Bloomberg Businessweek Podcast Summary

Episode: A Blue Owl-Linked Structured Note Is Now Worth Just 47 Cents
Date: February 19, 2026
Hosts: Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec
Guests: Dylan Field (Figma CEO), Olivia Fishlow (Bloomberg News), Kate Gulliver (Wayfair CFO), Perry Peltz & Matthew O’Neill (Directors/Producers)

Episode Overview

This episode delivers a rapid tour of today’s key business and economic stories affecting investors and consumers, with a special focus on:

• Tech sector volatility and AI’s impact, featuring Figma’s CEO
• Private credit market anxiety after Blue Owl’s fund troubles
• Wayfair’s quarterly results and the evolving consumer landscape
• Legal and social accountability for social media companies, through the lens of the new documentary "Can't Look Away"

1. Tech & AI: Figma’s Resilience Amid Sector Turbulence

[02:02-13:44]

Key Discussion Points:

• Figma stock spiked after a strong earnings beat, despite being well off its post-IPO highs.
• Dylan Field, Figma CEO, addresses investor concerns about whether AI-powered disruption is threatening Figma’s business.
• Figma has doubled its product line and shipped 200+ new features in 2025.
• Integration of Claude Code allows developers to bring app states directly into Figma Design, showcasing AI-driven workflow improvements.
• The company’s AI features have rapidly gained traction among enterprise customers.
• Field argues that in design, unlike code or math, value is subjective—making human creativity and taste a lasting differentiator.

Notable Quotes:

• Dylan Field [03:47]:
  “As AI gets better, Figma gets better… If you can go create that map of what the software can be… you don’t just need to make a product, you need to make the best product. Craft is a differentiator.”
• Dylan Field [06:11]:
  “For Figma, we passed that test…Over half of our large customers are building in Figma Make on a weekly basis—and that’s up from 30% in Q3.”
• Dylan Field [09:29]:
  “Design, totally not verifiable… If you get it right and you can lean into craft and you can lean into design as a differentiator, that is how you’re going to win in software.”
• Dylan Field [11:20]:
  “We are not trying to be a frontier lab… You can see the spend around inference show up in our gross margin and I think that we did well to hold that flat.”

2. Blue Owl Fund Turmoil: What It Signals for Private Credit

[14:04-16:20]

Key Discussion Points:

• Blue Owl Capital has restricted redemptions from one of its private credit funds.
• Portfolio loan sales are being executed to pay back investors; only 34% sold so far, suggesting challenges ahead.
• Investor anxiety is reflected in sector-wide declines, impacting Ares, Apollo, and Blackstone.
• Concerns grow for retail investors decoupled from the illiquidity risks of these private credit funds.

Notable Quotes:

• Olivia Fishlow [14:37]:
  “This is one of Blue Owl’s funds…They’ve sold loans from the portfolio in order to start paying investors back and winding down this vehicle.”
• Olivia Fishlow [15:44]:
  “These are retail vehicles but they house illiquid private credit loans…The concern is ‘Will I actually be able to get that money back?’”

3. Wayfair’s Momentum and the Online/Offline Consumer

[20:27-30:42]

Key Discussion Points:

• Wayfair sees strong Q4, 7% revenue growth, and improved profitability; stock nearly doubles over 12 months.
• Category-wise, bigger-ticket furniture items are sluggish, while decorative and lower-ticket goods hold up better.
• The rise of “K-shaped” consumer economy: growth in luxury brands (e.g., Paragould) outpaces core business.
• Wayfair’s store roll-out: Chicago flagship leads to 10% higher statewide growth vs. national average.
• AI used to drive hyper-personalization—serving customers product options matching individual taste and letting users manipulate designs within the app.
• Buy-now, pay-later options available, but penetration is less than traditional furniture chains.

Notable Quotes:

• Kate Gulliver [21:30]:
  “We feel that we produced pretty strong results… ongoing market share gains and improved profitability.”
• Kate Gulliver [24:06]:
  “You mentioned some of the luxury peers…Our Paragould brand [is] growing really north of 20%…The higher net-worth consumer is accelerating beyond the overall core business.”
• Kate Gulliver [27:28]:
  “If you look at the entire state of Illinois versus the rest of the country, since the [Chicago] store opened, it’s had a 10% CAGR higher than the rest of the country.”
• Kate Gulliver [29:00]:
  “One thing that we can do with AI is help get more personalized for your style preferences…If we land on the site, we’re serving up to each of us exactly that end table that we want. Generative AI allows us to do that.”

4. Social Media, Litigation & Accountability

[33:44-40:18]

Key Discussion Points:

• Perry Peltz and Matthew O’Neill discuss their documentary “Can't Look Away,” which follows families and lawyers pursuing social media giants over child addiction and harms.
• Attention is on landmark litigation targeting platforms like Facebook/Meta, with implications for hundreds of other pending cases.
• Comparison with global regulatory approaches (US “debates”, Europe “regulates”, Australia “bans”), with the US lagging on meaningful restrictions or accountability.
• The complex challenge of holding giants like Meta financially liable.
• Cultural response includes parents opting for “dumb phones” to protect children, but individual action can’t outpace systemic issues.

Notable Quotes:

• Perry Peltz [35:57]:
  “If we look globally… the US debates, Europe regulates, and Australia bans.”
• Perry Peltz [37:05]:
  “You can’t out-parent a trillion-dollar algorithm. That’s just the truth. And we are laggards.”
• Perry Peltz [39:38]:
  “If we look back at tobacco… it took almost 40 years to get legislation, opioids almost 30. We’re at least at a place… we’re starting to take this really seriously.”

5. Noteworthy Timestamps & Highlights

• Figma CEO interview: [02:56–13:44]
• Blue Owl/Private Credit Segment: [14:04–16:20]
• Wayfair CFO interview: [20:27–30:42]
• Documentary directors on social media litigation: [33:44–40:18]

Memorable Moments

• Figma CEO on the power and limits of AI in creative industries:
  “Design, totally not verifiable… If you get it right and you can lean into craft and you can lean into design as a differentiator, that is how you’re going to win in software.” (Dylan Field, [09:29])
• Real-time stress test for retail investors in private credit, with fears over fund illiquidity mounting.
• Wayfair’s Chicago store exemplifies the omnichannel "halo" effect—brick-and-mortar boosts regional digital sales.
• Documentary segment places the tech accountability debate in historical context, likening it to public health and consumer protection battles around tobacco and opioids.

Summary

This episode spotlights the volatility and adaptation in current markets—both in tech/AI and private lending—and how businesses like Figma and Wayfair are responding to investor and consumer demands. It also takes a hard look at the growing movement to hold Big Tech accountable for societal harms. Lively interviews offer transparency and insight into decision-making at top firms and the courtroom battles redefining digital responsibility.