Transcripts For CNBC Squawk Alley 20171009

Good morning, happy columbus day, and welcome to squawk alley. Im sara eisen here with dave faber. John fortt with us from San Francisco, as he mentioned, at the black enterprise tech conference carl has the day off also joining us, kara swisher. A lot to get to today, beginning with google revealing youtube, g mail, and other platforms were compromised by russian operatives in an effort to interfere with the 2016 president ial election. Doesnt seem the ads were bought by the same troll farm that bought ads on Facebook Facebook is confirming russianbought ads appeared on instagram. So far, certainly, the pressure on these companies to fight fake news and bad advertising is mounting, kara, what will be the impact and whats the reaction out there in Silicon Valley . Well, i think, you know, its interesting. As i said, they are doing the slow roll, they are finding them slowly, looking for them i appreciate how difficult it is to find these things among the billions of transactions that happen daily, but you knew it was going to infect google, too. Recently i did a podcast with the head of the ceo of youtube, and at the time she said she hadnt found any ads, but they were looking for them and so they seem to have found some its not an enormous amount, but still troubling the russians have used every platform that the United States has and has created to infect our elections. Kara, i can understand maybe a little bit better why facebook was taken by surprise by this. I mean, social in a way is newer, but google has been fighting, you know, people trying to gain their ad system, you know, people trying to post pornography and other things on youtube for a long time. Why are they surprised that someone would try to use their platforms for this kind of information manipulation i dont think they are surprised. I think they were looking for them you know, like i said, its the old why didnt they protect against it well, that is a very good question i think they try to do Different Things you know, whats interesting here is this is a government hacking a company, as i said, and thats no excuse, but at the same time it presents a different set of challenges, and one of the problems is these platforms are so enticing to bad actors that they use all means at their disposal to attack them so youre absolutely right, they should take more care, they should have done more focus on it, they should have been looking for it and continuing to do so now, because its not as if this is a static situation. This is an ongoing problem we have ongoing elections and news events and these platforms can be used and abused by a lot of bad actors. Well, where do they go from here then, kara . Ill follow up john, do you have a question no, i would just, again, ask on the lines of what david was saying, to what extent should they expect to be held accountable in these platforms, the same way political advertising is on tv, and even how easy will that be to do, given that there arent a whole lot of boxes about the type of advertisement that youre placing when you go to these platforms . Not like youre saying, hi, im a political advertiser, heres the type of ad i want to place i think if they are going to do political ads, no question theres going to be regulation on how online political ads are done and how much disclosure they need to put in place. I think theyll probably have to hue to other mediums that have to do certain things, and i suspect they are not going to want to cut them, because theres a lot of money in this area, obviously, and a lot of people benefit from political ads from a financial point of view, but certainly need more rules around how you place them. Maybe they arent put in the same way in the self serve ad platforms, but i suspect regulation is coming their way and fast, because, you know, at some point if google and facebook and the other platforms arent going to police themselves, someone is going to police them in this area at least. Its been interesting, kara, for us to watch the Market Reaction or lack of it in some of these stocks. Facebook and google are still considered the darlings leading this market into another earnings season where were expecting blockbuster numbers. I dont want you to necessarily analyze the stock market, but i wonder if investors are underestimating the risk which goes directly to their core business and Profit Centers of advertising and more scrutiny coming either from regulators themselves or public pressure. Well, i think thats the continual drum beat of regulatory pressure on some of these companies, and once they start getting in there regulating one thing, these companies have been largely immune to regulation for a long time all of them. Not just google and facebook, but uber, the rest of them and fighting regulatory involvement in their companies and so i think the question is where does it lead, if they can shut it down very quickly. If they can, you know, one of the facebooks head of security kind of went on a tirade this weekend around high hard it is, essentially, and how the press doesnt get how difficult it is, but i think nobody really cares except that they clean it up, and i think theyve got to spend a lot of time, no matter how difficult it is, really