AI transcript
0:00:03 – Support for the show comes from public.com.
0:00:04 If you’re serious about investing,
0:00:06 you need to know about public.com.
0:00:08 That’s where you can invest in everything,
0:00:10 stocks, options, bonds, and more,
0:00:12 and even earn a 6% or higher yield
0:00:14 that you can lock in with a bond account.
0:00:17 Visit public.com/profg and get up to $10,000
0:00:19 when you transfer your old portfolio.
0:00:22 That’s public.com/profg.
0:00:23 Paid for by public investing,
0:00:25 all investing involves the risk of loss,
0:00:26 including the loss of principal.
0:00:28 Brokerage services for U.S. listed,
0:00:29 registered securities, options, and bonds
0:00:31 in a self-directed account are offered
0:00:34 by public investing Inc., member FINRA, and SIPC.
0:00:37 Complete disclosure’s available at public.com/disclosures.
0:00:43 – Support for the show comes from Nerd Wallet.
0:00:46 Your brand can hold around 2.5 million gigabytes of data,
0:00:48 but that doesn’t mean you should waste any of it
0:00:50 on something you don’t need to,
0:00:52 like researching auto insurance.
0:00:54 Because the nerds at Nerd Wallet
0:00:56 have already done that for you.
0:00:57 Looking for a lower rate?
0:00:58 Just answer a few questions
0:01:00 and you’ll find the top insurance providers
0:01:02 in your area right there.
0:01:04 So get matched with the right rate for you
0:01:06 at nerdwallet.com.
0:01:09 Using Nerd Wallet is more than smart, it’s genius.
0:01:11 Not all applicants will qualify
0:01:12 for the lowest monthly payments,
0:01:13 Nerd Wallet Insurance Services,
0:01:16 and California Residential License Number,
0:01:18 OK92033.
0:01:25 – Okay, business leaders, are you here to play
0:01:27 or are you playing to win?
0:01:30 If you’re in it to win, meet your next MVP.
0:01:31 NetSuite by Oracle.
0:01:33 NetSuite is your full business management system
0:01:35 in one convenient suite.
0:01:36 With NetSuite, you’re running your accounting,
0:01:38 your finance, your HR, your e-commerce,
0:01:41 and more, all from your online dashboard.
0:01:43 Upgrade your playbook and make the switch to NetSuite,
0:01:46 the number one cloud ERP.
0:01:48 – Get the CFO’s guide to AI and machine learning
0:01:53 at netsuite.com/vox, netsuite.com/vox.
0:01:55 – Today’s number, $8 million.
0:01:57 So that’s how much a 30 second ad spot
0:01:58 on the Super Bowl costs this year,
0:02:00 an all time record.
0:02:03 Ed, nothing says American exceptionalism,
0:02:05 like four hours of beer,
0:02:07 boner pill ads, and men giving each other CTE
0:02:08 for our entertainment.
0:02:11 It’s essentially Rome, but instead of Lyons,
0:02:13 we have Taylor Swift, Ed.
0:02:14 We have Taylor Swift.
0:02:17 (upbeat music)
0:02:21 (singing in foreign language)
0:02:27 – Welcome to Prop G Markets.
0:02:31 That was sort of a thoughtful Super Bowl themed intro.
0:02:33 Banter, Super Bowl, do you care?
0:02:35 – No, I don’t care at all, actually.
0:02:37 And this is the first year I’ve decided
0:02:38 I’m just not watching.
0:02:40 I feel like I’m always watching
0:02:41 because I feel like I have to,
0:02:43 but I’ve just decided, you know what?
0:02:44 I’m not interested in the NFL,
0:02:45 I’m not gonna watch this year.
0:02:46 Are you watching?
0:02:48 I don’t even know who’s in the,
0:02:49 Claire, do you know who’s in the Super Bowl?
0:02:51 By the way, Claire, I have a,
0:02:53 oh my God, I just realized you’re in my house, Claire.
0:02:56 I literally thought she has the same climbing wall I have.
0:02:58 – Yeah, this is your house.
0:02:59 – Claire, how are you?
0:03:01 – I’m really good, it’s good to see you.
0:03:04 – Welcome, welcome, don’t touch anything.
0:03:06 – Thanks so much for having me.
0:03:07 – Anyways.
0:03:09 – Yeah, you have a climbing wall in your house.
0:03:10 – You’re in the kids’ room.
0:03:12 I do have a climbing wall, and my kids have climbed,
0:03:14 my kids climbed for a good 30 minutes,
0:03:15 and now it’s just a decorative piece.
0:03:16 (laughing)
0:03:19 Cost me about 40 zip recruiter ads.
0:03:20 – By the way, I think it’s Chiefs and Eagles.
0:03:21 – That’s right, Chiefs and Eagles.
0:03:23 – Chiefs and Eagles.
0:03:25 – I thought you used to be a big NFL fan, Scott, no?
0:03:28 – I’ve never actually been a sports fan until my kids.
0:03:31 I decided to give up golf and watching all sports
0:03:32 and poured into fitness,
0:03:35 in trying to spend more time with clients,
0:03:37 such that we could develop a father-son
0:03:38 parasocial relationship,
0:03:40 and they’d pay me millions of dollars to consult,
0:03:45 and then I could at some point buy one quart of a golf stream.
0:03:46 – You know what I’m doing tonight?
0:03:47 I think I’m gonna do ketamine tonight.
0:03:48 – Really?
0:03:50 – I went out with some friends last night,
0:03:51 and they were having such a good time,
0:03:52 and I’m like, “What are you drinking?”
0:03:54 They’re like, “Oh no, we don’t drink raw ketamine.”
0:03:55 I’m like, “Really?”
0:03:58 And I’m having trouble, Ed.
0:04:00 I’m having trouble disassociating.
0:04:02 I think we’re in the middle of a second insurrection,
0:04:03 and no one’s talking about it,
0:04:05 and it’s freaked me out and got me really upset.
0:04:07 So I think I need to disassociate,
0:04:10 and I’m hearing good things about ketamine.
0:04:12 Do your friends do ketamine, Ed?
0:04:14 – Yeah, good amount of my friends do ketamine.
0:04:15 I can’t tell if you’re serious,
0:04:17 so you know it’s illegal to just do it.
0:04:19 – There’s a few things I do that are illegal,
0:04:21 and I continue to engage in them, Ed.
0:04:24 – Okay, just making sure you’re clear.
0:04:25 I know you did it the legal way.
0:04:28 – Hot’s legal now, so yeah, edibles are legal,
0:04:29 so that’s not a problem.
0:04:30 – Right, yeah, exactly.
0:04:32 – Actually, I don’t do that much that’s illegal.
0:04:35 – And the way people do it is they snort it.
0:04:36 You’re really gonna go up and–
0:04:38 – Oh, really?
0:04:39 I was hoping to stick something up with my hand.
0:04:41 I was hoping to find an attractive one
0:04:42 with some gloves handy.
0:04:45 (laughing)
0:04:48 I have to pay for that, I have to pay.
0:04:52 Now, now cough, Nurse Ratchet, anyways.
0:04:55 – Well, I’m excited to see you in a couple of hours.
0:04:58 I’m gonna come over and hang out at your house.
0:04:59 – Oh, that’s right, I have a team meeting,
0:05:01 you’re all presenting your business plan.
0:05:02 – You excited to see me?
0:05:03 (crickets chirping)
0:05:05 – Get to the headlines, Ed.
0:05:08 – Let’s start with our weekly review of market vitals.
0:05:10 (upbeat music)
0:05:13 (upbeat music)
0:05:17 The S&P 500 inched up throughout the week.
0:05:19 The dollar declined, Bitcoin was volatile,
0:05:22 and the yield on tenure treasuries dropped.
0:05:23 Shifting to the headlines.
0:05:25 Disney earnings beat expectations
0:05:26 on the top and bottom lines.
0:05:30 However, Disney Plus lost 700,000 subscribers
0:05:34 with another modest drop expected in the current quarter.
0:05:37 The stock fell 4% following that earnings report.
0:05:40 Novo Nordisk saw strong fourth quarter demand
0:05:42 for its weight loss drugs with Wigowi sales
0:05:44 more than doubling, and Osempic sales
0:05:45 rising 12% year over year.
0:05:48 Profits also exceeded analyst expectations
0:05:51 up 29% from a year earlier.
0:05:53 The stock rose on that news.
0:05:55 And finally, Uber’s fourth quarter revenue
0:05:59 beat expectations, rising 20% year over year.
0:06:02 However, operating income was lower than expected,
0:06:05 and the company issued weak booking guidance
0:06:09 for the current quarter, and Uber’s stock fell 7%.
