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Quest Means Business

Experts Hail Results of Modern's mRNA Vaccine Trial; Bessent Many Factors Bond Market is Not Looking at; Prince Harry and Meghan to Move Back to Britain; Evergrande Founder Gets Life Sentence; A Closer Look at the Importance of Rare Earth Minerals; A.I. Wealth Fueling Housing Market Frenzy in San Francisco. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired August 20, 2026 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:15]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": The closing bell is ringing on Wall Street. It has been a grim sort of session. The

market is heavily down and has been for most of -- well, for all the session. M&T Bank ringing. Here we go and let's close things off and --

come on, sir.

Oh, one and a two and a one, two, three, four. Down 693. Look at the wider markets. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ triple stack shows all are sharply

lower.

Although the Dow has borne the brunt of the losses and if I show you the Dow 30 later in the show, you will understand why. But those are the

markets and these are the main events that you and I are talking about in tonight's program.

Moderna's Chairman will be with us for his first interview since the breakthrough cancer vaccine announcement that sent the company's stock

price soaring.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, better known as Harry and Meghan, and that stunning decision to return to the U.K. even caught the King off guard. We

are going to look at some possible reasons and how is it all going to work.

And rare earth minerals -- rare earth minerals have become some of the most prized elements on the periodic table. I will speak to the billionaire

building the world's biggest scandium mine.

What is scandium? I will tell you in a moment or two. Well, you probably already know.

Anyway, we are live in New York on Thursday. It is August the 20th. I am Richard Quest, and tonight, of course, quest means business.

Good evening.

A potential turning point in the fight against cancer. Medical experts say Moderna's mRNA vaccine could fundamentally reshape treatment. The company

announced the results of its late stage trial yesterday and said its vaccine reduced the risk of melanoma, both returning and spreading when

combined with Merck's Keytruda.

The chief medical officer, the CMO at the American Society of Clinical Oncology, called it a monumental leap forward. Melanoma expert, Ryan

Sullivan said, indeed, it was a big deal for the field in general. Now, Moderna's shares today, they gave back some of Wednesday's extraordinary

gains. They were 25 percent lower, although to be fair, there were certain short sell reasons or there was a squeeze that took place in the market

yesterday that did influence the way the shares were trading.

But the shares have more than doubled in value since the trial results were released, Noubar Afeyan is the co-founder and chairman of the company,

Moderna. He has not yet spoken publicly.

Sir, it is good to see you. Good to see you again. Thank you for giving us the honor and the privilege of speaking to us first.

I guess, when did you when did they tell you, Chairman, we think we've got not just a winner, but a big winner.

NOUBAR AFEYAN, CO-FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN, MODERNA: Well, Richard, thanks for having me on again.

A few days before the main announcement a short period of time before when the company received the information from the trial oversight group is when

I learned, and I must say it was a deja vu moment in the sense that we had a similar moment, some roughly six years ago when the technology was

directed in a very different place, which was a COVID-19 vaccine and we had some pretty exciting data. It really did feel like that, although here the

pandemic, if you can call it that we are talking about, is serious cancer.

QUEST: So what do you we -- we talked about this story yesterday, but I couldn't quite get my head around not being a medical man. The significance

of what this is going to treat, the range of melanomas, the fact that this is going to prevent a repetition of it.

So how big do you believe this is going to be?

AFEYAN: Look, when you're talking about a serious disease, you always want to be measured in what this could do. But I think the data that we have

from the phase two studies, which have been now followed for five years already, indicates an improvement in both of these risk scores, both for

risk free survival and disease metastasis free are significant five years out and it is to the tune of 45 to 50 percent improvement over what is

already the gold standard, which is Keytruda.

[16:05:28]

And so when you combine both of these medicines, you start reducing the impact of the disease by north of 60 to 70 percent. That's a major, major

difference in patient's lives.

Now, the phase three trial, for which we have not yet released any specific data, but we did say that the trial on an interim early analysis already

met its top line and secondary results, that is a much larger trial and it was in resected stage 2B to 4 melanoma. These are metastasized in many

cases.

And so that is a broader group, but also I think quite indicative of the potential for this approach.

