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Quest Means Business
U.S. Stocks Smash Records in 2017; Bitcoin Goes Mainstream; Entrepreneur Spurs Cyber Revolution in Nigeria; Key Issues Unresolved as Brexit Looms; Holiday Music Turns Shoppers Sour; "The Grand Tour"; Interview with Satya Nadella; Smart Clothing Promises to Ruin Paparazzi Photos; World's Longest Flight. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired December 26, 2017 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:00]
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RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST: Wall Street, all lit up for Christmas as we come to the end of an extremely busy year. The Trump effect washed over the
markets, businesses and international relations. Bitcoin miners chased digital riches in unexpected places and I traveled the world to observe the
profound economic shifts underway from the U.K. to Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and more.
So now, join me, as we go for a ride.
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QUEST: Hello and welcome to the warm surroundings of our festive occasion as I thank you for joins us and we look at the memorable moments of the
year. We begin with President Trump and the markets as the Dow powered through more milestones in 2017 than in any other year.
Investors were showered with gifts. So in the smallest -- look at that, the corporate earnings, strong corporate earnings from companies large and
small. And then, after earnings, well, from the American workers and shoppers you had excellent numbers on GDP, the fastest growth in GDP since
2014.
And related to this little bauble, along with it came increased consumer confidence. If this wasn't enough, Washington played its role, too.
That's the largest box of all at Christmas time.
We had gradual rate rises, which came from the U.S. Federal Reserve. Right up until December, they were still raising rates. And the gift that just
kept giving, a tax reform package. It was boosting the markets before it was even delivered.
So put the year together, you realize it was a bumpy years for mergers both attempted and consummated. Think about it, there were CVS and Aetna,
United Technology and Rockwall Collins, AT&T and our parent company, TimeWarner -- has not happened yet. Some weren't meant to be. A deal that
would have brought together ketchup and soap proved too slippery to become a reality.
Paul La Monica and I went shopping to assess the sheer size of the Kraft Heinz potential Unilever tie-up.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL LA MONICA, CNNMONEY DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: All right. You get to drive. You can push the cart.
QUEST: I'm Unilever. You're trying to take me over.
LA MONICA: I'm Kraft Heinz. Good old American food, backed by Warren Buffett.
What are we going shopping for, Richard?
QUEST: We're going shopping to prove just how much --
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QUEST: -- I've got.
LA MONICA: Well, I've got more. I'm buying you, or at least I would like to you after all.
QUEST: Let's see when we see just what's in the basket.
LA MONICA: Yes. Let's start with my most famous product here. We've got the pride of Pittsburgh, Heinz Ketchup.
What do you have that might go well with this?
QUEST: Heinz Ketchup schmetchup, how about Hellmann's Real Mayonnaise and varieties, you can keep your ketchup.
LA MONICA: Merge the two of them, we get some nice Russian dressing for Vladimir Putin.
QUEST: Some avocados.
LA MONICA: I'm not really sure guacamole is on the menu.
QUEST: Oh, no. Borscht. I don't think either of us have borscht.
LA MONICA: Or the matzo balls, potato pancakes maybe.
QUEST: Not yet.
You, Mr. Heinz, do not have any Dove soap. In fact, I don't think you have any soaps.
LA MONICA: We do not have any personal care products, but that is why we want you.
QUEST: Do you want to exfoliate or do you want to go fresh?
LA MONICA: Let's go fresh. I see some Seventh Generation over there, as well. Another Unilever recent acquisition.
QUEST: And now we come to the area where we are supreme, ice cream just stand, watch and learn. Breyer's ice cream, you ain't got any.
Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby.
LA MONICA: Richard, you may have all the ice cream, but I have the Jell-o. Add alcohol, Jell-o shots for Friday. No bagel, Richard, is complete
without a schmear of Philadelphia Cream Cheese.
QUEST: I take your Philadelphia Cream Cheese and I raise you Country Crock and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter.
LA MONICA: On an English muffin, but not a bagel. Richard, why do we have to do everything the hard way. You know there's an elevator --
QUEST: You're the one who's trying to take me over. At Unilever, I have teas galore. Lipton's for the American taste and PG Tips for the British.
LA MONICA: Need I remind you what the colonists did with your British tea up in Boston?
I'll take Maxwell House Coffee, please. Black, no sugar.
