Lisa Mateo (2:05)

We're on Bloomberg Television Radio and the Bloomberg Business App, bringing you unique takes and in depth interviews on news, politics, lifestyle and culture.

Christina Rafini (2:17)

All right, it's been a little over 24 hours since Spirit Airlines ceased operations after 34 years in business, sending passengers scrambling to book flights on other carriers.

Felisa Mateo (2:26)

Ticket counters are now dark at nearly 100 airport locations where Spirit once flew. In addition to travelers, some 17,000 employees, contractors and pilots are out of a job. Joining us now, Chris Sununu, president and CEO of Airlines for America. Thank you so much for joining us. First of all, I guess the big question is how does Spirit going out of business impact the airline industry overall? What's the biggest thing we're going to see coming out of this?

Chris Sununu (2:52)

Well, I think two things. In the short term, I think everyone's scrambling to say, okay, how do we take care of those customers? Right? And how do customers get their money back? And they can go to the Spirit website to get their money back. And then you have folks like United Airlines, Southwest, JetBlue, Delta, American, they're all providing capitated rates. So they want to get those customers taken care of that have plans over the next month. How do the employees get taken care of? They also get preferential treatment with all the, you know, existing airlines in terms of new jobs and new opportunities there. And then in the long term, it's really about making sure that the airspace as a whole, which America has the strongest airspace in the country. We're rebuilding our air traffic control system that again, that is robust for the customer. And I mean, not to go too far afield, but we've had two government shutdowns, right? We saw the TSA lines because Congress could get their act together. We saw the air traffic controllers not getting paid for six, seven, eight weeks back in the fall. That system has to work as well to make sure that all these other pieces move. And unfortunately, there's a lesson here, right? So when the merger was going to happen between JetBlue and Spirit, that would have put almost $4 billion into Spirit and the Biden administration crushed it and they got political with it. And that was again, hopefully the lesson there is when a business comes calling, look at the financials, look at the business case, look at how it's going to affect the customers and make your decision based on that, not on politics. So some lessons learned. I think the industry is responding very well. We just want to make sure that folks feel comfortable preparing for their summer.

Christina Rafini (4:22)

Governor, let me ask you about what might happen next. And there's been speculation that other ultra low cost airlines are going to be in a pinch as well. Obviously, the Spirit situation was unique in many ways. You had the transportation Secretary yesterday batting down calls for further bailouts or the need for bailouts. And it's something that your group has opposed as well. I'll read a bit from a statement that you all released. Government intervention on behalf of those airlines would punish other airlines that have engaged in self help in order to deal with increased costs and reward airlines who haven't made those tough decisions. That is not a level playing field. So we see your opposition there to these government bailouts. Are you worried about the industry broadly, especially at that lower range of fares?

Chris Sununu (5:02)

No competition works. Right. And so when we have a lot of different carriers there, it's Frontier, it's Sun country, it's Arvello. Breeze is actually a new entrant there. Breeze is a very interesting airline with a lot of opportunities. They don't use kind of the primary airports, they use some of the secondary airports providing a low cost option for those customers. So look, if the breezes of the world and some of these others weren't doing okay, you could make, I think you could make that case. But there has to be competition at that level. Right? And those models can't be kind of anti older fashion type type models. They have to compete in this new world. Now again, a lot of these problems financially were happening long before the fuel crisis and the jet fuel crisis of the last couple months. I mean Spirit was in trouble years and years ago. So it's not a function of that. But when you have the high fuel costs, these massive new labor costs, I mean right now the industry as a whole has about a 4 to 5% profit margin. That's it, 4 to 5%. Because they've kept their costs so low for the, for the customer. So you'll see some of those move a little bit. They have a lot of options now that they didn't have before. So as a customer you can get that basic economy seat super cheap. Even on the, the Deltas in United and Americans you can choose to, whether you know you want to pay for, for baggage, you can choose for that upgrade or that extra leg room. So they're giving the customer, the new models give the customer a lot more flexibility in designing their product and their price point and everyone has to kind of come along with that. So I think it's just a, a faction of getting those ultra low cost carriers to maybe update their models a little bit. But overall the industry is very strong. There's a lot of opportunity for customers out there. So yeah, you got to, you're going to have little ebbs and flows here with, with different carriers but at the end of the day the customer is going to win out.

Felisa Mateo (6:50)

But let me ask you because I know that for a lot of airlines, all the bigger airlines, a lot of those economy seats are, they're flying at a loss. Where they're really making money is in the front of the plane. And that's why we're seeing additions of higher cost seats, business class, economy plus, things like that. So when you're getting the squeeze on these cheaper airlines, is it really fair to say that these other airlines are going to pick up the slack and add more of these cheaper seats because they're not making money off of them?

Chris Sununu (7:15)

Well, again they have to look at what their customers are looking for, what the type of product is. And so they have the ability to add higher end product. And again, their higher end product might look a little different than the some of the other carriers products, but that product has to kind of fit the model of what they're doing now. Yes, the larger carriers basically only make money going internationally. I mean, even domestically, some of the higher end seats make a little bit of money. All the economy seats effectively can lose a bit of money. So again, you have to look at your product that you're placing. You can't just provide the same products that you were doing back in 2016, 2017, 2018. You have to update those models. And for the carriers that did an update that kind of stayed with the old fashioned way, yeah, they're probably suffering a little more. Everybody's moving forward and kind of looking at that product spectrum.

Christina Rafini (8:05)

I'd like to ask you about the interface between airlines and the administration. Play a bit of sound here from Sean Duffy, the Transportation Secretary who gave a news conference yesterday at Newark Liberty International Airport. Let's take a listen to what he had to say. Now, you've heard that other airlines have

Chris Sununu (8:17)

talked about requesting a $2.5 billion bailout.

Christina Rafini (8:22)

I am in continual contact and my

Chris Sununu (8:24)

team is in contact with all the

Christina Rafini (8:25)

CEOs of the airlines. I would say that at this point, I don't think it's necessary. They do have access to cash.

