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Quest Means Business
King Begins Process of Stripping Andrew of All Titles; Trump Returns from Asia Trip Touting Trade Deals; DAMAC Founder: Demand for A.I. Data Centers is Crazy; London Stock Exchange Plans to Keep Up with the Times; IHG CEO on Taking Care of Guests Through Employees; Amazon and Apple Report Quarterly Results; Ark Invest CEO Optimistic About Future. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired October 30, 2025 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:19]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": Closing bell ringing on Wall Street. It is BSOL ringing the bell. The market, as you can
see, tapered away. Terrible day for Meta. Dragging down the S&P and the NASDAQ.
Sir, you've got to do the gavel. Thank you. One, two, three. Yes! Trading is over. Nearly forgot that. Down 110. That's not very impressive. But I
will get to. It is all about earnings. It is all about worries of what is happening, interest rates and the like.
The market is over. Those are the markets. And these are the main events of the day.
King Charles' brother is now known as Andrew, having been stripped of his princely title and is about to be evicted from his home, Royal Lodge.
A trade truce between the U.S. and China. It is too late for many businesses impacted by tariffs. But anyway, is it a real truce or just a
pause?
And Apple and Amazon, we have earnings from them any moment. Anna Cooban will be with me before the shows over to put that into perspective.
What a busy hour we have, but we are live in London. It is Thursday, it is October the 30th. I am Richard Quest and I mean business.
We begin with breaking news from Buckingham Palace, where King Charles has now begun the formal process to remove the titles and honors of his
brother, Andrew -- was Prince Andrew, now, he is just going to be known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
And action is also being taken to force him to surrender his lease at the Royal Lodge, the vast mansion that he lives in Windsor Park that he hasn't
paid any rent on, or at least not directly.
It comes as Andrew faces controversy. You're well aware of the reasons, it is all about Jeffrey Epstein.
Max Foster is with me.
This -- the big difference here, Max, until now, it has always been Andrew volunteer this, Andrew doing that, Andrew agreeing that, but this is
different.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: They've -- it has come from the King. He didn't object. I mean read into that language from the Palace. He is
basically been forced, to not only stop using his titles, but he is going to be stripped of them. So they're saying you can't have them anymore.
And, you know, we've talked before about how many of these titles were earned. So the Duke, you know, his other Scottish titles as well. But the
prince title is something he was born with, and they are arguing that he should be able to keep that. Actually, that's been taken away as well. So
he is only Andrew now, which is extraordinary.
But the other part of it is this issue that a lot of the British public have, and actually there has been a lot of commentary in the U.K., how the
media is behind on this, the public want him out of that house and he has been evicted effectively. I mean, whatever wording you want to put on it,
he has been thrown out of that house, but he is being given another one, a smaller one on the Sandringham Estate, which is the King's private estate,
so that no public money involved there anymore.
QUEST: But the fascinating part is that the King is doing this. It is formal. It is going to require various legal documents.
FOSTER: Yes.
QUEST: And that's different to what we had seen before, and in sending Andrew to Sandringham, essentially they are putting him into domestic
exile. He is going off, no titles. We don't want to see you again.
FOSTER: They could have given him nothing at all. You know, they've given him a house. I think actually, it is not going to be as clean as everyone
thinks, because the King is still going to be accused of being part of the cover-up, because he is being protected by giving him a house.
You know, a lot of the public want him completely out of the picture altogether, but it is probably the best compromise they can have. It is on
a private estate, it is not a public estate, so there is no public money involved.
QUEST: Right, but what about Sarah Ferguson, the former Duchess of York? Fergie? We believe what -- she is going to move in with him. She is already
living with him in Royal Lodge.
FOSTER: Yes. So, you know what Royal sources can be like. So when I was asking about Sarah Ferguson, where will she live? Sarah Ferguson will make
her own arrangements.
QUEST: Yes, that's the equivalent of the old Diana. She is no longer an HRH. Shell get on with it.
FOSTER: But you're right, she will be able to live with Andrew, probably. They're very protective --
QUEST: Their daughter is there.
FOSTER: Yes, so that's interesting because they are very -- it was one of the first things they talked about, as the daughters of the son of a
sovereign.
QUEST: Yes. Yes.
FOSTER: But they're not a son. Oh, yes.
QUEST: Yes, yes. The Queen, the late Queen.
FOSTER: Beatrice and Eugenie will retain their titles in line with King George V's Letters Patent of 1917.
So, you know, as you know, they're very popular in the family. Their parents are less popular.
[16:05:10]
I think, you know, there has been some reporting which hasn't been denied and that William has gone to them and they've been very much part of the
negotiation, and everyone wants to protect them, and that's the one part of this that everyone has agreed, from the King to William to Andrew to
Fergie, they want to make sure the girls are okay and they're going to be - - and they've got apartments at Royal premises.
