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Scott Galloway
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Kara Swisher
Do you ever look back on something you posted on the Internet and think, well, that was cringe?
Podcast Host (Net Worth and Chill)
Yeah. I mean, I look back at that stuff and I'm just like, it's so emblematic of the era. And it's also just like, why did I think this would age well, like, in the slightest?
Kara Swisher
This week on Explain It To Me from Vox, what to do with your online regret. New episodes on Sundays, wherever you get your podcasts. Megan Rapinoe here. This week on A touch more, Gotham FC's Rose Lavelle joins us to talk about FIFA's very first Champions cup, her incredible year of wins, and some of her greatest pranks of all time. Unfortunately, on yours truly. Plus, with the WNBA CBA negotiations still stalled, I gotta ask the question, is it time to worry? Check out the latest episode of A Touch More wherever you get your podcast. And on YouTube.
Scott Galloway
God, the edibles are kicking in.
Kara Swisher
Hi, everyone. This is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media podcast network. I'm Kara Swisher.
Scott Galloway
And I'm Scott Galloway.
Kara Swisher
And what the fuck is going on behind you, Scott? There's, like, Scott. Scott. Also Scott. To explain for listeners, Scott has a new background in his studio, and guess what? I'm not in it.
Scott Galloway
Okay? I have no idea what you're talking about. Oh, this?
Kara Swisher
Oh, look, it's Ed.
Scott Galloway
The metaphor I would use is that you're my first wife and these are Bella Russian hookers. Who I.
Kara Swisher
What is happening?
Scott Galloway
Do you want the honest truth or am I supposed to be snarky around this?
Kara Swisher
Whatever. Either one. It's probably a bad explanation.
Scott Galloway
No, I'm very focused on enterprise value. And Vox owns a piece of Pivot.
Kara Swisher
No, we do, but go ahead.
Scott Galloway
Well, we Own it. But Vox, everyone. The thing I hate about the corporate structure and ownership of Pivot is that everyone has veto authority, but no one has control. I like having control. And as you know, about five years ago, I started launching my own pods. And quite frankly, your Pivot has the biggest reach.
Kara Swisher
My Pivot. Now it's my Pivot. It's like our children. Your children. Go ahead.
Scott Galloway
But I'm very focused on trying to create distinct enterprise value that I have control over. So Pivot is the biggest and the best and kind of your firstborn. And I love it and I'm fond of you, but in terms of trying to build enterprise value, I'm focused on the Prof. G pods because I control it. And let me tell you, you're the same way. You have on with Keras.
Kara Swisher
I just have on, that's all. But go ahead.
Scott Galloway
Well, but control is an addictive substance.
Kara Swisher
It is.
Scott Galloway
And I like making decisions. And quite frankly, we get, we make a lot of money from Pivot, but it's very difficult to figure out a path to enterprise value because Vox kind of controls or semi controls the ip. So I'm just very honestly, very focused on building enterprise value around plethora of podcasts we are developing here at Prop.
Kara Swisher
G. Yes, but let me make an argument. They don't actually control it. We can do whatever. We mostly do whatever we want. You know that it's me you're talking.
Scott Galloway
No. Or it's going to be very difficult for us to sell Pivot for a shit ton of money. And that's the business that I'm in.
Kara Swisher
Well, well, in a couple of years we can certainly. Correct.
Scott Galloway
Yeah, I guess the terms of the agreement are the IP terms of. So it's just me.
Kara Swisher
That's your problem.
Scott Galloway
No, I don't. I. I like working with partners. I've always had partners in my business. I think that when I advise young entrepreneurs, I'm being do it with a partner. Because the most rewarding thing, and I think the most rewarding thing in life is to raise kids with a competent person that you love and also to build economic security with someone you care about. It's just, I think that is really rewarding. I also think it's much more rewarding to build businesses with someone else. I think one of the most rewarding things about Pivot is you and I have built it together. And occasionally we get on the phone and we just bask in our success and it's really fun. The way I describe it is inevitably when I travel, because I'm Usually on a corporation's dime, I stay at these amazing places and inevitably when I'm alone, I get upgraded to literally the presidential suite at the George Sank in Paris. But if you're in it alone, it's like it didn't happen. It just doesn't mean anything. So I do think building businesses. I've always had partners. My partner at Prop G Media is Katherine Dillon, who I've worked with for 15 years. My partner at Pivot is you, and to a lesser extent, Jim Bankoff. But yeah, the most rewarding thing is building something with a partner. But with respect to the pictures behind me, I want to set Prav g up in a corporate structure position such that I can sell it for a shit ton of money to an old media company that's panicking that they're not in the fastest growing ad supported medium. Is that too much information?
Kara Swisher
Oh, and then what are you going to do with your first marriage? Pivot. That got you all that? That got you.
Scott Galloway
I'm still here. I'm there.
Kara Swisher
That made you attractive to Russian whores.
Scott Galloway
I take you to every Thursday night when we get drunk at a convention. We might have some bad sex, but you know, I'm still here. I'm still here. I'm hanging around until the kids go to college, until Taylor and Zoe go off to college.
Kara Swisher
Uh huh, uh huh.
Scott Galloway
You know, I gotta be honest, Kara, at this point in my life, it's like this resistance Subscribe. A lot of people reached out to me and said, why didn't you organize with these people? Like the idea?
Kara Swisher
Yes, I've heard that. I've gotten a lot of calls from people.
Scott Galloway
The idea of getting a bunch of activists and liberal media figures on the phone and trying to get consensus sounds like my worst fucking nightmare.
Kara Swisher
Yeah, I got that from like a dozen people. Who was the last one? Katie Couric. Katie Couric, I think, yeah.
Scott Galloway
Katie reached out to me and to be honest, they're right. But my view is I'm a ready, fire, aim guy. I'm gonna do what I can do. I've got a ton of momentum. And then you do your thing and I'll support you. But the idea of getting on the phone with all of these people to decide whether Netflix should be on the list or not, that's just not my style.
Kara Swisher
I know that. I know it. Everyone was like, why didn't you do. I'm like, because he doesn't like you. Like, I don't know, he just wants it.
Scott Galloway
No, it's not that I don't like these people. It's like I would rather take a leadership. No business I've ever started made any sense.
Kara Swisher
Yeah, yeah.
Scott Galloway
But my. And not only that you want to.
Kara Swisher
Do your own thing.
Scott Galloway
This goes to a deeper spiritual thing. One of the things I don't like about getting older. I used to be more fearless when I was younger. I used to call people I wanted to meet and I used to approach people. I used to go to crash parties I wasn't invited to. And now I'm just sort of recently heckling from the cheap seats. I have very strong opinions about everything, but I'm doing less. And I want to move back to taking risks and actually doing shit and risking public failure because I think that has been. Other than being born a white heterosexual male in the 60s and the irrational passion for my wellbeing and my mother. The thing, the reason I am somewhat successful is I've never been afraid of public failure. Yeah, I've gotten more afraid as I've gotten older. I want to get more. I want to get in the game. I want to. I want to get back on the field.
Kara Swisher
Yeah, you got to get back. Yeah, it's okay. You can leave me. You'll see what happens when you leave me. Anyway, I don't really care. I have other things I can do.
Scott Galloway
I'm leaving you. I still return your angry text messages.
Kara Swisher
At 2am Guess who called me the other night? You. Because you wanted to chitty chat with your favorite person on the planet. But let me just say I had.
Scott Galloway
Inedible and I was bored. No one else would talk to me. I had to call someone in Eastern standard time because everyone else was asleep.
Kara Swisher
So no. But we've been sharing. You've been sharing. Speaking of looking ridiculous, why. Why were you in a fur coat looking like a unsuccessful pimp for your resistant unsubscribe. That made me laugh my ass off, I have to say. With a hat. Tell me where it's. Where are you right now? Give me a quick update and then we've got a lot to talk about today.
Scott Galloway
So I like. I think the truth has a nice ring to it. Out of the gates it was bigger than I expected. I got to about 100,000, 150,000 uniques a day. It has leveled off and it's not growing. And I'm not hearing from as many CEOs I've been doing some research around how do you sustain a movement like this and one of them join with.
Kara Swisher
People because.
Scott Galloway
The hole is great on the sum of its parts.
Kara Swisher
Yeah. Yeah.
Scott Galloway
I will take over this island on my own. I'm like one of those Japanese soldiers in the hills of the Philippines 20 years after the war has ended, terrorizing everybody.
Kara Swisher
Yeah.
Scott Galloway
No, but there was a study done out of Kellogg, and it found that it's actually not economic damage. It's public shaming vis a vis the media. It's media attention. And so I've been going on CNN once or twice a day. I was on msn. Now I've been on. I'm about to go on.
