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Quest Means Business
Russia Terminates Grain Deal; Putin Calls Crimea Bridge Attack a Terrorist Attack; Extreme Weather Grips Europe, Asia, And The U.S.; China's Slowing Recovery Sparks Worry; Musk Says Twitter Ad Revenue Is Down About 50 Percent; Sen. Elizabeth Warren Asks SEC To Investigate Potential Securities Law Violations Related To Elon Musk's Ownership Of Twitter And The Potential Conflicts Of Interest For Tesla. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired July 17, 2023 - 15:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:24]
ZAIN ASHER, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: U.S. markets are beginning a big earnings week on a somewhat optimistic note. The Dow moving higher, adding
to some impressive gains we saw last week.
Those are the markets and these are the main events: Russia terminates the Black Sea Grain Deal with Ukraine raising fears of a global food shortage.
And the US climate envoy, John Kerry lands in Beijing as China is hit by extreme heat and a major typhoon.
And Miami is gripped by Messi-mania. Tickets for the football star's debut are selling for six-figure sums.
Coming to you live from New York, it is Monday, July 17th. I'm Zain Asher, in for Richard Quest, and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
Tonight, Russia's withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Deal is renewing fears of a global food crisis. The agreement assured that Ukraine could
ship its grain to the world. The Kremlin says it's ending the deal because Russia is having trouble exporting its own food and fertilizer. It says it
will return to the deal once that particular problem is resolved.
The announcement has been criticized by the UN and governments around the world. It has also triggered a brief spike in the prices of corn and wheat
as well. They've since come back down.
Anna Stewart is following this from London.
So Anna, Russia is basically saying that this deal was unfair from the get go, that this deal prohibits or rather limits them from being able to
export their own foodstuff and fertilizer. Just walk us through what Russia is saying. Just give us a bit more context here.
ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: As far as Russia was concerned, this deal with Ukraine, it was brokered by the UN and Turkey in August of last year just
isn't delivering for them. A load of sanctions mean that even indirectly, they are just unable to export food and fertilizers as they would like.
So there was a statement today from the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov who said, unfortunately, the part of these Black Sea agreements concerning
Russia has not been implemented so far. So, its effect is terminated.
Now, the fact that this deal has been terminated, it doesn't really come as a surprise, given we've had so many complaints from Russia around it, even
that it was actually up for renewal today. So it has simply expired at this stage.
What has been interesting, though, is comments from the UN. The secretary- general today, a few hours ago, spoke and said how disappointed he was. He says he put forward proposals to help Russia on this deal to President
Putin. He is disappointed that those resolutions couldn't have been realized and that this deal has been terminated.
I'm curious though, we did see grain prices spiking, almost up to three percent earlier today. Since those Peskov comments, we've actually seen
green prices fall back down, which does make you question whether there is some room for negotiation here.
ASHER: And just in terms of the ramifications of this, how will this affect countries in the developing world that rely heavily on Russia, but also
most importantly, on Ukraine for their grain?
STEWART: You're right, and this is why I'm so surprised that we're not actually seeing a much bigger reaction in terms of the prices that you just
saw there, simply because Russia and Ukraine combined are so integral to global food markets.
Russia and Ukraine are known as the breadbasket of the world. And actually, when it comes to Ukraine, they've managed to export around 33 million tons
since the deal was brokered in August of last year. The vast majority of that goes to developing countries around the world.
In addition to that, you have to consider that given the big numbers we're seeing in terms of how much Russia and particularly Ukraine account for in
terms of wheat, in terms of corn, in terms of sunflower oil and fertilizer, well, it's not just the nations that directly receive their food or for
Ukraine and the revenue, it is actually also all about global prices for food all around the world, which of course, some nations will not be able
to afford if we see spikes like we saw last year.
Wheat prices last year, reached an all-time high. They have come down more than 50 percent SINCE then, but a large part of that was to do with this
deal.
So this deal is critically important not just for Ukraine, but really for the whole world when it comes to food prices and food security.
ASHER: Absolutely. Anna Stewart, live for us there. Thank you so much.
The White House says that Russia's decision will worsen food insecurity and hurt millions of people around the world, as Anna Stewart was just saying
there. The deal has allowed 33 million metric tons of food to be exported through Ukrainian ports, helping major importers on multiple continents.