0:06:11 Scott, your reactions,
0:06:14 starting with Disney’s earnings a beat,
0:06:16 but the stock did fall.
0:06:18 – It’s clear who the number one is in streaming,
0:06:20 but they’re all fighting to be number two.
0:06:23 They’re like, okay, the number two will survive,
0:06:25 and it’s not entirely clear who’s number two.
0:06:29 And the race for number two is between, in my opinion,
0:06:32 the artisanal sort of HBO that’s created
0:06:35 an incredible culture that produces kind of the water cooler
0:06:37 zeitgeist moment of content.
0:06:40 And then Disney, which has just such singular
0:06:42 clear positioning around family,
0:06:44 and then bundling Hulu and ESPN.
0:06:46 I think it’s ESPN plus.
0:06:47 It’s a pretty good offering.
0:06:51 Now, they were able to raise prices of 4%,
0:06:52 which isn’t a huge price increase,
0:06:53 but it is a price increase.
0:06:56 And basically they lost 700,000,
0:06:58 but they would argue that’s flat.
0:07:00 That does kind of communicate
0:07:01 that they have some pricing power.
0:07:03 I would argue that’s a good thing.
0:07:06 Netflix’s churn is 2% while Disney’s is five.
0:07:09 That may not sound like a lot, but it’s huge.
0:07:11 It means that every three years,
0:07:14 Disney has to reinvent their entire customer base
0:07:16 that Netflix does not.
0:07:22 In addition, you have this incredible transfer
0:07:23 or means of production.
0:07:24 What do I mean?
0:07:28 What Japan did Detroit, Netflix is doing to Hollywood.
0:07:31 And that is Netflix announced that the majority
0:07:34 of their content, more than 50% of their $15 to $18 billion
0:07:38 investment on content is being spent and/or,
0:07:40 if you will, produced overseas.
0:07:43 They’re not doing that because they like Spanish people
0:07:46 or they want more multiculturalism in their content.
0:07:48 They’re doing it because they figured out
0:07:52 they can get a gaffer, a writer, an actor,
0:07:57 a producer, sound engineer, studio construction folks
0:08:03 for 40 to 60% of the cost of what it is in the US.
0:08:07 Whereas Disney, the percentage of content spend overseas
0:08:08 is 4%.
0:08:12 But what Netflix has said is that if I have every week,
0:08:16 not a 10, but I have just a shit ton of sevens and eights,
0:08:17 people don’t cancel.
0:08:20 – Yeah, I think these earnings, I mean,
0:08:22 Wall Street did not react well to these earnings.
0:08:25 And I think rightly so because I think this was just
0:08:26 unimpressive on so many levels.
0:08:30 I mean, Disney plus subscribers declining,
0:08:34 not by much, it was around 1%, but still a decline.
0:08:38 And Disney plus’ response or Disney’s response was,
0:08:41 well, we rose prices, so this is expected.
0:08:43 And by the way, that’s kind of what you said too,
0:08:45 but you look at Netflix,
0:08:48 Netflix also raised prices last year
0:08:51 and they still added 19 million subscribers.
0:08:55 So I don’t fully buy the, we’re raising prices
0:08:58 and therefore subscriptions are gonna fall off.
0:09:01 We’ve seen it with Spotify too, Spotify raised prices
0:09:04 and their subscriptions are still continuing to climb.
0:09:07 You also mentioned the churn rates.
0:09:12 I just see this as such a big issue in all of streaming
0:09:15 that it makes me believe that streaming
0:09:19 is in a lot of ways uninvestable over the long term.
0:09:22 Apple TV’s churn rate is 8%.
0:09:26 Peacock’s churn rate is 9%.
0:09:28 Disney’s churn rate is on the low end,
0:09:31 but still it’s really high, it’s 5%.
0:09:34 So if you just wanna stay flat in any given quarter,
0:09:36 you basically have to grow your subscribers
0:09:41 by 5% every single quarter, which is just insane.
0:09:42 I mean, I just don’t see
0:09:44 how that is a sustainable business model.
0:09:46 And then the second thing that makes me concerned
0:09:50 about Disney was their box office results,
0:09:52 which were exceptional,
0:09:57 but it was all because of this one movie, Moana 2.
0:10:01 And that was kind of what saved these earnings.
0:10:02 Without that movie, this earnings report
0:10:04 would have been pretty terrible,
0:10:05 which again begs this question,
0:10:08 like how sustainable is this business?
0:10:12 Where you’re basically riding on your growth vehicle,
0:10:15 which is Disney Plus, is pretty stagnant.
0:10:19 And then you’re also relying on these sequels
0:10:20 every single year.
0:10:25 I mean Moana 2, Inside Out 2, Deadpool and Wolverine.
0:10:27 At what point are people just gonna get bored
0:10:28 of these sequels?
0:10:32 Like who’s gonna watch Moana 3 and Moana 4 and Moana 5?
0:10:34 Like how much longer can this go on for?
0:10:35 – You do start to see fatigue.
0:10:39 I would even argue like Deadpool and Wolverine,
0:10:41 I love both those actors.
0:10:43 I think they’re fantastic.
0:10:45 And I’m like, I’m not sure I’m gonna see the next one.
0:10:47 I’m like, okay, I think I’m sort of done with those franchise.
0:10:50 Anyways, what’s really interesting here though
0:10:53 is that the parks did well.
0:10:55 And that is, and if you think about it,
0:10:57 AI can’t replace the parks,
0:10:58 or at least I don’t think it can.
0:11:01 There’s still something especially wonderful
0:11:04 or especially horrible if you’re the parent
0:11:06 about Walt Disney World, right?
0:11:09 That still is a, that isn’t a norm.
0:11:11 Netflix is gonna have a tough time
0:11:13 into Universal’s credit.
0:11:15 They spent the money and the decades
0:11:17 to build those franchise businesses.
0:11:19 But Adams are, this is your notion
0:11:21 that Adams are more important than bits.
0:11:23 But the Disney business right now,
0:11:25 the strongest part of the business as far as I can tell,
0:11:27 is the parks, the cruises and the resorts.
0:11:31 Because it’s hard for Netflix to spin up a cruise ship
0:11:33 business, these things take a long time
0:11:35 and they’re good at the in-person stuff.
0:11:38 – Absolutely, but if you wanna keep that business going,
0:11:40 you’ve gotta also be creating original
0:11:43 and persuasive and compelling intellectual property,
0:11:45 which they’re not doing.
0:11:47 No one’s gonna ride the Moana three ride.
0:11:50 – Yeah, but they can license content, they can.
0:11:51 I mean, I don’t, was Harry,
0:11:55 I mean, for example, Harry Potter, Lego.
0:11:57 I don’t, I think Lego licensed its IP
0:11:59 to someone who knows how to run those parks.
0:12:00 I don’t know if it’s a division of Lego,
0:12:01 maybe it is Legoland.
0:12:02 By the way, you’ll see when you have sons.
0:12:05 Legoland, in my opinion, is the least awful
0:12:06 of all of them.
0:12:07 – Legoland’s amazing, that was my favorite growing up.
0:12:08 – Oh really?
0:12:09 Oh yeah, that’s right, I forgot how young you are.
0:12:12 But I used to, I took my sons to the Lego hotel
0:12:13 and it was pretty cool.
0:12:14 – It’s epic.
0:12:16 – I love the image of Little Ed at Legoland.
0:12:20 Right, building scary, like you’re like,
0:12:22 I can build something bigger than that.
0:12:23 Anyways.
0:12:24 – By the way, just before we move on here,
0:12:26 when is your Netflix show coming out?
0:12:27 – Oh, not for a while.
0:12:28 – If you had to guess.
0:12:33 – I would guess fall of 26.
0:12:35 Yeah, it’s gonna take a while.
0:12:38 – We need to get you on camera here.
0:12:39 Is that part of the plan?
0:12:40 I hope so.
0:12:42 – No, I am, you will see soon.
0:12:46 I do have a cameo in what is the hottest show on HBO
0:12:48 in several seasons.
0:12:50 I do have a voice cameo.
0:12:52 So I’m excited about that.
0:12:54 We’ll have a party, you’ll all come over,
0:12:56 we’ll all celebrate and we’ll watch it together.
0:12:58 None of that is true.
0:12:59 (laughing)
0:13:01 None of that is true.
0:13:02 But it’s a nice thought, isn’t it?
0:13:05 If I was kind of a more loving and engaged boss,
0:13:07 get out of my climbing room, Claire.
0:13:09 Don’t touch anything.
0:13:11 Anyway, sorry, go ahead.
0:13:13 – Let’s talk about Novo Nordisk.
0:13:17 This was pretty important earnings report for this company
0:13:20 ’cause they simply put have not had a good year.
