Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend - May 1st, 2021

jam packed week. Lots of big tech earnings. We had a presidential address to Congress, a FED meeting, and a conditional easing of mask wearing in the United States. It also feels like more and more people are starting to go into the office early and really be around New York City as vaccinations increase and more and more people start feeling comfortable just to be going on right. Yeah.

The next couple of hours too, we got a lot going on, from Costco to healthcare to Uber and left passing out bonuses to drivers and the baseball grade who struck out when it came to video games. It's all in a new book, and we get a little clip of it Plus, we're gonna talk about some fun with toys. That's been a plus for Mattel. We've definitely seen that as a pandemic play in the last twelve months. We're going to check in with the company's CEO. Well, not

so much fun for Walmart workers. You just want to hire minimum wage. Why the US is largest private employer puts up such a fight. Also, the real estate developer an investor turned crypto entrepreneur weighs in on both. That's Kent Swig of Swig Equities. He's a favorite guest of ours. All of that to come. We begin, though, with this week's double issue of Bloomberg Business Week magazine. It's now on newsstands, online, and of course, always on the Bloomberg terminal.

The cover story is about President Biden and the challenges to come. It's a rather timely story, considering President Biden's addressed to Congress this week. For look at that story and some other highlights in the current issue, we checked in with Bloomberg Business Week editor Joel Weber. When you look at what um he's accomplished in in just a remarkably short period of time, beating his own goals and then increasing his own goal for a number of vaccinations.

Uh Um, probably on the brink of another goal in terms of reopening schools. Passage of at one point nine trillion dollar stimulus, like pretty historic run here to start a presidency. But as Josh wynd Grove and Nancy Cook right, and the story, like everything else, is about to get more difficult for him, and that affects not only the American economy but also the shape of things to come for the rest of the world. There's also a story in this issue by Peter Koy, Stephan Nicola, and David

Rocks about the Super League that was going to be. Yeah. My my little phrase for it is the Super League supernova like came and went before you even really like blinked, right.

So but you know, I think the story that is rocked Europe it speaks to sort of this business model that I don't think people appreciate it actually maybe how broken it was where you have these leagues that are basically levered up and with debt and don't really have a chance to to like take out of that and and find a way that's profitable, and the pandemic has really weighed on them. Um, and you know, of course you brought in um, some American ingenuity to a European

model and it just totally broke down. Yeah, exactly, it really broke down quickly. And what it means for the future of the beautiful game is something that I think we we sort of hint at, and you know, no one really knows here, but it does make you wonder if there could be a more fan centric model going forward. And obviously Germany has some examples of how that can can look. Um, you know, everyone holds the Green Bay

Packers in high esteem here. It makes you wonder if there isn't more of a fan based model that could

come out of this. You know, Peter at Order over at doub William and Mary has been corresponding back and forth with me, and we were talking about what happened in soccer, uh, and he said, it's kind of reflective of the K shape recovery of like the owners the top leg, you know, the fans the bottom leg, and it's just like you've got to understand there's this big gap and people are fighting back on that lower lit you know, leg of the K and it's just kind

of reflective more broadly of what's going on in the economy. Yeah, yeah, it also funny enough, it speaks to like, you know, shareholder capital where where you're you're you're you've got you know, fans, and the fans are what it makes the whole thing work. Like. They're the ones who pay for ticket sales that by the merchandise that phil the stadiums, and suddenly when they're the ones that feel like, you know, they're getting in

the cold shoulder, the whole thing falls apart. And I think that that is a really important thing for all of us to kind of keep in mind and at this moment in capitalism and the pandemic and everything else. Well, speaking of the pandemic, there's a piece in the issue that really made me think differently about what the other side of the pandemic looks like. It's about her immunity.

It's called her immunity is Humanity's Great hope. It's Proving Elusive by Robert Langrith and Emma Court, and it it plays with the idea that this this this herd immunity concept that we've become so attuned to over the last year might not be the best way for us to measure end of the pandemic. Yeah, it's kind of a scary article, to be honest, and we made we made it the remarks because I just found the first story in the issue because I found it to be um

a rather cold shower. And here we are, you know, a year and change into the pandemic, and herd immunity has been this idea that feels like this great hope that everybody is like, you know, look like vaccines all you know, the number of hundreds of thousands and millions of Americans who have had to fight with COVID at

this point, like it's all for something. We're gonna get to this herd immunity moment and you know, we'll have this kind of safety blanket, except that it's turning out that no one exactly knows when what percent of population needs to have either inoculations or exposure to reach herd immunity. And you know, it started like like a year ago, it was like thirty maybe then suddenly the number became

seventy eight percent. Now the government isn't even like using those numbers, Like, no one knows what percentage of the population needs to have exposure or inoculation in order to reach herd immunity, which basically means that any sense of normality that we think her immunity might provide is probably

kind of distant. One thing we talked a lot about this week, Carol, and last week too, is that even though things are looking really good here in the U. S and a handful of countries, we're really in the minority of of turning the corner when it comes to the global pandemic India. The numbers just keep getting worse and worse, right, And that is something we need to keep in mind, that this is a global pandemic. We can't get beyond it until we eradicated everywhere. That, of course,

was Bloomberg Business Week editor Joe Weber. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week. Coming up more and her immunity. We're gonna also talk about COVID variance. We're going to do that with Dr Josh Sharpstein over Johns Hopkins. This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg bus to this week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Skinovik from Bloomberg Radio. So every day, Tim, you know, we do a daily check

on COVID nineteen. We do also what's going on with the vaccine rollout, and while things are definitely improving in the United States, we even had the President talk about us kind of moving beyond it, uh this as he marked his first hundred days in office. We also had Mayor build a Blasi of New York City talking about fully reopening New York City on July one. We know that globally, I think about India in particular, it's still a tough time. Yeah, it's a it's a different story.

