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- [00:00]
Paul Sweeney
Ditch the complexity. Intuit Enterprise Suite delivers AI native ERP that is intuitive and intelligent. Scale faster with advanced control. Getting started in days, not months. Learn more@intuit.com Enterprise and get the power you need.
- [00:17]
Scarlet Fu
Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts, Radio News this is Bloomberg Intelligence with Scarlet Fu and Paul Sweeney.
- [00:28]
Paul Sweeney
How do you think the Fed is looking at tariffs, the uncertainty of tariffs?
- [00:32]
Scarlet Fu
Let's take take a look at the sectors and how they perform.
- [00:34]
Paul Sweeney
A lot of investors getting whipsawed every.
- [00:36]
Scarlet Fu
Day by news events, breaking market headlines and corporate news from across the globe. Could we see a market disruption, a market event?
- [00:43]
Paul Sweeney
People just too exuberant out there.
- [00:45]
Scarlet Fu
You see some so called low quality stocks driving this short term rally. Bloomberg Intelligence with Scarlet Fu and Paul.
- [00:52]
Jennifer Rhee
Sweeney on Bloomberg Radio, YouTube and Bloomberg.
- [00:55]
Paul Sweeney
Originals on today's Bloomberg Intelligence show, we dig inside the big business stories impacting Wall street and the global markets.
- [01:02]
Scarlet Fu
Each and every week we provide in depth research and data on some of the 2000 companies and 130 industries our analysts cover worldwide.
- [01:08]
Paul Sweeney
Today we'll look at why impulse purchases may still favor in person engagement even as retailers ramp up investment.
- [01:15]
Scarlet Fu
Plus a look at why restaurant sales may increase in 2026 despite economic headwinds.
- [01:19]
Paul Sweeney
But first, we move to research Bloomberg Intelligence recently put out on the US antitrust landscape in 2026.
- [01:25]
Scarlet Fu
According to Buy, big businesses in the US are likely to face uneven antitrust enforcement in the first quarter.
- [01:31]
Paul Sweeney
And on the M and A front, most deals likely have a path to clearance, even those that raise concerns.
- [01:36]
Scarlet Fu
For more, guest host Alexandra Semenova and I were joined by Jennifer Rhee, Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Litigation Analyst. We began by asking Jen if there's an active antitrust monitoring happening now as the Trump administration wants to see deals being made.
- [01:49]
Jennifer Rhee
We are really seeing very little activity from the Department of Justice, a little bit more from the Federal Trade Commission. But even in their case it's been pretty restrained. And it seems that both authorities are really willing to work with the companies if they think that there's a problem with the deal to work out some kind of settlement. And that's what didn't exist during the Biden administration and why deal making was so stymied at that time. And I think most companies see if we can come up if we have a problem. A lot of deals don't. But if we do and we can come up with a solution, we can probably get it cleared.
- [02:20]
Alexandra Semenova
Jen, you mentioned muted activity from the regulators, but are there any industries that they're targeting right now more than others?
- [02:27]
Jennifer Rhee
Well, it looks like it. It's interesting that we see Boston Scientific has a deal because of the few challenges that have been brought to deals by the F. They've been in the health care space, one in the housing area, construction adhesives, which is a recent case they filed, but two in the health care space. And it doesn't surprise me really, because these are very sensitive sectors, consumer facing sectors, and that does align with essentially a populist agenda which they talked about in the beginning when they took on their positions. And so I think we'll probably see if we see continued activity in those areas or other very sensitive consumer areas.
- [03:03]
Alexandra Semenova
Jen, the past couple of years saw a lot of high profile antitrust cases, specifically within big tech. We had rulings against Google and Meta. What kind of precedent have they set for big tech regulation in 2026?
- [03:16]
Jennifer Rhee
Well, what they're showing is that it's going to be very, very difficult for US Antitrust agencies to actually tame what they view as monopolistic conduct. I mean, they did win technically against Google with respect to monopolizing search, but the remedy was fairly weak. They didn't get what they were looking for. Look at what Google's doing now with AI with Apple, which is exactly what the plaintiffs were trying to avoid. Dominance in AI after dominance in search. The difficulty they have is even where they win on liability, they have a really tough time with remedies. Most US Federal judges are going to be very cautious when it comes to meddling in business and the way a sector may develop, especially in technology because it's so rapidly changing and nobody knows where it's going. So where you have these cautious judges, you're just not going to get the drastic remedies that are probably the remedies that are needed to really do something about the market positions of some of these companies. So we're seeing that it's going to be difficult. But what we haven't seen as much of a let up on the cases that were inherited from the Biden administration. This DOJ and FTC are continuing to go after these cases in court. They're continuing to pursue what you might think of as a drastic remedy, a structural remedy. The next test will be Live Nation.