0:13:24 The stock’s down 30% in the past 12 months.
0:13:26 They tried making this new GLP-1,
0:13:31 this drug called Kagrosema and the trials failed.
0:13:34 They’ve been outclassed by Eli Lilly
0:13:36 who have been sharing from their studies
0:13:38 that their drugs are just more effective.
0:13:42 So Novo Nordisk is not in a great place.
0:13:44 They needed a really strong showing,
0:13:47 not from the insulin business or the glucagon business
0:13:49 or any of their other medicines,
0:13:50 but from the GLP-1 business
0:13:53 because that, as we know, is the only thing
0:13:56 Wall Street cares about with this company.
0:13:59 And rightly so, that’s where all the growth is coming from.
0:14:01 The results were pretty good.
0:14:04 Wagovi sales more than doubled.
0:14:06 If you look at that in combination with OZMPIC,
0:14:10 the obesity drug business is up more than 50%.
0:14:13 So the GLP-1 business is doing quite well.
0:14:16 I think the question here is a larger question,
0:14:20 which is, will this whole GLP-1 thing live up
0:14:25 to the hype that we had about 16 months ago?
0:14:28 And that’s sort of up for debate.
0:14:31 I mean, I’ve seen market size predictions saying
0:14:33 this is a $100 billion market.
0:14:35 Some say it’s a $500 billion market.
0:14:37 No one really knows.
0:14:38 So I kind of look at this company,
0:14:39 I look at these earnings
0:14:41 and I don’t really have an answer.
0:14:42 The only thing I can conclude with Nova Nordisk
0:14:45 is, you know, wait and see.
0:14:48 – I would argue that the space is just getting started.
0:14:52 The GLP-1 drugs, the category, everything I’ve read,
0:14:56 I just think this technology is incredible.
0:14:57 The next sort of question though
0:15:00 is how many competitors are in the space?
0:15:03 And also asked about the motor and who we had on last week,
0:15:04 made an interesting point
0:15:06 and that is for him, Nova Nordisk,
0:15:11 history was they kind of slipped and fell on Bogovino’s Epic.
0:15:12 – Let’s face it, they got valuable
0:15:14 because they were in the right.
0:15:15 They got lucky.
0:15:16 I mean, it’s not like amazing R&D
0:15:18 where they said we’re gonna come up with a weight loss drug.
0:15:21 The diabetes drug happened to have a side benefit.
0:15:25 And I think that until they come up with another product
0:15:30 that is a market changer, blockbuster drug,
0:15:32 I think the hypothesis has to be
0:15:34 that they got lucky with these two drugs
0:15:35 and they’re going to go back
0:15:38 to being a sleepy Danish diabetes drug company.
0:15:39 – I mean, that has showed an ability
0:15:41 to create another or acquire another product
0:15:44 in Instagram, right?
0:15:47 Google launched YouTube, you know, these companies,
0:15:50 Microsoft has an incredible cloud bed.
0:15:52 These companies have shown an ability
0:15:56 to innovate more than, you know, repeatedly.
0:15:58 And his view was Nova Nordisk
0:16:00 hasn’t really demonstrated that.
0:16:03 – To his point, the only company
0:16:06 that actually innovated this drug
0:16:09 that didn’t stumble its way into it was Eli Lilly,
0:16:10 who created their own versions.
0:16:12 Of course, after Nova Nordisk
0:16:14 figured this whole thing out accidentally.
0:16:17 So I think if you’re thinking about, okay,
0:16:19 how do I get exposure to GLP-1s?
0:16:22 Yes, Nova Nordisk is the market leader.
0:16:26 It has the greatest market share in the US and in the world.
0:16:28 But I think in terms of culture and innovation,
0:16:30 all that stuff that Aswa talks about,
0:16:33 I do think Eli Lilly is probably a better bet
0:16:35 from that perspective.
0:16:37 Let’s move on to Uber.
0:16:40 Uber reported earnings revenue grew 20%.
0:16:42 They had this kind of soft guidance,
0:16:44 $42 billion in gross bookings
0:16:47 expected in the course coming up.
0:16:49 And the stock did not react very well.
0:16:52 I thought the most interesting part with these earnings
0:16:56 was that Uber is officially launching a wait list
0:16:59 for its Waymo partnership.
0:17:03 So this is gonna happen in Austin first
0:17:05 and later in Atlanta.
0:17:08 Uber and Waymo are teaming up
0:17:12 and self-driving taxis are coming in 2025.
0:17:15 And I think the most important thing here is
0:17:17 the autonomous taxi fleet.
0:17:19 It’s not coming from Tesla.
0:17:21 It’s coming from Uber.
0:17:23 And I think that’s notable
0:17:25 because it just highlights this market bias
0:17:28 that we keep on seeing towards Tesla
0:17:30 where Tesla will go out and talk very vaguely
0:17:33 about full self-driving and autonomous taxis
0:17:35 and the stock rips.
0:17:39 Meanwhile, Uber does it and the stock declines.
0:17:41 People just don’t take it seriously for some reason.
0:17:43 And I can’t really wrap my head around it.
0:17:44 I mean, some people say,
0:17:46 you know, Waymo’s are more expensive to build,
0:17:48 they’re more expensive to operate,
0:17:51 which is probably a fair point.
0:17:54 But I think the larger point still stands,
0:17:56 Waymo is the only one that has figured it out.
0:17:58 And now they’re going to market
0:18:00 with the biggest ride sharing company in the world, Uber.
0:18:03 Meanwhile, Tesla has shipped nothing.
0:18:05 So I think this is a pretty big deal.
0:18:07 I think full scale commercialization
0:18:09 is still a long way away.
0:18:11 But to me, this signals Uber’s actually kind of
0:18:13 leading the pack in autonomous.
0:18:16 And I get the sense it’s probably very undervalued
0:18:17 at this point.
0:18:19 – Waymo’s been here for a while.
0:18:22 And the notion that we’re all waiting for Tesla autonomous,
0:18:25 I took a Waymo taxi six months ago in LA.
0:18:30 By the way, extraordinary, my first ride in this thing.
0:18:32 And we get to this intersection
0:18:34 where there’s been an accident.
0:18:35 I’m like, oh, great.
0:18:38 I’m going to be the first like autonomous guy taken out.
0:18:40 I’m like, this is so fitting for what I do.
0:18:43 PropG takes his first autonomous Uber
0:18:47 and gets, you know, T-boned by a bus.
0:18:52 Because the fucking Waymo couldn’t process a billion points.
0:18:57 There’s a cop with cones waving with illuminated batons
0:19:00 saying, okay, you need to go around the crash car
0:19:03 into the wrong side of the road
0:19:05 and to get around this accident.
0:19:07 And I thought, there’s no way
0:19:10 this thing’s going to be able to process this.
0:19:11 And it was very hesitant.
0:19:14 It drove like what I would imagine
0:19:19 a scared 16 year old girl would approach the situation.
0:19:20 That sexist.
0:19:23 – Or a boy or a scared 16 year old boy.
0:19:25 – No, my boys decided you can make,
0:19:29 you can make a left on a red light if you just stop first.
0:19:30 That’s what he’s decided.
0:19:32 It’s like, wait, you just need to stop.
0:19:34 And then you can go, no, no, no, no, anyway.
0:19:38 So this thing went out very hesitant and it figured it out.
0:19:41 So the notion that we’re waiting, it’s just so ridiculous.
0:19:43 Tesla, in my view, has already lost.
0:19:45 Waymo’s doing a great job.
0:19:50 Uber has massive, I mean, the number of Teslas is dwarfed.
0:19:54 By the number of Uber rides out there every day.
0:19:57 And you gotta give, I think Dara Kastur Shahi
0:20:01 has done a fantastic job because in their DNA,
0:20:02 if you think about a lot of the companies
0:20:04 that have outperformed the market,
0:20:05 they’re asset-like, right?
0:20:06 They don’t have big catbacks.
0:20:08 Airbnb, Uber said, no, we don’t wanna be
0:20:10 in the business of owning real estate.
0:20:12 We don’t wanna be in the business of owning cars.
0:20:15 We’re gonna leverage other people’s catbacks investment.
0:20:18 So Dara said, rather than go into AI
0:20:19 and announce big partnerships
0:20:22 and that we’re putting 10 billion into AI and autonomous,
0:20:25 he just said, no, I’ll draft off of other people’s catbacks,
0:20:27 in this case, Google and Waymo,
0:20:30 which has spent kind of 15 years and tens of billions
0:20:33 of dollars and I’ll give them, I’ll co-brand,
0:20:35 I’ll have an offering.
0:20:37 This is kind of how you do it.