QUEST: Kensington Palace --
FOSTER: Yes. The one at Saint James'.
QUEST: Yes. Saint James. Yes, sorry, Saint James, but the other thing that's fascinating is we are going to -- we are going to see this at
Christmas because the Royal Family go to Sandringham at Christmas, by which time Andrew and Fergie could be living at Wood Farm or wherever, they put
them there. They won't be invited to the house for Christmas.
FOSTER: We've been told that they're not invited to Christmas, but as you say, they're at the house.
QUEST: They are just down the road.
FOSTER: I mean, we shouldn't laugh. I mean, you know, this is so -- it is kind of ridiculous on one level because this is a lot of minutia that
people don't really care about. it is a massive thing, obviously, for the Royal Family.
But you know, I have to -- you know, this is the thing that we should talk about is that for the first time in a formal Buckingham Palace statement,
they're saying our thoughts and utmost sympathies have been and will remain with the victims and survivors of any forms of abuse, and this has been the
constant failure, certainly for Andrew.
You know, in the BBC interview, he didn't talk about the victims and survivors. Actually, the Royal Family haven't talked enough about them
either. And then, definitely behind-the-scenes, they've been completely aware of it and I know that they have been very -- you know, the victims
and survivors have been at the forefront of their minds, but it hasn't been made clear to the public.
QUEST: No it has. Thank you. Max, I am grateful to you. Thank you. You've got a lot of work to do. Don't plan to get in bed anytime soon. Thank you.
CNN's Royal commentator, Sally Bedell Smith is on the line now.
Sally, there is a strong argument that says this should have been dealt with by the late Queen all of those years ago when she first stripped
Andrew of his titles, and this was -- she was too soft then. Do you buy that?
SALLY BEDELL SMITH, CNN ROYAL CONTRIBUTOR: Not entirely. I think she was trying to keep the ship sailing and there is so much more that we have
learned. I think probably she was taking Andrew at his word when he said, for example, that he cut everything off with Jeffrey Epstein in December
2010, and we now know through that leaked e-mail or revealed e-mail from two months later that he was writing a very cozy e-mail to Jeffrey Epstein.
So, you know, I think there is -- and there have been many more things that have sort of tumbled out in recent months, and I think it is -- you know,
it is easy to pass it off to the Queen. But I think they had, you know -- they really probably should have done something within the last year, but
everything kind of converged this month.
QUEST: Right. So what is it, do you think that finally drew and pushed the King to do this? I mean, for instance, we saw the picture of, one of the
girl's birthday parties of Epstein, Weinstein and Maxwell all sort of at a fancy dress.
We've seen questions today about the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Edward's arrangements on his lease at Bagshot House. Do you think the King is really
concerned that the waters are lapping too close to home?
BEDELL SMITH: Well, I do think so because there have been a number of pieces over the last year that have raised questions about the financing of
the Royal Family and I think, you know, they need to stop the -- they need to stanch the wound right now.
And, I mean, just yesterday, "The New Statesman" Magazine had a pretty rough cover story about calling for the -- I mean, calling for the
abolition of the monarchy. It was -- it is a very tough piece, and I think -- you know, I don't think things like that can be ignored. I mean, we have
seen since Prince Charles became King, we've seen more Republicans out on the streets, holding up banners saying you're not my -- you know, no more
kings. You're not my king.
And, so I think they fear that this -- if it, you know, if it were to continue it would keep damaging the Royal Family and the monarchy.
[16:10:08]
QUEST: Can I finally ask you, from my reading of this, this is the -- because he is being sent to Sandringham, the private estate, got a house
there, losing all -- this is the closest one might define to sending him into domestic exile. In other words, you know, in the old days, like King -
- like the late -- sorry, the abdicated king, he went to Paris.
The last thing they want is Andrew overseas in Dubai, paparazzi galore. Send him into domestic exile. Sandringham Estate, go away and disappear.
BEDELL SMITH: I think that's a very good analysis, Richard, and I think -- excuse me, I think that he will be contained. There is security around. If
he were, for example, to go to Wood Farm, where the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip lived in his last years, I think that would be a safe place.
It is a place where Fergie had stayed, actually when she -- when they had Christmas at Sandringham and she stayed there because the Queen sort of
felt sorry for her and, so it is a place where people have been allowed to kind of take refuge.
QUEST: Right.
BEDELL SMITH: And I wouldn't say that necessarily for him, but it is. I've seen it. I've been there. It is a very secluded place and it has a lot of
security, which is important, you know, and it is not something that he will have to pay for.
QUEST: The King has said he is going to be paying for that. Thank you, Sally. Always good to have excellent insight from yourself who knows -- you
not only know the story, you know, the participants, you know the background. You're exactly the person we needed to talk to tonight. Thank
you, ma'am for joining us.
