We will talk about the business of the comics. My producers will once again try to stump me with tonights mystery guest. All of that and more. Let us get headlines from carol massar. Netflix out with its earnings after the close. The World LargestOnline Subscription Service had income more than doubled. The stock is slightly higher in the afterhours trade. Texas instrument forecasting thirdquarter profits. The company is seeing demands in machinery and consumer electronics. The stock is down in the afterhours trade of. One stock that is jumping in the late trade is chipotle mexican grill, rising more than 10 . The reported results that beat estimates. Thank you. Another headline today is billionaire investor bill ackman. He is the head of Pershing SquareCapital Management promising to reveal enron like fraud at the company herbalife. We interviewed him today. Eric joins me now. What is he contending . Let us just say that bill ackman has promised a lot. If he is going to liken it to enron, it means he is likening the alleged fraud at herbalife to the greatest investment scam in history because that certainly is where enron ranks. Listen to him. The best frauds are really good. The only clue i will give you for tomorrow is that enron, if you remember, had a fake trading room. They were having people around the enron campus. About an auditor talking the trading operation and setup workstations and had people looking like they were trading, do you remember that . That is my biggest clue for tomorrow. I do remember the Trading Floor at enron. What he said upon further questioning is that, yes, there is something about herbalife. He would not go into detail. Ruse,er words, there is a theont, a mirage company set up to deceive people to make it seem as though something something is happening that is not actually happening. Interviewioned in the you got to speak at length about the investment in herbalife. Did he have anything in addition we talked about how much money is involved. I will get to that in a second. Why is it taking so long . You will remember this short decision bill ackman has had in behalf of his limited partners for a year and a half. Why has it taken a yearandahalf or bill ackman to come out with this presentation which is focusing on the nutritional sensors that herbalife runs in partnership with its distributors as opposed to sometime in the past 18 months. He has hinted at it but it takes time to build a case and this is what he said about the length of time. This is what he calls regulatory. Was to catalyze regulatory interest in the company. The day after our china presentation, the federal trade commission or wants an investigation. The fbi has launched a criminal investigation and various state attorneys have launched investigations. I think they been successful in capitalizing the revenue interest. That is why bill ackman makes the case that the daily up and downs do not matter to him because ultimately all he is trying to do is pressure regulators to investigate the company deeply. There are, including the federal trade commission which is investigating the company. They want him to come to the same conclusion that he has which is this is a pyramid scheme, a fraud that needs to be shut down. At that point, he will be vindicated and his investigators as investors will enjoy it. He has said in the past that he will take his personal profits and donated to charity. Herbalife is not the only position he has taken. What about allergan . Bill ackman has teamed up with valiant pharmaceuticals ru n by a guy named mike pierson, to take over a Company Called allergan, which is famously known for botox. Llergan came out with a Restructuring Plan of its own. Bill ackman termed it a valiant like, cutting 1500 jobs, and saving what he believes to be 475 million a year which the ceo said might be use for the purposes of an acquisition. At the end of the day, frankly, the same applies to allergan as herbalife. As an investor, it is a matter of faith. Billu believe mik ackman can make more of allergy and that it is today or can become on its own, that is a question of faith. You have to believe the amount will that allergan has used for his previous acquisitions works well or as better in this case than it has in the past. The same goes for herbalife. There is no proof that this is a fraud. There was no proof that it is a pyramid scheme. We may be further persuaded tomorrow that it is on the basis of bill ackmans presentation, but we will not know at this company ceases to exist should it ever cease to exist until the regulators say so. Is there any Legal Recourse on the part of herbalife if indeed the investigations of that you describe show that it is not a pyramid scheme . Do they have any recourse in the courts for any defamation because of the bill ackman . I do not have a definitive answer. I have to believe that herbalife if herbalife thought it had that opportunity, if that was an avenue for the company to take, they wouldve already built itself that option because it has been more than 18 months since bill ackman publicly announced he would short the stock. Some things have gone his way over the past several months. Herbalife at one point was trading close to 80. Today it dropped more than 11 and closed at 54. 