Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend - October 17th, 2025

26:18You know, we've got wonderful, you know, waist up product to think trucker jackets, think linen shirts, et cetera, et cetera. And so as a company, we're making this pivot to be more of a denim lifestyle retailer going forward. Our past was all about denim. Our future is going to be about denim lifestyle. I just want to know, do you really have a pair of baggy barrel jeans? I can't get my head around them. I'm trying. I'm trying. I'm just I haven't done it. I haven't done it. Harmeet, what I do want to ask you, too, is you guys have had kind of a mission, a goal to get to 10 billion in sales by 2027.

26:56I think you may have adjusted a little bit. I think also a 15 percent EBIT margin. Could you reach 15 percent in the next few years, even if sales have not hit that 10 billion? You know, talk to us a little bit about that mission. Yeah, no. You know, we gave out the expectation of 10 billion and 15 percent on our investor day in the middle of June 2022. Since then, you know, there's been a lot of change and a lot of uncertainty. As a company, we have kind of, you know, navigated our way through uncertainty. We haven't given a new date on the 10 billion and the 15 percent. Our thinking is we'll probably do that sometime next year.

27:39But to your question, the company that we are building and the company that has got the foundation given where we're ending this year. So you take 2025, we'll end at about 6 percent organic growth. Last year it was 3%. The year before that it was flat. You were thinking EBIT margins, this year we'll end about mid-11s. Last year it was in the mid-10s. The previous year it was about 9. So we've seen a steady progress. And our view is we probably get to the 15 % faster than we get to the 10 billion. But really a company that is steadily delivering mid-single-digit growth in a category that probably grows a little south of that.

28:24So our view is that we are market leaders now in the U.S., number one in men's, number one in women's, and really resonating with the youth. And so the question is, if you're able to stay at, you know, and implement our strategies, our view is we can continue to be a market leader and probably pick up a little bit of share, especially because the denim category is accelerating. We have seen the acceleration in the U.S. We've seen the acceleration outside. And that's largely driven by the world becoming more casual. Yeah, I have more jeans in my wardrobe than I've ever had in like since high school.

29:00Like it's really kind of wild. Anyway, Bailey, I know you've got another question. I was just going to ask, in terms of geographic expansion, when you think about China, what's going on with China? And also, what products do the Chinese consumers want? Is it that high-end good or is it more of a bargain purchase? So China for us is still underpenetrated. China represents about 2 % or 3 % of our business. Our business in China has been slow and soft. The Chinese consumer right now is going through a bit of a macro uncertain climate. But the good news for us is they love the brand. Brand equity scores are really solid.

29:44We think China can be a business that grows double digit over the long term. But to your specific question, the Chinese consumer is fairly discerning on the brands he or she gravitate to. There is a high-end consumer as well as a consumer that lies, the mid-market consumer. What we call the core product, so if you think about our Asia strategy, we really, you know, our products are relevant for the mid-market consumer while we also offer products for the higher premium end consumer. 30 % of the Asian denim category is premium. and, you know, premium, for example, our highest pinnacle product is largely Japanese, you know, fabric, Japanese denim and inspired by selvedge.

30:36And so that's what we are selling. And I think over time, we'll be able to start growing our China business back in the low double digit range. Yeah, interesting, Seth. I will say, Carol, I know you mentioned you have more jeans than ever. I have been buying the Sherpa jackets, the denim jackets like crazy. I don't know why. I have three of them in different colors. I've bought a bunch of denim jackets too. But that's what I'm in. I don't wear jeans. I wear chinos, but I wear the denim jackets like crazy. I know. I just, I don't know. I love it. I love it. That's like everybody I work. I walk in with jeans every morning.

31:07Yeah, and Bailey and Carol. Now we've got the blue tab. It's full of jacket. You can definitely wear it to office depending on the dress environment at Bloomberg. I walked in here fairly casual. So, you know, it's something that we are now beginning to offer. We should make your wardrobe at some stage. Our thanks to Harmeet Singh, Chief Financial and Growth Officer at Levi Strauss, Bloomberg Senior Equities Reporter Bailey Lipschultz joining me there as well. Coming up on Bloomberg Businessweek, more from the C-suite and another clue on the U.S. economy amid a lack of government data. The CEO of industrial supplier, Fasinal, weighs in.

