Latest Interviews
Showing 361–375 of 548 transcripts.
Clear all filters- Goldman Sachs7 min
The Landscape for German Corporates
Held in Munich over three days, the 2024 German Corporate Conference engaged nearly 2,000 investors with 67 CEO and CFO fireside chats that highlighted a shifting European market where technology now outweighs banking in size. Despite macroeconomic headwinds from Germany's post-war recession, attendees noted that fiscal stimulus and pandemic containment have positioned the DAX to outperform broader European indices while top firms view new activity restrictions as already priced into Q2 guidance. The event further identified sustainability and decarbonization as dominant long-term investment themes, underscored by positive ESG fund flows that contrasted sharply with outflows in traditional equity sectors.
- Goldman Sachs19 min
Meredith Kopit Levien, CEO of The New York Times Company
New York Times CEO Meredith Kopit Levien is steering the organization from a traditional journalism house into a scalable, direct-to-consumer digital subscription business targeting a global market of 100 million payers. By pivoting resources toward a world-class tech operation and leveraging high-growth audio assets like *The Daily*, the Times has successfully crossed a critical inflection point where digital revenue now surpasses print income. This strategic transformation capitalizes on shifting consumer habits to reduce reliance on declining print advertising while positioning the brand's independence as a key differentiator in a polarized media landscape.
- Goldman Sachs13 min
Robert Bakish, President and CEO of ViacomCBS
ViacomCBS has rebranded its streaming service as Paramount+ and adjusted its subscriber targets upward to 18 million by leveraging a $13 billion annual content budget and strategic partnerships like its exclusive U.S. UEFA Champions League rights. The platform successfully broadened its demographic reach by integrating 190 Paramount movies and Showtime bundles via Apple, while driving new sign-ups through high-profile sports events including Monday Night Football in the UK and Bellator MMA. These initiatives, supported by a differentiated content strategy that reserves newer assets for the paid tier while utilizing older libraries on Pluto TV, accelerated revenue growth by over 50% in the second quarter.
- Goldman Sachs13 min
Hans Vestberg, Chairman and CEO of Verizon Communications
Verizon sustained operational resilience during the 2020 pandemic through a robust governance model that prioritized employee safety while validating its network infrastructure against shifted traffic patterns. The company is simultaneously accelerating its "Verizon 2.0" transformation by expanding 5G Ultra-Wideband coverage to 60 cities, launching free Disney+ bundles, and deploying 300 Mbps 5G Home fixed wireless access. Strategic partnerships with AWS are further diversifying revenue streams by introducing low-latency edge compute solutions and private 5G networks for enterprise clients.
- Goldman Sachs13 min
The Fintech Revolution
The firm's 10th Annual FinTech Conference convened global leaders to analyze the sector's explosive growth, where the market capitalization of major payment processors has surged to $1 trillion, now exceeding the value of the six largest US banks. Presentations highlighted a $200 billion wave of mergers and acquisitions and identified InsurTech, B2B payments, and foundational infrastructure as key growth vectors, with major players like Ant Financial and Lufax preparing for public offerings in emerging markets. As developing economies adopt digital-first services to bypass legacy systems, the event noted that traditional banks and Big Tech are increasingly replicating these innovative models to secure customer retention in a valuation environment driving multiples from 11x to 25x.
- The Economist10 min
Putin, the poisoning and Belarus: what's really going on?
Following the August 20 Novichok poisoning of Alexei Navalny and the violent suppression of the 2020 Belarusian election, sustained cross-border protests in Khabarovsk and Minsk have exposed the fragility of Vladimir Putin's and Alexander Lukashenko's regimes. As European nations move to deny diplomatic recognition to Lukashenko and Putin provides emergency financial aid to maintain power, the survival of opposition leaders like Navalny and the coordinated actions of female activists are undermining the legitimacy of these authoritarian systems. Analysts warn that these unexpected collapses in long-standing autocracies signal a historic shift where the regimes' inability to control human agency creates unpredictable instability for Russia and its neighbors.
- Goldman Sachs19 min
Stephen Hawthornthwaite, Chairman and CEO of Rothy’s
Stephen Hawthornthwaite, Jennifer Davis, Stephen Hawthorne-Puig
Founded in 2012 by finance professionals Stephen Hawthorne-Puig and Roth Martin, Rothy's revolutionized the footwear market by launching seamless, machine-washable shoes produced from recycled plastic through a vertically integrated supply chain. The company achieved profitability in 2016 while remaining self-funded, leveraging 3D knitting technology and a core sustainability strategy to build a loyal customer base that drives over half of its traffic through word-of-mouth. Now expanding into handbags and exploring international growth and physical retail, Rothy's maintains a robust research pipeline for men's footwear while continuing to prioritize long-term sustainability over rapid scaling.