Chris Sununu (8:33)

If they want to come to the US Government.

Lisa Mateo (8:36)

We would be a lender of last resort.

Christina Rafini (8:39)

If they can find dollars in the private markets, I think that's better for them. Governor, I'd love your reaction to that. I think of you as a traditional Republican, New Hampshire Republican, New England Republican. And you hear him talk about the government being a lender of last resort to these airlines. Obviously this conversation about bailouts, the continued conversations between the administration and executives as well. How do you feel about that? Are you comfortable with the government playing this role at a time and we have seen the administration taking a stake in many private companies.

Chris Sununu (9:09)

Yeah. Well, I think Secretary Duffy is spot on. He's saying, look, the government isn't here just to bail everybody out when a business needs money. Right. If there was a crisis situation, I mean, that's why you kind of use the term lender of last resort. But it isn't just we're going to be the government should be a lender there if there were extenuating circumstances or something like that. What he's really referring to is, yeah, Spirit came for a bailout which made no financial sense whatsoever because they had no assets, they had massive amounts of debt. And then all the Other carriers, just the low cost guys just said, oh yeah, by the way, how about we get two and a half billion too? Even when some of them didn't need really didn't make a lot of sense. It was more of an opportunity, as the Secretary pointed out, than a real need into the industry. So, no, I'm not a big believer of these bailouts by any means. I think the government, I think President Trump deserves some credit for trying with Spirit. I mean, he said, let's take a real look at it. Let's see how we make sure the customers and the employees are taken care of. But it made no financial sense because its assets had been so gutted, they didn't even own their own planes. Right. They had billions and billions of debt and they had virtually no assets to back it up. So again, I give the President credit for trying and the administration at least taking a look. But to Secretary Duffy's point, the government just isn't here to save your business. When you have a bad business model, save something that doesn't have real value or isn't part of that national strategic need that might be out there. So, no, it's. Whenever the government gets involved, you better be again, really, really, really, really, really, really cautious. And there better be a real estate.

Felisa Mateo (10:44)

Okay, but more serious, I'm being a

Chris Sununu (10:46)

little bit of the politician there because, yeah, these bailouts, I mean, it's a domino effect. When does it stop? Right at that point. So now businesses need to update and advance their models. And a lot of the low cost carriers have done that for their customers. I think it's great. They're looking at maybe trying a little more international. They're looking at trying to upgrade the front of their planes. Look what Southwest just did, right? Southwest now has the assigned seating, the upgrades they're doing phenomenal over there. United Airlines has made, and Delta made some, some huge, huge advances. American as well. So everyone's adapting, everyone's modifying that, what they provide based on the needs of, of the business. And that's the way business should work. Right? That's the way competition works. When, when the Biden administration got involved and said, oh no, we're not going to help, we're not going to let a merger take place, a private merger take place for competition. They just didn't even try to look at the business case model and understand what the need was. Right? They weren't asking the government for money. They were just asking the government for permission to let businesses do what they do best. And you know, a typical case of the government thinking they're smarter than everybody else. But they were dead wrong on this. And you know, you saw that that Spirit customer there, she's nervous. You know, the airline she used to use is now gone because bad government got involved. So look, the good news is there's a lot of other carriers out there. There's a lot of opportunities out there. Low cost, higher end, international. There's a lot of product there for folks to dive into. And I think what these airlines are doing right now today for those Spirit customers with their capped rates is a huge opportunity. I think United has just Yesterday, United had 27,000 Spirit customers. Southwest did over 20,000. Move those customers seamlessly over in less than a day to, to their, their carriers to make sure that those folks are taken care of at a limited rate. So I think everyone's pitching in.

Felisa Mateo (12:36)

All right, governor, before we let you go, you talked about these airlines needing to adapt their business models. One thing it is hard to adapt to or for is the current price of oil and fuel. And that's really was the nail in the coffin, it seems like, for Spirit and could cause trouble for a lot of these other airlines. How long can they sustain this current pricing and what do they do if it doesn't go down by the end of the year?

Chris Sununu (12:58)

Sure. So I got to be clear. The fuel price was not the death knell of Spirit. It had nothing to do with.

Christina Rafini (13:04)

The CEO did say it was in his statement. He did say it was part of it. He talked about the merger. It didn't say in his statement that fuel prices were a compounding factor.

Chris Sununu (13:16)

I'm just telling you then they wouldn't have been filing for bankruptcy two years ago. Right. I mean, it just. We're in a despile of losing their assets, the labor costs, the supply chain issues. Post Covid. I mean, there's a lot of other. To your point, there's a lot of costs bearing down on this industry that for the most part, the airlines just kind of eat it. They lose profit on it because they're trying to provide that competitive aspect for the customer. Will we see prices move a little bit? Yeah, maybe 5 or 6 or 7%, but not like the doubling of prices. That would probably justify the doubling and tripling of fuel costs of jet fuel that we're seeing out there. So what happens kind of in the short term, the airlines can withstand this, you know, at least for three or four months. As, you know, as oil prices go up, they go down. When they finally start going down, they're going to go down slowly. Right. So it's not like if, if the Strait of Hormuz open tomorrow, everything comes back to normal. It is going to take some time both in the trucking industry, the airline industry, pretty much anybody that uses fuel in any way, it's going to take some time to get back to some normalcy on that. But again, the airlines are resilient, right? They're willing to eat a lot of that cost. They're willing to always provide a better product for their customer. And again, the customers have so many other choices out there between the airlines themselves that there is a lot of variability that allows the customer to make good financial decision.

Felisa Mateo (14:34)

Okay, we're going to have to leave it there. Chris Nunu, former Republican governor of New Hampshire and president and CEO of Airlines for America, thank you for taking the time to join us today.

Christina Rafini (14:41)

Thank you for your time. I'm going to just reference that statement that I mentioned here. Again, this is from David Dave Davis,

Felisa Mateo (14:44)

the appreciate the backup for my co anchor over here.