31:48That's coming up. This is Bloomberg. This is the Bloomberg Business Week Daily Podcast. Listen live each weekday starting at 2 p.m. Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station. Just say, Alexa, play Bloomberg 1130. Well, earlier we talked about logistical real estate, you know, warehouses and such. And now we're talking about another essential part of the U.S. economy, industrial suppliers, which are often a bellwether for how companies are dealing with shocks to the supply chain or tariffs.

32:24Earlier this week, Fastenal reported third quarter earnings per share and operating income that were slightly below expectations. Analysts note that pricing during the quarter was weaker than expected and marks the second straight quarter of soft pricing. Bloomberg's David Gore and I spoke with Daniel Flournis. He's CEO of Fastenal. We talked about how his company is handling tariffs and pricing concerns for the company's customers. We had a really good quarter. We had a double-digit quarter. We hadn't seen that for a couple years. Double-digit growth, sorry. And pleased with the outcome. One of the challenges we had this year was there's a lot of fluidity around tariffs and what it means for pricing.

33:07And we will raise price to address costs in our customer supply chain. We really don't want to raise more than that because we believe it impairs our ability to grow as fast as we'd like. And, you know, coming into the quarter, we estimated, you know, X for impact of pricing came in a little bit less. We lowered our number for the fourth quarter. But the most important aspect is on a price cost basis, we are neutral. And that's what we aspire to be. We'd rather just grow. Just one more question on pricing in terms of expectations. Would you want to raise pricing? Do you get the sense that consumers and customers would push back just given how you've been shifting into bigger customers spending much more money?

33:53Yeah. Customers always push back on pricing. It doesn't matter the size customer. We are having conversations with our customer. We will be doing some price increases in Q4. I suspect we'll be doing some price increases as we move into 2026. But again, our first discussion with the customer, they understand it. They're willing to move on price. Our first discussion is always, what are alternatives to this product that maybe doesn't mean we have to raise your prices 5%. Maybe it means it only has to be 2%. And we'd rather go to 2 % because that's what a supply chain partner does. Well, Dan, how do tariffs fit into this?

34:34Just given that, according to analysts across the street, when we look at certain industries, now is when we're going to see tariffs showing up in the third quarter in guidance as it relates to 2026. What are you seeing and how are you kind of attacking or addressing any pressures from tariffs? Yeah. So for us, tariffs have been in the equation since the early part of the second quarter, a little bit of the first quarter. I think in the individual that handles pricing, historically, he will provide us an update once a month. He'd gotten to the point where he was not only providing us updates. He was up to video number 14 as of July that he was serving out to the field, giving them guidance into what we were seeing in our supply chain.

35:19And so we've been adding price as we've gone through the year, and these have been discussions with customers. And I hope that answers your question. No, I think it does. But I think the big thing is, are you mitigating the impact of tariffs? Are you shifting your supply chain? Is the expectation that you can have some kind of knock-on effect as it relates to pricing if we do continue to see threats from the president going after countries like China or others? So how is that impacting when you look at your supply chain and when you look at the potential for pricing impacts in 2026? We've been moving supply chain around the planet in earnest since 2017, 2018 timeframe.

36:01As our name would imply, we sell a lot of fasters. And most of the fasters in North America come from either mainland China or Taiwan. And the automotive industry took the production there back in the 50s and 60s, actually took it to Japan and South Korea, and it migrated from there. If I look at our resources, we now have a sourcing team in Shanghai, but we have a sourcing team in Bangkok. We have a sourcing team in northern India, and we have worked to diversify our supplier base around the planet and a little bit more in North America, but really around the planet. So to have diversity in supply so you're not caught off guard by some price change or a tariff change.

36:48In addition to that, we've taken supply chains coming into North America, which traditionally came in through the West Coast of the United States, and then we would redistribute from there. We have moved supply chains, so they're bringing product directly into the West Coast of Canada or the West Coast of Mexico, because those two countries represent about 14 % of our revenue. Now, you bypass the tariff. However, it's more expensive to break shipments down over in Asia and bring them in. But it's a lot less than a tariff. One of the things I want to ask you, you know, you talk about supply chains.

37:22Is the endgame, is it about largely reducing your exposure to China, which has been a pretty big one? It's reducing our customers' exposure to any market, in this case, China and or Taiwan, but to any market that are on the receiving end of some of the political wins and create an unstable supply base for our customer. Here it happens to be China. Another month, it might be a different country. Another year, it might be a different country. It's diversifying your supply chain so your inks are not all in one basket. Got to be ready. That's for our customer. Yeah, whichever way the winds blow. Hey, one of the things I want to ask you just big broadly, the earnings update today, you talked about the industrial environment still sluggish.