BEDELL SMITH: Thank you, Richard.
QUEST: Now, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, President Trump returned from Asia and what he called a successful meeting -- on a scale of zero to 10, he graded
his meeting with Xi a 12. What does our guest think about that?
QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: President Trump has returned to Washington and with him, several trade deals. The White House announced economic agreements with Japan,
South Korea, Malaysia and Cambodia. It was the President's whistle stop tour of Asia, capped off by what Mr. Trump is calling a highly successful
meeting with Chinese Leader Xi Jinping.
[16:15:15]
They sat together for the first time in the new Trump administration, and he came to an agreement on almost everything.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We have a deal. Now, every year, we will renegotiate the deal. But I think the deal
will go on for a long time. But overall, I guess on the scale from zero to 10, with ten being the best, I would say the meeting was a 12.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: We have a deal, but it is going to be renewed every year, and if, despite the 12 on the scale, let's take a look at exactly what is involved
in this. If you take the world, you've got the U.S., you've got China. What actually it does, because in many cases all that actually happens is a
reversal of the tensions. In some senses, he is putting right things that he created.
So for example, let's look at the fentanyl. Now, we had fentanyl tariffs that were tied to fentanyl trade that he himself introduced in February, so
that has been sort of dealt with. And then you've got the other very tricky issue, prescient and up-to-date, Beijing agreeing to pause on exports of
rare earth controls. Now those measures were announced only in the last few weeks, and whilst the deal avoids the crippling 100 percent tariffs, what
you have now between these two issues and the relationship between the two countries, you have a tariff rate of 47 percent, which is down roughly 10
percent from where it was.
But Alayna Treene at The White House, the reality is the fragility of this deal and crucially, I mean, he says it has got to be renewed every year.
There is plenty of scope there for it to go horribly wrong.
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Absolutely, and it has really been a start and stop type of negotiation with China ever since the President
took office for his second term.
You know, rather than calling this a deal, I like to think of this, what we saw the President walk away from Asia with is more of a truce and an
agreement to continue dialogue and potentially try to have a firmer, much larger deal hammered out by the time they could have, say, a state visit.
We heard the President, one of the things he said when he was leaving Asia was that he plans to visit China sometime in April, and that he wants Xi
Jinping to come to the United States, to The White House sometime thereafter. So we will see if that actually happens.
But yes, of course, there is so much time for this to go wrong, and again, we've seen a lot of these negotiations seem promising and then fall apart
later. But I do think the things you pointed out, the rare earth, the soybeans, all of that, the tariffs, very important parts of this.
Two parts that were not kind of wrapped into this deal, but I do think was worth noting, Richard, just for viewers to learn about in this meeting that
they had. One, it was their first meeting in six years. I should note it only was about 90 minutes, but things that came up were two priorities that
the President really wanted to focus on. One was whether or not Xi would actually get involved on the United States' behalf in some ways, to try and
force Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table in Russia. That was a big priority for the President as he walked into that meeting.
The other being, of course, TikTok, and that is something we know that they've agreed on a framework for. We heard the Treasury Secretary, Scott
Bessent, said that they hope to have that completely finalized in the coming weeks and months. So we are still waiting to see that as well.
But for now, I think the big issues that were most urgent, particularly the soybeans and rare earths, big win in some sorts for the United States, even
if it is more of just a reversal from where we were before all this.
QUEST: Hey, they will take it. The administration will take the victory and claim it anyway. Thank you.
With me, Professor Kerry Brown, Professor of Chinese Studies at King's College in London, previously served as the First Secretary at the British
Embassy in Beijing.
What do you make of it? I mean, what has Donald Trump gone home with?
KERRY BROWN, PROFESSOR OF CHINESE STUDIES, KING'S COLLEGE IN LONDON: Yes, I was in Beijing a couple of days ago, and we talked obviously with some
Chinese colleagues about this potential deal, and they were fairly relaxed. They felt that their technical team in Malaysia had prepared for it very
well. They knew the red lines and they thought that it would be okay.
I think they'd be happy with the outcome of this. It means that they can take it at their pace because there will be, as you say, more kind of
negotiations. Their red lines, they haven't really given anything up. They've just got back what they already had and what they proved in the
last few months is that they have real leverage with the rare metals which they process. They can really, really use this to get America where they
need it to be.
QUEST: The fentanyl issue was always a bit weird in a sense. This idea that the Chinese were wanting to export as much fentanyl, illegal fentanyl as
possible.
BROWN: Yes, it sort of has -- sort of like a reverse of the opium wars, isn't it, rather the other way around.
