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Quest Means Business
Wells Fargo Fires 5300 Workers After Scandal; Clinton, Trump Trade Jabs After Forum; European Central Bank Leaves Rates Unchanged; London Reacts to Racist Air China Magazine; Raspberry Pi Sells 10 Million Computers; Bernie Ecclestone Keeps Formula 1 Top Job; Star Trek Celebrates 50 Years
Aired September 08, 2016 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:00] RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR: All right, closing bell ringing on Wall Street. The Dow is down 46 points. Not very many of them, but they
are promoting a television series at the New York Stock Exchange. I'm not sure that's very kosher to be doing. Taking photographs while you're doing
it. Good grief. I think we can say that was a very robust gavel to end trading. I'm surprised the thing survived the session. Anyway, it is.
It's Thursday, the 8th of September.
Tonight the big story in the last couple of hours. Millions of fake accounts. One percent of the workforce at Wells Fargo sacked. One of the
world's biggest banks is tonight engulfed in scandal.
Still in the driving seat, Bernie Ecclestone tells me about the future of Formula 1. Now part of it's been sold.
And also...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STAR TREK, INTRODUCTION: Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship enterprise. Its five-year mission to explore strange new
worlds --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: "Star Trek" celebrates 50 long and prosperous years. William Shatner live on this program tonight. I'm Richard Quest. We have an hour
together. And I mean business.
Good evening. The news dropped just about an hour or so ago. Wells Fargo, one of America's largest banks, has fired more than 5,000 employees.
That's about 1 percent of the workforce. They secretly, the employees, created millions of unauthorized bank and credit card accounts. Regulators
say the employees were trying to satisfy sales goals. The most extraordinary story. Thousands if not tens of thousands of accounts were
created. Paul la Monica is here. He's been following. What were they up to?
PAUL R. LA MONICA, CNNMONEY CORRESPONDENT: This is just stunning, Richard. It appears these employees were trying to move money from
legislate bank accounts to these bogus fake accounts in order to meet what are probably very lofty sales targets, because Wells Fargo, one of the
biggest banks out there, obviously Wall Street, very focused on its sales and earnings growth. It's astonishing they got away with it this long and
now $185 million that Wells Fargo is being forced to pay as a result of this malfeasance.
QUEST: Reading the CNNMoney report, which is just coming out, employees went so far as to create phony PIN. numbers, fake e-mail addresses, and
enroll customers in online banked service banking services. An analysis conducted by the firm concluded the bank employed 1.5 million deposit
accounts.
LA MONICA: All fake. Just to move money around. And then unfortunately, a lot of the consumers were hit with overcharge fees and other fees because
money that they thought was in their real legitimate account had moved elsewhere, and they were sacked with fees by the bank. I really don't
understand how this could have been so pervasive. This doesn't sound like at all one rogue employee.
It's a black eye for not just Wells Fargo. But if you ask me, Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, this is one of his top holdings. Vice
chairman of Berkshire, Charlie Monger, when I spoke with him last year at their annual shareholder meeting, he said that they own Wells Fargo because
it's better behaved than your average banks like J.P. Morgan Chase and Citigroup and all the Wall Street scandals. Well I'm not so sure that's
the case anymore.
QUEST: I'm not quite speechless, don't get excited yet. With LIBOR an interest rate scandals and foreign exchange swaps, there were maybe a dozen
or two people that knew what was going on, and we said then how did senior management not know. But if 5,000 people were doing this, it's endemic and
epidemic in the bank.
LA MONICA: Yes. It's stunning that no one at a quasi-senior level was able to figure out what was going on, whether or not that's a risk officer
or the CFO, someone from the accounting department, maybe going all the way up to the CEO, not so sure. Because I don't know how much the CEO at Wells
Fargo pays attention to the nitty-gritty of individual banks. But this clearly is not a rogue employee. It's not a rogue branch. It's thousands
of workers at Wells Fargo. It is astonishing.
QUEST: And that's why we're leading our program tonight with that. And we appreciate you giving us the information. Please keep an eye on this and
come back when there's more to report.
The other big story we follow for you this evening, a day after both candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, went on American television
to prove their mettle as respective commander in chiefs.
[16:05:00] Both of them have returned to poking holes in one another and their various arguments and resumes. Secretary Clinton gave a rare press
conference where she accused Donald Trump of treating the presidential office, to use your words, like a game.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let me be clear. Last night was yet another test, and Donald Trump failed yet again. We saw
more evidence that he is temperamentally unfit and totally unqualified to be commander-in-chief.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Trump quickly responded at his event in Cleveland, Ohio, saying that Clinton tried to make up for a poor performance at Wednesday's forum
with lies. And then blasted her track record in government.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hillary Clinton is trigger happy. Totally trigger happy. She's raced to invade, intervene,
and topple regimes. She believes in globalism, not Americanism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Mark Preston, where are you when we need you? Ah, there's our CNN political executive editor, joins me from Washington. I watched both of
them. We can argue about the moderator, left, right, and center. But in terms of performance, in terms of policy, did either candidate perform
better or worse or move the poll?