Good to the last drop. When all is said and done, Richard, I have what every young kid wants, college kids crave. Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, in
all its fluorescent glory.
QUEST: All right, Kraft Heinz, I can see why you want me and my delicious assets, but at 50 bucks a share, it ain't going to buy.
LA MONICA: This is a perfect marriage, Kraft Heinz does want Unilever, whether or not you raise our bid, that remains to be seen.
QUEST: You're going to have to pay more.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: In hindsight, perhaps the best Christmas present of 2017 would have been bitcoin. One bitcoin was worth less than $1,000 when we started the
year. By late November, it has broken through $10,000 and that milestone seen as a sign of cryptocurrency's growing legitimacy. But it was left
behind as December went on.
We got to $17,000 during December and it spurred entrepreneurs to set up so-called mines in unexpected places, lured by the prospect of cheap
electricity and easy cooling options. Mining bitcoins -- appropriately I'm in front of the fire, because you can't get much colder than Iceland. And
that's where I went in search of cryptocurrency riches.
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QUEST (voice-over): It's called the land of fire and ice. Ancient Iceland is now the home to an extremely modern endeavor, mining for bitcoins. At
this bitcoin farm near Reykjavik, noisy computers run 24/7, hoping to solve the puzzles that create the virtual money. Those who succeed are rewarded
with bitcoins.
QUEST: What is all of this?
PHILIP SALTER, GENESIS MINING: All of these are our mining rigs, we call them, we have standard hardware optimize in the design for bitcoin mining.
QUEST (voice-over): It takes this number of computers to stand a realistic chance of mining bitcoins and winning the Blockchain battle.
Since January, bitcoin's value soared some 450 percent. So, with returns like these, you can put up with a bit of noise.
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QUEST: Why is it so noisy?
SALTER: It's the fans at the top. These fans are strong fans. They take out a lot of air.
QUEST (voice-over): There is one overriding reason why these bitcoin mines are here in Iceland, plentiful, cheap electricity, the country abounds with
geothermal energy.
The whole set up in Iceland is perfect for cooling all these machines. Ordinary air from outside is just drawn in, wafted through the computers
and then heated up and sucked back outside.
Some call bitcoin the biggest financial bubble the world has ever seen. Those who run this bitcoin farm see it more a part of a thrilling future.
SALTER: There's several rival cryptocurrencies coming up which are competing for market share in the space. And many of them offer similar
features, but I think bitcoin has most of the benefits that all cryptocurrencies have and it's going to be the largest player for a time to
come.
QUEST: Iceland is a volatile, unforgiving landscape, perhaps perfect for bitcoins, it makes this country a fitting location to mine digital gold.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Bitcoin isn't backed by any physical assets.
In Nigeria, the government is trying to move away from its dependence on oil. The new economy in Lagos, where we visited in 2017, that is coming
next.
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QUEST: It is so lovely to be able to spend five minutes and just remember those precious moments of the year.
2017 brought seismic changes to oil dependent economies in the Middle East and Africa. Governments in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia accelerated their
quest to modernize their economies. In Lagos, for example, the economic challenges and the opportunities are all visible in one place -- as we
discovered.
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QUEST: Behind me, Tinubu Square, the heart of the central business district, where I find the Central Bank of Nigeria and all the big towers
of the large companies.
This is one side of Nigeria as it moves into the 21st century. But the challenges can be seen on the other side. Yes, there are stalls with lots
of mobile phones for sale, and no doubt about it, technology is rapidly moving into the economy here. For example, this is a common --
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QUEST: -- sight. People on computers everywhere. But then this is also a very common sight, power generators, just about everywhere. The supply of
electricity is intermittent at best. Keeping the lights on is one of the biggest challenges facing companies big and small and just about every
consumer.
Put it all together, yes, Nigeria has a new government. Just some two years old, with an ambitious reform plan and program. But it's a sign of
how big the challenge is that whichever way they turn, there are obstacles, seemingly insurmountable.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: The government in Nigeria is on its own quest to improve infrastructure, of course, diversify the economy and grow domestic
industries. Crucial to that, strong communication links within the country and to the rest of the world. It's getting them from Funke Opeke. She
told me how she's creating a cyber revolution in Nigeria.
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FUNKE OPEKE, MAINONE CABLE COMPANY: We started the company in 2008 and laid a submarine cable linking Nigeria in Ghana with Europe and
interconnecting with networks across the rest of the world.