Kara Swisher
You need to go on Fox.
Scott Galloway
Yeah, I'm probably gonna go on Fox. I mean, I'm like you. This is gonna sound arrogant, but it's true. I can get on any network, any day of the week. Oh, yeah, I get it. And what's interesting, though, is when I do. And I'll come back to the. When I do these crazy, unchained, weird. He's definitely not running for president now videos, they get about five or six hundred thousand to a million views. And when I go on CNN PrimeTime, I get 3 to 400,000.
Kara Swisher
Yeah.
Scott Galloway
And so the power of social is so powerful. And what I find about social is it's a chance to be your spirit animal. And people love that. People love. I went up to. I went up to, you know, my partner's closet. I grabbed a fur coat and a ridiculous hat because I was going to talk about lamb. It's your hat.
Kara Swisher
Stop pretending it's your hat.
Scott Galloway
What's that?
Kara Swisher
It's your hat and coat, but go ahead.
Scott Galloway
Well, I like to spend $1,600 at Kimo Sabi and Aspen for a hat that I look like Billy the Special Child. Who's the latest. The latest winner of the Make a Wish foundation in El Paso, Texas. Texas.
Kara Swisher
Oh, you look so ridiculous.
Scott Galloway
I look totally fucking ridiculous.
Kara Swisher
Anyway, where are we going? Very briefly resisted unsubscribe. We have a lot to talk about today.
Scott Galloway
There's so much going on. So a lot of the organizations that do actually organize Defiance and Indivisible, I'm coordinating with now. I'm trying to reignite the momentum, and I'm going on a bunch of public media, and I'm hearing. It is inspiring. I mean, granted, I hear from people who are supportive, but I'm hearing from high school kids saying, I'm trying to get my entire senior class to unsubscribe from Spotify. Will you do a zoom? So I'm trying to. I hate to admit it, but I'm trying to. The worst thing what's even worse than fighting with your allies is fighting without them. So I'm trying to do a better job of reaching out, which I hate.
Kara Swisher
I know, but you're going to have to. Sweetie, you got to.
Scott Galloway
It takes a village. It's kind of leveled out and I need to re. Establish. I need to re. Establish some momentum.
Kara Swisher
It's a good idea. People got excited about your good idea. Right. And we'll talk about the Washington Post later. Cause I've gotten 900 calls about that. People are back to.
Scott Galloway
Well, you know, the Washington Post and journalists are just so fucking precious. You guys should have precious.
Kara Swisher
Scott, I need you to stop. 300 people are fine. Trigger. Yesterday.
Scott Galloway
Trigger.
Kara Swisher
Literally, 300 people are fine. I'm gonna slap you back to last Sunday. But first, let's first start. We'll get to the Washington Post and you better collect yourself. Cause I'll slap you. I will. I'll slap you back to last Sunday.
Scott Galloway
What's the dynamic here? I say something stupid and then you say. And then you come with your warriors of Wokeness and everyone's like, I love Carol. I'm on Carousel.
Kara Swisher
I love Carol. It's not warriors of wokeness. 300 people lost their jobs. You could have a little empathy. Anyway.
Scott Galloway
20,000 people lost their jobs at UPS, Carol.
Kara Swisher
Well, so what? You know what? The Washington. We owe the Washington Post a debt of gratitude for the stuff they did for many years.
Scott Galloway
You know, whose parents put them through Sarah Lawrence and they're more precious than everybody else.
Kara Swisher
They're not more precious. It's still important. It doesn't matter. You don't have to stack rank people in misery. You know what I mean?
Scott Galloway
Come on. That's not true. I'm not doing that. But we should talk about it because I do have some thoughts on it and I know you have some thoughts on it.
Kara Swisher
We will. We're going to get to it. But first we're going to talk about anthropic, something really kind of fun. It's taking aim at OpenAI and chat GPT with a series of super bowl ads poking fun. It is the perfect satire at recent news that ads are coming to Chat GPT. I want to play one of the anthropic ads, all of which. There's four of them, I think, that feature a young man visiting a therapist to talk about his mom. Let's watch. How do I communicate better with my mom? Great question. Improved communication with your mom can bring you closer. Here are some techniques you can try. Start by listening. Really hear what she's trying to say underneath her words. Build conversation from points of agreement. Find a connection through shared activity, perhaps a nature walk. Or if the relationship can't be fixed, find emotional connection with other older women on Golden Encounters, the mature dating site that connects sensitive cubs with roaring cougars.
Scott Galloway
What.
Kara Swisher
The tagline appears on the screen at the end that says ads are coming to AI but not to Claude. They struck a nerve with Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI. Sam posted on X. The ads made him laugh and then went on to share a novial sized rant, as TechCrunch put it. He argued the campaign was dishonest and misrepresented how ChatGPT would ever use ads. Oh my God, fuck him if he can't take a joke. I think these ads are brilliant. They actually the way they depict chatbots is perfect. That pause, the smile, the kind of lowest common denominator advice. But these are great branding, as you told me. So tell me, as Mr. Brands, what do you think about these?
Scott Galloway
This is genius. And this will be seen as the pivotal moment for when in 12 months, anthropic is more valuable than OpenAI. This is a definition of intelligent branding. And one construct or vehicle for great branding is you ladder the competition. Exactly. Well, the way you ladder the competition to try and zero in on the soft tissues, you go, we're this, they're this. And then you say, okay, is this point of differentiation truly different? Are we really different this way? Two, does anyone care? Is irrelevant. And three, can we own it? Is it sustainable? So in this instance they said, all right, we're not going to have ads. Is that different? Yes. ChatGPT is having ads that's truly differentiated. Is it relevant? Yeah, it is relevant because you're providing your most intimate information. There's a memory around AI and the idea that it's not giving you the best answer, but an answer monetized is really uncomfortable for people. And then is it sustainable? Mostly, unless OpenAI, which is a non zero chance they might backtrack on this. But basically this is the perfect branding. It's differentiated, it's relevant to consumers and it's sustainable. And the execution here is just gorgeous, flawless. It's just beautiful. This occasionally, like when Hyundai came out with their seven year warranty ad that changed the complexion of Hyundai. Occasionally there's an ad campaign that literally changes everything. They're fewer and fewer because people don't take advertising as seriously. They take real time innovation more seriously. This will be, this already is the ad of the Super Bowl. This is Going to be the moment when Sam Altman, quite frankly, shit the bed and Dario became the new face of AI. But I believe this will be the pivotal moment with also a focus on enterprise versus the consumer. They're going Dell versus Gateway, going consumer, or they're going enterprise versus Consumer.
Kara Swisher
This is a consumer play because it's all about people asking advice from these things. Let me tell you, one of the things that really struck me, and I don't know how you felt about it, was the tone of voice of these. And one is better than that. I just saw another one and it was fantastic.
Scott Galloway
The execution is fantastic.
Kara Swisher
It was a woman talking to a business plan and was offering her whatever, a website, like a, like a, like a web space kind of thing. But the voices and the. And the lack of emotion and the lack of empathy in their voices, and yet their. The robotic nature of people. This is what AI sounds like to people.
Scott Galloway
The shift in the tone, it goes from human to anodyne. It is genius, actually. And the thing about.
Kara Swisher
And pause is the pause until they answer, because no one would do that. Right. Everybody jumps all when they talk. They have a normal interaction. But the pause is what got me. Was perfect.
Scott Galloway
Well, the super bowl is basically. The ads aren't worth it. Whatever they're charging 8 million for a 30 cent, it's not worth it. The only way it's worth it. And you know, if the ad was worth it before the ad ever airs, and then it's how much play is it getting on YouTube? And already anthropic's ads are worth more than they're spending because everybody's talking about its buzz. Ben Stiller's ad for Instacart is going to be the silver medalist here. It's fucking hilarious.
Kara Swisher
It is. It's with. What's his name? Benson Boone.
Scott Galloway
Yeah. He does flips and everything.
Kara Swisher
Yeah.
Scott Galloway
But basically don't do the flip. This has nothing to do with the ad on the Super Bowl. It's about your permission to be evaluated and go viral because you're advertising at the Super Bowl.
Kara Swisher
Yeah.
Scott Galloway
And already Anthropic has gotten a huge, huge return. And also, if you'll notice, Sam Altman is sounding very defensive.
Kara Swisher
He. Oh, my God, I laughed. But like, you know, he should have said nothing or said that was funny. Those were the only two answers.
Scott Galloway
But this was a pivotal turning moment. What do you think?