[15:05:06]
The UN secretary-general has also noted that global food production depends heavily on Russian fertilizer as well.
Svein Holsether is the CEO of the fertilizer company, Yara International. He joins us live now from Oslo.
Sven, thank you so much for being with us. As I was just saying to our reporter, Anna Stewart there, Russia's argument for wanting to end this
deal is that they believe or they've said that they believe that this deal is inherently unfair, because it limits Russia's ability to export their
own food stuff and export their own fertilizer.
Regardless of whether or not one believes that I mean, obviously, the US is saying that Russia is simply using this Green Deal as a weapon. Regardless
of what you believe, just explain to us how -- just walk us through what changes in terms of Russia's ability to export fertilizer from this point
forward, what happens now?
SVEIN TORE HOLSETHER, CEO, YARA INTERNATIONAL: Well, Zain, what we've seen now is it is just another brutal reminder of how fragile the food system
is, and this adds additional burdens to the Ukrainian people, to the Ukrainian farmers that have already lost a significant arable land to
produce food. They've been out there in the fields, some of them filled with mines to produce food. And now on top of it, they have the uncertainty
whether they are going to be able to sell the food that they produce.
When it comes to food exports and fertilizer exports of Russia, I can't say too much about the food part of this because it's very difficult to
interpret all the data. But in our industry in the fertilizer part of this, for urea, which is the main nutrient going into fertilizer, the exports out
of Russia increased by 12 percent in 2022 compared to 2021.
So fertilizer is finding its way out into the markets. Fertilizer prices have come down to pre-war levels. And well, we'll see the announcement
today, and again, it just tells us that we need to create a much more resilient food system, less dependent on Russia.
ASHER: I mean, is there anything that we could have done to plan for this? I mean, we know that Russia is not a reliable partner when it comes to this
Grain Deal. Of course, you know, there was a lot of speculation leading up to this moment that they would pull out, they've done it before.
What could have been done to mitigate the impacts of this in advance, do you think?
HOLSETHER: Well, when it comes to the global food system, a lot should have been done much earlier, and what we are seeing now in terms of food
security, because of the war against Ukraine, it would have happened regardless, because of the climate impact to agriculture.
Look what is happening right now, heatwaves in the US, heatwaves in Europe, 52 degrees Celsius in in China, so we need to create a system that puts the
farmers in the center.
What we need now is to incentivize farmers. We need a global equivalent of the Inflation Reduction Act for the farmers to reduce emissions of farming,
and also to create much more resilient farming and with less global flows to a much more local food production to produce more closer to where the
food is consumed, as well, and this is something we should have addressed long time ago.
Now, it is more about reacting. Now, it is about funding the World Food Program, and also supporting the United Nations in the very important work
that they are doing in trying to broker this deal.
ASHER: Yes, there does need to be much more diversification when it comes to the world food sources. You think about how much East Africa alone is
reliant on Ukraine. I mean, we talk about who is affected by this. Obviously, it will lead to much more food insecurity around the world,
obviously food prices rising and that sort of thing.
But you have to also think about what this means for Ukrainian farmers as well.
Just walk us through that perspective, too.
HOLSETHER: Well, it is devastating, and we are -- we have colleagues on the ground in in Ukraine and I'm struggling to find the right words to describe
how proud I am of the work that they do every day working with the farmers to optimize their production based on the input that they have available
and under very, very challenging and dangerous circumstances to try to produce as much as possible.
We had the burst of the dam just a few weeks ago that destroyed a lot of arable land and that is also impacting water availability for the
production of food, so the circumstances for the Ukrainian farmers, it was hard to make it diverse than it was.
[15:10:09]
And now, on top of it, they don't even know if they're going to be able to export the food that they produce.
And Zain, as you say, also in Africa, now look at East Africa or Africa, in total, importing about thirty five, forty billion dollars' worth of food
every year when Africa could be a food exporter to the rest of the world. It could be the breadbasket of the world.
So also important that we keep the African farmers in mind and also create a system to incentivize and to support more growth of food in Africa, as
well as other parts of the world.
ASHER: Yes, that last point is crucial.