QUEST: How bigger challenge is it to get the investment necessary to first of all, to connect the country to the rest of the world and then to connect
within West Africa and domestically?
OPEKE: I thought what would be most difficult was the international part, which is the first part we took on to start the company. But what has
proven more difficult is actually getting additional funding to deploy infrastructure within the country and the cost of that funding to do that.
QUEST: If you think you've got problems with the cost of your loans, you better have a stiff drink close by. How much are interest rates here for
loans?
OPEKE: NIBOR, which is the Nigeria interbank rate, is currently 21.4 percent.
QUEST: So, if your pain over NIBOR, you could be paying 25, 26 percent and above.
OPEKE: Indeed and that's a going rate for commercial loans.
QUEST: Nobody, no company can for very long withstand that sort of pressure on their balance sheet on capital-intensive projects like yours.
OPEKE: And indeed, it is putting pressure and slowing down our ability to invest in domestic infrastructure to get the capacity we have in
international waters out through all of Nigeria and indeed West Africa.
QUEST: How important is it, though? I can see the obviousness, chicken and egg, which is better to connect, Nigeria with the rest of the world, which
would give you large commercial contracts from big companies, or Nigeria domestically, which would increase domestic production?
OPEKE: Both are equally important.
QUEST: Ah.
OPEKE: The thing is, the international bit gets Nigeria connected to the internet. And you cannot be separated from the global economy in this age
of globalization.
However, the networks to distribute that in Nigeria are simply not growing fast enough. The infrastructure is not growing fast enough to support the
effective distribution and the reach of that infrastructure.
QUEST: I need to drill down on this point of infrastructure, because everybody says it. Whether it's the road to Apapa, whether it's fiber
between the various cities here, whether it's airports that we've just been hearing about in my report.
Whose responsibility is it and what needs to be done to break the Gordian knot on infrastructure?
OPEKE: With regards to communications infrastructure, we need to find more cost-effective ways of deploying that infrastructure, more viable
frameworks.
If we look at advanced economies, as data has proliferated, you've had different sets of regulations going in to facilitate sharing of
infrastructure and unbundling by the large wholesale companies, so that other companies can ride on that same infrastructure.
And people are not deploying proprietary infrastructure, which is expensive. Here, we deploy proprietary infrastructure, it is expensive and
it's not bringing services to the people fast enough.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: My entire time in Nigeria was fascinating even with the famous jollof rice. What I got to do. Well, there was a kiss with Miss Nigeria.
I spent time chatting with the local street cleaners. I tried on traditional Nigerian dress and yes, local jollof rice. Doesn't get much
better than that.
At the stock exchange, I got the honor to do something truly special. The closing ceremony, they hit a gong at 2:30 each afternoon and the opening
and closings are accompanied by prayers: Muslim prayers in the morning, Christian --
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QUEST: -- prayers at the end of the day.
On the day I was there, the market was up half a percentage point and one commentator even went so far as to suggest that, well, yours truly might be
responsible for, ah, the gains.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe, maybe, on the lighter side, the boisterous character of Richard Quest is also having lots of positive view on the
markets.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Maybe I should try the same trick elsewhere.
What the exchange really runs on of course is trust. The chief executive of the Nigerian stock exchange told me why maintaining confidence in the
market is essential.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OSCAR ONYEMA (PH), CEO, NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE: We do have a zero market tolerance policy to market infractions are put in place significant
initiatives to provide the kind of trust that people need in order to participate in the market. From a world class trading platform to a world
class solvelance (ph) platforms to an electronic rule book (ph) and the list goes on and on.
QUEST: Because you understand better than anybody else in this building, that if there's a lack of trust or a feeling that this is the Wild West,
you are out of business?
ONYEMA (PH): Correct. Trust --
QUEST: No one will want to put any money in here.
ONYEMA (PH): Correct. Trust and confidence is really what we sell. We have to provide a platform that provides for just and equitable principals
of trading, that is fair. And that is why integrity is very key to us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Nigeria was our major trip during the course of the year. But we also had to make several visits to the United Kingdom.
Well, as you know, Britain finds itself at a crossroads. The exit from the European Union moving ever closer. Crucial issues remain unresolved.
Dissent is coming from across the political spectrum. Theresa May sought a mandate from the voters. Everyone, after all, has a stake in Brexit.