Kara Swisher
I thought I just loved it. I thought it was perfect. It also was, you know, it really put a finger on what people don't like about AI. Right. It really did. Yeah. They're such like, ew. It's not a person. And it was actually kind of in their brand of we're not those guys. Right. Like, it also. It didn't say what they were, but it said what they weren't. And I think that. And what they aren't is something that's very unattractive to people. Right. What they are is attractive. It's like, I want to use this AI but I don't want that. Like, that's what I thought was effective there. It was. Anyway, good job, Claude. And anthropic. It really is. And Sam really should have just said that was really funny. Loved it.
Scott Galloway
What's more uncomfortable about this is the following. The number one use case. Do you know what it is? Therapy. So imagine you're giving someone the most intimate details about your life, and then the AI decides where to insert an ad. I'm getting served all of these ring light therapists that are quote, unquote, mental health professionals telling everyone, you don't need a job, you don't need a relationship, you need to work on yourself first. Yeah, that's helpful. Anyways, they imagine I heard one of these ring light therapists recommending a dating site. And I thought, is this person being compensated by this dating site? Imagine sitting down and talking to a therapist and giving them your most intimate details. And they say, oh, you should absolutely go on Lexapro. And by the way, I'm sponsored by Eli Lilly or whatever.
Kara Swisher
Well, although doctors are, aren't they? I mean, that's a tale as old as time.
Scott Galloway
Anyway, people are using AI as a more trusted doctor than their doctors. People are going to AI.
Kara Swisher
I mean, doctors get all those gimmes from pharmacy people. You know that, like there's a whole.
Scott Galloway
And by the way, that's been seriously pulled back and regulated, as it should. I used to get invited to these dinners to speak about back when I was running a brand strategy for invited to these dinners with. With neurosurgeons, sponsored by Sandoz or whatever. And they've pulled back on that a lot because they realize. But if you're giving AI the most intimate. If you're saying to AI, okay, I have prostate cancer, my Gleason scores are this. And I don't know whether I should have my prostate removed or if I should just continue therapy. Low fat diet. The idea that the AI might be trying to figure out what ad to insert at that moment.
Kara Swisher
Yeah, it has a very Facebook y feel to it.
Scott Galloway
I'll tell you with Google, you expect it. With Facebook, you expect it. But right now, everyone's under the impression that the AI is there for trying to help them.
Kara Swisher
Absolutely. All right, moving from that, let's run through a rapid fire update of all the Epstein news that's happened since we talked. I mean, seriously, this is just. First, let's listen to what President Trump had to say to CNN's Kaitlan Collins when asked about Epstein's victims. This was something else. And then J.D. vance followed up with a really even worse version of it. But let's listen.
Scott Galloway
Yeah. What did you say?
Kara Swisher
What would you say to the survivors who feel like they haven't gotten justice?
Scott Galloway
Reporter no wonder CNN has no ratings because of people like you. You know, she's a young woman. I don't think I've ever seen you smile. I've known you for 10 years. I don't think I've ever seen a smile.
Podcast Host (Net Worth and Chill)
Well, I'm asking you about survivors of.
Scott Galloway
Jeffrey Epstein's Mr. President, because, you know, you're not telling the truth.
Kara Swisher
That was something, let me say. I think the reason she got under her skin is because what she was talking about was the survivors of Donald Trump. You know what I mean?
Scott Galloway
You mean that he's mentioned 5,700 times?
Kara Swisher
Yes, exactly. I think he knows. Deep in his incredibly narcissistic denial personality, he knows. Right. And so he knows what happened. These people know what happened. And so, you know, it's typical. Old man says, I've never seen you smile. I've had that. Women have that happen to them all the time.
Scott Galloway
Smile, sweetheart.
Kara Swisher
Yeah, you should smile more. You should put Kara Swisher on the back of your thing and say thank you. But that was really something. And then what was incredible is that JD has followed it in a really ridiculous interview with Megyn Kelly in which he said, well, he just wants her to have fun, you know, oh my God. He's an the cringiest cringe of. He just takes something that's bad and makes it worse, which is really hard to do in this situation.
Scott Galloway
I thought, I see. It's funny, I had a different reaction there. I kind of expected it from J. What I thought was especially heinous was Megyn Kelly defending the President, referenced her menstrual cycle. There's gotta be a line where as someone has a certain level and I go back, you know, not just. Not just men. Everyone should have a code and lines. The key isn't to be likable. Everyone deserves boundaries in a relationship and boundaries around the behavior they Will explain accept and not accept. When the President insulted the looks of Senator Cruz's wife, that should have been a red line. And it should be like I'm never supporting you ever again. And when the President referenced Megyn Kelly's menstrual cycle, that should have been a line where she would, I would think for the rest of her career go, this guy has a problem when it comes to women. And I was texting this morning with Molly John Fast. And the thing I've been trying to wrap my hands around. I want to get to your viewpoint here around the Epstein files. And the problem is. Or I see the biggest problem is that what we need is a thick layer of an institution that we trust and that used to be the Department of Justice to go through in the FBI these 3 million pages and say, okay, our job is to use discretion and the rule of law to parse what is illegal criminal behavior that deserves public attention and what does not deserve public attention. Like being on an invite list to a party in St. Barts that Jeffrey Epstein was gonna cause. Right now we're over punishing shit that is trivial and superfluous. And we're under punishing child rape.
Kara Swisher
Yep.
Scott Galloway
Everything has been mushed together. And because we don't trust an institution to go through this and say this is criminal activity and warrants public scrutiny and legal scrutiny. And quite frankly folks, we're not even gonna release this shit. Cuz all it does is impugn people for no reason. But the problem is there's no arbiter. There's no institution that traditionally we've had trust in that we're comfortable with doing it. So everyone's like, release the files. They release all 3 million. I don't even know if this is helping right now.
Kara Swisher
No, there's more. They released half. They've released half. They're not going to.
Scott Galloway
What are your thoughts?
Kara Swisher
I just. He's a pig. I'm sorry. He's just an old man pig. And J.D. vance made it worse. And Megyn Kelly, Forget it. She's a bluffer to all of them and she's gonna put this on her show, so. Hey, Megan. Good to give you content. He'll attack me and not Scott, who's appropriately critical of you. But that's fine. Whatever you want, girl.
Scott Galloway
I've been on Meghan's show. Have you been on her show?
Kara Swisher
No, of course not. Why would I. Why would I soil myself?
Scott Galloway
I get it though. I think she's very talented.
Kara Swisher
She has turned into something else. Scott, you're not paying attention.
Scott Galloway
No, no, no, no, Go ahead. Don't interrupt my sentence to score points with your woke warrior. Oh, what I was going to say.
Kara Swisher
With the woke warriors.
Scott Galloway
What I was going to say. Let me finish. Is that I register that she, like Candace Owens, has literally gone off the fucking deep end. And I can't figure out if it's because the rage algorithms love rage bait. So they get more money every time they say something incendiary or they have literally gone insane. Like they haven't taken a red pill, they've swallowed like, you know, a red cyanide pill. But I would argue over the last few years, Megan has gone very, very conspiracy theory and has decided the more insane, incendiary shit I say, is it that she's making money or has she seriously lost her shit?
Kara Swisher
Yeah, I don't know. Honestly, I don't care. She's just one of those people I've decided to, like, put in the trash bin of my whatever. She can say whatever she wants about me if I provide good content to her. Knock yourself out, girl. Anyway, next up, Bill and Hillary Clinton have agreed to be deposed on camera at public hearings in the Epstein investigation. When I interviewed Ro Khanna, he said they absolutely should. I agree, so should President Trump. They should also bring him in. They should bring all these people in, but they're having them. And Hillary did this morning was like, bring it on. Like, I'm a little scared for the Republicans, honestly. And she wants cameras there. She's like, so obviously she's got something up her sleeve. And I wouldn't, I don't. I think this woman has run out of fucks after being, like, whacked around. I mean, some of it is her fault, but boy, have they just. She's. She's loaded for bear, I would say, is my feeling. And they could throw them. They could. She's going to talk about Trump the whole time. That's what she's going to do.
Scott Galloway
It's funny going back to my brand strategy course, I do people as brands and I look at them as brands and break down their core attributes. And I did the Clintons and I did Bill and Hillary and they both, especially Bill, but their brand attributes that are so powerful. First off, Bill has Oprah, like, empathy. I generally get the sense when I met Bill Clinton, I thought, this guy cares about me. I'm going to support him the rest of my life. You get the sense he genuinely cares. And it's so. It comes across as so genuine, it's hard to believe it's not genuine anyways. The second thing is you would never want the Clintons on the other side of anything you're doing. These people are ruthless and smart. I don't care if you're. I don't care if you're picking players for a softball team. If these people had no athletic ability, I would still want them on my team because they would figure out a way to kneecap the second baseman, throw.