both from a real perspective and from a Public Relations perspective to say were working on this, this is incredibly difficult, were trying our best, were going to fair it out and be transparent about everything and thats the way they have to react, or else they are in for a world of trouble and investors will be paying attention kara, stay with us if you would, because we want your take on this one. After Sexual Harassment allegations, Harvey Weinstein is fired from the weinstein company. Julia boorstin has more on this one. Thats right, fired by the company he founded last night the weinstein companys board released a statement saying, in light of new information about misconduct by weinstein thats emerged in the past few days, the directors have determined and informed Harvey Weinstein that his employment is terminated effective immediately. Now there are reports the company is considering changing its name to move past the scandal. Coo David Glasser is most likely to become coo, while harveys brother bob is going to continue on the dimension division, which focuses on horror movies no question the scandal will pose challenges for the Company Going forward, informations and settlements could cost millions, raising it harder to raise debt or equity to finance fulltime films and attract top filmmakers and actors and harder to sell the companys tv division. The division was bolstered by project runway and spinoffs, but diminished by netflix cancelli cancelling marco polo and the mist. Now theres questions who will be the next to fall. Meryl streep didnt know about weinsteins behavior, but urges women to speak up, saying the behavior is inexcusable, but the abuse of power familiar. Each brave voice that is raised, heard and credited by our watch dog media will ultimately change the game. Executive producer of girls told the New York Times she thinks this is a Tipping Point for Sexual Harassment. Back over to you julia, thank you for the setup kara, whats your take, Tipping Point for Sexual Harassment, for the industry at large . I dont know. Look, this idea they just found out is almost laughable. This has been going on for 30 years. I dont even know hollywood and i had heard stories. I dont cover hollywood, so this is one case of what i think are going to be many cases and the question is, you have meryl streep speaking out, obviously, jenny connor, lena dunner, but where are the big names speaking out and saying this is a problem . Where is this board being held to account for its behavior . Harvey weinsteins sick situation going on with him personally, but the fact of the matter is, this board was probably quite aware of what was happening here or chose not to pay attention, and again, it has some feelings of what happened here in Silicon Valley nobody knew that gambling was going on here and here it was happening. Its pretty depressing when big names dont come out and immediately cry what was a stellar piece in the New York Times and which was long in coming from the media, obviously, but long in coming from this board, which i hold fully accountable for the problems that happened here. You dont feel as though its a Tipping Point for Silicon Valley, you know, or that its going to change anything there well, you know, youve got to have more of these reports theres a lot more of this to come i think that a lot of people there was a really interesting quote in the New York Times that a lot of big names in hollywood are calling their lawyers this weekend because of issues they themselves have had and i suspect there will be more revelations, not just in tech, not just in hollywood, but all over the place, and i think the issue is not just this sort of sick predatory behavior, but what boards who should know better and should prevent it are in charge of these executives do about it it shouldnt just be up to these very brave women to speak out, because its incredibly difficult and it costs to speak out. And then you dont know if something happens. In this case, Harvey Weinstein deservedly got fired, bill oreilly had to leave, roger ailes had to pay until theres consequences, not just for the perpetrators and boards and other executives to allow it to happen, i dont know if its a Tipping Point, but to me its a great sign of people willing to speak out, even if theres a price. I think, david, it also highlights another industry that is so male dominant in terms of management, you know, we talk about Silicon Valley bloomberg is citing a university of California Research that shows behind the camera 4. 