I think the conversation is also going to continue to move from what we're doing here in the United States on behalf of the American people for the vaccine distribution, to what the US is doing on behalf of the world to help get the world vaccinated. Another big part of this has to do with the CDC and changing CDC guidance that we saw this week when it comes

to people wearing masks or not wearing masks outdoors. The other thing, listen, all of our conversations has to do with variants, and the new variants is thought to be fueling India's deadly or new wave of cases that has made at the world's second worst hit country, and that is something we talked about a lot with all of our guests when it came to COVID nineteen, and then included Dr Josh Sharfstein over at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg

School of Public Health, of course, supported by Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP, parent of Bloomberg Radio. Here's our conversation. I want to start right in with the New York City News July first full opening. Is that a realistic day or is it too much too soon? Well, it depends what you mean by full opening. Obviously, Um, things are looking better and that means that we can do

more more safely. Um. But I'm sure he doesn't mean going all the way back to nineteen and pretending like the pandemic didn't happen. Um. I think it's going to be important, particularly for people who are not vaccinated, to be careful and to know wear masks when they're close to other people. And I think there's still going to

be some prudent precautions necessary. What's your guy into all of us who may have been already vaccinated, And so as we go about our world, I know I still feel comfortable wearing a mask just about everywhere, out in public and certainly at our office. What's your guidance to everyone, Well, I think we're starting to see certainly the recommendations for

outside change. People who are vaccinating you can feel pretty comfortable outside unless they're you know, completely crowded together with a lot of people breathing on them, um, in like a crowd but um, and then you know, indoors, I think people will start to get more confident, particularly where

they know that other people are vaccinated around them. Um. And I think that the real difference will be when the rates of transmission and the cases in the community go way down, because you know, even if your vaccine, you can still get sick. And we've seen cases like that and a very few, small number of people, but that you know, it's possible to get quite sick. So I think that people will get can you still get if you're vaccinated, well, um, you know, particularly for older adults, um,

they can get hospitalized and there have been cases of death. Um. So it's not impossible. It's not like you're you know, superman or superwoman if you get vaccinated that you're completely you know, uh impervious. But it brings the risk down to very manageable level. You know, it's similar to other types of infections that can cause serious illness, and so I think you just have to be be reasonably careful. Carol mentioned the surges that we're seeing in some parts

of the country right now. Why why is that happening? Why is that still happening at this point? And look, I think we need to ask this in the context of understanding that the United States is in a very good place compared to rest of the world when it comes to administering vaccinations. We keep getting just devastating numbers from other parts of the world, particularly India, which we'll

talk about just a little bit later. But here in the US, you know, we are hundreds of millions of shots have been ministered, So why are we still seeing these pockets of infections? But because there's still a lot of people who haven't been vaccinated. I mean that that's a simple answer to that question. Um, you know, the chance of getting sick if you're vaccinated is just so much lower. Um, it's you know, I think there was just a study with the prevention which is just you know,

just a tremendous response to the vaccine. But if you look out in some of these days, just like Michigan recently, it's a race between the virus and the vaccine, and the virus is getting you know a little boost from the variants which are more transmissible and more lethal, and the vaccine is you know, moving ahead, but starting to slow down a little in some places because um, you know, we're the people who are really excited to get vaccinated

are all getting vaccinated, and now it's getting a little bit harder to find and reach people who still need to be vaccinated. So I think if you think about it as a raise between the virus and the vaccine, and the the virus is just getting fast or um, the vaccinations really have to keep up. Well that's what I feel like. I still don't quite understand in terms of is it we've got to get to hurt immunity so that the variants can't take us to another wave.

Because I know we talked about the so called Indian variant of the virus. China and Israel have identified cases, and that new variant is thought to be fueling India is deadly or new wave of cases that has made it the world's second worst hit country. UM, help me understand kind of the mix between getting the vaccine, getting ahead of the variants and just got about a minute and then we'll come back and talk some more. Sure, Well, you know India, it's multiple variants, not to when they're

calling the Indian variant. There are multiple u that are causing the problem. And um, basically there are not a lot of people vaccinated in India. That's the challenge. The vaccines actually do protect pretty well, so they've been tested against variance. They do a pretty good job, So getting

vaccinated is the best defense to into the variance. Well, question that Carol and I have have been asking each other for weeks now, if we want to ask you, Dr Sharfstein, is why people have different reactions to the vaccine. For example, I got my second visor shot on Sunday. I took Monday off just in case I had a bad reaction. For twenty four hours, I felt fine, But from hours thirty six I was lethargic, I was achy, I felt sick, and then it went away like a

light switch at seven pm Monday night. Why does this happen? Like? Why did I feel like that? So? Um, I couldn't answer specifically for each of you, but I can say that, you know, our bodies react differently to vaccines, and some people get more of a reaction than others. What's happening is the immunse of some it's basically getting trained to recognize a piece of the coronavirus. Of the vaccines don't carry the whole coronavirus, they just carry a piece, so

it trains the immune system. And an immune system gets trained, you have basically chemicals being released inside your body. That's a chemicals, but um due to training and get you know that the cells ready in case the actual colonovirus comes in, they recognize that piece and again and the immune system kills the virus. And so you're that what you feel is a little bit of the chemicals you

know that sometimes caused fever, sometimes cause fatigue. Um, the chemicals that are part of the immune system getting trained to kill the virus. That was Dr Joshua Sharfstein from

the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. It's supported by Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropie is the parent of Bloomberg Radio Right and always check out Bloomberg dot com for the latest on COVID nineteen and coming up on Bloomberg Business Week, we're talking Walmart, specifically the company's fight against a fifteen dollar an hour minimum wage when competitors like Amazon, Target Costco Have all

raised theirs right. Just Amazon this week talking about upping its wages. That story to come, Mrs Bloomberg broadcasting from the financial capital of the World, Bloomberg eleven Frio in New York to Washington, d C. Bloomberg to Boston, Bloomberg one oh six one, to San Francisco, Bloomberg nine sixty to the country Sirius xm Chado one nineteen and around the globe the Bloomberg Business app and Bloomberg Radio dot com. This is Bloomberg Business Week. Tim This story definitely caught

our attention. It's online of Bloomberg Business Week. It's about how for almost a decade, the movement to push businesses to pay at least fifteen dollars an hour has gained momentument and we saw some of that play out this week with Amazon coming out and boosting pay by at least fifty cents to three dollars an hour to over half a million of its staff. Amazon already paying that fifteen dollar minimum wage as well other companies like Target up there's too But one company that's not doing that

is Walmart. It's consistently shot the argument for fifteen dollars an hour down. We spoke with the Bloomberg News reporter Thomas Buckley and asked about a specific worker in his story, Mendy Hughes, associate tongue. It's warm up for some years now, and she is still earning eleven eighty five dollars an hour, which makes her really an outlet to a number of similar similar employees at the life of Amazon and best Buy and targets, all of whom and pay fifteen dollars