Kara Swisher
A. I think she's good at.
Scott Galloway
I think she's. I can't wait for this. And if I were the Trump administration, the last fucking thing I would want is cameras on a very well prepared 155 fucking IQ Secretary Clinton.
Kara Swisher
Because, well, did you see Trump said I like Bill Clinton. Like he was trying.
Scott Galloway
So all of a sudden he's trying to be like, they're pretty good people.
Kara Swisher
Then they shouldn't have to undergo this.
Scott Galloway
I'm sorry. Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton are testifying. Could these, could the Trump administration be any stupider? More stupid? And you're gonna have a bunch of. Trust me, there's gonna be three or four moments. They're never gonna be where some idiot staffer has given a bigger idiot Republican a stupid question and you are going to see one of the Clintons slap them back. So silly. I can't. I literally can't. I'm not gonna watch this. This is my Super Bowl. I can't wait for this. Only person I've ever knocked on doors for.
Kara Swisher
Yeah. Anyway, let's get through the last two. Melinda French Gates, another smart cookie, said references to her ex husband and filled her with unbelievable sadness that he, along with others, needed to answer the question that remained. Gates himself apologized yet again. But I thought Melinda Gates handled herself with so much class given she keeps getting asked about her. The behavior of her ex husband. I would hate that. I would hate that. I thought she handled it well. And let me add into that. You can pick either one. CBS is pulling a 60 minute segment with longevity guru Peter Attia, but the network's news editor in chief, Barry Wise is reported refusing to fire him. The contributor on the way in very quickly here. I've heard from a lot of Paramount people, they really want him gone and they should because you can easily replace him with someone like Scott Galloway, for example, who knows all about that. He's, you know, Scott could actually.
Scott Galloway
You're the longevity person now.
Kara Swisher
Yeah, I'm the longevity person. I'm using it for marketing. I'm like, great, keep this. Like, keep this. This Epstein soiled person who already A lot of people think is a bit of a grifter on there. And plus she's added Andrew Huberman. I know you like him. And Mark Hyman, who is really. I'm sorry, it's just cod swallow a lot of the stuff he blablast about anyway. Either one Melinda or.
Scott Galloway
Yeah, but okay, so I think Melinda French Gates joins a crew of women and this is sexist, who seem to have a different approach to how they equip themselves when they become billionaires. And that is they're more focused on philanthropy, they demonstrate grace, they demonstrate empathy, focused on their kids. And they have just. I mean, I've told you this, kind of. One of my personal heroes is Mackenzie Scott. The approach she takes to her life and giving versus the other half of the marriage. It's just there's something about the female brain and this is sexist because I'm distinguishing between the sexes. And by the way, let me be clear, let me piss off women. I think men oftentimes the male brain because of testosterone and more risk aggressiveness, sometimes more than often make outstanding entrepreneurs. And I think that male aggression has put us on the moon and discovered vaccines. So let me give some credit, that is also disparaging or people are gonna take it as a hate crime against women when they become billionaires. It appears that the female brain is much more about how do I help others versus how can I have the most fucking fabulous life in Aspen. There does seem to be a real distinct difference between these divorces and how the female side of the equation acquits themselves versus the male equation.
Kara Swisher
I would say Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki is another example of that.
Scott Galloway
They're everywhere. Look at these examples everywhere.
Kara Swisher
She got dragged to Epstein island by him too.
Scott Galloway
Look at all these examples everywhere. And then also though, and I think we're gonna agree on the disagree on this, but I want you. I think Dr. Peter Attia is a fucking distraction here. Let his colleagues, let his podcast listeners, let his podcast network. As far as I can tell, he did not commit a crime. He just comes across as a creep.
Kara Swisher
Hold on. I don't think that.
Scott Galloway
Hold on. There is credible evidence that the President of the United States, who has been mentioned 5700 times, may have engaged in child rape. So I could give a flying fuck about a longevity doctor and the creepy emails he sends. This is about criminal activity amongst our cabinet and our president, not creepy emails from a wellness doctor. So I don't.
Kara Swisher
I get your point. I get your point. And I'm gonna say yes. But do we have. Again, as I said before, do we have to stack rank these things? I mean, you can say. And I agree with you, I repeat it.
Scott Galloway
Once we learn about indictments, the others.
Kara Swisher
About indictments, they should be. We should be vot on criminally indicting the people who have abused young women or young women. Not women, young girls.
Scott Galloway
Girls.
Kara Swisher
Children. Let's just go right to children. I'm not speaking of Megyn Kelly. Trying to figure out which age is okay. None of them.
Scott Galloway
The 15 year old. They're 15. They look like they're 18, so it's okay.
Kara Swisher
They're wearing extensions. Like, oh, my God. So I agree with you on that. That said. And it's okay to say ew to like Howard Lutnick. Yuck. What a liar about his affiliations with thing. It's okay to say, wow, Peter Attia, what a creepy dude. It's okay to do that also. That's all. I just don't think you have to like.
Scott Galloway
It should be a DOJ releasing to the public information into grand juries. Get on diamonds on criminal behavior. And quite frankly, they should not be releasing Kevin Marsh or whatever his name is. It comes out he's in the Epstein files because he was on an invite list.
Kara Swisher
Yes.
Scott Galloway
If we had institutions we could still trust that aren't perverted by the President's total overrun of a co. Equal branch of government. You could have an FBI and a DOJ that would say, here's the information we're releasing because it's pertinent. And here's the information we're not releasing because all it does is create distraction and dilution of the real criminals here.
Kara Swisher
But the guy who was head of Paul Weiss, who acquiesced very early to the drums, he had to step down because of his. I mean, I'm just saying there are devils. I agree with you. I think we are actually agreed on this. But I just would note that Peter Autier wrote the worst thing about being friends with Epstein was that he couldn't tell a soul about the financier's outrageous life. I wouldn't want to work with this fucker.
Scott Galloway
If AI went through every email you sent, could they find shit that makes you look really bad?
Kara Swisher
Not like this. No, not even close. No. No.
Scott Galloway
Yeah, that's probably not.
Kara Swisher
No. And not you either, by the way.
Scott Galloway
FYI, I don't think so either.
Kara Swisher
Come on. Like, it's mostly you like yelling at me, really. That's what really happens. People anyway.
Scott Galloway
Yeah. Me yelling at you. I think you got the pro. I think you got your pronouns off there or whatever. We're calling me whatever picture you want.
Kara Swisher
On the back at 2am you need.
Scott Galloway
To apologize to so and so.
Kara Swisher
No, no.
Scott Galloway
And Sheryl San. You're being unfair to Sheryl Sandberg.
Kara Swisher
You know what, we had a lovely chat last night, Scott and I did, just so you know. We did.
Scott Galloway
We spoke last night.
Kara Swisher
Two nights ago.
Scott Galloway
Ago.
Kara Swisher
Last night. Anyway, we had a lovely time. No, I went out last night with my lovely wife. Okay, let's go on a quick break. We come back. Alphabet earnings. Really interesting.
Scott Galloway
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Kara Swisher
It is very unfortunate that it happened, but it's also unfortunate that the ICE is being blamed for like just murdering somebody who is just so innocent, which isn't the case whatsoever. A they were provoked. B he got ran over and you know, it just, it's hard to tell what's real and what's not anymore.
Scott Galloway
He's delivered on virtually every promise. He's made. The economy is booming right now. He closed the border. We're not getting any more illegals in. That has been done. That was a major promise. That's been done today. Explained. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
Podcast Host (Net Worth and Chill)
This week on net Worth and chill. I'm talking about what happens after you've mastered the basics. How to build wealth that actually lasts for generations. With the top 1% holding nearly a third of the nation's wealth and 98% of them being men, breaking into generational wealth isn't just about getting rich. It's about changing who gets to stay rich. Plus, I'm explaining the great wealth transfer $124 trillion about to change hands over the next 25 years and what it means for you. I'm answering your questions about calculating your net worth, whether you should rent or buy to build wealth, and how to pass your retirement accounts to your kids without losing them to probate court. Whether you're just getting started or already maxing out your 401k, this episode will show you how to think bigger than just making money today. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or watch on YouTube.com YourRichBFF.
Kara Swisher
Scott we're back onto some earnings. Alphabet B earnings and revenue expectations with a net income up almost 30% from the year prior. Well done, Sundar Pichai. The company expects 2026 capex spend to be. This is incredible, 165 and 175 billion, which could be more than double 2025 spending. And obviously all in AI shares are down 5% in the last couple days because at the time of the taping, what do you think of these Alphabet earnings because you've been focused on the owner of Google.