- [04:33]
Scarlet Fu
Okay, so we'll watch for that. And it's a bit of leftover from the previous administration. We talk about regulators and that's usually how the antitrust enforcement shows up or any kind of pushback from government authorities. But there's also the role of President Trump as well. And he's made clear that because he has some firm opinions about certain companies in certain sectors that he's going to be, what he says, personally involved in some of them.
- [04:57]
Jennifer Rhee
That's right.
- [04:58]
Scarlet Fu
Is there a playbook for this? I mean, how do regulators work in concert with a mercurial president?
- [05:04]
Jennifer Rhee
You know, there really isn't a playbook. This is somewhat unprecedented. Now, there are many that would argue that this kind of started during the Biden administration, but we have authorities at the Federal Trade Commission and Department of justice that are very much trying to align what they're doing in the antitrust space with the policy priorities of this administration, I think much more so than in the past. And they just don't look like they'd be willing to buck the White House if the White House has some feel or some something, you know, an issue with the deal. Right. So we're seeing a lot of alignment, and we're also seeing a lot of preemptive alignment. Yes, preemptive alignment. And we're seeing a lot of lobbying, which we hadn't seen before, too, in the overruling of the antitrust division by senior officials who are talking to lobbyists. And so there is a lot of concern right now in the antitrust community about the rule of lobbying really prevailing over the rule of law when it comes to merger enforcement.
- [06:00]
Scarlet Fu
And this is stuff that we see after the fact, you know, after an announcement has made, as opposed to during it.
- [06:05]
Jennifer Rhee
That's right. We see reports. And of course, I'm not privy to what's going on behind closed doors, but there has been a lot of news reporting and a former senior FTC official who recently left, who's spoken out about some of the activities related to the Hewlett Packard Juniper deal. Now, most recently, we have a deal between two huge real estate brokerages, Compass and Anywhere that was cleared very quickly without even a deep investigation by the Federal Trade Commission. Sorry, the Department of Justice. That surprised a lot. I think it even surprised the companies that had projected to close much later this year. And apparently that was also because lobbyists had stepped in.
- [06:40]
Paul Sweeney
Our thanks to Jennifer Ree, Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Litigation Analyst. We move now to a conversation about artificial intelligence. The branding agency motto recently put out a report about artificial intelligence.
- [06:50]
Scarlet Fu
It says that while AI makes content faster and cheaper, many companies are discovering a paradox. The more they produce, the less they stand out for more.
- [06:59]
Paul Sweeney
Guest hosts John Tucker and Alexandra Semenova were joined by Sunny Bunnell, co founder and CEO of motto.
- [07:05]
Scarlet Fu
They began by asking Sunny to explain what happens at the intersection of AI and branding.
- [07:09]
Sunny Bunnell
Well, I Think that, like, AI is changing what it means to create, particularly in the landscape of brand, which is my world and the world that I work in primarily. And we're told that this is progress, right? And in many ways it is. But the real question isn't really whether AI can make more. We're entering into what we call at motto, kind of a meaning deficit, where it's not, It's. It's whether you can actually make meaning with your brand in order to stand out in a sea of sameness with volumes of content being produced every day, because, you know, more content doesn't necessarily guarantee value. AI is going to accelerate brand creation in a way we haven't seen before, but it will also flood the market with sameness. And so the intersection of those two things means there's an opportunity for brands to stand out, to have a meaningful difference and really protect the point of view and the vision of their brands.
- [08:05]
Alexandra Semenova
Sunny, from a consumer perspective, what might a consumer notice about a company that's used AI in their branding versus a company that hasn't?
- [08:14]
Sunny Bunnell
Well, I think AI slop is a real thing. You know, we're also seeing a world in which we can't even tell if it's real or fake. And to a trained eye, though, particularly in the world of branding, you're able to pick out when there has been a usage of AI to the point of it's not as advanced as I think it could be, particularly in things like image creation, logos, you know, prototypes, even things like article generation. You see a lot of this where people are using the same prompts, they're using the same outputs, and what that ultimately does is just create this kind of sameness across the industry where, you know, to a trained eye, especially if you've been in branding for a long time, and. And I also think to consumers, they begin to sort of identify whether or not that that is something that is authentic or something that's been manufactured.