[16:20:10]
Yes, I mean, I think that obviously America was instrumentalizing that. But as I say, I mean, China has massive leverage now, and that it has also done
in the last --
QUEST: Who's got the -- sorry to -- who is the stronger -- I don't know, I am being simplistic, but who has the whip hand here.
BROWN: I think China does. I mean, I think that they have -- that they are massive manufacturers still. They have supplemented their ability to
produce high technology and they have proved that domestically, you know, Xi Jinping getting beaten up by America this way gives him great support.
I mean, he is stronger now as a result of standing up to Trump. He has got quite a lot of domestic support. I mean, this domestically is all good for
him.
QUEST: In the earlier part of the -- since Liberation Day tariffs, all China did was respond. They didn't sort of lead the way. It is the last
week or two on rare earths where they floated the balloon of restricting the rare earths, Trump immediately came back into the game and raised his
tariffs. They then relented. What was that all about?
BROWN: I think all the way through this, China has known that America is very strong. It does not take America lightly. It knows it is big and its
very, very powerful. So I think what they did was very smart. They waited until they absolutely had to do something. They knew that this meeting kind
of had to happen. It has been a long time since Trump came to power when he hasn't met Xi Jinping.
And so I think that meant that they were saying, we can really, really hit back and it will hurt you, so let's just talk. Mission accomplished.
QUEST: Are the two sides close in a sense? You know, I am not quite saying my enemy's enemy is my friend type of thing, but I am saying, you know, I
looked at the Chinese, I looked at Xi Jinping's statement, which is basically will the world needs us both to get on?
But at the same time, I get the feeling that -- who is Xi's preferred partner? Donald Trump or Vladimir Putin.
BROWN: America, of course. I mean, it is enormously important for China. America matters to China, but we have to remember, Trump has cleared away
the hawks, basically. I mean, the last few weeks, he has basically kind of said, we've got to be pragmatic. I mean, that's good, right? The two
biggest economies in the world, fighting is not a good thing.
And remember, the golden rule, hawks always make terrible policy on China.
QUEST: Right. But if you now take Russia and Ukraine as if Donald Trump does get much more robust against Putin, where will Xi go with that? Will
he be tempted to sort of back off from this grand alliance he has with Putin, or what do you think?
BROWN: I think that China want the whole Russia-Ukraine thing to be resolved somehow in a kind of draw. I mean, they do not regard Russia as an
equal to their power. I mean, America, they will regard as an equal. Russia is, I think, 15 percent of the Chinese economy.
QUEST: Right. But it doesn't seem as if Xi is prepared to put the pressure on Putin to settle.
BROWN: Not publicly, but we don't know what's happening behind-the-scenes and remember, I mean, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization earlier this
month, last month, you know, Xi Jinping was not first among equals. He was the boss.
QUEST: Great to see you, sir. Thank you. You flew in yesterday, which I am very impressed that you're still awake, but you're probably used to that.
Thank you for joining us tonight. Very kind.
QUEST: Now, the head of DAMAC, the large property developer out of Dubai, he tells me the demand for A.I. data centers is -- and this is his word --
crazy.
Hussain Sajwani doesn't use those words lightly. He pledged to spend -- there you see it -- where he pledged to spend $20 billion on data center
construction when he visited President Trump in January. Sajwani made his reputation as a luxury developer in Dubai and beyond.
At FII in Saudi yesterday, he told me his priorities have now shifted.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HUSSAIN SAJWANI, FOUNDER, DAMAC: I am today focusing heavily on data center and artificial intelligence and infrastructure for the A.I. I have today in
12 countries, more than 20 data centers under construction, 5,000 megawatt of land with power, another almost 1,000 megawatt in U.S. I bought another
1,000. I am going to buy soon.
QUEST: So when you say you're focusing on the data centers, are you building the power infrastructure or the centers themselves?
SAJWANI: No, data centers, and I take the power from the electricity company. We build the substations.
QUEST: So you're well and truly in the infrastructure.
SAJWANI: Yes.
QUEST: How do you respond to the criticism that we are just building too many data centers, too much electricity, too much -- we can't cope with
what is necessary. You're talking about the amount you're building.
[16:25:03]
SAJWANI: True. But the demand is crazy. I mean, I met OpenAI's you know, founder, Sam Altman. I met Oracle senior executives. All of them I meet,
the demand is beyond your thinking. I think the world -- A.I. is going to change the world.
And I am an investor in a number of companies from, you know, A.I., OpenAI and xAI and others and Anthropic and all of them and I am invested also in
a number of companies in the inferencing and in the application.
But a lot of people are going to lose their jobs, unfortunately, and it is going to be a revolution how we are going to operate. The idea of agent
going to do things beyond your thinking.
QUEST: So when you say you build A.I. data centers, what is it you're building?
SAJWANI: Yes, we are basically building a very complicated building, which is very technical.
