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First Move with Julia Chatterley

339,000 Jobs Added in May, Jobless Rate Rises to 3.7 Percent; Defense Ministers Attend Singapore Conference; U.S. Employers Added 339,000 Staffs in May; Meta Urges Workers to Return to the Office; Swedish E-Bike Maker Goes for Growth; Teen Spells "Psammophile" to Victory. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired June 02, 2023 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN HOST: A warm welcome to FIRST MOVE. I'm Eleni Giokos I'm in for Julia Chatterley lots to get into this hour including debt deal

done. President Biden set to sign the U.S. debt ceiling bill into law after its passage in the U.S. Senate. Thursday night's vote taking the threat of

a U.S. default off the table and will allow the government to begin raising much needed funds from the bond markets again.

We've got a live report just ahead from Washington. Also today important jobs data just out in the U.S., the American economy adding a whopping

339,000 jobs last month much more than expected. There were big upward revisions for March and April too but unemployment is heading higher and

wage growth is easing.

Here is the market reaction U.S. futures have been solidly higher all morning as investors cheer -- on the debt ceiling lots to be happy about.

And they are holding on to those games right now as you can see Dow Jones up around six tenths of percent S&P also half a percent higher.

And then in Europe, we've also got higher markets as well after a strong Asian handover. Now Hong Kong, the big winner in Asia was shares soaring

around four percent hope for new stimulus in China helping the market mood there as well, the NIKKEI closing at 32 year high.

Now, a busy day as always so let's begin with the latest jobs numbers that we've just reported on U.S. hiring, posting its best months since January,

the new numbers share to pose fresh challenges for the Fed. Nela Richardson, the Chief Economist at HR and Payroll firm ADP joins me now,

great to have you with us.

I mean, we were expecting 190,000, we got 339,000 incredible numbers. It's not what we expected. I want you to take me through what you're seeing

hiding behind and under the hood.

NELA RICHARDSON, CHIEF ECONOMIST AT ADP: There's a lot going on. And thanks for having me. There are three patterns that we're looking at when we look

at ADP private sector data and the over 25 million workers that we provide services for in the U.S. Three trends, one, that the market is incredibly

strong, but also incredibly fragmented.

So you do see pockets of weakness, or in certain industries like manufacturing, which is consistent with what consumers have done in

shifting their purchasing this hiring is tends to be led by small firms. And importantly, in terms of the Fed decision, we are seeing a deceleration

and pay growth, which means that wages are not pushing up inflation.

GIOKOS: Yes, so pay growth, wage growth is softer. We're also looking at unemployment rate rising to 3.7 percent, against an estimate of 3.5 percent

as well. We're seeing so many cracks emerging in the economy, because we've seen so many rate rises, but it's just not being reflected in terms of what

we're seeing in the jobs numbers. Where to from here would you say when considering all the other metrics?

RICHARDSON: Well, I do think you're going to see this fragmentation even more pronounced in other in future reports. The strength has come in the

private sector data from leisure and hospitality, according to our ADP data. But we're going to see some softer but still robust and solid gains.

We're not at the point where we're seeing a downturn in the labor market. It's still quite resilient, especially if you pair it with the other data

that came out this week.

GIOKOS: Yes, I mean, I was looking at professional and business services, leading job creation rights. I mean, 64,000 new hires, you're looking at

government as well helping boost the numbers. And then you're looking at healthcare, as well. You mentioned something quite interesting in terms of

the small to medium sized businesses being sort of the leaders in the pack right now.

I mean, I guess the question then becomes just when will we see? You know, plateauing and some of the figures in the sectors that have been driving

jobs growth and where you think the weaknesses would emerge?

RICHARDSON: Well, that big pick up from 3.4 percent, unemployment to 3.7 percent is telling because it speaks to a Fed who is trying to drive

interest rates high enough that we that they are consistent with a 2 percent target. And the question is can you get to 2 percent with

unemployment under 4 percent.

[09:05:00]

And that is a struggle it might mean that the Fed pushes rates a bit higher and if borrowing costs are higher for the small businesses that crimp some

hiring demand into the future. So it's a big watch point for us. We're really looking at small firms seeing if they can navigate the need to add

on their headcount, while borrowing costs are accelerating, shifting a bit higher.