an hour. One thing, the reason this what I mean all the many things that just kept surprising me word afterward in this was that Mandy is is the person who has been working there for more than a decade. And what Walmart says about its wages is that it's investing in people for careers, not for jobs. But her pay seems to indicate that she's not being rewarded in that way. That's that's really right. So she started out, I believe on seven dollars an hour way back when,

and that has increased to lesson eighty ties. I think that it's not increasing anywhere nearest stats that she would like to see on the basis that you know, as the story when she's short on launchables or frozen TV, then as you know, she's having stop by the drive through at McDonald's to her pick ups, you know, and items from printed venue, from the value menu. And also to that point, I think that's a number of her

colleagues survive on on the food steps. So on that basis, I think it certainly would want to be seeing a raise that's commensurate with what Walmart's rivals are doing. Walmart's argument as long being that really seeking to protect ladder of opportunity, wherein you know, people's individual ambitions will be rewarded as they rise up in the business. But sounds like Mandy, for example, who has very immediate concerns, or who have had very immediate concerns as say tearing her

a cl and falling behind on medical bills. There's not so much thinking about the next job, but more you know what immediately has to happen for them to live at the very basic level of dignity. Right as you mentioned their annual revenue increased a thirty five billion to more than or by thirty five billion to more than five hundred billion dollars in the past year to earned twenty two billion in profit. Listen, I am all for

capitalism and people making a profit. I think it's really wonderful and it's a think the basis of our country, no doubt about it. What is the argument that Walmart puts out there in terms of not being able to pay some of its workers more money. I've been at those annual meetings or workers stand up and say, I work for you full time and I'm also getting welfare.

How does that make sense? And what is the responsibility of an employer like Walmart who is facing the big beheamoth of Amazon, who says you can probably get a cheaper at Amazon. I think it's a really interesting question. I mean to your points about capitalism, you know, really being the growth engine that so many develops economies of,

you know, the part countries. I think that what we have come to see is that you know, you're sort of driving um this this economy in a certain direction in the case of Walmart, because now you are America's largest private employer, which means that you know, you have a responsibility to let a lot of people up um and you know, guarantee living to to the people that

work for you. Where it becomes complicated is that the CEO, dougman Millan says that he wants, you know, to these stagger wage increases in the way that benefits the UK economy. So that means, you know, creating the right level of audition within the company to see people rise. Um. But as I mentioned earlier, you know, people who have a lot more immediate needs, including those on food stamps, might not necessarily see it that way. Um. And in the

case of men need sure earlier points. You know what if she worked a bit harder, a bit longer. I mean, this is something you know, who's pulling forty hour weeks, those who you know spend standing up the entire time at times. I'm playing Devil's advocate. I just hope you

know I'm playing Devil's advocate. Go ahead, please are absolutely, absolutely, but just just to use you know, the specific example, because she is she is one of you know, seven hundred and fifty thousand people at that level of employments at Walmart. So these are incredibly difficult shifts. That's Bloomberg News reporter Thomas Buckley. Tim, this story stayed with me.

Uh it just when you bring it down to the granular level and tell about an individual in their experience and how they're trying to get by, and you do wonder when there's such a wealthy and profitable company why they can't maybe pay their workers just a little bit more. Yeah. It was in stark relief this week too, because we talked so much about the changes that the Biden administration is proposing to the wealthiest Americans, and it's a reminder

that there really are to America's right exactly. There is such a divide, such a gap. At this point, you're listening to Bloomberg Business Week. Up next, look at the recovery of New York's commercial real estate scene. Drive around New York. It feels like it's coming back, but it's got a long way to go, Carroll, Yeah, I still a lot of places boarded up. This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg

Quick Takes. Tim Stinovic from Bloomberg Radio. Great way to finish out a first hour of the weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week because we are talking with Kent Swig. Kent is president Swig Equities. It's a real estate development

and investment firm focusing on commercial and residential properties. They've got whereas in New York City, also out of the West Coast, the company has purchased and or developed in excess of three billion dollars of office properties totally over four million square feet since its exception all the way back in two thousand one. And Tim Kent is really a great go to voice for us. We've talked to him, of course about real estate, but also about some of

the big issues facing our world during the pandemic. It seems like spring has sprung. So things are, things are a little bit better. Um, I personally feeling better that I've had my raby shots or my back theme. Um and uh so I've I've traveled. I went. I was in San Francisco visiting my brother who I haven't seen in fourteen months, and I went for the weekend and came back. And so that's certainly a novel new thing

that I haven't done in a year. Um So I'm feeling better, well good, I'm so glad to hear that. Me too. I'm double vaccinated and feeling pretty good about that. Almost out of my two weeks after my second shots, are just waiting for that to wrap up. You know, you and I we've talked about hybrid. We've talked about what happens to real estate. Is there anything from we talked about in pandemic how things are going to change a lot? Any of that gonna you think ultimately stick

with us. And I know we've had this conversation before, but I think the further we go along, we get a better idea of whether or not things change, whether or not things stay the same, or whether things maybe change a little bit. It's a perfect question and very interesting because there's a little irony in what's going on. UM. Yes, I believe that that that high some form of hybrid working UM will be here with us for for a

long time. You know, if if if somebody has a hundred emails to do one day and they don't want to go in the office and it's more efficient to sit at home, fine, UM, But I'm a big believer in offices and as productivity and all that. The irony is this, UM, all the people in the offices. You know, the companies are saying, the reason we could have hybrid working is because of all the technology. You know, there's

the Google technology, Zoom technology, Facebook, etcetera. And yet if you look at the technology companies, Facebook, who took one point seven million square feet in Hudson Yards and it's being built out not yet occupied, took another hundred thousand square feet in July at the Farley office building right here in New York Um, which they will not occupy for years. Google hiring ten thousand new workers, all going to be in offices. Amazon bought the former Lord and

Taylor building from We Work. So all the technology companies are are getting more office space for their workers because they know that productivity, efficiency, opportunity, and creativity cannot be achieved from home but must be achieved in the workplace. And yet it's the office people that are saying, because of technology, we actually could work better from home. So

it's a very interesting thing going on. Well, it's funny, somebody said to me, you know, you just wait for, like among the financial firms or something that somebody you know comes out and got some big deal or some underwriting that they're going to do just because they got on a plane and flew somewhere and got the customer, and they got the client, that all of a sudden, everybody's gonna be like, you know what, this hybrid stuff doesn't work, the zoom, you know, meeting the client doesn't work.