0:20:40 – And by the way, Uber had their own autonomous vehicle unit
0:20:42 which they scrapped in favor of this.
0:20:43 And I think the market said,
0:20:45 oh, they don’t know what they’re doing.
0:20:48 Actually, it’s a small move for exactly the reason you said.
0:20:51 No one’s complaining that Apple didn’t go deep
0:20:52 into AI spending.
0:20:57 They said, okay, similar to how Uber evaluated autonomous
0:21:00 and said, there are other people spending more money
0:21:01 than we need to, we’d be playing catch up.
0:21:03 Why don’t we just become a remora fish
0:21:06 off of that giant spending?
0:21:09 And despite the deep seek meltdown,
0:21:11 Apple has not registered a loss in their stock
0:21:14 because they never decided to get into this arms race.
0:21:16 So I really, I’m shocked.
0:21:18 I think Uber arguably,
0:21:19 I don’t wanna say it’s been the biggest turnaround,
0:21:23 but I think that you needed someone sort of crazy
0:21:25 in a reverent and provocative and build fast
0:21:27 and break things in Travis Kalanick.
0:21:28 I don’t think he gets enough credit
0:21:31 for what he envisioned and what he built.
0:21:32 I think it’s extraordinary.
0:21:36 But Dara came in and has just made a series of very,
0:21:39 what I’d call smart, thoughtful moves.
0:21:44 Oh, it’s about to sneeze.
0:21:49 Sorry, that’s my pre-ketamine face.
0:21:51 By the way, if you run into me tonight and I like me,
0:21:52 it means I’ve tried the ketamine.
0:21:53 I’m excited.
0:21:54 I’m gonna truck you down.
0:21:56 I’m gonna make sure I see Scott on ketamine.
0:21:58 Instead of my screensaver,
0:22:00 I have a picture of Preep Barara in his phone number
0:22:04 because he’s my one call if I get into trouble.
0:22:06 So I used to be my boys on my screensaver.
0:22:07 Now it’s gonna be Preep
0:22:09 ’cause if I get really fucked up, I’m calling him.
0:22:11 He just seems like very responsible
0:22:15 and he can get me out of any bad situation.
0:22:16 – We’ll be right back after the break
0:22:18 for a look at Spotify’s earnings.
0:22:20 If you’re enjoying the show so far,
0:22:22 be sure to give Proficy Markets follow
0:22:23 wherever you get your podcasts.
0:22:34 – Support for Proficy Markets comes from Found.
0:22:35 Have you ever been so bogged down
0:22:37 by your businesses finances that you look up
0:22:40 and realize you spent the entire day or a week
0:22:43 sifting through spreadsheets and filling out tax forms?
0:22:44 That’s probably not what you signed up for
0:22:45 when you started out.
0:22:47 With Found, you can finally spend a little less time
0:22:50 worried about finances and more time growing your business.
0:22:52 Found is a business-making platform
0:22:53 that lets you effortlessly track expenses,
0:22:57 manage invoices and prepare for taxes all in one place.
0:23:00 And Found doesn’t just consolidate your financial ecosystem.
0:23:01 Found automates manual activities,
0:23:04 including expense tracking and finding tax write-offs.
0:23:07 And the best part, no hidden fees.
0:23:08 That means no account maintenance fees,
0:23:10 no minimum balance, and it’s free to sign up.
0:23:12 Oh, and by the way,
0:23:14 other small businesses are loving Found too.
0:23:16 According to Found, one user said,
0:23:18 “Found is going to save me so much headache.
0:23:20 It makes everything so much easier.
0:23:23 Expenses, income, profits, taxes, invoices even.”
0:23:26 And they also claim they have 30,000 five-star reviews
0:23:27 just like this.
0:23:29 You can open a Found account for free
0:23:33 at found.com/propg.
0:23:35 Found is a financial technology company, not a bank.
0:23:37 Banking services are provided by Piermont Bank,
0:23:38 a member of FDIC.
0:23:40 You can join thousands of small business owners
0:23:42 who have streamlined the finances with Found.
0:23:46 Support for the show comes from Vanta.
0:23:48 Trust isn’t just earned, it’s demanded.
0:23:50 Whether you’re a startup founder navigating your first audit
0:23:51 or a seasoned security professional
0:23:54 scaling your GRC program,
0:23:55 proving your commitment to security
0:23:58 has never been more critical or more complex.
0:24:00 That’s where Vanta comes in.
0:24:01 Businesses use Vanta to establish trust
0:24:04 by automating compliance needs across over 35 frameworks,
0:24:08 including SOC2 and ISO 27001,
0:24:09 centralized security workflows,
0:24:12 complete questionnaires of the five times faster,
0:24:14 and proactively manage vendor risk.
0:24:17 Vanta not only saves you time, it can also save you money.
0:24:19 A new IDC white paper found that Vanta customers
0:24:23 achieved $535,000 per year in benefits
0:24:26 and the platform pays for itself in just three months.
0:24:28 You can join over 9,000 global companies
0:24:30 including Atlassian, Quora, and Factory
0:24:32 who use Vanta to manage risk and prove security
0:24:34 in real time.
0:24:38 For a limited time, our audience gets $1,000 off Vanta
0:24:40 at vanta.com/markets.
0:24:45 That’s V-A-N-T-A.com/markets for $1,000 off.
0:24:52 Support for the show comes from public.com.
0:24:53 All right, if you’re serious about investing,
0:24:55 you need to know about public.com.
0:24:57 That’s where you can invest in everything,
0:24:59 stocks, options, bonds, and more.
0:25:02 They even offer some of the highest yields in the industry,
0:25:05 like the bond account’s 6% or higher yield
0:25:08 that remains locked in even if the Fed cuts rates.
0:25:09 With public, you can get the tools you need
0:25:11 to make informed investment decisions.
0:25:14 The built-in AI tool called Alpha
0:25:16 doesn’t just tell you if an asset is moving,
0:25:18 it tells you why the asset is moving.
0:25:20 So you can actually understand
0:25:22 what’s driving your portfolio’s performance.
0:25:25 Public is a FINRA-registered SIPC-insured US-based company
0:25:28 with a customer support team that actually cares.
0:25:30 Bottom line, your investments deserve a platform
0:25:32 that takes them as seriously as you do.
0:25:33 Fund your account in five minutes or less
0:25:37 at public.com/profg and get up to $10,000
0:25:39 when you transfer your old portfolio.
0:25:42 That’s public.com/profg.
0:25:43 Paid for by public investing.
0:25:45 All investing involves the risk of loss,
0:25:46 including loss of principal.
0:25:48 Brokerage services for US-listed registered securities,
0:25:50 options, and bonds in a self-directed account
0:25:53 are offered by publicinvestinginc, member FINRA, and SIPC.
0:25:57 Complete disclosures available at public.com/disclosures.
0:25:59 (upbeat music)
0:26:06 We’re back with ProfG Markets.
0:26:09 Spotify posted its first full year of profitability ever
0:26:12 with gross profits rising 40% year over year.
0:26:15 The streaming platform also added a fourth quarter record
0:26:18 of 35 million monthly active users.
0:26:20 That’s a 5% increase from the previous quarter.
0:26:23 Spotify Wrapped was one of the top drivers
0:26:26 of user engagement, fueling double digit growth,
0:26:31 shares surged 13% after that earnings report.
0:26:33 I’m just gonna point out,
0:26:37 I made one prediction on our 2025 predictions episode.
0:26:40 And that was that Spotify would be the media platform
0:26:41 of the year in addition to YouTube,
0:26:44 which I’m also really bullish on.
0:26:47 But I am just consistently impressed
0:26:50 with this company, the innovation,
0:26:52 their integration of video,
0:26:54 the integration of comments and polls,
0:26:57 their transition to profitability now.
0:26:59 I think if there’s one platform
0:27:02 that can rival YouTube in this new digital age,
0:27:04 I think it’s Spotify.
0:27:06 And we’re starting to see it in the numbers here.
0:27:08 Scott, your reactions to Spotify’s earnings.
0:27:10 – I love Spotify.
0:27:12 I think I picked it as one of my stock picks five years ago.
0:27:15 I went flat for three years, so I got it wrong.
0:27:17 But there are very few companies
0:27:19 that are able to take an entire medium
0:27:22 and distill it down to an app, a searchable app.
0:27:24 I can find anything on Spotify.
0:27:25 And people say, well,
0:27:27 Apple and Amazon have done the same thing,
0:27:29 but to your point, they’ve really innovated.
0:27:31 The rap thing, I thought,
0:27:34 I’m not entirely sure how you connect rap to more revenues.
0:27:36 I thought it was cool.