QUEST: For Moderna, the general consensus seems to be this moves the company from, if you will, a vaccine, if you will, to put it crudely,

company into the blockbuster pharma category. Now I understand, sir, that that's not your goal and I understand that Moderna's goal is much more to

do with the treatment of serious illnesses.

But if this follows through, you do become a mega player with a blockbuster drug.

AFEYAN: Well, look, Richard, the interesting thing, since you've known the company for a while and even before COVID is that we were working on a

immunotherapy, effectively what people call a vaccine against cancer for now, 10 years.

So before COVID existed and before we were working on additional infectious diseases, we set out to use the body's own immune system to combat cancer.

It is just that the road to prove it as definitively as we believe our phase three results will be is a long one. And so we've actually,

ironically, gone from being a cancer-focused company to an infectious disease focused one, and now back to both.

QUEST: Do you believe that society -- this is a tougher question -- can afford the drug in a sense that the ability to tailor it to a patient,

healthcare budgets, whether its national health or insurance, that there will that -- how are you going to ensure this isn't a benefit for the

privileged few?

AFEYAN: :You know, this is a program that were doing together with Merck and Merck is really, by many measures, a leader in immunotherapy with its

drug, Keytruda, that has had a profound impact on health economics as well as just health of many patients. And they are a quite experienced company

as it relates to access, as it relates to how to position this program. And this will be another significant boost over what Keytruda alone has been

able to do.

So our intention is to get it available broadly, by the way, we are doing multiple additional late-stage clinical trials in other cancer types. We

hope and expect that the data already this year and into next year will come out, indicating that this is not specific only to melanoma.

And as we do so, and as the medicine becomes available despite the fact that it is an individualized treatment, we think that we can make it

available broadly and reach the impact that we designed this drug to have.

QUEST: Because that is crucial, isn't it? Finally, sir, what is your next - - I mean, where do you take Moderna next? You've just sort of given me an idea from, if you will, vaccines oncology through to infectious diseases.

The moment I hear infectious diseases, I start thinking about the potential for, say, HIV, which is one of the most difficult infectious diseases.

Yes, people can be kept alive for many years on antiretrovirals. But if you can go one stage further and clear the infection from the body, now you're

talking a different kettle of fish.

AFEYAN: Look, I think, Richard, one of the many things were hurt by COVID pandemic, the one thing that was helped is the amount we learned about our

immune system across billions of people on the planet and that knowledge is now feeding into making more and more potent immunotherapies.

[16:10:10]

And for that matter, vaccines. And I think that that boost, coupled with A.I., artificial intelligence that is now able to take data and convert it

into much more informed decisions, I do think that many infectious conditions, as well as cancer and even autoimmune disease, will be battled

with our newfound understanding and our ability to direct our immune system, which is a unique attribute of mRNA medicine.

So we are very excited we are at the beginning stages of this.

QUEST: One final thought from you, sir. When you see your share price almost double overnight, does it give you a rise? I mean, obviously, you

know, as an investor, you're obviously glad by the gains, but does it give you a wry smile?

AFEYAN: You know, as you said in the beginning, there are a lot of people who historically bet against Moderna and they were right some of the time,

and they were wrong other times and our job is to note with interest what the stock price does, but put our heads down as a team of over 5,000 people

and do what we know how to do, which is to invent and take medicines to market and that was an exciting day yesterday to see that reach a

milestone.

QUEST: And yesterday, those people who bet against you certainly got burnt and moved -- and had to move very quickly.

I am glad to see you, sir. Always good to talk to you. Thank you for giving me time tonight.

AFEYAN: Very good to see you, Richard.

QUEST: QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. Stocks overall, they were dragged down by a weak market and weak earnings and rising bond yields. The Dow finished

nearly 700 points lower. The S&P fell more than half a percent and the NASDAQ dropped one percent.

The U.S. Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, has been talking and saying that the government, the U.S. government may do more, if necessary, to calm

the bond market. The 30 and the ten-year yields are nearly back to where they were on Tuesday, and that suggests that the twist that they did

yesterday might not have been so successful.

They retreated after the Treasury announced it would double its buybacks in the coming months, and the yield twist.