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Let me get to this in two different ways, Ok. For a national audience here in the United States, I
would say they both performed poorly. And because Hillary Clinton appeared very defensive. And of course a lot had to do with the way the moderator
was asking the questions to her, Richard. As well as doing the follow-ups. And Donald Trump offered zero. And when I mean zero, I mean zero point
zero details about his foreign policy.
The second way to answer that is, if I am a foreign leader, if I am a foreign government right now, and I saw what happened last night, it's only
going to pique my interest for the next 60 days to see how these two continue to talk about how they're going to deal with foreign policy and
the U.S. engagement with other nations.
QUEST: As I watched it last night, Mark, Secretary Clinton, very detailed but perhaps lacking passionate times. I felt like I was reading a copy of
"Foreign Affairs" magazine. Donald Trump, every policy question, always ended up back with an attack on Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, and then
followed about something, how he's a greater negotiator and going to make America great again. Is that about the gist of it?
PRESTON: Talk about hitting the nail right on the head. In fact, the dispassionateness of Hillary Clinton caused some Republicans to call into
question, you know, her ability to not even smile, which they then had to backtrack off that because they realized that was a very stupid thing to do
given the gravity of the nature of the discussion topic last night. But yes, she was very wooden and quite frankly Donald Trump offered no details
on how he would handle any of these issues.
QUEST: So bearing in mind, we have just under nine weeks left. Was last night an opportunity missed and if it was, what's our next opportunity
gained?
PRESTON: A couple of things. I think that it was an opportunity missed for Hillary Clinton perhaps to take a breather as she's trying to explain
her policy details. But the fact is, as you said, nine weeks left, she could make up ground on that. Donald Trump, it was an opportunity missed
to give him some heft behind some of his broad and bold declarations that he has made. But to your point, when we see them next, it's going to be
the presidential debate. Ninety minutes that will happen in a few weeks in New York City, 90 Minutes No Commercial Breaks. You'll be able to watch it
here on CNN international. And you'll see these two face off for the first time and really challenge one another on who has the better plan forward
for the United States.
QUEST: Elegant as always, sir, you've taken me nicely to our next story. Thanks for joining us. Mark Preston in Washington. Talking of those
debates, the new CNN/ORC poll released just eight minutes ago shows voters think that Hillary Clinton will beat Donald Trump in the first presidential
debate. More than half of all likely voters think that Secretary Clinton will do better. Only 43 percent, Donald Trump believe will come out on
top. Two-thirds of likely voters say they're more interested in watching the upcoming debates than previous ones. Our senior media correspondent
Brian Stelter is with me and joins me now. Brian, firstly, she should do better. She's an -- no. She's an experienced --
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
QUEST: -- debater and has been over these fences many times.
STELTER: This is the conventional wisdom in Washington as well. You are not the only one thinking this.
[16:10:00] But yes, Clinton has a lot more expertise than Trump when it comes to politics. She has been on the debate stage many more times than
he has. She's the one that has higher expectations going into this debate.
QUEST: What's defined as a win? Define for me a win. Is it a "I knew Jack Kennedy and you're no Jack Kennedy," that famous line from Lloyd
Bentsen to Dan Quayle? Is that gotcha moment the win?
STELTER: I think a win is persuading voters, who weren't going to support you, to come to your side. If Clinton can move the needle and gain more
supporters -- or if Trump can -- that is the ultimate win. More broadly, those memorable moments that define a campaign can certainly happen in
these debates. So that would be a win for Trump or Clinton as well. But ultimately it's about getting those voters in the middle. Those shrinking
pool of voters who aren't sure who to vote for, to side with you.
QUEST: Is there a danger, not from a political point of view, we just spoken to Mark. But a television point of view, a media point of view,
that Secretary Clinton basically bores the audience with a wealth of policy that everybody thinks, oh please, enough of that?
STELTER: Well compared to Trump, everybody is boring. And that's a factor for her. I think she does have to think about the entertainment value of
the television medium. We are expecting a bigger audience in these debates than we've seen in the past. The poll shows it as well, that people are
much more interested this year than four years ago.
QUEST: Are we expecting record numbers for this first debate?
STELTER: For sure.
QUEST: Is this going to blow it off the charts?
