Return to Transcripts main page

Quest Means Business

Apple Delays Rollout of AI Features in Europe; Hajj Death Toll Soars Amid Extreme Heatwave; Supreme Court Upholds Gun Ban For Domestic Abusers; Sony Reportedly Pays $1.27B For Queen's Back Catalog. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired June 21, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:17]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Closing bell ringing on Wall Street, a really middling, tootling sort of day -- as there were very small moves.

One, two, three, but YieldMax has given us a good strong gavel, almost unchanged. Let's not waste a second longer on the markets.

The events of the day that you and I will digest. Apple delays the launch of AI features in Europe and blames European regulation.

A reclusive billionaire has donated $50 million to a pro-Trump campaign group. The money comes from centuries, if we will of family money.

And Queen are the champions after all, "Variety" reports, the demand is to set its catalog to Sony for more than a billion dollars.

Live from New York on Friday, it is Friday, June 21st. I'm Richard Quest, and of course, I mean business.

Good evening.

We begin tonight with the story of Apple, which is escalating its fight with the European Union. And now, Apple says it will not bring its new AI

features to the EU later this year. Apple is blaming regulatory uncertainties surrounding the DMA, the Digital Markets Act, the EU's new

laws and rules on digital.

It says in a statement, Apple, it will delay the rollout of AI, Apple Intelligence, and two other features it unveiled two weeks ago. The news

follows broader battle between Apple and EU regulators.

Earlier, a couple of months ago, I spoke to EU's Internal Market Commissioner, back in March, I told him people think the environment in

Europe is not tech friendly and this is an example.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THIERRY BRETON, EU INTERNAL MARKETS COMMISSIONER: That is not true at all, I am a former CEO, and I know exactly what I needed. I operated in many

tech companies in more than a hundred countries, and I always say to my team, we are here to respect of course, the law when we operate, but we

need to have rules. If you don't have rules, it is a far waste. You have class actions.

At least here, come in Europe, that's light regulation, light rules. But we need to have some rules in the digital space.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: So Clare Duffy is with me.

Clare, which rule, what part of the DMA does Apple not like or believes will interfere with its Apple Intelligence?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Well, Apple is concerned about the Interoperability Rule that is part of the DMA. The EU requires that certain

tech services are interoperable with third party tech services and Apple said that could be a privacy and security risk when it comes to Apple

Intelligence.

Remember, the draw of Apple Intelligence is that it is able to access a lot of user's personal information, their text messages, their e-mails, their

photos, to be able to give them personalized answers from this Virtual Digital Assistant.

But Apple says that if it is interoperable with third parties, they don't want third parties accessing that personal user data and Apple had already

said that Apple Intelligence, the data processing for those AI capabilities would happen entirely on user's devices in most cases, which means the data

wouldn't be leaving somebody's iPhone or their Mac computer.

So, that doesn't really play nicely with third-party services. And a big part of Apple's sell here as well was privacy, was that it had thought more

deeply about privacy and security than a lot of other third-party AI services. So that's really Apple's concern here.

It makes sense, although on one hand, they obviously want to be launching these services in the EU. This is a huge market. They don't want to

compromise on privacy.

QUEST: So how are they going to get around this? Because this is a huge, incredibly important market for Apple. Is there a work around or an obvious

solution?

DUFFY: Well Apple says that it is talking to the European Commission about a solution here. And you have to -- I mean, they have to hope that they

find something because Apple really needs for these AI services to be a selling point for its new iPhones when it launches them in the fall, if

Apple isn't able to bring AI capabilities to its new iPhone when it launches, that's going to make it a really hard sell, and Apple hasn't

given users a really compelling new feature that would make them want to upgrade to the latest iPhone in years, that's the reason why Apple sales,

iPhone sales were down about 10 percent in this first quarter of this year.

Apple is in a tough spot when it comes to iPhone sales and getting people to upgrade. And so, if it is not able to come to a solution with the

European Commission, it is going to have a real problem.

[16:05:07]

QUEST: But the EU can be extremely stubborn, not for no reason. You heard the Commissioner there basically say we have rules, they are designed for

that. So at some point, Apple is going to have to give in.

DUFFY: Yes, I think it will, and in a lot of ways, the European Commission is out ahead of lots of other regulatory regimes. Apple might need to get

used to whatever is happening in the EU because you have other countries, including the US that very well might follow the EU's lead on things like

this.

It may mean that Apple has to sort of scale back the personalization of its AI offerings, which obviously could be a disappointment to users, but I do

think that they will have to come to some agreement with the European Commission because that might be a model that other countries decide to

follow.