2 of directors were women, 13 writers were women, 20 producers were women in 2016 were not even talking about some of the big hollywood executives it shouldnt be women that have to do this. It should be men, too. I have two sons that i hope would speak out if Something Like this were to happen if they were in a business or Something Else its everybodys problem it creates toxic workplaces, which lots of good men and good women dont want to work in, so thats really the point. You want to see the leadership speaking out against this kind of behavior, and you should be seeing in hollywood, you should be seeing in Silicon Valley, and its critical that everybody works together to ferret this stuff out, because it ruins the workplace for everybody. Well said kara swisher, thank you for joining us this morning. Thanks. On a monday when we come back on squawk alley, the trump rally rolls on what are the headwinds investors need to be looking out for more record highs for the dow and nasdaq today plus, business icon butch graves joins us on the growing divide in Silicon Valley, plus his take on the current climate of professional sports with his uniqueerecti a pspves a former nba player squawk alley will be back. Wall street focusing on tax reform as markets are mixed this morning for the dow and nasdaq joining us now, wells fargo Global Quantitative strategist, nice to have you both. Samantha, let me start with you, equities or fixed income, which are overweight we are tethered to equities globally, because we think the risk reward balance is in favor of that. Namely broad based strong and broad global growth, coupled with double digits earnings recoveries in most of the world. Within that equities, so to speak, more exposure domestic, international markets, emerging markets . The portfolio construction is really going to depend on the tilt if you need Higher Quality assets if you were worried about a downturn, wait for the u. S. , which the u. S. Will still do better if you want to take on more of the pro growth stance and be more tethered to global growth, go international and go e. M. If youre in u. S. , which sectors in particular . Bank of america sent out a note saying health care and technology are the groups to own. Weve heard this before, see it every earnings season, is this any different . We dont think so we still like tech its broad based, though its not just a social media story, for example, and then we like financials a lot. That doesnt have to be a rising rates story. Its actually a deep value and yield play we think that banks and financials broadly are going to return cash to shareholders, so if you want to get in early on that trend, now would be the time what about you, as we look ahead to earnings season, which sectors are you picking and is it enough to see bottom line beats or do we need to see real top line growth and better guidance to stocks here at a record so the sectors were focusing on would be things like discretionary, right, had a nice pullback because of some of the factors amazon, retailers, et cetera we also continue to like industrials. A lot of the Global Recovery has been discounted and we think those Global Companies can really drive some earnings upside both on the top and the bottom line. Then we still Like Health Care and financials, but again, theyve had some nice runs, so maybe the expectations are higher there and absolutely right, top line is going to be much more important going forward, especially considering if margins were to come down because of wage numbers ticking up samantha, what would concern you . So were always looking for measures of overheating and imbalances those are the two ways the cycle can end. For overheating we look at wage growth and the Unemployment Rate and things look good there we dont see wage pressures coming onboard and hitting into margins, and then with respect to imbalances, thats a bit more nebulous, but we look at corporate leverage, parts of that look a little frothy, perhaps, and we look at the household and how the household is doing and doesnt seem to be large imbalances there everyone points at the fundamental strength of the u. S. Economy. We have gotten good recent numbers in the surveys and in some of the economic data. How much do you think is the rebuild story after the hurricanes harvey and irma and how much of it is real underlying strength in this economy pointing to another pickup i would say its probably 20 some of that hurricane story and 80 real underlying strength, you know, we saw another good set of numbers on friday i know the headline was impacted by the hurricanes, but if you look at the participation rate, if you look at the underemployment rate, which is a broad measure of employment, if you look at wages, they are starting to tick up. They should all drive consumption, which then drives the economy and thats flowing through profitability, as samantha mentioned, you dont have wages at a point where they are starting to crimp the profit margins. Samantha, how i mean, everybody comes on and says sort of the same thing. What are your clients saying when you present them with this basic, hey, things are fairly rosy and continue to invest here in u. S. Equities and or around the world. Do they ever push back and say im getting more concerned about geopolitical risks or a bit more concerned about fund flows clients do feel hesitations, and i think thats natural, given the length and strength of this bull market, but what we would say is we always have to redirect them to fundamentals. We are long run investors. Its our job to keep clients invested and show them theres a Good Opportunity set and compounding starts from the get go, so combine those two things together, means theres no better time to invest. They are so good, arent they i think we have to wait to see what happens, dont you, with treasury yields and the dollar, which both started to go up and have been key fuel to this stock market rally. When do those things become headwinds and turning points so we actually