A general election, we wanted to hear from all sides. So, out of the garage with an old friend.
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QUEST (voice-over): Freddy Brexit, proud, chariot of the road, is back in action.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The research papers that we published, 50 percent of them are written in collaboration with other scholars all over the world.
So we need to ensure that we've got a means of -- it would be ridiculous and foolish to cut out the E.U. out of those collaborations.
QUEST: These people are the future. These are the people that, well, maybe not decide this election but will certainly decide the way this
country moves forward in the post-Brexit world.
Only half of the original LG factory from the 1990s is occupied today. The other half remains empty. This is a microcosm of the Welsh economy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we want is a government that is committed and firm and that is strong in industrial strategy but with steel at the very heart
of that industrial strategy.
QUEST: This is where the karaoke is taking place. Well, the words will be there. Sing along.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think the tourism, we are in quite a good situation; if our pound is weakened, we attract more inbound visitors. And
if our pound is weakened, then more of our local visitors stay and play in our region.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's about a week of sculpting that goes into one of these sculptures about this size. There's absolutely no frame whatsoever.
It's just sand and water.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have opportunities (INAUDIBLE). The opportunities we have, have opened up our markets to different countries that we have not
had the access to before, such as the U.S. The threat would be labor and certain deals that are done by the government.
QUEST: You see many things on this program but, I guarantee you, you have never seen jumping and dancing diggers.
All right. Let's have a look at it.
Goodbye.
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QUEST: Oh, there's a first for everything. Theresa May's election gamble failed spectacularly. A party lost its overall majority in Parliament and
she was forced into an uneasy alliance with Northern Ireland's unionist party, the DUP. A life in politics is like herding cats.
As Freddy Brexit and I made our way across the U.K., I tried something that was fascinating to have a go. Herding pigs. Apparently it's a competitive
sport at a livestock show.
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QUEST: Now what is the purpose of the board and the stick?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The board and stick is used to guide your pig around the ring in the clockwise direction. You use the board to stop her because
the pig won't go where it can't see. So if I put the board like that --
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: So that's the purpose --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, see, she stops. If I put the board, she'll go around there like that.
You want to have a go?
QUEST: Right, now in every man's life, there comes a point when you've actually got to have a go and do it yourself.
Give me the hand. Give me the --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
Just watch, just watch, that's -- come over there, that's right. You need to get up on her head. That's it. Now put the board around in front of
her, it's OK. Come on. Just tap her on a bit. You get too in front with the board and she will stop.
You need to get the stick down here a bit more.
QUEST: She is --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So tap her on -- if you have got to reach, you may have to reach behind and tap her on the backside.
QUEST: She is getting a bit fast, how do I slow her down?
Oh, I know --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- getting fed up.
QUEST: It's harder than it looks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Absolutely, not as easy as it looks.
Hark the herald angels sing -- and sing and sing. Shoppers say they are fed up with the winter wonderland in every store, especially all that --
oh, is that mine?
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QUEST: A white Christmas after all.
It's almost unavoidable at this time of the year, every store you enter, every Christmas song is being played over and over again. A recent survey
shows only half of shoppers actually enjoy all that Christmasy music.
Now a quarter of British consumers actively dislike shopping in this winter wonderland. Some retail staff say it causes their Christmas spirit to melt
away faster than Frosty the Snowman. The streaming survey's Soundtrack Your Brand conducted the survey and the chief executive told me he's not
surprised.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I used to work in a retail store when I was younger and I will tell you, this period drove me crazy, personally. You'd have to
spend, six or seven days a week, working on the floor, hearing the same 20 tracks. So I promise you, I'm not shocked from the results from this
study, no.
QUEST: So this study showed what, that it makes people feel down?
Why does it make them feel down and not uplift them with the Christmas spirit?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, not all people feel down, obviously. The problem is that retail brands and retailers in general just are too sloppy in their
execution (INAUDIBLE). You can have a great Christmas spirit delivered through music. We all know that.
But it can't be too repetitive. It has to be well thought through and fit with the local market. For example, here in Stockholm, looking out at this
silent night right now, actually there's a very local catalog with Christmas music that we like here.
But there's a broad spectrum of music. It's just that retailers aren't paying attention and not digging into it and doing the proper job.
QUEST: Hark, is that that same piece of music that one hears yet again?