STELTER: This going to be the second biggest event on TV in the United States this year behind the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl has about 115
million viewers just in the U.S. This could actually top that, but if it doesn't, it will be number two under the Super Bowl. Normally debates get
an audience of 40, 50, 60 million people, political junkies and then everybody else who happens to be home at the time. This year, people are
making plans to watch this debate. This is a debate, the first of three, that is going to be a must-see TV for the whole country. And it's because
Trump and Clinton together, they're both historic figures.
QUEST: The Secretary has press on the plane.
STELTER: Right.
QUEST: She's doing gaggles at the back on the way, and she's doing press conferences. This really defuses this idea that somehow she's running shy.
STELTER: Yes, Trump has been saying Clinton has been in hiding. The Republican Party has been saying she hasn't had a press conference in eight
months. Well now she's having press conferences again. All of a sudden there's a competition going on between Trump and Clinton about who is more
press friendly. And that's because they both need the attention. They both need to convince these undecided voters to side with them.
QUEST: Pause for one second. Listen to Secretary Clinton talking about sexism. Because I need your interpretation of how risky this is for both
sides going forward after that debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: I think there will be a lot of PhD theses and popular journalism writing on that subject for years to come. I don't take my advice and I
don't take anything seriously that comes from the RNC.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: This is the comment from the head of the RNC who basically said she didn't smile.
STELTER: Yes, "You should smile more." You know, she didn't give a direct answer but I think she was happy to be asked the question. I think she
wants this topic to be part of the election. It energizes both women and also many male voters when sexism is brought up. This election in many
ways is about sex, race, and class, and gender.
QUEST: And finally, it just occurred to me, since we were talking about sexism. Is there any evidence that Roger Ailes, who we talked yesterday on
this program about the $20 million settlement for Gretchen Carlson, any evidence -- he is assisting Donald Trump in his debate prep. But let's
face it, Trump is being prepped by a serial sexist harasser.
STELTER: Right. In some ways Ailes is a disgraced figure. Even though he's denied all the harassment charges, the Murdochs have seen to
acknowledge that some of it was true.
QUEST: You don't pay $20 million because somebody had a cup of tea.
STELTER: Yes, and apologized publicly to Gretchen Carlson. Buy yes, Ailes is working for Trump behind the scenes. We don't know exactly how much, we
know he's not getting paid by the campaign, but he is advising Trump. And I have a feeling Hillary Clinton will bring that up onstage. If not in the
debate, then at some other event.
QUEST: You need to attend to your duties. Where do we sign up?
STELTER: Yes, our newsletter. CNNMoney.com/media.
CNNMoney.com/media. Good to see you, sir.
STELTER: Thank you. QUEST: Thank you very much indeed. On Friday night, you can watch the second of CNN's special documentaries on the presidential candidates, "All
Business: the Essential Donald Trump." It's that 7:00 p.m. London, 8:00 p.m. central Europe. You can work out your own time where you are taking
from there. I think it's 9:00 or 10:00 in the gulf, and had a Down's toward Africa, on to India and across to Asia.
Since the financial crisis the world's four most powerful central banks have injected $9 trillion into the global economy. One of them the ECB
says, it's quite enough for the time being. We're going to talk about the ECB and were going to talk also about the issue of attacking the central
banks, in a moment.
[16:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: The European Central Bank has kept its key interest rate unchanged. The benchmarks stay at -- it's worth a bell this -- zero. Rates on
deposits from commercial banks, a negative .4. Looking at today's press release you may have a feeling of deja vu. It's exactly the same wording,
monetary policy decisions, from the last meeting to this meeting. They did not change a word except for the date. The ECB is holding fire, have
announced some small changes. Growth forecast is cut next year to 1.6 percent. Inflation forecast is also down, which is worrying at 1.2
percent, well under 2 percent target. And monthly asset performance of $90 billion will continue until March 2017. The President Draghi, says it's
now up to Europe's consumers to drive the economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIO DRAGHI, PRESIDENT, ECB: The average consumer is actually the one who is now being the main actor in the recover. This recovery is based -- and
that's why it's firmer, more robust than over recoveries you've seen in the past -- is based on consumption.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Good old consumption. I'm joined by Richard Clarida, global strategy chief adviser at PIMCO, and Howard Lutnick, chief executive of
Cantor Fitzgerald. Gentlemen, good evening. Is this an admission -- we'll start with you, Richard -- is this an admission by the ECB, we've done all
they can, it's up to others now?
RICHARD CLARIDA, GLOBAL STRATEGIST ADVISOR, PIMCO: No, no, no. They didn't do anything today, but they left the door open to making a move
later this year, I think in December. No, this didn't close the door to anything. They're going to be studying it. They'll have subcommittee.
But I would fully expect that we'll get more easing out of the ECB by the end of the year.
More easy, more better money?