- [09:06]
Alexandra Semenova
To your point, I feel like sometimes when I'm reading things online, I can't distinguish whether it was written by AI or by a person. What is the remedy to that?
- [09:16]
Sunny Bunnell
Well, I think the biggest mistake is, is letting AI kind of average you out. Right. Leaders are using it to sound polished and professional, and they erase the very thing that actually builds trust, which is personality, imperfection, specificity. Right. Point of view. AI can produce language, but it can't always produce belief. And so there's a huge opportunity to make sure that if you're using AI or that you're tapping into Those tools, which are incredibly powerful and they do amplify your ability to do things more efficiently. But you have to be careful that you're not actually like overruling or overriding your own point of view and your own perspective and your own intelligence and originality in favor of those tools in a way that diminishes your own, your own tone of voice or your own personality.
- [10:06]
Rania Sedholm
Okay, so give me an example.
- [10:08]
Paul Sweeney
How, how do I stand out in.
- [10:11]
Rania Sedholm
The, the sea of AI?
- [10:14]
Sunny Bunnell
Well, I think you've got to think about, number one point of view, thinking about originality. Right. So I talked about when abundance goes up, differentiation goes down. So if we're in a world where everybody can use the same prompts and use the same tools and produce some similar assets, there's opportunities for, let's say, a brand to really distinguish their point of view and distinguish their voice. And where does that typically come from? Well, every business on the planet is made up of a unique footprint, a unique culture, a unique group of people. And when you have more creative power than ever before, we also can, on the flip side of that, have less meaning and creative meaning than ever before. So when you're trying to bring relevance out into your organization or say, like your own, maybe your own personal brand, you're looking for opportunities to use AI as a sparring partner, but not a replacement for your own thoughts and ideas and how you see the world. And whether that's content you're putting out, whether that's brand work that you're putting out, or brand systems that you're putting out, brand identity and messaging, any way that you can use to sort of have your own clarity and point of view is what's going to help you distinguish yourself in the market. Because customers are going to, they're now beginning to understand that. It's kind of like if you've ever seen that show, is it cake? They know the difference. And so I think you're going to see more people driving to companies and organizations that are authentic, that do in some cases, like misspell a word or have a typo.
- [11:49]
Paul Sweeney
Our thanks to Sunny Bunnell, co founder and CEO of Motto.
- [11:53]
Scarlet Fu
Coming up, we'll look at some of the biggest worries for CEOs in 2026.
- [11:56]
Paul Sweeney
You're listening to Bloomberg Intelligence on Bloomberg Radio, providing in depth research and data on 2000 companies and 130 industries.
- [12:02]
Scarlet Fu
You can access Bloomberg Intelligence via Bigo on the terminal. I'm Scarlet Fu.
- [12:07]
Paul Sweeney
And I'm Paul Sweeney and this is Bloomberg. Is your business outgrowing your current systems. Are you tired of the cost and crushing complexity of traditional ERPs? Meet Intuit Enterprise Suite, the AI native ERP that simplifies complexity and adapts with your business. It's enterprise grade power made, intuitive, intelligent, adaptive and ready for what's next. Built for modern finance teams, Intuit Enterprise Suite helps you streamline complex financial management and gain real time visibility across all your entities. This AI native solution automates workflows and unifies your data, acting as a force multiplier for your team. You no longer have to migrate off Intuit as you grow. Get the advanced accounting and multi entity control you expect, but in a solution that finance teams actually enjoy using best of all. It's quick to adopt, letting you get going in days, not months. Scale with confidence. Get the power of ERP without the complexity. Learn more@intuit.com Enterprise Today and Future. Proof your business.
- [13:10]
Scarlet Fu
This is Bloomberg Intelligence.
- [13:12]
Jennifer Rhee
With Scarlet Fu and Paul Sweeney on Bloomberg Radio.
- [13:17]
Paul Sweeney
Move next to research Bloomberg Intelligence recently put out on retailers according to BI Even as retailers ramp up AI investment, impulse purchases are still favoring in person engagement.