Svein, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.
President Putin says an attack on a bridge used by Russian forces was an act of terrorism. Ukrainian official says Kyiv was responsible for the
attack on the bridge that links Crimea to Russia.
The Kerch Bridge is nearly 12 miles long, and is strategically important to Moscow. It is the second time it has been a time since Russia invaded
Ukraine last October. A fuel tank exploded while crossing it.
Fred Pleitgen is following this from Berlin.
So Fred, just walk us through the strategic consequences for Russia as a result of this bridge being attacked.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think there can be pretty big strategic consequences for the Russians. Obviously,
the Kerch Bridge, the Crimean bridge, as it is called, is definitely an important logistics route for the Russians.
And one of the interesting things that we're seeing after this unfolded is that the Ukrainians are fairly open about the fact that they attacked the
bridge, and that they used naval drones to attack the bridge.
And one of the things that we picked up on, Zain, was a spokesman for the SBU, the Ukrainian intelligence service, specifically saying, look, that
the Ukrainians believe they have the right to attack logistic routes that the Russians are using for their war campaign in Ukraine, and that they
feel -- and that they say that the Kerch Bridge was a vital supply route or is a vital supply route for Russia's military campaign in Ukraine.
Now, if you look at some of the things, in the aftermath of all of this, you can see just what a blow this could potentially be for the Russians.
They still do have a land corridor to a lot of the places in eastern Ukraine that they currently occupy, but the deputy prime minister of
Russia, in a meeting with Vladimir Putin said that one of the lanes that is currently out of commission will be back in commission by September 15th,
but the bridge will not be fully operational again until November 1st. So that's clearly a long time for that road traffic.
The rail traffic apparently across that bridge is still working, that's also sometimes used to move military equipment as well. But certainly it is
something that potentially does create a bottleneck and the anger about that is definitely something that we seem to see on the face of Vladimir
Putin as he was talking about that with some of his top security officials, including the deputy prime minister and said, look, this is already the
second time that this has happened and he wanted to see some new concepts about how attacks like this can be thwarted and prevented in the future.
Because obviously, it did lead to loss of life on the bridge, and it is also an important logistical route in general, not just for the Russian
military, but also for a lot of people going to occupied Crimea from Russia as well.
He also said that there would be consequences, that the Russian military would strike back, that the military is already working on plans, and that
certainly is something that doesn't seem like a hollow threat in all of this.
If you recall, back in October of last year, when the bridge was attacked for the first time, that is when the Russians also for the first time
unleashed those aerial bombing campaigns, missile campaigns against Ukrainian cities and Ukrainian critical infrastructure as well.
So certainly, the Russian president saying more is to come and retaliation is to comes -- Zain.
ASHER: Yes, absolutely.
I mean, the Russian military command is already dealing with so much internal strife. I mean, even just from a PR perspective, this is the last
thing that they want.
Fred Pleitgen live for us there. Thank you so much.
All right, soaring temperatures, torrential rains, typhoons, and wildfires, extreme weather is battering Europe, Asia, and the United States. The
experts say this is just the beginning, that is coming next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:16:59]
ASHER: "We are in uncharted territory" warns the World Meteorological Organization. As the climate crisis accelerates, it is becoming hard to
keep track of all the extreme weather events around the world.
Sea surface temperatures are at record highs. Antarctic ice, sea ice rather is at record lows. The first week of July was the hottest ever recorded and
it followed the hottest June on record as well.
In Europe, last week's blistering heatwave is being followed by another. Meteorologists say this one will be even hotter.
Sky high temperatures are fueling wildfires near the Greek capital, Athens and on Spain's Canary Islands where at least 20 homes have been destroyed.
Nearly a quarter of the United States population is under extreme heat warnings as an unrelenting heat dome bakes the western states and triggers
heavy rains in the Northeast where flash flooding killed at least five people this weekend.
Meantime in South Korea, 14 people were killed after their vehicles became trapped in floodwater in a highway underpass. They are among 41 people to
have died due to torrential rain across the country. Officials say, nine others are still missing.
Michael Holmes reports.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Working in mud and against the clock, rescuers in South Korea pump water from a
flooded tunnel.
Arcs of water redirected from the once clogged underpass revealing some of the vehicles trapped inside.