That everybody will ultimately come back as a result. Do you see it that way? I happen to. Yes, I think zoom will be helpful um for in between meetings. But let me tell you, if you're somebody in your twenties and thirties and maybe even into your forties, how much network in your life do you have? How many people do you know in your life? The idea in your twenties and thirties is you go networking. You meet people in the in the coffee station, in the elevator, etcetera.

If you're in your fifties and sixties and seventies, you have a built in lifetime of network. You can pick up the phone, you can talk to people, you can network these The younger generation doesn't know anybody yet, so their opportunity to meet people, an opportunity and creativity doesn't exist. So their pigeonholed at home and they can't just go out and do things, So it does not work for that generation at all. Does the way we use real estate? Will it change? Yes? So how will it change a

couple of ways. Let's take residential and then commercial residential UM. The idea of a home office there is something that I think is very intriguing and very wanted by the by, by the purchasing and renting population. UM. So if you look at some of these downtown major buildings that converted from commercial to residential, they have this dead space or long corridors and they didn't know what to do with them. Now certainly there's a very big need for them, because

home officing is something that's very important. UM with that, because I think office space is also the use of it is changing a little bit where we will have some hybrid offices meaning hybrid schedules meaning that you'll work maybe four days a week and maybe one day at home or maybe half a day at home, and therefore you need someplace at home to work. So the residential will be impacted also with outdoor space clearly as needed

balconies and terraces are very desired. And then secondly, in the office space, how does that change, UM, spacing around low low partitions probably are not as desirable because high partitions seem to give a little bit both of privacy and air you know, and an air change, etcetera. Um so uh. And also um, you know, having these big communal areas that used to be out there, which are still I think very much desired, may be slightly less

or slightly reconfigured to give a little more space. Not just because of COVID, but I think that we're more sensitive to things like the flu season. Um So, I think our whole way of looking at at health is going to impact ourselves. I think we will get beyond COVID, certainly, but the feeling we have about being concerned about health, taking one's temperature before somebody goes in an office because

of flu, not just COVID. I think all those things are going to be are are going to affect us in our both our home life and our business life. You know, it's fun. We have a story out on the Blue Bargain and says more Americans are leaving cities, but don't call it an urban exodus. And basically they're saying that, you know, maybe you want to call it

a little bit of an urban shuffle. You know, we've talked about mass moves to Florida to Texas, and data shows that most people who did move stayed close to where they came from. Although I think in this sundbout regions that were popular even before the pandemic did see some gains. So there's a little bit of that going on. Has anything changed in terms of how you want to

invest in real estate, how you want to develop real estate? Um? Well, um, I'm still I still love real estate, I still want to invest in real estate, and I still believe in real estate. Um. I'm also still a New Yorker. I'm still a New Yorker and I want to stay in New Yorker. So all those people that moved to Florida, you know, okay for them, But come talk to me in July and August. Are you still down there? You're

still living out there? I'm not so sure. Um. So, yes, people do move, People do react in major, major times of crisis, and there's nothing wrong with that. Responses take time and thought. So in my opinion, the response to covid um is going to make some impacts in here, But is it going to change real estate being used We're all going to live somewhere, We're all going to work somewhere, and it will not be in the same place. Um So I think we have to be more thoughtful

about how we do things. Um I will tell you everybody, as I said before, is aware of health. Um so the flu that it used to be. You know, I'm a die hard worker. I'm coming to work today in spite of my hundred and two fever. Guess what at home? And do us all a favor? So I mean, those those wonderful things aren't going to happen anymore, right, So, so, yes, we are going to change our way of life. But

I don't think um. I think that the market went up certainly in residential and a lot of places, you know, like like Florida and others. And the question is when things settle down and people miss their homes like New York, does that mean that the residential will come back a little bit as as as the economy grows. Will actually some places fall a little bit because they won't have

that persistent people going in. Possibly, Yes, we ran a story about Devon Pendleton talked about you specifically securing a minimum of six billion dollars in gold reserves to back your new cryptocurrency. First of all, crypto, your son tell me the role that he had and kind of bring it to your attention. Well, I have a son, two sons, Oliver and Simon. Oliver um has been involved with cryptocurrency since he was in his early twenties, even though it's

had a teenager in there. But but um so he'd been investing in doing things, and he certainly enlightened me to that. Um then he used some of my money to go invest in some crypto, which he did, so I'm certainly I was aware of it. I went on a board of the business that was involved in crypto. UM so I think it was a tune to it, and I I awakened, which is what it should happen from a younger generation. Thankfully, the younger juror generation happened to be my son, so even better. So, I mean

it awakened me to see opportunity. So tell me about this stable coin that you guys are doing. What why go this direction? Um? What do you see as kind of where it goes specifically? And I'm just curious about the interest that you've gotten it, you know, are receiving in terms of investors already. Okay, so the initial thing is I'm a business person. Um, I look at things and I see things, and if I see a flaw or something that's interrupted, um, I like to go fix them,

to correct them. Um. So that application of a talent god willing I have can go in many different different, many different industries. It happened to fall into crypto. I found an opportunity that existed, so, UM, my partner Steve Braverman, and I ended up buying a company which was a crypto company. One of the things, unfortunately it had, is that the keys to the controls um or elsewhere, not just with us, so we had to shut down something. Uh. And and we're reissuing a new coin that's Ken Swig

of Swig Equities, and you know, fun story. First of all, he's someone who knows real estate so well, but open to new investment ideas and this one he's doing a stable coin backed by gold. He's actually buying the gold, the idea he got from his son. I love that. And also I think a lot about at this time when we were talking about crypto a few years ago, and this time really feels different because of institutional involvement, and also because of companies you know, actually going public,

Bitcoin being part of Tesla's balance sheet micro Strate. Jeeve talked to Michael Sailor a lot about that. It just feels like a different moment with crypto. Well, let's not forget this week JP Morgan Chase preparing to offer a bitcoin fund to wealthy clients. So kind of the latest sign that Wall Street is warming to the largest cryptocurrency after it's been on quite a run in recent months. Well, that wraps up the first hour of the weekend edition

of Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio. I'm Carol Masser and I'm Tim Stanavak. Ahead in our next hour, sixty years of Ken the Doll. We talk earnings and toys with the CEO of Mattel that stocked by the way up close to thirty so far this year. That's definitely been a pandemic play and continuing here. Plus Jeff Blues

founder getting ready to launch another new airline. Yes to him in the middle of a pandemic, and he's the fixer when it comes to restaurants with problems are problematic owners. He's also been keeping us up to date on how the hard hit restaurant industry is doing during the pandemic. We're talking, of course about John Taffer from Bar Rescue. We're going to hear from him in just a few minutes.

