Latest Interviews
Showing 301–315 of 476 interview transcripts.
Clear all filters- Goldman Sachs25 min
How Vuori’s Joe Kudla went from accountant to fashion industry success
Viore founder and CEO Joe Kudla transformed a failed apparel background into building a $4 billion men's performance brand that secured a landmark SoftBank investment by pivoting from wholesale to a direct-to-consumer model. The company successfully expanded its revenue composition to include a women's line and entered international markets in China and Korea while maintaining profitability and avoiding unnecessary dilution through secondary offerings. Guided by a culture of strategic alignment, Kudla's leadership team navigated early industry skepticism to establish Viore as a premium lifestyle brand focused on versatile activewear rather than niche yoga apparel.
- Goldman Sachs21 min
Related Companies’ Jeff Blau on Building Hudson Yards
Related Companies CEO Jeff Blau transformed a derelict railyard in New York City into the 15-million-square-foot Hudson Yards district by executing a resilient mixed-use strategy that navigated the 2008 financial crisis. To address the regulatory and environmental challenges posed by Local Law 97, Blau founded Energy Re, a subsidiary launching a historic $12 billion renewable energy initiative designed to supply 16% of the city's power through utility-scale wind and solar generation. This dual approach integrates large-scale affordable housing with massive infrastructure projects, proving that aligning corporate capital with public utility goals can drive both economic growth and decarbonization.
- Goldman Sachs19 min
Are the largest US stocks too dominant?
Ben Snider, Peter Callahan, Allison Nathan
Ben Snyder and Peter Callahan analyze record-breaking market concentration where the S&P 500's top ten stocks now hold 33% of total capitalization, a level unmatched since the 1930s despite current valuations being supported by robust earnings growth rather than speculation. While the "Magnificent Seven" face pressure to sustain revenue gains amid rising AI infrastructure costs, active managers are capitalizing on increasing sector dispersion and finding alpha outside the dominant tech tier. Historical precedents and ongoing investor strategies suggest that such concentrated rallies often conclude with broader market participation rather than immediate collapse, provided the economic backdrop remains stable.
- Goldman Sachs33 min
Global transit & trade: in rough waters
Admiral James Stavridis, Tobias Meyer, Alison Nathan, James Stavridis
Admiral James Stavridis warns that maritime risks have reached unprecedented levels due to great power competition, state-sponsored terrorism, and vulnerabilities in undersea internet infrastructure, while Tobias Mayer analyzes supply chain shifts driven by regulatory complexity rather than physical disruptions. Despite Houthi attacks in the Red Sea causing a 10–20% rise in logistics costs, the global shipping fleet remains resilient enough to absorb reroutes without systemic failure as companies adopt omnishoring strategies to diversify assembly locations. Ultimately, the convergence of these geopolitical tensions and evolving trade patterns suggests a future where security coalitions must balance military deterrence against China and Russia while adapting commercial networks to manage increased operational costs and regulatory fragmentation.
- Goldman Sachs29 min
Fannie Mae’s Priscilla Almodovar on strengthening the US housing system
Priscilla Almodovar, Megan Hogan
Fannie Mae leverages its $4.3 trillion balance sheet to advance equity and sustainability while navigating a market forecasted to shift from recession fears to slow growth as mortgage rates decline toward the sixes. The organization is addressing a critical inventory shortage driven by the "lock-in effect" and demographic shifts, simultaneously deploying credit innovations like rent-reporting pilots to close the 30% homeownership gap for Black and Latino households. Under the strategic leadership of board member Priscilla Ortiz, Fannie Mae also introduces a "Mission Index" to quantify social impact for investors and promotes green bond incentives for sustainable rental housing.
- Goldman Sachs21 min
High mortgage rates, limited inventory continue to challenge the US housing market
Roger Ashworth, Allison Nathan
Despite existing home sales collapsing to thirty-year lows due to severe affordability shocks and a borrower lock-in effect, institutional investors and persistent demographic demand are preventing a market correction. Goldman Sachs Research forecasts a 5% price appreciation in 2024 and declining mortgage rates by 2025, driven by tight inventory and a projected population boom among primary buying-age cohorts. While supply chain hurdles and macroeconomic risks like inflation threaten to delay recovery, historically low foreclosure rates and substantial homeowner equity provide a stable price floor.
- Goldman Sachs29 min
Epidemic Sound’s Oscar Höglund on the future of the music industry
Oscar Höglund, Clif Marriott, Oskar Haugland
Founded 15 years ago by Oskar Haugland, Epidemic Sound operates a B2B SaaS platform serving hundreds of thousands of customers by providing royalty-free music with 100% owned IP rights to cover approximately 20% of YouTube content. The company differentiates its economic model through a 50/50 revenue split with artists and utilizes a massive library of unencumbered data to train AI systems for track recommendation and adaptation, effectively democratizing production for creators ranging from individual influencers to Fortune 500 corporations. By leveraging daily feedback from 2.5 billion user interactions, the platform maintains a 92% gross margin while navigating industry shifts toward AI-driven content creation and converging media formats.
