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Quest Means Business
Dominique Strauss-Kahn Acquitted of Aggravated Pimping; IMF Breaks Off Debt Talks with Greece; U.S. Stocks Fall; Major Setback for Obama's Free Trade Agenda; Twitter Stock Pop Doesn't Last after CEO Shuffle; Salesforce CEO on the Role of CEOs in the World; Zimbabwe Abandons Its Currency. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired June 12, 2015 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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POPPY HARLOW, CNN HOST (voice-over): Markets end the week with a triple- digit dip. It is Friday, the 12th of June. Tonight: acquitted of aggravated pimping, Dominique Strauss-Kahn has his day in court.
Angst over Athens sends triggers into a tailspin and Ford gets fast and furious. Bill Ford shows us how the company is returning to Le Mans. I'm
Poppy Harlow and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
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HARLOW: Good evening. Welcome to the program tonight. The former French president hopeful, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has been acquitted on charges of
aggravated pimping. Strauss-Kahn was accused in connection with sex parties that he attended in various cities around the globe.
As head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn was once one of the most powerful voices in global economics. Attempts to carve out a new career
following his legal troubles have derailed.
Back in 2013, he helped open a bank in South Sudan, speaking at the inaugural ceremony. Later that year, he became an economic adviser to the
Serbian government and he also joined a hedge fund in Luxembourg which subsequently went bankrupt.
Our senior international correspondent, Jim Bittermann, reports.
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JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Four years after he was first arrested and charged in New York and then charged in France,
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, has finally cleared all the legal hurdles before him.
As he arrived in a limousine at a French court, there was still doubt about whether he might be found guilty of aggravated pimping for his role in sex
parties organized in France and the United States. But even the prosecutor admitted before the verdict that there was not enough evidence to convict
Strauss-Kahn.
His lawyer expressed afterwards the legal equivalent of "I told you so."
HENRI LECLERC, DSK LAWYER (through translator): Today this judgment has reduce the writ to nothing which should make us all think about what the
secret instruction means in cases such as these.
The judgment was given; everyone saw that there was absolutely no legal basis for this case. And all the enormous fuss which surrounded this case
should give everyone something to think about.
BITTERMANN (voice-over): Still, if Strauss-Kahn is legally absolved, he's been widely condemned in the court of public opinion.
The years of stories, many of which Strauss-Kahn admitted to in court about his sexual appetite, the testimony from prostitutes about his desire for
brutal and, quote, "animalistic" sex, those stories have made him the subject of much derision and shame and probably have ruled out any attempt
at a political future for a man who was once the front-runner to be president of France.
BITTERMANN: As the final ruling was handed down, Strauss-Kahn reportedly turned to his daughter in court and said, "All of that for this. What
destruction," apparently referring to the destruction of his reputation. But his long, protracted legal battles have not been just about him.
BITTERMANN (voice-over): The Strauss-Kahn saga has also provoked a very public debate about subjects long taboo here, such as the sex lives of
politicians and the legal status of prostitutes. In fact, ironically, even as Strauss-Kahn was being cleared of the charges against him, the national
parliament was considering changes in the law which would make the client of prostitutes as culpable as though who organize and encourage them, a
change that, if it would have been in place four years ago, might have led to a different outcome for Strauss-Kahn today -- Jim Bittermann, CNN,
Paris.
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HARLOW: Five years ago, it was Dominique Strauss-Kahn that was running the IMF when it agreed to first bail out Greece. Fast forward to today and the
country's economy seems just as unstable. Stocks in Athens falling nearly 6 percent on Friday and pulling down indices across Europe. That is a
sharp movement for Greek stocks, even after months and months of volatility in the market. Friday's selloff came after the Greek finance minister
insisted that his country would not sign up to a new bailout program. That followed an announcement from the IMF that it had broken off debt talks
with Greece and walked away from the table.
If Greece is not able to reach an agreement with its creditors, the country could be forced to exit the Eurozone. The German economy minister warned
that would be disastrous and not just financially.
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SIGMAR GABRIEL, German ECONOMY MINISTER (through translator): I still hope that in these coming days rationality will prevail. What comes after if
Greece doesn't stay within the Eurozone would be a catastrophe for Greece but also for Europe, not only financially, it is going to be far more
expensive as many of us think today. It is going to change our aggregate state. Grexit today, Grexit tomorrow, the debates about Catalonia and
others, we are running a bit the risk of underestimating how strenuous it was for our parents and grandparents to form this Europe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: And here in the United States not a pretty day on Wall Street overall, the Dow Jones industrial average falling 140 points by the end of
the session.
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Ted Weisberg is the president and founder of Seaport Securities. He joins me live this evening from New York.
Ted, bottom line, does this boil down to Greece?
Well, I think today probably was all about Greece, Poppy, yes.
HARLOW: When you look at that, I wonder what the sentiment is among you and your fellow traders that this can be or will be contained or if this is
going to spill over in a major way?
WEISBERG: Well, you know, I think the issue is we've been dealing with Greece, as you just pointed out in your previous -- in your previous topic,
for five years, if not longer. And you would think, at some point, Wall Street, certainly Wall Street would have priced in all the possible
negative scenarios.