QUEST: It hasn't had any major share price effect for Apple today. I was just looking at it, there didn't seem to be.

DUFFY: Yes, it doesn't look like it, but again, I do think that if this is a bellwether in terms of Apple's ability to get customers to upgrade their

iPhone, it needs these AI capabilities. If that becomes at risk, Apple will have a problem.

QUEST: Clare, thank you. Have a good weekend. Thank you.

Now, the significance of course of this and the whole question of AI, Apple and others is because artificial intelligence is already contributing to

major changes in the workplace in the US and around the world and those changes are happening faster than perhaps we've realized.

Duke University along with the Fed -- the Federal Reserve are asked chief financial officers about the pace of change. The larger firms, nearly two-

thirds say they plan to replace some human tasks with AI in the next year, sending out invoices, drafting press releases, paying suppliers, and that

is before you basically get into the use of ChatGPT.

John Graham is the finance professor at Duke and worked on the survey. John is with me now.

John, I am fascinated by this because we've been told a million times in a sense that AI is coming. AI will replace jobs, but it is always very -- but

it is sort of in a slow pace, so it is difficult to see.

This study actually puts concrete into which jobs will be lost or changed.

JOHN GRAHAM, FINANCE PROFESSOR, DUKE UNIVERSITY: Well, it actually indicates there is quite a wide variety of uses of AI and you're right,

there are certain job functions that are going to be more likely to be affected by AI, but you look across the spectrum, it is everything from

managing the warehouse to dealing with accounts payable, writing press releases, et cetera.

So quite a wide variety of jobs might be affected.

QUEST: How does AI do it? I mean, what happens? Essentially invoices come in, AI recognizes, they are coming automatically. AI recognizes them. AI

decides which ones could be paid safely and on which ones need to be flagged. Is that how it goes?

GRAHAM: Sure, for something routine like the accounts payable, it would work like that. It just kind of prioritizes what needs to be paid by what

dates and get it ready to go when the date comes.

QUEST: Right. Now, if everybody is spending money on this, I've heard two different versions. One is that it is a Wild West free for all, the

spending and they think the strategy behind it, but actually its spending for spending, because nobody really knows what to do. The other is this is

happening much faster than we thought, which is it?

GRAHAM: Probably somewhere in between. Certainly, there are some upfront investment to implement some of these AI type features or automation in

general. And right now, I think over the next year, we are still looking at a transition where companies are not abandoning the old way of doing things

per se, but they are starting to roll pull out the AI, and so there is this upfront expense. They are not reducing their overall expenses at this

present time.

But if you look at what the CFOs hope for or expect over a year out, they are expecting that a year from now, that there will be affecting on the

cost, reduction in costs, filling some job positions, lowering wages, and such.

QUEST: Right. A couple of years ago, I remember a study, I think it was Deutsche Bank did it that basically said 40 million jobs worldwide could be

risk as a result of AI. That number is probably increased now.

Do you think that we are looking at that sort of magnitude? It won't happen overnight, but all of a sudden, we will look in the rearview mirror and the

jobs will have gone.

GRAHAM: I think it will take a while to get there. So if we are going to get to 40 million, I think it is going to take several years, at least and

keep in mind that many companies have had this chronic situation where they can't fill their job position, so some of those 40 million positions, I

think will be people they were unable to hire. They replaced that, not hire a person.

And so I don't think there will be a lot of layoffs in the near term to be honest.

[16:10:10]

QUEST: Now, I can see a scenario where AI replaces me by broadcasting in different languages automatically and you are suddenly seeing, you see

robotic versions or AI versions of me. How will AI replace you, professor?

GRAHAM: Well, you can imagine teaching being done in massive classrooms if you will broadcast. And some of the kind of textbook learning being done in

a routine way through some sort of AI.

The cutting-edge stuff, I don't know. Maybe AI can replace professors in that dimension, too, but we would like to think that the research and the

creative ideas are still something that professors will do.

Maybe the routine stuff will be replaced by AI.

QUEST: Clinging on like the rest of us, okay.

GRAHAM: Clinging on like the rest of us.

QUEST: Clinging on nimby, not in my backyard, it won't be.

Professor, have a lovely weekend. I am grateful for your time.

GRAHAM: You, too. Nice talking to you.

QUEST: Now, extreme heat. I mean, just unbelievable temperatures in Saudi Arabia is making this year's pilgrimage to mecca for the Hajj a life-

threatening journey for millions of Muslims.