- Goldman Sachs12 min
Edtech Faces the Test
Driven by pandemic-induced necessity, education technology has matured into critical infrastructure, prompting a rapid 40% to 100% demand surge that is fueling aggressive capital deployment and intensifying market consolidation among established and innovative players. While higher education and K-12 sectors face distinct fiscal pressures ranging from enrollment deferrals to state tax declines, accelerated procurement cycles have dismantled traditional bureaucratic friction to facilitate immediate adoption of AI-driven adaptive learning platforms. These structural shifts, characterized by faster decision-making and holistic solution integration, are redefining the sector's operational rhythm and creating a resilient, scale-oriented market despite ongoing economic headwinds.
- Goldman Sachs8 min
The Future of Robotic Surgery
Following a mid-year pandemic dip, robotic surgery volumes have recovered to 90% of normal levels, driven primarily by expansions into general surgery and hard tissue applications like knee replacements. Technological advancements in flexible instrumentation, augmented reality imaging, and 5G-enabled remote capabilities are accelerating the shift toward soft tissue procedures and reducing the need for in-person operating room personnel. Market projections indicate robust growth, with U.S. procedures expected to triple to 7 million by 2030, while the global sector is forecast to reach $24 billion through increased automation and partial robotic execution of surgical tasks.
- a16z15 min
Healthcare: The Great Unlock
Accelerated by the pandemic, the healthcare sector is compressing a decade of transformation into two to three years through a fundamental shift from local, fee-for-service models to national, digital-first, value-based care. This dislocation is driven by labor reversals, insurance coverage changes, and regulatory mandates that favor remote care, forcing legacy providers to cede ground to startups owning the end-to-end patient journey. Consequently, a once-in-a-generation opportunity has emerged for startups to replace fragmented infrastructure with an automated, interoperable operating system that utilizes AI for intelligent supply-demand matching and dynamic insurance products.
- Goldman Sachs13 min
"Climbing the Wall of Worry”
Amidst significant market volatility and policy uncertainty, financial advisors are urging investors to maintain a long-term strategic asset allocation prioritizing equities over cash and bonds. The presentation projects mid-single-digit annual returns for the next decade while forecasting a labor market recovery that may not reach historical lows until 2023. Furthermore, despite concerns regarding the upcoming election and rising federal debt, experts advise against market timing, citing a consensus that $1.5 trillion in additional fiscal stimulus is imminent and necessary to prevent an economic cliff.
- The Economist10 min
China v America: who is in charge?
The UN General Assembly convened an online summit to pledge billions for a coronavirus vaccine while explicitly excluding the Trump administration, which has concurrently halted funding to the World Health Organization and withdrawn from key international agreements. Amidst this diplomatic rift, China has steadily expanded its influence by securing leadership roles in UN agencies and utilizing veto power to block resolutions, prompting the U.S. State Department to deploy senior diplomats like Mark Lambert to counter these gains. Experts warn that without a reassertion of American global commitments and necessary institutional reforms, the rules-based liberal order faces significant erosion as the balance of power shifts toward an emerging Chinese-led alliance.
- Goldman Sachs9 min
Small Cap Stock Performance
Following a post-March market bottom where small-cap stocks outperformed large-caps by 30%, investors are capitalizing on a recovery trade focused on domestically generated revenues. Portfolio managers have strategically avoided pandemic-impacted sectors like energy and retail, instead positioning capital in healthcare, technology, and consumer digitization companies capable of sustaining market share. This active, bottom-up approach leverages deep fundamental analysis to identify inflection points in firms pivoting toward therapeutics, educational technology, and cybersecurity, reinforcing the strategy's efficiency advantage over passive small-cap investing.
- Goldman Sachs9 min
Takeaways from the 24th European Financials Conference
The 24th annual European Financials Conference gathered executives from major banks, insurers, and real estate firms to discuss a crisis consensus on severity that exceeds the 2008 and 2012 downturns. While policymakers and bank leaders project an optimistic recovery for 2021–2022, investors remain skeptical, particularly regarding dynamic capital adequacy needed to fund the economic rebound. Key debates centered on managing excess liquidity and determining the optimal timing for dividend resumption, as uncertainties over lockdown durations and Brexit outcomes obscure precise credit loss forecasts.
- Goldman Sachs11 min
The Scale and State of the Semiconductor Industry
Facing a projected 10% semiconductor industry decline in 2020 driven by pandemic-induced global GDP contraction, market dynamics have diverged with robust cloud computing demand offsetting weakness in handsets and automotive sectors. While the supply chain demonstrated unexpected resilience outside of specific disruptions in Wuhan, Malaysia, and the Bay Area, geopolitical trade restrictions and US-China tensions continue to create significant regulatory uncertainty for major OEMs like Huawei. Simultaneously, competitive pressures have intensified as top buyers consolidate purchasing power and tech giants vertically integrate their chip designs, shifting the battlefield toward advanced manufacturing triopolies and diversified data center compute cycles.