Christina Rafini (14:47)

Yes, he did start the restructuring. The issues bondholders said. However, the sudden sustained rise in fuel prices in recent weeks ultimately has left us with no alternative but to pursue an orderly wind down. Stay with us for more on Bloomberg this weekend right after this.

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Christina Rafini (17:45)

Customers of Spirit Airlines across the country are in the process of rearranging their travel on this Sunday morning. And in some cases they're trying to get their money back after Spirit closed down over the weekend following the company and its creditors and the Trump administration failing to reach an agreement for a bailout on deadline.

Felisa Mateo (18:00)

Now there's concern about other low cost carriers that are also grappling with fuel prices. Of course, those prices have spiked dramatically since the start of the war with Iran. Joining us now is a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Congressman Kevin Kiley, who represents California's third District. He was elected as a Republican but is running for reelection as an independent. Congressman, thank you for joining us. I just want to start off with what is the government's role here? What should the government be doing? Should the government be doing anything to help these airlines given the cost of fuel right now?

Kevin Kiley (18:31)

Well, it's certainly true that the cost of fuel is a major input for, for airlines. And it's something that is perceived as, I believe in reality going to be temporary. And, you know, once we have a sustainable resolution to the conflict, Iran, you should see prices come down across the board. And so if this is sort of the limiting factor right now and one which will be short term, then perhaps there's an argument to be made that, you know, you don't want enterprises to collapse systematically based upon what is a temporary condition. So if that's the situation, it's a very different one than if you have an enterprise that, you know, just has a totally unsustainable balance sheet or isn't viable.

Christina Rafini (19:19)

You've had a number of these ultra low cost airlines going to the White House, going to the transportation Department saying their situation is a bit precarious. Here you have had a front row seat to the effect that the pressures on low cost airlines have had. So spirit flew out of Sacramento, I think until October of last year. They ended those, those routes out of Sacramento International Airport. How acute is that pressure? How worried are you about having that low end of the spectrum there when it comes to carriers?

Kevin Kiley (19:46)

Yeah, I mean, obviously, you know, people rely upon these flights, folks who are on a budget and need to go visit their relatives or need to travel for whatever business or personal reasons. And so if you have that, you know, that part of the market that is going to be much more limited or, you know, is not going to be an option for a lot of people. That is a big issue. I've read. Actually, you're right, we did have a spot flight out of Sacramento which I have taken. So I think that, you know, it is very concerning if you start to see more of some sort of domino effect here.

Felisa Mateo (20:17)

I think it all just goes into affordability. And we're going to talk about some of this polling later in the show. But Americans more and more just feeling like they're really getting the squeeze kind of everywhere. And I'm wondering going into November what you're hearing from your constituents about the cost of living and who they think is responsible for those prices going up.

Kevin Kiley (20:35)

Yeah, well, it's absolutely the number one issue for folks that I represent and folks throughout California. And I should mention that California has the highest cost of living in the country. We were just talking about fuel prices. California's fuel prices are about A$80 the national average. They're a full 40 some cents higher than the next closest state, which is Hawaii. And it's not just fuel prices. Electricity rates in California are higher than anywhere in the country. Housing costs and water bills close to the top. Groceries second or third highest in the country. So it's an acute problem for my constituents. Now, as to your second question, who's to blame? You know, I think that that question is not always, you know, constructive when it comes to actually trying to address the problem. If I really had to answer, I'd say there's plenty of blame to go around in Sacramento. We've had a number of policies that have increase the cost of living across all of these dimensions. And there are in Washington, D.C. you know, in recent years that have done that as well. So I'm you know, the one independent member of the House of Representatives. I've said that that gives me a unique ability to hold folks accountable, both in Washington and in Sacramento, as well as to work with people on all sides of the issue. So I've proposed a number of measures to lower the cost of living through some of the regulations that have gone way too far for California, that have made our state the most expensive, expensive state in the country. But it is certainly a nationwide issue that people are feeling everywhere. And I think there's a lot more we could do in Congress as well.

Christina Rafini (22:03)

If you wouldn't mind. Tee up our next conversation. Your colleague from the House, Cleo Fields, Democrat of Louisiana, is going to join us. And his district is the center of this Supreme Court decision that we got this week, which kind of hollowed out Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. You have been very outspoken about the way that gerrymandering is being used as a political weapon by both parties here going into the midterm elections and beyond. You mentioned you're an independent now you are Republican. California, of course, is being carved up and its congressional districts are changing as a result. What are your, what is your major takeaway from the decision that was handed down at the court last week?

Kevin Kiley (22:38)

Well, I think it has the potential to simply set this gerrymandering war, which has been terrible for the country, into yet another cycle and spin it out of control even further. So that's why I think there's an even greater imperative now for congressional action to get this issuemandering under control. I think that this whole redistricting war has been complete folly. Frankly, neither side has really won in any meaningful sense. It's upended representation in state after state after state. I think it's eroded trust in our politics. It's going to increase polarization and increase distrust trust even more so. I've been against it in Texas, in California, in Virginia, in Florida, anywhere that it's happened. And to the extent that now other states are seeing a further opportunity to do this, it's going to make things even worse. So I think it's about time that Congress took responsibility for its own elections. We're talking about elections to Congress here. So I think there's two do. Number one is to prohibit mid decade redistricting like we're seeing now. I've introduced a bill to do that. And then by the time we actually have the next census, when we're supposed to do regular redistricting, we should come up with a legislative solution to end gerrymandering in this country for good and guarantee all Americans fair district lines.

Felisa Mateo (23:55)

All right. We're going to leave it there. Representative Kevin Kiley from California, thank you so much for joining us.