02. We will see how it behaves tomorrow. Bill ackman said when we were talking to him about the amount of money spent on this 50 millionn is what he said it cost he said it is no big deal for two reasons. One is, over the past two years it is only causes investors 20 points of performance. A fifth of a percentage point. That is fair. Bill ackman to Pershing Square was up 25 which includes herbalife and allergan. Furthermore, he said trust me. When you see the stuff you we have tomorrow, you will conclude the money was well spent. He has made big promises. On the basis of that, the stock was driven down 11 today. I can imagine you will be quite busy tomorrow. I will be paying attention. Thank you. Onrogramming note tuesday, we will be speaking to herbalife chief Financial Officer john desimone. Netflix reporting e arnings matching analysts ana y estimates. Jon erlichman is here. Give us the details. The profitability story of netflix is improving. This is a company that is spending a lot of money to grow their business around the world. Theyre spending money on original shows. We have spoken so much about the Big Investments theyve made on programs like house of cards and orange is the new black. Analystsas the address on a conference call, their had a content guy, is talking about the cost of that programming is going up. Costing them but they see it as a competitive advantage. They pointed to the orange is the new black as the one driver of new subscriptions. I think the headline for a lot of people is this company is more than 50 Million Subscribers, huge number internationally. Will be entering new markets like france and germany later this year. They have clearly grown quickly and there are different views on the financials behind this business. It will costman, individuals about 120 a year for a subscription plus what ever it costs to connect to the internet in order to stream the service. That is an important point because theyre obviously been a battle between netflix and some of the gatekeepers, if you will. They have already cut a deal with comcast to ensure they get good access when people are watching netflix and prime time. People who have problem with her Broadband Access have complained about it in the past. Netflix is continuing with that fight because they see that as one of the factors that could stand in the way of subscriber growth. We do know they want to inch up pricing to wear dress those things like higher content costs. Is probably too early to know whether people will shy away because the pricing is going up slightly. I think the money story of netflix or what it costs for month, this is an alternative for a lot of people to skyrocket cable prices right now. I think that is one of the big advantages. You do not get live sports but you get a pretty good content alternative. They have other streaming competitive south there. Out there. They would try to make more sense of what that landscape will look like. About the Competitive Landscape for time warner and 21st century fox and the potential meeting of shareholders for time warner. Today putrner late out a filing saying the board has approved a plan to remove the auction for shareholders to essentially call for a special meeting. The quick takeaway on that is that they are going to try to make a little more difficult for fox to acquire time warner. By doing Something Like that, theyif it is shortterm, are putting their money where their mouth is. I want to thank you very much, jon erlichman. Coming up, president obama urged a ceasefire in gaza. We have the latest. International pressure grows against russian president Vladimir Putin over the down Malaysia Flight in ukraine. We have an update on both stories, next. This is taking stock. Our mystery guest monday first clue. The mystery guest owns properties which includes a new york city landmark built until 18 1800s in the late 1800s. This is taking stock. Aesident obama juggling series of international crises, none more pressing than that as violence between israel and hamas. Also, the downing of the malaysian airliner in ukraine. Phil mattingly joins us now. What can he actually do to halt the violence in gaza . He is relying heavily on john kerry who left this morning for cairo. Everything in the administration is focusing on is trying to get a ceasefire. Just a couple of weeks ago, there was a ceasefire on the table. Israel accepted it but hamas did not. We are devolving into a more and more violent situation, one the president is raising serious concern. We have serious concerns about the rising number of palestinian deaths and the loss of israeli life. That is why it now has to be our focus and the focus of the International Community to bring about a ceasefire that ended the fighting and that can stop the death of innocent civilians in in gaza and israel. Isthe administrations model a 2012 ceasefire also negotiated by the u. S. And the Egyptian Government. The Egyptian Government is not the same as it was in 2012. The current government has very weak ties with hamas and its militant wing. That is certainly complicating matters. They administration is underlying heavily on john kerry to push this to some type of resolution. On the other International Crisis front. The president made a statement about the downgrain and you plane in ukraine but any action towards Vladimir Putin to get involved . The president has been criticized heavily by republican senators that there has not been any concrete action laid out. The major issues are just access to the crash site for investigators. The u. S. Has investigators on the ground, multiple european investigators. That is at the lowest level, let alone the escalating ceasefires, trying to find some type of solution for the crisis and ukraine that has been festering for months. American officials tell us increased sanctions are on the table. How they will look as the big question. Been holdinga they over the head of president Vladimir Putin for the better part of the last few months has been broad sectoral sanctions. You have seen pieces of those going to place last week. The big holdup has been the europeans. What we are hearing is that they are trying to arrange with european officials some way to move those forward. Resolution weg see happening. No concrete actions coming from the United States so far. Thank you for that update, phil mattingly. We will have more on the situation coming up next. It is time for mystery guest clue number two. As advertisedst that bob dylan once slept