The Treasury Secretary is looking for ways to lower borrowing costs for the U.S. government, companies and individuals. He is trying to keep yields

down, and he is doing so by shoring up the market.

He told CNBC, the network that buybacks are one way that it happens.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BESSENT, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: We are trying to signal that we think that this is a thinly traded area of the market that we are in

August, and there has been a lot of corporate issuance that has influenced the market. And we believe that there are many underlying factors that the

market is not looking at. And we are going to make a market -- in these, we routinely do buybacks and we are going to increase the size of the buyback.

And Sarah, I would note that it could be more than the $4 billion per issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Phil Mattingly is with me.

Phil, we all know about the $40 trillion et cetera et cetera on the debt. What they are doing is financial engineering to try and soothe a market

that is worrying and even listening to the Secretary, then it is not addressing the problem, it is addressing the symptoms.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF U.S. DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is much more of a signal essentially trying to talk down the borrowing costs that

have been rising and this isn't just a one week thing. Certainly, the market has reacted over the course of the last week to a degree that is

very different than we've seen since really 2007 when it comes to long dated bonds.

But the reality that has just kind of converged over the course of the last several weeks where you're talking about deficits and debt, you're talking

about what we saw with the intervention of the Japanese yen, you're talking about a conflict that is still ongoing and Iran and inflation that remains

stubborn. Well, nobody can seem to figure out exactly what the new Fed Chair wants to do going forward.

QUEST: Right.

MATTINGLY: And I think that's the distinction between the reality, when you talk to market participants, as I know you do every day, all day, and what

you heard from the Treasury Secretary today trying to say that this is a liquidity issue. This is an August issue. This is a market issue, not the

fact that these are really significant cornerstone pillars that have converged together, that are going to cause long term problems.

QUEST: Right, so the question we've never really got to is, is there any serious deficit reduction talks on Capitol Hill between The White House? I

mean, they talk about it, but the number gets higher. Is anybody trying to cut the deficit down the debt?

MATTINGLY: No. I mean, just to be completely blunt, like nobody -- a lot of people like to talk about it. Let's be very clear about that. A lot of

lawmakers that I've interviewed over the course of the last 15 or 16 years are the same exact lawmakers that once they get into power, they vote for

significant tax cuts that add trillions of dollars to the debt over time. On the Democratic side, you've seen them vote repeatedly for significant

spending increases that add trillions of dollars of debt over the course of time.

[16:15:19]

You add that and kind of that without fail pathway that both parties take when they're in power to the series of crises that have caused a

significant amount of money and the trillions or more over the course of the last two decades, and you're at this point right now where dramatic

changes are needed.

The political will, let alone the economic knowhow to get to those changes, it just simply doesn't exist, not just because it is a midterm year, but

because of two-year election cycles, four-year election cycles. It is not there right now.

And I think that should be the warning sign more than anything else, what is happening with yields right now, or a big $40 trillion number. It is

that the political will doesn't just not exist, it is not even being discussed at this point.

QUEST: That's the point we needed to make tonight.

Thank you, sir. Thank you. Good to see you as always. And you're looking well.

Now, a big reason for those rising yields is the growing national debt, which is now, as we've been talking about, $40 trillion. We've been talking

about that.

As we continue after the break, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, they are moving back to the United Kingdom.

Only last year, Prince Harry said he couldn't imagine moving back. Well, why? After the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Harry and Meghan or the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, paid your money, you takes your choice. They are planning to move back to the United

Kingdom.

CNN understands that King Charles III has welcomed the chance to see more of Harry, Meghan and the family. He has also made it clear that the Duke

and Duchess will remain non-working members of the Royal family. So why now? Six years after moving to California?

Back in September, Prince Harry said he couldn't imagine moving back to the U.K. The move is already prompting a huge amount of speculation, with many

are wondering what is behind the sudden change and whether or not the Royal rift can be solved.

So this is what we know so far.

[16:20:04]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It is a move nobody saw coming.

Prince Harry and Meghan returning to the U.K. six years after they stepped back from official Royal duties and fell out with other members of the

Royal family. Both the Duke and the Duchess of Sussex have spoken out repeatedly about the unfair treatment they believe they received in the

U.K., including tabloid intrusion and racism in the British establishment.