Scott Galloway
Alphabet was my stock pick for 2025. This is nothing short of staggering annual revenues at 400 billion right now. YouTube revenue up 9% Google Cloud up 48% Kara oh, and by the way, OpenAI was supposedly going to kill Google Search. Search is up 17%. Google services revenue up.
Kara Swisher
They moved fast.
Scott Galloway
14%.
Kara Swisher
They finally moved fast.
Scott Galloway
The market was a little spooked by their capex expenditure. In this case, it's a feature, not a bug, because they have the money to do it. And you want to talk about a comeback story for the ages. Back in 2022, the market decided that search had an existential threat with ChatGPT and the stock was off 40%. And guess where, guess where the stock is now. Since it hit that low, it's up fourfold. And since the quarter that ChatGPT was released Google search revenues are up 48%. They get about 90 to 95 times the number of queries as ChatGPT. And the thing I took away from These earnings were two things. One, staggering. And two, I think OpenAI is fucked. They're getting attacked from the side by Anthropic with incredible positioning highlighting their soft tissue around advertising. They're getting attacked from above by Alphabet, which has more probably IP and a fire hose of 2 billion people a day to point at their own AI platforms. And they're getting attacked from below by these open weight LLMs out of China. I saw this and I'm like, Jesus Christ, this company is on fire and well managed. And then I thought, but there is no. I think we have seen the peak of OpenAI's valuation. They're supposedly raising money at 850. I think that'll be the high water mark.
Kara Swisher
All right, cool. Interesting. Now onto Disney. The company top earnings and revenue expectations with experience department reporting over $10 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time. That's the parks. Overall revenue for the entertainment segment of the company was up 7% year over year. Not bad. But he made another big announcement. The CEO Bob Iger Josh d' Amoro will replace him. He has been at Disney for 28 years and most recently served as of Disney Experiences, which makes up roughly 60% of the profit. Last year the company also promoted top television executive Dana Walton to President and Chief Creative Officer. I mean, she gets the consolation prize. I guess. Once again, Scott Caro was right. Let's listen to who I predicted Disney would choose in the October of 2024. Any idea who is gonna be the next Bob Iger? Probably someone internally. I'm guessing either Josh or Dana Walden. It just seemed like it's hard to run a company like Disney if you haven't been there 103 years. So we asked our friend and founding partner punk Bill Cohen for his thoughts on the transition. Let's just quickly listen to him, what he had to say.
Bill Cohen
In many ways it was the inevitable choice. In some ways it was the most ironic choice. I say the ironic choice because of course Bob Chapek ran the Parks and Events division of Disney when Bob Iger selected him to be his first successor. And we all know that that did not work out at all. And now he's got demaro as his successor, also from the parks division. And I say the inevitable choice because, look, let's face it, that's the division that's been hitting it out of the ballpark for the Last few years he's been monetizing the Disney IP beautifully. They were also very smart in keeping the people around at Disney who have the skills that he doesn't have, including Dana Walden promoting her, Alan Bergman, Jimmy Pitar running espn. So he's got a good cast around him. If tomorrow can keep up what he's done at, in the parks and department and increase the Disney stock price, which of course is what everybody wants him to do because it's floundered for the last couple of years, he'll be a success if, if he can't do those things and it's a big question mark still, he may go the way of Bob Chapin.
Kara Swisher
It's too big actually. But what. This is really interesting. I thought that was really smart. I mean it's still you. Scott and I both think this company's gonna get bought for some reason, just right. Correct. Are we still on that train?
Scott Galloway
If it, if it doesn't get, if it doesn't get bought, it's inviting an activist. They'll give the new CEO a 24 month honeymoon period. But I wouldn't be surprised if someone is aggregating stock right now because if you look at the 10 year returns of the S and P, it's almost quadrupled Disney, it's flat. And Bob Iger is the guy who decided after a successful tour of Vietnam to go back and basically has had his legs blown off. I mean, one of the worst decisions in history, in corporate history, personally, was for Bob Iger to decide to shoot his successor and come back in like he was MacArthur. He wasn't. Anyways, this company will have an overhang on it until they do the following. This should be good bank, bad bank. It should be, if you will. It should be the streaming service, the studio and the parks, they feed each other ip. There's synergy and there's flywheels and then they've got to get rid of espn, abc, cable networks, fx, Freeform, Disney Channel, Nat Geo, because these things are just an anchor. The linear businesses are just awful. But the experiences, the parks and cruises and streaming are growing and getting profitable. And when you have a conglomerate like this, what the market does is they find the shittiest business, which is the linear business, and they assign that multiple to the entire company. So Disney is probably, in my view is one of the few values or good buys out there right now because it has unmatched ip. The parks business, assuming that the tariffs are reversed and people start coming back to the US at some point, is Singular. I don't care what anyone thinks. If you don't take your kids and spend fourteen hundred dollars a night in a shitty hotel three or four times before the age of ten, they call child services on you. They have a monopoly on Disney.
Kara Swisher
Not just that, not just that.
Scott Galloway
It's toys, Frozen, Disney, you have to have Disney.
Kara Swisher
They still haven't been like, you know, like, I don't think they don't have Cocomelon. I think that's over at Netflix. They still haven't caught onto some trends. That's my worry for them is they've got a lot of old trends, right? A lot of old stuff like K Pop Demon Hunters for example, that was Netflix and some of the other ones that are very popular with kids, the more cutting edge ones, they don't seem to be on top of them. So I would imagine that Dana and there has to really focus on that. Like what is hot? Like they have the traditionals and Frozen two and I mean three and four coming out, which of course we have to see and then we'll have all the things. But you know, they've missed a lot of turns on the new newest kind of viral phenomenas that are very lasting too. Right. And so that would be my thing. But content isn't the point. It's the parks, it's the streaming, it's the IP and what do you do with that? And so to me they have to really understand, maybe have a little more of a range in IP or something like that as they're doing over at Netflix and other places. Just they could be a little more innovative. But you're right, it has to be spun off. Let Jimmy Bedaro run all of those. I'd known him for a long time from Yahoo and very smart executive.
Scott Galloway
Their experiences division in Q1 reported three times the operating income as the entertainment division. The Entertainment division, the crown jewel there, the streaming services are actually getting some leverage. Their operating income was up 72%. So if you have this unbelievable singular business with enormous moats called the Experiences division and you have the studios which create IP for your streaming services, which is getting momentum. And right now Netflix is Walmart and Disney is lvmh in the sense that Disney has a singular positioning around family that will be very strong for a long time at command margin, those two growth companies together and then you shed the problem child, the linear networks, this company immediately, I said this last year, I think they could sell and they won't do this. Espn, ABC Entertainment, Global Networks, fx, all that shit. Nat Geo I think they could sell it for a dollar and the company would be worth more in six months because it's an enormous overhang on them.
Kara Swisher
It is. Even though it makes a lot of profits.
Scott Galloway
Every analyst. Every analyst report says the following. Good, good, great, good. But. There's always a but, and that is these huge cable companies. And by the way, that company.
Kara Swisher
Why hasn't Eider just done it before he leaves? You know, done.
Scott Galloway
I think he wanted a bigger number. He put a for sale sign on these things 24 months ago.
Kara Swisher
He did.
Scott Galloway
Yeah, but private equity. And there's a. And now it's like whatever the one is from Comcast, someone is going to consolidate these things. Yeah, and by the way, that'll probably be a good stock because someone will come in and start cutting costs faster than revenue declines. And people usually overestimate the speed of revenue declines. That'll be a good business. It'll be a totally different business.
Kara Swisher
There's gonna be a lot of activity because, look, if Paramount doesn't get Warner, that's gonna be someone on the lookout. You've got Comcast sort of waiting in the wings. I went to an Olympic party last night. Boy, they have a great month coming up. They've got the super bowl, they've got the Olympics, and they've got the NBA something or other. They're calling it Legendary February. You know, they've got to do something. So there's going to be a lot of activity here. And you're right, the spinoff of ABC provides an opportunity for any of these players going forward. Anyway, let's go on a quick break. When we come back, we're going to talk about the Washington Post layoffs and I'm going to get some advice from Scott Galloway. Scott, we're back with more news. The Washington Post has laid off about 30% of its employees. The cuts impact both business and newsroom, including over 300. There are roughly 800 journalists. Interestingly, I look at old memos. Bezos had added up to a thousand. He really grew it, and now he's ungrowing it in. All sections of company have been impacted with a focus on sports, local news and international coverage. Executive editor Matt Murray told us that the company had lost too much money for too long and will now be focused on national news and politics, business and health. Maybe they can hire Peter Ortia. I want you not to say people are precious right now. I want to talk about this because I've gotten dozens of. You know, I had been interested in looking at figuring out a Way to buy it. I've gotten lots of calls this week from both employees. Very wealthy people, people who are civically minded here in Washington. Rich people. What do you think's going to happen here? I mean, let me just very briefly, since I worked there again, I started in the mail room the way they did this. Bezos hasn't said a word. The CEO didn't talk to any employees, hasn't been seen since they did this. They handed the bag to Matt Murray to deal with it, which to me, he was just cowardly. I put on threads. Bezos has twice the muscle and he's half the man from when I met him. And that was a personal insult. I meant it in a really very significant way. What do you do with this? What do you do? And when I get all these calls, I'm doing great with the podcast. Although apparently you're leaving me. I'm not.