think both rates and the dollar will go up at slow paces. Again, that shouldnt be what tightens financial conditions. If theres risk, the fed goes too aggressively, we dont think that, but the market is way too sanguine well leave it there. Thank you both thank you comingup, Silicon Valleys race problem, despite recent strides to close the gender gap, study showing the racial gap actually getting worse john fortt sits down with the president d o anceof black enterprise earl butch graves next lets send it over to john fortt in San Francisco hes sitting down with a special guest. John thank you, david. Im here with butch graves, the ceo of black enterprise. Thank you so much for joining us this is a big event that you got here you got john thompson, the chairman of microsoft here, youve got the ceo of intel, and this is just your third year doing this conference. Tell me, what is the main driver behind this event . Biggest driver for us is to connect Silicon Valley and Technology Companies with africanamericans. To show the growth and development of africanamerican business entrepreneurs, as well as provide these Tech Companies with an opportunity to bring on and hire a number of very talented africanamerican college kids and folks who want to advance in technology as a whole. What is the reaction that youre getting from some of the companies in Silicon Valley . I understand youve got a group of young people out at sales force, you know, visiting at t labs are you hearing from them that the pipeline needs to grow they want your help in that . Whats their incentive here . Well, their incentive is very straight forward, you know there is not a great diversity in Silicon Valley. And a lot of thats not necessarily purposeful, its just whats grown over a period of time. So what weve decided to do is bring to Silicon Valley these talented kids. We have 15 different hbcus with hack athon teams that are here theyve gone to visit sales force, they are going to see google, intel, going to see at t labs, and so the response from corporations out here has been overwhelmingly positive. Were providing them an opportunity to see kids that they might not ordinarily see or recruit, and they are seeing the talent that exists within these hbcus. Talk to me about black enterprise, because i remember growing up we would have ebony, jet, you know, black enterprise you would see on the coffee tables in africanamerican households ebony and jet, Johnson Publishing has been through a rough patch, definitely. You guys appear to be going strong i see a lot of big names on the board behind you how have you addressed this shift to digital, the changes in media as the company has gone on, founded by your father, by the way. Correct i mean, quite honestly, media has been turned over on its head by digital and technology. Weve evolved, because weve recognized this change we have deemphasized the print product, and we have emphasized digital, and weve emphasized events and thats the one thing that theres an you know, theres an appetite, a great appetite to connect with people, and if we can put people together through conferences, and weve got, you know, as you said, weve got great sponsors, weve got great enthusiasm from our audience and connect them that way, and youve got to evolve you have to revolutionize it and revitalize your company as time goes on and change and be willing to change. So weve done that, and im surrounded by a bunch of young folks at the company who keep me young and keep us fresh to make sure were doing the right thing. At cnbc a big part of what we do is cover the markets, capitalism, right now, especially among the younger generation, it seems surveys are showing us capitalism itself is in question at a level we havent seen before. Black enterprise seems to very much be grasping on to still capitalism as a great tool to lift up people has your the way you need to talk to young people changed the way given the questions millennials seem to be asking about our Financial System well, im fortunate i have four millennial children, so i have an inhouse focus groups that keeps me connected to how they operate, how they communicate, how they think. We have, in fact, weve not deemphasized callism. Weve not deemphasized. In fact, our tag line is still welcome for life we still believe the key to leveling things, leveling the Playing Field is, in fact, building wealth, but you can build wealth in a different way, so were connecting with young folks in a way we perhaps would not have done during my fathers generation but still putting forward the things important for them but still capitalism is, in fact, what provides you opportunity. And they are going about it in a different way, and their willingness to join Different Companies and to come out here to Silicon Valley has changed dramatically so, we have to, you know, from our generation, we have to adjust to the way upon which if you will millennials are working. Before you were an executive, you were a professional ballplayer, so you understand both worlds. Right now we are in the midst of this political, cultural maelstrom. We just had the Vice President over the weekend leaving the colts game what insight can you give into this cultural and economic moment and the way its intersecting with