In April, Meghan told young people during a visit to Australia --

MEGHAN MARKLE, DUCHESS OF SUSSEX: For now, 10 years -- every day for 10 years, I've been bullied and attacked and I was most trolled person in the

entire world, man or woman. I am still here

FOSTER (voice over): Why the couple have decided to return now is unclear. A source close to the couple only remarked how much they enjoyed their

visit to the U.K. last month.

In July, King Charles hosted Harry, Meghan and their children at his private country residence in Gloucestershire. It was the first time in four

years that the King had seen the whole family; however, Harry has made several solo trips back to the U.K. since moving to California, including

after King Charles' cancer diagnosis.

FOSTER (on camera): CNN understands that when the family moves over to the United Kingdom, they will be staying in a private residence, not a Royal

residence, and they won't be returning to their full time Royal roles. Where that residence will be is a mystery at this point, but the British

media, speculating it could be in the affluent Cotswolds, in the countryside in Oxfordshire, it could be near Althorp House, which is the

Spencer family ancestral home where Princess Diana, Harry's mother, is buried; or it could possibly be near friends that they've retained here in

the United Kingdom.

The other big question is about security, how that will be afforded. Prince Harry recently lost a case against the government's decision to downgrade

their taxpayer funded security.

In a BBC interview last year, he said the decision made it impossible for him to return to the U.K. with his family, explaining --

PRINCE HARRY, DUKE OF SUSSEX: I can't see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the U.K. at this point, no matter how

much private security I have around me. There is only so much that I can do and operate and function within the U.K. when it comes to supporting my

charities, visiting my friends, all of these things.

FOSTER (voice over): However, the couple's children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, have now been enrolled at British schools. The

new school year begins in September, meaning their move is likely to take place soon, possibly within a matter of days.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you feeling excited for your parents?

FOSTER (voice over): Once back, the couple are expected to carry on the kind of charity work they've been doing in California and outside the U.K.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to Australia.

FOSTER (voice over): It is not yet clear how long they'll stay or how closely they will coordinate with the Royal household to avoid clashes in

public engagements, and how they will be folded into private Royal family events.

CNN understands, the King was only told on Sunday about their decision to move back.

The Sussexes may have kept their secret until now, but how much privacy they can hold once they are back in the U.K. remains to be seen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST (voice over): Max is with me, Max, I can say this, perhaps you can't

This is a nightmare for the Royal family. Why? Because they are in grave danger of doing exactly what the Queen did not, the late Queen didn't want

half in, half out.

FOSTER: Well, they are sticking with that. The King's side is making it very clear that you can't be half in, you can't be half out. They will not

be working Royals. But what you do have is a situation where you will have two separate courts, arguably three separate courts. You've got the King's

Court, you've got William's Court, and then you have this informal it is a Royal court around the Sussexes. They will have a team, they will be

carrying out Royal engagements.

That is a potential threat, probably what you're speaking to because if you have William and Harry, for example, doing engagements on the same day, the

publicity will be split. They may not be sharing the same message.

To the wider public, they are all members of the Royal family. They are just not all in the monarchy.

QUEST: But now let's talk -- so, let's say Harry is doing an event up in Manchester. By definition, he I the King's son. There will be people there

to want to see him. There is going to have to be taxpayer paid security, rightly so, to protect him and to obviously to protect the members of the

general public.

So but, you know, immediately, everything that they didn't want to happen, the Royal family, is happening. There is going to have to be taxpayer

security. He is entitled to it. The children can't go off to school just willy-nilly to any old school, they are the King's grandchildren, they are

going to have to have some form of security watching over them.

I mean, what am I missing here?

[16:25:07]

FOSTER: Well, all we've got to go on is the Prime Minister saying today that security is a private matter for the Sussexes, implying that they'll

have to deal with it. But you're right, because whilst they are in California and Harry was calling for, you know, police security in

California, there was a stronger case for arguing against that. When he is in the U.K., it is going to be a much weaker case.

