And therefore, we're seeing replenishment cycles and orders that come more in line with the demand that we're seeing in

Europe.

We're also seeing emerging markets that are actually rebounding as economic activity is increasing following COVID now and there is more discretionary

income to spend on the type of goods that we're moving.

With respect to North America, actually what we have seen is a sequential, very, very stable level of import.

[16:40:05]

Some of it probably being pulled forward as some customers will fear, either labor disruption on the East Coast or tariff coming possibly after

the election but it is in line with still a strong and resilient consumer demand. Inventories are marginally up in the U.S. compared to the beginning

of the year but not at worrisome level and purchase order for the Christmas or the holiday season, goods for the third quarter here seems to continue

to be quite robust.

So I know there has been a lot of turbulence in the market following the job reports, but at least for the type of macro indicators that we're

looking at, there is no sign at this stage that the U.S. would be headed for a recession.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: The full interview is on "FIRST MOVE" in around half an hour, an hour and a half, I should say from now. I'll be with you for that.

Reminder of the breaking news to bring your attention. Three Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna have been canceled because of security concerns. This is

according to the promoter. Two suspects were arrested in connection with plans for an alleged terror attack. Authorities say one of them had

sympathies with Islamic State and both have become radicalized, and it's worth noting just on the practicalities of this, the promoter says that all

those who were going to -- who are attending and have bought tickets will receive full refunds in short order.

I think it was a week or 10 days that they'd said that the people would be -- get their money back. I do need to advise you on the markets and how --

we were up quite sharply. I think we have about 500, 600 points and then the Dow just gave away because it was security concerns about Iran and a

notice to Egyptian airliners' carriers, saying, don't fly over Iran over certain times. But anyway, that's where we ended.

So what started out as a really encouraging day turned turtle and looked rather unpleasant by the time the close was over. But that's today.

Thursday is another day. We'll do it all again.

That's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in New York. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it's profitable.

Next, "CONNECTING AFRICA."

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[16:45:23]

(CONNECTING AFRICA)

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