0:27:38 And I like Spotify saying, by the way,
0:27:41 you listened to Tom Petty and some DJs and that’s about it.
0:27:43 But how does that, I’m curious.
0:27:44 I don’t understand the mechanics
0:27:46 of how that translates to more revenue.
0:27:49 Tell me young person, what is happening on Spotify?
0:27:52 – Well, they didn’t connect it to revenues,
0:27:54 but they connected it to user engagement,
0:27:56 which that’s what it’s all about.
0:27:58 It just creates heat and excitement.
0:28:02 And I think possibly, I mean, full disclosure,
0:28:05 I don’t use Spotify because I’ve always used Apple Music
0:28:09 and I’ve never wanted to go through the cumbersome process
0:28:11 of transporting everything over.
0:28:13 But when Spotify rap came out,
0:28:15 it was the first time I was like,
0:28:19 maybe I should switch because this just sounds fun
0:28:22 to have this little presentation about me
0:28:23 and all of my music habits.
0:28:27 So I think that would be the answer.
0:28:28 – Let me just give you a little insight
0:28:33 into the role that streaming music plays in mating.
0:28:36 If you’re ever at home with your girlfriend
0:28:38 and you’re thinking, I don’t want to have kids
0:28:39 and I don’t want to have sex.
0:28:41 – I know it’s coming, I know it’s wrong.
0:28:46 – Just play ad supported Pandora.
0:28:51 – Nothing says do not mate with me.
0:28:56 This is, you are taking the evolutionary pull down
0:29:00 a couple notches if you have sex with someone
0:29:02 who has ad supported Pandora.
0:29:06 I play, I love, I still have ad supported streaming radio
0:29:07 and I think it’s hilarious.
0:29:08 I play it and I’m like, oh my God,
0:29:11 the commercials are so bad, listen to this commercial.
0:29:14 Anyways, but back to, I’m shocked.
0:29:16 I thought you would have had Spotify.
0:29:17 I absolutely love Spotify.
0:29:19 And also they have the best party.
0:29:21 Just so you know, they have the best party at Cannad.
0:29:22 – Oh really?
0:29:23 – I’ll take you, you can be my date.
0:29:24 – I would love that invite.
0:29:26 Well, let’s just go over some of the numbers here
0:29:28 because I think they’re pretty incredible.
0:29:33 So Spotify’s monthly active users hit 675 million,
0:29:34 beat estimates by 10 million,
0:29:39 which means that one in 12 people on earth is on Spotify.
0:29:44 Premium subscribers grew 11% year over year.
0:29:46 That was despite the price hikes,
0:29:50 average revenue per user up 5%.
0:29:52 First profitable year in the company’s history,
0:29:53 which I think is a very big deal
0:29:58 and stock is now at an all-time high, $620 per share.
0:29:59 We should probably think about
0:30:01 what could go wrong for Spotify.
0:30:06 I think one potential issue is this growing public resentment
0:30:11 towards Spotify and specifically towards Spotify
0:30:13 and how they pay their artists.
0:30:17 So a lot of people say that Spotify squeezes their artists.
0:30:18 They don’t pay them enough.
0:30:22 They reward the top 1% and the other 99% get screwed.
0:30:24 And that’s timely because Chapel Roan,
0:30:28 who just won the best new artist award at the Grammys,
0:30:30 she actually called this out.
0:30:32 She didn’t call out Spotify specifically,
0:30:34 but she called out the whole music industry
0:30:36 of which of course Spotify plays a huge role.
0:30:38 So let’s just listen to what she said.
0:30:41 – I told myself, if I ever won a Grammy
0:30:43 and I got to stand up here
0:30:46 in front of the most powerful people in music,
0:30:49 I would demand that labels and the industry
0:30:52 profiting millions of dollars off of artists
0:30:55 would offer a livable wage in healthcare,
0:30:57 especially to developing artists.
0:31:00 (crowd cheering)
0:31:04 – Well, isn’t that fucking precious?
0:31:06 (laughing)
0:31:08 Well, here, if you, you know,
0:31:10 and if you get in front of a group of kids
0:31:13 in high school, tell them not to be music artists
0:31:15 because it’s a shitty industry with too many people
0:31:17 fighting over too few revenues
0:31:20 and a series of platforms that are developed in a monopoly.
0:31:25 So okay, the notion that’s great virtue signaling,
0:31:28 you know, good for you and it’s gonna,
0:31:30 it’s not gonna mean dick.
0:31:33 It’s not, these guys are doing their job.
0:31:37 If you wanted, all right, are you sincere?
0:31:39 Pull your shit off of Spotify.
0:31:43 Are you really sincere about helping an event
0:31:46 and call your friends, you know,
0:31:48 do you hang out with Beyonce, do you know Taylor Swift
0:31:52 and pull your shit off of Spotify?
0:31:55 Because as long as you have oligopolies,
0:31:57 they’re gonna extract more and more
0:32:00 and they find that the best way to get retention
0:32:03 is to just consistently recommend Taylor Swift
0:32:04 over and over.
0:32:09 And the notion that she’s gonna bully the record labels
0:32:11 Spotify is now worth more than all the record labels.
0:32:13 So if she really wanted to have an impact,
0:32:15 let me do some virtue signaling.
0:32:19 When Spotify decided to not fact check Joe Rogan
0:32:21 who would have one legitimate doctor on one day
0:32:24 and then an illegitimate doctor the next day
0:32:26 and create all sorts of vaccine hesitancy
0:32:28 and false equivalences,
0:32:31 I called them and said, we’re pulling Prove G off of Spotify.
0:32:34 I pulled my shit down and it cost us
0:32:35 somewhere between a quarter of a half a million.
0:32:39 So yeah, put your money where your fucking mouth is,
0:32:41 pull off of Spotify.
0:32:42 But there’s notion that you’re gonna shame people
0:32:45 in the audience to paying artists
0:32:47 who aren’t making them any money, more money.
0:32:48 Yeah, good luck with that, have at it.
0:32:50 – No, I completely agree with you.
0:32:53 And I think this just, it reminds me
0:32:56 of all the dynamics that we’ve seen in Hollywood.
0:33:00 And the reality is altists have been getting screwed
0:33:02 since the dawn of time.
0:33:06 And historically it’s been the record labels
0:33:09 that have screwed their artists.
0:33:11 And I think back to the 1950s,
0:33:12 this is probably the most famous examples
0:33:15 where you had all of these incredible black musicians
0:33:17 who are suddenly dominating the charts
0:33:19 and then none of them got rich
0:33:21 because they signed these shitty deals
0:33:24 that ultimately rewarded the owners of the record labels.
0:33:29 So this dynamic of artists getting screwed to an extent
0:33:34 is nothing new, but I don’t think,
0:33:37 I mean, a lot of people are blaming Spotify for this
0:33:39 saying that they just don’t pay them enough
0:33:40 and blaming the business model.
0:33:44 I really don’t think you can blame Spotify for this
0:33:48 because all you have to do is look at the financials.
0:33:49 You have to remember,
0:33:52 this is Spotify’s first ever year of profitability.
0:33:57 So for the 16 years before this, Spotify was losing money.
0:33:59 They were losing money to pay employees
0:34:01 and to pay for technology.
0:34:03 And yeah, to pay their artists.
0:34:07 And so I’m not trying to like make a sob story for Spotify,
0:34:10 but I think all I would say is this is a business
0:34:12 and the business has to make money.
0:34:16 And this year was the first time they ever did that.
0:34:18 The other side to this, you know,
0:34:21 one other way that they could have paid their artists more
0:34:24 or they could pay their artists more
0:34:28 would be to massively raise prices for the consumer.
0:34:30 But actually they haven’t done that.
0:34:32 And in the past 16 years,
0:34:37 the price has gone from 9.99 to 11.99.
0:34:40 So actually on an inflation adjusted basis,
0:34:42 Spotify actually got cheaper.
0:34:45 And then you compare that to things like Netflix.
0:34:47 Netflix has more than doubled its prices
0:34:48 in that same amount of time.
0:34:52 So, you know, I’m sure someone’s being greedy here.
0:34:55 I’m sure, you know, for the record label
0:34:59 has screwed some artists here or there.
0:35:03 But the fact that Spotify is getting wrapped into this
0:35:05 like as the big bad company
0:35:07 that’s just sort of ruining the music industry,
0:35:10 I just don’t think that is true.
0:35:12 And I think ultimately what this is
0:35:16 is that as you say, being a struggling artist
0:35:18 is a bad business.
0:35:20 It just doesn’t really work.
0:35:22 And in almost all industries,
0:35:27 it only starts to make you real money when you hit the 1%.
0:35:29 And finally, Chapel Roan has done that.