HOWARD LUTNICK, CEO, CANTOR FITZGERALD: Look, Europe is just weaker than these numbers are saying. Everybody knows it's weaker than the numbers are
saying. So if it can stay the same, this is really good for them, because they were going lower, more easing, everything they can do. They had to
dig Europe out. Banks are in dreadful shape. They've got to dig it out.
CLARIDA: Absolutely. And they're falling, as you mentioned, way below their inflation target, even two years out. So they'll probably lengthen
the program. And they may even relax some of the tentacle limits they put on themselves.
QUEST: As seen from this side of the Atlantic, though, where we've got -- there's Brexit still to come along, with all the full implications. Italy
is in a banking crisis or very soon likely will be. What's the preferred option here?
LUTNICK: The dollar America. The dollar, our economy is actually growing at 2 percent, without any nonsense. We're just in better, better shape
than Europe. So apples to oranges, buy the dollar, some buying currency with bridges, start buying currency with presidents.
QUEST: Oh, come on. That's a nice obscure reference to what's on the back of the euro notes versus the dollar bill.
[16:20:00] Talking of this, one of the presidential candidates -- you opened yourself up here, Howard.
LUTNICK: Fair enough.
QUEST: One of the presidential candidates went on a rant yesterday about the Fed -- Donald Trump that was by the way, in case you missed it --
saying, look come on, the Fed is basically doing Obama's work in stimulating the economy.
LUTNICK: There's a lot of talk out there that the central banks need to move to fiscal policy. It's got to stop. At some point zero, negative .4.
It's got to stop. At some point they've shot what they can and it's got to go to fiscal possible and it's go to the economy. And Donald Trump is just
echoing the same stuff, which is this stuff's got to stop.
QUEST: But it hasn't stopped. If you look at the Bank of England, they've done -- although there was a fiscal policy, the May government is doing
that as well -- but it doesn't stop because they are still the only game in town.
CLARIDA: Absolutely. All these central banks outside the Fed are doubling down on this program. Of course the Fed stopped its QE program. They made
one little tiny rate hike in December. And they are finding if they go too aggressively, the dollar strengthens. And so even for the Fed that wants
to normalize, they'll be doing it gradually.
QUEST: This dollar strength we're doing, the dollar is strong against all comers pretty much at the moment. How worrying is that? Because, Richard
is right, the slightest increase in interest rates, the dollar goes up even higher.
LUTNICK: It's not great for our economy, but it's going to happen. I would say the dollar is going to get to parity against the euro. Dollar is
going to get to parity against the euro because, remember, Germany used to love hyperinflation. Was afraid of hyperinflation. Were afraid of the
great depression, right. Americans are afraid of the great depression. Europeans are afraid of hyperinflation. Their interest rates are supposed
to be above ours. When ours goes above theirs, fundamentally the dollar rallies to parity.
QUEST: In this environment, are we concerned about China and/or Japan? Or is it a long way off -- we'll start with you, Howard -- it's a long way off
and frankly it seems to have drifted off? Abe-nomics is not relevant.
LUTNICK: Japan has just got serious, serious issues. They've shot everything they can with their monetary policy. They're going to try bring
in fiscal policy now. Again, they're just in another decade of malaise. So I think your taking Japan often the table. And China's got so much
local debt that they are just going to worried about themselves for a good long time to come. The world is not powering each other. We at least are
growing at a solid, boring 2 percent, which basically is not too bad compared to the rest of the world.
QUEST: Well, bringing gentlemen, both of you. So this week we've been asking the QUEST MEANS BUSINESS viewer who is well across these issues, the
wise viewer we have, we've been asking them, should the Fed raise rates, not will they, should the fed raise rates? 56 percent of our viewers say
they should. What do you say?
LUTNICK: I think they will. I think they should, because they just want room beyond zero, right? Let's face it. Does anybody care between a
quarter of a percent and a half a percent?
CLARIDA: I completely agree. I think they should raise rates. I think they're appropriate to be cautious and to go a gradual pace, but they do
need to get off and they do need to hike rates. And I think they will later this year.
QUEST: What are they afraid of?
LUTNICK: They're just afraid of waiting. There's no difference to the world between a quarter percent and a half a percent. I call it a bigger
lead off first base. When they get to 1 percent, they're on second base.
QUEST: But that suggests that the monetary system -- let's be posh, the sort of phrase you would be using, Richard, in one of your briefing notes,
the monetary transmission mechanism is failing.
CLARIDA: No, I wouldn't say that, actually I think it's worked quite well in the U.S. I think the challenge to the transition mechanism in the
Eurozone for sure, this is pointed out in Japan, I think it actually works pretty well in the U.S.
QUEST: So all in all, you both are remarkably pessimistic about Europe still?