QUEST: Why? Why is it technical?
SAJWANI: Because they want the power to be there almost -- they call it tier three. 99.9999, so the power really can go not even a few seconds.
QUEST: And is it very expensive to build one of these?
SAJWANI: Oh, yes. It costs between ten to 12 to fourteen million dollars per data center. It depends where you are.
QUEST: Right, and you of course, are building them in the States as well.
SAJWANI: Yes, yes. We already bought few lands. We committed $20 billion. We are going all the way on our commitment.
QUEST: Can you see a DAMAC world where that takes greater, that becomes bigger than residential?
SAJWANI: Yes.
QUEST: Really?
SAJWANI: Yes. We already launched another company called Damac A.I., where we are going to buy the chips from NVIDIA and AMD and store them in our
data center and we are going to sell computing power to the hyperscalers like OpenAI, like Meta and others and we may go and create in a smaller
scale, also, our own cloud.
QUEST: So President Trump, have you spoken to him lately?
SAJWANI: I met him just 10 days ago for lunch.
QUEST: And you -- I shall refrain from using the name that everybody says to describe you as well, all right, I will, the Donald Trump of Dubai.
Can you see the vision that he is bringing forward? Does it make sense to you?
SAJWANI: See, he is a very hard working man. I am surprised with his energy. I was with him in Scotland when he met the British Prime Minister,
and I was there with my family, with my kids, my wife for two days.
From morning, 7:30, he is on the golf course and meeting and meeting and lunch and dinner. So very high energy. I think he is a very intelligent man
and he knows what he is doing.
He has a certain style of negotiation, so he will throw some dust in your face, tell you 150 percent tariff, then he will back off, then he will make
a deal.
QUEST: Final question, would you -- do you wish you were building the ballroom at The White House?
SAJWANI: Well, that would have been fun. It would have been fun.
QUEST: Would you like to have built it?
SAJWANI: The we will have a little bit of my name or my company name, it will be, built by DAMAC.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Now, he says, he'd like to put his name on it a little bit, but this is how he actually puts his name on buildings across Dubai. DAMAC. You
can't -- I mean, they all do it. They all do it. Big letters. I can't imagine they'd be allowed to do that at The White House, but he still would
have liked to have a little bit of DAMAC at the bottom. His buildings are huge. They are beautiful and they are expensive, and it is always good to
have Mr. Sajwani on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
The London Stock Exchange is Europe's largest trading center by quite a large measure. Its chief executive, there she is, Dame Julia Hoggett says
she also wants to be young, scrappy and hungry. Is that consistent? Can you be both? Well, Dame Julia will argue she can after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:31:52]
QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest.
We have a lot more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. The chief executive of the London Stock Exchange will tell me about her plans to keep the 200-year-old
institution relevant, and quarterly numbers from Apple and Amazon are out. The numbers, the breakdown, Anna Cooban will have all of that only after
the headlines because as you'd expect, this is CNN and on this network, the news always comes first.
King Charles has begun the process, the legal, formal process of stripping his brother Andrew of all his royal titles. Buckingham Palace now says he
will be known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, not prince. Andrew has also been served formal notice to surrender the lease on the mansion Royal
Lodge, where he's lived for 30 years. For years, Andrew's association with Jeffrey Epstein has been a source of major controversy.
President Trump -- back in the U.S., following his meeting with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping, which took place in South Korea, Mr. Trump says the two
countries reach critical trade deals on rare earths and soybeans. The U.S. agreed to lower tariffs in exchange for a pledge from China to crack down
on fentanyl.
The centrist D66 Party is celebrating a strong showing in the Dutch parliamentary elections, and the final results are still coming in. The
far-right, anti-immigration Party for Freedom appears to have lost ground. Efforts to form a coalition government traditionally take months, but if
appointed 38-year-old centrist candidate Rob Jetten will become the youngest and first openly gay prime minister in Dutch history.
How does a venerable, that's the word, 300-year-old institution keep itself relevant? It's a question that the chief executive of the London Stock
Exchange wrestles with. Dame Julia Hoggart says the purpose of the LSE hasn't changed over that time.
Now this is how it used to be. I do just about remember. Not that. But I do remember the old trading floor just about before black -- before big bang
which took place. It's always existed. The core purpose of the exchange, whether it be the NYSE, the LSE or anything like that, is to bring
financing to help companies who want to raise money on a mission.
Dame Julia says the exchange now needs to keep up with the times.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIA HOGGETT, CEO, LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE: I want us to be young, scrappy and hungry. You know, I want us to make sure that we have the compelling
proposition for anybody who wants to raise capital or direct capital into great companies anywhere in the world. And that means all those hard yards
need to be done.
QUEST: Between old sclerotic -- young, scrappy, between old scrappy, old fat and complacent and young, scrappy and hungry, where do you think you
are?