38:06We've heard similar commentary. on this persistent sluggishness elsewhere from manufacturers, as well as caution around project delays. At what point does this become something more worrying than just sluggishness? For us, it's been sluggish since November of 2022. We really key on what the Institute for Supply Management puts out the PMI index. And that's been sub 50, which really plays into our customer base. Other than January and February of this year, that's been sub 50 since November of 2022. So we've been in a sluggish economy for a long time from our perspective. And other than living through the first part of it where you had customers that were downshifting, what reason our growth is shining through in a different way, A, I think we're executing at a higher level, but B, once you get through that downshifting, now you're just, even if your customers are at a subdued level, you can grow in that kind of environment.

39:07And that's what's shining through in our numbers right now. All right. One thing I want to ask you, because as you would imagine, I don't know how much of this is pervasive in your world, but AI is like the nonstop conversation that we are having, certainly when it comes to activity and market impact. To what extent is AI maybe sucking up the oxygen in the economy? Are you seeing any signs of that or your world, they're going to still need what you guys supply, no matter what's going on with the AI spend and enthusiasm? Well, first off, we have a lot of, we have a meaningful improvement in our revenue as it relates to things like data centers, because we sell into a wide range of customer needs and end market needs, whether that is the actual construction.

39:51I visited many data centers being built where we have people on site there. After it's built, we're supplying into that facility with things like air handling and maintenance equipment. In the case of a customers that sell into that sector, that's actually a strong business for us right now. And then as an organization, we're increasingly making use of AI in our own business and how we go to market and how we help our employees be more efficient in what they do. And Dan, about 45 seconds here. With keeping in mind data center construction, where are those products sourced from? Are those also heavily sourced from China and exposed to tariffs, or are they different supply chain altogether?

40:33You know, it's mostly a different supply source, but it depends on the component. If it's facility maintenance type products, they're coming from anywhere on the globe. And so they're subject to the same type of issues any product would have. But a lot of the components, I know a lot of the manufacturers that we sell into, I visited one about a year ago in Michigan, where they were purposely avoiding China, and they're selling directly into the data centers. You've been at Fastenal for a long time. You've seen different cycles. How do you describe this one? And again, just got about 20 seconds, if you could be very quickly, very quick.

41:11Oh, odd in the fact that, you know, similar to what we saw in 18, but odd with the fact of it's just so damn fluid. And there's so many things that occur from week to week, month to month that are outside the norm. But the fundamentals still work. That was Daniel Flournis, CEO of Fastenal, joining us from Minnesota, along with Bloomberg News correspondent and host of the Bloomberg Big Take, David Gora. By the way, this past week, Bank of America removed Fastenal from its US1 list, which represents the bank's best investment ideas. B of A also lowered its price target on the stock to$48 from$49 a share, but kept its buy rating on the stock.

41:50Meantime, Barclays also lowered its price target to$45 from$49 a share. That wraps up our first hour of the weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio. Ahead in the next 60 minutes, a government shutdown, chronic crime and more. how the mayor of Baltimore is managing. We go and we identify those who are most likely to be the victim or perpetrator of gun violence, and we focus on them. We give them opportunities to change their life, and if not, we remove them via law enforcement. And that's how we're driving down violence. We're focusing on guns and the flow of guns into our city, going at the gun traffickers, those who are using guns, arresting them at my direction with the police department, turning them over to our state's attorney and our attorney general.

42:30Also, sideways inheritances and the transfer of money, wealth, and influence from men to women. Women, as you say, they do things differently, right? And they want to do things differently. And oftentimes when they're getting a hold of this wealth, right? When wealth is passing to them, either through their parents and family or through their spouses, they want to do it differently. They want to be served differently. 70 % of women leave their husband's financial advisor after a divorce or a death within one year. Plus, the culinary producer behind all the food action in the Emmy Award winning hit, The Bear, and the youngest female self-made billionaire in the world.

43:06That's all ahead. This is Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Carol Masser.

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47:00You're listening to the Bloomberg Business Week Daily Podcast. Catch us live weekday afternoons from 2 to 5 p.m. Eastern. Listen on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app. Or watch us live on YouTube. We're back here on Bloomberg Business Week. Tim is off this week, but we've got plenty ahead in this second hour of our weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week, including the mayor of Baltimore on how he is fighting gun violence in his city. Then the great transfer of wealth, sideways inheritances, the feminization of wealth, whatever you might call it, women are increasingly in charge when it comes to money, power, and influence.

