Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, commenting on high gas prices: “We’re definitely concerned. We want the cost to our drivers to be as low as possible, and the good news is used car prices are coming down, new car prices are coming down, gas prices in the U.S. are elevated but generally moving in the right direction, and we’re seeing more and more drivers flip over to electric vehicles.”
Barry Diller, chairman of IAC and Expedia Group: “Netflix won, get over it. Netflix will never be displaced as the leader in streaming.”
Eduardo (Eddie) Ibañez, an executive with Life Group Holdings: “Travel and entertainment are ripe for disruption by the blockchain. It enables travel reservations and event tickets to be tokenized and traded securely and seamlessly. Hotels will welcome [that], since it helps them solve the problem of high cancellation rates by creating bookings that, for the first time ever, can be traded on secondary markets rather than canceled when travelers’ plans change.”
Andy Sieg, president of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management: “Since 1987 we’ve had four declared recessions, we’ve had five times where the market’s drawn down more than 20 percent; nevertheless, markets are up more than twentyfold.”
Gregory Allen, director of the AI governance project at the Center for Strategic & International Studies: “The United States is saying to China, ‘AI technology is the future; we and our allies are going there — and you can’t come.’”
Jason Liberty, CEO of Royal Caribbean, commenting on the COVID-19 restrictions during the pandemic: “The cruise industry was treated differently than everybody else in society; I do think that was wrong. When you look at our protocols — which actually aren’t that different than what we were doing pre-COVID — they work for our ability to make sure the environment on our ships is the safest place on earth. That is the bar we set ourselves.”
Michael Tennenbaum, former Wall Street investment banker and former chairman of the California High Speed Rail System, on the stalled high-speed rail project: “I was totally naïve when I took the job. I spent my time and didn’t succeed. I realized the system didn’t work. I just wasn’t smart enough. I don’t know how they can build it now.”
David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs, on the firm’s reorganization: “We’ve realized that for us, given the way we’re set up — we’ve built very, very good digital platforms and products — that being broad and going to a much broader set of potential customers doesn’t play to our strengths.”
Jay Clayton, former SEC chairman: “If you look at this from both sides, we are highly reliant on China and its supply chain. We’re pulling back from that because disruptions in China are disruptions to supply in the United States. That might actually be affecting inflation in ways we didn’t anticipate.”
Dan Primack, a business editor at Axios, on Elon Musk’s management of Twitter: “I don’t think he’s really thought about it, and I think what we’ve seen since he bought the company is evidence of that. He is iterating on the fly and kind of making it up as he goes along, as evidenced by the fact that he has not brought in any new executives. He’s got friends who have come in to help him for a week or two.”
Sam Zell, founder and chairman of Equity Group Investments: “The likelihood is that we’re going to have a recession. Frankly, that’s what happens when you flood the world with money. It leads to excess, and excess ultimately leads to a recession.”
Fareed Zakaria, political commentator and host of The Global Public Square: “Any would-be immigrant with technical skills and strong academic standing knows it is easier now to get a green card equivalent in Canada or Britain or Ireland or Sweden than in America, and since the Trump crackdown in every area of immigration — from business visas to work permits — the experience has become even more hellish and demeaning for people trying to come into the United States.”
Jason Greer of Greer Consulting, a diversity and employee relations firm: “If you are scared that you’re potentially going to be laid off, get back into the office. Protect yourself. Get to know your manager because proximity bias is a real thing.”
Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two Interactive Software: “The interactive entertainment business is the fastest-growing part of the entertainment business … You can live in the digital world right now. Grand Theft Auto Online is this massive digital world where you can pursue missions, and you can have stories told you.”
Jody McGinness, executive director of the Hemp Industries Association: “There was a very large boom-and-bust cycle that took place in the first couple of years of hemp, and that essentially meant that after 2019 and 2020, many farmers had leftover stocks of hemp they were never able to sell.”