Obviously, it hasn't done that. So perhaps the issue of Greece, whether it's in or not in the Eurozone is a much bigger deal than traders
understand or accept. But even with the news, down 140 points, I guess it's meaningful. But when you look at Dow Jones average that's trading
around 18,000, in the grand scheme of things, it's really just a blip.
HARLOW: That's a very good point. This can be seen by many as just getting back to reality, if you will, and the reality of the economic
situation.
Look, you talked about what traders are pricing in now and scenarios about Greece that perhaps they weren't looking at before.
Are you talking about the majority of your peers looking at a Greek exit as a very, very real possibility?
WEISBERG: Well, I think it's a possibility. But I'm not sure that it's that likely because I think there are much bigger issues here, Poppy. I
mean, I'm not a political scientist or an economist. But there is a huge commitment to the Eurozone. Whether that's right or not remains to be
seen.
I think most traders would think that maybe what Greece needs is a little tough love just like a wayward child or a bad employee. And you kind of
put them out in the cold weather and give them a chance to reevaluate their situation and perhaps that'll be a reality check and things will be better
going forward.
Right now it's just a festering saw in a much bigger issue that just doesn't seem to go away. At the end of the day, if I were a betting man, I
would bet that there will be some sort of resolution and that Greece will not exit the Eurozone and life will go on. But I suspect the problem will
not go away.
HARLOW: And you are a betting man indeed. Ted Weisberg, we will see if your bet is right on this one. Thank you, Ted. Have a great weekend.
WEISBERG: My pleasure.
HARLOW: Well, President Obama's free trade agenda has been dealt a major blow, despite a trip to Capitol Hill Friday morning to garner support. The
House of Representatives overwhelmingly rejecting a first in a series of trade bills, this one specifically would have given the president authority
to fast-track various trade deals with other nations, without really much legislative involvement at all.
This outcome jeopardizes the president's proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership or TPP with Asia. Let's talk about it with Sunlen Serfaty. She joins me
now live from Washington.
Wow. I can imagine what a blow this was to the administration. You've got fellow Democrats, like Nancy Pelosi, saying no, I'm not going to sign on to
key parts of this trade agreement.
How surprised do you think the president was?
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think everyone was very surprised, Poppy. You know, going into the vote, to be honest, neither
side was predicting any level of confidence that they would win. So certainly there was a series of dramatic moments that unfolded on the House
floor just a short time ago, not the least of which when House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi came to the floor, she had been very secretive about
what she supported, whether she would align herself with the White House on this issue or the progressives in her caucus and defy the White House.
She just announced moments before the vote that she was with -- against the White House on this, with progressives. She said that really standing in
the way and voting against TAA, the Trade Adjustment Assistance, that was the only way, she said, that would slow down fast-track.
So that is a huge blow, certainly things were then very much in flux after that.
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: And the whole debate about this is what it does for American jobs and it depends who you ask. Does this help American jobs because it allows
us to export more? Or does it hurt American jobs because they get replaced by others?
What is the call on that? It depends who you ask.
That said, aren't some Democrats there on the Hill saying, look, the president waited too long to court us on this?
SERFATY: Yes. That was a big criticism that we heard, even just hours before this vote, President Obama made a last-ditch effort, as you said, to
come up here on Capitol Hill, huddling this morning for about 30 minutes with the entire House Democratic caucus and as we talked to member after
member that came out of that meeting, a lot of them noted that it really didn't do much to sway a lot of people's votes in the room. That was, of
course, President Obama's intention.
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But they said, you know, look, we're still just against this. We have heard from our constituents at home. We don't believe that it's going to
be good for American jobs.
So really, at the end of the day, it really is a slap in the face of the White House and it really speaks to President Obama's relationships here at
the Hill, that he wasn't able to corral at least a few Democrats over to vote with him.
HARLOW: So what happens now?
SERFATY: Well, it's very much in flux. The plan as of now, which of course could change, is there are no votes left here on the Hill today.
Likely what will happen is there will be an intense lobbying effort over the weekend and at some point early next week, we expect the House
leadership to again bring that TAA bill on the floor, potentially to get that passed.
If that passes it could married up to the TPA, which was a symbolic vote here that passed. And then it could be headed to President Obama's desk.
But there are lot of ifs there. There are a lot of maybes there. Very much still in flux. Now the White House said that President Obama will
continue to make an aggressive case for this among Democrats. So the sales job continues.
HARLOW: The sales job continues and the complex legislative process right along with it. Sunlen Serfaty joining us from Washington, thank you.
Twitter stocks started trading with a roar; it ended with a whimper on Friday. The once and possibly future CEO of Twitter back at the helm for
now. My guest thinks that might just be his job permanently.
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HARLOW: If you are an investor in Twitter and you were hoping for a rally in the company's share price after last night's CEO shuffle, you have been
sorely disappointed today; as we reported on Thursday's program, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo will be stepping after five years leading the company.
Former CEO and founder, Jack Dorsey, has been tapped to assume the role on an interim basis. Shares in Twitter were up nearly 5.5 percent at the open
on Wall Street Friday. That rally quickly faded, even turning into the red by midday in New York . One of Twitter's early investors paid tribute to
what Twitter has achieved under Costolo but said it is capable of being so much more.
On his blog, very influential angel investor, Chris Sacca, wrote that there are three simple things that Twitter has to change. They are so simple in
fact they fit into 140 characters. Let's take a look at them.