politics, how america gets beyond it well, you know, thats a tough question quite honestly, i think america is better than this. I think were better than divisiveness for divisiveness sake and this is not about a democratic issue or republican issue. If you dont listen to one another, my mother used to say this all the time, if youre talking, you cant hear me, and i think we have groups of people who are talking at one another and not listening to one another. So my hope is, is that through sport and through politics, we can begin to have conversations, because thats really whats missing in this. Yes, you can take a stance one way or the other, and im not saying whos right or wrong and whatever it may be, but the problem is, is that people are not listening to these pro basketball players or these pro football players, they are not listening to what they are saying is the challenge. No one is saying that its okay to disrespect the flag right what those young people are trying to say is, notwithstanding respecting the flag, we have a problem, we have a race problem in this issue we have a divisiveness problem in this country, and we have to address it absolutely. And i appreciate the conversation thats going on here thanks for having us at cnbc here, butch graves, ceo of black enterprise david, back to you okay, thank you, john fortt well check in with you later. Lets send it now to sue herera and get a cnbc news update good morning, david, heres whats happening at this hour, everyone california firefighters battling multiple fires this morning. A 200acre fire in the hills surrounding napa, forcing officials to issue evacuations late last night. Evacuations also issued for a second fire, which is burning in sonoma county. A massive fire erupted at a moscow market last night, causing a number of crowds to explode. 3,000 people had to be evacuated. Miraculously no causalities were reported walmart is changing its policies to speed up returns starting next month through its app, customers will be able to use their smartphones to scan goods they no longer want for an instant refund the company says returns will take 35 seconds or less. And Miami Dolphins offensive line coach Chris Foerster resigning, saying he was seeking medical help after a social media video surfaced on facebook and twitter appearing to show him snorting three lines of a white powdery substance at his desk it is unclear when or where that video was made, or how it became public you are up to date back downtown to squawk alley. Back to you. Thank you ill send it to seema mody now for the european close seema . Hello, quiet start to the week following four straight weeks of gains for the european stocks, but dax did hit a record today. Spanish, ibex rebounding, the Spanish Government putting pressure on catalonia leaders who are now pushing for the independence vote in Parliament Tomorrow now, yesterday hundreds of thousands joined a unity rally in barcelona thats catalan capital, in support of keeping spain together the minister of the economy taking a hard line stance on catalonia. Very clear, so clear, the dependence of catalonia is not going to take place, its illegal, irrational, we have been the decision taken by a lot of corporations and this is our point. Very clear message the policies implemented by the Regional Government of catalonia are instrumental to the economy of catalonia, so the Spanish Government, you know, will apply all the measures necessary in order to avoid that scenario hot spot is turkey. Turkish lira down 3 on news the United States and turkey have mutually suspended visa processing services. The motivation, disagreements on syria, the fate who following multiple requests from turkey, has not been extradited from the United States. This diplomatic dispute underscores what has become an increasingly strained relationship between the United States and turkey, exposing a deep rift between two nato allies sara all right, seema. And a big Market Reaction there, thanks coming up, is big tech the new big oil . Facebook, google, and amazon pacing increased political pressure next guest says it reminds him of carnegie, rockefeller, and vanderbilt hell be here to explain next on squawk alley wheres gary . saved money on motorcycle insurance with geico. Goin up the country. Later, gary i have a motorcycle wonderful. Im goin up the country, baby dont you wanna go . Im goin up the country, baby dont you wanna go . Geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides. Google reportedly uncovering russianbought ads on youtube, gmail, and other platforms during the 2016 election Tech Companies asked to testify before the house and senate next month. Our next guest says in terms of policy, data is now the new oil with bezos now taking the place of carnegie, rockefeller, and va vanderbilt joining us now, bruce mehlman. Welcome to you, nice to have you here thanks for having me. So you represent a lot of these Technology Companies, including twitter and others when it comes to lobbying. I know youre not speaking on their behalf, but explain what you mean about comparing some of the tech leaders to titans of industry and business and how that could bring political pressure sure. Theres a rising populism both at home and around the world, where youre