GIOKOS: Yes. I mean, you just mentioned a really great point, I think it's been 10 rate hikes, you know, for the Fed, and inflation is still above

that 2 percent inflation, target rates that is in place. How much more do we need to see in terms of tightening to be able to see a significant drop

on the inflation front, there seems to be huge efforts to try and bring down this number?

It is not working as aggressively as one would have thought. I mean, you know, the cycles work very differently to one, in terms of one would hope.

It's always a very slow process when it comes to hiking rates and feeding through into the real economy, but people are feeling it. You know, as you

say, companies are feeling it, consumers are feeling it.

RICHARDSON: Right. So as you point out that policy works with long and variable lags. We don't know exactly when the market forces tighter credit

higher interest rates will finally slow down this economic engine that's producing over 300,000 jobs. So it's really quite remarkable, the strength

of the labor market right now.

GIOKOS: And so this is unprecedented. I will say, though, that a strong labor market is good for the consumer. So if you're looking not to set

inflation, but overall economic growth, and you see small companies hiring and consumer spending, because they have the jobs, that they need to keep

up their spending with layoffs slow and opportunities still plentiful.

That is good for the economy. So it is a little uncertain. But I'd rather have uncertainty under labor market strength and labor market weakness.

GIOKOS: Great point Nela Richardson, thank you so much, great to have you on. I hope you have a fantastic weekend.

RICHARDSON: You too, thank you.

GIOKOS: In Washington, a first ever U.S. default averted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This vote the YEAs are 63, the NAYs are 36, the 60 vote threshold haven't been achieved. The bill is passed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: The Senate quickly approved the debt ceiling bill to raise the government's borrowing limits. It now goes to President Biden for his

signature. Lauren Fox joining us now, Lauren, great to have you with us. We knew this was going to happen at the 11th hour, it's just Joe Biden's final

signature that we need in terms of the next step here.

I mean, this is going to be quite important in securing funding for various bills. Of course, one of the other things that weren't, you know, the big

consequences people worried about is government shutdowns and the potential of that happening.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know one thing to keep in mind about the passage last night, it was inevitable, but they did it so

quickly, despite the fact that they could have rushed past this deadline on Monday. They managed to put this together to pass it, to vote on a number

of amendments all before midnight last night. And while not every member was happy about the outcome, here's what a couple of them said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): This is about paying the ransom to a bunch of hostage takers. And that is not how we should run this government. It's not

good for the people of this country. And it's not good for the position of the United States all around the world.

SEN. PETER WELCH (D-VT): But the good news is we preserved and protected all of the big initiatives of the Biden administration last year, but no, I

don't like this.

SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): Is it a homerun? No, it's maybe a single, maybe a double but I don't think anyone expected that Kevin McCarthy could deliver

any base runners at all and he has.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: And you are probably going to see this coalition of Republicans and Democrats over and over again over the next several years on Capitol Hill

because we have a divided government here we have Republicans controlling the House of Representatives, Democrats controlling the White House and the

Senate. And there's several other priorities they are going to have to get through this year, including a number of spending bills at the end of

September that are going to come due.

There's also a farm bill that dictates agricultural policy. And one of the arguments that was really very clearly made last night from leadership is

they're probably going to have to put together another supplement for Ukraine funding that again, is going to require Republicans and Democrats

to come together.

[09:10:00]

GIOKOS: Alright, Lauren Fox, thank you so much, great to see you. Well, a new wave of Russian strikes on Kyiv, Ukraine says its air defense system

intercepted 36 missiles and drones over the capital city early Friday. At least two people were injured. Meanwhile, multiple explosions have been

reported in a Russian occupied port city in Southern Ukraine.

And Ukrainian official there says Russian positions have been hurt. And this comes as Russian border regions are struck by fresh attack. Sam Kiley

joining us, Sam, a new wave of these hits towards Kyiv many of these missiles intercepted and frankly a lot of activity in Russian occupied

territories as well as what we're seeing inside of Russia this week. There's been so much activity.