HOGGETT: I think we've moved a long way towards young, scrappy and hungry, and I hope we stay there. I mean, I say I run a 300-year-old fintech. You
know, it's -- I run a very, very old institution and its purpose has not changed in 300 years.
[16:35:05]
That is to convene capital, to bring together those who have it, with those who need it, in service of an objective. But the way we do it has to change
with the demands of the economy. We can't just say we've only ever done it this way, and therefore we're only -- we're not going to change. We have to
recognize that value creation is changing. The way companies grow is changing. Where companies are coming from what they need is changing, and
we need to change with it.
And the U.K. has done more regulatory reform in the last three years than any other major global financial center. Recognizing the need to do exactly
that. And I think that is to our credit.
QUEST: I was just looking at the IPOs for last year and this year, and they are down at one level, both in number, absolute, and in volume terms, not
dramatically, not awfully, but it does question the trend. And there are these -- the number of companies that are looking for either a secondary
listing or even a primary listing of overseas, mainly New York. You don't seem to be losing to Europe. You're losing to Wall Street.
HOGGETT: Yes. And look, the reality is that we've seen a trough globally and we are starting to see that trend pick up. We've got another one
tomorrow. Great British fintech that's coming to market. And I think we'll see -- continue to see more. And our pipeline is building interestingly
from Asia, the Middle East and some from the E.U. And we also had the first ever dual listing of a U.S. company listing simultaneously on Nasdaq and
London, a company called Fermi, that raised over a billion -- raised 800 million or so, but actually had a billion book outside of the U.S. and
chose to come to London because of that incremental investor base. So it's not actually as complicated. The position is actually more nuanced than
people realize.
QUEST: Yes, but you see, a couple of weeks ago I was interviewing your counterpart at the New York Stock Exchange, and I was saying, you know, are
you in the business of stealing or grabbing business? And she said, no, we want to work with others, even though. Is that really true?
HOGGETT: In certain jurisdictions, it absolutely is. And I think -- I think the reality is that we've got a lot of, I mean, Tadawul is a prime example
in Saudi Arabia where we've had long standing connections. We have the ability to have the pipes and plumbing operate between the two markets, and
there's a genuine benefit for both markets adding the incremental value that they bring. And I think in case by case, company by company, that is
the case.
QUEST: But can you do that with New York? Because you are in competition for listings. You are in competition for trading volumes. Is there room to
accommodate each other and work together?
HOGGETT: I think there will be in certain spaces, but I think the reality is that we recognize that a lot of issuers around the world don't want
there to be a unipolar capital market. They want to have access to different pools of capital around the world. Most countries see their
capital markets as sources of national economic sovereignty and security as well. And therefore, we do need to recognize that that is part of the
piece.
QUEST: And so if I understand you, if I read between the lines of what you've just said, you want London, assuming New York is still going to be
the biggest, you want London to be that other jewel.
HOGGETT: Yes.
QUEST: Duopoly market. Not in Europe, not in Asia. You want it, will do New York and will do London.
HOGGETT: And I've always said that, I mean, we are the largest market in Europe and we have been for the last decade. And we raise -- over the last
two years or so, we've raised two and a half times more capital than any other European exchange. So we absolutely have to make sure we're top of
our game, and we're reforming ourselves and making sure we're as match fit as we can be. But I do think it matters that there are more global capital
centers than just one.
And one of the other things that we believe is that one of the things we want in the U.K. is for great companies to start, grow, scale and stay
there. But we also assume that every other nation in the world wants exactly the same thing, and our market needs to provide that access to
international capital, but also enable companies to have the sovereignty they want to have in their own nation.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: That's Dame Julia Hoggett of the London Stock Exchange.
What a very busy time we had at FII, and we're delighted to bring you. Next, for example, keeping your guests happy. The chief executive of
Intercontinental Hotels Group, IHG, you know, I mean, hundreds of millions of people stay every -- stay at the hotel over the course of the year. And
he's going to explain where they're expanding.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELIE MAALOUF, CEO, IHG HOTELS AND RESORTS: I mean, of course, we're biggest in U.S., Europe and China. U.S. is steady. I mean, a bit slower this year,
but we're still growing a lot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:42:31]
QUEST: The CEO of Intercontinental Hotels Group and Resorts says if you want to take care of your guests, you need to take care of your employees.
I sat down with Elie Maalouf in Riyadh at FII and he told me IHG benefits from eight decades of experience in the hotel business, and that's one
reason why many visitors come back for more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAALOUF: I mean, travel is enjoyable. It's aspirational. It's also stressful, right? You know, and so what people want is trust. Trust that
when they get there, somebody will be ready for them. Trust that their stay will be brilliant. Trust that whatever they were looking to accomplish, to
be their best on a business trip like you and I today here in Riyadh, or to be their best for their partner on a trip or to be their best for their
children or their parents, trust that we will make it great.