Scott Galloway
I'm staying in Belarusian orders.
Kara Swisher
It's fine. I don't care.
Scott Galloway
Consensual, by the way, real quick. Who would have thought Hunter Biden would come across as so wholesome? All these prostitutes are on TikTok saying he was respectful. He likes. They're all like, he likes crack and having sex with grown women. And he looks wholesome right now.
Kara Swisher
He does.
Scott Galloway
He's not in the Epstein files. He's nowhere in the Epstein piles.
Kara Swisher
I have to say. Yeah, I agree.
Scott Galloway
He looks like Richard Thomas from the Waltons right now.
Kara Swisher
Who else did I say? Maybe Gavin Newsom. I'm like, how did you not get in the Epstein? Anyway, Tell me what to do here. Tell me what you think. Obviously. Let me just tell you. Thanks, Jeff. Really. The economics have changed. Everybody knows this. Stop lecturing us on things they know. They definitely had to cut costs if I took it over. I got Gosnot in this nasty, prickish way while I'm appearing with Pete Hegseth looking like I've had way too much Botox. And I would say something to them if I was doing this, given how rich I am, and I certainly could afford it. I don't mean to say he has to lose money, but, boy, the look is so bad. It's such a bad look. Him swanning around Paris while he's done this and then not even speaking to them. The whole thing just stinks the way he handled this. Really good people who will find. Who will find jobs at some point and. But it's a lot of people in the market all at once. So what to do here without insulting journalism? Go ahead.
Scott Galloway
Okay, so this Is Kara Swisher calling me at 11pm or midnight, asking my advice around the Washington Post and if and how you should get involved? Is that actually yes?
Kara Swisher
Correct.
Scott Galloway
Okay. First thing I say is, hold on a second, I gotta take my dogs out to pee cause I just took edibles and I'll forget and if they pee on the stone, I'm gonna be in a world of hurt. That's the first thing I say.
Kara Swisher
All right, so now you're done.
Scott Galloway
I take the dogs on a walk and I think about it. This is what I would say to you. Don't touch this thing with a fucking ten foot pole. Because here's the bottom line. Who should own? First off, Jeff Bezos has made a terrible personal brand error by not doing the following. He should have said, I have incredible reverence for journalism, for free speech. I bought this because I think it plays an important role in our society. It has come to my attention or I have decided I'm just not the right owner. And he should have sold it to Bloomberg or some other billionaire two years ago and they would have had a going away party for him and he should have wrapped himself in the importance of great journalism. And there are. What's so sad right now about the Washington Post is from, I would call it kind of 2018 to 2023. They were on an upslope. I started reading the Washington Post. I subscribed to it for its business news. I thought they did a really good job of business coverage. Talented journalists, an important, good stories. Yeah, an important American asset. And he should have gone out. Instead he looks like someone who is purposefully trying to disassemble it limb by limb. Now the reason you should not get near this, Kara, is because if you were worth 10 billion and willing to allocate 2 or 3 billion over the next 10 or 20 years, I'd say.
Kara Swisher
For the good of society, have at it.
Scott Galloway
Yeah, have at it. It's philanthropy. Because here's the bottom line. In an era of social media where 2/3 of news is now garnered off of social media, where they don't have to pay for content, long form, thoughtful, fact checked, investigative journalism is a shitty business. And also let me be clear. The few newsrooms I have been in, and I've been in some important ones, there's a general expectance and entitlement that, oh, you're some rich person and you're funding my very important civic duty. And I find there's a lack of recognition of the fact this is a private company that needs to figure out a way to make money.
Kara Swisher
I think that's been starched out. But go ahead. I agree with you.
Scott Galloway
I still think they find themselves especially precious and that billionaires owe them a living.
Kara Swisher
I don't think that.
Scott Galloway
And there may be billionaires who see an opportunity here to. If you could find a billionaire backer who said this is so important and there are amazing journalists, it's an important asset. We have fewer and fewer of these assets that actually do the work. And people trust this plays an important role in society. I'm hoping that someone pops up and says I'm putting together an advisory board of 12amazing journalists, business people that will be the oversight board. Other than writing a check for $200 million to subsidize this thing every year, I'm not going to be involved because I see the importance the same way someone writes a $1 or $200 million check to their favorite to PETA or to. To Planned Parenthood or to whatever it might be, whatever their philanthropy, the naacp. This has become a philanthropy. And I say that in the best of terms and that is it has a social good. But as a capitalist endeavor, this shit just doesn't make any sense. Unfortunately. If you got involved without having billions of dollars to throw at the problem, you would get all of the frustration with none of the credit or the appreciation regardless of your skills in journalism. So unless you're willing to partner, unless you can find a billionaire who says okay, I'm going to take your guidance around an advisory board. We're going to run this thoughtfully. We are going to impose some discipline on it. But we're willing to lose 100 to 2 million. 100 million a year. It's just going to be good money after bad and more frustration.
Kara Swisher
There's no restructuring of this from your perspective. I mean it doesn't have to be what it is. Right. You and I have both started businesses and quite successful ones.
Scott Galloway
Unless you're going to miss milk it. There's no business here. There's no cat. There's no for profit business here.
Kara Swisher
Right. That's what I'm saying. What else could you imagine it being? I think what's the one in the London that you. Where you live? The Guardian. Right. Don't they?
Scott Galloway
Right. I think in order to get profits you have to engage in rage baiting and AB testing and a lack of fact checking and not. The New York Times has done everything right in my view internally terms of investing early in innovation and technology. And it's still a small shitty business. Only fans will do more revenue than New York Times this year.
Kara Swisher
Absolutely.
Scott Galloway
So what do you do? Of course you invest in digital. Of course you have more subscription programs. But the only business strategy here is the following. You have to find a deep pocketed billionaire who says this is such an important asset, it has such positive externalities for our society that it's worth me cutting a check for 100 to 200 million a year. But the notion that someone's gonna come in and reinvent the Washington Post with new subscriptions, new ideas. No, it's not gonna happen.
Kara Swisher
I don't think that. Let me tell you. I think there is. I agree with you. It's not a big money. And you're right, the New York Times is incredibly successful and is a very small business. I wouldn't say it's a shitty business. It's a small business. Right. It's not. Sorry, Meredith, but it is. It's small. But she's done a great job with her small business and promise.
Scott Galloway
Unbelievable.
Kara Swisher
And it's profitable, which is great. I wonder if you could and have a similar juxtaposition because the Post has always been the sort of the Jan to Marcia at the New York Times. Right. But I like Jane.
Scott Galloway
Pretty distant second.
Kara Swisher
I know.
Scott Galloway
Pretty distant second.
Kara Swisher
It is. And of course the Journal is in there too. And that's going to undergo something. When Rupert goes, you know that's going to change. But it's a really interesting to me. I know it's emotional. I know you know you think it's emotional, but. But I always think like if I was handed cvs, I'm like, I don't know what to do here. Like I wouldn't. The Post. I'm like, well, what if we tried? Like it feels like there is some opportunity here. And I don't mean to make a lot of money. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about making something that is sustainable, useful, profitable enough. Right. So that. And serves enormous. Profitable in terms of society. Right. In helping society and helping really good journalists. Journalists do what they do best and get, get out of their way. That's my feeling.
Scott Galloway
There is no way you can maintain the quality of journalism and the fact checking and the investigative reporting unless you have someone who recognizes the public good outweighs the profit motor here.
Kara Swisher
I agree.
Scott Galloway
And we keep, we keep finding new people who think that they can have both. And the reality is if you want to give people bodily autonomy and have Planned Parenthood in Mississippi, you're gonna lose money. I mean, this is A public good. It plays an important role. And I pray I can't for the life of me figure out why Bezos didn't find this is the bottom line. Republican billionaires buy football teams. Democratic billionaires by media companies.