They have -- he famously lost a battle with the British government about providing armed security. You can only do that through the police. He is

coming to the U.K. That arrangement still sits, but as you say, they have to assess each situation on its merits and if Manchester Police believe

that he could be under threat and the children are under threat, they have a duty to supply police and that could run into the millions over the

course of the year and that's going to be -- that's already a big debate actually bubbling up in the British newspapers, inevitably, the public will

have to pay and perhaps, that's unreasonable they are suggesting.

QUEST: Any indication why they decided to do it -- the most sort of uncharitable view is that they couldn't make a living over there or that

the well was drying up or whatever you want to say.

FOSTER: The only indication we've had is someone close to them saying that they very much enjoyed their visit to the U.K. last month. That's when they

went to Althorp to visit their mother's grave. They are very close to their Uncle Charles Spencer. They also met with the King and Queen, and that must

have gone well.

So they made the decision, their final decision after that. We haven't got anything more than that, apart from Harry saying in the past that he wants

to spend more time in the U.K., but explaining why the whole family is coming, why they are being sent to school isn't clear.

Officially, the Sussex office saying nothing. They are just letting this reporting sit there and we are getting information from other sources

around the Royal family.

QUEST: And this is going to turn into a whole, I was going to say, turn into a cottage industry, but it is not. It is going to be into an

industrialized production line of stories.

Max Foster, very grateful, sir. Thank you. Have a good evening.

As we continue tonight, one of China's wealthiest citizens has gone from real estate tycoon to inmate. We are going to show you how his property

empire collapsed, and now he is serving a life sentence.

QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. Lovely to have you with us tonight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:30:36]

QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest.

There is a lot more Quest MEANS BUSINESS in a moment. We're going to be telling you about the downfall of one of China's richest men and why

Evergrande's former chairman is going to spend the rest of his life in prison. Also the story tonight, the San Francisco real estate market has

been upended by the A.I. boom. We're talking to a realtor there about what you can expect to pay for a decent property if you can afford one, if

there's one available.

It's only after the news because this is CNN, and on this network, the news always comes first.

President Trump is threatening to unleash a crushing economic operation against Iran. The president also says any country that does business with

the Iranian regime will face what he's describing as tremendous economic consequences. Iran's foreign minister has fired back, has called that

threat a diversion from America's own crisis of unprecedented debt.

The U.S. Geological Survey says that a powerful 6.7 magnitude earthquake has struck Peru. The epicenter was in a mountainous province in the south

of the country. Authorities say the coastline is not under a tsunami threat, but there is a low likelihood of casualties and damage.

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan are leaving the United States and relocating their family back to the United Kingdom later this month. That

follows six years after they stepped back from royal duties and fell out with other members of the royal family.

A man who was once one of China's richest men will spend the rest of his life in prison. Chinese state media is now reporting that the former

Evergrande chairman, Hui Ka Yan, was sentenced on Thursday. He pleaded guilty to several charges, including fraud and misuse of funds. Hui created

a real estate empire that started to unravel in 2021, when the company was hit with $300 billion in debt.

Anna Stewart is in London.

The issue with all of these cases is always how genuine this guilty plea actually is. How we know -- we know that Evergrande's problems were very

real. But how much of all of this case has been put to him.

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it does feel like China has tried to sort of close the book, as you will, on the property crisis with the

sentencing of Hui Ka Yan and also Evergrande, and it's kind of closed the book. But really the property crisis in China is still on chapter one. New

home sales continue to decline. I think they've been declining for 37 months in a row at this point.

Now, what's he charged with, the founder? Well, financial fraud, inflating assets, concealing liabilities, the list is really long. Effectively this

was a company that had huge success buying land, borrowing money to buy land, and then selling homes before they were built, and using that money

to borrow more. And of course, in a property boom, that was pretty successful. But there were certainly issues as there was an oversupply of

housing and the liabilities for this company in one stage were $300 billion and Beijing cut off financial support.

It couldn't borrow anymore. It couldn't refinance. And that, you know, was the collapse of Evergrande, and of course, as you remember, many, many

other developers. It wasn't just Evergrande.

QUEST: So where what's the situation now? He's got -- he's been sentenced off. Time will tell about how much of that sentence is actually served. But

in terms of the overhang of debt in the Chinese property market, that hasn't gone away. That remains a big, hulking sore.