We've confirmed the deaths of more than 450 pilgrims participating in the Hajj, and that true number could be closer to our thousand as we will

discover in the passage of time.

Reuters News Agency says up to 600 Egyptians alone may have died on the route to Mecca.

CNN's Scott McLean with this report from Istanbul, and I will warn you, some of the images here are disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The stoning of the devil, one of the key rituals of the Hajj pilgrimage, it is a symbolic rejection of

evil.

But with temperatures unusually high, even for this time of year, the temptation here, a much simpler one. Water only goes so far when its 120

degrees Fahrenheit. Azza Hamid Brahim found out the hard way.

Like many, she gave up on the way there.

AZZA HAMID BRAHIM, EGYPTIAN PILGRIM (through translator): We thought we were about to die. We didn't even have the strength to reach the steels due

to the extreme heat.

MCLEAN (voice over): The soaring temperatures making this year's pilgrimage exceptionally deadly. Videos shared on social media showed bodies on the

sides of roads, their faces covered; in some cases, they looked simply abandoned.

ARZU FARHAJ, PAKISTANI PILGRIM: Most of the people, they died on the roadside and some fainted due to the heat and heatstroke.

So they should make such arrangements that during the summer season, when the hot season is in the summer, they should have arrange the right

transportation for the whole --

MCLEAN (voice over): Saudi Arabia says it did make some arrangements to deal with the heat, deploying 1,600 soldiers along with 5,000 volunteers,

installing dozens of air conditioned tents and overhead water sprinklers to cool down crowds.

But many are traveling on tourist visas rather than Hajj specific ones that don't get access to these amenities.

They add to the nearly two million pilgrims expected officially. The sheer scale and the heat, a deadly combination.

BRAHIM (through translator): A lot of people died, the ambulances were overwhelmed. You would talk to someone and suddenly, they would die. It was

a very hot day.

MCLEAN (voice over): Hajj may be officially over, but with Saudi Arabia yet to release any numbers, be that injured or dead, the number of victims may

still yet sharply rise.

Scott McLean, CNN, Istanbul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: And now to put that in perspective, it is just about 11 o'clock at night in Mecca, and the temperature is 37 degrees Celsius, 98 degrees

Fahrenheit, and temperatures during the course of the week were up to 48, which is 120 degrees.

Across the Northern Hemisphere, the weather has just been brutal. Look at those temperatures. We've got obviously gone towards Antalya 33 and 38 in

Izmir on the western side of Turkey. Athens 35, Rome -- incredibly hot, dangerous temperatures up, and if you're working in Fahrenheit, then it is

in the mid to high 90s.

And it is also gripping parts of the United States. More than a hundred million people in the Northeast and Southwest are under advisories through

the weekend.

CNN's Chad Myers joins me now.

So Chad, we know it is bad, but where is the respite?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Northern New England, parts of Atlantic Canada today, and even for tomorrow. But for that matter, it is

going to warm back up again. We are now really in the teeth of summer, even though we are not even into July yet.

So the numbers that we've seen across the globe are well in excess of what we should be seeing for July 15th, and its already what? Only half of that.

It is June 21st.

[16:15:12]

So here is what happened on Monday. On the way to Mecca, it was 51.8 degrees Celsius. That's 125 degrees Fahrenheit. When people were actually

in the sunshine trying to get to the Hajj, they were standing and walking in 51.8 degrees Celsius temperatures. This is the hottest temperature ever

seen on any day, whether its June, July, August, September in Mecca. So that is what we broke, not just the daily record but ever, ever broke.

And so yes, we are seeing hot temperatures in Kuwait all the way up into the upper 40s as you just mentioned here. Temperatures in Europe,

especially actually Eastern Europe, all the way up to about a hundred or so Fahrenheit, 37 or so 38 in the Celsius.

So, here is the Northeast. We are still seeing that heat. Fifty at least record high temperatures for today. And DC is going to be again back up to

almost 100.

If you're standing in the sunshine and standing in that humidity, it is going to feel like 105 Fahrenheit there in DC this weekend. And then that

weather, that heat begins to slide to the south where it hasn't been hot, Richard.

Down here in Atlanta, it has been cooler than you up to the north for the last three or four days. That is all about to change.

So here is what is going on. Because we know that the global shift in temperature is 1.5 degrees C, we are pretty close already by now. If we

take what was normal and we shift that 1.5 degrees, all of a sudden, what was a five or six standard deviation to get there is now only a two or

three standard deviation to get there, which means we are going to continue to get this hot over and over and over, and these won't be that abnormal

anymore.

