Latest Interviews
Showing 1366–1380 of 3,002 transcripts.
Clear all filters- 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.
- Goldman Sachs26 min
Producer Phil Bertelsen and Historian Abdur-Rahman Muhammad of "Who Killed Malcolm X?"
Phil Bertelsen, Abdur-Rahman Muhammad, Jeffrey Scruggs
Following the renewed global focus on racial justice in 2020, the Netflix documentary *Who Killed Malcolm X?* leverages historian Abdur Rahman Mohammed's thirty-year investigation and filmmaker Phil Berthelsen's archival research to re-examine the 1965 assassination. The series highlights historical parallels between past police misconduct, such as the 1962 killing of Ronald Stokes, and modern policing while challenging the official narrative that Malcolm X's death was the work of the wrongfully convicted defendants. This critical reassessment has directly prompted the Manhattan District Attorney to reopen the case, aiming to secure the expungement of wrongful convictions for figures like Mohamed Abdulaziz and to establish a definitive historical account of the tragedy.
- Milken Institute1h 8m
Investing for Impact in Emerging and Frontier Markets
Glenn Yago, Bonnie Glick, Ambassador Gil Haskel, Strive Masiyiwa, Weldon Turner, Malado Kaba, Gil Haskel
Deputy Administrator Bonnie Glick of USAID and Ambassador Gil Haskell of MASHAV launched a strategic partnership to mobilize the $16 trillion U.S. institutional investor community for sustainable infrastructure and digital development in Africa and Asia. Panelists including Strive Masiwa and Weldon Turner emphasized that overcoming a "gap of trust" and standardizing regulatory approval processes are critical to unlocking the $12 trillion in business opportunities outlined by the Sustainable Development Goals. The initiative aims to transition from emergency aid to impact investment by integrating climate-sensitive agriculture, 5G infrastructure, and localized financial solutions to support the projected 2.5 billion people in these regions by 2050.
- Goldman Sachs25 min
George Roberts, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO of KKR
KKR co-founder George Roberts discusses the firm's unprecedented $18 billion deployment during the pandemic while highlighting a strategic pivot toward diversity mandates and venture philanthropy for reentry populations. Drawing on a 40-year partnership built on equal economics and shared values, Roberts emphasizes that investing success relies on interpersonal judgment and long-term adaptability rather than mere financial analysis. He further outlines KKR's ESG integration and investment philosophy, which aims to transform social enterprises into for-profit entities and encourages competitors to adopt sustainable practices for broader industry benefit.
- 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.
- Milken Institute1h 15m
Supporting and Strengthening Minority-Owned Businesses During (and After) the Pandemic
Eugene Cornelius, Jr., Susan Au Allen, Ron Busby, Ramiro Cavazos
Susan R. Allen, Ron Busby, and Ramon Calveras led a critical panel discussing the disproportionate pandemic impact on Black, Hispanic, and Asian-owned businesses, where severe capital gaps and procurement barriers forced a 41% loss in Black enterprises and exacerbated economic divisions within the Asian community. The advocates rejected the "minority" label in favor of recognizing these groups as the new mainstream, proposing specific policy interventions such as unbundling federal contracts, reinstating prompt payment laws, and partnering with fintech firms to bridge the historic wealth gap. Moving beyond rhetoric, the panel outlined a concrete agenda to submit a policy white paper to the Treasury Department and encourage institutional mergers, aiming to permanently recalibrate the economy and secure equitable market access for millions of minority entrepreneurs.