- [13:27]
Scarlet Fu
For more guest hosts, Alexandra Semenova and I were joined by Lindsay Dutch, our Consumer Hardlines Senior Analyst. We began by asking Lindsey about how retailers are currently implementing AI.
- [13:38]
Lindsay Dutch
Retailers are mostly using AI to improve employee productivity, move employees up the value chain, improve operational efficiency. And on the customer side, we're mostly seeing it in terms of like a customer service chatbot, maybe some personalization when you look at your email ads. But there's new levels that are coming that will really amp up AI's place in that retail shopping journey. But as you mentioned, I think that spur of the moment, that spark spontaneity when you find something that you love and you have to buy it, you know, that's a big piece of the shopping and retail world and that really still you need some human element in that process.
- [14:20]
Alexandra Semenova
Lindsey we talk often about the death of brick and mortar stores. People aren't going into physical stores as much as they are shopping online. Do you think that AI can reignite the excitement for going into a store and experiencing the technology?
- [14:35]
Lindsay Dutch
So I actually think we're already seeing a return to brick and mortar. You know, coming out of the pandemic, you know, people realized how important it is to have an in person experience More recently, you know, I've heard comments, you know, I follow Best Buy, you know, they have talked about that Gen Z and younger shoppers are showing a much stronger preference to shop in the store to talk to their geek squad you know, you know, to get advice, to browse things in person. We also see that from an ulta beauty as well. So I do think E commerce penetration will continue to rise as a whole. I think these new technologies will continue to support more shopping online. But I do think there is a personal element that will remain. And you know, we see strong brick and mortar demand on the retail real estate side and that is expected to continue for some time.
- [15:27]
Scarlet Fu
Having said all that, how does AI enhance the ability for stores to be able to reach out to consumers so that they are there and have the right recommendations when consumers are in the mood to make impulse purchases?
- [15:43]
Lindsay Dutch
Yeah, so right now I think the best consumer facing use of AI is really increasing discovery. Exactly what you're saying. So being able to serve up product online when a customer is looking for it. And you know this new tool that Google co developed with Walmart and other others, Universal Commerce Protocol, is going to do just that. So you can pop into this tool which is powered by Gemini, and you can say I'm looking for a navy boob blazer that I don't want to have dry cleaned. And it will serve up the product from the brand you can transact right there. So it's all seamless. Something like that is a great tool to, to bring product directly to the person and close the gap between looking for something that you want, finding it and transacting it. And we see a lot of technology coming to the fore that that's going to allow that to happen.
- [16:42]
Alexandra Semenova
Lindsay, AI and new technology can be really complicated for consumers to navigate. What are companies doing to help guide shoppers through maximizing the experience they get with AI?
- [16:55]
Lindsay Dutch
Yeah, that's a tough one. I mean, I think that people in generally are using more tools like Gemini for all sorts of things. ChatGPT that will increase that comfort level. And we have seen over time. I also cover home furnishings. In the beginning when people were starting to transact online, no one wanted to buy a couch or a big product like that that you would typically want to sit on and, and feel. And you know that over time, you know, retailers have figured out how to showcase their product in a digital way that makes customers more comfortable transacting on a big ticket item like that that you would normally really want to see in person. And I think the same thing would be true for these other new technologies. It will take time, adoption will rise, it will rise slowly. And that's why I think it's a real balance. You have to be in that tech world, but you Also have to be in person.
- [17:52]
Paul Sweeney
Our thanks to Lindsay Dutch, Bloomberg Intelligence consumer Hardline senior analyst. We move next to research Bloomberg Intelligence recently put out on restaurants.
- [18:00]
Scarlet Fu
According to BI US Restaurant, same store sales look to accelerate in the first quarter due to cheaper gas prices and relief from new tax rules.
- [18:08]
Paul Sweeney
For more on this, guest hosts Jon Tucker and Alexandra Semenova. We're joined by Michael Halen, Bloomberg Intelligence senior restaurant and food service analyst.
- [18:15]
Scarlet Fu
They asked Michael to break down BI's most recent research.
- [18:18]
Michael Halen
We think sales are set to improve here in 2026, especially in the first half. You know, oil gasoline prices are down, you know, 13ish percent versus 1Q of last year. We're lapping, you know, bad weather, cold weather, snow and a really bad flu season from a year ago. And then we have tax relief which historically really helps restaurant spending. And you know, and then we have a couple things on the upside. I mean, this administration is looking into, you know, potentially credit card reform. And I don't know if they're done with the tax reform and we could see more interest rate cuts. So all of those things we think are going to feed into better consumer sentiment. And we saw that in some of the economic data last month and we think it spells, you know, a much better year for restaurant spending.