The first one, "Make tweets effortless to enjoy.
Second, "Make it easier for all to participate."
And third, "Make each of us on Twitter feel heard and valuable."
Let's talk about with Jay Yarow. He is the executive editor of "Business Insider." He spoke to Dick Costolo and also Jack Dorsey right after the
news broke.
So you have very good insight into their thinking here. Let's begin with this.
What was your big takeaway from the conversation with them about why this shuffle now.
JAY YAROW, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "BUSINESS INSIDER": So to be honest, I have to kind of more confused around -- so you can't really get a good answer
out of it. When you asked Dick why did he leave he just said I've been here for five years. I took this company when it was valued at $1 billion.
It was private. I took it through a successful IPO to $24 billion.
But you say why now?
HARLOW: Because didn't he --
YAROW: And he doesn't really have much.
HARLOW: -- didn't he say to investors on a call three weeks ago, I feel very confident; I'm here. Things are good, we're moving in the right
direction.
YAROW: That would be scary if he said anything otherwise. Even after that he said we're happy. He said I'm happy with the team. I'm happy with
where we're at. I feel like things are clicking. And he said I was just feeling like I wanted to find the next challenge.
I mean, realistically, what's unaddressed there is this company's been under a lot of pressure. It has not been particularly fun in the past
year.
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He's been getting hit. People have been calling for his head and it's probably not the best job to have right now.
HARLOW: Do you think that founder Jack Dorsey, who's not board member, who's this interim CEO now, do you think that he is going to take over as
the permanent CEO? Because "The Times" has been reporting that he's said he's wanted to take over full-time again.
YAROW: Yes. So I asked him directly. I said, "Do you want this job?" Do you want to be permanent CEO? I asked him two times and another time I
tried to sneak it in. And all times he deflected. He didn't say no. He said I'm not focused on that. I'm focused on this interim job.
My belief is that he does want this job. The belief is that he's a guy who sees himself in a Steve Jobs mold, as somebody who can do it, consumer
technology product that's big and broad . He's currently CEO of another company they founded called Square. But it's a little more enterprise
focused on small businesses. This is an opportunity to focus on consumers and do something big. And I think he really does want to do that.
HARLOW: So what does Twitter need to do?
I mean, is Chris Sacca right? Are these things they need to do? There's also -- he also said they should do more with Periscope. They should be
more experimental, take more risk.
YAROW: I think that it's a challenge. I think that the thing that people love about Twitter is this dynamic, real-time, engaging -- it's really
going. But that's the thing that people that don't get it don't love. It's very overwhelming. It's very hectic. If you come into it -- so I
started a conversation on Twitter last night. And I was going to bed and I joked. I said, look if you guys continue this thread I'm not going to be
able to follow in the morning because it's just such a hectic place.
So I think that there might be something to the idea of trying to figure out a way to slow it down. At the same time, if you do that, you risk
throwing what makes it special. And I think --
HARLOW: And different.
YAROW: -- and different. And that's been the challenge for Twitter is that from a management level, how do you take that mix of what makes it
special, which is real time, engaging, a lot of conversation, but how do you get it to that broader audience that doesn't feel overwhelmed? Because
look, I'm a journalist; I'm sitting there. I have a computer open. It's OK if it's going all day.
My wife, she was working, she checks in maybe once every other day, it's -- what does she look at?
HARLOW: And when you look at the numbers here, right, you've got like 300 million monthly active users for Twitter versus 1.4 billion for Facebook.
YAROW: So it's hard to think of 300 million users and say wow, that's not a successful company. It is a successful company. But again, 1.4 billion
for Facebook, over 300 million on Instagram, 700 million on Facebook Messenger, Snapchat coming up fast, has about 100 million daily users.
Twitter's somewhere around 150 million. So if you're an advertiser, you're looking at Twitter as a platform, suddenly it's third, fourth, fifth. Even
with 300 million users, when you're looking in that mix.
HARLOW: That's a good point. You have to look at all the competition it creeps up.
Thank you. Good to have you on the show. Appreciate it.
Well, where better to discuss a corporate shakeup at Twitter than on Twitter itself? Take a listen to this. Snoop Dogg, you know, the famous
rapper? Well, he let the Twitterverse know that he is ready to take on the chief executive role, quote, "I am ready to lead Twitter, Snoop for CEO."
That could interest investors because consider it, he's always got his mind on his money and his money on his mind.
On a more personal note, Twitter's CFO, Anthony Noto, wrote, quote, "Dick C forever, grateful to you for giving me a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to
join you at Twitter. We will not rest until we make you proud."
And fellow tech industry leaders also paying tribute to Salesforce chief executive Marc Benioff, tweeting, "Congratulations @DickC, while CEO. You
grew shareholder value from $1 billion to $24 billion. There are not many CEOs who delivered 24 times over their tenure. Well done."
Well, you may remember Marc Benioff as one of the loudest critics against controversial so-called religious freedom laws in the United States. This
happened back in April. The Salesforce CEO threatened to end his company's investment completely in the State of Indiana to protest a proposed
measure, which many argue could have seen businesses deny service to gay customers.