One wonders, though, form the shoppers' point of view themselves, do they like it?
Do shoppers enjoy hearing "Jingle Bells" for the 14th time?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shoppers in general, if you look at the numbers, do appreciate Christmas and the Christmas spirit. But it's always kind of
trying to deliver the right, you know, type of experience in the morning, if you walk in, and the right type of experience in evening.
They do like the Christmas spirit. But if it becomes too repetitive and they hear the same track over and over again, they will leave the store.
And, as we all know, Christmas is critical for retail and they need to get that sale done. So they should think about that repetitiveness for sure.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Christmas shopping, music in the malls. Amazon has made it easy to avoid all of that. The so-called everything store will deliver to your
doorstep. The empire expanded in 2017. We went back to the beginning. We went back to Amazon's living room in 1994.
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QUEST: Back then, of course, oh, it was all about books. Thank you. Everything that you could read was sold by Amazon, everything from A to Z.
And then it went one stage further when it decided to use its spare computing capacity, think of all the servers it has got for all its members
and all its sales.
And it created Amazon Web Services. In doing so, it created Microsoft and it absolutely crushed Microsoft and Google. So not only books and
computers, now Amazon makes its own content.
For example, oh, look. Oh. It's "The Grand Tour." Jeremy Clarkson. So whichever way you look at it, you can watch it, you can read it. An Amazon
original series, you have got Kindle, TV media players and you have got the Amazon Echo 2. So with all of these things that you've got to assemble,
Amazon has also announced an installation service which will help you put all the things together.
And it's announced its own launch of its own clothing line. Putting it together with Amazon, you have got groceries that are being delivered with
Amazon Fresh and you have got the whole thing with Amazon Fresh now with Whole Foods.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Exhausted just looking at it. How appropriate that, on the television, was "The Grand Tour" with the star power of Jeremy Clarkson,
James May and Richard Hammond. Their chumminess and the huge viewership that followed "The Grand Tour" kept them on the air for 22 seasons of the
BBC.
Controversies only added to the appeal for "Top Gear" fans. Now they are at Amazon using the same formula.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
"The Grand Tour" made a stop in our studio as Season 2 launched. Clarkson, Hammond and May told me, they cannot understand their own success.
JAMES MAY, PRESENTER, "GRAND TOUR": We analyze it as well and we are as baffled as everybody else. We just don't know.
JEREMY CLARKSON, FORMER "TOP GEAR" PRESENTER: It is odd, it is odd. Because you would not necessarily expect three people who look like we do
to host a show that is as popular.
RICHARD HAMMOND, FORMER "TOP GEAR" DRIVER: There is no cynicism or science to it, we don't know the answer, all we have ever set out to do is this
sounds like really genuinely all we ever want to do is make the best show that we can. That from the start has been the essence.
CLARKSON: Simon and Garfunkel. Nobody thought they'll work together, but they did. Page and Plant. They did. You don't know why.
MAY: They were talented.
CLARKSON: Oh, yes. That's true. You're right. They were talented. We have no talent that we can see between us.
MAY: It could be simply good luck.
[16:35:00]
QUEST: Oh, no, no. Good luck runs out.
MAY: Or bad luck.
QUEST: Talking about good luck.
HAMMOND: Oh, no.
CLARKSON: You our looking at the wrong man.
QUEST: Exactly. Exactly. How much -- how much do you wish to push your luck?
HAMMOND: I wish to push it at all. Every now and again, things get away from me.
QUEST: This one really was -- on two occasions it's nearly fatal.
HAMMOND: Yes.
CLARKSON: He's talking about.
HAMMOND: I did, he asked me.
MAY: I don't know why we bother to come to these things.
QUEST: One has to give me credit.
CLARKSON: He hurt his knee and he goes on and on and on. Go on, Richard.
QUEST: Two airlifts.
HAMMOND: Yes.
QUEST: Two airlifts.
MAY: It's just Uber, as far as he's concerned.
CLARKSON: He doesn't know what it's like to get undressed at night. He has an accident, paramedics cut his clothes off. You have forgotten what
it's like to take your own trousers down, haven't you?
HAMMOND: Yes.
QUEST: Have you been warned by family not to do it?
HAMMOND: My wife has suggested that's been two strikes, I'm not going for the third.
QUEST: The third, God help you, third strike and --
HAMMOND: But exactly. Yes.
