Latest Interviews
Showing 1411–1425 of 3,059 transcripts.
Clear all filters- Milken Institute1h 18m
Part 1: A Conversation with Steve Case | Part 2: New Entrepreneurs for a New Economy
Steve Case, Dan Premack, Nick Green, Jeanette, Irene, Ibrahim Ajami
Steve Case and a diverse panel of executives from companies like Thrive Market and AirAsia Digital convened to analyze the permanent shift of venture capital toward regional hubs and the integration of the internet into legacy sectors like healthcare and logistics. The discussion highlighted how remote work, accelerated pandemic trends, and a strategic pivot from pure travel to digital ecosystems are reshaping investment strategies, with leaders emphasizing sustainability, operational agility, and a "flight to quality" in the SPAC market. Key outcomes included the identification of a "Third Wave" of internet innovation where domain expertise in the Midwest and Southeast offers competitive advantages, alongside a renewed focus on closing diversity gaps and supporting Black founders through targeted partnerships.
- Goldman Sachs26 min
Mike Tirico, NBC Sports Host
Over a 25-year tenure spanning ESPN and NBC, broadcaster Mike Tirico emphasizes storytelling as the core currency of sports media, a philosophy tested by the unique isolation of the pandemic and the geopolitical unity of the Pyeongchang Winter Games. He projects severe economic consequences for both professional and collegiate athletics, warning that prolonged revenue losses could force salary cap adjustments and even eliminate university sports programs reliant on football and basketball subsidies. While acknowledging that remote production technologies may permanently alter industry logistics, Tirico remains committed to preserving the emotional connection between athletes and audiences despite reduced access to players and the heightened platform for racial justice activism.
- Goldman Sachs15 min
Mike Fries, CEO and Vice Chairman of Liberty Global
Liberty Global reported minimal financial impact during the second quarter, raising operating guidance by 14% while maintaining EBITDA in line with forecasts despite specific revenue headwinds from sports and roaming. The company leveraged the pandemic to accelerate digital adoption and secure a dominant position in the UK gigabit race, projecting a threefold expansion of its one Gigabit footprint over BT within the next year. To address valuation gaps and capitalize on steady growth, management is restructuring toward a Fixed Mobile Convergence model with reduced capital expenditures and exploring diverse capital structures including potential local listings and joint ventures.
- Goldman Sachs9 min
Jean Salata, CEO and Founding Partner of Baring Private Equity Asia
John Salata of Bering Private Equity Asia outlines a strategic pivot from pandemic defensive measures to offensive "bolt-on" acquisitions in digitalization-focused sectors like healthcare and software. While the firm integrates ESG standards and navigates the trust challenges of virtual due diligence, Salata forecasts resilient US market growth driven by low interest rates despite deteriorating but non-breakable US-China political relations. Ultimately, the discussion emphasizes that long-term compounding and stakeholder capitalism remain critical success factors for investors navigating this evolving landscape.
- 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 Sachs28 min
"The Battle for Our Screens," Part 3: Social Media in the Social Distancing Age
Heather Bellini, Piyush Mubayi, Jane Dunlevie, Jake Siewert, Heath Terry, Jane Dunleavy
This event analyzed how the 2020 pandemic accelerated social media engagement, drove Zoom's user base to expand sixfold, and normalized short-form video usage in Asian markets while sparking VR/AR adoption. Speakers identified scaling infrastructure and content moderation as critical operational hurdles, noting that platforms like TikTok succeeded through superior UX and algorithmic efficiency. The discussion further projected a robust M&A landscape where acquirers prioritize video capabilities and social commerce, despite a divergence between declining revenue expectations and rising stock valuations.
- 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 Sachs26 min
Tristan Walker, Founder and CEO of Walker & Company
Tristan Walker leverages his background as a former Wall Street trader and early tech employee to lead Walker & Company through the dual crises of the pandemic and systemic racism by anchoring decisions in historical trauma and core values. Under his guidance, the firm achieved record revenue by addressing a 150-year market gap in grooming products for men of color, a strategy that ultimately led to the company's acquisition by Procter & Gamble in 2018. Walker now advocates for an "investment mindset" regarding diversity and predicts that brands failing to respect demographic shifts and cultural influence will cease to exist within two decades.
- 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.
- a16z34 min
From Unknown Title to Viral Game: 12 Growth Lessons From Spellbreak
Proletariat leveraged a high-risk, community-first strategy to grow *Spellbreak* from a 2018 pre-alpha concept to over 1.8 million sign-ups by prioritizing viral social channels like Imgur and Discord over traditional owned media. The studio built momentum through an exclusive NDA-gated ecosystem that utilized referral incentives, mandatory voice chat for social bonding, and a "cool kids club" dynamic to drive organic acquisition and retention without monetary rewards. This approach generated millions in free marketing value and a highly engaged global base, positioning the free-to-play Battle Royale for a cross-platform launch while acknowledging that the initial success relied heavily on executing authentic content cadence to overcome the studio's lack of initial brand traction.