Christina Rafini (23:59)

We want to dig now more into the consequences of that Supreme Court decision I just mentioned that places new limits on the Voting Rights Act. The court rejecting Louisiana's congressional map in a 6 to 3 decision in his opinion, Justice Samuel Alito calling that map, which includes a second majority black district, an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Democratic Congressman Cleo Fields district is at the center of this case and he joins us now. Want to get into the ramifications of this in just a minute, but let me ask you on a more micro level what it means for you as you look ahead to the midterms, your district, the sixth district in Louisiana, very much at the center of this case.

Cleo Fields (24:34)

Well, you know, I tell people all the time the issue is not revenant Cleo Fields heard another day in Congress, but revenant, a person who looks like me have an opportunity to serve in Congress. I think the governor and the attorney general put the cart before the horse. I mean, the Supreme Court decision is not really a final judgment until, you know, the 25 day elapse for people to file the parties rather to follow some type of rehearing. That time has not elapsed. And you know, people have already started voting in Louisiana. Qualifying has been had. You know, 100,000 ballots has been sent to people not only in Louisiana, but overseas. Thousands of them have already cast their ballots. And to hold an election up because there is a ruling from the Supreme Court to me is unconscionable.

Felisa Mateo (25:31)

Justin Kagan in her dissent warned that Section 2 of the Voting Rights act is now a, quote, dead letter. I'm wondering if you agree that this ruling effectively ends the era of creating these majority minority districts in the South.

Cleo Fields (25:44)

Oh, I agree. I mean, you couldn't have a more horrible decision. I mean, and really, people in the southern part of our country, the whole purpose of the Voting Rights act was to protect them. That was a time, you know, in Louisiana, in Mississippi and Alabama, in order to register to vote, although you had the constitutional right to register to vote and be a voter in this country. There were states like Louisiana that had all types of prerequisites. You know, you had to state the preamma to the Constitution literacy test. Yeah. Some even required poll taxes. You had to own property. Those were unconscionable measures that many Southern states took. And thus that's why Congress passed the Voting Rights act, and President Lyndon B. Johnson signed it for good reason. Now, there is a lot of debate as to whether or not some of those same tactics take place today. And I would say in the southern part of our country, the answer is absolutely yes. You know, you know, they're not literacy tests, but there are all types of obstacles that many African Americans are faced with in order to access the voting box. The other thing, the real proof in the pudding, is how many African Americans have been elected to Congress from, let's just take Louisiana, for example. Zero. Not one. How many have run? Many. So at the end of the day, you know, and to move the test from, you know, it has to show intent and not effect. You know, I just think that's wrong too, because, you know, who's to determine what was the intent of the legislature? You know, what about what's the effect of what the legislature did? And in this case, you know, I was in the legislature when the bill passed. You know, we from a state that has, you know, speaker of the House, the majority leader and one, you know, one of the, I mean, only one female member of Congress, the members of the legislature wanted to protect those individuals. And that's perfectly clear. I mean, okay, and, and thus that's why the district ended up the way it ended up. I just think it's a horrible decision. And what's worse, due to postpone the election, elections that had already started, that disenfranchised people, and I hope the court ultimately ruled that you just can't hold up the elections. You need to go forward because they had already started, the bill had already run.

Christina Rafini (28:17)

I said I'd start micro, and I'm going to go macro. I think a consequence of this is a level of confusion about the way that congressional districts are drawn in this country and when they're drawn, and perhaps that's the point that politicians are trying to sow confusion among the electorate. But I imagine it's incumbent upon you and other Democrats now at this moment to explain to voters why this, as you see it, is a bad judgment, needs to change. What's your prescription for doing that going forward? What do Democrats need to do here as they look at a Voting Rights act that has been, as I said, hollowed out not just by this decision that affected Section two, but other facets of it as well?

Cleo Fields (28:52)

Well, I would think that the next Congress, the, the, the, the new Congress should pass a Voting Rights act that really have teeth. Don't leave anything up for question for the Supreme Court. Make it clear Clear and unambiguous, you know, and really deal with section five. Section five was gutted what 2013 through the holder case. Five was so important to states like Louisiana. We could always depend on in on the federal government to defend us when we were, you know, when I vote, you know, when legislators were trampling on our rights to access the voting box, you know, and that is very, very important. I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Section five. And when they took that away, Section two. And I tell people all the time, if you tell me I got to run a certain spot speed, I could perhaps do that. Tell me I got to jump a certain height, you know, I could perhaps do that. But if you tell me I have to be white to be a member of Congress, I need help from the federal government. And thus that's the whole purpose of the Voting Rights Act. And I think the Supreme Court was just absolutely wrong. I think Congress should move with all expediency to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights act and just leave nothing for question but a Supreme Court. And not to mention, I really think at this day and age, we need to probably put term limits on the Supreme Court because these justices are now acting as lawmakers, and they ought not do that. They are there only to interpret the law, not to make it. And there are too many justices that are making law in this country. And I do think that, you know, there should be some question as to whether or not, you know, Supreme Court justices of limited in terms of their terms.

Felisa Mateo (30:50)

Congressman, before we let you go, I do want to ask you, when you look at the wider map and these redistricting efforts, obviously this latest round kicked off in Texas, where they redistrict to get five GOP votes. Then that was countered in California, where they got five Democratic potential districts. Virginia has got five new potential Democratic districts. Florida will likely get four. And there's a couple, a handful of others in Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and Utah. I am a surprising, possibly Democratic district in Utah. But I'm wondering if you have any concerns that you might be trying to win the battle and lose the war as you open the floodgates for more redistricting, more of this gerrymandering, and if that's partly responsible for the bipartisan nature of politics in 2026.

Cleo Fields (31:31)

Well, it's a race to the bottom. It's a, you know, when a president of the United States picks up the phone and called the governor of Texas and say, I need five more Republican seats. And then the governor of Texas just go right. Call the legislature into session to do just that. You know, what do you think? Wherever there is an action, there's always a reaction. And then Democrats react to that. Look, we shouldn't have mid Dick. I mean, mid decade redistricting. We just really shouldn't have it. The whole purpose of redistricting is based on the Census, that every 10 years we have census in this country and we apportion, you know, seats based on population. And we shouldn't have mid decade redistricting in this country is too political and it's wrong and it's not fair to voters. It just brings about more votes, voter confusion. You know, people don't know who their representatives are. And I just think we need to stop it. And we need to stop it like right now.