- [19:15]
Paul Sweeney
Are we talking about Daniel Ballou's restaurants or Mickey D's?
- [19:19]
Michael Halen
Well, you know, we think McDonald's, you know, a lot of the chains we cover are going to benefit. But we think, you know, McDonald's and Taco Bell. In our most recent note were two that we pointed to because low income consumer are going to benefit from the tax reform. The segment of the consumer that have kind of pulled back from restaurants in the last couple of years and so giving them a boost with tax reform. They're the ones that are most sensitive to gasoline prices. So the cheaper gas is going to help them the most. These things are all pointing to better results at fast food chains like McDonald's and Taco Bell.
- [19:57]
Alexandra Semenova
Are there any specific chains that you think will be bigger beneficiaries than others?
- [20:04]
Michael Halen
Well, outside of those two, you know, Kava and Wingstop are a couple of names that we think can have big bounce back years, you know, Kava, you know, in a vacuum. It had a very good year. Right. But they didn't hit lofty targets that they had set and earnings slowed off of a very strong 2024. And so we think they're set up really nicely to see an acceleration here in same store sales and kind of the same thing in Wingst Both of them were victims in 2025 of incredible 2024 success. And now that they have much more reasonable same store sales comps to lap, you know, we think we could see a big boost there. You know, Wingstop, one of the big things that they have going on is new smart kitchens that are going to massively, massively help the operations improve speed of service and get people their wings hotter and faster.
- [20:57]
Alexandra Semenova
Oh, okay.
- [20:58]
Paul Sweeney
What are you talking about? The intersection of AI and chicken wings?
- [21:03]
Michael Halen
Yeah, I mean, you know, restaurant business. Listen, the restaurant business man has been historically under invested in technology, you know, and they've been quickly trying to stove.
- [21:15]
Rania Sedholm
In a frame and a deep fryer.
- [21:18]
Paul Sweeney
What technology?
- [21:20]
Michael Halen
Yeah, well, listen, when you go and sit down in a restaurant and you have five people ordering five different things, Right. You don't start them all at the same time. Right. Like your sushi is going to be done a lot, maybe faster or slower than my chicken teriyaki. Right. And so technology is being used in the kitchen to let the cooks know when to fire each meal so that everything comes out at the exact same time hot. Right. So there's definitely a lot of uses for, for artificial intelligence and smart kitchens in this industry.
- [21:53]
Paul Sweeney
Our thanks to Michael Halen, Bloomberg Intelligence Senior restaurant and food service Analyst.
- [21:57]
Scarlet Fu
We move next to a recent survey from the Conference Board, an organization that helps leaders navigate the biggest issues impacting business.
- [22:03]
Paul Sweeney
The Conference board surveyed nearly 800 CEOs about their biggest worries heading into 2026. According to the survey, CEOs in the US say uncertainty is their biggest economic worry, while global CEOs say that it's outright recession.
- [22:16]
Scarlet Fu
Guest host Alexandra Semenova and I were joined by Dana Peterson, chief Economist at the Conference Board. We began by asking Dana to explain why it feels like global CEOs are a little bit more pessimistic than ones in the U.S. well, I think the.
- [22:28]
Dana Peterson
Case is that in the U.S. we've been calling for a recession repeatedly every year. It just hasn't happened. And even still, with the pressures of tariffs flowing through and companies kind of sitting on the sidelines when it comes to hiring, that. That maybe that's just less so important. But still, in all, companies don't know what the regulatory environment's going to look like. Every day, there's a new announcement about an initiative. Oftentimes, these initiatives are aimed at increasing affordability for consumers, but it can have just really rattle entire industries. And so I think those are the types of things that companies are continuing to expect. But they're. They are still concerned about making profits and they are gearing themselves up and preparing ways to do that.
- [23:21]
Scarlet Fu
Absolutely. And that is their mandate. That is their job, that is their fiduciary duty. How does AI play into that, according to your survey?
