WHEN: Today, Wednesday, January 22, 2020
WHERE: CNBC’s “Squawk Box” and CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” – Live from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland
Following are unofficial excerpts from CNBC interviews which aired on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” (M-F 6AM – 9AM) and CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” (M-F 9AM – 11AM) today, Wednesday, January 22nd live from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Interviews included: BP CEO Bob Dudley; Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi; Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson; Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey; North Island Chairman and Federal Reserve Bank of New York Director Glenn Hutchins; Stanford’s Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Niall Ferguson; Eurasia Group President Ian Bremmer; and Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra.
Links to video of the interviews are included below.
All references must be sourced to CNBC.
BP CEO Bob Dudley
Video:
Bob Dudley on U.S / Game Changer:
I think in terms of oil prices, the fact that the U.S. is now the largest oil producer has created a dampening effect on oil prices. So, I don’t think the volatility will happen like it has happened in decades before. It is quite a game changer for the U.S. to be such a big energy producer.
Bob Dudley on Energy Transition:
The energy transition is moving really fast. And any energy company who doesn’t pay attention, start moving really fast, many of us are, I think, will be in danger of being completely off with society.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi Speaks with CNBC’s “Squawk Box”
Video:
Dara Khosrowshahi on Travis Kalanick Leaving Board:
It was an intensely personal decision of his. He was one of the founders–is one of the founders of the company. And he made a personal decision that I respect, that the board respected. And his stepping off the board was of his own accord.
Dara Khosrowshahi on Travis Kalanick Selling Shares:
DARA KHOSROWSHAHI: He sold his shares. And we had a discussion about the board. And he brought it up, and I agreed.
BECKY QUICK: So, you found out about him selling the shares at the same time we did?
DARA KHOSROWSHAHI: He set up a plan and he went forward with his plan. Yeah.
Dara Khosrowshahi on Uber Growth:
The vision for growth is absolutely there. But it is growth that makes sense. And we’ve been sellers in some spots and we’ve been buyers in some, as well. And the point is, consolidation has got to happen. There’s been too much capital chasing too many companies, which makes sense when you’re growth-growth-growth mode. But, at some point, that growth has to consolidate, so that you’ve got growth and you’ve got consolidation, and you’ve got two or three players in the market instead of four or five players.
Dara Khosrowshahi on Zomato Deal:
As opposed to making two bets alone and kind of competing against each other, we’ll take a stake in Zomato. The Zomato business and our rides business now have a commercial agreement together. And we’re going to be strategic partners. And we’re going to grow through them in a way that makes sense.
Dara Khosrowshahi on Food Business:
We’re in 65 markets on a global basis. We’re the largest food delivery player globally ex China, by far. our food delivery business continues to grow well over 50%. But you want to have profitability, along with growth,
Dara Khosrowshahi on We Are Public Now:
We’re public now. We’re the biggest player now. We are the largest player in most of the markets that we compete with. So, this consolidation and investors expecting profitability sooner rather than later, we are structurally set up more efficiently and more optimally than anyone else to move to profitability. So actually, this environment is perfect for us.
Dara Khosrowshahi on Rooting for Lyft:
We compete against Lyft on the ground. From a stock market basis, I’m kind of rooting for them. From a business standpoint, we compete aggressively against each other. That said, I think that both companies are moving to a mode of rational competition. Like, they’re going to do what they’re going to do, we’re going to do what we’re going to do. But both of us understand that our investor base and public markets demand profitability.
Dara Khosrowshahi on Driver Employment:
We have always had the philosophy that our drivers are incredibly important stakeholders in the business. We wouldn’t be here without them. And we absolutely believe that drivers do deserve protections, minimum earnings, health care, discrimination, protection, etcetera. The answer isn’t employment.
Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson Speaks with CNBC’s “Squawk Box”
Video:
Paul Hudson on Vaccines:
We work tirelessly to try and get ahead of these things where possible. It isn’t always. And it can travel quickly. You know, we work a lot on influenza, for example, which can get ahead of you quite quickly, too. And we sprint to make sure that we can get enough doses to make sure everybody’s covered.
Paul Hudson on Drug Pricing:
We have to line up the incentives. Let me give an example in vaccines. You know, we have to make a vaccine, you know, to stop somebody getting infected, six and seven and eight years in advance. So, it’s a big investment. We have to stockpile that in case of challenges, which we do. But often we’re asked to get much lower in terms of our prices, and it’s very difficult to reconcile the two things.
IBM Chairman and CEO Ginni Rometty Speaks with CNBC’s “Squawk Box”
Video:
Ginni Rometty on AI Regulation:
We have got to compete in this world against every country. And so, you want to have innovation flourish. And you have got to balance that with security. So, if you said, ‘Completely regulate AI,’ that’s not the answer. The answer is to say precision regulation.
Ginni Rometty on China:
The issue people talk about is decoupling. Yet they say, ‘But the financial markets opening.’ You can’t have a global financial market with a decoupled technology industry. You can’t.
Ginni Rometty on Privacy and Tech:
This is not a technology question. It’s a values question: Who should draw the line where? We need to debate it in this country. Congress and regulation needs to go in. And then we need to uphold it.
Ginni Rometty on Growth:
We returned the company to growth under any metric you look at, 3%. But I think the big thing, and you’ve asked me about it before, is this demonstrated the acquisition we closed of Red Hat, IBM and Red Hat are better together. So, Red Hat had record, record growth. It had its first billion-dollar quarter. IBM lifted with it. And IBM, with what we’ve done in change of our portfolio, and the cloud accelerated through the whole year, 23% growth. And this to me is what is now, what you just said, that has now put us in a position of growth for—sustained growth. 2020, we said revenue, we said EPS, free cash flow, and margin expansion.
Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey Speaks with CNBC’s “Squawk Box”
Video:
James Quincey on Consumers Want Variety:
Consumers are never going to drink the same thing all day long. They’re not going to watch the same program all day long. They’re not going to do the same thing. They want variety. So, if we really want to have a great global franchise, we need to have a broad spectrum of drinks.
James Quincey on Confident about Consumer:
The consumer seems to be robust around the world. Yes, ups and downs, but they’re doing pretty well. And so, we’re confident about what happened in 2019. And we see the momentum continuing into 2020.
James Quincey on Climate Crisis:
The climate crisis is out there. The carbon emissions are going up. If we want to imagine a world where everyone is poor, which is 80% of the world, can have the same sort of lifestyle the advanced economies do, we need to radically reduce the carbon intensity of the economy.
North Island Chairman and Federal Reserve Bank of New York Director Glenn Hutchins Speaks with CNBC’s “Squawk Box”
Video:
Glenn Hutchins on The Fed:
The Fed is not going to tighten and make a recession. They don’t want to do that.
The Fed doesn’t really care about market levels. What they care about is the market as a transmission of policy to the real economy. So, when the real economy does falter with respect to unemployment or growth, and that can come as the market transmissions to do that, primarily interest rates effecting borrowing levels or wealth effect effecting consumption. But as long as it’s just the markets moving around, that’s not within their mandate.
Glenn Hutchins on Global Slowdown:
The main thing I think the markets are forecasting right now is a global slowdown. China slowing down, Germany slowing down, emerging markets, and then interest rate sensitive sectors in the United States not contributing as much to the economic growth, as a consequence of housing and others, as a consequence of interest rates going up.
Glenn Hutchins on Markets/Economic Data:
People are all looking at economic data, and concluding – reaching one conclusion from it. They are looking at the markets and reaching a different conclusion, or wondering why the two seem to be different. We have to understand, the numbers are backward, or the economic data, pardon me, is backward looking. What happened in the fourth quarter, right? The markets are forecasting the future. And so, the markets right now are saying something very different with what they expect for the future than what the economic data is showing has happened in the most recent past.
Stanford’s Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Niall Ferguson Speaks with CNBC’s “Squawk Box”
Video:
Niall Ferguson on Reputational Capital:
Reputational capital is hugely important. And it can be destroyed in a day.
Niall Ferguson on China CO2 Emissions:
The climate issue is not being dealt with in a candid way. because if it were there would be some acknowledgement that 60 percent of the increase in CO2 Emissions since Greta Thunberg was born is attributable to China, but nobody talks about that. They talk as if it’s somehow Europeans and Americans who are going to fix this problem.
Niall Ferguson India CO2 Emissions:
India’s responsible for about 18 percent of the increase of CO2 emissions in Greta Thuneberg’s lifetime. But she goes to New York and she comes to Davos, I don’t see her in Beijing or Dehli. And that’s I think the missing link in this discussion.
Eurasia Group President Ian Bremmer Speaks with CNBC’s “Squawk Box”
Ian Bremmer on Pushback:
There’s a lot of pushback. But it’s not from Trump. The pushback is coming back from two different groups of people. It’s coming from Greta, it’s coming from a lot of people who think that democracies are illegitimized and broken. And it’s coming from the Chinese.
Ian Bremmer on Trump Agenda:
If you’re Trump, you may not like his character, but absolutely, his agenda is a hell of a lot closer to the other delegates here at Davos.
Ian Bremmer on CEO Decision 2020:
But are they going to be happier if he [Trump] becomes President for a second term than if they were to see Warren or Sanders. And actually, most of the delegates I’ve talked to – yes – and they think he’s going to win.
Ian Bremmer on CEO Sustainability:
For most of the CEOs that are here, sustainability is still more of a box-check exercise than aligned with their core business principles.
Ian Bremmer on Not Altruism:
When I see Larry Fink, when I see Satya Nadella, I actually see money being moved in a way that will matter for both of their industries over the next 10 years. Because I think they see the world is changing. Not because they’ve suddenly become altruists overnight.
Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra Speaks with CNBC’s Sara Eisen on “Squawk on the Street”
Video:
Sanjay Mehrotra on Pleased with Deal:
The Phase One deal has certain important aspects that have been addressed such as IP protection and enforcement, which of course, is important for the semiconductor industry and certainly important for Micron’s business.
Sanjay Mehrotra on IP:
IP protection is not just important for Micron or the U.S. semiconductor industry, it is actually important for all large multinational companies, including actually the companies in China.
Sanjay Mehrotra on Key is Enforcement:
In terms of looking at how to address Intellectual Property protection, the key is going to be about enforcement. And that remains to be seen yet, but we are encouraged by the steps that have been taken there. And China is an important market for Micron because we make memory and storage products, these are in the heart of all the trends.
Sanjay Mehrotra on Semi Demand:
The demand drivers for memory and storage are absolutely secular in nature. You see more AI trends being applied in cloud computing. More AI servers mean more memory and storage that is needed.
For more information contact:
Jennifer Dauble
CNBC
t: 201.735.4721
m: 201.615.2787
e: jennifer.dauble@nbcuni.com
Emma Martin
CNBC
t: 201.735.4713
m: 551.275.6221
e: emma.martin@nbcuni.com