Christina Rafini (32:37)

A quick question unrelated to this. You sit on the House Financial Services Committee. You're on the subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy. You're here on Bloomberg. I want to ask you about the news of the week that is that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is going to stick around as governor going forward. What do you make of that decision? And now that that investigation by the DOJ has been punted over to the inspector general at the Fed, are you satisfied like it seems like Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina was that the institution and the soon to be former chair no longer is imperiled as they might have been a few weeks ago.

Cleo Fields (33:09)

Yeah. You know, look, we have to put in confidence in our financial institutions. And I'm happy that Chairman Powell is sticking around. There's no reason for him to leave. That was really no purpose in the investigation to begin with. And we got to stop weaponizing the Department of Justice. You know, I mean, that was just wrong. You know, if you don't like somebody, if the president doesn't like somebody in this country, he sticks the Justice Department on the person. You know, that was, that was an unfair, you know, un American attack to begin with. And Chairman Powell should stay as long as the wall gives them the right to stay. And I applaud him for doing so.

Christina Rafini (33:53)

Congressman, thank you very much. That's Cleo Fields, Congressman of the 6th district of Louisiana, joining us on this Sunday. Appreciate your time.

Felisa Mateo (34:00)

Stay with us for more on Bloomberg this weekend right after this.

Public Ad Voice (34:06)

Support for the show comes from public. Lately it feels like there are two types of investing platforms. Some are traditional brokerages that haven't changed much in decades, and others feel less like investing and more like a game. Public is positioned differently. It's an investing platform for people who are serious about building their wealth on public you can build a portfolio of stocks, options, bonds, crypto without all the bugs or the confetti. Retirement accounts? Yep. High yield cash? Yes again. They even have direct indexing. Public has modern design, powerful tools and customer support that actually helps. Go to public.com market and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com market ad paid for by Public Holdings Brokerage Services by Public Investing member FINRA SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors SEC Registered Advisor crypto services by Zerohash all investing involves risk of loss. See completedisclosures@public.com disclosures a business gift is

4imprint Ad Voice (35:06)

never just a gift. It's a thank you, a milestone, a moment of appreciation. It's a message about how much someone matters and what your brand stands for. At 4imprint, you'll find thousands of customizable options like premium apparel, branded drinkware, tech totes and more, each chosen not just for function but for meaning. You can tailor every detail your logo, your message, your presentation so your gift feels personal and on brand and with expert support, dependable service and thousands without a setup fee. Creating something thoughtful doesn't mean making it complicated. Every order is backed by 4imprint's 360 degree guarantee, so you can be 4imprint certain it'll arrive exactly as expected, on time and with the care your brand deserves. Because when the moment matters, the right gift speaks volumes and the right partner makes it easy. Explore gifting with purpose and certainty@4imprint.com forimprint for certain if you follow markets, you

David Gura (36:03)

know the value of long term thinking. You plan, you diversify, you prepare for volatility. But even the best strategies can't prevent every bad day. For more than 75 years, Cincinnati Insurance has helped individuals and businesses navigate tough moments with expertise, personal attention and independent agents who focus on relationships, not transactions, the Cincinnati insurance companies Let them make your bad day better. Find an agent@cin fin.com.

Lisa Mateo (36:46)

Maria Sharapova. She is a tennis legend, right? She made history. In 2004, she became the youngest tennis star to win a Grand Slam since Martina Higgins in 1997. Now, two decades later, she's now a Hall of Famer, a mom. She's venturing into this new arena. She's serving up compelling interviews for her new podcast. Yeah, I spoke with her about her career then and now.

Maria Sharapova (37:07)

I really had a steely mentality from the beginning because I knew I moved for a purpose. I wanted to build on a dream with a Lot of hope, but also recognizing that it might not go our way and you might take, you know, a path that might not get you to the very top. But ultimately, with a few twists and turns and a little bit of good luck and hard work, we persevered. And I was able to win a Grand Slam when I was 17 years old and really build from that. It took me a little bit of time to adjust to kind of fame and getting my confidence, confidence and performing week in, week out. But, yeah, it was a beautiful journey.

Lisa Mateo (37:45)

And speaking of the journey, the International Tennis hall of Fame, that is quite the accomplishment there. And you were introduced by Serena Williams.

Maria Sharapova (37:52)

Yes.

Lisa Mateo (37:53)

You guys have had this interesting relationship back and forth. Talk a little bit more about it and how that relationship has evolved over the years as women.

Maria Sharapova (38:02)

Well, we had. I had some of the toughest matches against Serena, and she was the ultimate competitor. I got to become a better player because of the level that she performed at every single day. And I had one of my biggest victories in my career at Wimbledon. I also had some of my toughest losses against her. So we went through a lot. And I, you know, when the hall of Fame called and said, you know, is there someone that you'd like to introduce you on stage? She was the first person I thought of because of our rivalry, because of the respect we have and everything we've got.

Lisa Mateo (38:32)

What I love about you two is your. Your competitive edge. Everyone knows you for it. You even had this. This name tag along with you. The Ice Queen.

Maria Sharapova (38:40)

Yes.

Lisa Mateo (38:40)

Now, what was your first reaction when you heard that?

Maria Sharapova (38:43)

Yeah, well, I pumped my fist from a very young age. Like, I had a very steely mentality. I was focused and I was on a different path. The truth is, is even when I trained at, you know, academies with many other children, I recognized that I was, like, the odd one out. I would train extra hours, I would get extra attention from coaches. I played every single tournament I could. Like, I was the first one in bed at night, the first one awake in the morning. So I knew from an early age that I had. I had a goal, like, I was there to do something different and to be a champion. Whether that would happen or not, who knows? There are no guarantees in life. And I like the idea of being different. You know, I now have a mother of a three and a half year old. And, you know, I see a little boy who wants to be part of the pack and part of. With his friends. And sometimes I think, well, I want to encourage him to be unique and find things that that makes him stand out and not be discouraged, you know, to. To appreciate things that make you different.