Dashcam video shows how quickly the tunnel filled up on Saturday. Local law authorities say a levee broke after days of heavy rain across the country,
sending a rush of water through the underpass, some cars barely escaping the deluge.
But authorities say 15 vehicles including a bus were trapped in the tunnel along with their drivers and passengers. Divers have been painstakingly
searching for them and have retrieved multiple bodies from the scene.
Many family members of those thought to be missing gathered at a nearby hospital. Their misery compounded by the agony of a long wait for
information.
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)
HOLMES (voice over): One man says he is speechless and says he hasn't eaten for hours while waiting for authorities to brief him.
The tragedy has shocked South Korea, some people are saying the government should have been better prepared after last year's torrential rains, which
were the worst in 115 years.
One man who lives near the tunnel says authorities should have closed it when flooding was expected.
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)
HOLMES: He feels like this could have easily happened to him, and he feels like part of himself died, too.
Heavy monsoon rains have caused dozens of deaths not just in the tunnel, but across the country. Thousands of people forced to evacuate because of
floods and landslides.
[15:20:01]
In some areas, riverbanks completely collapsed because of saturated ground and meteorologists warn it could get worse with as much as 300 millimeters
of additional rain forecast to fall in some parts of the country over the next few days.
Other parts of Asia are also dealing with intense weather. Southern China bracing for a powerful storm which is expected to lash the area with strong
winds and heavy rains in the next few days.
And parts of New Delhi are still waterlogged, even though water levels in the Yamuna River which flooded the city have receded, but the water hasn't
drained away yet creating very wet and frustrating circumstances for people just trying to move about the city.
Michael Holmes, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: And these are the latest pictures we're getting in from China where Typhoon Talim made landfall in Guangdong Province. In the last few hours,
authorities have issued flood warnings.
Flights and trains have been canceled and people have been ordered to stay home. It comes as other parts of China are in the grip of extreme heat.
In the township of Sanbao in Xinjiang's Turpan Depression, temperatures hit 52.2 Celsius on Sunday, the highest ever recorded in China by nearly two
degrees.
Meantime in Beijing, US and Chinese climate leaders are meeting.
CNN's Anna Coren has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: US climate envoy John Kerry held a four-hour meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua on the
first official day of his trip to Beijing, in the hopes to regain momentum on climate talks between the two superpowers.
Before the meeting, Xie said China is seeking substantial dialogue this week that could contribute to "improving our bilateral relations."
The world's two largest economies are the world's two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, accounting for 40 percent of global emissions, and both
sides realize the need for cooperation if they are to drastically cut fossil fuel production and ease global warming.
Almost a year ago, climate talks between the US and China came to a standstill, after then US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan.
Beijing severed talks in protest.
But there have been a slew of high-level meetings in the past month to improve this strained relationship, starting with US secretary of State,
then the Treasury secretary, now US climate envoy, John Kerry is in Beijing for talks.
Kerry and Xie have history and have met more than 50 times. They worked together in 2021 for COP 26 in Glasgow where they made real progress. They
then met on the sidelines of COP 27 in Egypt of last year. Then in January of this year, the two talked via video link. Communications have continued
despite strained relations.
This face-to-face meeting is important. It's about resuming their joint working group on climate cooperation before COP 28 in Dubai at the end of
November.
Kerry said it was imperative that China and the US make real progress in the next four months. Kerry also said: "In the next three days, we hope we
can begin taking big steps that will send a signal to the world about the serious purpose of China and the US to address a common risk, threat,
challenge to all of humanity created by humans themselves."
Kerry will meet with other Chinese officials over the next few days possibly even Chinese leader, Xi Jinping. Kerry and Xie met when he was US
secretary of State under President Obama.
Experts believe that meeting would send an important signal of Beijing's commitment to tackling global warming.
Anna Coren, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: Because of a simple typo, millions of e-mails intended for Pentagon employees were sent to random e-mail addresses in Mali.
Sensitive information was revealed in some of the messages like hotel reservations for Defense officials. The e-mails were meant for the dot M-I-
L domain, owned by the US military; instead, it was sent to dot M-L which serves Mali.
Sean Lyngaas is with me now.