- [23:30]
Dana Peterson
Sure, AI is both a foe and a friend. So the foe aspect is many of them believe that AI is going to be disruptive. So disruption can be positive or negative. But in this content, in this context, they said AI is going to be very disruptive. It's going to upset our business models, all these things. But they also are looking to adjust their business models to incorporate AI. Incorporating AI in terms of maximizing supply chains. And they also but also AI in marketing and investing in AI to make increased productivity of workers and their operations. And most Importantly, in interestingly, CEOs are looking to invest in their people to make sure that their people are ready for the next digital age, which is clearly AI.
- [24:18]
Alexandra Semenova
And Dana, amid this big change that AI is bringing, I see in your survey that they talk about how they're also placing greater emphasis on mental health and gender equality. What are some of the actions that they're taking there?
- [24:32]
Dana Peterson
Sure, we asked about human capital challenges and also priorities. So the challenge was, I can't remember the biggest challenge. I think it was about AI and kind of getting your people ready for that. But well being was really low in the list. But however, when we asked about what are some of the social issues you want to delve into in order to support your brand and profits? And it was mental health. And I think that, you know, mental health is certainly under the umbrella of employee well being. Employee well being, we all know that, but how do you pick something specific? And I think for a lot of companies, they're realizing that social geopolitical financial issues are weighing on not only their customers, but also their workers. And so they want to ensure that the people aspect, that people are feeling good, such that those very same people who are in the grocery store challenged by expensive food prices don't bring that to work. And if they do bring it to work, that the company can be instrumental in helping them to sort through all these challenges and navigate through.
- [25:39]
Paul Sweeney
Our thanks to Data Petersen, chief economist at the Conference Board.
- [25:43]
Scarlet Fu
Coming up, we discuss what comes next in the luxury space following the bankruptcy of Saks Global Enterprises.
- [25:48]
Paul Sweeney
You're listening to Bloomberg Intelligence on Bloomberg Radio, providing in depth research and data on 2000 companies and 130 industries.
- [25:54]
Scarlet Fu
You can access Bloomberg Intelligence through Bigo on the terminal. I'm Scarlet Fu.
- [25:58]
Paul Sweeney
And I'm Paul Sweeney at and this is Bloomberg.
- [26:08]
Jennifer Rhee
This is Bloomberg Intelligence with Scarlet Fu and Paul Sweeney on Bloomberg Radio.
- [26:15]
Scarlet Fu
Let's turn now to the luxury space. Recently the luxury retailer Sachs Global Enterprises filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Due to mounting losses, the company flagged.
- [26:24]
Paul Sweeney
Turnaround efforts and substantial merger related debt. That move came just over a year after investors handed Sachs billions of dollars in new debt to help fund its acquisition of luxury retailer Neiman Marcus.
- [26:34]
Scarlet Fu
Guest host Alexandra Semenova and I were joined by Rania Sedholm, Managing Partner at Sedholm Law Group. We began by asking Rania to explain what bankruptcy means for Saks shoppers and the brands that work with it.
- [26:45]
Rania Sedholm
A lot of the brands that worked with it are no longer working with it, which also, you know, precipitated its, its decline. It is, it is sad, as you were saying, and I'm sure it's humbling. So it started, I would say at least a year and a half ago. I started hearing from smaller brands, some of whose only footprint in the United States is with Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus Group, which is owned by the same company. They were not paying for consigned goods, although the goods were selling. So this was the start of the end really. And if you've tried to go shopping recently in Sax Fifth Avenue, you will notice a shift in the products that are available to you. And this is one of the reasons for consumers, you know, it's, it's tough to say when there's a bankruptcy estate they do not have to honor any kind of credit or rewards program. But I understand in this instance they will be honoring it. The issue becomes for you, is there something there that you want to purchase and how are you feeling about the brand in general? Something that I think Sachs did poorly was communicate and you know, going back to the brands, what's going to happen to them? It's, you know, it's, it's too late, you know, for them to do anything but on a going forward basis. If you are a brand and you're consigning your goods, there are a few things that you need to look out for. The first thing is your contractual provision. It should state in this agreement that you own your merchandise until it is sold. That's the very first thing. And then once that provision is there, there's something called a UCC filing. You should file a lien because this will give you an interest in the merchandise and you're no longer an unsecured creditor for purposes of bankruptcy. So you may actually get something.
- [28:37]
Scarlet Fu
So there's legal recourse for the vendors of Saks, many of which were not getting paid regularly in the last couple of months. How does Saks go about repairing its relationship not just with customers, but with these brands, the brands that it relies on in order to bring customers through the doors?