Kara Swisher
Except what I don't get is whatever.
Scott Galloway
He turned into, why didn't he call Michael Bloomberg? Bloomberg, Wonderful. You already have a newsroom. Take this off my hands for a dollar. And Bloomberg. Whatever you think of Michael Bloomberg, he's a hero of mine. Yeah, I think he cares about democracy. I think he really appreciates journalism. He tries to hit it down the middle. I think he would do a great job with the Post.
Kara Swisher
And he's not so insecure as Jeff Bezos.
Scott Galloway
And at some point, one of these 30 or 40 something crypto or tech billionaires is gonna pop up. Matthew Prince from Cloudflare, I just pulled out on my ass. He strikes me as a really thoughtful, thoughtful guy, a really nice man. I'm like, is your legacy gonna be a cloud based company or is it gonna be maybe saying, yeah, there's a lot. Journalism is important. I'm gonna take a billion dollars, and over the next decade, I'm gonna make sure that the Washington Post continues to.
Kara Swisher
Have or maybe a lot of these.
Scott Galloway
People, no fear or no favor around D.C. politics, or it's a consortium of them. But the first meeting has to be. The first meeting has to be, let's be honest, stop the fucking consensual hallucination. We're gonna lose $100 million a year.
Kara Swisher
I agree. I agree. And on a personal level, I have to say, when I was talking to someone this morning, we're very much like, I was like, you know, I'm making a ton of money and I get to do what I want. And it's easy. It's not easy. It's just pleasurable.
Scott Galloway
Oh, Kara, I'm telling you, if I were advising you personally, I'd be like, don't get fucking near this. Look at your life right now. You're having an impact. You're making a shit ton of money. You got young kids at home, and you want to be up late at night talking to the editor of something, saying why he's pissed off at you because you went from 11 people and you don't need this shit at this.
Kara Swisher
Point in your life Anyway, I would say, let me just tell you, please give to their guild, they got laid off. These are people who've done an amazing public service, and I gave a substantive amount of money for me to them.
Scott Galloway
I'm Sorry. I'm going to piss off everyone. Why are we giving money to people laid off?
Kara Swisher
I do that with lots of layoffs, my friend. You don't know that.
Scott Galloway
Did you do it with the 12,000 people laid off at Amazon last week?
Kara Swisher
If there's a fund, I'd be happy to give to it. Absolutely. I do. I do. I'm sorry. I do that a lot. You don't know that. It's a quiet little thing. I do. Anyway, I will. If there's a fund for Amazon, please let me know and I will be happy to give to it.
Scott Galloway
No, you won't. You're not going to give money to people laid off at Amazon Corporate. I will.
Kara Swisher
You're wrong. You're wrong. Just because you're a greedy doesn't mean. I am. I give a lot more money.
Scott Galloway
You really think greedy is the.
Kara Swisher
I don't think that. I think you give a. I think you're very generous. I'm just.
Scott Galloway
Anyways, I don't. I would like to know what the severance is. I'll give you an example. This cupcake thing called Sprinkles. The female founder came on and said, this is not what my legacy wanted to be. She sold to private equity and she gave people one day's notice when they all got fired. Those people should be publicly shamed like crazy. I would like to know what the severance is for these 300 people. But there are massive layoffs everywhere.
Kara Swisher
I agree.
Scott Galloway
Also those people. Those people are being laid off. This is gonna sound weird. In some ways they're gonna be better off. The Washington Post gets very talented people in an effort to reduce costs. They have hired. They've gotten younger and younger. Cause younger people are willing to be underpaid. You're gonna see so many new substacks. You're gonna see so many. Little Puck is gonna hire a bunch of these people. You're probably gonna hire one or two of these people. These people are gonna go on to greener pastures as opposed to being subject to the whims of a billionaire who wakes up and thinks.
Kara Swisher
True.
Scott Galloway
Oh, I don't know how I feel about the post. Lay off 300 people and keep my distance from it. But what the fuck is he thinking? Not finding someone else to take it off his hands? I don't get it. I just don't get it.
Kara Swisher
I know. And let me just. Let me say, a lot of the decline recently. I mean, it's definitely a secular problem. Has been directly because of his stupid ass decisions. There was one after the next. So a lot of these problems were because of the way he's been managing this and his CEO. Let me just say, Will Lewis, you should be ashamed of yourself, of how you've behaved in all your idiotic ideas.
Scott Galloway
We have a bunch of producers at our different podcasts. I don't know if you can see. I have some of them behind me.
Kara Swisher
I know that. Yeah.
Scott Galloway
But I called, I sent a message to the woman who runs our company and said we should be reaching out to some people at the Post, find people that we love. The Post right now is literally a recruiter's dream. Everyone at the Post, even the ones that. The ones that didn't get laid off, will return your call right now.
Kara Swisher
Yep, that's true.
Scott Galloway
And these are very. I don't quite find. I feel sorry from the sense that this was their dream job. These people are gonna be just fine. These are very talented people. So I don't. I think part of capitalism is. I get it, you know, if you make it easy to fire people, you make it easy to hire them. I think I would bet 95% of these people in two years look back on this and go, yeah, I miss it. It was great training, and I'm making more money and having more impact and more relevance now.
Kara Swisher
Yeah, it's true.
Scott Galloway
And I don't have to wake up and hear what a guy partying in St. Barts thinks about layoffs. I don't.
Kara Swisher
It's true. It's true. But in any case, Jeff, you're such an asshole. Anyway, one more quick break. We'll be back for predictions. Okay, Scott, let's hear a prediction. I'm going to take a moment, though, before you do this, to say Savannah Guthrie's family, with their mom missing. I know. I've met her mom. She's amazing. I hope, hope, hope they find her alive. And it's so sad what's happening. It's getting far too much. Like media is sort of jumping all over it in kind of an untoward way. But if that helps get her back, I'm all for it. But I just want to send my love out to her family. They're wonderful people.
Scott Galloway
It's really interesting, isn't it, how some stories really kind of. I mean, 35,000 people have supposedly been murdered in Iran. But this story really hits you because a people really, really appreciate and have a lot of fondness for Savannah. But occasionally there's a story and it just. It grabs you, right? I mean, this story has really grabbed people because this is kind of everyone's nightmare, not knowing what's happening, not knowing what's going on. But I was really struck at how. And it's nice that occasionally people slow down and when they hear an individual story, it really moves them. And I think, actually, I think the attention being brought to it is probably a good thing.
Kara Swisher
Probably is.
Scott Galloway
I think there's a lot. If anyone sees their mom, they're gonna know it.
Kara Swisher
That's right, right. That's right.
Scott Galloway
Yeah. So I think it's. Anyways, I.
Kara Swisher
There's a surprising not big number of kidnappings too, like in this country.
Scott Galloway
It's very rare. Yeah, we all talk about the fear of kids and kidnapping.
Kara Swisher
It's all over tv, but it's not.
Scott Galloway
It's true. True. It's very, very rare.
Kara Swisher
All right, let's hear a prediction from you.
Scott Galloway
So, effectively, I don't know if this is really good news, but essentially there are social media bans breaking out all over the world. Norway has a complete ban under 13. Belgium requires children under 13 to have parental permission. Germany requires parental consent for users age 13 to 16. Italy requires parental consent. It's sign up for users under the age of 14. And Spain just announced that it's going to. It's the latest country, they're banning social media. Kids under 16. 82% of Spaniards support banning social media for kids under 14. Greece is also nearing a social media ban for children under 15. Australia's implemented a similar ban also. Just a shout out to my colleague Jonathan Haidt. I think this would have happened anyway, but he's expedited it and I think he deserves a lot of credit for this.
Kara Swisher
Sure has.
Scott Galloway
I mean, for those of you thinking about going to academia, you can go into academia, study social science, get a PhD in psychology, and someday get entire nations to ban phones in schools. So to think that academics don't matter, you can have a lot of impact. Anyways, that's not my prediction. My prediction is that this is essentially not only common sense around our children, but this is the beginning. Beginning of reciprocal tariffs. What do I mean by that? Other nations are sick of the sclerotic, irrational, punitive economic warfare that the Trump administration has levied on them with tariffs. And their tariffs are the following. They're going to start banning our social media platforms. The UK is already going after X. You are going to start to see over the course of the next 12 to 24 months, entire nations say, you know what, maybe we don't need YouTube here. Maybe meta should not be here. And they'll maybe we won't use it.
Kara Swisher
I think France is stopping using Zoom.