Temperatures like we are seeing here across parts of Africa, Saudi Arabia, parts of the US, and even into parts of Eastern Asia where it has been

brutal before the monsoon picked up, it is going to be really what we are going to see on a yearly basis rather than once every 20 or once every 30

or 40 years. We are going to see these temperatures a lot more -- Richard.

QUEST: Chad, before you go, we talk in Celsius and we talk in Fahrenheit because --

MYERS: I do my best.

QUEST: No, you do, you do very well because we have viewers of course with CNN Max in the United States, which is still using the old money and we

have global viewers which uses the new money. And I think it is a multiplier of 2.6 or something that is -- the difference between Celsius

and Fahrenheit.

MYERS: You take the number in Celsius -- this is going to be harder than you want -- take the number in Celsius, multiply it by nine, divided by

five and add 32. That's the actual conversion from Celsius to Fahrenheit. And then obviously, you go the other way if you want to go from Fahrenheit

down to Celsius.

We like Celsius in the winter because it doesn't get as cold, but we don't like Fahrenheit get in the summer because it gets really, really hot.

QUEST: I always say, if you want to make it sound hot, use Fahrenheit; if you want to make it sound cold, use Celsius.

Chad, these are very dangerous temperatures. I am grateful, sir. I will talk more about it with you in next couple of hours. Thank you.

It is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS on a Friday.

Family-made fortune in the gilded age, one of its heirs has now single- handedly swung the fundraising battle in Donald Trump's favor. The Mellons are still relevant.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:21:15]

QUEST: Donald Trump has wiped out Joe Biden's fundraising advantage with the help of a donation from a fortune of a different era. New filings

reveal that the Republican candidate, Donald Trump has nearly $117 million in cash on hand, Joe Biden, around $92 million, and this is because the

reclused billionaire and heir to the Mellon dynasty, Timothy Mellon gave $50 million to the trump campaign.

Wealthy donors are becoming essential and key players in this campaign. You have the likes of Blackstone's chief executive Steve Schwarzman, who says

he is backing Trump, the Winklevoss twins donated $2 in Bitcoin to the Republicans, and then $50 million from Mellon, who is so reclusive, we

don't even have a photo of him.

Now, it is not all one way. Joe Biden has his own roster of millionaires and billionaires. For example, Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York

gave $20 million. Reid Hoffman has been a big donor and Hollywood firmly in the Biden camp with celebrities like George Clooney and Julia Roberts at

that fundraiser for the weekend putting $30 million.

Teddy Schleifer covers campaign finance for "The New York Times." He joins me now.

Is this different to previous elections? I mean, the money -- we know there are vast amounts, but then there will be, by nature of inflation, but is

the trend of the where and how's and what's different?

TEDDY SCHLEIFER, POLITICAL REPORTER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": It is.

Look, a $50 million donation has never been seen before, at least in an iteration like this, where there is one check that comes from one person on

one evening or one afternoon.

You know, I was reading back on the 2012 campaign, Richard, which was sort of the first campaign after Citizens United. People may remember that

Sheldon Adelson was a huge player in 2012 Republican primary and so much was made about the amount he spent for Newt Gingrich, that was $20 million.

And that was like no one had ever heard of a check like that.

The zeros keep getting added and it is not hard to imagine a scenario ten, twenty, thirty years from now when $50 million donations aren't really that

spectacular.

QUEST: All right, so when we have -- how much of what we just saw with the Mellon, I mean, even if we strip out the Mellon per se, how much that is

just Trump catching up versus reestablishing a new order?

SCHLEIFER: Well, look, I mean Trump has spent a lot of time catching up and the new order that has been established is parity.

You know, it is now June. It is the beginning of the summer and the Trump campaign and the Biden campaign, we don't know all the specifics, are

pretty close to a breakeven here, which you could argue that's just how campaigns work. You have to raise a lot of money, but eventually, everyone

catches up.

But for the last couple of months, the Biden campaign had a huge advantage, which you could argue they squandered and certainly, the Trump people argue

they squandered it because Trump, as of right now is looking pretty competitive in the polls. The Biden campaign had a big cash advantage. They

spent a ton of money on advertising over the last several months when Trump himself was relatively poor and it is not clear that that really made much

of a difference.

So if you're Trump, you're feeling pretty good right now. You feel like you're at financial parity without really wasting any money.

QUEST: What do you think -- this election, have you got a sort of -- if you stuck your finger and think of a number, what do you think this election is

going to cost? How much are they going to go with the two campaigns.