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Eleni. What we've can see now is very obviously a new campaign conducted by the Ukrainians,

on the behalf of the Ukrainians inside Russia. They're not taking any direct responsibility for the invasion or raids being carried out by

Russian nationals, who are badged effectively to the Ukrainian Armed Forces crossing into Belgorod region.

But that's just what they have done with the local authorities in Russia saying two people have been killed in bombing or mortar attacks in

frontline villages at the same time in Smolensk, and other Russian city North of Kyiv. The oil refinery has been hit by what is assumed to be a

drone attack similar to the one that hit in Krasnodar south of the country.

So there is a pattern emerging here on top of the pattern that is long preexisting, which is the systematic targeting particularly of Kyiv,

particularly of civilians by the Russians inside Ukraine. Now this is having a strategic effect the campaign inside Russia with Vladimir Putin

coming out today, saying that, essentially I'm paraphrasing here we mustn't get rattled, we mustn't allow them to destabilize Russia.

But that's exactly what these relatively small scale attacks inside Russian territory are intended to do to destabilize the Russian efforts, with

Ukraine, making all kinds of claims about the movement of Russian Special Forces into that area, which are unverifiable, but again, are intended,

whether they're true or false.

Discomfort and dismay among the Russian forces as they continue to threaten to prosecute a campaign, a counter offensive inside Ukraine to recapture

lost territory, but I think we should see these campaigns inside Russian territory as the early stages of their counter offensive.

GIOKOS: Sam Kiley, great to have you on thank you so much. The -- relations between the United States and China right now are the worst they have been

in decades. That tension is apparent at over Asia's most important security conference currently underway in Singapore. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin

is representing the U.S. at the Shangri-La dialogue along with delegates from 49 other countries.

The Pentagon said Olson asked for a meeting with China's Defense Minister at the conference, China declined. Ivan Watson joins me now. Ivan, this

would have been a great opportunity for Lloyd Austin as well as China's Defense Secretary to meet and talk as tensions have been brewing between

the U.S. and China, particularly this week. Take us through what you've heard.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, well, Beijing's refusal for face to face talks here in Singapore seems to be an example of

the very fraught relations between the world's two largest economies. But then, a moment before Australia's Prime Minister was to deliver an

introductory keynote speech here at this defense summit.

The U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was seen walking over to his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu and shaking hands with him and it was all

smiles. This was captured on camera by Wall Street Journal reporter Yaroslav Trofimov. So while it doesn't amount to a sit down face to face,

formal meeting.

It does underscore the fact that this Annual Meeting offers a chance for the most Senior Military Officers and Defense Chiefs from around the world

for them to rub shoulders for them potentially to exchange views, even if they come from rival and competitive governments.

Now, Beijing's refusal to this face to face meeting was made with a statement accusing the U.S. of essentially being insincere when it talks

about wanting to maintain dialogue with the Chinese government and singling out what it described as "illegal unilateral sanctions".

[09:15:00]

This probably refers to the fact that Li Shangfu he's only been in office since about March in this post but he was sanctioned by the U.S. government

back in 2018. When he was the Director of the Equipment Development Department in the Chinese Military, the Biden administration insists that

those sanctions should not be an obstacle to U.S. government officials like Austin doing face to face business with him.

But it does show one of the kinds of many problem areas in the relationships between these two governments. And those are big issues that

are being discussed by many senior officials at this annual gathering. Another key issue that looms large here is Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Defense Minister is here with a delegation and we'll be addressing the conference. A notable absence, Eleni, is any representative

from the Russian government and organizers say that the Russians simply were not invited to attend this gathering, Eleni.

GIOKOS: Ivan Watson, thank you so very much. Right, fuel prices soaring in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer this after the country's new

President made and apparent off the cuff remark saying the fuel subsidy is gone. And that triggered panic buying as many people they rely on

generators to power their homes as well as businesses.

Stephanie Busari joining us now, Stephanie, we know what the removal of this fuel subsidy will mean for businesses for households for motorists.

And clearly this comment is making people worry. But the question becomes, can Nigeria continue subsidizing fuel? Is there enough money?

STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SENIOR EDITOR OF AFRICA: Eleni, the simple answer is no. This industry has been plagued with a lot of abuse, corruption and

scams, quite frankly. And the subsidy is no longer sustainable. The President has said in his inaugural address, but previous Presidents have

tried and failed to try to stop this subsidy that's decades old.

It started in the 70s Nigerians see it as their right, but increasingly it has become very expensive. The state oil companies NNPC says it spends 867

million every month on keeping gas prices low for Nigerians. And it actually says the government owes its $6.1 billion.

So the government is in a lot of debt, as you know, over $100 billion of debt. And they're borrowing effectively to keep this subsidy going.

Spending far more on this than they do on education and health combined, in some instances, so it's really become quite untenable to have this, yes.

GIOKOS: And this subsidy look is really important specifically for households and businesses if you've been in the streets of Lagos, you know,

you hear generators, you see many generators to keep the lights on, to keep fridges on this is vital parts. And Nigerians live because they don't have

access to the national grid electricity is intermittent. What is it like right now? What are you seeing on the streets and what a fellow Nigerian

saying?

BUSARI: Sure. So we've been talking to people on the streets, there's panic people are just queuing for hours waiting to fill up their cars. Far more

increased prices in some cases triple. We've been talking to people on the streets. Take a listen to what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we were given time before the fully remove the subsidy, it would have helped us in a way because I believe the government

is heading towards the right direction. The only difference is the manner with which they told us the subsidy was removed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Subsidy removal is a good thing. Anyway, as women, our leaders are being proactive in everything. What I mean by proactive certain

things in place, you understand that will ease the suffering?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BUSARI: Yes, so people are asking, where are the measures to cushion the blow. It is a big blow. There's very high inflation in the country, and

unprecedented high inflation. And at a time when Nigerians like the rest of the world are grappling with a very high cost of living.

This is going to affect transport costs, because a lot of people here rely on public transport. Generators as he mentioned earlier, people power their

homes with petrol generators. So it's going to have such a knock on effect, Eleni, and there's a lot of hardship ahead for Nigerians it must be said.

[09:20:00]

GIOKOS: Yes, Stephanie Busari, thank you so much. Well, straight ahead the jobs market is rapidly changing as technology evolves like never before the

CEO of the world's largest talent company, joins me to discuss hiring and equity after the break. And the anti-poaching tool that's as easy as riding

a bike because it is one the CEO of Swedish e-bike maker CAKE, later in the show. We also ask why it is named CAKE.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GIOKOS: Welcome back, you're watching FIRST MOVE, I'm Eleni Giokos. Now the U.S. labor market is showing no signs of slowing down. As we reported

earlier, employers added 339,000 jobs last month over the unemployment rate ticked up to 3.7 percent. There was solid growth in sectors including

professional and business services, government, healthcare and leisure as well as hospitality.

My next guest says the global jobs market is changing and evolving. And we are at a crossroads and the next industrial revolution and Randstad is the

world's biggest recruitment company operating in 39 markets last year. It said it helped more than 2 million people find a job and advised over

230,000 clients on the talent needs.

Joining me now is Sander Van't Noordende and he is the CEO of Randstad. Thank you very much, sir, for joining us, great to have you on. I'm sure

you're looking at these latest jobs numbers out of the U.S. 339,000 for the month of May. It has been fascinating to see this volatility coming through

and as well, resilience in the U.S. markets.

What are you seeing in terms of recruitment in the United States right now, despite this inflation worry, right, despite the Fed hiking rates?

SANDER VAN'T NOORDENDE, CEO OF RANDSTAD: Now, obviously LMTD the economy is very resilient, which is good news. I would also say it's good news for

consumers because they have they have jobs and they have money to spend which is in turn good for the economy in terms of how the job market is

changing.

I think the overriding factor here is what we like to call it runs at this time and scarcity. There is just given the populations in the United States

but also in countries in Western Europe, where the population is aging. There is a shortage of talent and that's not going to go away anytime soon.

[09:25:00]

So that is something that the world has to grapple with. Fortunately, there's technology I would say coming not to the rescue but to help in

terms of, you know, doing work, the more repetitive work. So that the work that needs to be done by humans interacting with humans, people working

with people, as we always say it in Randstad is going to be more important.