CLARIDA: Well, you know, they'll muddle through. The depressing thing is the best case scenario is muddling through at 1 percent growth with maybe 1
to 1.5 percent inflation with 10 percent unemployment in half of the countries.
QUEST: When you put it like that, it doesn't strike me as a very good area for investment opportunities.
LUTNICK: I think basically the U.S. is going to attract money. The dollar is going to do better, because our economy is just in better shape. We
don't have the core fundamental problems of the banks in Europe. We don't have the core fundamental unemployment of the youth in a whole variety of
sectors. There's just problems there that their social or economic rules don't let them attack --
QUEST: No, you only have one problem. A presidential election that threatens the whole thing going over the cliff. Neither of you want to
take that one.
LUTNICK: We're not going over any cliff. We're not going over any cliff.
QUEST: Good to see you. Thank you very much indeed.
So to the numbers. The Dow closed down around a quarter of a percent. It dropped 46 points. The NASDAQ was off a half a percent.
[16:25:00] Pier 1 imports, that's a furniture company, fell by 15 percent. The retailer's chief executive is leaving amid struggles, if you're down 15
percent on his stock price, he deserved to leave. Mixed day for European markets on Thursday. Let's see how Wells Fargo is doing in after hours.
We'll get a number for you on that. The FTSE was up marginally. There were big gains on commodities. Otherwise, look at the numbers, the big
three were all down. The Dax was off, investors reacting to the ECB.
The Mayor of London is hoping the author of an Air China racist travel tip will visit the city so they can experience how safe the British capital
truly is. The September edition of airlines in-flight magazine contained racist comments. It was spotted by a producer at a rival network, CNBC,
who took this photo. Well, I'm not going to read such racism actually on the air. It's since gone viral. "London is generally a safe place to
travel, however precautions are needed when entering areas mainly populated by Indians, Pakistanis, and black people." The Mayor Sadiq Khan, has
defended the city of London.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SADIQ KHAN, LONDON MAYOR: We've got all parts of London that are great places to visit, to study, to live. I would forward to the person who
wrote that piece, come here so I can show them around our great city. All across our city to see what a great safe city we are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: The full interview with "Fareed Zakaria's GPS" this weekend. The Air China warning sparked outrage in the capital. One British lawmaker
demanded an apology from Air China. A sort of apology came as Isa Soares reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): London is well known for its rich multicultural society. But for Air China, this diversity requires a
warning. In this month's in-flight magazine, "Wings of China," travelers are advised to take precautions when they visit London. The article reads,
"London is generally a safe place to travel, however precautions are needed when entering areas mainly populated by Indians, Pakistanis and black
people. We advised tourist not to go out alone at night, and females always to be accompanied by another person when traveling." Those comments
have been interpreted by some as racist. Setting off a fire storm on social media. But here in South London and Brixton, one of the most
diverse communities of the capital, the reaction has been somewhat mixed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If I was Chinese and was going to a country, I would read this, I would say, OK, it's good to know, I would be on my guard, I
would be careful. I wouldn't call it offensive.
SOARES (on camera): You're laughing. What do you think of it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It depends, because a new area, you don't know what's going on here. So I think they should have somebody review.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I think that's wrong, you know? It's not true. So the Chinese people need to come Brixton and see how we live here.
SOARES (voice-over): The dismay and furor goes all the way to the houses of Parliament. Where Virenda Sharma, an MP for the ethnically diverse
community of Ealing is calling for action.
VIRENDA SHARMA, BRITISH MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: I come from India myself. I'm a member of Parliament. I live in my constituency. If somebody is
telling me that in my constituency, that is a no go area, I will take it as an insult.
SOARES: In a statement to CNN, Air China media apologized for its inappropriate expressions and promised to remove the magazine from its
planes. The Chinese foreign ministry, meanwhile, went further.
HUA CHUNYING, SPOKESWOMAN, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY (through translator): The Chinese government's position is very clear. We consistently advocate
for and support the equality of all ethnicities without exception and oppose all forms of racial discrimination.
SOARES: it's not the first time that China has come under fire for racism. Earlier this year a Chinese company provoked outrage when it depicted a
black man being thrown into a washing machine, emerging afterword's as a light-skinned Chinese man. In this instance the message is less murky and
less open to interpretation. Which explains why this has offended some in the streets of multicultural London. Isa Soares, CNN, London.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Raspberry Pi makes tiny, affordable computers. And they're built with one purpose, to encourage people to learn programming. They've sold
10 million of them. The company's founder joins us next, live on the program.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:31:41] QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. There's more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment. I'll be talking to Bernie Ecclestone who is
keeping the top job at Formula 1 following the buyout from Liberty Media. And Captain James Tiberius Kirk is used to traveling at warp speed. We'll
be live with William Shatner on a day that "Star Trek" marks its 50th birthday, very much looking forward to talking to with him. But before
that this is CNN, and on this network the news always comes first.