QUEST: You know how that saying goes.
Gentlemen, finally, this has been extremely successful series one.
MAY: I think it's been going quite well.
QUEST: No, no, no, you're being modest.
MAY: I thought you were talking about this interview, sorry.
HAMMOND: I've been having a lovely time.
QUEST: Series two starts at -- don't, please.
CLARKSON: At some point in the next 48 hours it starts.
HAMMOND: Yes.
QUEST: And how long do you intend to keep going doing it?
MAY: It's about 62 minutes.
HAMMOND: Yes.
QUEST: How many years do you think you can keep this up, traveling the world, doing this program?
CLARKSON: I was saying the other day, if I ever arrive at a corner in somebody else's $400,000 super car and think, I can't be bothered to fly
this sideways, then it's time to check it in.
Or if you write a line and think that will do, it's not funny, not interesting, not clever, but it will be fine, it will be a noise and go out
on the television, then it's time to check it in.
But at the moment, I still enjoy flinging somebody else's super car into a corner and I still enjoy rewriting a line and writing it again and writing
it again until it's funny and interesting.
When that goes from you, that's it. John Cleese. That's what he should have done.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: As I listen to Jeremy Clarkson, I think we can all identify with those sentiments.
All I want for Christmas is an Amazon Kindle, an Apple iPhone, Microsoft Office. Hang on, Microsoft Office or maybe the cloud. The company is
staging a quiet comeback. The CEO, Satya Nadella, tells me how he is now going to refresh.
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QUEST: The new year is a time for renewal, for setting goals for the year. Many of them, of course, are abandoned by mid-month.
[16:40:00]
QUEST: For Microsoft's CEO, Satya Nadella, setting a new strategy and sticking with it was a matter of survival for the company. Microsoft has
reinvented itself under different CEOs. Under Bill Gates, it was Windows, dominance. His vision of putting a PC in every home largely paid off as a
strategy.
Under Steve Ballmer, diversification and mobile. Critics say the company lost its way and many of the policies were not successful. Finally, Satya
Nadella and the Microsoft Cloud. Turning a company of Microsoft's size is not easy. And it was not an easy task for a man who has been at the
company for decades.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SATYA NADELLA, CEO, MICROSOFT: You know, I' m a consummate insider. I grew up at Microsoft, is how I look at it. And having grown up there, I
felt that there was things that we got right and there were things that we got wrong.
And it is important for us to learn from the things that we got right in the past, because I'm a product of the company that Bill and Steve built.
And I wanted to rediscover. That's why I sort of talk about, even though there was this issue we had, but I wanted to rediscover what made us great
in the first place. And get that back.
QUEST: Why do you think companies lose their way? Why do you think -- they've got thousands of people, any one of whom can say, actually, we're
losing our way here. But you are suggesting that it is endemic, it is inevitable that you will lose your way.
NADELLA: Look, here's the thing that I write a lot about, which is, because that's -- even the purpose of trying to even reflect in -- this is
not about -- while we achieved anything, or we've reached a destination, while in the fog of war of change, how does it feel?
The thing that at least I've discovered or at least I recognize is this amazing virtual cycle one creates between the product or the concept that,
first of all, made you successful. Your capability and your culture. Right? They reinforce each other.
But accept the challenges. At some point, the product that initially drove your success runs out of gas. You need new capability. And your culture
needs to cultivate it long before your conventional wisdom.
QUEST: Do you have to have a crisis to get to that point?
NADELLA: One of the greatest things I've learned in observing our own history of 43 years, right? And think about it. Microsoft has had
existential competitors who are threatening us in the 80s, in the 90s, in the 2000s and now. They're all different. And yet we were the constant.
Why did we and how did we achieve that? The only way we were able to achieve that is we were, in fact, able to hit refresh. Some we got it
right, some we missed. But we were constantly pushing.
QUEST: But the size of the company now, as you try and hit refresh, you're now facing inertia, you're facing opposition, you're facing the sclerotic
nature of any company.
NADELLA: Well, the job of leaders and the job of anyone in the company is to understand that systems challenge, which is to say, well, you know what?
The thing that is successful today is not going to be the thing that's going to make us succeed tomorrow. And I'll be pushing on the status quo.