0:35:33 And I don’t think she’s gonna be giving her money away
0:35:34 to the other 99%.
0:35:36 I think she’s gonna be, you know,
0:35:39 claiming her check from whichever record label
0:35:40 she’s signed to.
0:35:45 So, I have a very boomery outlook on this.
0:35:46 Sounds like you do too.
0:35:48 And it sounds like we’re just in fervent agreement.
0:35:50 – We need a different term than boomery.
0:35:53 Look, the digitization of markets
0:35:56 results in a consolidation and a winner take most environment.
0:35:58 You digitize retail, you end up with one company
0:35:59 with 50% of all your commerce.
0:36:02 You digitize connections and socialization online.
0:36:04 You end up with one company meta that owns two thirds
0:36:06 of all social interactions online.
0:36:08 You digitize information.
0:36:11 One company ends up with 93% share of search.
0:36:14 You digitize mating and online dating.
0:36:19 And 80 to 90% of all swipe rights happens amongst
0:36:22 the 10% of most attractive males, right?
0:36:24 Men are less choosy, women are more choosy.
0:36:26 They all want the same guy.
0:36:28 And the same thing’s happening on these channels.
0:36:30 When you digitize a platform,
0:36:34 the Taylor Swift gets more listen,
0:36:37 more listen time than all of classical music now.
0:36:42 Taylor Swift is bigger than classical music or jazz,
0:36:44 the entire genre.
0:36:47 And it’s because the algorithms, they consolidate
0:36:50 and they say, okay, when everyone has access to everything,
0:36:54 the very best, and Taylor Swift is the very best,
0:36:57 according to hopped up 14 year olds on sugar,
0:36:59 they consolidate the market.
0:37:01 Now, I don’t know if there’s anything you can do.
0:37:03 The only things you can really do about this
0:37:04 on a systemic level is to make sure you have
0:37:07 a really robust FDC and DOJ
0:37:09 that makes sure there’s a lot of competition
0:37:12 such that you transfer money back from the monopolies
0:37:13 to the artists, to the means of production,
0:37:15 to the labor force.
0:37:16 The other thing you can do
0:37:18 is have minimum wage of 25 bucks an hour,
0:37:21 such that if these people have side hustles,
0:37:23 they’re at least making a good living.
0:37:26 But let me just, let me just clue young people in.
0:37:29 The world does not owe you your passion.
0:37:34 And you don’t have the right, the birthright to make music.
0:37:36 You have the birthright, in my opinion,
0:37:38 to make, to have healthcare.
0:37:41 I mean, let’s start there, healthcare, universal childcare.
0:37:44 You don’t have a birthright to be an independent music
0:37:46 producer or independent musician and make money.
0:37:48 These are, the vanity industries
0:37:50 will always have an overinvestment in human capital
0:37:52 and they’ll be a small number
0:37:54 and increasingly, unfortunately, a small number of people.
0:37:57 What I think you have to do is say, okay,
0:38:01 if you’re the backup drummer on a Kellogg’s ad,
0:38:03 they have to pay you at least 25 bucks an hour.
0:38:06 Anyways, I think this is a social issue
0:38:07 and we need to break up monopolies,
0:38:10 of which I’m not sure you could say Spotify’s a monopoly.
0:38:12 Everything’s going hunger games.
0:38:15 The winners leave it a remarkable life
0:38:17 and everyone else dies a slow death.
0:38:20 And if you want to change that,
0:38:21 you have to make systemic change
0:38:25 at education levels, antitrust levels,
0:38:28 but believing that somehow shaming the record labels
0:38:30 or Spotify and to paying people.
0:38:33 You know why they pay these people nothing?
0:38:34 Because they can.
0:38:36 And they’ll keep making music.
0:38:38 And by the way, the only way it gets better
0:38:40 is if it becomes such a shitty business
0:38:41 that just people don’t go into music
0:38:44 and over time they have to pay them more.
0:38:45 – Right?
0:38:46 – Anyway, I think the market,
0:38:48 I don’t want to say the market’s doing its job here,
0:38:50 but the solutions are societal.
0:38:51 They come out at DC.
0:38:54 They don’t come out of like virtue signaling
0:38:55 at the Grammys.
0:38:58 – We’ll be right back with a look at Google’s earnings.
0:38:59 If you’re enjoying the show so far,
0:39:03 hit follow and leave us a review on Prof.G Markets.
0:39:15 – Support for the show comes from Zbiotics.
0:39:16 We’ve all been there a great night out
0:39:18 followed by a rough next morning.
0:39:21 You can set yourself up for success with Zbiotics.
0:39:22 Zbiotics pre-alcohol probiotic drink
0:39:25 is the world’s first genetically engineered probiotic.
0:39:26 It was invented by PhD scientists
0:39:28 to tackle rough mornings after drinking.
0:39:31 And according to Zbiotics, here’s how it works.
0:39:33 When you drink, alcohol gets converted
0:39:35 into a toxic byproduct in the gut.
0:39:37 It’s this byproduct, not dehydration,
0:39:39 that’s to blame for your rough next day.
0:39:41 Pre-alcohol produces an enzyme
0:39:42 to break this byproduct down.
0:39:44 Just remember to make pre-alcohol
0:39:46 your first drink of the night.
0:39:48 Drink responsibly and you’ll feel your best tomorrow.
0:39:52 So I have done this, and I wanna be thoughtful
0:39:55 about my comments here, but I did notice
0:39:58 a tangible difference in the way I felt the next day.
0:39:59 It’s not a cure.
0:40:02 It doesn’t get rid of all that slowness or headache
0:40:05 or whatever you might feel after drinking alcohol.
0:40:06 I felt less bad if you will.
0:40:10 Go to zbiotics.com/profg to learn more
0:40:12 and get 15% off your first order
0:40:13 when you use ProfG at checkout.
0:40:16 Zbiotics is backed with a 100% money back guarantee,
0:40:18 so if you’re unsatisfied for any reason,
0:40:20 they’ll refund your money, no questions asked.
0:40:23 Remember to head to zbiotics.com/profg
0:40:26 and use the code “profg@checkout” for 15% off.
0:40:32 Thumbtack presents the ins and outs
0:40:34 of caring for your home.
0:40:38 Out, procrastination, putting it off,
0:40:41 kicking the can down the road.
0:40:44 In, plans and guides that make it easy
0:40:45 to get home projects done.
0:40:50 Out, carpet in the bathroom, like why.
0:40:56 In, knowing what to do, when to do it, and who to hire.
0:41:00 Start caring for your home with confidence.
0:41:01 Download Thumbtack today.
0:41:07 – This is an ad from BetterHelp Online Therapy.
0:41:09 We always hear about the red flags
0:41:10 to avoid in relationships,
0:41:13 but it’s just as important to focus on the green flags.
0:41:15 If you’re not quite sure what they look like,
0:41:17 Therapy can help you identify those qualities
0:41:19 so you can embody the green flag energy
0:41:20 and find it in others.
0:41:23 BetterHelp offers Therapy 100% online
0:41:25 and sign up only takes a few minutes.
0:41:27 Visit BetterHelp.com today
0:41:29 to get 10% off your first month.
0:41:32 That’s BetterHelp, H-E-L-P.com.
0:41:40 We’re back with ProfG Markets.
0:41:43 Google’s fourth quarter earnings largely disappointed.
0:41:47 Revenue grew 12%, which was the slowest pace since 2023.
0:41:49 Growth in the cloud division
0:41:51 also slowed from the previous quarter.
0:41:54 Still, CEO Sunder Pichai highlighted
0:41:57 the company’s accelerated investments in AI data centers
0:41:59 with plans to increase capital expenditures
0:42:03 to $75 billion this year.
0:42:05 That’s up from $52.5 billion last year.
0:42:10 The stock fell 7% following that earnings report.
0:42:14 Just wanna quickly touch on why the stock fell so much.
0:42:17 By the way, that was Google’s fifth worst trading day
0:42:18 in 10 years.
0:42:21 It erased $200 billion in value.
0:42:24 So you would think based on that
0:42:28 that Google had a dreadful quarter.
0:42:31 Actually, on the whole, it was fine-ish.
0:42:36 Revenue up 12%, roughly in line with expectations.
0:42:40 Net income up 28%, it beat expectations.
0:42:43 The problem, as we keep on seeing with big tech,
0:42:47 was this one number, which was the cloud revenue,
0:42:50 or you might call it the AI revenue.
0:42:53 And that was $12 billion up 30%,
0:42:57 but most importantly, lower than what Wall Street predicted.
0:43:01 And I think in 2025, if you are a big tech company
0:43:04 and you’re not smashing expectations in AI specifically,
0:43:06 your stock is immediately gonna drop.