STEWART: You've got that as a big hulking sore. And you also have the issue of confidence in China. And arguably that's kind of been the biggest legacy

of this disastrous collapse of the property market. People were buying homes that didn't even exist, and still people were given homes that

weren't completed. There was a huge issue of confidence. It was interesting. I thought that Evergrande and its subsidiary were both fined I

think collectively over $2 billion as part of the sentencing today. Of course, they won't be able to pay it.

[16:35:01]

You know, they can't service the debts that they already have of $300 billion. So really that sentencing and these fines very much is sort of --

a sort of visible slap down from Beijing. And this was the only property developer, though, to actually get criminal charges brought. Many of the

others of course went bust as well, but haven't been dragged through the public court of opinion quite this much.

The founder was, you know, a very visible character. He was the richest man in Asia in 2017, according to Forbes. And he was really prominent within

the communist party so I think that's another reason we're seeing such a big sort of reaction, such a big sentencing here.

QUEST: Anna, I'm grateful. Anna Stewart, who's in London tonight. Thank you.

There are dozens and dozens of minerals you've probably never even heard of, but have become vital to the global economy. In just a moment my

conversation with the chairman of Sunrise Energy. It's a mining company that's in the race to find rare earth minerals. Explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And helium, and hafnium, and erbium, and phosphorous and francium, even fluorine and terbium, and manganese and molybdenum,

magnesium, dysprosium and scandium.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Now the periodic table was put to music by Tom Lehrer back in the 1959 to help students memorize it. Today, it's more important than ever to

know about some of the lesser known elements that have gained new significance as economies scramble to get their hands on so-called rare

earth minerals.

I've decided to break out my periodic table, first of all, bearing in mind I have no knowledge of sciences or these things. But anyway, let's take

number 21. There you have number 21, which is just in the top left there, which is uses -- which is scandium, which is used in a variety of different

things. It's used in -- it's used in spacecraft, it's used in semiconductors, sports equipment, and it's found in more than a dozen

countries, including the United States as well.

You've also got number 66 on that table, which would be dysprosium. You get the idea. I'm in some deep trouble here about knowing all these different

things in the periodic table. Well, a few years ago I actually visited a mine in Mongolia where many of these minerals of one sort or another are

dragged out of the earth, and that includes copper, gold and silver.

[16:40:08]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: This is the first time I've actually been in a real underground mine. And this is not just any old mine. This is a biggie. Look at the size

of this thing. One, two, three, four. There's room for 10 mini busses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: And that's all underground. So that mine was developed by Robert Friedland and his company is Sunrise Energy, and has secured a $400 million

loan from the U.S. government to mine and process scandium in Australia. He joined me from Singapore last night and he explained why this rare earth is

so important.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERT FRIEDLAND, CHAIRMAN, SUNRISE ENERGY: Scandium is one of those metals that are referred to as a rare earth, one of those metals you've never

heard of that we can't live without. If you've ever held an Apple phone or any other hand phone in your hand, there are more than 50 elements in there

using scandium. And as a miracle material, it's critical to space technologies, satellites, telecommunications and lightweighting in general

to green the world.

We need to make cars, airplanes and trains lighter so it turns aluminum into a super alloy, and therefore it's very important for the energy

transition. So it's a really amazing metal. One of the most important metals you've probably never heard of.

QUEST: And all these metals that I've never heard of they are all, in a sense, part of this great geostrategic political race to get your hands and

secure access to these metals for the future versus other countries, say, for example, obviously, like China.

FRIEDLAND: That's perfectly correct. Probably for the last 100 or 150 years, great powers fought wars primarily over oil. And now the world has

changed. The United States has plenty of hydrocarbon. In fact, we're a super power in hydrocarbon. But the critical metals are really central to

national security, as well as all efforts to green the world economy. And our very ability to talk to each other with myself here in Singapore at

4:45 in the morning and yourself on the other side of the world depends on these critical metals.

QUEST: Right. But this does -- I mean, the majority of current reservoirs of these metals are not easily located for, say, for example, the United

States and therefore we are setting ourselves up for, I mean, it's maybe overstating it to say conflict, but one is setting oneself up for an us and

them.