This week I met Marc Benioff in San Francisco and I asked him about the perception that some have as CEOs as wealthy executives isolated in boxes,
out of touch with the average citizen. He says that perception needs to change and chief executives should take a stand on social issues.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARC BENIOFF, SALESFORCE CEO: I think CEOs need to feel empowerment, that is somebody needs to give them permission to say what they think and what
they feel. You have to understand --
HARLOW: No one's saying they can't.
BENIOFF: Well, the thing that's interesting is we're traveling the world. We are meeting with heads of state, of major countries. We are working at
every aspect of society. And CEOs get it. They know what's going on. And they can make a difference. They can have impact and I think what we don't
want is for them to feel like that they have to be extracted to only work in their companies. That, I think, would be a mistake. I think we want
CEOs to feel like they're part of the solution and that they can make a difference. That's what Indiana was about.
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CEOs did make a difference in Indiana. CEOs are making a difference on women's issues. And CEOs need to be part of the solution.
HARLOW: Because you've said before many CEOs are afraid to get too personal.
BENIOFF: I think it's part of our training. We're supposed to be focused on the shareholder, on EPS. Milton Friedman said it best. The business of
business is business. Well, guess what, it's 2015. And the business of business is not business. The business of business is improving the state
of the world. And that's what CEOs need to do. They need to build great products. They need to take care of their employees, take care of their
customers. They need to build great companies with great cultures but they need to make the world a little better, too.
And they've got the leadership skills to be able to do it. And they can do it. And when I talk to those CEOs, they want that new narrative. You
know, there's a narrative around CEOs, you're articulating a lot of it, but there's a narrative around CEOs that needs to change.
HARLOW: But when I said they're a bunch of guys in their box that people think are rich and don't understand them?
BENIOFF: And not just that, that they're somewhat kind of isolated in their -- if there is a box, it's their office building that they're working
in. And that's not what anybody wants or needs. And I think in this kind of Millennial CEOs that are emerging now, that's not what you're going to
find.
HARLOW: Some people watching this might say this is a guy that sounds like he might run for office.
BENIOFF: You know, that's funny because that was a huge surprise for me, that when I was on your show or other places, talking about some of these
issues, that that's the response. That's actually the problem. See, I think that you -- when you say something like this, the immediate response
should be, oh, well, that person maybe should be running for office. No, you know what, companies are tremendous platforms for change. If you have
a company and you're a leader of a company, and you're a leader of not just a company but a community of an ecosystem, partners and all the people who
work in this company, the employees, their families, that is a platform for change. That's a platform that's an opportunity.
I find it odd that if you make a comment, a social comment, OK, about social justice, right, that immediately you get pinned as, oh, you should
be a politician. We need to reintegrate that CEOs can have that kind of a platform.
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HARLOW: Marc Benioff there.
Well, Zimbabwe is pulling the plug on its currency after hyperinflation has destroyed the value. In fact, you could be a multiquadrillionaire with
this -- just $1 -- after the break.
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HARLOW: This, $1 U.S., will not get you very far, I can tell you, here in New York City. In Zimbabwe, it would make 35 people quadrillionaires after
hyperinflation destroyed the value of Zimbabwe's currency. The government is finally abandoning the Zimbabwean dollar and taking the bills out of
circulation. Nina dos Santos reports.
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NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN HOST (voice-over): Zimbabwe's central bank has finally made official what people on the streets have known for years. The
Zimbabwean dollar is not worth the paper that it's printed on. After years of hyperinflation, the country's officially ditching its currency and
instead relying on the U.S. dollar and the South African rand.
Starting next week, Zimbabweans will be able to formally exchange local money. But be warned: you'll need a calculator for these conversions.
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Having 175 quadrillion Zimbabwean dollars in your bank account -- by the way, that's 175 followed by 15 zeroes -- may sound like a lot of money.
But actually under the new exchange rate, that will net you just $5 U.S. Those who have balances above that, they'll be paid with an exchange rate
of $1 U.S. for every 35 quadrillion Zimbabwean dollars. And that means that the holder of 100 trillion banknotes, which was the highest value at
the last to be printed by the central bank, will be getting just 40 cents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From here, you either issued a new currency and tried to get confidence in it, restore confidence in the central bank and in the
institutions that run it, or you formalize the arrangements of not using a currency that no one's got faith in. So there were two choices. This was
almost certainly the easiest, short-term choice. At some point, Zimbabwe's going to want to have its own currency.
DOS SANTOS (voice-over): Zimbabwe's economy has plunged into turmoil 15 years ago after Robert Mugabe's government seized white-owned commercial
farms, curbing the country's main exports, agriculture. The amount of foreign currency coming in fell off a cliff, leaving less money to import
basic goods and sky-high prices for those scarce items. In 2008 alone, inflation hit 231 million percent and people going to the market had to
bring their money in wheelbarrows.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think this just draws a line under the previous system, which has been effectively dead now for some time. Does it work?
You know the wider question is can Zimbabwe, as a de facto dollar economy, get its economy back on track, export more than they import, get the
economy to recover and so on?
I think that's a much deeper, longer-term story.
DOS SANTOS (voice-over): Since 2009, Zimbabwe has allowed people to use different moneys to pay for things. This week's move just officializes
(sic) that trend. Still, in back years, Zimbabwe also gave up on reporting inflation. Now it's also decided to call time on its beleaguered currency
-- Nina dos Santos, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: Ford says it is going to race in Le Mans again with its new GT. I will speak with the great-grandson of founder Henry Ford. He is also the
executive chairman of Ford and he'll tell me how his uncle once took on Ferrari at the famous track -- and won.