- [28:53]
Rania Sedholm
Yeah, I think, you know, people really discount the efficacy of good communication. But, you know, as an attorney, I can tell you that is of paramount importance. In fact, usually when there is a breakdown in relationship, it's because of communication. So the first thing that Sachs needs to do in my mind is tell everyone why this happened and what steps they're taking to remedy it because we don't want them to be repeat offenders five years from now. We don't want to be sitting in the studio talking about the other bankruptcy that they're undergoing. So it's important to figure out the why, when it's such a drastic step that you have to take. And tell everyone, tell your vendors what you're doing to and help build trust again.
- [29:36]
Alexandra Semenova
Rania, when you get this type of bankruptcy filing, what does Sachs owe its investors and creditors?
- [29:43]
Rania Sedholm
Well, I don't know what the numbers are. However, the bankruptcy code ranks people by importance. Secured versus unsecured. And you know, the landlord is certainly a secured creditor to the extent that they owe them money, they, they will be paid first. Any kind of loan, they'll be paid, you know, amongst one of the first as well. So it's too early. I don't have the list yet.
- [30:07]
Alexandra Semenova
You were talking about some of the M and A debt. And this bankruptcy, of course, comes a year after investors handed Sachs billions of dollars for its acquisition of Neiman Marcus, which was also struggling. What kind of risk was, was it putting investors through by acquiring Neiman Marcus?
- [30:24]
Rania Sedholm
I'm not sure that that marriage was off to a good start from the beginning. You know, we as shoppers, I can speak for women or at least for myself. We shop at a whole host of different places and you could have one customer shop in multiple stores for different types of items. But in general, it's safe to say that the Neiman Marcus Group shopper is not the same as the saxophone shopper, who's not the same as Bloomingdale's or Macy's shopper. So I, I think that marriage was rocky to begin with and it was a hefty price that was paid. I'm hoping as a consumer and for everyone's sake that someone else buys Neiman Marcus Group or perhaps they can buy themselves back we do see that sometimes where you purchase yourself back from your acquirer.
- [31:15]
Alexandra Semenova
Yeah, I just went across the street to Sachs off 5th thinking that I could get a nice deal on something and they just got rid of everything. What is next for Saks here? Do you think it makes it out of this?
- [31:27]
Rania Sedholm
I think Saks does make it out of this, but I'm an optimist by nature, just so everyone listening knows that. But I do think they're going to have to contract in order to grow. So this is the time to be extremely self aware, extremely scrutinous and determine which stores are going to provide you with the most relevance to your customers and which ones can you stock well and have preeminent customer service and then close the others. You can always reopen stores. It's not a good idea to just have a huge footprint. That's lackluster.
- [32:08]
Paul Sweeney
Our thanks to Rania Sethome, managing partner at Sethome Law Group. We move next to the business of sports where universities have been under pressure to find new ways to raise revenue after federal settlement over student athletes name, image and likeness rights.
- [32:21]
Scarlet Fu
Bloomberg Higher Education finance reporter Janet Loren and I were joined by the UCLA athletic director, Martin Jarmond. We discussed relationships with student athletes, investing and how UCLA is leading through such a tough time in the history of college sports. We began the conversation by asking Martin to talk about money in college sports and reflect on what's changed.
- [32:41]
Martin Jarmond
A lot has changed in our business over the last, I'd say even two years. But obviously with the house settlement that started July 1st and sharing revenue with athletes to the tune of 20.5 million, that's been a significant change. But that's, that's not it. That's it. It's a rather soft cap, meaning that there's still nil and third party agreements that go above and beyond that. So you're spending even more when it comes to your sports. But it's a great era for our student athletes. They're benefiting tremendously. But it also creates pressure from a business standpoint to provide the resources necessary to compete. We all want to compete. There's only one winner, but you know, that's, that's the time that we're in.
- [33:22]
Scarlet Fu
And do you end up having to put more resources into the sports that generate the most revenue and taking revenue, taking funding out of sports that you know may not make as much money?
- [33:32]
Martin Jarmond
It's not a zero sum game. You do have to invest in those sports that bring in more resources. For example, obviously football is a significant driver to the Revenue for an athletic department at ucla. We've made a significant commitment and investment in our football program with hiring a new football coach, Coach Bob Chesney. We're very excited about him. The university is aligned from the leadership top down. Chancellor Frank understands the importance of athletics and bringing community together. But it takes a commitment and it takes an investment and alignment and all those factors and having the right leader to be successful. And so that's something that we're proud of and that we're investing. We're all in.