Lisa Mateo (39:41)

And it seems like it goes right into what you're doing now, into your podcast. Yeah, pretty tough. Because women out there, if we strive for something, you know, it seems like we're kind of. I wouldn't say put down, but just like we're told, you know what? Take it easy.

Maria Sharapova (39:55)

Yes.

Lisa Mateo (39:57)

Is that the reason behind how you started this?

Maria Sharapova (39:59)

Yeah. So I've been working on. On the podcast pretty tough for. For many months with Vox Media, and the idea really resonated well, first of all, with so many of my mom friends, like, coming off of careers, having children, and always being identified with one thing and one trait. And from a young age, I was identified with that fist pump, like, the steely mentality that I was cold. And then I'd go into a boardroom and I'd have, you know, an opinion or I'd have a joke, and someone would say, oh, well, you have a sense of humor. And so you're, you know, I always found that you were identified with one or the other, and you had to soften your filter for whichever identity wasn't appreciated as, you know, part of your characteristic. And so when I spoke with my friends and I was building the concept, it really resonated with a lot of women. And this podcast is for women, by women. And I now get to sit and ask questions, which was, you know, how is that I had to unlearn and learn. And I, you know, I love preparation. That's what I did for my entire career. And now I get to learn about incredible women. And hopefully we can draw these wonderful lessons from these amazing females.

Lisa Mateo (41:07)

Who are some of the women that. That you plan to speak with, and what are some of those stories that. That really resonated with you?

Maria Sharapova (41:13)

I want the stories to be honest, to be authentic. I want to hear. I want to hear the story before the success. Because we all see, you know, we all see someone accepting the Oscar, and we think, you know, we just. We launched pretty tough with Zoe Saldana, and, you know, she speaks about the Oscar. But the moment until that point is that's the. That's the part I want to learn about. I want to know how her, you know, how her ballet and dance informed the movements of all her move. Of all the movies that she's performed in aging, you know, what is it like to be a mom? What is it like to, you know, to have guilt as we navigate careers and motherhood and all the things that you know, society throws at us. And yeah, I, you know, honesty is the first thing that I want the conversations to have.

Lisa Mateo (41:59)

Podcasting, it seems like it's a category that's, that's dominated by men. I know a lot of statistics point to that year. Why do you think that is?

Maria Sharapova (42:07)

I mean, I consume podcasts that are hosted by men, and I think they're phenomenal podcasts that are hosted by men. But I do think there's a lot of room for female hosted podcasts. And they're, I mean, when I think of Kara Swisher and Mel Robbins, these are icons in the field, but I think there's more room in the sandbox.

Lisa Mateo (42:27)

And you also have another name as entrepreneur at the same time. You work with brands, you invest in companies. What's more nerve wracking for you? Is it walking onto the tennis court or walking into a boardroom?

Maria Sharapova (42:40)

Well, I, I've appreciated walking into a boardroom because it's a different kind, it's a different energy, and, you know, there's no match point feeling, you know, when everything's on the line in that meeting or that tennis court or that arena. I love the teamwork that, that business. You know, I feel like so many of the lessons that I learned through my career, I get to apply to the boardroom. But coming in and speaking with Co Fertility or Amulet or Tonal or Therabody, all the brands that I've been, you know, fortunate to be a part of, Bala Bengals and just feel like I can participate and incorporate some of the ideas and, and the education and knowledge that I've learned along the way.

Lisa Mateo (43:17)

And what does a win look like for you today?

Felisa Mateo (43:19)

Today?

Maria Sharapova (43:20)

Oh, a win is when my son is happy. When I'm with my family. You know, I, I spent 28 years on the tour training, you know, day in, day out, and it's been nice to have a zoomed out view of that. And now I'm invested into this, the podcast base. I'm, you know, I'm, I'm competitive. I have a competitive spirit, and I want to do it right and I want to do it well.

Cleo Fields (43:45)

Well.

Maria Sharapova (43:45)

And so I'm pouring all my time into it to make sure that I have quality content to produce for the audience.

Lisa Mateo (43:53)

Stay with us for more on Bloomberg this weekend, right after this.

Public Ad Voice (44:00)

Support for the show comes from public. Lately it feels like there are two types of investing platforms. Some are traditional brokerages that haven't changed much in decades, and others feel less like investing and more like a game. Public is positioned differently. It's an investing platform for people who are serious about building their wealth on public you can build a portfolio of stocks, options, bonds, crypto without all the bugs or the confetti. Retirement accounts?

Chris Sununu (44:25)

Yep.

Public Ad Voice (44:26)

High yield cash? Yes again. They even have direct indexing. Public has modern design, powerful tools and customer support that actually helps. Go to public.com market and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com market ad paid for by Public Holdings Brokerage Services by Public Investing member FINRA SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors SEC Registered Advisor crypto services by ZeroHash all investing involves risk of loss. See complete disclosures@public.com disclosures a business gift

4imprint Ad Voice (45:00)

is never just a gift. It's a thank you, a milestone, a moment of appreciation. It's a message about how much someone matters and what your brand stands for. At 4imprint, you'll find thousands of customizable options like premium apparel, branded drinkware, tech totes and more, each chosen not just for function but for meaning. You can tailor every detail your logo, your message, your presentation so your gift feels personal and on brand and with expert support, dependable service and thousands without a setup fee. Creating something thoughtful doesn't mean making it complicated. Every order is backed by 4imprint's 360 degree guarantee, so you can be 4imprint certain it'll arrive exactly as expected, on time and with the care your brand deserves. Because when the moment matters, the right gift speaks volumes and the right partner makes it easy. Explore gifting with purpose and certainty@4imprint.com forimprint for certain if you follow markets, you

David Gura (45:57)

know the value of long term thinking. You plan, you diversify, you prepare for volatility. But in life, even the best strategies can't prevent every bad day a fire, a loss, a disruption that demands immediate attention. When that happens, what matters isn't just what you planned. It's who shows up. That's where Cincinnati Insurance comes in. For more than 75 years, they've helped individuals and businesses navigate life's toughest moments with care, expertise and personal attention. Together with independent agents, Cincinnati Insurance focuses on relationships, not transactions. Their approach is grounded in experience, follow through and trust built over time. Bad days happen, and when they do, you deserve an insurance partner who understands risk, respects what you've built, and is ready to help you move forward. The Cincinnati Insurance companies Let them make your bad day better. Find an independent agent@cin fin.com.