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HARLOW: Hello, I'm Poppy Harlow. Welcome back.
Coming up in the next half hour of QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, the new Jurassic Park movie is already a huge, huge hit, breaking box office records.
And a Boeing 787 Dreamliner takes off like you have never seen before.
Before that though, these are the top news headlines that we are following for you this hour.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been acquitted of charges of aggravated pimping by a French court. The former head of the International Monetary
Fund had been accused in connection with sex parties that he attended across the globe.
His lawyer said the charges against him had no merit.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
RICHARD MALKA, LAWYER FOR DOMINIQUE STRAUSS-KAHN, VIA INTERPRETER: They wanted at any cost to turn an innocent man into a guilty one but it
didn't work. We have knocked about a man's private life without respecting him and without any dignity with no purpose.
That was the judgment today has said. Today at the end of the trial which has been exemplary total (ph) undignified. The law was respected and
Ed Smith the clerk (ph) said we need to draw lessons from it.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
HARLOW: News just in to us here at CNN. The New York prison worker Joyce Mitchell will be arraigned on unknown charges Friday evening before
being processed at the Clinton County Jail. New York State authorities say Mitchell gave a hacksaw, blades and a drill with drill bits to two inmates
before they escaped from prison nearly a week ago.
They are also looking at her husband who may have also been involved authorities say. The convicted killers are still on the loose.
Pakistan has ordered the U.K.-based charity "Save the Children" to shut down operations in the country after accusing it of spying. "Save the
Children" says it strongly objects to the actions and it is raising serious concerns at the highest levels.
Pakistan's interior minister says too many international NGOs have been working in Pakistan without rules or regulations.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
CHAUDHRY NISAR ALI KHAN, PAKISTANI INTERIOR MINISTER, VIA INTERPRETER: My request, my message is to international NGOs as well as to international
governments. We will welcome those NGOs who work positively, but they will have to respect Pakistan's laws and regulations.
They will have to respect the terms and conditions of their registration. They will have to respect Pakistan's national interests.
They will no longer be allowed to get registered for one work and then carry out other types of activities.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
HARLOW: Four tourists who stripped naked or topless on a mountain in Malaysia have pled guilty to committing an obscene act. The court fined
them about $1,300 each and sentenced them to seven days - to serve time, rather - in jail - three days.
Locals calling the stripping a sign of disrespect, some even saying it was behind the earthquake that killed 16 people.
It's 24 hours of adrenaline-pumping high-speed action through the streets of an historic French town. It's Le Mans and the Ford Motor
Company has announced the return to the starting block a half century after it swept the podium. Le Mans is known as the Grand Prix of endurance and
efficiency and Ford think it has just the race car to reclaim glory.
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HARLOW: That is the new Ford GT Super Car. Ford says it is a showcase of a number of their recent innovations. Earlier I spoke with
Ford's executive chairman Bill Ford. He is also the great grandson of the legendary company founder Henry Ford. He told me how high-stakes racing
runs in the Ford Motor Company pedigree.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
BILL FORD, EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, FORD MOTOR COMPANY: So in '66, my uncle Henry Ford II tried to merge with Ferrari. It didn't work and so he
just thought, well if you can't join them, beat them. So he in '66 we raced, we finished 1, 2, 3. And then we won four years in a row.
So next year will be the 50th anniversary of that historic win in '66, and we're coming with our new Super Car, the GT.
HARLOW: So are you predicting another winning streak?
FORD: (LAUGHTER). Well, Poppy, we don't race not to win, so yes we plan on winning and we're going to come at it with all we've got next year
and we'll see what happens.
HARLOW: Let's talk about a little bit of really fascinating history here - how founder Henry Ford started - some winnings from a race went into
the beginning of Ford the company. Is that right?
FORD: Yes, so our company was literally founded on a race track in 1901. Henry raced a competitor who had a car with three times the
horsepower and a very experienced driver and he won. And that gave him the confidence to go have another race the next year against an even bigger
competitor and he won that race and that actually brought him the backing to start the Ford Motor Company.
[16:35:18] HARLOW: So let's talk about the GT behind you. I saw it in person at the Detroit Auto Show this year. It is a sleek, beautiful
car. It comes with a pretty hefty price tag. We're seeing reports of about $400,000. Are we in the ballpark?
FORD: You're probably not too far off, but we're not going to make many of them either.
HARLOW: Let's talk about what this means. This GT is part of the Ford Performance Group. When I look at this, I wonder what the story is
behind it that Ford is telling the world about the overall brand. Even though this isn't the car for the masses, what does this tell us about the
Ford image?
FORD: FORD: Well actually it really does fit in to the cars that we're making for everybody because we intentionally chose to put our 3.5
liter eco-boost engine into this car, an engine you can get across our product lineup.
We're also doing a lot of lightweight materials and aerodynamic work, all of which will make it into our mainstream lineup. So this very much is
a test lab for other things we're doing around the company. This isn't just a very cool race car - well of course it is that - but it's much more
than that. Because we're using mainstream technology to prove a point.