47:38Also, we've got two of Bloomberg Businessweek's screen time ones to watch, the chef and the culinary producer behind the Emmy Award-winning hit The Bear, and then the youngest female self-made billionaire in the world and what she's doing with passes. We begin, though, with a view from the ground up, and that's why we always, always love talking to mayors around the country. They are the ones on the ground in cities and towns across the United States, making the decisions that affect the lives of people in their communities and hearing from people in their communities. Now cities are especially in the spotlight as President Trump slams many of the United States' major cities and threatens to send in the National Guard, a policy that has faced resistance from Democratic governors, mayors, and some federal judges.

48:22Tim and I spoke with Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott about how he is tackling crime in his city without the National Guard and how his residents are doing amid the government shutdown. Well, there's a lot of my constituents on unease, right? When you're thinking about over 12 ,000 Baltimoreans work for the federal government, even directly or on contract. And then when you think about what that's going to mean for them and their families, they're just not at ease right now. And folks want to go to work. They want their government to be working. And of course, then all our residents who depend on programming and things that are just going to be out there that may not be having a direct impact as of yet by the shutdown, but as it continues and goes on, it would be.

49:05What do you consider your biggest problem in running this city? I mean, Baltimore, you know, we've reported about it a lot. It is the fourth most dangerous, according to U.S. News & World Report, this summer ranking Baltimore the fourth most dangerous city in the country, behind Memphis, Oakland, and St. Louis. Based on FBI data, they look at property crime, They look at murders per capita. But what are you as mayor? I'm sure there's a lot that's on your plate. What's top of mind? Well, listen, violence is always top of mind. It's the reason why I got into office. And we understand that we have a long way to go.

49:37But I know you guys know here at Bloomberg Radio the many years that we were number one on that list. And as you and I are talking today, I think it's the mode and the conversation around Baltimore and violence has shifted significantly. We have the fewest amount of homicides through any October 7th on record today. That is a big change. When I said in 2021, laying out our comprehensive violence prevention plan that we were going to reduce homicide by 15 percent from one year to the next, people literally laughed. Right now it's down 30 percent from last year, and last year was a record reduction for us.

50:11We're going to continue that. How did you do it? We did it throughout our comprehensive plan. Which is what? Which is a bunch of things. One, first and foremost, we go and we identify those who are most likely to be the victim or perpetrator of gun violence, and we focus on them. We give them opportunities to change their life. And if not, we remove them via law enforcement. And that's how we're driving down violence. We're focusing on guns and the flow of guns into our city, going at the gun traffickers, those who are using guns, having arresting them at my direction with the police department, turning them over to our state's attorney and our attorney general.

50:42We have historic levels of investment into community violence intervention, where we have people who used to be on the other side of the law going out and preventing conflicts from escalating into violence. All of it. We're going after gun manufacturers. So people who understand where the problems are. And you're pulling them in to help you get at the problem. Pulling them in. They were the problem. And now they're part of the solution. And what better way to do that? How do you get those people to do that? Well, easy. First and foremost, many people who have made that mistake don't want people coming behind them to make that.

51:10And they know that we're growing this network of community violence intervention workers in our city. So the word is out that we want to give people a second chance to be a part of solving a problem that they once were causing. The city, though, in the crosshairs of the president, he called it a hellhole last month. You and Governor Westmore said that law enforcement from the state will patrol some areas. Has that begun? Yeah, that's begun. And the governor is actually restarting something that was ended by his predecessor. Think about it like this. You would not find any other state police department in any state in this country not operating at all in his only major city.

51:47That's Baltimore City was the only jurisdiction in Maryland that Maryland State Police did not operate in. The governor's restarting that. We're grateful for that support and to continue that work. Are you open to the president sending National Guard troops to the city? No, we've been very clear about that. Why not? We know how to reduce violence in Baltimore. We have reduced violence to its lowest levels ever recorded on record, even lower than the president's first term. The way that we have done it in partnership with our community, with our police department, with our state's attorney, our attorney general, and our federal law enforcement partners who work beside us each and every day.

52:21That's how we should continue that work. If the president wants to help us, he should restore grants and funding that was cut to organizations that help in that, restore grants. I mean, funding cut from the law enforcement agency. This president has had the biggest reduction in funding for federal law enforcement agencies. They should be restoring. What funding are you not getting as a result? So for us, we have not been directly impacted as of yet. It's our partner organizations like, for example, LifeBridge Helps that runs the Center for Hope that's a part of our CVI network that has programming around CVI's community violence intervention.