Christina Rafini (47:05)

Welcome back to Bloomberg this weekend or btw, as I say, that's right BTW I'm David Gura with Christina Rafini. Here are some stories you might have missed this week. Felisa Mateo has those, btw.

Chris Sununu (47:17)

Yes.

Lisa Mateo (47:17)

Let's get right to it. Ok, I want to start with this one from the New York Times. The headline is, with the arrival of goop kitchen, is New York going full goop?

Christina Rafini (47:25)

This is the Gwyneth Paltrow.

Chris Sununu (47:27)

Conservative, correct?

Lisa Mateo (47:28)

Correct. So it's like a healthy eating food food chain. It started in Los Angeles like 2021, but she's brought it to New York. So it's come to New York for the first time. So it's.

Christina Rafini (47:36)

What do we have there? Salads.

Lisa Mateo (47:38)

Right?

Christina Rafini (47:38)

You have salads and bowls.

Felisa Mateo (47:40)

Lisa, If I want to buy a $16 salad, I can get a sweet green.

Lisa Mateo (47:44)

Nothing on the menu includes gluten, refined sugar, seeds, corn or peanuts or preservatives. So it's very clean. Very clean. Okay. But the whole point of the story is that how New Yorkers are opening up their palate to this LA trend that seems to be coming because a lot of LA restaurants are now making their way to New York and they're saying, well, New York's only.

Christina Rafini (48:04)

We are a better city.

Lisa Mateo (48:05)

You only like pizzas and hot dogs. That's what they're saying. And they say, oh, you know what? So they're opening it up their palate to. To something better and something new.

Christina Rafini (48:14)

I ordered this online. What do I do? How do I get this food?

Lisa Mateo (48:16)

You do. You go. It's. It's only. You could only get it on like online. You can't sit and eat in the place. You have to go and like order it. But sometimes there's a line.

Felisa Mateo (48:24)

I don't wait in line for food.

Lisa Mateo (48:25)

You don't do lines.

Christina Rafini (48:26)

They don't know that about New York yet. Although we have a lot of Californians who come here to wait in line, which I guess you have to order

Felisa Mateo (48:31)

it like you're from L. A. Do you have to use Vocal Fry to order it? I would like my salad. It's good.

Christina Rafini (48:36)

Have you tried this?

Lisa Mateo (48:37)

I have not tried it, but it does look appetizing. I have to tell you, I don't know the prices. I haven't seen their prices.

Christina Rafini (48:43)

They went by very quickly when we were scrolling through.

Felisa Mateo (48:45)

Yeah, all food New York is expensive.

Lisa Mateo (48:46)

It didn't look that egregious, but true, true, true. Okay. I wanna go from food to, like, shows and cruise ships. Okay. Cause you ever been on a cruise? You know, the shows are the big things. So this is the headline from the Wall Street Journal. It says the cutthroat competition to get a gig on a cruise ship. Okay? So there's apparently this annual convention. It's like America's Got Talent. And all the bookers go there.

Christina Rafini (49:08)

Cruise bookers?

Lisa Mateo (49:09)

Yes, cruise bookers. So they go and they look at all the talent that's out there and they pick them for the ships that are coming up. So these people, I mean, what they get if they land a gig? So you ever wonder what they get? Okay, so they get to stay in the normal staterooms. They don't stay in the crew quarters. Okay. They get to enjoy the dining, the swimming pools. They get to enjoy all the amenities. And a one week contract can pay like thousands of dollars for them. So it's not a bad gig if

Felisa Mateo (49:34)

you can get it.

Lisa Mateo (49:34)

And that's the thing.

Christina Rafini (49:35)

I have never been on a cruise.

Felisa Mateo (49:36)

I've never been on a cruise, but I danced growing up. And I know this is a good gig because even like 20 years ago, like, this was a good job to get because first of all, you're booked like you're booked through six months. That's six months of work. And I think then they made him stay in the state rooms, but it was, you got insurance, you got food, you got all that stuff. And you could pay your bills for like a year and a half.

Christina Rafini (49:53)

You may get norovirus.

Lisa Mateo (49:55)

You go.

Felisa Mateo (49:57)

Looking on the positive side, David Gura, Bastian of cheerfulness over here today.

Lisa Mateo (50:03)

All right, I want to go to this next story. This is from Bloomberg. Okay, so the headline is, you ready for this? Got Ozempic breath. Hershey sees GLP1 lift for mints and gum. Okay, so you heard of like ozempic face? Like when people lose weight and their sag kinda droops a little bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So this one is Ozempic breath. Because Hershey CEO, he said that GLP1s, they're boosting sales for mints and gum. Like, you know, they have the icebreakers gum. So that's a big thing for them. The reason, the reason why is because GLP1 drugs, they slow down digestion, okay? So you can experience some side effects, like maybe dry mouth, nausea, things like that. And so that's where the ozempic breath comes in. So you gotta grab a mint or a piece of gum. It's helping out her.

Christina Rafini (50:45)

I'm fascinated by this because there's been, as we've talked about, such widespread adoption of these drugs. But you learn of these side effects as it goes along. So I have heard complaints about nausea, and it's not easy for everybody who's on these, but I had not heard of Ozempic breath.