CNN has confirmed a mission by U.S. Special Forces to rescue two professors kidnapped in Kabul has failed. The two men were not at the site when
soldiers arrived. They had been kidnapped from the American University last month. Seven fighters were killed during the attempted rescue
mission.
Barack Obama says world leaders are concerned by Donald Trump's presidential campaign. The president was speaking at the end of his
visited to Asia when he warned against becoming desensitized to the Republican nominee's controversial comments, reiterating his belief that
Donald Trump is unqualified to be the next president.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Geneva where he will meet Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov on Friday. They're trying to press
on to end the conflict in Syria and expand humanitarian aid. It comes after talks failed on the sidelines of the G20 in China.
A rescue operation is under way in the French Alps. Around 100 people have been trapped in a popular skiing resort of Savoie. That's according to the
CNN affiliate BFN TV. French and Italian rescue crews are involved in the operation.
In a major milestone for Britain's tech sector. The software group Micro Focus has announced a merger deal with Hewlett-Packard enterprises, worth
almost $9 billion. One of the biggest M&A deals for a British company in years. Micro Focus shares are up almost 15 percent.
When Raspberry Pi was set up, it aimed to sell a few thousand computers which encouraged people to learn programming. It's now sold 10 million.
Eben Upton is the founder of the company and joins me from London. For those not familiar with Raspberry Pi, it's basically a computer board and
nothing else. I'm not sure whether you have one there. Yes, go on and hold it up.
EBEN UPTON, FOUNDER, RASPBERRY PI: Yes, I have one here.
QUEST: That is, it. Raspberry Pi.
UPTON: That's a Raspberry Pi.
QUEST: When it was launched, you would buy the peripherals from anywhere else. But the goal was to encourage, wasn't it?
UPTON: Yes, absolutely. Our goal was to get young people today, children today, involved in programming computers in the same way we were back in
the 1980s.
QUEST: And even that goal has been surpassed after 10 million. You didn't expect to get to that number. Why do you think you have? What's it
telling us?
[16:35:04] UPTON: I think we tapped into a -- there was a latent demand for something like Raspberry Pi, not just among children but among adults
as well. We've been selling for four years, and probably for most of the first year, the majority were selling to adult technically literate
hobbyists, geeks. Who already knew how to program and had some idea of what they wanted to do with it. Over time that's then blended across into
the education market.
QUEST: For somebody like myself, who is computer literate in terms of using these contraptions, but completely computer illiterate about how they
work or anything that might be going on inside, does Raspberry Pi have anything to hold for me?
UPTON: So when you start a Raspberry Pi up, it's going to feel very familiar to you. And It has a desktop, it has a web browser, it has a
media player, and a set of office applications. So really what we've been going for with Raspberry Pi is to provide a very familiar feeling
environment at first, but which is bundled with all the tools you might need to become a computer programmer. Yes, I think you could use it as
your regular PC. There'd always be that possibility there that you might get gradually learned into being a computer programmer.
QUEST: I think that's highly unlikely, bearing in mind my -- but I thank you and applaud you for your good wishes in that regard. And this idea of
plugging bits into the board, I would be terrified of breaking it or overheating or it all going horribly wrong. So have you ever been tempted,
as you've moved through the process and seen the sales going up, to prettify it, to beautify it, to make it more of a computer?
UPTON: Well, we thought we would have to do that. We thought when we started the project, we thought to appeal to children, children would only
like it if it came in a pretty box. One of the surprises we had when we took it into schools was to discover that children actually find the fact
that it isn't in a box exciting. They don't usually get to see the green stuff inside the computer. Unless you drop your phone on the floor and you
break it, maybe you get to see this. But the idea of a computer where you could see its internals from day one, it turned out to be very attractive
to children.
QUEST: I promise you this, sir. Next time we talk I will have a Raspberry Pi on my desk here that I shall be using with great delight and enjoyment.
Thank you.
UPTON: Outstanding.
QUEST: Think about this. It's a case of ready, steady, and quite literally, go. Formula 1 has a new owner. So what does the sports chief
executive thing of it? When Bernie Ecclestone joins us after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Welcome back. Bernie Ecclestone says he is prepared to stay in his role as the chief executive of Formula 1, following the Liberty Media,
which belongs to John Malone, the news that he has bought the company has a controlling stake in Formula 1. The company that has that stake is CVC.
[16:40:00] Now Liberty Media has bought a controlling stake for $4.4 billion. Take debt involved in the actual price becomes about $8 billion.