52:54They lost a$500 ,000 grant. The same thing for living classrooms. That's big work that is going to be not happening, whether it be a hospital-based response, a community-based responders. We need a victim assistance for young people, getting those young people the services they need. That helps to prevent violence as well. What will you do, though, if the president sends troops to the city? Well, listen, we'll be prepared to take whatever action that we can, be it legal or others, alongside our governor and our team, based on when, what, and how the president does something, if he does anything.

53:26But what we hope the president does is to continue to support those agents that are already working in our city and let them do their work and let the law enforcement partnership that has driven us results this far carry us all the way. But even though crime has improved, even though you shared statistics that show they're the best that they've ever been, like Carol mentioned, your city is still on a list that you don't want to be on. So what would you say to people out there who are saying, well, I would feel more comfortable if there were an increased law enforcement presence, and that could include federal troops.

54:01Well, we had the National Guard in Baltimore in 2015 following the unrest of Freddie Gray. It's one of the most violent years ever. It didn't help, right? We have to remember this is not what those folks sign up to do. Allow those folks who sign up to go after a gun traffickers, murderers, robbers, carjackers to do their work and allow the other people to do their work. And listen, there are other lists. You know, there are many of these lists. We were on some lists on some lists we weren't on. The list that we want to be on is the list of who has the largest reductions. And you will be hard pressed to find a city in this country that's had a sustainable long term reduction like Baltimore's had from September of 2022.

54:40I mean, 2023 until now. What do you see as what's wrong with politics today? What do you think is wrong with what some say is the Democratic Party not very clear in its mission and kind of stepping up? Well, very simply, I think that when I ask you because I think there's a lot of forgive me. But there's a lot of folks who think there are politicians who've become career politicians and things haven't changed and we need some change. Well, I think that what folks have to understand is that for me, and I say this about the Democratic Party all the time, more recently, they have to let the folks that are closest to the problem be out front and part of the solution, meaning they need to listen to mayors.

55:17Mayors are the ones that have to solve the problems. The mayors are the ones that have to meet the people in the grocery store. And we've proven in city after city after city, we know how to drive down crime. And you have to talk to people where they are. We have to get out of being up in the sky with pie in the sky, talk to people in real sense, real things that impact them and explain to them how these things are going to make their communities better. How long do you want to be mayor? I want to be mayor for as long as the residents of Baltimore will have me. This will be my second term. Believe it or not, I've been in elected office since 2011.

55:47And this is I've been in city hall since 2007. And you're a young man right now. Yes, a youngish man. I'm 41. I'll be 42 on my birthday. But this is about making my city better. I got into this service because I saw someone get shot at seven years old and no one cared. And wanting to drive down that violence, to have vacant housing be at its lowest point in my lifetime in Baltimore is something we're proud of. But we're not celebrating. We have a lot of work to do, and we're going to do it. The reason I go back there is I do think we talk about this in media, that there isn't a lot of local publications anymore.

56:21A lot of newspapers have shut down. And so we get kind of the high in the. Yeah, we don't need that. We get that view, but we don't. This is why we love talking to mayors. But often people are mayors and then they move up and they go to governor and then they go to Congress and stuff. So I'm just curious, how long do you want to stay on that local level? Well, everyone knows the end game. Everyone knows I don't want to be governor. Yeah. And everyone in Baltimore knows that I'll be quite OK if being the mayor of Baltimore is the last elected office I've had. This is my dream job as a child. I will hold it as long as the residents of Baltimore will allow me to do so.

56:52And as long as I'm living within term limits. Before we let you go, because you have a train to catch to get home. Yes. And we want to be respectful of your time. The attracting and retaining business to the city. We know that's a way economic development is a way to improve cities. What are you doing right now to say Baltimore is open for business? Yeah, I think that we have to understand we had a four billion dollars of investment into Baltimore. We have seven billion dollars investment coming to downtown Baltimore, whether it's T. Rowe Price's new headquarters or Under Armour's new headquarters.

57:20Everyone knows throughout downtown Rise Plan, we are open for business in the city of Baltimore, reforming our permit process and reforming our zoning code. All the things that we need to do to help grow business in Baltimore, especially in the tech and life sciences industry that is taking off out of Hopkins and out of the University of Maryland. putting a lot of money and a lot of tech businesses out into the e-film. Any signs that we're headed towards a recession? Well, we'll see. We know that with terrorists and all the other things going, we just have to all be mindful of what's happening and prepare.