Don't go anywhere, Grab another cup of coffee or whatever your drink is of choice, because we've got more on Bloomberg Business Week. This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg Business Week inside from the reporters and editors who bring you America's most trusted business magazine, plus global business finance and tech news as it happened. Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Hi,

I am Carol Masser and I'm Tim Stanovic. Play ahead in our second hour of the weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week, including a chat with the CEO of Mattel. We're gonna talk corporate responsibility and how can the doll is well into middle eight. You know, it's one of my favorite stories of the pandemic over the last fourteen months, the idea that parents and grandparents initially and look still just wanted to spoil those kids who were in lockdown,

who were doing those hybrid classes. It's just like a kind of a nice story from the pandemic. James, we bought some games for our family, and there's not really any kids and our kids anymore. Plus John Taffer, the host of Bar Rescue, details how the pandemic transformed Las Vegas big time. First This Hour, though in the current double issue of the magazine, a story about the airline founder who is launching another new carrier during the pandemic,

talk about timing. Drake Bennett is Bloomberg News Projects an investigations reporter. He wrote the story and joined us along with Bloomberg Business Week editor Joel Weber. The individual behind it all, the man who created Jet Blue, which in many ways disrupted the airline industry at the time, yeah, continuing to do so. We asked Raight to tell us about David Neilman, probably the most successful airline entrepreneur of

all time. The airlines he's started have been budget airlines, and jet Blue was kind of, you know, his best known and the idea there was to basically create a budget airline that didn't feel like a budget airline. So, I mean, he's someone that you know, early on in his career was obsessed with Southwest and set out to create a Southwest airline, but one that didn't you know, Southwest famously served only peanuts to people to kind of

remind them of the peanuts they were paying for their affairs. UM. And so with Jeffy, he's like, well, we'll put TV in it while have leather seats. The planes will be brand new, it will kind of feel nicer. UM. And the other thing he did with Jeflue that was super smart was was used JFK. UM. It's weird to think about it, but New York City was actually an underserved UH market for air travel UM until jeff Blue came in. UH. JFK was really only used for international travel, and it

was basically a ghost town during the day. So he has a long history of being able to find these, you know, gaps in the market, even in places like a kind of a New York UM. And Breeze is

basically another budget carrier UM. It's a little bit modeled on Allegiant UM insofar as they're not going to be flying every day, They're gonna be concentrating on those days of the week when vacationers are more likely to travel UM, and they're gonna be using slightly smaller planes than Southwest an Allegiance fly, So those guys like seven thirty seven or eight three twenties, UM, Breeze is going to be using slightly smaller planes and they think that changes the

math for them and the way that opens up kind of this whole tranche of smaller markets um, especially once they get this new plane, the Airbus A twenty, which which has really really long range for such a small plane, So they'll be able to do what's called these long thin routes, So from some sort of smaller city in the US all the way to Hawaii if they can

find people who wanted to take that direct flight. What opportunities if you can explain that a little bit more and sort of like what he sees Breeze being able to tap into here. I mean you mentioned the budget stuff in the smaller airlines, but like where where does he think the window of opportunity sort of lies? The real question is business travel UM, And he's fortunate in that he's his sort of target customer is not a not primarily a kind of someone on like a who's

who's getting their tickets paid for? By like a corporate travel department. Um, it's more kind of a vacationer or a visiting friends and relatives kind of traveler. Um. And in a sense, I mean it's you know, it's not a great time to be running an airline. There's an enormous amount of uncertainty. But there are ways that he's you know, there's been this kind of retrenchment. You know a lot of cities that just lost service, and so in a way it kind of opens up some opportunities

for for uh, for a for a breeze. Um. And also you know, he doesn't he hasn't been trying to run an airline this whole year when everyone else was like hemorrhaging money and basically trying to stay ahead above water. So um, you know there are ways in which is I mean, has has been fultuitous. Well, you know, this is what's fun about your story, Drake, is Yes, there's the business, very business story of he's doing is you know, another airline. He has been so successful and kind of

you know, disrupting the airline industry. But what's really cool is you kind of get into who this guy is and if you were going to bet on somebody to bring an airline during a pandemic to the market, I'd bet on. David Neilman talked to us little bit about your experience with him, because part of what was fun was he's got some pretty strong views on COVID. Yeah, I mean he's he's a little bit of a COVID truther. Uh, he really, Um, you know, when we've met, he showed

me the math you wear. He's not a huge fan of masks, um and it it's sort of it looks like a sort of normal black cloth mask. But then when he took it off, which he immediately did once we sat down at a conference Lable, he showed me that it's basically made of like mosquito mash, So it's not really a functioning mask in any sense of the words.

So um, he's you know, for the past year he's been pretty vocal um about kind of what he sees as the sort of overreaction to COVID that you know, the sort of medical epidemiological establishment has has has sort of um presented and so he you know, and I think it's linked the way it kind of it's linked to his attitude about risk is the attitude of about risk that you would expect from someone who multiple times has launched these extremely complicated endeavors that are unlikely to

succeed and sort of keeps doing this, and so I think it sort of shapes the way he feels about the risks of getting this disease and the way we should kind of um as a society think about that. I absolutely love that that profile. And look, Neilman was planning on doing this before the pandemic, but the fact that he's still planning on doing this given the way that people are thinking differently about flying, how they're thinking about traveling on the other side of this, and there's

so many unknowns. It's it's gutsy. Oh, it's definitely gutsy. And listen, it's a domestic play. He's definitely tapping into the recovery and the reopening that we're definitely seeing increasingly here in the United States. That's Bloomberg News Projects and Investigations reporter Drake Bennett and Business Week editor Joel Webber. You're listening to Bloomberg business Week coming out the CEO of Mattel on fun with toys and then gets a

little serious on corporate responsibility. This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovik from Bloomberg Radio. So check it out, everybody. Mattel stock jumping to a four year high after the toymaker beat Wall Street estimates for the first quarter and also raised its outlook for all of one. We saw that trade tim last week. We did. And this comes out a year after the pandemic wiped out stores and

led to factory closings and production delays. And yet it was a year too that Mattel was one of the stocks that benefited from the pandemic. Is family stuck at home, but lots of toys and games for their kids. I'm guessing your son has spoiled a little bit. Yeah. I mean he's an only child at this point, so he's ally spoiled, especially by his grandparents. Totally get it. Well.