GIOKOS: Yes, I'm glad you mentioned, you know, working with humans, because my next question would have been on artificial intelligence. And you know

the big worry that we could face extinction, at least that's what we've been warned about. How have you seen this AI revolution feeding through

into recruitment?

We've seen big multinational stainless and we'll see natural attrition in certain positions, AI will replace those jobs, have you seen real tangible

proof of that already starting to happen?

NOORDENDE: I mean we have seen one side of the proof and that's people, big businesses, hiring fewer people these days, even letting people go these

days, the real impact of artificial intelligence, I would say has yet to develop. And that will take a couple of years. And the interesting

statistic there, the World Economic Forum, keeps track of automation and jobs.

And that is only gone up from 33 percent to 34 percent, over the last four years. So these things take time. So we will have time to adjust as

individuals in the marketplace, make sure we have skills that will be needed businesses will have time to adjust to make sure they help their

employees get the skills they need. And governments have a bit of time to do the same thing.

GIOKOS: OK, are you going to get replaced? Am I going to be replaced by AI? That's the thing because you're talking about we need to have the right

skill. So what are those skills do you think, the skills of the future that could directly compete with the brilliance of AI?

NOORDENDE: Well, there is obviously AI assisting knowledge workers. So AI assisting the lawyer to look to plow through all the contracts to

immediately is able to focus on the issues for their clients. There is this AI assisting doctors to do a better job in the diagnosis so that they can

focus on their patients.

Obviously, AI will not replace a lot of work that needs to be done for instance, in the energy transition. This is a massive investment exercise

over the coming decades in terms of getting more renewable energy, getting more energy storage, getting more electricity grids, managing all that with

data. So the creativity and the analytical skills there will still be needed.

GIOKOS: Well, that is exciting. Look, the LGBTQ+ community will be looking at you because of your position, because of your involvement in the

community as well. I mean, you're one of the only the few 500, fortune 500 CEOs, that is part of the community, it is pride month, it has always been

an important month for marketing.

It's been an exciting month and this time around, it's been overshadowed by some consumer pushback. And we've seen these stories playing out. How do

you think this impacts inclusivity and a lot of the work that has been done?

NOORDENDE: Well, this is a very concerning development. Of course, at two levels, I would say first of all, this is about real people. This is about

LGBTQ people who are at the brink of being excluded or actually excluded from living their life, from the livelihoods from doing a good job at work.

And that's not something that's helpful. At the macro level, I would say in respect to the talent scarcity in a world where talent is scarce, we need

everybody on board and we need everybody to feel comfortable at work. So that we can collectively get the work done that needs to be done in the

world so excluding anyone from that it's just not a good thing for the economy and for societies at large.

GIOKOS: Yes, very true. Sander, before I let you go, what are the jobs that you're most excited about at a global level? Where are you seeing the

pockets of excitement where you are fascinated by the skills that are being requested?

NOORDENDE: Well, if you look at the big growth group of skills in what we call skilled trades, that is jobs in the logistics environment in the

manufacturing environment in the physical investment environment, that require more skills, so practical skills, but also increasing technological

skills.

[09:30:00]

Applying technologies into physical world if you will and I think there's a big opportunity and it's almost like we need to say we need to read

appreciate those types of roles and maybe appreciate a little bit less if you will, the college degree that everybody needs to have.

GIOKOS: I've jotted that down in case I need to think about pivoting. Sander Van't Noordende, thank you very much sir for joining us, great to

have you on the show much appreciate it.

NOORDENDE: Thank you.

GIOKOS: Well coming up after the break returning to office life, Meta is making its workers consider getting back behind their desks, that's what's

coming up stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GIOKOS: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. U.S. stocks are up and running for the last trading day of the week, a higher open as investors applauded the

passage of the debt ceiling bill in the U.S. Senate and another robust jobs report. The U.S. economy is adding 339,000 jobs last month and 150,000 more

than expected big job gains in construction healthcare and government.

But the unemployment rate is on the rise is in 3.7 percent. Also today oil prices solidly higher. That's ahead of this weekend's OPEC Plus meeting in

Vienna. Sources telling Reuters that oil ministers are unlikely to push through new production cuts, even as oil prices test 2023 lows. Now more

than three years after the COVID 19 pandemic, hasn't been that long.