0:43:08 It’s just a non-starter.
0:43:10 This is, by the way, exactly what happened
0:43:11 to Microsoft the week before.
0:43:14 They had decent earnings, AI revenue missed,
0:43:18 $200 billion in market cap erased overnight.
0:43:21 Let’s get your reactions to Google’s earnings, I guess,
0:43:25 particularly this obsession with the cloud revenue
0:43:27 and missing on those estimates.
0:43:30 – Yeah, look, it’s impossible to ever count them out.
0:43:31 They have five separate businesses
0:43:33 that do more than $30 billion in annual.
0:43:34 This is a really robust business,
0:43:38 meaning that while they’re kind of core business of search,
0:43:41 they have five companies that could be
0:43:44 $100 billion plus market cap companies.
0:43:45 They’re very diversified,
0:43:47 and they coordinate, cooperate with each other,
0:43:49 which is probably not a good thing.
0:43:52 But between Google Search, the DisplayOut Network,
0:43:54 YouTube, and subscriptions,
0:43:57 that’s YouTube Premium, Google Play, and then cloud.
0:43:59 They just have some amazing businesses.
0:44:01 The analysts here made the analogy.
0:44:03 It’s like having the revenue power of five Starbucks
0:44:05 or five visas.
0:44:08 The thing that I think was the scariest thing in here
0:44:11 was one, analysts pointed to the fact that
0:44:13 their cloud business was not growing as fast,
0:44:14 which they saw as an indicator
0:44:17 they haven’t figured out a way to monetize AI
0:44:20 from the company that had most of the IP around AI.
0:44:21 I think the scarier number here
0:44:23 is that for the first time, their market share,
0:44:25 the scariest number for Google shareholders,
0:44:28 I should say, or for Alphabet shareholders,
0:44:30 is that for the first time, their market share of search
0:44:32 dropped below 90%.
0:44:37 And so what I’m hearing from some young people
0:44:39 is they have totally abandoned Google Search
0:44:43 and are now just using AI, that they just get more.
0:44:47 And I’ve found myself getting impatient with Google Search
0:44:49 and just going to chat to BTR Anthropic
0:44:51 and typing in a question.
0:44:54 And I find it just, it doesn’t give me 500 links
0:44:55 to make me sort through them.
0:44:57 It just says, it tries to give me,
0:45:00 it tries to answer the question, right?
0:45:02 Because with Google right now, it’s a query,
0:45:05 but it’s also an invitation to throw a bunch of shit at me
0:45:08 that’s not accurate that you think you can further monetize
0:45:10 and take me to another place.
0:45:11 Whereas chat GPT, although it hallucinates
0:45:13 and as does Anthropic,
0:45:16 it attempts to actually answer the question in one shot.
0:45:18 And so you could see the stock,
0:45:22 if Google Search share drops below 85%
0:45:23 in the next 12 months,
0:45:25 I think you get the stock really get hammered
0:45:27 because what that means is that their ultimate toll booth,
0:45:29 it’s losing its power.
0:45:30 And at the same time,
0:45:34 they announced an increase in CapEx from 58 billion to 75,
0:45:36 which the market didn’t like.
0:45:39 But I still think this stock and this company
0:45:44 have so many amazing, at the same time YouTube is growing.
0:45:48 We’ve said this before that Netflix isn’t a premier streamer.
0:45:51 It really is YouTube if you’re talking about video.
0:45:52 But I think fears around AI,
0:45:55 they haven’t figured out an AI strategy to monetize
0:45:59 and to search dipping below 90%,
0:46:02 I think analysts are gonna keep watching
0:46:05 what’s happening to a search share
0:46:06 because I could see an environment
0:46:08 where if there’s enough applications
0:46:11 and these AI guys continue to raise this kind of capital,
0:46:12 I think you could see in a year,
0:46:16 their search volume go from 90 to 70%.
0:46:19 – I think I disagree on these points.
0:46:21 And I think the market share,
0:46:23 the search market share is an important point
0:46:26 that has to be tracked and we’ll see what happens.
0:46:29 But I can just say from my experience,
0:46:30 I do use chat GPT,
0:46:35 but I would say it’s 95% Google and 5% chat GPT
0:46:39 and maybe 1% other tools.
0:46:44 So search is still an incredibly valuable product to me.
0:46:47 And I think it’s still an incredibly valuable product
0:46:48 to many others.
0:46:51 And I think that’s why you’re seeing their search revenue
0:46:55 is continuing to grow quite steadily
0:46:58 on the cloud revenue point.
0:47:00 I think it’s important to note,
0:47:03 the reason Google missed on cloud this quarter
0:47:06 was not because there wasn’t enough demand,
0:47:09 it was because they couldn’t keep up with supply.
0:47:12 They literally don’t have enough compute,
0:47:15 which you might say, okay, well, that’s another problem.
0:47:16 But then you realize,
0:47:19 well, actually they’re about to invest $75 billion
0:47:21 into data centers this year,
0:47:24 which solves exactly that problem.
0:47:27 So, you know, I see the stock dipping
0:47:30 because everyone’s getting all wigged out
0:47:32 about this cloud revenue thing.
0:47:34 But to me, I see it as kind of a good problem.
0:47:36 There’s too much demand
0:47:38 and now they’re investing in meeting that demand.
0:47:41 So I see this, I think they’re being over-punished
0:47:42 for those cloud numbers.
0:47:45 I also think they’re being over-punished for deep seek,
0:47:48 which we can get into.
0:47:51 But, you know, 25 times earnings,
0:47:53 lowest P multiple in all of tech.
0:47:56 Meanwhile, you’ve got Apple at 37 with what?
0:47:58 2% revenue growth.
0:48:02 You got Google over here growing at 12, 13, 14%.
0:48:06 I think that it’s perhaps being over-punished here.
0:48:07 – I like your take better than mine.
0:48:08 I would draw the comment.
0:48:10 I think your take is better than mine.
0:48:13 The thing you said there that stick out was 25.
0:48:15 Cheapest company in tech,
0:48:17 the diversification of the revenue streams.
0:48:20 I like how you couch it against valuation
0:48:23 and that it’s arguably the cheapest of the big tech players.
0:48:27 And the reason I love Alphabet is because, you know,
0:48:29 it’s impossible not to find a business
0:48:32 that’s not, you know, only meeting expectations
0:48:34 when you have five different businesses.
0:48:36 But the reality is they have five different businesses.
0:48:38 They’re hugely diversified.
0:48:42 And their ability to coordinate and cooperate
0:48:44 and share data to the users
0:48:48 and the advertisers detriment is extraordinary there.
0:48:49 They’re kind of the only other company
0:48:51 that can gather this much, who grew up this much data
0:48:54 and then use it to increase prices
0:48:56 or rents on people is meta.
0:48:57 And these guys have it.
0:49:00 They also have the second largest operating system
0:49:01 or actually the largest operating system,
0:49:05 but the second most profitable in mobile with Android.
0:49:08 So you just, this is one of those stocks, I think,
0:49:10 especially at this price, you just own it.
0:49:11 You know, you just–
0:49:13 – You better own it. – You just own it.
0:49:15 – By the way, just on YouTube,
0:49:19 10 and a half billion dollars in ad revenue, up 14%.
0:49:21 It is still the fastest growing unit
0:49:22 in the Google ad business.
0:49:25 It’s still bigger than Netflix.
0:49:28 And I pointed out it’s the most popular
0:49:30 TV streaming platform in the US.
0:49:35 It is now also the most popular podcasting platform too.
0:49:37 More popular than Spotify,
0:49:40 twice as popular as Apple podcasts.
0:49:43 So this thing is just growing so rapidly
0:49:45 and it’s already a behemoth.
0:49:48 It’s already way bigger than Netflix.
0:49:52 I’m so, I mean, we’ve been bullish on YouTube for a while.
0:49:55 I just, I remain extremely bullish on YouTube.
0:49:58 – YouTube is now the largest podcast distribution platform.
0:50:00 The more people are listening to podcasts now
0:50:03 in terms of listenership on YouTube,
0:50:05 then they are on Apple or Spotify.
0:50:07 – Yeah, and then just one final point here,
0:50:09 we should touch on is this CAPEX.
0:50:12 I think there were a lot of questions following deep seek
0:50:15 as to whether big tech would be pulling back
0:50:17 from all of this AI CAPEX spending.
0:50:19 The answer we’ve gotten from this round of earnings
0:50:21 is a resounding no.
0:50:22 It’s kind of crazy.
0:50:25 You’ve got Google spending $75 billion,
0:50:27 way up from last year.
0:50:29 You got Meta spending $65 billion,
0:50:33 Microsoft $85 billion, Amazon more than $90 billion.