FRIEDLAND: In general, we have a balkanized world economy where every nation is beginning to worry about its own supply chain. As the world -- as

a perfectly integrated economy starts to break down into various groups, each group plays to its own strengths in a giant geopolitical chess game.

And the Strait of Hormuz is one example but there are many others. And if we're going to learn to live with each other, we're going to have something

that we each need and can trade. And that's unfortunately the great game that the world finds itself in. And critical metals are absolutely at the

center of this great game.

QUEST: How are we going to avoid a repeat of previous centuries where we dug the stuff out and sent it somewhere else for processing? You know the

argument well, which is that in many of these countries where these metals are the processing, the value added, how do we ensure they enjoy the

economic benefit, not just of the commodity price, but of the value added ability to transform?

FRIEDLAND: So, Richard, everything that we touch with our fingers, we either mined it or we grew it agriculturally. There's only two

alternatives. And the understanding of the supply chain is necessary for your -- everybody following this broadcast has to understand how complex

the modern world has become and how localized the production of a lot of these metals are. The United States has gone through a very long period of

sleepwalking where we deindustrialized a lot of what we produce.

We outsourced a lot of it. We bought Chinese goods at Walmart. We became dependent on China to manufacture. All the air pollution, went to China,

and they were criticized for creating pollution. But we bought cheap Chinese goods in the United States.

[16:45:03]

And now America wants to reindustrialize and develop some of these capabilities. And to some sense, all nations will have to develop their own

raw materials to the degree it's humanly possible, or barter through international trade with friendly countries.

QUEST: Fascinating.

FRIEDLAND: And that's exactly what is happening as we speak.

QUEST: Who's going to win?

FRIEDLAND: Poor Great Britain that doesn't have too much to mine. It's just an island and it's getting poorer. And parts of Europe are in danger of

just becoming Disneyland if they don't find the critical raw materials. China builds the incredible electric cars, it must make the German

automobile industry very nervous. And so we're going to see a reorientation and a tremendous emphasis on not only finding these critical materials, but

mining them and refining them at home.

The Japanese are redeveloping a military establishment. The two Koreas are rearming. Taiwan is becoming a big porcupine. China has a huge

remilitarization program that's enormous. The Europeans are getting nervous. America is proposing a 50 percent increase in the military budget

for next year. And the tragedy is that the metals we need to green the world economy, if you want to stop the production of global warming, yes,

are the same metals that are required for military applications. So these critical materials are exactly the way they're named. They're absolutely

critical.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: As we continue, the A.I. boom has upended San Francisco's housing market. In a moment, I'll be talking to a local real estate agent about the

city's soaring home prices.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: San Francisco is by far and away one of the most desirable destinations in the world. And yet despite all the glamor and the beauty of

the city on the hill, for the past few years, it has become a city of national urban decline, one that saw a huge rise in homelessness and petty

crime. It was almost described as unlivable. And then the A.I. companies arrived, OpenAI and Anthropic, and they all set up shop in the city.

[16:50:05]

In doing so, all of the employees are flooding into the housing market, and they are driving up the costs. So take a look at some of the examples. This

one, Midtown Terrace, 1500 square feet sold for more than $2 million. Noe Valley, 3700 feet. Rather glamorous this, $6.7 million. And then you go to

Coal Valley, 3,600 square feet. Beautiful property. It sold for $8.1 million.

John DiDomenico is a real estate agent at Compass and joins me now.

Is it all about A.I.?

JOHN DIDOMENICO, AGENT, COMPASS REAL ESTATE: Richard, thanks so much for having me. Great to be with you. Yes, it is about A.I.. We've got so many

buyers who have stock options that they are getting access to in equities and they are bringing huge amounts of cash into the marketplace. Our

inventory is on the low side. So we have a lot of well-heeled buyers stepping into the market here in San Francisco and bidding and overbidding

on the available inventory, especially the properties that show, well, single family homes in particular.

QUEST: Yes. How is this different to the Silicon Valley tech, if you will, money that came in in the '90s and noughties? Why is this different?