SCHLEIFER: Cost. Sure.

QUEST: I mean, are we talking a billion each?

SCHLEIFER: Oh, I think it will be more than a billion each. I mean, I reported a couple of months ago that the Biden campaign was sort of looking

for a $2 billion total spend here.

QUEST: Wow.

[16:25:16]

SCHLEIFER: Look, I mean, the reality is it is kind of hard to come up with an exact number. So much political spending these days, it is done through

non-profits and dark money groups that don't even disclose their donors or the amount they are spending.

These elections are important and frankly, someone who has covered campaign finance for the last 10 years, I am often amazed that more money isn't

spent given that politic matters. There are lots of wealthy people and 50 million bucks might be a lot to us, but it is not too some people out

there.

QUEST: Teddy, can you imagine, I mean, I can't. Can you imagine being able to write a check for $50 million, and it doesn't even hurt.

SCHLEIFER: You know, I just spent $18.00 on a salad today and I didn't feel great about it, but you know, I can afford -- I could afford it, right?

There is an element of that when you've talked with the wealthy voters where $50 million is obviously a lot, but you know, if you talk with people

about kind of a philanthropic contributions or frankly, how much they gain or lose in kind of the public markets every single day, that's not a lot if

you believe that the country is in dire need of some transformation, one way or another.

And lots of wealthy donors see this as akin to philanthropy. It is their way of making the world reflect their values and it just so happens that

the political system allows rich people to spend as much money as humanly possible to do it.

QUEST: Teddy, you are now on the QUEST MEANS BUSINESS speed dial as we go into this election, and we will be hopefully talking to you more as we move

forward.

I am grateful to you, sir. Thank you.

SCHLEIFER: Sure thing.

QUEST: Now, in case you're wondering, the Mellon Family Dynasty, it was all of course started by Thomas Mellon, an Irish immigrant. He arrived in the

US in 1818, and he actually ironically grew up in a place called Poverty Point, Pennsylvania.

This is a picture of him and his son, Andrew and grandson, Paul. The money was made by investing in in real estate and banking. The money has been

kept because it was broken up and given to the various sons to do with what they would, believing that each would make their own decisions.

And as a result, the Mellon family fortune, unlike many old money has been preserved, worth now more than $14 billion according to Forbes.

The debate, next week, the presidential debate. It is right here on CNN. It is on June 27th. It is at 9:00 PM Eastern Time, which of course is the

middle of the night in Europe and Middle East and Africa, but we will be replaying it and at different times. You can see that's 7:00 AM London, two

in the afternoon in Hong Kong.

I assure you of one thing, if you wish to see that debate, we are showing it often enough that you will see it.

As you and I continue this weekend, coming up, a near unanimous ruling by the US Supreme Court to uphold a ban on domestic abusers. There is one

dissent. We will analyze this in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:31:52]

QUEST: I'm Richard Quest. A lot more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the decision to ban domestic abusers from owning guns. It was

an eight to one, so not unanimous.

Queen has reportedly taken the crown for the most expensive music catalog. A $1.2 billion deal. We'll get to those stories after I've updated you with

the events of the world because this is CNN and on this network the news always comes first.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is threatening to our North Korea if the West continues to supply weapons to Ukraine. U.S. officials responded by

calling Putin's remarks incredibly concerning. Russia and North Korea has signed off on a mutual defense pact during the Russian president's visit to

Pyongyang earlier this week.

Researchers said they found a 3000-year-old shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea. It was discovered about 50 miles off shore by the Israel Antiquities

Authority. They say it's the oldest ship we've ever discovered loaded with hundreds of jars still intact. Some of it will be displayed in Jerusalem in

the summer.

The Washington Post publisher says the British journalist Robert Weiner will no longer take over as executive editor. When it's currently the

deputy editor of the Daily Telegraph in the U.K. Some of the Washington Post's journalists questioned his professional ethics and objected to his

joining venues.

Allow me to update you on breaking news. Two people have been killed in a mass shooting in the U.S. state of Arkansas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- are live here at Mad butcher in Fordyce. And there's a shooting going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Well, the State Police said the incident occurred at the grocery store. The suspected gunman was critically injured and is now in police

custody. Eight people have been wounded. The witness who took this video saw people running from the scene before the authorities arrived and he was

told to leave. A store employee tells CNN the man walked into the store with a shotgun and ended up in a shootout with police.

The issue of guns was very much on the agenda at the Supreme Court where the U.S. president has praised the latest ruling of the court. It upholds a

federal ban on domestic abusers from owning guns. It was an eight to one ruling with any one Justice Clarence Thomas dissenting. President Biden

says victims of domestic violence can count on critical protections as a result of the ruling.