We got an update on the business with Mattel chairman and CEO N Cries, who is, by the way, marking his third year as CEO of the company and has been working on a turnaround anyway you look at. It was a record quarter for the company. Our results came well ahead of expectations with outstanding growth and a very strong interest in profitability and free cash flow. IT sales were up forty seven percent, the highest quorally growth rate

on record going back more than twenty five years. For the third consecutive quarter, we had double digit sales increase. We grew ahead of the industry and gained market share uh globally. And you know what's what's important is that our performance was very broad based. We achieved double digit growth in each of our four regions, double digit growth across all product categories, all seven product categories, and and strong double digit increase in our three power brands, Barbia,

Hotwoods and Fisher Price, as well as American deals. So what you're really seeing is a success of our multi year transformation strategy, which we believe puts US in an excellent position to continue to improve profitability and acceleate growth. Well, why do you think we saw that growth? And give me an idea of what channels? Was its store channels, was it online? Uh? And in terms of geographical breakdown,

was it more growth in one versus another? I'm trying to tie it to covid and see if there's any connection here. It was really you know, really broad based online with a did grow faster. It grew out. We grew at fifty year on year, So that was definitely a driver. But you know, in the US we grew faster than the industry. In the Europe we grew almost double the industry growth rate. We grew market share in

the dolls category. We you know, Barbie continued to be the number one dollar property and gain share in each of the key regions. So it was really, you know, really broad based across all regions, all product categories, and and and each of our our brands. How much do you think the stimulus We were talking with the CEO of Chipotle, Brian Nicol, and asked them, I mean, they had some new products a case Ida that's uh hand rolled and handmade, and that definitely was a big driver

of sales for them in the quarter. But did also can see that those stimulus checks that went out from the government definitely helped out as well. How much of a kick do you think that might have been at play here? I know you're global, but I do wonder in terms of the U S numbers, how do you think that might have helped? Yeah, it's hard to tell. You know. First, I mean we've been growing now for this is the third consecutive quarter where we grew double digits.

And while potentially some of the exception of growth we saw in the quarter benefited partially from favorable in a year of the year of COVID related comparisons, this is relative to Q one of last year, not so much the stimulus. We see very strong demand for our consumers, of course, from consumers for our brands across the board.

Um uh. We're seeing supply chain performing well. We're still growing market share, and you know, strength of our performance is also evident when you compare our results to twenty nine before COVID, with net sells being up higher by in the first quarter of one relative to nine when you take the pandemic out of the comparison. So on that basis, you consider the momentum it's been ongoing. I wouldn't put it on the stimulus um. But you know, we stay focused on on what we're doing, just make

sure that we connect with consumers. We made great product or to resonate and continue to grow. What do you think has changed in your approach to something like Barbie or American Girl. I think We've talked about it before. American Girl was huge in my home with my daughter, who's now eighteen, but for many years, Uh, we were obsessed with it. She was obsessed with it. I grew up big time with Barbie's. But you know, both of those brands went through difficult times. What's different in terms

of your approach that you think is resonating with consumers? Well, this really goes uh down to to the Mattel Playbook, which we're now really applying for all of our product and categories. It's about brand purpose. In the case of Barbie, it's inspiring limit the limitless potential. In every Girl, It's about cultural relevance, design, lead innovation, and active demand creation. You know, each each of our product, each of our categories have a brand purpose, a reason to be. Uh.

It's more than being being a play system. It's about resonating with consumers, being relevant, being carrying a message, and elevating the play system beyond what you would call a traditional toy. So our brands really have societal impact. Barby it puts out a new career and they're right about it. In you know, a newspaper and it's a headline of of Uh, you know the television shows. So it's really these are brands that have societally In fact, they go

back generations and have an important place in culture. Well, we just have a couple of minutes left here and uh, there's a couple of anniversaries. Ken is turning sixty and he's never looked better. Might I say? And it's your third year. You're coming up on as CEO and you really worked on a turnaround at this company. What's to come? Uh? And what what? What are you looking forward to? I know you guys are doing movies. Uh, you're doing a

Rockham sock'em Robots live action motion picture. Where does growth come from in the future? And just got about a minute left here. Well, the biggest change is that we transition from being a toy manufacturing company into being an

ipid driven, high performing toy company. A lot of opportunities for us within the toy aisle, and there's so much more to come from r I t EQUI believe we can commercialize in extent to highly accreative business verticals like film, television, live event for sum of product and merchandise and music that's a directly adjacent to the too industry where we have tremendous values to still capture. That's Enon Chries, the CEO and chairman of Mittel. Can you believe kenn is sixty?

I can. He looks good for his age. Yeah, Barbie, it looks pretty good too. Just gonna say plastic it doesn't age all right? Still the gum on Bloomberg Business Week, fresh off of last weekend's Oscars, We're gonna take a look at black representation in film and television. Bottom line

not so great. This is Bloomberg Broadcasting from the financial capital of the world, Bloomberg eleven Frio in New York to Washington, d C. Bloomberg to Boston, Bloomberg one oh six one to San Francisco, Bloomberg nine sixty to the country Sirius XM Chado one nine team, and around the globe the Bloomberg Business app and Bloomberg Radio dot Com.

This is Bloomberg Business Week. This last half hour tim two industries that really need some help, one in becoming more diverse, the other in getting back up and running. And we're gonna start with the industry that needs a

bit more diversity. Last weekend, we know was the Oscars, We definitely did see a much more diverse group of nominees this year, more sensitivity to inclusion in the broadcast coverage, and yet there is still a really long way to go when it comes to both diversity and inclusion in Hollywood. There is a long way to go, and mckensey is out with a study about just that, looking at black representation and film and TV. The consulting firm teamed up

with black Light Collective. It's a collision of black Hollywood executives on the study, that's right, Tim, and we talked about the very personal findings with McKenzie partner Sheldon Lynn, and Nina Shaw, She's attorney and founding partner black Light Collective. The conversation started by asking Sheldon about the study. Number one, there was very real lead so film and TV happens to be among the worst performers on diversity across all

major American industries. Number two, we felt we could add a net new contribution on the existing body of work, in particular around building the business case what is the value at stake from a fairly to pursue diversity inclusion in Hollywood. Number three was where Nina and the Black Hair collective came in was we felt there was a real path to change here, working with our folks who wanted to drive change forward. So that's a bit of a context around the court. Well, Nita, come on in