seeing people, antibig, antipolitically collect, antiglobal, and you have these new companies that are driving a lot of disruption, that are incredibly successful, and that are big, politically correct, and global. And youre getting a lot of pushback all around the world regarding their contributions to local economies and to whether their market power is too unchecked. So do you see the biggest Regulatory Risk here coming in the form of antitrust . Well, theres been a lot of books and a lot of articles about whether the antitrust laws from 1890 and 1914 are still adequate in the modern world for folks like amazon. Thats definitely for amazon a major risk and google has been facing around in europe and asia a lot of antitrust contributions. Fewer here at home thats definitely one thing they are looking at privacy is another how consumer data is captured, leveraged, and protected is on peoples minds and its going to grow as an issue well, when you say data is the new oil, and youre not alone in that, by the way, it would seem to me were in the very early days, though, of the growth and importance of data overall. I mean, one could only imagine when theres a connected car on the road, for example, how much data that will be throwing off or with the internet of things, just the beginning here, bruce, are we in the early days of this data revolution, and whats to come you know, its a great question you never know what inning youre in. On the one hand it certainly feels early, given what weve learned about the future of genomics, future of selfdriving cars, future of a. I. At the same time, the most valuable companies in the world are databased companies the most Successful Companies that are transforming Old Industries are leveraging data to do so, so its hardly at the dawn of a databased economy, and youre right, hardly my phrase data is the new oil, but i think its apt do we need, back to what sara was asking, do we changes in the regulatory structure to adjust i mean, typically regulators do trail behind technological changes. Are we in any way ready for the world thats coming . You know, there are a lot of ways in which were not ready for the world thats coming. If you think about the United States, our highway system was laid out by eisenhower in the 50s our entitlement system was laid out by lbj in the 60s we have a Telecom Infrastructure and Telecom Infrastructure dating from 1996, a mere two years after the netscape mosaic browser first came out, so we have very antiquated regulatory and overseeing regimes for tech. At the same time, one of the reasons tech has thrived and innovation has happened is because theres been a light touch regulatory framework, so its pretty important to be careful and cautious and not try to put regulations in front of innovations, when ive at least found regulators and policy makers are generally less imaginative about the future so, how big of a fight is coming, bruce . You represent some of these Tech Companies. What are they preparing for, how much money, whats it all going to look like so, when we say tech, of course, techs not a monolith. There are a lot of companies, hewlett packards, ibms, dells, that have been around for decades, that employ here and around the world, that are very much pillars of their local communities. The folks who are in the cross hairs and the greatest risk appear to be the new big internet platform companies. Amazon first and foremost, but google and facebook probably secondarily, but also facing significant global risks, they are very much gerding for battle they are seeing pushback for a variety of reasons they are very successful same reason that yankees are the most hated team in baseball. They are the disruptors in an era when people are finding economic, social, and political disruption upsetting, Technology Drives disruption, and as noted, they are very politically or powerful in the marketplace with minimal oversight, so i think they realize theyve got a decade or so, if not more, around the world of regulators asking questions about whether they are too powerful and whether rules ought to be put in place on the big internet platforms. Well, thats a case youll be busy, bruce. Lots of lobbying efforts on their part bruce mehlman, thank you for joining us thanks for having me. When we come back, bitter rivals michigan and Michigan State uniting. Were going to tell you what they are teaming up for next coming up on halftime report, whether that rift could derail tax reform and then the rally. Plus, the bank one analyst says you need to buy above all others is our call of the day, and the battle over buybacks consumer advocate ralph nader here hes taking aim at that practice, squaring off today against the traders. There may be some fireworks. Halftime report starts noon eastern. David, see you in just a bit okay. Look forward to it, thanks, scott. Detroit taking a unique approach for luring amazons Second Headquarters. Detroit suffered picking up prime advertising space saturday against the university of michigan versus Michigan State football game. Both head coaches donning headsets with the amazondetroit logo on the side quicken loans signed on as a headset sponsor. Dan gilbert, frequent guest on squawk box, also among detroits largest real estate owners and, of course, probably the leading voice to turn around detroit and lure amazon to that city fascinating competition going on, sara, between all of these cities of course, the question we havent fully gotten answered yet, why do they need a Second Headquarters why does amazon need it yes the cities are just vying for the jobs and the ripple economic effects. No doubt, vitally important you can see what amazon has meant to seattle and downtown seattle. Its not been a suburban complex, its in the middle of the city and led to Enormous Development overall, but i still do wonder, they are talking 5 billion, and i dont know of any other company that has two separate headquarters. I guess some of these anglo Dutch Companies like a unilever, but its interesting amazon is growing like crazy and they have their business, retail, warehouses popping up everywhere midwest seems to be front runners, although a lot of canadian cities are vying for it, too. I know the mayor of cincinnati is trying to lure amazon thats not going to happen. Why just not. Too small. No, its not. Too small thats what they said maybe about seattle before when we come back, steve jobs former publicist is with us her take on how apple is dealing with new product concerns. Tomorrow were live in cincinnati for p gs shareholder vote, if nelson peltz will get a seat on the companys board. Well speak kplexclusively with david taylor you wont want to miss it. Listen up, heart disease. You too, unnecessary er visits. And hey, unmanaged depression, dont get too comfortable. Were talking to you, cost inefficiencies, and data without insights. And fragmented care, stop getting in the way of patient recovery and pay attention. Every single one of you is on our list. At optum, were partnering across the Health System to tackle its biggest challenges. Concerns and reports that some iphone 8 batteries are swelling and causing phones to split. But the stock is still up 35 this year, despite a recent dip. Joining us now with the insight andy cunningham, steve jobs former publicist and helped launch the original macintosh and is out with a new book, get to aha which helps Companies Best position themselves great to have you. Great to be here. Branding, i dont know. I thought millenials dont care about brands is that not true i think millenials care about brands, but they are very particular about their brands. And so what is a company need to know to sort of build my brand in this new world where it seems to be all about getting millenials to to use whatever it is im selling . Yeah, but the key is being authentic. Thats what millenials want. Thats what older people want and Everyone Wants my book is all about positioning dna which means Companies Like people have dna and unlike people its a little bit less complicated than human dna once you know your dna, then youre able to market yours authentically and be attractive to millenials. What do you have to do to know your dna . You have to understand actually what youre doing, what your values are and is to the consumer. Absolutely. You have a got to know yourself really well, and theres a test in the book so i wont go through all of the details of it, but theres only three kinds of companies theres mothers, i call them mothers, mechanics and missionaries which are customeroriented companies, productoriented companies and conceptoriented companies and once you know what you are, you can take them to market. Which one is apple . So apple started off as a missionary and they are moving to be a mechanic now they are much more product focused than they used to be used to be about changing the world and now they are more about building product. So you have a new story today. Apple investigating swollen batteries and iphone 8plus handsets. They have to get to your point, on top of a story if youre going to be a mechanic brand. Yeah. If they are going to be a mechanic they have to care a lot about product and stuff like that doesnt help. They will fix it they are a very good company, but its certainly not the best thing to have happened. This idea of authenticity, i want to understand better what that means i can say understanding your dna but how do you communicate or how does the potential consumer receive authenticity so i think people are pretty good about figuring out whether youre faking it or not in your image, and so if you try to portray an image of something youre not, if you try to portray yourself as a customeroriented company when all you real care about is product it doesnt come off in a genuine way and genuineness and authenticity today is just the most important thing with the internet find out anything about anybody so youve got to be real. So more important than it has been previously. More importantly. Because we can all discover easily. Exactly it used to be easy to create an image through advertising, and it isnt anymore. Do you have any real life ore examples of Silicon Valley giant that are doing it right or wrong . Sure. I think microsoft, which isnt really in Silicon Valley, but i think most is a productoriented company, a mechanic doing it really, really well. Oracle is another company doing it really, really well from a product side lyft is a great example of a mother or cut in peroriented company. What is uber is lyft is a mother uber is a mechanic, kind of a trouble mechanic, but should they be a mechanic those who they are and what their dna, they are about the cars and the service and a few other things. Not so much about the customer then. Not so much about the customer, yeah, which is what lyft is really capitalizing on today. They are capitalizing on their dna. Right, although its uniy isser is still dominant so its not clear that lyfts ability to necessarily have authenticity is going to help it in the marketplace. I would agree, so im not saying that mothers are better than productoriented companies or mechanics they just happen to focus on their customers more. What do you think is the bigger takeaway for companies and industries outside of Silicon Valley that are struggling to resonate with millenial consumers. Again, i think authenticity is the key to every form of marketing you have to do today whether youre a bakery or a barber shop or whether youre a nail salon or youre a hightech chip company. Authenticity. Thats the key. You and i are authentic. We are. Youre the mother. We dont pretend to be anything were not. Youre going to be a mother. All right thank you. Cool. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thanks a lot. When we come back, why steve wynn says last weeks Las Vegas Attack would never have happened at his hotel squawk alley will be back after this quick break no, im scheduling time to go to the bank to get a mortgage. Ugh, youre using a vacation day to go to the bank . I know, right . Just go to lendingtree dot com. Get up to five loan offers to compare side by side for free. Wow, thats great. Wait, how did you get in my kitchen . Oh, i followed a raccoon in through your doggie door. [gasps] get a Better Mortgage on your schedule. Not the banks. Lendingtree. When banks compete, you win. Just think of em as a big cat. With rabies. And the wolf huffed like you do sometimes, grandpa . Well, when you have copd, it can be hard to breathe. It can be hard to get air out, which can make it hard to get air in. So i talked to my doctor. She said. Symbicort could help you breathe better, starting within 5 minutes. Symbicort doesnt replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. Symbicort helps provide significant improvement of your lung function. Symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. It should not be taken more than twice a day. Symbicort contains formoterol. Medicines like formoterol increase the risk of death from asthma problems. Symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. You should tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high Blood Pressure before taking it. Symbicort could mean a day with better breathing. Watch out, piggies child giggles symbicort. Breathe better starting within 5 minutes. Get symbicort free for up to one year. Visit saveonsymbicort. Com today to learn more. Las vegas casino mogul steve wynn speaking out on last weeks mass shooting. On Fox News Sunday wynn suggested the shooter would have set off alarm bells at his properties before he was able to launch this mass attack. Lets take a listen. We have a routine with housekeeping, with room service, with audiovisual, anybody that goes in the room, to do an inspection we also have rules about do not disturb. If a room goes on do not disturb for more than 12 hours we investigate. We constantly we dont allow guns in this building unless they are being carried by our employees, and theres a lot of them, but if anybodys got a gun and we find them continually, we eject them from the hotel. The scenario that were aware of would have indicated that he didnt let anyone in the room for two or three days. That would have triggered a whole bunch of alarms here, and we would have on behalf of the guests, of course, investigated for safety. Wynn went on to discuss security measures his casinos had put in place, including beefing up security, retraining staff and implementing strict do not disturb timing rules as he mentioned to keep visitors safe. Apparently authorities had said that he did, paddock, that is, the murderer, put a do not disturb sign on his door which let him set up the 20 weapons that he had in his hotel room. Yeah. I think wynn has been known for having very Strong Security generally, im talking about steve wynn and wynn overall. Certainly explaining it there, sarah. Companies are going to have to spend more on this, hotels, you name it. I mean, these new risks, i think they will have to do a complete reexamination, especially as jane wells says. Vegas is such a gun place. There are gun shows there. Yeah. And its legal. Yeah. People come for the actual gun shows which jane has pointed out and sometimes bring their firearms with them well on that sad note. Very unfortunate. Well watch for more security measures and that does it for us other on quack alley. Have a good rest of the day. Halftime report starts right now. And welcome to the halftime report. Im swappier top trade this hour, a tale of two generals, one flying and one falling and which at the moment is a better bet for your portfolio. With us for the hour today, josh brown and stevewise and jim lavanthal and jon najarian began electric falling to a two year low, the biggest loser on the dow after a series of management changes