And by the way, it's easy to say -- like you and I can sit here and talk about change as if it' s the easiest thing. And we know that it's the
hardest thing for humans, as individuals and institutions or organizations are built of humans. So therefore, it's hard for us as organizations and
societies, by the way.
QUEST: You have to write in the book about a lot of the personal stuff of your family. Most people, most CEOs run in the opposite direction. But
you obviously talk about your children and the difficulties there. And you do so with a pride, obviously, of your family. But you don't shy away from
it.
NADELLA: When does one learn about hitting refresh the most? It's life's experience. Where does one get the courage, even, to lead at work? It's
through life's experience.
And I felt that I needed to, in fact, do that uncomfortable thing of writing about my own personal life and the moments that have shaped me and
who I am at work and how I lead.
QUEST: You say in the book that you are betting the company on three things. Particularly AI, artificial intelligence, but also mixed reality
and quantum computing.
If you are wrong, history will not be kind.
NADELLA: In fact, I do right, which is anybody who sort of claims that we are going to forecast technology, don't trust them. So, it's not that -- I
write these as three major technology trends.
The real thing is, what does Microsoft do with these technology trends that's unique? But talking about these three trends, I absolutely believe
the ultimate computing experience something that's going to be right in front of your eyes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Fascinating Satya Nadella. Now Santa goes around the world in one night. It took me 17.5 hours to go from New Zealand to Qatar. It's the
world's longest flight and you are on board -- after the break.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:45:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
QUEST: Santa travels at night, flying high above the ground. It's a good way to avoid the paparazzi for the famous figure who had access to a magic
sleigh. There's something else you can use, though, a scarf, it's paparazzi proof. We put it to the test on our own red carpet.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: This scarf makes you look stylish in person and, when worn properly, it will hide your identity in flash photography.
Now why is this scarf so significant?
I'm going to tell you, because in the world of celebrity and paparazzi, this is the secret weapon. It is a secret weapon introduced by Sir Speaky
(ph), the founder of Issue Patra (ph).
Tell me what this is all about.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the first anti-flash technology which basically blacks out unwanted pictures, Snapchats, Instagram pictures.
QUEST: Why do you care about it?
The celebrities want to be seen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not everyone all the time. Not all the time.
QUEST: So you've created a scarf and an umbrella as well, that, if used judiciously, will block out the picture?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct.
It goes completely black.
QUEST: We're going to put this to the test, you do realize this, yes?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please, go for it. It's known as the invisibility cloak anti-paparazzi scarf, whatever you want to call it.
QUEST: How has it been doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been a crazy ride. I've launched it about year and a half ago and ever since that, it's been very interesting. I'm here
now.
QUEST: Here we go. Here's the first test. The first test is without a flash. Take a picture without a flash. So this is what the picture looks
like, one, two, three, and this is what it looks like, when we look at it, there you are, you can see me. I'm standing there with --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The issue scarf.
QUEST: -- the issue scarf.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The issue scarf.
QUEST: Now we're going to take the second picture but this time with my invisibility cloak. And this is what it looks like. Well, we can still
see maybe a bit of it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to show the pattern. That's why.
QUEST: Ooh, right. Here we go. Let me show the pattern.
So I'm going to be -- I don't want to be seen. Get away.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good enough.
Let's try one more time.
QUEST: Well, we can try it with the umbrella.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we go. Hold it behind you.
QUEST: I'm sorry?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold it behind you.
QUEST: Give me an example.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold it like that. Just like that.
QUEST: Just like this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.
QUEST: Right, so I don't want to be seen. With -- We will take a picture first of all, without flash from our nasty paparazzi who is insisting on
it. All right. Here we go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Without flash.
QUEST: Go on.
There we go.
And now, we take a picture with the flash. And certainly -- oh, that is good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pretty interesting, hey?
QUEST: What sort of -- why am I standing here with an umbrella, I ask you?
What sort of interest have you had about this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything, businesses, governmental, paparazzi, politicians, phone cases, ties, pocket squares. I have a clothing
collection. We do lining on the inside of jets, museums.
QUEST: But what is the point of it all at the end of the day?
Surely paparazzi have a job to do. They have homes and children to feed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.
QUEST: And at the same time, stars crave it when they want it. They want to switch it on, they want to switch it off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. It's a scarf, it's not a tattoo, so you can take it off whenever you want. If you want to be seen, don't wear it. But at
certain occasions, if you are in a bar or a restaurant, you don't want to be seen, have my time, you have a drink or two with mates, then just put it
on.