HARLOW: Do you also think that this is part of a reimaging or reimagining of some traditional vehicles? Because when I think of Ford, I
think of "Ford tough." Do you also want people to think of Ford sleek, Ford sexy?
FORD: (LAUGHTER). Well, I think they already think of Ford sexy and Ford sleek and Ford fun when they think of Mustang. So, you know, we have
(AUDIO GAP) we have different images depending on the product - you're right. Ford Trucks is very "Ford tough." Mustang is about the freedom of
the open road and just having a blast driving.
So, you know, and also our racing heritage - I mean, we've won all over the world on every kind of circuit you could race on. So this is very
much in keeping with that image.
HARLOW: Ford has invested a lot of money and a lot of energy in building a facility in Silicon Valley. And when I spoke last with Ford CEO
Mark Fields, he told me how important that is to the company. Can you tell me about what your focus is in Silicon Valley and why that is so important
to staying competitive right now?
FORD: Well you know, Poppy, I served on the board of eBay for ten years and so I was in the Valley all the time. And it really struck me
when I was on the eBay board how important it was for us to have a presence there. So this is actually our second lab. We - I - opened the first one
two years ago. This is bigger.
And really it's two things - one, it's for us to keep our finger on the pulse of what's going on with all of the startup activity and the
tremendous creativity. But the other thing is it gives all those people a way into Ford Motor Company.
Because heretofore, if you were a four-man startup in Silicon Valley, who's going to take your call in Dearborn, Michigan? Now they have an
entry point and also and advocate for them.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
HARLOW: Bill Ford joining us there. Well just a few hundred kilometers away, the biggest names in aviation are gathering for the Paris
Air Show. It is the biggest and most glamorous event on the aviation calendar, and it is a chance for airplane manufacturers to show off their
latest creations.
This is Boeing's latest and greatest offering - the 787-9 also known as the Dreamliner. It carries 280 passengers, it can travel over 15,000
kilometers without refueling and it can do this - take a look. Yes, it can do that - straight up. Those moves are from a video Boeing released
showing the Dreamliner on a test run.
CNN aviation analyst and Boeing pilot Les Abend explains what is behind the aircraft aerobatics.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: For Boeing this airplane is very important. It's a very well-designed airplane. The 787 is an almost all
composite aircraft. It is one of the most fuel efficient aircraft designed out there.
It's done to kind of enhance the performance aspects of the 787. Remember this airplane was taking off with just test pilots, maybe a
handful of people in the back - very, very light. So the performance unlike any transport kept (ph) courier flight would be pretty spectacular.
The perspective from it looks as though it's a 90-degree angle. You can't really get a transport category jet airplane up at that angle for any
length of time. A lot of warnings will go off at some point.
[16:40:13] These test pilots - this is kind of the fun stuff for them to do. They've gone through very methodical, systematic and very safe
procedures for every airplane that's released.
It's a fun experience to show a Paris Air Show crowd exactly how much performance their new airplane has.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
HARLOW: Wow. Remarkable to see. Well after a 14-year hiatus, the next installment in the Jurassic Park series is hitting theaters. Opening
weekend estimates are roaring higher. Wait until you hear the numbers. We will take down the figures with Brian Stelter next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: A leaked memo from Uber CEO says the company is booming in China and plans to invest more than a billion dollars there this year.
Uber's business model has been so successful, it is now being used by all sorts of different industries.
One entrepreneur in men's retail wants to be the Uber for tailors. Maggie Lake went to meet him.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
Male Announcer: If the suit fits, wear it.
MAGGIE LAKE, BUSINESS ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT FOR CNN INTERNATIONAL: Men's Wearhouse founder George Zimmer is back with a new business. Zimmer
who gained fame from his slogan "You're going to like the way you look, I guarantee it," has launched a new Uber-style tailor service called zTailor,
a website and app that connects customers with on-demand tailors who make house calls.
GEORGE ZIMMER, CHAIRMAN AND FOUNDER, ZTAILOR: I'm George Zimmer. Let me welcome you to zTailor.
LAKE: Zimmer hopes his new business will take the art of tailoring into the 21st century.
So this is a change. You used to run brick and mortar stores -
ZIMMER: Yes.
LAKE: -- now you're diving into technology. Why?
ZIMMER: It was the advent - not the advent - but the increase in online apparel sales that triggered the idea for zTailor. Because there's
always been tailors, but now that so many of us are buying clothing online or getting it gifted online, what we all know is that it fits OK, but not
great.
And so we have billions of dollars - that's with a b - in our closets at home that we don't wear very much because it doesn't really fit well.
And so we think zTailors is going to be able to have a big B to C business on that basis and then we have a deal with MacysBloomingdales.com.
LAKE: Now is your target customer primarily men? I mean, we tend to think of tailors because we think of suits. Are you targeting women as
well?
ZIMMER: Absolutely. You know, the reason why there's a difference in tailoring between men and women is that men ran the department stores and
used to give men who paid full price free alterations. Women always paid - -
[16:45:09] LAKE: Right.
ZIMMER: -- for their tailoring. At zTailors we have tailors that specialize in women's, bridal, children as well as men's.
LAKE: So explain to me how this works. The tailor would - could come - make a visit to my office, come to my office and meet me, and then what
is he going to do? I put on this jacket I have. It's too big - I never wear it.