Ecclestone is set to stay for now. There is a new chairman, Chase Carey. So let me show you the exact structure that we've got now with Formula 1.
The deal puts three very big large egos and characters together and potentially leads to a fight over who controls the steering wheel. Now,
obviously Bernie Ecclestone has been in the driving seat for 40 years. He's the colorful chief executive. He's the deal maker. If there's one
man who turned F1 into a global force and brand with races in the Middle East, Asia, Europe, but not in the United States particularly, he's
struggled to make it popular in the U.S.
However, the new owner is the American who is John Malone. F1 purchases the latest in a series of big moves. Malone and Liberty Media could give
F1 that foothold into the United States that Ecclestone has been seeking. So within this structure, you have yet another person, Chase Carey, the new
chairman. Now Chase Carey was pretty much a right-hand man to Rupert Murdoch. He comes from 21st Century Fox. He says he wants to continue
developing Formula 1. You have here potentially a very powerful triumvirate or a bunch of egg egos who will fall out and end in tears. I
asked Bernie Ecclestone about the changes and whether he will stay on for three years as requested.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BERNIE ECCLESTONE CEO, FORMULA 1 (via telephone): As far as I'm concerned it's really a change of shareholder. CVC has sold 17 or 18 percent to
somebody else. So at the moment, that's exactly where we are. So it's a little bit difficult to say anything other than that.
QUEST: I guess what I'm sort of getting at, and maybe being less than diplomatic, I'll put it bluntly, are you in favor of Liberty taking this
shareholding? Were you obviously part of the negotiations and discussions that led to this result?
ECCLESTONE: I would be very happy for this to be completed.
QUEST: Liberty -- the deal also has talked about you staying on for three further years as chief executive. Now obviously this is part of
negotiations, but all things considered, Mister Ecclestone, are you in favor of staying on three more years?
ECCLESTONE: I've been asked to and I said yes, be happy to. I met today with Chase, and I think we're going to get on like a house on fire. So I
don't see any problems. As I say, at the moment technically, it's just Case of Liberty have taken a small percentage of the company.
QUEST: Do you think this tells us this deal -- I mean, everybody is always talking about the future of F1, the future of yourself and your own role
within it. Do you think what we've seen today tells us anything about the changes that will take place in F1 as a sport?
ECCLESTONE: No, because it's all very new. I sincerely hope that what will happen is what we envision to happen. So as I say, only time will
tell. We don't know.
QUEST: Go ahead.
ECCLESTONE: we've been -- Formula 1 has been quiet week in America. So I'm really, really hoping that Liberty can do something about this.
QUEST: Sir, that's very much one of the big pluses of this deal.
ECCLESTONE: Exactly.
QUEST: The ability to grow the sport in the United States. What do you think that's going to take?
ECCLESTONE: I don't know. This is something that I'm hoping that our friends can come up with the ideas of what we'll need to do.
QUEST: To anybody watching this program tonight, sir, who says or thinks or has read, is this the beginning of the end of Bernie Ecclestone at
Formula 1, what's your message to them?
ECCLESTONE: I can't really say, because I'm quite fit actually at the moment. So I hope I'm going to remain in that way.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Bernie Ecclestone. I'm joined now Formula Money's Christian Sylt.
[16:45:00] Christian, I tried to sort of get out of Bernie Ecclestone, whether he's in favor of this deal. He said he is looking forward to the
U.S. side of it. But is it your understanding that actually he wanted this to happen?
CHRISTIAN SYLT, JOURNALIST, FORMULA MONEY REPORT: I mean, I think there's no doubt that Formula One has got an area of development in the United
States. That's where Liberty's foothold is. I'll be interested to see if Liberty can develop F1 in the United States.
There's a possibility that Bernie is throwing out the gauntlet there, really, because personally, if you ask me personally, I don't think Liberty
will be able to expand Formula One in the United States. It's a much more complex problem than simply getting an American media company, much more
complex than that.
QUEST: Right. But in terms of CVC selling to Liberty, is this something he would have wanted to happen? I mean, in other words, did this deal take
place with his blessing or with his grudging acceptance?
SYLT: Well, I mean, it's an interesting one, because it's been known -- CVC is a private equity firm as you know since they became shareholders
back in 2005-6, it was inevitable they had to sell at some stage. Bernie, like all of us, would have been happy to remain with the status quo,
because CVC really have been great supporters of Formula one, built it up.
I mean they bought it for $2 billion, now it's between 4 and $8 billion, whether you're taking enterprise value or the equity value. I do think
it's worth pointing out this deal is not done yet. It still has to go through regulatory approval with the European Commission and with F1's
governing body. Personally I would be very surprised if they get the green line, ultimately.
QUEST: Let's talk about that. In many ways we've buried the lead. Why do you think it might fail?