Compelled firms to allow working from home Meta says it's time to come back to the office. The owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp wants office

based employees to come back for three days a week from September, but it says nothing set in stone. CNN's Clare Duffy joins me with more.

I cannot believe it's been that long. Time has absolutely flown. So people need to go back to work, right three days a week. Do they want to, what is

the feedback?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Right, so tech employees have really been sort of pushing back against this. Just this week we saw Amazon employees

walking out over Amazon's three day a week in office policy.

[09:35:00]

And I think what we're seeing right now is sort of tech executives trying to wrest back, some control, some power from tech employees. During the

pandemic, these companies were growing so quickly, they couldn't hire fast enough. And that gave employees a lot of sway over some of these policies.

Now, I think what we're seeing is, executives trying to gain back some of that control. And one way of doing that is getting employees back in the

office. Meta spokesperson said that the company is still distributed, it's still committed to distributed work, and that the company wants to foster

the collaboration, relationships and culture necessary for employees to do their best work.

And Mark Zuckerberg had also signaled that this might be coming in March when he discussed the company's year of efficiency. And I think for

Zuckerberg, he has really been trying to sort of regain the confidence of shareholders after sort of a difficult year last year. And we know in many

cases that Wall Street is a fan of in person work. And so this may be one way of doing that as well.

GIOKOS: Yes, I mean, super fascinating they, Clare. You know, in terms of what we've been seeing with these tech companies in generally, all the big

multinationals is the eventual, you know, cycle going to end of people even being allowed to work one day from home. Is that the sense that we're

getting right now?

DUFFY: I think it is a big question. And I think you're trying to sort of see companies signal what their eventual plans are, you have Meta saying,

it's still committed to distributed work. But I think that is a concern of employees as these policies start to come into place is sort of how far is

this going to go.

So many employees have enjoyed working from home, it's allowed them to be with their families more, they feel like they can do just as good a job

from home as they can in office. But then these companies seem to be like employees are more productive in the office. And in many cases, these

companies have invested a lot in real estate and so they would like somebody to be in those buildings. And so I think it is a really

interesting question. We'll have to see what happens.

GIOKOS: Yes, remember the time where we thought the jobs market had fundamentally changed forever, and it seems like we're going back to where

we were before the pandemic. Clare, great to have you with us! Thank you so much, Clare Daffy for us there in New York.

Well, coming up after the break, two wheel techs protecting African wildlife by silent electric bikes are putting poachers on the run. It's a

piece of cake, I'll explain next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:00]

GIOKOS: The e-bike market is a crowded as well as competitive space. And a Swedish premier manufacturer is breaking into international markets and

protecting wildlife at the same time CAKE offers a range of electric bikes, scooters and motorcycles for commuting, leisure and deliveries.

It just opened its first store in New York City, where enthusiasm is surging for both e-bikes and food on demand. Thousands of miles away in

southern Africa, CAKE's electric motorbikes are on the frontline of efforts to protect wildlife. Some key benefits being low fuel costs, and poachers

cannot hear them.

Alright, Stephen Ytterborn is the CEO and joins me now, sir, great to have you with us. I have to ask you first because my team and I were wondering

why is the company that builds e-scooters and e-bikes named CAKE. Tell us why.

STEFAN YTTERBORN, CEO, CAKE: Well, that's an old story. Hi, nice to be on the show. Well, basically CAKE -- is my previous business, a company named

POC, with a mission of saving lives and reducing consequence of accidents.

And the POC, POC stands for Piece Of Cake. And that former journey is now you know a thing of the past. So when starting CAKE, it was, you know, the

rest of the CAKE was still there. And that's why we ended up you know, using the name CAKE.

GIOKOS: Absolutely brilliant and the journey clearly continuing for you in such an impactful way. I want to start off with what you've been doing with

the Southern African wildlife, college, and particularly poachers, you know, being able to get caught with, you know, people on the ground using

your e-bike that are silent, clearly agile, a lot more efficient, easy to use, and how you made that connection.