There were several other major decisions from the court before the term ends in July including a ruling on emergency room abortions. And former

President Trump's bid for immunity from election subversion charges.

Duncan Lowen is the former federal prosecutor managing partner and criminal attorney at Levin and Associates joins me now. Look -- and I glanced at

this ruling. Essentially, the Supreme Court is re -- not redefining, they're clarifying that decision brand that they gave two years ago which

they say was misunderstood.

[16:35:09]

But the role of the court was to say how you interpret what was historical.

DUNCAN LOWEN, MANAGING PARTNER AND CRIMINAL ATTORNEY, LEVIN AND ASSOCIATES: Yes. Exactly. I mean, this 2022 decision by the court that really rapidly

expanded gun rights. And it had the order basically relied on historical practices. And it's so much confusion that there was a floodgate opened by

challengers to all sorts of gun regulations. And the fact that this decision is seen as significant win just underscores how completely

dysfunctional our country's approach to gun control is.

I mean, it's a correction basically to this decision but it really is highlighting the precedent that's set by this decision. It's a very low bar

here.

QUEST: Right. But the Second Amendment and the whole question over that, is this an important decision? Bearing in mind the facts of this particular

case, as it relates to domestic abusers, even reading Clarence Thomas is dissent. Does this actually -- is it an obvious one, I guess?

LOWEN: Well, look, I mean, it basically is saying that the Second Amendment has some limits. And this is one of the limits. I mean, I don't think this

is a moment for Grand Celebration, because the bar is shocked -- is set shockingly low when we consider that we're really merely preventing non-

criminal from owning guns. I mean, it's alarming that we're having this conversation in the first place.

(CROSSTALK)

But it is an important decision because it does so show that there are at least some limitations that the Supreme Court will put on gun ownership.

And this is one of them.

QUEST: This this whole concept which fascinates me of the historical, you've got to look back at pre-constitution and post constitution, how --

to viewers around the world who say, for goodness sake, how can you look back to the 17, 1800s? And trying to glean and then put that into context

in 2024? What is the judicial rationale of this?

LOWEN: Well, the judicial rationale, really has just been one of dismantling all of the gun control efforts over the last X number of years

in the country. And it's part of the culture wars that we're having here. And, you know, look, there have been all sorts of robust laws that have

been put forth by legislators, not just about this, this deals with restraining orders but from accessing firearms loopholes to the, you know,

some of the gun ownership rules, strengthening background checks, enforcing red flag laws.

So, this doesn't really address any of that. It's a -- it's a very small limitation. I think the judges are basically saying, well, there's some

limitation that they will place on it. So, in a way, it's a -- it's a significant victory for people who have been, you know, involved in some

kind of domestic violence. But it's not -- it doesn't really help answer those questions.

QUEST: Now -- and good to have you with us. But stay with me, sir. Stay with me for one second because I wanted to bring this. We're just getting

some news. A Nevada judge has dismissed charges against six Republicans accused of trying to certify the 2020 election in favor of Donald Trump.

According to the A.P., the judge said, state prosecutors filed that case in the wrong venue. They plan to immediately appeal against the ruling.

The defense attorneys declared the case effectively dead, saying charges in a new venue would violate three-year statute of limitations. The defendant

signed certificate stating that Trump had won despite him losing by more than 30,000. They sent the certificates to Congress. And you know what

happened after that. Back to our guest there to just -- to get on this (INAUDIBLE) this is -- this is -- the rest of the world is listening and

watching this.

This is never ending. Now we have a judge dismissing charges because of a wrong venue. How does this happen?

LOWEN: We have a system that is adversarial and at the end of the day, you know, venue is something that is a threshold jurisdictional question and,

you know, this court clearly heard it out and -- look, it may very well be the politics are at play. This news is just breaking now and as a company,

we have to take a look at it. But, you know, this is something that both sides obviously you're going to consider bringing this in a different

venue.

Venue challenges do happen from time to time. But I think the rest of the world is seeing the good and the bad of this adversarial legal system right

now. And I think some politics that have clearly crept into it on both sides.

[16:40:00]

QUEST: Duncan, I'm very glad that you were able to quickly give us. Forgive me for throwing that at you. But I figured -- I figured with your

experience of the criminal law, there's probably not much that you haven't seen. Thank you, sir. I'm grateful.