- Goldman Sachs24 min
Beyond roads, bridges, and tunnels: the megatrends shaping infrastructure investments
Teresa Mattamouros, Alyssa Nathan
The global infrastructure sector has expanded from traditional physical assets to include critical data centers and renewable energy projects, driven by a fourfold demand for decarbonization, digitization, deglobalization, and demographic shifts that currently outpace the trillion-dollar gap between public spending and estimated needs. Legislative frameworks like the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act have accelerated this transition by unlocking over $400 billion in private capital for clean power and manufacturing, contrasting with Europe's more rigid, top-down regulatory approach while offering investors inflation-protected returns and portfolio diversification. Despite these opportunities, the long-duration nature of these assets exposes them to risks from geopolitical instability and interest rate fluctuations, which may complicate refinancing and delay large-scale capital commitments.
- Goldman Sachs21 min
Nubank’s David Vélez: Entrepreneurs can help solve Brazil’s biggest challenges
David Velez and Nubank's co-founders built the region's largest bank by value by targeting structural inefficiencies in Latin America's unbanked markets, transforming a decade of macroeconomic volatility into a growth advantage. The company scaled across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia by embedding a culture of user fanaticism and deploying product-led financial literacy tools that achieved industry-leading NPS scores surpassing global tech giants. Following a $30 billion pre-IPO valuation and backing from Berkshire Hathaway, Velez has now committed the majority of personal wealth to the Giving Pledge to further expand educational leadership and private-sector impact in the region.
- Goldman Sachs36 min
David Booth on being an index pioneer, working with Nobel laureates, & investing through uncertainty
Founded by David Booth in 1981, Dimensional Fund Advisors has grown to manage $680 billion by applying science-based strategies rooted in theories from Nobel laureates like Eugene Fama and Robert Merton. The firm distinguishes itself as the industry's largest active ETF issuer by prioritizing the management of uncertainty over market forecasting and lowering transaction costs through disciplined trading execution. Beyond its financial operations, Booth's governance integrates rigorous academic oversight, and his historic philanthropy has significantly elevated the University of Chicago Booth School of Business while preserving key historical artifacts like the original rules of basketball.
- Goldman Sachs21 min
Shifting supply and demand dynamics buffer oil market
Daan Struyven, Alison Nathan, Don Stryven
Brent crude currently trades near $80 per barrel with a modest geopolitical risk premium, supported by U.S. supply dominance and OPEC+ strategies to avoid extreme price spikes that could hinder Saudi Vision 2030. While global demand faces downside risks from China, growth in India and the United States keeps prices range-bound, with refined products and gasoline expected to hit summer peaks of $3.70 per gallon due to refining tightness. Simultaneously, the market anticipates a structural shift toward critical minerals like copper as EV penetration rises, while European natural gas markets face potential oversupply by 2026 and gold prices rise on expectations of lower U.S. interest rates.
- Goldman Sachs30 min
SpaceX’s Gwynne Shotwell on the future of space travel
SpaceX CEO Gwynne Shotwell outlines an aggressive strategy to establish permanent human settlements on the Moon and Mars within the next decade, relying on the rapid, full-reusability of the Starship vehicle to slash costs and enable round-trip interplanetary travel. Complementing this hardware revolution, the Starlink satellite network currently serves over two million customers and achieved rapid deployment in conflict zones like Ukraine, despite facing significant regulatory hurdles that often lag behind technical innovation. To sustain this pace, the company enforces a culture prioritizing innate intelligence and relentless operational efficiency, with Shotwell leveraging her engineering background to bridge the gap between complex technical visions and immediate customer needs.
- Goldman Sachs26 min
2024: the year of elections
Richard Haass, Timothy Garton Ash, Allison Nathan
Richard Haass and Timothy Garten-Ash analyze 2024 as a pivotal global year marked by democratic backsliding and a surge of right-wing populism across Europe and the United States. They argue that the U.S. presidential election serves as the decisive geopolitical event, where the policy divergence between an alliance-first Biden and an isolationist Trump will fundamentally shape the security architecture of NATO and the trajectory of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. These shifts carry profound implications for European integration, Taiwan's defense, and the United Kingdom's future relations with the EU, as Western uncertainty may embolden adversaries like Putin and undermine the credibility of international commitments.
- Goldman Sachs9 min
Regional banks back in focus on real estate concerns
Ryan Nash of Goldman Sachs distinguishes current regional banking stress from the 2023 crisis by characterizing it as idiosyncratic and concentrated within smaller institutions rather than systemic, citing improved liquidity and accessible funding facilities. While commercial office loans and specific multifamily segments face multi-year headwinds, the industry holds adequate reserves and anticipates higher but manageable credit losses for 2024. Key risk exposure remains skewed toward banks under $150 billion in assets, though broader residential real estate dynamics and stabilizing net interest income support a positive outlook for sector growth.
- Goldman Sachs10 min
The future of the energy industry: Goldman Sachs leaders discuss
Neil Mehta, Sarah Kiernan, Daan Struyven, Don
Global oil demand surged to a record high in 2023 and is projected to reach 107 million barrels per day by the end of the decade, driven by emerging market growth and a post-pandemic travel rebound despite a historical investment deficit. As the energy transition introduces market volatility through intermittent renewable generation and rising capital costs, major oil and gas producers are pivoting toward decarbonization strategies like hydrogen development and carbon capture rather than entering the utility sector. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs' commodities division is supporting clients by managing price risk exposure and facilitating access to capital markets for these evolving energy projects.