Felisa Mateo (50:57)

I hadn't heard of before, but my friend said he had, like, a terrible taste in his mouth the whole time he took it. So he was taking mints all the time just to get rid of. You know, sometimes when your blood sugar drops. I don't know if that's related, but, like, you get a bitter taste in your mouth. He said he just.

Christina Rafini (51:09)

He tastes mint constantly.

Felisa Mateo (51:11)

Constantly. He felt like he tasted something terrible in his mouth.

Christina Rafini (51:13)

Interesting.

Lisa Mateo (51:14)

See? So it's helping out Hershey. It's doing them a good deal.

Christina Rafini (51:16)

Well, you know, run on gum.

Lisa Mateo (51:18)

It is.

Christina Rafini (51:19)

And icebreakers.

Lisa Mateo (51:20)

All right, this one, David, this one's for you.

Christina Rafini (51:22)

Okay, this one's for me.

Lisa Mateo (51:22)

So this is from the weekend. The weekend, yes.

Cleo Fields (51:26)

Okay.

Lisa Mateo (51:27)

Forget healthspan. Midlife men face pressure to extend.

Felisa Mateo (51:31)

Hotspan.

Christina Rafini (51:31)

Hotspan.

Lisa Mateo (51:32)

Hotspan, yes. So they're saying that millennial men, they grew up thinking, like, oh, we don't have to worry about our health looks. You know, retirement, things like that. Instead, you have to say hot for, like, several more decades, David. Okay, so you need to work on this.

Christina Rafini (51:45)

I got to work on this.

Lisa Mateo (51:46)

This is like.

Christina Rafini (51:47)

This is a really not so subtle way of telling me that they say, yes, it's a journey.

Felisa Mateo (51:50)

This is a dangerous approach.

Lisa Mateo (51:52)

No, but they spoke with plastic surgeons. You have to check out this article. Okay. They're saying midlife has shifted, right? So patients in their 50s are training for triathlons. You know, they're starting companies, they're dating after divorce. They're raising young kids. Like, they're doing all these things at an older age. And they're obsessed with longevity. Like, do you go to the gym? Do you work out?

Christina Rafini (52:13)

I'm not gonna answer any of these questions for you.

Lisa Mateo (52:15)

What are you.

Christina Rafini (52:16)

What are you doing?

Felisa Mateo (52:17)

Are you eating?

Christina Rafini (52:18)

I guess I have to wait till I'm in my 50s to do all of this stuff. Maybe that's the silver lining I can see in all of this. You have, like, Tom Cruise up there. So this is why. These are celebs who are still.

Lisa Mateo (52:28)

Still, still looking good.

Christina Rafini (52:29)

Still looking good, Lisa.

Lisa Mateo (52:30)

Still looking good.

Felisa Mateo (52:31)

George Clinton is 60 now. Still looking. Still looking pretty good.

Lisa Mateo (52:35)

Brad Pitt is another. Like, they're talking about this thing because you know how women talk about menopause? They have menopause.

Christina Rafini (52:41)

Menopause. Men are going through this. All of the new terms here on the show Hot Spring, we're bringing it all to you.

Lisa Mateo (52:47)

But people pay a lot of money for some of this. Okay, get this. $6,000 a year for a good doctor who can work on your biomarkers. Okay. Or you can pay $320 a month to spend on peptides. So we can do that.

Christina Rafini (53:00)

Well, that is Peptides. I'm very skeptical.

Lisa Mateo (53:02)

No you're not.

Christina Rafini (53:02)

I don't think they're like approved by any regulators too.

Felisa Mateo (53:05)

I had some girlfriends do it and they're like, my physical age is 17. I was like, they just want you to pay them again. I don't believe that for a so

Christina Rafini (53:11)

I did see that piece. Chris wrote that for pursuits. It's worth.

Lisa Mateo (53:13)

It's excellent. It really is.

Christina Rafini (53:14)

At the weekend you're not afraid of

Felisa Mateo (53:16)

the manosphere and the mana? Wait, what is it called? What do we just call it?

Lisa Mateo (53:19)

Manopause.

Felisa Mateo (53:21)

Man spanning.

Lisa Mateo (53:22)

All right.

Felisa Mateo (53:22)

One of those things. Thanks for joining us on today's Bloomberg this Weekend podcast. Don't forget to tune in live for the show every Saturday and Sunday morning starting at 7am Eastern.

Christina Rafini (53:33)

We're on Bloomberg Television Radio and the Bloomberg Business Applied, bringing you unique takes and in depth interviews on news, politics, lifestyle and culture.

David Gura (53:45)

If you follow markets, you know the value of long term thinking. You plan, you diversify, you prepare for volatility. But even the best strategies can't prevent every bad day. For more than 75 years, Cincinnati Insurance has helped individuals and businesses navigate tough moments. With expertise, personal attention and independent agents who focus on relationships, not transactions, the Cincinnati Insurance companies let them make your bad day better. Find an agent@cin fin.com A business gift

4imprint Ad Voice (54:21)

should do more than check a box. It should reflect your brand and show someone they're appreciated, recognized and truly seen. 4imprint offers thousands of high quality, customizable products like premium apparel, drinkware, tech and more, making it easy to create a gift that feels meaningful and on brand. And with 4imprint's expert support and their 360 degree guarantee, you can be 4imprint certain your order will arrive exactly as intended. Explore gifting with confidence@4imprint.com 4imprint for certain from coast to coast, unlock adventure at Red Lion Hotels by Sinesta, where restful sleep, friendly service and trusted local knowledge are part of every stay. Red lion makes it easy to feel welcomed, comfortable and connected wherever the road takes you. Whether you're traveling for business or pleasure, you can spend less and make more of every trip. When you sign up for Sonesta Travel Pass, you'll get their best rates instantly. Go to Sonesta Dot com to book your stay and unlock the best rates with Sonesta Travel Pass here today, roam tomorrow. Join now@sonesta.com Terms and conditions apply.