SYLT: Well, so there are two bodies, as I just mentioned, that need to approve it. The European Commission, those lovely regulators in Europe,
the lawmakers in Brussels, on the one hand. Then you have fF1's governing body, the Federation International Automobile based in Paris.
They're in an interesting position, because they have a 1 percent stake in Formula One. And the most interesting thing about that is they have this
stake, they have to approve -- it requires their consent for the transaction to go ahead. They can only cash in the 1 percent stake when
Formula One is sold. That puts them in a potential conflict of interest, really.
QUEST: Understood. We'll talk more and see if your prediction turns true. Thanks for joining us.
It was a cultural phenomenon and an inspiration for the future. "Star Trek" turns 50. Captain Kirk beams in right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:50:42] QUEST: On your televisions tonight, teleported in, this science fiction series centers on the crew of the U.S.S. United Spaceship
Enterprise as they travel on an extended space patrol. This is the description from the newspaper of a new television program. "Star Trek"
adventure. Now "Star Trek", 50 years later, is still boldly going where no show has gone before, this was the first of six TV series, 13 movies, and a
cult phenomenon. Behind the sets a vision of the future. We are still waiting for transporters and warp drive, however what do we have from that?
We have communicators and robotic assistants. We have tricorders and video calling. The man we need to talk to, he appeared in the credits. He is
the man by far and away known as Mr. Star Trek, Captain James Tiberius Kirk, who joins me as captain of the Starship Enterprise. Honored to have
you on the program tonight, William Shatner.
WILLIAM SHATNER, PORTRAYER OF JAMES TIBERIUS KIRK, CAPTAIN, STARSHIP ENTERPRISE: Thank you. And among all those other things, Mr. Quest, you
have me.
QUEST: And we are delighted, sir. Now, at the time, when you were making that series, was there any feeling amongst you all that you were doing
something different, something that would become of iconic legend status?
SHATNER: No more than you and I saying that this interview is going to be so special that 50 years from now they're going to hold it up as an example
of a great interview. Does that sound a little far-fetched?
QUEST: I think it's in the realms of impossibility.
SHATNER: And that's what we thought, if somebody had suggested that 50 years from now we would be talking about "Star Trek", if that had been
suggested back then, we would have considered them slightly addled.
QUEST: Right. Now, when it was successful, it raises the question of why you believe it touched a chord. I've read a lot of gobbledy-gook, I've
read a lot of psycho-babble talking about talking about humanity and wishing to move forward and betterment of mankind. Why do you think it was
successful?
SHATNER: I wrote a book on the reason, and then I did a documentary. It was on the documentary that I thought I had discovered the answer. I'm
going to celebrate, among other times this year, in Birmingham, in the U.K., October 7th through the 9th, and if you're interested in getting
tickets to that weekend, destinationstartrek.com.
That is one celebration among many in this 50th year. And the conclusion I came to in my documentary was it was mythological. Science fiction seeks
to explain what is really inexplicable. Dark matter, dark energies, space- time, going through the future, coming back to the past, little green men. It's all inexplicable.
It's all in the realm of total mystery. And science fiction seeks to give you some kind of an imaginative explanation that is mythological. And that
is I think the appeal. And that's the ritual, to go get something of "Star Trek", get a picture, get a signature. Part of the ritual of the
mythology.
QUEST: As you have seen it develop with different captains, different admirals, are you content with the development of the genre of "Star Trek"?
[16:55:00] SHATNER: Well, sir, I am content. It is a sprawling enterprise. It is an enormous franchise. It's made billions of dollars
for CBS Paramount. Science fiction, I've got a book coming out called "Zero G Science Fiction", I've written several. There is an audience for
science fiction that touches upon the soul of people who have the slightest interest in the mystery of space.
QUEST: With that in mind, and bearing in mind Mars, and we've just seen these people heading off, potentially how would it be not to see anybody
for a year as you go to mars, would you have the right character as William Shatner, inside you, to be on a spacecraft for five years and would you
have enjoyed it?
SHATNER: It takes a special mind and a special person. I've met some of those astronauts and physicists who would give their life to make that
journey. I feel that earth is the home of human beings. I'm in love with the passions of life, the sensations of life, the love of family, friends,
dogs, horses.
The tactile feeling of earth. What we need to remember is that we're destroying earth and we have to work very hard, starting right now, to save
it. But going to Mars is for somebody else whose total focus is in discovery, the scientific discovery, the adventure of the new. That's for
somebody else, not me.
QUEST: Mr. Shatner, it has been an honor to have you on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS tonight sir, thank you.
SHATNER: A pleasure to be with you, Mr. Quest.
QUEST: Thank you.
That's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. I'm Richard Quest. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I know it will be profitable.
END