Scott Galloway
And the government, they're going to blanket in. Okay, Meta is bad for children, which is true. But the real motivation, in my view, is going to be like, you know what? We're kind of sick. If you're going to start making it harder for Americans to buy our Mercedes and our Vuitton, we're going to make it harder for people to watch YouTube and be on Instagram. I think European nations and the rest of the G7 are sick of big tech coming in, sucking billions of dollars out of their economy in exchange for opening a Facebook office in Milan. Their newspapers are going out of business, their media companies are going out of business, their manufacturers are going out of business. And this is essentially the thing that is tipping these companies over and giving them the backbone to start banning these things. And it's going to go up the food chain. Pretty soon you're going to see a large nation say, you know what? What? I don't think we need Google. So this is while it's being done under the very righteous and worthwhile cause of protecting children, which I celebrate and I think is important effectively, what this is is a reciprocal tariff. And pretty soon it's going to start creeping up. You know what's going to happen? Big countries are going to decide, you know what? We no longer want to use Goldman Sachs and McKinsey to do our banking. If you're going to start fucking with us, us, we're going to start fucking with you.
Kara Swisher
And they certainly. Speaking of consumers, they're consumers, so they can speak with their. They can walk. They can walk. That's the thing. And there are alternatives.
Scott Galloway
I love the idea of consumers speaking with their spending power. I think it makes all the sense.
Kara Swisher
I know you do. That's why you look like an unsuccessful pimp this week. What's your outfit for next week?
Scott Galloway
I don't know. I'm thinking. I'll give you a hint. I'll give you a hint. I have a hockey jersey and I'm not wearing any pants.
Kara Swisher
Oh, nice. That's good. Good. Be on brand. That's perfect. That's perfect. On trend and on. Really. That's really important, Scott. And I think you're right. Before, when Europe was not innovative the way the US has been and all these services, there are alternates right now. There are so many alternates to everything. If Silicon Valley thinks they hung the fucking moon, well, they might have, but no longer. And there are alternates in every single category now that you don't have to put up with the ridiculous midlife crisis antics of Jeff Bezos or whatever fresh hell meta is going to unleash upon us. There are choices now, and some of them might be China, by the way. And that's saying a lot if that's where they're going. So I agree with you. I think it's really important. Just so you know, everyone, we will talk about Molt Book and Open Claw next week. It's fine. Agent to agent was always the plan, but we'll talk about that. It's interesting. And we also will talk about Section 230. There's been a new bill to overturn and replace it. Oddly enough, I ran into Joseph Gordon Levitt this week and he was here helping. We'll talk about that next week. Because section 230 is really interesting. I had some really interesting discussions with him and others about it.
Scott Galloway
Can I just say, I love the image of you being barely able to see over the mail card going around and people mistaking you for a 15 year old boy. Can I just say, I love that image? I love that you started the Washington Post mailroom. That is really cool.
Kara Swisher
It was. I. I reorganized. It was so messy. I reorganized all the boxes because I'm so anal retentive. I remember doing that. It's like, what are you doing? I'm like, this is inefficient. And I was like, in college. It's true. I was slightly.
Scott Galloway
Hey, little fella. Don't worry, he'll grow. Oh, wait, no, that's Carol Fisher.
Kara Swisher
Anyway, they didn't know my name at all. And let me tell you, from doing that, everybody who was talented was nice to me. Untalented people were assholes. It was really nice.
Scott Galloway
I worked in a mailroom. I worked in the mailroom of Southwestern University School of Law where my mom ran the. And we used to have lunch together.
Kara Swisher
And here we are together again without my picture behind you. Anyway, I'm not offended.
Scott Galloway
But here's the thing. I'm gonna have to move to a. Fuck. Everyone's all over me. Are you selling your Apple stock? Did you unsubscribe this? I'm gonna have to move to Ted Kaczynski's shed and have no entertainment and have a ham radio. Cause I'm running out of things to unsubscribe to. I wanted to. I've been binging that gay hockey thing, which I think could easily turn me something.
Kara Swisher
Yay. What do you think? Really quickly? What do you. That's just funny.
Scott Galloway
Because.
Kara Swisher
Because we'll have a bonus episode tomorrow. I spoke to the executive producers of Heated Rivalry about how they made the breakout hit for a fraction of the cost of other major streaming shows and what they've got coming out next. What do you think so far? I made Scott watch Heated Rivalry.
Scott Galloway
I think it's an important series for young men to watch because there's different forms of leadership and masculinity and empathy and love and sexual identity. And I gotta be honest, Kara, every time I see something like that, this, I'm reminded of how many people I lost to AIDS back in the. In the 90s. And I don't think. I hope and trust that young people, and especially gay men realize how important science is and how fortunate they are and that America has made a lot of progress around these issues. I can't watch anything about gay men and not think about the 90s.
Kara Swisher
You and I both. Absolutely. Anyway, I'm so glad you're watching it. I hope. I can't wait till you get to episode five. Anyway, we want to hear from you and we have some homework for our listeners. To send us a message about your favorite or least favorite super bowl ad after the big game on Sunday, go to nymag.com pivot or call 85551 pivot.
Scott Galloway
Also, I woke up this morning in a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey, a half bottle drink of Jack and a condom hanging out of my ass. I don't know if that has anything to do with anything.
Kara Swisher
We're taking that out. Go to nymag.com pivot or call 85551 pivot. Okay, that's the show. Thanks for listening to Pivot and be sure to like and subscribe, not Unsubscribe to our YouTube channel. Be back next week.
Scott Galloway
Today's show was produced by Lara Neman, Snowy Marcus and Taylor Griffin. Ernie Interchad engineered this episode. Manola Moreno edited the video. Thanks also to Jim Bros Mia Sivera on Dan Shalon Nishak Koro as Vox Media's executive producer podcast, make sure to follow Pivot on your favorite podcast platform. Thanks for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media. You can subscribe to the magazine@nymag.com pod we'll be back next week for another breakdown of all things tech and business.
This episode dives into some of the week's most buzzworthy topics: the AI showdown in Super Bowl ads, Disney’s long-awaited CEO succession plan, and the painful mass layoffs at The Washington Post. True to form, Kara and Scott blend hard-hitting analysis with trademark banter and barbs, exploring how big decisions in tech, media, and business ripple through society.
(Timestamps: 12:28–18:35)
Anthropic's Claude chatbot ran a series of Super Bowl ads poking fun at ChatGPT’s rumored integration of ads, striking a nerve with OpenAI’s Sam Altman.
The ads creatively depicted generic, robotic AI advice abruptly interrupted by awkward ad placements, highlighting consumer fears about trust and privacy in AI.
Sam Altman responded defensively, but Scott and Kara believe the campaign was a masterstroke of branding.
Scott’s branding analysis:
Kara notes: The ads perfectly capture “what people don’t like about AI”—a lack of emotion, empathy, and an uncanny robotic edge (16:09).
Trump’s dismissive attitude toward Epstein’s victims, echoed and worsened by JD Vance and Megyn Kelly in media interviews. Kara and Scott discuss misogyny and the shifting of blame, calling out Kelly’s defenses and the lack of accountability.
Scott laments the absence of a trusted institution (like DOJ or FBI) to distinguish real criminality from trivial associations in the Epstein saga (23:13–24:10).
Both agree media and public attention are failing to focus on the worst crimes and are distracted by diluted coverage.
(Timestamps: 39:38–46:32)
Bob Iger finally names Josh D’Amaro (former head of Disney Experiences) as successor. Discussion of Disney’s structure—parks, streaming, and legacy TV.
Scott advocates splitting Disney into “good bank, bad bank”—streaming and parks as growth, spin-off the declining linear TV properties (ESPN, ABC, etc.).
Kara notes Disney’s content has missed some viral trends; recommends more innovation and diversity in their IP.
Both feel Disney is either “a great buy” or “an activist target” given it's flat performance versus the broader S&P.
(Timestamps: 37:28–39:38)
(Timestamps: 47:44–62:56)
(Timestamps: 64:54–68:15)
As always, the episode is fast, candid, and irreverent; Kara and Scott swap zingers, mix deep business insight, branding expertise, and biting media critique with a confessional, sometimes profane, conversational style. They pull no punches—whether addressing ego-driven CEOs, clueless billionaires, or the future of democracy itself.
This episode delivers a crash course in the intersecting crises and inflection points at the heart of tech, media, and business in 2026. It puts the AI marketing wars into cultural and business context, exposes the brutal economics behind journalism today, and frames C-suite chess moves at Disney and Alphabet as harbingers of bigger trends. Kara and Scott’s banter (and occasional spats) add humor and personality to otherwise sobering topics, making this a must-listen for anyone tracking how power, money, and influence shape the news you read and the tools you use.