DIDOMENICO: Yes, it's a great question. The valuations of these companies, Anthropic and OpenAI, are eight times as much as Facebook, if you could

imagine that, over $800 billion each. And so when we say we have newly minted millionaires, and there's going to be about 10,000 of them, they

suggest, they are not just like a couple of million. Some of them have 100 million. That's very different during the dotcom explosion.

And so people are well-heeled and what we're seeing is we're seeing a lot more cash in the marketplace. We're not seeing as many nearly offers that

require financing. It's cash with quick close and the ability to frankly outbid each other.

QUEST: Fascinating part is, of course, the tech lot, the tech bros, they didn't necessarily want to live downtown San Francisco. They liked, if you

will, the valley, the rural and even further up towards Washington state. This lot want to be right downtown, right in the heart of the city.

DIDOMENICO: That's exactly right. They love the neighborhoods and the amenities and the coffee shops, the restaurants, closeness to outdoor

components. But downtown, there are companies that are incenting their employees that if they rent within, say, or buy within a half mile of the

office, they're going to give them additional financial incentives.

QUEST: Right. So here's the tricky bit for you because, yes, you're selling property, you get good commissions and at the same time, you want to ensure

a nice balance of people living in any areas. And you've got your own love of the areas yourself. What would you like to see happen to some extent to

protect against this wall of money accepting that you are in the business of making commission on selling these properties?

DIDOMENICO: Yes. Yes, it's a really good question. We're lucky in some of the neighborhoods, Richard, to have a really nice mix across all age groups

now with families and elders and people just getting started in real estate, young couples, et cetera. But you're right, it creates a quandary

as to are we going to be -- is there going to be a tidal wave of new owners in each neighborhood?

QUEST: What can be done? What do you think can be done? Because at some point, I mean, it's very difficult for the city council to step in. I

suppose you could put in zoning restrictions. I suppose you could look at state taxation, increasing taxation on those properties. But at the end of

the day, there's no easy answer here.

DIDOMENICO: No, that's right. This is a definite gold rush in San Francisco. One element that people may not know is that, look, in San

Francisco, it's only seven miles wide by seven long.

[16:55:00]

There's a finite number of homes and a finite number of condominiums. And so, you know, I think we sell maybe 5,000 or 6,000 or 7,000 units per year.

And I think that will keep the penetration more modest.

QUEST: But it will still be there. But funnily enough, talking of which, my sister came back from San Francisco this morning where they were visiting

their children who live out in Presidio, and they said exactly that. They said it was -- their kids simply cannot afford to live in downtown because

the A.I. money is moving in. It's quite worrying.

DIDOMENICO: It's really intense. Even the rents are up 20 percent in the last 12 months. The values, which were pretty significant and high last

year are up 25 percent since last July 2025. We're starting to see a little spillover into particular neighborhoods of Marin and the peninsula just

south of us. But people want to be in San Francisco.

QUEST: And not surprisingly. I look forward to having a cup of coffee with you when I'm next there. Thank you, sir, for joining us.

And we will take our "Profitable Moment" after the break. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. Good evening to you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Tonight's "Profitable Moment," let me take you inside the internal discussions of the QUEST MEANS BUSINESS team.

I wanted to talk now about Harry and Meghan returning back to the U.K. and my producer said all of this that we've had on tonight's program and you

want to talk about that tittle tattle? And he's right. So let's talk Moderna and what the chairman of Moderna told us tonight that it was a

COVID moment when they announced this new oncology vaccine that's going to dramatically improve the chances of many people, when combined with the

Merck couture medication.

Because what he also said in our interview tonight was that he believes that this can all be done at a cost that people will be able to, or that

health services will be able to afford. Remember, these are individual oncology treatments specifically tailored to you. Can we afford them? There

is no possibility of reality of this going forward if at the end of the day, it's the rich who get it and the poor who don't.

Maybe at the beginning that's the way it happens. But hopefully longer term, these have to be benefits for everyone exactly as the Moderna vaccine

was those years ago.

And so, Ronan, you were right. We'll do Harry and Meghan another day. That's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for you tonight. Thanks for your company.

Whatever you're up to, I hope it's profitable. You and me tomorrow.

END