QUEST: But I find with hotels that often the promise is greater than the delivery.
MAALOUF: Oh, you're not staying with us.
QUEST: No, of course I am. But (INAUDIBLE) as a general, the ability to provide that level of experience at scale is difficult.
MAALOUF: It's not easy, but after over 85 years of experience, we're very good at it. I mean, I see so many guest reviews every night from the
million people that stay with us and we are very good at taking care of them because, because we invest a lot in our people. We take care of our
people so they can take care of our travelers. That's really what people look for. And out of the million people that stay with us every night, the
vast majority come back. That's why 65 percent of them are IHG One Rewards members that keep coming back. It's a tribe that travels with us every
night.
QUEST: So where are you growing the group? What is it that -- I mean, globally, one only has to look at the growth areas. Here in the Middle East
obviously, parts of Southeast Asia, yes. China is coming back. Where do you like?
MAALOUF: I like it all. I mean, of course we're biggest in U.S.-Europe and China. U.S. is steady. I mean, a bit slower this year, but we're still
growing a lot. We're adding over 120 hotels this year in the U.S. alone. Europe is steady, but it's such an incredible destination that people can't
resist going to Europe. We're growing in Europe. However, the fact is, as you move east from Europe, the growth rates are higher. Middle East, where
we are today, Southeast Asia, China. I mean, you have younger population, faster growing middle class, growing infrastructure, growing, faster,
growing GDP, a higher propensity to travel. And that's growing travel. And we're growing more.
[16:45:07]
QUEST: And what do they want that's different?
MAALOUF: You know part of it is what do they want. That's the same, which is they want to be at their best when they're on leisure or business.
What's different is they want it localized. They want it localized. So in the Kingdom Arabia, you have to serve their needs in a particularly
cultural way. In Japan, you have to serve their needs in a particularly cultural way. And we've been -- this is our 50th year anniversary in Saudi
Arabia.
It's also our 50th year anniversary in China. We've been in these markets for generations. We know the people. We know the culture. And so you have
to customize it, but you still have to meet their essential needs.
QUEST: You used to have the concierge service. I mean, you were amongst the first groups that recognized the fighting ground was going to be
experiences, weren't you?
MAALOUF: And it still is. In fact, the more we are productive with artificial intelligence, with technology, with virtual, the more we value
real live things. Why are live sports still rated the highest, huh, Richard? Why are concerts still hugely popular? Why is travel and hotel
stays still hugely popular? Or restaurants and bars still hugely popular? Because the more we see how much we accomplished through technology
remotely, the more we value what's real, what's personal, what's authentic.
QUEST: But there's your paradox. You've got the greatness of A.I. and technology, which leads you to the requirement of greater individuality.
Can that be met?
MAALOUF: In fact, it accelerates it. We are using A.I. in commercial, in guest experience, in customer acquisition, in efficiency, to make your real
life experience even better.
QUEST: But how do you not just end up commoditizing it?
MAALOUF: I think A.I. allows us to personalize it more. We have 145 million members in our IHG One Rewards plan. We are launching next year a new CRM
system with salesforce that will allow us to actually know you better when you come to stay in Riyadh, or where you go to stay in London, or when
you're staying in Paris. To know you better, to personalize your experience better. Today, we know a little bit about you. Tomorrow we'll be able to
customize it even more. Stay tuned. It's going to be launching next year.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: CEO of IHG. After the break, Amazon and Apple and the quarterly earnings.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:50:05]
QUEST: Both Apple and Amazon reported their quarterly earnings after the bell. Apple beat on revenue $102 billion in the past quarter. Extraordinary
amount of money. It forecasts a strong December because of the new iPhone 17 demand and similar with Amazon. It beat expectations with more than $180
billion, 180 billion, in revenue. Oh, good Lord. Growth in the AWS.
There's Anna. Talk me through it.
ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, you've seen those pretty extraordinary eye-popping numbers there.
QUEST: Right. Yes.
COOBAN: Apple said it had its best ever quarter in terms of iPhone sales. So we know that we've seen the iPhone 17 and its lineup come out in
September. The iPhone Air, the ultra-thin version of the popular phone. So that's pretty good results from Apple. It also is partly the story of why
it hit that $4 trillion market cap this week, but no mention of A.I. in the statement that we've read, which is, you know, speaks to investors'
concerns over whether Apple is lagging in the A.I. race against its competitors.
QUEST: Why are we seeing this market diverge? Apple is down, you know, just not much, not hugely. But after hours, Amazon's gangbusters. What's up?
What's Amazon showing?
COOBAN: Amazon is showing absolute gangbusters performance in its Cloud computing business.