Over the past eight years, Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote has been the building of one of the world's largest oil refineries in Nigeria. Spanning

nearly 4000 football fields, and can produce 650,000 barrels a day.

CNN's Eleni Giokos visited the refinery and asked Dangote how it feels to be helping and Nigeria's dependence on foreign petroleum.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It has been one of the largest infrastructure projects ever undertaken on the African continent.

The aim, to build one of the world's biggest oil refineries capable of processing 650,000 barrels of oil a day.

It all began back in 2016 with dredging, pumping vast amounts of sand into marshland.

DEVAKUMAR EDWIN, VICE PRESIDENT, OIL AND GAS, DANGOTE INDUSTRIES LIMITED: We decided to do a survey and said that in the next 50 years, how much

global warming ocean levels can raise. And we needed the site to be higher than that. So, we had to elevate the site between 1-1/2 to 1.75 meters. And

that is 33 square kilometers of land. So, you can imagine the amount of time we spent on dredging. That's when you came in and saw all the sand

coming in.

GIOKOS (voice-over): Nigeria exports more oil than any other African country. It's also in the middle of a fuel crisis.

Nigeria had a problem on its hands. It lacked refining resources, the process of turning oil into petrol, diesel and jet fuel. It was forced to

export its oil to Europe, get it refined and re-imported back to the African continent.

Eight years later and today, a vast network of towering structures and miles and miles of steel pipes transports oil through various stages of

production.

EDWIN: This is the world's largest single crane petroleum refinery, along with an integrated petrochemical complex. Now with this refinery, the whole

scenario will change. Instead of being an importer of petroleum products, 50 percent of the production will be exported because 50 percent will meet

the local demand.

GIOKOS (voice-over): This vast industrial complex was the vision of one man, Aliko Dangote.

ALIKO DANGOTE, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE, DANGOTE INDUSTRIES LIMITED: Welcome to the eighth wonderland of the world. You know, we are and where

we have delivered something that has never, ever been done on the continent. We're now sitting on a land which is almost more than 4,000

football fields.

GIOKOS (on camera): How do you feel standing here?

DANGOTE: I feel very proud as an African that we've been able to prove and demonstrate that it can be done and we've done it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Still ahead, Sony may be ready to borrow a line from Freddie Mercury. I wanted all. Reportedly set up a historic Sam to own the back

catalogue of Queen.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:45:55]

QUEST: Allegations that three boys gang raped a 12-year-old Jewish girl in northern France have sparked an outcry against a growing anti-Semitism in

the country. Hundreds of people took part in a rally in the Paris suburb where the assault and rape allegedly occurred. President Marcon has come

condemned what he calls a scourge of anti-Semitism. It's become a key issue in the lead up to next week's parliamentary elections.

Melissa Bell reports from Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's an alleged gang rape that has sent shockwaves through France. That over 12-year-old Jewish

girl who is heading home in a Paris suburb on Saturday afternoon when three boys, all 12 and 13 years old approached her and forced her into this

abandoned building. According to CNN affiliate BFM T.V. citing police sources.

As two of the three boys allegedly raped her anti-Semitic insults were also allegedly used including calling her a "dirty Jew." The boys have been

taken into custody according to the local prosecutor. It comes at a critical time in France with an election call to test the rise of the

right. But that has put the future of the government itself on the line. An attack that has sparked intense political debate on anti-Semitism further

heightened by Israel's war in Gaza.

President Emmanuel Macron has condemned the scourge of anti-Semitism that he says is festering in French schools. According to France's interior

ministry, anti-Semitic incidents in France Rose 284 percent from 2022 to 2023. But this attack has brought demonstrators to Paris's City Hall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As is often the case, anti-Semitism is a barometer of a country's democratic health. And right now, it says something about French

society.

BELL (voice-over): More protests are planned this weekend as anti-Semitism now takes center stage as a political issue just days before the country

heads to the polls.

Melissa Bell, CNN Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Back in a moment, this is CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:50:38]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: (INAUDIBLE) fall on. Well, the gavel and maps, one and a quarter billion dollars. That's the price that Sony's reportedly paying for the

rights to Queen's entire back catalogue. There are a few exceptions. But let's not worry about those. Sort to be the largest sum ever paid for a

single artists archive. It eclipses the 550 million Sony pay for Bruce Springsteen's catalog. That was in 2021.

And 200 million he paid for Bob Dylan's recordings. Jem Aswad is the -- covering the story for a variety. He joins me now from New York. How on

earth do they get that money back? Even allowing for the popularity of those Queen anthems? SunGard every bit mitzvah, office party and you name

it. How do they make that money back?