[16:50:00]
QUEST: Let's do one last test.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, go for it.
QUEST: One last test to see if this thing works. Back to my paparazzi. I do not want to be seen as we head to the break. No, get behind me, you
nasty man.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: The best way to get away from the paparazzi of course is to leave the area and go as far away as possible on the world's longest flight from
New Zealand to Qatar. More than 14,000 kilometers, 17.5 hours in the air and jet lag, Jet lag, jet lag.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: I can't help but be excited as I get underway today.
It looks innocent enough, Flight QR921, Qatar Airways to Doha.
Can you check this in to Doha?
Flights lasting 10, 11 or 12 hours are nothing new. But what is changed is the return of the ultra-long haul, flight durations of 15, 16 and 17 hours.
Qatar Airways now claims the bragging rights for the top spot, the world's longest, with its new Doha to Auckland route.
We are focusing on the return flight today from Auckland back to Doha, wheels up we're at 1440. And we will be touching down at Hamad
International after an expected 17 hours, 30 minutes.
It will take a sizeable crew indeed to make this happen, four pilots and 15 cabin crew are on board, enough to service the flight and cover the
rotating rest periods.
For the crew, these ultra-long haul flights are particularly punishing. Think about it, they are on their feet for most of the time and there's
multiple meal services and passenger requests that they have to deal with.
To keep all these passengers fed and watered, the galleys are packed to the gills.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are having, one, two, three, four and five compartments filled with food.
QUEST: You don't want to run out of anything, do you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In five years here, I never run out of Coke.
QUEST: 17 hours in the air, the law requires they have a certain amount of sleep. And when it comes to rest, well, this leads to where they can lie
down properly.
To the dark and very peaceful crew rest area.
Whereabouts in the plane actually are we?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is toward the end rear of the aircraft on top.
QUEST: The bunks come complete with mattresses, bedding and mirrors, possibly these are the best seats in the house. The only thing missing,
inflight entertainment. They are supposed to be sleeping after all.
Back downstairs, I have got some road testing to do of my own. Compression socks. These snuggle the legs. All right so white socks was not the
cleverest idea when I'm walking up and down the plane.
These are meant to help prevent a common effect of all this sitting for hours, swollen ankles and feet a possibly a deep vein thrombosis.
How are you holding up on this flight?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I'm a little tired and it's a little exhausting but I get amazing food. Actually, I like it, which is weird.
QUEST (voice-over): Many passengers seemed surprisingly perky.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two (INAUDIBLE) from England.
QUEST (voice-over): Particularly these two.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Longest flight in the world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The longest flight --
QUEST: How are you feeling?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good.
QUEST (voice-over): And what about the man with the worst seat on the plane?
What's it like, 15 hours 30 in the middle seat?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it's gone really well. Journey has gone quite quickly. It has not felt as long as it (INAUDIBLE) getting there now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, after flying for over 17 hours, making it the world's longest nonstop flight, it is my great pleasure to
welcome you to Doha.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Captain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
QUEST: So, long flight.
QUEST (voice-over): That face says it all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is, yes --
[16:55:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- it's tiring.
QUEST: You don't look like you've just done 17.5 hours.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's only 17.5.
QUEST: Only?
This reporter needs to get back on the ground.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: The life on the road can be difficult, long flights, late nights. At least I have someone to hold, the QUEST MEANS BUSINESS bell at the end
of each program.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead I hope it's profitable.
It looks easy to hold the bell. It takes coordination to orchestrate this symphony of movement.
One more time.
Come a bit closer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
QUEST: Closer. And just bring it under my chin.
(INAUDIBLE) the tie.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Higher.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever you are up to.
QUEST: Whatever you are up to in the hours ahead, gong, whatever, you're - - we can still see a hand in the frame.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
QUEST: Ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ahead.
QUEST: Whatever you are up to in the hours ahead -- on the word "ahead," you are sleeping.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I haven't even gotten (INAUDIBLE).
QUEST: That's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. I believe I -- we will get it. You just bring it there. I gong it. You pull it out.
Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it's profitable.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: It looks so easy, and that is it for this special edition of QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. I'm Richard Quest. Whatever you're up to in the hours
ahead, I hope it's profitable. I'll see you next year.
Well done, sir.
END