QUEST: Notwithstanding the outage.
COOBAN: Well, so they did not mention the outage in the statement. So we're yet to see what the costs are from that. But its Cloud computing business,
Amazon Web services up 20 percent. The fastest pace in three years. And this is reassuring to investors who had worried that maybe Amazon was
losing ground to Microsoft and Google, other players in this space.
QUEST: The Amazon machine is performing on all levels. It's getting into A.I., it's got video and Prime in entertainment, which is the big growth
industry. It's got -- and it even delivers my detergent.
COOBAN: It's everything.
(LAUGHTER)
COOBAN: Yes. And you mentioned as well some huge viewing figures for "The Summer I Turned Pretty." It's a show that's doing particularly well. So
yes, it seems to have penetrated all aspects of people's lives. And we can see that from the share price. We can see that from its, you know, very
healthy numbers.
QUEST: And if you had to take Apple, the worrying bit is it's still not finding an A.I. strategy that the market likes or can recognize.
COOBAN: No, it's not. It's, you know, suspiciously quiet on its A.I. plans. And some analysts are saying, you know, this is, you know, maybe actually
quite a wise thing for it to do that actually is sort of staying out of the hype, the so-called bubble that we're seeing and that maybe it'll kind of
move in at a later date, maybe acquire some A.I. companies and use their technology to integrate it into its -- into its products. But yes, at the
moment it is seen as a laggard in this space.
QUEST: Laggards and leaders. Thank you.
Now Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood told me that she's optimistic about the future overall. The big reason is exactly what Anna was talking about,
technology. She told me that the changes to U.S. policy will, technical changes, tax changes, will hugely benefit investors.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CATHIE WOOD, CEO, ARK INVEST: I'll tell you in 2022, we were in a bear market and we were moving. We were concentrating our portfolio towards our
highest conviction names, which is what we do during a bear market. And hedge funds were betting against us. And it worked. It worked. But I think
what you're saying is, yes, that was a very painful year. But what we concentrated into is working beautifully now.
QUEST: Which is?
WOOD: Well, all we're focused on is technologically enabled disruptive innovation that is going to cut across sectors. So the main five innovation
platforms are robotics, energy storage, artificial intelligence, blockchain technology and multi-omics sequencing. Those are the five platforms. And
there are 15 different technologies involved in them.
QUEST: Do you spend much time concerned at the perceived and real battle between, say, government and central bank that we've got at the moment in
the U.S., between administration and Fed? Or is it just something that --
WOOD: Well, I think one of -- most people understand that dynamic, but what they do not understand, if they're thinking about fiscal policy and what
the administration is doing, most people are thinking about tariffs. That's grabbing the headlines. I think President Trump is a master of distraction.
So I do.
QUEST: Yes. I agree.
WOOD: I do. So we have tariffs in the headlines every day around the world. I just took a trip throughout Asia, U.S. and Europe. Tariffs grabbing the
headlines.
[16:55:02]
What did not grab the headlines? What did not grab the headlines, and what is astonishing that this administration got through in OB Three, the one
big beautiful bill was a major change in corporate tax policy. Major changes in depreciation schedules that are taking the effective corporate
tax rate in the United States down from the low 20s to roughly 10 percent, the lowest in the world.
And just to give you a sense, this has never happened before. We've never seen depreciation of manufacturing structures in the first year of service.
100 percent in the first year of service. Normally that's over 30 to 40 years. These companies are going to be seeing massive tax refunds that they
can reinvest.
QUEST: Finally, listening to you, I mean, I don't want to say you're an optimist. You're a realist.
WOOD: Yes.
QUEST: But you're a realist with an optimistic outlook, which is very different to what I'm hearing in a lot of people in your position who are
basically saying, not the sky is falling, but, whoa, look a bit dodgy.
WOOD: Yes. No, no, we couldn't be more excited. And one of the reasons is what you just said. What's happening now and the results of it, whether
it's from a policymaking point of view or the evolution of the technology is going to be so surprisingly good that the markets are getting it. That's
what's happening with the equity markets. They are sniffing out some real success stories here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: We will take a "Profitable Moment" after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tonight's "Profitable Moment." To those of us who follow these things, the earthquake that was the king removing formally the prince title
for Andrew, along with the eviction from his home. The king is trying to draw a line under the whole thing. He feels that the royal family now
feeling serious pressure, the lapping of waters against the monarchy. And that's why this is so different today because it's formal actions by the
monarch to protect the institution and, crucially, recognize the sympathies and thoughts with the victims that seemingly have been lacking so far.
No more Prince Andrew, no more Duke of York, no more his royal highness. Just quite simply, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. For him it will hurt.
And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in London. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, well, you know the rest. Hope
it's profitable.
END