ZIMMER: He'll look at the jacket and he'll say, `Well, your sleeves are too long." You know, the way we do this is with pins, not actually the
way I'm doing it.
LAKE: To address safety issues surrounding house calls, zTailor says it runs background checks on all its tailors and carries insurance for lost
or stolen goods.
Your business card I understand still says tailor. Why do you associate with this group so much?
ZIMMER: I've always been about the underdog and there are no greater underdogs in the apparel industry than the tailors. So that they've never
been really valued appropriately.
LAKE: Do you have a new slogan. You were so well known for your slogan at Men's Wearhouse.
ZIMMER: The one that I kind of like that we haven't trademarked is "zTailors, I got your back."
(END VIDEOCLIP)
HARLOW: The CEO of Salesforce says when he set up his company from scratch 16 years ago, he wishes he had paid much attention to workplace
equality for women. Marc Benioff telling me that equality for women is now one of his biggest priorities as a boss. I asked him about that and the
problems of sexism in Silicon Valley.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
MARC BENIOFF, CEO, SALESFORCE: When I started Salesforce, Poppy, I wanted to create a new technology company. I wish, honestly, that I could
rewind time and go back and put that women's equality issue into the culture from the beginning.
I think now looking back 16 years that that was as big an issue as the philanthropy issue is for me now. So that really we have a platform that
we can say here's a great example of how to build a company.
HARLOW: So what you say because so much has been made over the past year especially of the lack of women in these startups, on these boards. A
lot of talk about sexism in Silicon Valley. What would you say to the young Marc Benioffs out there starting these companies about women?
BENIOFF: I would say that leadership is easy. You decide what you want and you achieve it. But this is an important discussion because we
have to create awareness that women's equality and women leaders and hiring women is important to companies.
Let's put that in right at the beginning. You can decide what kind of company you want to have and what kind of leader you want to be. That's
the power of being a CEO.
HARLOW: Salesforce is 71 percent male, 80 percent of the tech jobs here are occupied by men and the leadership positions are 85 percent men.
Where do you want those to be in, say, five years?
BENIOFF: Well I think that we have to take the goal of 50/50, and I think it's absolutely doable.
HARLOW: Do you think though there has to be a quota?
BENIOFF: I think there has to be a goal. I think you have to have a clear goal. Just as a CEO might have a market share goal, you know, or
some other type of leadership goal or an EPS goal or a revenue goal --
HARLOW: This should be that important?
BENIOFF: Absolutely. It has to be a metric that every CEO manages.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
HARLOW: Mark Benioff there. Well the weekend is here and moviegoers are flocking to see the new Jurassic Park film after 14 years since the
last one. We will tell you exactly how many, how much money next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:50:23] HARLOW: More than two decades after Steven Spielberg first captured imaginations in "Jurassic Park," the fourth installment is hitting
theaters this weekend. This time the film isn't just chasing its characters around an island with prehistoric beasts ready to chomp at the
first slip. It is chasing the record books as well.
Thursday night's previews took in more than $18 million in the United States, making this Universal's biggest ever preview showing. New
estimates say opening weekend sales could hit $155 million. Speaking outside the "Jurassic World" premiere, director Colin Trevorrow explained
why he thinks it is poised to be such a big hit.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
COLIN TREVORROW, DIRECTOR, "JURASSIC WORLD": I think they'll see that I've made something that is not a fan film, that is not a carbon copy of
"Jurassic Park," but deeply respects it and weaves in not just references and homage, but you know, kinds of relationships and pieces of action that
I think people who love those films are going to love as well.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
HARLOW: Who else but Brian Stelter - CNN's senior media correspondent here to talk to us about it.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: (LAUGHTER).
HARLOW: I remember watching - seeing - the first "Jurassic Park. Really I was really young and I still remember that moment and it was
captivating. Is this as captivating?
STELTER: I re-watched it a few days ago, Poppy. My wife had never seen it before -
HARLOW: Really?
STELTER: -- so we had to re-watch to get ready for this weekend. Going to go see it tonight. And that is part of the reason why it's going
to be such a big hit. People remember the original, some of them even remember the two sequels - with (INAUDIBLE) as well.
But the original "Jurassic Park," it holds up incredibly well. A classic Steven Spielberg production. Now the reviews for the new one
haven't been so hot, but it's going to be a hit regardless. You know, because of all that built-in good will.
The estimates just went up a couple of hours ago before this weekend. It was looking like $120 million which would still be a huge hit. But it's
looking like $155 million. To put that in perspective, it will be the biggest June opening ever and would also be the second biggest opening of
the whole year right behind - what was it? - I believe it was the "Avengers."
HARLOW: That's so remarkable. And you look at who - oh, by the way, here in New York City it's already very expensive to go to a movie and then
a lot of people probably pay for Imax and the extra sort of big feeders for something like this.
STELTER: That's a good point.
HARLOW: Who profits the most off this?
STELTER: Universal. You know, Universal is the same studio that had "Furious 7" earlier this year.
HARLOW: Wow.
STELTER: That was one of the biggest hits already this year. It outperformed expectations. Now they've got "Jurassic World" and that all
rolls up into Comcast. So Comcast a big beneficiary of this franchise.