YTTERBORN: What, basically what we're trying to do here is to combine sustainability, both from the business as well as from a climate

perspective. And we fight what we believe is the most crucial enemy towards the climate, which is our pace of consumption.

We buy for too many things too often that end up being garbage before we know it. So extending lifecycle is key for us to be able to test our

products in the fiercest environments, whether that be you know, north of the polar circle, or down in Africa. It's crucial viability to actually

support durability and extend the lifecycle. So that's the main reasons to do these, you know, all the excursions, I would say, while doing good.

GIOKOS: Yes, I mean, it's an incredible story. Because as you say, your bikes are efficient, they durable, I was looking at just how far they can

travel without needing a tire change, and what kind of weights they can carry. Could you give me a sense of the engineering that went into this?

YTTERBORN: Well, basically, it's all about making sure that we optimize, you know, the combination between a chassis or the electric drive. And

basically what have been going on when it comes to electrification of motorcycles, or two wheelers and that sounds, is basically just swapping

drive train from combustion engines to electric.

While in our case, it's all about making sure that we support the character of the electric drive train, building, rigid, superlight, durable, and so

forth. So it's pretty much it's establishing a new category to again, support different needs, whether that be power efficiency, efficiency

rates, or whatever.

So it's a combination of things, again, to make sure that we do support the ability of serving the market with products that will hang around for a

long, long time.

GIOKOS: Yes, I mean, I was looking at the price point here, and it's around $6,500. And that's not even counting all the potential add-ons -- . And we

can see the images right now in terms of how you can retrofits and have add-ons as well. Who are you targeting here? Who is your market right now,

given this price points?

YTTERBORN: Well, basically, I mean, I think that what is crucial here is that you know our four pillars make sure that we actually do support,

durability and extending lifecycle without compromising with the purpose, innovation, performance and physical quality. And unfortunately, quality

comes with a higher price.

And it's our obligation to make sure that we have the financial solutions to make sure that people may use in different contexts, our products,

whether that be renting, leasing, subscriptions, or whatever it might be. Again, over time, we do support a much more, much better economic use in

our bikes in the light of, you know, up to great uptime, what they actually do perform and the longevity of the product itself.

[09:45:00]

GIOKOS: I was just looking at the 124-day journey, starting in Spain and finishing on the west coast of Africa that was 13,000 kilometers, not a

single flat tire and requiring less than 140 charges. So you're showing the efficiency and what it's capable of. But what are your sales like? How many

have you sold right now and where?

YTTERBORN: Right now there's a rolling fleet of bikes around the world at around 5000 units. And it's growing quickly, I would say, we're focusing we

have been focusing initially on Europe or North America, while we're growing, you know, at rocket speed in Asia at this point.

So this year, we, you know, probably end up at around 10,000 bikes and going forward towards you know, 50,000 bikes by 2025. So, you know,

referring back to that amazing African you know, trip from Barcelona to Cape Town, she actually did have a flat tire, but else than that it was a

perfect journey. And it's incredible that that -- you know, colleague of ours, was able to actually execute and do it.

GIOKOS: And I'm sure one of the most beautiful journeys look, I wish you all the best, Stefan, thank you very much for joining us today. And hope to

see your bike on the road soon. Much appreciated for your time.

YTTERBORN: Thank you so much. Thank you, have a good one. Bye, bye.

GIOKOS: You too. Well, coming up red sea coral in the red zone, scientists sounding the alarm after frightening discovery, the details are just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GIOKOS: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. A fast moving epidemic is threatening the magnificent coral reefs of the Red Sea. The delicate underwater

ecosystem is reeling, all this on top of the ongoing threat posed by climate change. Hadas Gold brings us this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The pristine waters of the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea, reefs teeming with colorful fish. But something is

missing. And it's threatening this entire ecosystem.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In a very short time, we experience a massive catastrophe of failure, talking about losing a species, which is to live --

there forever.

GOLD (voice over): In January, Black Sea Urchins here started dying in mass. Within days entire populations of thousands are getting sick and

literally disappearing.