0:50:36 This is more than $300 billion in CAPEX,
0:50:38 all coming down the pipeline for 2025.
0:50:40 It’s all going to go to AI,
0:50:42 which presumably means it’s all going to go
0:50:44 to Nvidia pretty much.
0:50:48 So I’m just looking at what’s happened with deep seek here.
0:50:52 I’m struck by the extent to which deep seek
0:50:54 did not affect the AI CAPEX story,
0:50:57 at least in this round of earnings.
0:50:59 Maybe that’s going to change next quarter
0:51:01 and they’re going to switch things up.
0:51:03 But so far at least the plan
0:51:06 is basically completely unchanged.
0:51:10 Let’s take a look at the week ahead.
0:51:12 We’ll see the consumer and producer price indices
0:51:13 for January.
0:51:17 We’ll also see earnings from McDonald’s, Shopify, Reddit,
0:51:18 and Airbnb.
0:51:21 Scott, do you have any predictions?
0:51:23 You’re a big shareholder in two of those companies.
0:51:25 – Yeah, they’re both going good, especially Reddit.
0:51:26 Jesus.
0:51:28 God, why didn’t I buy more?
0:51:29 That was so obvious.
0:51:30 – Come on, you did well.
0:51:31 – You have been out well.
0:51:32 Dude, I’m glass half empty.
0:51:34 Haven’t you figured that out?
0:51:36 Anyway, so my prediction is the following
0:51:38 and I didn’t have one, but you inspired one.
0:51:41 I think Joe Rogan is about to be displaced.
0:51:44 I think that the new number one podcasters
0:51:48 will either be Mel Robbins ’cause she’s so talented
0:51:50 at like connecting emotion with psychology.
0:51:51 I think she’s outstanding.
0:51:56 But my outside shot here is I think that the new Joe Rogan
0:51:58 is Steve Bartlett, diary of a CEO.
0:52:00 And it’s for the reason you stated.
0:52:03 And that is the first thing I did literally
0:52:06 when I landed in London, a friend of mine said,
0:52:09 “There’s this Brazilian party at Five Hurtford.”
0:52:11 And I went and it was like an amazing party
0:52:12 with hot people everywhere.
0:52:14 And I’m like, “I love London.”
0:52:16 It’s been downhill since then.
0:52:19 And then the next day, the first thing I did,
0:52:21 this is all true is I went on this podcast
0:52:24 of this young handsome guy who was supposed to be,
0:52:27 he was like the number 10 podcaster in the UK.
0:52:30 But I thought, “Oh, I wanna get to know people in the UK.”
0:52:31 And it was Diary of a CEO.
0:52:33 And I think I’ve been on his show four times now.
0:52:36 And the thing that just blew me away,
0:52:38 and this is two and a half years ago,
0:52:41 was he had probably six people in the room
0:52:46 and five of them were focused on camera work.
0:52:48 He had lighting, obviously amazing sound,
0:52:52 but swivel cameras and cameras on sleds,
0:52:54 getting different shots.
0:52:56 And he forces everyone to come into the studio
0:52:58 as does Rich Roll actually.
0:53:01 And the result is just these podcasts
0:53:03 that are just kind of visually arresting
0:53:04 and do really well.
0:53:09 And he also was testing, A/B testing like crazy buttons.
0:53:11 And I don’t know if you’ve seen his promos, but–
0:53:12 – They’re incredible.
0:53:13 – He’ll do something where I’ll say,
0:53:15 the secret to happiness is,
0:53:17 and then I’ll like goon, cut away and say,
0:53:21 tune in now, he just spends a ton of time
0:53:24 optimizing for YouTube before it was cool.
0:53:26 And the result is he’s now the number one podcaster
0:53:30 in Europe and I think he’s number nine in America.
0:53:32 I think he’s gonna be number one
0:53:36 because he understands the medium of YouTube.
0:53:39 He’s weaponizing and leveraging
0:53:42 what is now the biggest distribution platform
0:53:43 in podcasting, that’s YouTube.
0:53:45 So my prediction is the new Joe Rogan
0:53:47 or the person who’s gonna displace Joe Rogan
0:53:49 as the biggest podcaster in the world
0:53:52 is Steven Bartlett from Diary of CEO.
0:53:54 – But you’re missing someone.
0:53:54 – Ed Elson?
0:53:57 – Two of us, we’re investing in video.
0:54:00 We don’t have swivel cameras yet, but we’re working on it.
0:54:01 – Yeah, I think–
0:54:02 – We can– – I don’t wanna be that big.
0:54:05 I wanna have enough money just to have a second jet
0:54:07 in unlimited supply academy,
0:54:09 but I don’t see us as the number one podcast.
0:54:11 I think that, I think we wanna be,
0:54:12 well, we could be number one in business.
0:54:14 We’re talking about, by the way in a meeting today folks,
0:54:17 we’re talking about Ed going daily.
0:54:20 We’re talking about doing a daily property markets
0:54:23 to talk about the markets ’cause the news keeps coming.
0:54:24 But I think we could be number one in business.
0:54:26 We’re in the top 10 in business
0:54:27 and occasionally we’d pop into the top five,
0:54:30 but that guy, David Ramsey,
0:54:32 who keeps selling expensive mutual funds
0:54:34 and saying that you can pick a mutual fund.
0:54:37 – We could beat the Ramsey network, surely.
0:54:38 – Yeah.
0:54:39 – We gotta do that.
0:54:40 – I love shitposting our competition.
0:54:42 That’s so classy, isn’t it?
0:54:43 It’s so big of me.
0:54:45 But anyways, let’s go back to my prediction
0:54:47 where I can actually lift up young people.
0:54:51 Diary of a CEO, Steven Bartlett, he’s the new Joe Rogan.
0:54:53 – This episode was produced by Claire Miller
0:54:55 and engineered by Benjamin Spencer.
0:54:56 Our associate producer is Alison Weiss.
0:54:58 Mia Silverio is our research lead.
0:55:01 Isabella Kinsel is our research associate.
0:55:02 Drew Burris is our technical director.
0:55:05 And Catherine Dillon is our executive producer.
0:55:06 Thank you for listening to Prof.G Markets
0:55:08 from the Vox Media Podcast Network.
0:55:12 Join us on Thursday for our conversation with Alice Hahn
0:55:13 only on Prof.G Markets.
0:55:20 ♪ Lifetimes ♪
0:55:26 ♪ You help me ♪
0:55:32 ♪ In kind reunion ♪
0:55:39 ♪ As the world turns ♪
0:55:44 ♪ And the dark lights ♪
0:55:49 ♪ In love ♪
0:55:52 (gentle music)
0:55:58 – The key to good leadership is to motivate people
0:56:00 and give them a vested interest in the success
0:56:01 of the company I’m announcing today
0:56:03 that we’re doing really well.
0:56:07 And if the company and individuals such as yourself
0:56:09 continue to perform like this,
0:56:11 because I want to create motivation
0:56:13 that there’s a really good chance
0:56:15 if you guys continue to show the same type of talent
0:56:18 and commitment that I’ll be able to get a second plane.
0:56:20 (laughing)
0:56:23 That’s…
0:56:26 But I want you guys to just–
0:56:27 – I always know what it’s come to.
0:56:27 – I don’t want to promise anything.
0:56:28 – I don’t want to promise anything.
0:56:29 – It’s like sullen.
0:56:33 You start looking down at the floor and I just know it’s coming.
0:56:34 – It’s not sullen, it’s my age.
0:56:35 You’re getting a map.
0:56:38 If you continue to perform like this,
0:56:39 daddy might be able to get a Gulf Stream.
0:56:41 I want to motivate you.
0:56:43 I want to keep you in the game.
0:56:44 Super exciting.
0:56:46 I promise to send you photos.
0:56:47 – Okay.
0:56:49 – Seriously, Ed, something to look forward to.
0:56:51 (laughing)
0:56:53 Now get out there, little soldier.

Follow Prof G Markets:

Scott and Ed open the show by discussing Disney, Novo Nordisk and Uber’s earnings. Then they break down Spotify’s results and discuss Chappell Roan’s Grammy speech criticizing the music industry. Scott outlines how she could drive real impact in the industry, while Ed explains why he doesn’t think Spotify is to blame for the struggle of artists. Finally, they unpack Google’s earnings, with Scott highlighting the biggest red flag for shareholders and Ed explaining why he remains bullish on the company.

Subscribe to the Prof G Markets newsletter 

Order “The Algebra of Wealth,” out now

Subscribe to No Mercy / No Malice

Follow the podcast across socials @profgpod:

Follow Scott on Instagram

Follow Ed on Instagram and X

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *