Legalized marijuana. Plus, an actress, bridget monahan. She tells us how living below the poverty line can change ones perspective. My producers will once again try to stop me over the next hour, but first, lets get headlines from my radio cohost carol massar. Thanks so much, pimm. After the close of trading, herbalife raising its forecast. Plus, they halted their dividends. The stock is higher in afterhours trading. , a companyh results reporting their earnings exceeding estimates, higher in trading, hours of buffalo wild wings, and there is a lot of backlash over donald sterling. Companies, including virgin , ended theirrmax sponsorship of the team after a ledger traces comments attributed to sterling. Much, terrellery massar. And another delay in the and wee xl pipeline, have t boone pickens. Erik schatzker and Stephanie Ruhle are standing by at the milken global conference in los angeles. But as you just said, we are here with one of the legendary oilman, t boone pickens. He has been in this business since 1951. Why are you laughing . I am impressed, that is all. That i am still alive . [laughter] withwent to begin activism. It is a hot topic. You are involved in this back in the 1980s. To business was so reviled transform itself into a force for good. How . Activism. Right. I thought you were talking about the oil industry. I was there before they had cars. Because you guys in the media figured it out, that what was happening was a Huge Investment was made. I bought stock in a company. Better,o make a company and it was reported that i was an asset stripper, that i was going to destroy assets. For me to put my money in it and then destroy it, you have to be crazy. Bill ackman and others are doing today in your opinion, is this any different from what was going on in the 1980s . No. Why do you think it is different . Media, are embracing the using the media as a tool, coming after each other. Yes, i did. I took interviews and everything else. I was described as, you know, a raider. I put my money in. These guys running the company, they did not have any stock to speak of. So when you see what carl icahn and bill ackman and the others are doing, the way they are conducting their businesses, do you think it is a good idea . Sure, i do. It creates value for the stockholders. Wait a minute. In youte magazine that carl icahn is the best thing going. A lot of people would say that carl icahn is the best thing going for carl icahn. He is a stockholder. How would they respond to that . What if they make money in six months, but two years later, what the company did in order to make sure holders money in the short run turns out to be a bad idea . They are there for the long term. Sure, they are. They are not shareholders. Shareholders would rather make money fast and slow, ok . Ask them sometimes. Do not think activism is being misused in any way . No. It is not perfect, but, no, i think it is more good than bad. What would you say about the state of Corporate America . Our boardrooms more susceptible to that type of approach today or less so than back in the 1980s . Can you show me one place in the United States where somebody gets too high or their bosses . Bosses . Their good point. The directors. That may practically speaking be true, but in theory, the reelectders continue to them. Are shareholders really paying attention . Do you think though that Corporate America is waking up to this . Sure. Was an oldnally, it boys network pick that is right. It is better than it was in the 1980s, that is for sure, but you need to have another system. To should use headhunters get directors, not managers to pick whatever. Many companies have age limits. They cannot be over 75. I was on a board. They wanted to get me off, so they gave me one year. I resigned. All they had to do was ask me. I want to ask you a question about the energy industry. Time g that is the way you really fix america. Be on a board, say, to have atwould have least an average number of shares. Board, the ceo had , and the last one, the new director, he had 67 shares. They do not give a dam about this company. I have got millions of dollars about it. It is very disruptive. Directors,t up their and i sent my resume in. And they have three openings on the board. They had come up with two directors for the board seats. It, like you run for congress. I was going to ask the question before we run out of time about alternative energy. You surprised a lot of people a few years ago by taking a very positive attitude towards alternative energy, especially wind power. It seems now that you have backed away from that position. Over million dollars, would you back away . I might. Why is alternative energy a bad idea . I am for wind. You have to have six dollar natural gas to make wind work. The margin is natural gas. When we build wind farms, and a lot of people are building wind farms, are they just throwing good money after bad . They are using somebody who has to have that in their portfolio, to have a renewable in the portfolio. Does make sense to you that are taking ahers public stand for subsidies for alternative energy, or do we need subsidies is alternative energy is going to be a viable industry . I do not care if you have it or not. They were against me for natural gas, because they want natural gas really treat cheap because theyre in the fertilizer business. So where do you and they stand right now . Them . Yes. We disagree on that. They do not want natural gas but i do not have any conversation with them this has been an honor and a pleasure. Are we through . We are through. We have to leave it there. We have had an awesome line up today. T boone pickens. I did not even know we were on. My thanks to Erik Schatzker and Stephanie Ruhle, speaking with the bp capital chairman and chief executive at the Milken Institute conference in los angeles, t boone pickens. Coming up, pfizer. Well, they want to offer nearly 100 billion to purchase astrazeneca, but as presented to, based in london, saysyou. Are all of these date deals good for medical science and for patients . We will get some insight. And our mystery guest. This is taking stock on bloomberg. I am pimm fox. Big pharma. A 100with nearly billion takeover offer for astrazeneca. The londonbased company shrugging off the bid. Up with options. Our Bloomberg News reporter is an expert, and we have the president of a securities specializes in the pharmaceuticals industry. Great to have you both here. Shannon, i want you to start it. What about the play for astrazeneca . As you said, pfizer made a play for astrazeneca, and astrazeneca said no way. Coming back with a better deal. In the meantime, maybe somebody else can make a play, maybe amgen possibly. Bigger money, or someone elses going to come in. Steve, if anybody else comes in, dont they have to check their Balance Sheet and see how much money they have offshore outside the United States . That is very important. We are trying to figure out an acronym. Divert attention. Increase profit and reduce taxes. So doing all of you are of these things with this potential deal . If you can pull it off, doing all four, because what you have here is a situation where they can have people focus on what is happening right now, extending the pipeline a little bit, and, of course, increasing the profits, because just by adding the revenue and by continuing all of the expenses, you are good to go. Rate,en with a lower tax you are in good shape. Explain that to people pfizer has got about 70 billion outside the u. S. If they want to bring it back to the u. S. , they are going to get taxed on it. This is really a deal about taxes, and the other tags element is if they buy astrazeneca, the company can be domiciled in the u. K. They u. K. Tax rate. And the u. K. Tax rate is lower than the u. S. Corporate tax rate. Abouthis seem like a Deal Pharmaceuticals or about research and development . Astrazeneca is not known for their pipeline. Is a deal about taxes, about increasing revenue, increasing profits. I do not think this is one of those good old deals, where you look at a company that has products, and you say, i have to have that, the future of medicine in there. Steve . We have been looking at this. They said no negotiation of prices. But, guess what . You buy the lowestpriced drug, and that is what we have been waiting for, and it is happening right now. Of the 60 ipls that we had last year, that is the real research. The question, who pays for it . All of these new technologies can go out there. Industryarmaceutical should. Will they . That is the 64,000 question. Is Big Pharmaceutical Companies are going to be funding their own research and development, then these are just Financial Engineering deeds . A lot of analysts are saying that. Look at the Pfizer Products on the market, their top 10 products, their blockbuster products, even viagra, they came from acquisitions at one point or another. After thenot come Pfizer Research and development lab. Acquisitions here and there. This has been happening for a while, this shift, where big pharma is becoming the acquirer of the Financial Company rather than real researchbased items. The 1990s. Back in more coming up this week with all of these deals. All right, thanks very much, shannon, our Bloomberg News health reporter, and steve. Much appreciated create all right, coming up, were going to the interest introducing you to actress bridget moynihan, looking at extreme poverty around the world and doing something about it. More on live below the line. That is next on taking stock. The global poverty project says that more than one billion people, in fat, one point 2 billion people live in extreme poverty around the world. Now, in an effort of in gauging there is in poverty, what it is like to go hungry, my next test actually participated in a program called live below the line. They are living on just 1. 50 per day, for one week. Joining us from washington, d. C. , hugh evans, and here with me in new york is the act is who i hear hasn, a birthday today, so happy birthday. Thank you. Off with want to start you. How did you come up with this idea for the global poverty project live below the line . Well, for the last few years, we have had this question, pimm, what it means for people to live day,ss than 1. 25 u. S. Per and until we have experienced it for ourselves through the live andw the line challenge, one man in australia challenged himself to do it for a month, and he founded, obviously, incredibly challenging, and he built a movement out of it, and people started doing it all over the world, and now, just one year later, there will be 25,000 people over the next five days living on just 1. 50 per day, including drink. There are antipoverty initiatives around the world, and that is on the website. Dget, how did you get involved . I was at a summit at the u. N. , and they came up to me after my speech, and i enjoyed what they had to say. They take Something Like this, and they do not just throw money at it. They ask people to purchase goods, and by doing that, you are forced by putting your mind and body into a situation into it. You are making different choices. You are thinking about things differently, and hopefully people will take that forward. Now, you helped start this. 1. 50 per day. What are some of the restrictions . Going to the refrigerator and trying to live on that amount of money . Anything in your studio here, no bottled water. Team of four, and we pooled all of our money and bought in bulk. We made a very strict diet, tried to keep it healthy, and we are just going to keep with that for the rest of the week. Hugh evans, what is the menu for you for this week . I actually have to say that i with they feeling very hungry because i was up in the studio, but i started the morning with a banana and eight tiny bit of porridge, because that is all i could afford today. My diet is probably not as nutritious, but the truth is, i am really not going to know what it is like for one. 2 billion People Living in poverty, so i have gotten it pretty good and do not take anything for granted. A few quick weston, if i cant, because it fits into the theater. What is your favorite food if you could have it this week . Steak with potatoes chips. Steak with potato chips. Hugh evans, what would you love to have this week . I would like enchiladas. I like everything mexican. All right, hugh evans, what is your worst habit . You will have to ask my wife. I am not sure. She would probably have a better idea. I eat Tortilla Chips and 9 00 in theabout morning. That is a habit. Thanks very much, hugh evans and bridget moynahan. This is taking stock. This is taking stock on bloomberg. I am pimm fox. For a look at the headlines, lets go to my radio cohost, carol massar. Sanctions against russia because of its actions. The sanctions target individuals and companies in the inner circle of vladimir putin. It includes bands of visas and assets restrictions. And increasing dividends and buybacks, bank of america says it made a decision after finding an error in its stress test. And General Electric may fight find some competition. Siemens could make an offer if they get access to the same Financial Information as ge did. This is from sources familiar. Headline this hour. Thank you. Lets go to the milken global conference taking place in los angeles. Andmbergs Erik SchatzkerStephanie Ruhle have been speaking with the guests all day, and currently, they are with the governor of colorado. Thank you so much. We are, again, with governor john hickenlooper. Here. D to be colorado has fascinated the area for many reasons, but recently, the nations fascination is with marijuana. A question we get all of the time. I can imagine. It would appear from where we sit and from where others sit that the experiment, if we can call it that, has been a success, and in many cases better than expected, generating more tax revenue than expected, creating jobs. What are some of the unpleasant surprises . So far, there have not been too many unpleasant consequences, but the jury is out. We will find out about that later. You know that some kids, perhaps bipolar kid or kids that have adhd, that they are going to be more susceptible to falling off the tracks, right, dropping out of school, running away from home, so we are very worried about copy busting the kids. So far, we have not seen any increase of driving while high. Think we have i got the Regulatory Framework doing a pretty good job. But we are not claiming success. Bet i keep saying, lets cautious. Lets not claim victory. A war on drugs was a disaster. I did not want to be the first. I did not want jimmy fallon to be saying things. For a state. Un how long do you think it was going to take for colorado and other states experimenting with legalization, whether they will now others should follow suit . I think it will take a couple of years. He went to track the behavior of the youth. When we take a poll, most adults, if they used to smoke pot, and they are still smoking pot, and they are paying taxes. Are those that are trying pot. The thing that we are worried about is kids, and that is a legitimate concern. Does colorado become a gateway state for other vices that are not illegal yet, like rusted to shin. We are going to be all over that and make sure that people are not smuggling. At corruption. We are trying to figure out how to do the banking, even despite it hearing against federal law. And banks do not necessarily want to do business with those running we do not want to be a cash business because that does loss to like prostitution and gang behavior. This is going to be one of the great social experiences experiments this century. Even amsterdam, they just decriminalized it. They did not tax it and building a whole regulatory environment. So true. Governor, colorado, as we know, it has been the site of some of the worst gun violence in america, and every episode of it is tragic, no question, but there remains a very, very vibrant and at times unpleasant debate in colorado over the guns. You are right in the middle of it, governor. Is the debate over gun control going to turn colorado into a red state . I do not think so. We are pretty moderate. People got pretty inflamed. The sense of freedom. We look at universal ground checks, right . I went home, and my son was saying, what do you do at work that is so hard every day . Make decisions. Get the facts. He said get the facts, make a decision. We have not gotten the facts. I memorized it. We went back to look at 2012 at the gun purchases, and there were 38 people convicted of homicides trying to buy guns, over 100 people convicted of sexual assault, 420 people with judicial restraining orders. 236 people that when they came to pick up their guns, we came to arrest them for an outstanding mortgage. Shared responsibility. We are not trying to take peoples guns away. We are just trying to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals. I do not think it is going to be as divisive and issue as people think it will be. It is such a topic that divides. Well, it was, and it has, veryagain, we used a moderate approach to universal background checks. We do not go crazy right over the top. You can still loan a gun to your brother and sister over the weekend, whatever, but we made it very flexible. Youre saying you need to review the facts and do the homework. You also said one of the issues with tracking, what do they not get . Well, you know, it is funny. When i had that conversation said, every day i have to go into school and learn something new that never existed before. And i said, you are right, the sixth grade is harder than being governor. I woke up the next morning, and we do not all have the same fax. Facts, and i think we need a stronger regulatory environment. Negotiating fugitives. Natural gas is gaping from these wells. They together created regulatory environments that are going to dramatically make our air cleaner. But, governor, you know that many of your democratic supporters are thinking, here is our governor that we put in office trying to give fracking a good name. You may be doing it with the best of intentions, but why would you be alienating your supporters when the Democratic Party has such a narro