So Sean, this is hugely embarrassing. It's a simple mistake to make, but I think that I'm quite surprised that it took 10 years for us to get to this
point where we're all finding out about this.
SEAN LYNGAAS, CNN CYBERSECURITY REPORTER: : That's right, Zain. I mean, it is a mistake that we all make in typing e-mails occasionally. You just hope
that when you're making that typo, you're not sending something sensitive.
Now they ended up -- these e-mails ended up in the hands of a Dutch technologist who was contracted to run the dot M-L domain, which serves e-
mails in Mali, and he told me that he has been trying to raise awareness with US officials for years and has gotten some traction, but now that his
contract is up, he is trying to raise more awareness through the media because this is such an important issue.
Now CNN reviewed some of the e-mails that were sent and many of them were spam and pointless and not harmful in any way.
[15:25:12]
But there were a few that we saw that the certainly the Pentagon wouldn't want anyone on the outside seeing. It included hotel reservations for the
Army chief-of-staff in Indonesia for a trip they took in May to the capital of Indonesia, in Jakarta. And then other e-mails included an FBI agent
trying to set up a meeting to host Navy officials at an FBI facility, so certainly not something that that the US government would want outsiders
looking at.
So the good news, it was caught by this person, this Dutch technologist and he is not using it obviously for any sort of malicious purposes.
The Pentagon has tried to raise awareness about this as well and encourage employees to communicate with outsiders, to double check the e-mail
spelling and the like.
So this is something that can't really be prevented completely, but it's something that they certainly want to curtail, so it doesn't happen in the
future -- Zain.
ASHER: It is interesting because you mentioned this technologist, his contract is up soon, relatively soon with the Mali government. So as I
understand it, after his contract ends, the Mali government will likely be able to gain access to all of these e-mails, so let's see what happens.
Sean Lyngaas live for us there. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
All right, Elon Musk promised big changes at Twitter. Now, he says the company has lost about half of its ad revenue. We'll have that story next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: Disappointing economic data out of China today. GDP grew just 0.8 percent between April and June.
CNN's Marc Stewart tells us why that's raising alarm.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The data released today shows how China's economic recovery is still proving to be a challenge. The numbers from the
world's second largest economy reflect the reality on the ground.
Yes, we did see an expansion of 6.3 percent in the April to June months as compared to the same period last year, but that reference point was a
lockdown low point.
[15:30:15]
Remember last year at this time, China was under COVID-19 lockdowns. We know that was detrimental to China's economy slowing growth. Among the
challenges, young people are wary of spending with slow growth this quarter.
In addition, private businesses are unsure about hiring and making investments. The youth unemployment rate also reached another high. We're
also seeing a slump in government investment in infrastructure like roads. The property market is still hurting. Exports and Imports also declined as
the world faces uncertain economic conditions. So, what will China do next? It's cut interest rates.
Chinese leaders have indicated a reversal on the way tech is regulated, and we may see some stimulus.
Marc Stewart, CNN, Tokyo.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
ASHER: Stone clouds are gathering over social media company Twitter. Elon Musk says ad revenue is down about 50 percent. He says the loss and income
and a heavy debt load are causing Twitter to bleed cash. It's a change from Musk's upbeat assessment in April, when he told the BBC the advertisers
were back and Twitter was roughly breaking even.
The company is now facing new competition from Meta's Threads platform. Clare Duffy joins us live now from New York. Elon Musk had hoped that
Twitter would be having positive cashflow by June obviously, that's not happening. It seems as though all of the layoffs and the thousands of
employees that he laid off just haven't been enough to turn things around. We'll go through it, Clare.
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, Zain. I mean, I think it does really underscore just how important advertising revenue is to Twitter. The
company has tried all of these other various ways of cutting costs, you know, these massive layoffs, cutting infrastructure costs. He's tried to
create new revenue streams by charging people for verification, charging people to use TweetDeck.
And yet, you know, we see him tweeting about the fact that advertising revenue remains down about 50 percent. And that is still the core of this
company's business. I think this is interesting, too because it comes about a month after Twitter's new CEO Linda Yaccarino who's this former
advertising exec. The company hired her with the hopes that her connections could help encourage advertisers to return to the platform.
I think this gives a sense of just what a big job she has in trying to do that. And as you mentioned, now the company is facing this new competition
from threads. And while Meta isn't allowing advertising on threads just yet. I do think that a lot of advertisers may sort of remain in a wait and
see position at this point to see if Twitter is ends up losing users to Threads or if new users stopped joining Twitter because they're joining
threads instead.
That may end up being the better place to advertise instead of on Twitter.
ASHER: And let's talk about this new development with Senator Elizabeth Warren. She's actually looking into the fact that -- well, she believes
that there is a conflict of interest between Musk's dual role as head of Twitter and also Tesla as well. Just walk us through that.
DUFFY: Yes, So, Zain. Elizabeth Warren sent this letter to the SEC today asking it to investigate potential securities law violations related to
Elon Musk's ownership of Twitter and these potential conflicts of interest for Tesla because of his ownership of Twitter. For example, she brought up
concerns about Elon Musk's bringing Tesla workers over to work at Twitter and the fact that they -- that may had been sort of an inappropriate action
on his part.
And so, she wants to investigate that and other potential impacts on Tesla shareholders of Elon Musk's Twitter ownership.
ASHER: All right. Clare Duffy, live for us there. Thank you so much.
Wimbledon seen by many players as the summit of tennis has a new men's champion. 20-year-old Carlos Alcaraz from Spain fought off the seventh-time
winner Novak Djokovic yesterday for the title. And today, he spoke to CNN about conquering Wimbledon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLOS ALCARAZ, WIMBLEDON MEN'S SINGLES CHAMPION: Well, I learned a lot from that match, you know. Yesterday was totally different. You know, I
prepared mentally totally from before the match. And, you know, during the match I dealt with the pressure so much better than I did during French
Open. It was just about mentally, you know. I know that basically I'm really well, I'm prepared, you know, to play this kind of match, this kind
of marathon.
I'm really, really proud to be able to play at this level, you know, five hours against a legend. And, you know, it's something that, yes, I learned
a lot from.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: And well, London gets used to a new top dog in tennis. Soccer fans in Miami are in the throes of Messi Mania. The Argentine legend Lionel
Messi is set to make his us debut on Friday. To see it in person, you will have to pay a pretty penny. Some tickets being resold for as much as
$110,000 to watch Messi play.
[15:35:07]
The hope isn't coming to -- into Miami for free. Messi's contract reportedly gives him the option to become part owner of the club and the
cut of the streaming revenue as well.
Don Riddel is in Atlanta. So, listen, this really is Messi Mania because aside from the eyewatering amount that people are willing to pay over six
figures essentially. People are also traveling from what I understand 700 miles to watch Messi play against Cruz Azel. Walk us through.
DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes. I mean absolutely huge excitement about Lionel Messi compared to Major League Soccer and into Miami. You
know, it's not a big surprise because we've known for the last couple of weeks that this was coming, but it was confirmed on the weekend. And he was
officially unveiled as we can see amidst a bit of a deluge in Miami on Sunday night.
But yes, really exciting times. This definitely represents a new era for Major League Soccer. Messi is a rival, given that he won the World Cup with
Argentina barely six months ago, is going to attract a lot of new eyeballs from all over the world to this league and this team. And I think we can
expect to see some other big name players arrive as a result. As you say those, Zain, the numbers are eye watering.
It's been reported that into Miami, you're going to be paying in between 50 and $60 million a season. That kind of money represents what multiple other
teams are all paying their players in totality, if you add them all up together. That's what Miami are paying for one man. And he is set to become
very, very rich, or rather even richer than he already is. As a result, with the -- with the Apple streaming deal and the partnership with the
team.
You've got, I think the picture of him shopping at the grocery store there. Which is really, really cool because I can't imagine when he was playing in
Barcelona or Paris that he would be able to go out and do his own shopping. But evidently, he was able to go to that grocery store relatively
unmolested. We will see though how long that remains for as Messi Mania grows and grows.
(CROSSTALK)
ASHER: But as you mentioned -- as you mentioned, he's not struggling financially at all. He's doing very well.
RIDDELL: Yes.
ASHER: Aside from his salary, you just talked about this idea of him getting a cut of streaming revenue as well. Do we know the terms of that
deal? What does that even look like? No, to be honest, I don't think we do. But that is a really, really interesting way of financing this and luring a
man who many considered to be the greatest football player of all time. Luring him to play in the United States, especially when there was
competition from his former Club Barcelona.
The Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber has said that they were also competing directly against Saudi Arabia because they are throwing a
lot of money at top football players like Cristiano Ronaldo at the moment. So, I think they had to be quite creative, not just into Miami, but the
league as a whole as to how they could draw Lionel Messi in MLS. This season is in a new deal with Apple to stream all of its games worldwide.
And so, I guess it would make good sense on the part of all parties to enter into a deal like that because of course, if the eyeballs for Major
League Soccer go up because of Lionel Messi's, I guess it's only fair that they give him a cut off those profits. But it is a really, really
interesting and a really exciting time for Messi, his fans and for soccer in North America.
ASHER: Another person who's had a pretty exciting few days is Carlos Alcaraz as well. The new king of Wimbledon, you know, we all bought that
Novak Djokovic chat this era of invincibility. He could not be beaten. We've all been proven wrong clearly, he hasn't been beaten for 10 years.
So, this is -- this is, you know, there's a new sheriff in town essentially. What does this mean for the younger newer generation of
athletes coming up in tennis?
RIDDELL: Well, it's not just Djokovic who has seemed so invincible when you think about the life span of Carlos Alcaraz which is now 20 years and two
months. In that time, pretty much only three guys have won the major tournaments in men's tennis. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic.
Federer is now retired. Nadal is in the twilight of his career. But Dokovic still seems to be invincible.
As you say he's won 23 Grand Slam titles. He won the first two of this season already. He's clearly still an absolutely phenomenal player. And
Alcaraz had to be on his A-game and then some to be able to beat him in a match that lasted almost five hours and five sets. But Alcaraz deserved it.
It was an absolutely phenomenal performance by him. And this is now being heralded as the dawn of a new era because of all the next gen players that
tried to tackle these big three most of them came and went.
[15:40:03]
Nobody was able to break through in a way that Alcaraz has. He is the reigning U.S. Open champion. He has now won two of his last three major
tournaments. When you look at what he's achieved at the age, he is 20 years and two months. It's better than Federer, Nadal and Djokovic all work at
the same age. And he's going to head to the U.S. Open in New York shortly, where he'll be the defending champion of the world number one.
And it just seems as though for him things are beginning to pick up steam. I think Djokovic though will be extra motivated to come back even stronger
and better. As I mentioned, he's clearly still an incredible player. And he's not done just yet.
ASHER: No --
(CROSSTALK)
RIDDELL: But Alcaraz definitely is an exciting new dawn in men's tennis, and he's just so fun to watch and his joy and his personality is just
infectious.
ASHER: Yes. Djokovic, 36 years old and still playing some phenomenal tennis. So we shouldn't write him off just yet. Don Riddell live for us
there. Thank you so much. And that is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. I'll be back at the top of the hour as we make a dash for the closing bell. Up next, Living
Golf.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:58:50]
ASHER: Hello. I'm Zain Asher. It is the dash to the closing bell and we are less than two minutes away. Wall Street is set to close higher to start the
trading week. The Dow is headed for a sixth straight day of gain. It has overcome concerns this morning about weak growth in China. The other U.S.
averages are also higher as well.
Tech stocks in particularly. You can see the NASDAQ higher to Russia withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Deal is renewing fears of a global food
shortage. The R-International is a major producer of fertilizer. Its CEO says the crisis shows why the food system needs to be much more resilient.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SVEIN TORE HOLSETHER, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, YARA INTERNATIONAL: What we need now is to incentivize farms. We need a global equivalent of the
Inflation Reduction Act for the farmers to reduce emissions of farming and also to create much more resilient farming. And less global falls to a much
more local food production more closer to where the food is consumed as well.
And this is something we should have addressed long time ago. Now is more about reacting. Now it's about the funding the World Food Program and also
supporting the United Nations in the very important work that they are doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[16:00:09]
ASHER: And that is your dash to the bell. I'm Zain Asher. The closing bell is ringing on Wall Street as I speak. And "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper
starts right now.
END