JEM ASWAD, EXECUTIVE MUSIC EDITOR, VARIETY: Well, you just answered your own question partially because those songs are going to be popular for

decades. We are the champions, We Will Rock You are going to be played in stadiums for the rest of our lives, that's for sure. But there are also

other options. There's still a lot of material in the archives that they can release or repackage. And most of all included in the deal is name and

likeness.

Which means that they get to create Broadway musicals and jukebox musicals and anything else they can think of to go with it. And you've got Freddie

Mercury's life story. And it's the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody showed. There's a lot of interest in Queen's history.

QUEST: Right. So, if that is the case, why would they not just keep it themselves? Do all those things through a third party, pay them a fee, but

keep the right. What's the merit in capitalizing the asset?

ASWAD: Well, there's a number of reasons. Number one, we're at absolute top of market still for a big catalog. For other catalogs top of market was a

couple of years ago. But for something like this, like Pink Floyd, a Beatles, Rolling Stones catalog, something like that. Really, this is top

of market. But also, you're dealing with estate issues here. Because Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon, the three surviving members of Queen are

all in their mid to late 70s.

They're thinking about their inheritances. Do their kids want to deal with something as complex as music rights, which have to be pitched and packaged

and really need to be done by professionals in order to maximize the value of them. And in a lot of cases, their heirs just may be saying, you know,

Dad, I don't want to deal with it. Just give me the money.

QUEST: Right. I can -- I can see that. And then there are -- and it's more complex and even -- now I was reading about it. You've got some that were

hived off to Disney some years ago and you've got others that have been held by something else. And some people own a bit in their own way. This is

a minefield.

ASWAD: Oh, absolutely. And the U.S. and Canadian rights are a real sticking point. Because at some point and it's not clear when or for how much. Queen

sold their recorded music rights for North America and Canada to Disney's Hollywood Records, OK? And that would include C.D.s, box sets, vinyl

downloads if anybody still plays them. And, you know, they sold it off. They probably regret it but they got their billion anyway.

QUEST: Now, what's the next big one out there that's not being sold off? That's not in litigation. That's not, you know -- I mean, I remember as a

junior reporter being told never use a piece of the Beatles to litigate -- constantly in litigation. What's the next big one that's out there?

ASWAD: Well, the Pink Floyd catalogue has been floating around for several years. They've been trying to sell it for quite a while. But Roger Waters

who is the main songwriter, his arguably anti-Semitic comments and anti- U.S., anti-Ukraine, pro-Putin statements. They actually have tanked the value of it quite a bit, and people just don't want to deal with it because

he's basically harming the asset.

[16:55:02]

That would have been one. Other ones, it's tough to say because a lot of the time these things will be being bid for and you don't know it because

nobody has any obligation to tell journalists.

QUEST: But you got it anyway. And I'm grateful to you, sir, for coming on tonight and talking about it. Thank you. Have a lovely weekend. Finally,

tonight, Chipotle shares are down ahead of this weekend's major stock split. They don't want to half percent. It's still worth more than $3,200 a

share. That will be slashed next week and a 50 for one stock split. One of the largest stock splits ever on the exchanges.

The U.S. markets are fairly flat. The Dow edged into the green. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ are ending the day in the red. Off record closes earlier in

the week. And you can see the markets as we gas far away. That's almost -- I mean, just look at that. Barely worth you and me talking about it ahead

of the profitable moment. And the profitable moment is after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Tonight's profitable moment. The fact that Timothy Mellon can give 50 million out of his fortune to Donald Trump. Well, that's a political

question, but it's raised a very interesting question for us about how family fortunes are preserved for future generations. There are a large

number of U.S. very wealthy families where the fortunes disappeared, just looking at them, the Astors, the Vanderbilts, the (INAUDIBLE)

They all had many fortunes from oil, from gas, from steelworks, from railroads and the money just dissipated. In fact, according to one study,

60 percent of wealth transfers are gone by the second generation. 90 percent by the third generation which makes the ability of Timothy Mellon

to preserve the 14 billion of the Original Thomas Mellon quite remarkable. And they did it by basically not giving it away.

They didn't like what Carnegie had done in terms of philanthropy. They divided the wealth between the various sons in an effort to make sure that

each would do their own thing. And they preserved it by not getting themselves involved in nonsense and weird investments. And that's how the

rich keep hold of their money. And then give it away to politicians.

[17:00:00]

And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for this Friday night. I'm Richard Quest in New York. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it's profitable.

I'll be in London next week as we get ready for the U.K. general election.

END