on this. I've been reading some of the interviews you've done. You've talked about being UH in the entertainment space, being a talent lawyer, where you've often only been the are You've often been the only black individual in the room when there's something going on. I think that the entertainment industry as a whole UM often UM is viewed in a lite of being a bit more progressive than its numbers would indicate. UM. And I think that's that that progress,

that those progressive notions are real. UM. I don't want to in any way emply otherwise, but but often it

just doesn't match up. And I think the wonderful thing about this study was that it really dug in and it took a look at the numbers, and I think the number that stands out for all of us is this notion that ten billion dollars in annual revenues every year is being lost as a result of the lack of diversity in the business and that's something that should appeal to all of us as as something that can

be cured. Right, Like we often have conversations here that above and beyond being the right thing to do in terms of diversity and inclusion, there's often a business cost Sheldon by not having that diversity. Yeah, absolutely, I mean I said it right. So the headline was that there is a ten billion dollar opportunity here for us to

pursue diversity inclusion. And it came from what we found, you know, quite surprising for well established industries, a sort of factors that were in effect suppressing the market the true market for black and content in three important and although surprising ways. The number one was on distribution, So we found that on average IT and film was being shown and in thirty fewer countries versus a white LID project, even though the black LID projects made more per country.

And the second thing, from our return of investment perspective or ay, we found that black LID projects were receiving ten less in marketing allocation even though they were making more UM per dollar spent at the box off is specifically sixteen cents more per dollar spent on marketing, And perhaps the most heart breaking part of the equation in terms of marketing efficiency was the fact that only four percent of the projects coming out of Hollywood were accounted

for by black treating to find us having black writers, directors, producers, creators behind the camera, which again is on a sounding number when you think about the population average of thirteen point four percent. So those factors together combined to the big number ten billion dollars in lost value, and that's just from black representation. The goal of their part was to humanize black lives. Tell us how you did that? Know?

We're we were fortunate. Um within the ninety or so individuals who form this loose coalition, the Blacklight Collective, you have literally hundreds of years of experience in the entertainment industry. Um. Uh, people in the representation business like me, but also people in the production business. So I thought that we like an incredible perspective as people who work day to day

in this industry and have done so for many years. Uh. And and our collective action as an as a group is really indicative of the kind of collective action that we need to see within the industry. I think the report. One of the report's conclusions is that this these are tough problems to solve if they're being done within insular organizations, that it's going to take a collective action across many of the businesses in the industry to really address these solutions.

And that's the first step in that, of course, is acknowledging that that these problems exist and that they have a tremendous financial impact. And we're so grateful to Mackenzie for having done the work that really allows us a launching tests or wheel change. That's Nina Shaw, founding partner

at black Light Collective, and Sheldon Lynn of Mackenzie. And if you missed any of the conversation or you want to hear the full conversation, just go to Bloomberg dot com or check out our podcast feed our Bloomberg business Week podcast feed for all of it. You're listening to Bloomberg business Week. Coming up, Restaurants need a revival and a big assist to getting back to normal. Bar Rescue host John Taffer on the comeback of the industry and

of his hometown of Vegas. This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes. Tim Stinovik from Bloomberg Radio. We've been talking with him throughout the pandemic, initially just after the world and restaurants shut down to him back in March. We know restaurants are one of the hardest hit industries during the health pandemic, with the record number of US restaurants closed their doors

for good last year. Well, for the latest on where we are in the industry, we spoke to John Taffer, host, an executive producer of Bar Rescue. He joined us from Las Vegas, where this weekend he's kicking off a new season of Bar Rescue, this one focused on his hometown. We began by checking in on how things are going. A lot of good news. Actually, uh, we work very closely with a company called Shift four, who is one

of the largest payment processes for the restaurant industry. Three weeks ago we saw a bump in New York as in a week, so we're seeing volume coming up substantially. I'm here in Las Vegas. The strip is pretty full. Occupancy is coming back. In the city of Las Vegas. We sold more beer in the month of March last month then in the history of Las Vegas. So there are shining little spots here that are moving in good directions,

and I'm forecasting a pretty darn good summer. Well okay, so wait, do we get then to pre pandemic levels this year or is it more a twenty two story? Well, you know, I think there is some regional impact upon this. You know, we take look at markets like Florida, Miami. I think we do come back to pre pandemic levels. But you know, I think that markets like Las Vegas we come back to pre pandemic levels. Let me put an interesting premise out at you. It's how we define

pre pandemic levels. Let's say we lose thirty eight percent of our restaurants and bars across the country as a result of the pandemic, and the marketplace comes back to eighty percent of its previous level. Carl, we have thirty eight percent less capacity for a marketplace that's only gotten down. To me, those are pretty good numbers, and it looks like the restaurants that survive land in a pretty strong

place come this summer. John. I'm a big fan of your show, and the new season is all going to be about Vegas, specifically, walk through the particulars of that market. Which is so tourist dependent. So you know, you said you're feeling pretty good about it. Well, you know, it's a singular market, certainly a singular economy, and we're so

based in travel. The reason why we took the show to Las Vegas this year was not because it's my hometown, but because it suffered the highest unemployment impact from the pandemic. It was something to see, Carl. You drive down the Las Vegas Strip and these huge buildings literally boarded up with plywood because casinos didn't even have doors. They certainly did not locks on those doors. So to see it

was devastating. Our city was really impacted, very very badly. Now, of course we're coming out of it to strip, it seems a lot busier. This season of Bar Rescue wasn't shot on the strip. It wasn't about billion dollar casinos. It's about local operations in Las Vegas. When the hospitality industry stopped all their employees, uh, stopped coming to these

other operations. All right, So you know, how quickly is the restaurant industry within Vegas and elsewhere, How quickly do you think they'll they'll be able to kind of revamp and bring back those workers. Well, you know the problem is getting back to workers right now. If you drive down the strip in Las Vegas, those huge grade signs

say help wanted. Uh. You know, I'm confused by our government posture because they fought passed that we'd be back to quote normal on July four, but yet they extended the unemployment benefit package to September and we're having a very difficult time getting our employees back right now. So could you imagine, Carol, you go through this for fourteen months, you survive it. We have the restaurant package from government. It helped us pay our mortgage pay ore that we're

now strengthened. We're ready to move forward. Our customers are coming back, and we can't get employees. We have to resolve this issue of getting our employees back, and it's a huge national problem for us right now. Yeah, it's interesting, Well are you guys being heard in Washington? Well, hopefully were being heard, But it's you know, it's a question of removing a benefit that they've already extended. So it's not all that politically attractive. But if we're gonna let