They are as you mentioned - they're rebooting. It's been a long time - more than a decade since any of these films were out there. I imagine
they've got lots of dreams for sequels with this one already. And it just goes to show some of these tried and true franchises and ideas -
HARLOW: Work.
STELTER: -- always work - almost always work.
HARLOW: Interesting that they would come back to it even after you said that the previous two sort of sequels didn't work out as well as they
had hoped. Who's the genius behind this? I mean, for Universal to have "Fast and Furious" this year, have this this year.
STELTER: They've been on a very lucky streak. Ron Meyer and the rest of the team at the studio - I don't want to say it's entirely a lucky
streak, it's also a lot of smart thinking on their parts. But this is how studios often are, right, they go up and down. Right now Universal's
clearly up, other studios are down. It seems to be how the movie business works, and most of these studios are pretty realistic about that.
But it certainly helps NBC Universal, a company that of course also has cable TV channels and other franchises, to have the studio at the top
of its game right now is very valuable. And you'll notice - what have their cable channels been doing all week? They've been replaying "Jurassic
Park." All week --
HARLOW: (LAUGHTER).
STELTER: -- they've been re-airing the original movie --
HARLOW: Of course.
STELTER: -- on Syfy and E all over the place.
HARLOW: Of course.
STELTER: Because everybody uses that synergy (ph).
HARLOW: I think something like this has long tail, right? Because after the movie comes the ride - the "Jurassic World" ride!
STELTER: Like the dinosaur - a long tail?
HARLOW: A long tail -- ha ha ha.
(CROSS TALK)
STELTER: We should be having fun with this. It's going to be a dino- sized hit.
HARLOW: It is going to be a dino-sized hit -
STELTER: (LAUGHTER).
HARLOW: -- you got me to say it. But a long tail in terms of the rides, the merchandise.
STELTER: Yes.
HARLOW: I mean, this is something like Disney's "Frozen," (AUDIO GAP) can populate so much money outside of the movie.
STELTER: Yes, that's absolutely right. You think about the original "Jurassic Park" a generation ago. It was unique at the time because it was
using computer animation, computer-generated dinosaurs. Now we take all that for granted. So they've had to up the stakes here - make it more
intense, make it more dramatic, make the dinosaurs even scarier. And of course that does create opportunities for a whole new set of rides, a whole
new - whole new -
HARLOW: Right.
STELTER: -- types of merchandise as well.
HARLOW: Lots of kids' lunch boxes will be made from this I suspect.
STELTER: (LAUGHTER).
HARLOW: A hundred and fifty-five million dollars, the projection for this weekend. Any sense of how much this movie cost to make?
STELTER: You know, I don't know the exact number. Certainly a lot more than $155 million. It's going to take weeks for them to recoup their
earlier investment. But that's why they're so thrilled about these new projections today.
It made more money last night than they were expecting.
HARLOW: Right.
STELTER: Even more than "Furious 7" did during its previews. So they have very high hopes going into the weekend. It's going to make just $65
million just tonight.
HARLOW: Just?
STELTER: And it's of course partly as you mentioned because ticket prices get higher over time. So movies are able to step (ph) these new
records every year. But it also goes to show people still do want to go to the theaters for these big, live moments -- these big, live events, these
tent pole movies.
[16:55:11] HARLOW: It's true. It's not just, you know, Netflix isn't wiping them out.
STELTER: No. Netflix made a big announcement this week, they've got Brad Pitt's next movie. It's going to increasingly put pressure on the
movie industry and more and more movies are going to premiere online instead of in theaters.
But these big franchises, these big - frankly it's almost like a superhero movie to have, you know, -- the dinosaurs are superheroes I
suppose -
HARLOW: Yes.
STELTER: These sorts of big tent pole movies - they are still very important to theaters and to studios.
HARLOW: Absolutely. Brian Stelter. Have fine.
STELTER: I'm going to tonight.
HARLOW: I'm looking forward to seeing it.
STELTER: Thanks.
HARLOW: Thank you, Brian. Well a journalist at "The New York Times" will have something a little strange waiting for them at the office on
Monday morning. Their bosses are planning to make their job a little bit more difficult. What are they going to do? We'll tell you next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: All right, we want to show you some live pictures out of Boston, Massachusetts. Right now U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is
leaving the hospital there - Mass. General Hospital after he broke a bone in his leg.
You'll recall that the 71-year-old broke his right femur on a cycling accident in the French Alps last month. He was flown to a hospital in
Geneva, then he was flown to the United States.
The same doctor that performed his hip replacement several years ago performed this surgery. It did force him to miss a diplomatic trip to
Spain last month.
John Kerry there saying he is confident he will be just fine, his doctors telling him he will be even stronger perhaps than before.
Well workers at "The New York Times" will have a strange surprise waiting for them when they switch on their computers Monday morning - their
own website - it won't be working.
Anyone trying to access "The New York Times" website from their desktop at the office will find that they cannot get through. This is part
of a deliberate experiment. The paper says it wants to force its own staff to view the site on mobile devices which now make up more than half of its
traffic.
In a memo to staff, the publisher said quote, "We are hopeful that this temporary change will spur us to make mobile an even more central part
of everything that we do."
[17:00:06] That is "Quest Means Business." I'm Poppy Harlow. Thanks for joining me. Have a great weekend.
END