- [34:11]
Scarlet Fu
Martin, what has surprised you the most over this academic year, over this era of change?
- [34:15]
Martin Jarmond
Oh, you know, just the sophistication now of our student athletes when it comes to nil and what they have to do. You know, they have to manage a lot more than when I was a college athlete, just from a practice standpoint, deals that they're making. Two years ago, for example, a lot of our athletes, especially in football and basketball, didn't have agents. Now, I'd say probably 80 to 90% have agents. And so they're working, they're negotiating what their clients are doing. So the relationship with student athletes has changed. It's more of a business relationship. We're still in the business of developing student athletes educationally, holistically, socially, but there's also a business relationship aspect to it, to where that really wasn't present before. So you, so you have to adjust and adapt to that. And some of it is you have to work with your student athletes as far as how you market the program and how you bring third party dollars to the program.
- [35:14]
Sunny Bunnell
Do you think that revenue share agreements may have an impact on the transfer portal? Maybe they'll want to stay longer because of this.
- [35:21]
Martin Jarmond
Yeah, that space is evolving. I do, I do, I do think we're getting closer to these agreements being stronger as far as having a commit both ways. I think you're seeing some challenges now. Anytime you have a new system, there's some growing pains, and that's what college football and college athletics is going through, significant growing pains. But it's still more popular than ever. It's still a lot of people that are watching in tune with college football. But we're going through those growing pains of contracts and, and, and what that looks like. So I do, I do think, and I do hope that contracts become stronger to where there's more of a commitment, both on the university, but also the student athlete side. Because you, you want that. We want our student athletes to stay where they are to help graduate. You know, if you move around Three and four times. It's harder to, to graduate. And that's, that's our goal. That's our primary goal is to educate and develop and hopefully they graduate to set them up for 40 years after.
- [36:15]
Scarlet Fu
I mean the big picture is that universities are under pressure to find new ways to raise revenue after NIL opened the door for these student athletes to be paid by the schools. How involved are you in the revenue generating effort and how do you, what can UCLA as a member of the Big Ten do that other schools can't? What's your distinction?
- [36:33]
Martin Jarmond
Well, I'm very involved. I spend a lot more time with donors and now corporate sponsors to talk about opportunities of ways to bring in new revenue.
- [36:41]
Scarlet Fu
Like half your time, 60% of your time.
- [36:43]
Martin Jarmond
I would say it's probably 75% of my time now. And it wasn't like that before. But if I'm not meeting with donors or having opportunities to talk to companies about how they can invest in our student athletes or partner with them, that, that just takes a significant amount of time. And what it takes away from unfortunately is that time that you could get to know your student athletes better. There was a time where, where you could spend more time at practice or spend more time one on one with student athletes and, and now the, the business demands trying to find more ways to generate revenue and opportunities. And so the Big Ten conference gives us a great platform. I think it's the best conference in the country financially. It's one of the strongest, if the not strongest, but it gives us a way to represent our student athletes from an nil perspective nationally and globally. That's in the Big Ten.
- [37:31]
Sunny Bunnell
So there are immense pressures. Again we talked about that 4% increase next year. What are some unusual things that you're thinking about? Ohio State has, has tours now. They have golf off the top of the stadium logos. Talk a little bit about ways you're.
- [37:47]
Martin Jarmond
Thinking about revenue, you're looking at your facilities and seeing how can we make them more. 365 opportunities for usage. So Pauley Pavilion, our basketball arena, we're looking at having concerts, we're looking at changing some of the spaces, making maybe a courtside room to generate revenue and provide a better experience for our students and our fans.
- [38:05]
Paul Sweeney
Our thanks to UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmut and Janet Loren, Bloomberg Higher Education finance reporter. That's this week's edition of Bloomberg Intelligence on Bloomberg Radio providing in depth research and data on 2,000 companies and 130 industries.
- [38:18]
Scarlet Fu
And remember, you can access Bloomberg Intelligence via BI. Go on the terminal I'm Scarlet Fu.
- [38:23]
Paul Sweeney
And I'm Paul Sweeney. Stay with us. Today's top stories and global business headlines are coming up right now.