business grow, we need our employees back. One thing I want to ask you about the new season that you guys are doing a bar rescue. We know the restaurant industry can be a really difficult one. You profile, you know, business owner after business owner, sometimes their family owned businesses. Often they are how difficult it can be. But the pandemic just put a whole other layer on this because you have one episode. From what I understand is you've

got a family that is homeless. They've been sleeping in the restaurant because they lost their house. And that wasn't just because the restaurant industry is tough, It's just because the pandemic was also tough. They spent their family savings and brought the restaurant a month for the pandemic. Agin you believe Kyles, when we got there, three days before we got there, they lost their house and there were four young teenage young boys sleeping on a wooden floor

above the restaurant. The family had nothing. And you know, we talked on a network like this about the impact on our businesses. After fourteen months, it's now the impact upon the owner. We're at the next level now, Cow. It is impacted family life and owners in my business significantly, and not just one example of it. There's another interesting

thing that came out of this season. We had an owner who had lost his house three months earlier, but borrowed money and did everything he could to keep his employees working. So he borrowed, he did everything, He paid them when I had to stay home, he paid them. So now the business is open, it's allowed to attain twenty of its capacity, and it's running that way. And we come in and do an audit and find that those very same employees who he lost his house protecting

were in fact stealing from him. So it's an interesting time. And you know, here's an owner who who sacrifice for the employees. So there's a lot of dynamics going on here. But you're right, these are traditionally good owners now who are running successful businesses who the pandemic has affected. But you know, also, Carol, I must say they are restaurateurs who have done well during this period of time. They've been nimble, they've shifted their business models to family, boxes,

to go and all sorts of things. And there's also a residual effect upon our industry that a lot of people aren't quite talking about yet. And I'm gonna make a bit of a forecast here and that is you know, companies typically and I'll just use an example of one that I happened as a friend, like a Panera Bread for example, prior to the pandemic, would have run five seven percent sent to go. Now they're running about. There's a view that that thirty percent to go business stays

and the restaurant fills up again. So, you know, I take a look at that and think to myself that there is a real opportunity to bring back the inside business this year and have a whole new level of delivery business that increases our revenues to about of what they used to make. And then and then we take a look at the marketplace. You know, as I've mentioned that, the you know, we look at thirty eight percent less capacity. Even if the marketplace comes back in a level, it's

a pretty strong environment. You know, I do wonder about what stays with us. I mean, I was kind of blown away by some of the different restaurants, some of them very high end that all of a sudden, we're doing take out because that's how they had to survive John during the pandemic, or also thought about their community and how they could provide food for their community who was struggling. And I wonder how much of what restaurants learned during the pandemic stays with us on the other side,

I think a lot of it actually does. You know, consumers have learned that you can order a really good dinner from a restaurant and have it delivered at home, and it's package well and it's delicious. You know, in the past, we used to think we had to go to that restaurant to get that quality of food. So there's a much more consumer friendliness towards delivery. That's where I think we can keep the same amount of monthly visitations and still add a little business through deliveries if

we position ourselves correctly. But there's a few things that are going to remain for sure. Cow for example, curb side You know, we work with hardware stores as consultants as well and other type of retailers. When you look at the architectural plans of retailers today, curb side delivery is now architectually intended into the plans. All retailers are going to continue with curb side delivery app order they throw it in your trunk when you leave. Restaurants are

going to be the same. So there are some residual things that are gonna linger in a restaurant business. To go packaging, to go technologies, uh, and orientation to do more to go products. I don't think we'll see face masks disappear from kitchens very soon. I think that lingers. I think that's probably a good idea, just for colds and flues and everything else. I think that hand sanitation technologies and things like that will continue, and I think

that the industry comes out of this actually stronger. I gotta ask you about your restaurant model that you guys launched. I think we talked about it last time. You know what you've talked about being the kind of world's safest restaurant, A lot of robotics, a lot of automation. That's something too that I feel like we'll stay with us. Oh, no question. But as labor class goes up, you know, the admortization and the numbers of automation looks really, really good.

And you know that's one of the challenges when you start to bring a fifteen dollar minimum wage into the restaurant business. Suddenly a machine that flipped Hamburgers is very economically feasible. You know, I wonder if pushing the payroll level to that level doesn't have more of a detrimental effect on young people who work in restaurants and need dot kind of employment. Well, you know, let me just bring it to you to some of the bigger policy initiative, John,

that are going out. We are expected. Uh, you know, the President has been talking about raising taxes, corporate taxes. I think there's a lot of investors, maybe small business owners who are watching this very very closely. What do you think is the right balance here? You know, I personally think that at this stage we shouldn't look at any kind of corporate tax increase for at least another year or so, you know, to think that right now, we can't get our employees back. Our costs and supplies

are way up. You know, we're doing bar rescue now, Carol. We've been remodeling eight bars during the past few weeks. Construction materials in some cases are up six if you can get them. So, I mean, take a look at all the operating expenses are up for that restaurant. He has new sanitation costs, ppe costs, his food costs to hire, his energy costs are higher, his cost for employees higher, and now we're gonna wamm with additional taxes as well.

That makes no sense when we're just starting to get our feedback on the ground again and getting into a mode of profitability. So it's a great concern to me. And I understand that the current administration likes to move

in that taxation direction. I'm not sure I can stop them moving in that direction, but heck, you know, I think we need to slow it down certainly, you know, Carol, In a week of record profits, record revenue that we're hearing from the biggest companies, it's a good reminder that the recovery has been really unequal when it comes to the big companies over the last fourteen months, and then those small mom and pop shops, the bar and hospitality

industry too. Yeah, exactly, and I think we have to start making that distinction when it comes to maybe raising taxes or the corporate sector. That's John Taffer, the host of Bar Rescue, and that wraps up the weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Carol Masser and on Tim Stanovk. Be sure to tune into our Bloomberg Business Week daily show. It's Monday through Friday. It starts at two pm Wall

Street Time on Bloomberg Radio. You can also watch our daily broadcast on YouTube just search Bloomberg Global News. Also check out our Bloomberg Business Week podcast. You can find it at Bloomberg dot com, Apple, or wherever you get your podcast. Bloomberg Business Week gets available on newsstands, now at Bloomberg dot com, and on the Bloomberg Terminal. You can also see me on Bloomberg. Quicktake gets available at Bloomberg dot com, slash Qt, and streaming platforms like Roku,

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