OMRI BRONSTEIN, FACULTY OF LIFE SCINCE, TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY: We've never seen any fluctuations on that magnitude and now to say that sea urchins

were completely gone, that whatever is giving them is still defined as a waterborne pathogen. We know that it is transmitted through the water.

[09:50:00]

There you don't need direct contact that it takes 48 hours for an individual to go from a live healthy individual to basically bare skeleton.

GOLD (voice over): Vital to keep the delicate balance of life here, these Urchins consume the algae that can choke reefs already stressed by human

activity and the effects of climate change. Dr. Bronstein and his team of researchers from Tel Aviv University, show us how the beauty and health of

the reefs are under attack, we do not spot a single black sea urchin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The thought that we might be seeing something that is going to be radically changed is simply a very sad thought. And it is

probably the most unique coral reef in the world; it is our responsibility to make sure that there will remain here for future generations.

GOLD (on camera): This coral reef is unique in the world, because of its ability to withstand high temperatures, making it more resistant to the

effects of climate change. And that's why this week is so ecologically important to the globe.

GOLD (on camera): These tanks at the Inter University Institute for marine sciences in a lot Israel were once filled with the jet black urchins.

Now, they are covered in algae. A small scale example of what scientists say is happening in the sea.

BRONSTEIN: Without external regulation that the sea urchins provide, corals do not really stand the chance in this competition with algae because the

great the growth rate of algae is order of magnitudes higher than those of corals.

GOLD (voice over): Only a few have survived this epidemic like this young juvenile, he seems rather lonely.

BRONSTEIN: Oh, yes, a few individuals, even when they survive, that's not enough to sustain a population.

GOLD (voice over): A similar pathogen wiped the urchins out of the Caribbean in the 1980s and reared its head again last year. Dr. Bronstein

said it's likely spread by ships and possibly helped along by climate change and it's spreading. Researchers are using DNA technology to make a

difference.

LISA-MARIA-SCHMIDT, RESEARCHER, TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY: To basically just establishing a new monitoring method, a high throughput and non-invasive

one, it's allowing us to follow processes in the water of different species. So in a way you're trying to predict the future, more or less

there without going through the water, yes.

GOLD (voice over): But the time to save these black sea urchins is running out. Dr. Bronstein says governments need to move within weeks.

BRONSTEIN: And decisions makers need to understand that the window of opportunity to take action is very, very narrow and it's closing rapidly.

If we don't move quickly to create the brood stock populations based on the Mediterranean population, the remaining population if we don't take extra

care about what we pump into this environment, we may find ourselves in a huge problem in a huge situation.

GOLD (on camera): It's all shares this gulf and this problem with Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which you can see just behind me. And with which

Israel has no official relations. But under the water there are no boundaries and no politics and international cooperation will be a key to

fixing this problem.

GOLD (voice over): These fragile reefs where everything plays its part in the cycle, desperately waiting for help. Hadas Gold CNN, Eilat Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GIOKOS: Now an update on that dramatic rescue near the summit of Mount Everest. The guide who carried a struggling climber down from the parts of

Everest, known as the death zone says too many people come to the mountain without adequate experience or training. There have been at least 12 deaths

on Everest this climbing season. And the Sherpas says no one else was helping the Malaysian man.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GELJE SHERPA, EVEREST GUIDE: It was like massive difficult because I did like more than like 55 rescues, but it was the hardest one in my life. I've

done a long line of normal rescue but it was a very hard rescue. It's very hard to do rescues around the death zone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: Right. And finally, I have a question for you. Can you spell Psammophile? Have you even heard of it? For one teenager, that was the

$50,000 question. And he got it right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You say it for us.

DEV SHAH, CHAMPION, 2023 SCRIPPS NATIONAL SPELLING BEE: Psammophile, Psammophile.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Psammophile.

SHAH: P-S-A-M-M-O-P-H-I-L-E, Psammophile that is correct?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:55:00]

GIOKOS: He's a rock star -- . Well, that's 14 year old Dev Shah winning the Scripps National Spelling Bee contest on Thursday for the record. As

Psammophile is an organism that thrives in sandy soils, but you knew that already right? Well that's it for the show. I am Eleni Giokos. Thanks so

much for watching. "Connect the World" is up next, have a fantastic weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END