here. This is taking stock on bloomberg. Let us get additional insight on the situation in ukraine. Joining us from washington is the senior fellow at the atlantic council. He was former Deputy Assistant secretary of defense for europe and nato policy from 20012005. I wonder if you can give people a little bit about your background. You spent time in ukraine. I spent two years in ukraine world did research on and transferred over to the parliament rice served as an advisor. Based on your experience in the country and your understanding of the countrys history and links with russia, what is Vladimir Putin really want . Vladimir putin strategy from day one has been either to car up ukraine or subordinate ukraine. Useas been willing to economic, political, and military pressure, including a military invasion in which he annexed crimea in support of an insurgency in Eastern Ukraine. Where the recent tragedy of the mh17 just occurred. To the United States and the nato partners be surprised that this is Vladimir Putins strategy . It should not be a surprise at all because he has communicated his intentions for years now as well as a sanctions. The invasion on georgia, the attack on estonia, his assertion that he has an obligation to extend russian sovereignty over any area that has russian ethnic populations. This is a leader who is clearly moving to reassert a russian control over a sphere resin akin to thei can to th former sevier union. Is this a personal crusade . Is more hishis personal perception of how russia has been treated by the west. That russiaeption has been lied to, it has been disrespected, hit at his territory taken away from them. Perception of what russian power should be which is an outdated perception but one he is reviving quite dramatically and dangerously. Himhat are the risks tof particularly from the u. S. And nato allies. The risk is he is putting his country into a position where it could be internationally isolated. He is putting his country in a position where he could fake they could face severe economic sanctions reversing the economic gains the country is made over the last two decades. Based on your previous experiences, is there anything the administration should be doing that it has yet to do . The think this crisis, shootdown of the airliner, underscores to the United States and europe how a border war between russia and ukraine could have implications that go well beyond those directly involved. It also underscores russias ine in the russian proxy war ukraine. It has been led by russian proxies. It has been armed by russia. Arently, those weapons demonstrated by the transfer of the surface to air missiles that shot down mh17. What should we do about it . Now is the time beyond threatening sanctions and imposing them. Really putting pressure on the russian economy. Now is the time to step up assistance to ukraine so they can better defend themselves. Now is the time to designate the separatist proxy group in Eastern Ukraine as a terrorist organization and make clear to the russians that economic sanctions will be sustained until its support for this organization is stopped and its military and economic threats against ukraine are ceased. I want to thank you so much for joining me, ian. Joining us from washington, d. C. Outdoorp next, an billboard deal that had our attention. Oorwill talk about outd which is paying big money for one companys assets. That is next on taking stock. This is taking stock. We start this halfhour talking about billboards. Cbs outdoors agreeing to buy another company. For more details, i want to bring in paul sweeney. Tell us about this deal. Cbs outdoor and van wagner. Cbs outdoors already one of the largest in the United States. They have been in the business a long time. Van wagner is one of the few independent Billboard Companies left in the United States. This is an opportunity for cbs outdoor to get bigger. They feel like they have a pretty big growth trajectory. What about the introduction of new billboards . If they end up having 1100 because of this deal, does that mean no more new billboards means the existing billboards are more valuable . One of the advantages of the Outdoor Advertising business is there is limitations on how many boards can be available in the marketplace. If you owned the boards, there is very little risk of additional boards coming into the marketplace. That is a Good Business from that perspective. One of the damages of the outdoor business is it benefited a little bit from technological innovation. The introduction of digital billboards, these are billboards that drivers will see near liveaction video of an advertisement. Is much more vibrant, attractive and much more profitable. Will cbs have to spend a lot of money in order to upgrade the van wagner inventory to digital or is that already done . I think they will. I think they are looking at the portfolio and looking at which the board locations are really ripe for digital upgrade. Issues toregulatory be cleared up at the local level. Not every board as eligible but they will certainly look at the inventory they are getting from dan wagner. With the deeper pockets they bring, i suspect they will look to upgrade to digital wherever they can. Thank you very much, paul sweeney. Let us stay with the topic of advertising. How can Companies Get people to pay more attention to their ads . One ways to make the pitches personal. That is the strategy of one company and the chief executive is a here. Here. Explain how it works. We have allowed developed a platform the way facebook and google are platforms that enables a brand to push out 100 million versions of a commercial versus one version. They take data, they know you it is monday, you are in new york, and you have a mercedesbenz that that is 87 days left on the lease. Less than one second, we build a commercial and push it to you. How do you build a commercial