57:53As we're doing our budgets, I've been talking to my brother and sister mayors to make sure that we're being responsible right now because we do not know yet what is to come. That was Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott. You're listening to Bloomberg Businessweek. Coming up, how women are joining the billionaire ranks. The majority of them were actually moderate to aggressive because they saw the power of not just gaining wealth through working or through transition, but actually gaining wealth through the capital markets, right? Investing in items that will, and securities and portfolios that will actually help them grow their portfolio.

58:24Private markets is a great example. Again, for a financial advisor to play that role and help and coach and guide a woman and how she thinks about her portfolio across public and private. You know, women oftentimes want to. This is Bloomberg. This is the Bloomberg Business Week Daily Podcast. Listen live each weekday starting at 2 p.m. Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station. Just say, Alexa, play Bloomberg 1130. Wall Street is experiencing a new type of wealth transfer. More than a dozen women in the world's 500 richest people have become billionaires after the death of a spouse.

59:07That's the highest number ever. These so-called sideways inheritances are increasingly shaping global business as women take over huge empires, from finance to consumer goods and gambling. Today, those women oversee record fortunes totaling$365 billion, roughly tripling since 2016, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The changes are creating huge implications for how vast sums are invested. Bloomberg's Matt Miller and I spoke with Jamie Magiera. She's head of U.S. Wealth Advisory and head of retirement at BlackRock. It's the world's largest fund manager, which notched a record$13.5 trillion in assets.

59:47BlackRock reporting earnings this past week, so we got an update on that number. We talked with Jamie, though, about the ways women are reshaping the investment industry. You know, we are talking about the environment generally, so let's start there. I know we did that over the summer when we talked because BlackRock just sees so much in terms of the funds it oversees and the flows. And the flows continue to grow, but that doesn't mean the flows are always going in the same places. What can you give us insight in terms of where money is going and where money is going out of? Yeah, so first of all, excellent to be here.

1:00:18And you started by talking about flows. I'm going to take a gender perspective on flows. Yeah. And talk to you a little bit about where we see money going globally with women. And so women more and more are earning wealth. They're acquiring wealth. They're owning wealth. They're playing a larger role in capital markets. They are investing and benefiting from these capital markets. And we think there's no better sign of hope in the future than having people invest and grow along the capital markets. Is it because they're earning it themselves and they're having some say? Or is it also in terms of couples, because they are often breadwinners as well, that they also have a say at the table?

1:00:53Yeah, so it's both, right? So when you think about women, women are more often now becoming breadwinners, primary breadwinners quite often. They're also contributing to household along with their spouses. They're earning more money, but they're also acquiring. And you mentioned the wealth transfer. We think about that in two ways. There's the intergenerational wealth transfer where they're gaining assets maybe from their parents as they pass away. But the more interesting one is this horizontal transfer. right so if a spouse um passes away or if if there's a divorce women are acquiring assets in that way and they need financial advisors to help they're reshaping the industry and women have just not been served um in the way they need to be served in the past think about that right with melinda gates we think about it with uh you know jeff bezos no one died in the gates no but i'm just saying there was a big divorce and all of a sudden you had significant players certainly in wealth overall, but also in philanthropy.

1:01:46Yes, yes. Actually, Cerulli estimates that globally, $124 trillion will change hands in this silver tsunami. And then their current forecasts are that$54 trillion will be passed to spouses first before it goes down another generation. So 40 % of those spousal transfers will be to women. So this is what Sally Krawcheck calls the feminization of wealth. And the idea is that when, or the important idea, I think, here for you, for your industry, is that when women get hold of this money, they often don't stick with their same wealth managers. They often say, you know what, I'm going to go with someone else now.

1:02:29So what do you do if you want to get hold of a piece of that pie? Yeah, so maybe I might even just dimensionalize what you mentioned, because I think about it in percentages. So today, let's call it women responsible and controlling 30 % of the world's wealth. That will be 50 % by 2030. That will be 70 % by 2070. So these are big numbers. Big numbers. And women, as you say, they do things differently, right? And they want to do things differently. And oftentimes when they're getting a hold of this wealth, right? When wealth is passing to them, either through their parents and family or through their spouses, they want to do it differently.

1:03:02They want to be served differently. 70 % of women leave their husband's financial advisor after a divorce or a death within one year. 70%. Why is that? Because they oftentimes felt not heard, not part of the conversation, not at the table and making decisions. You know, there's a lot of misconceptions around women, right? People think women aren't engaged with finances. It's just not true. A third of U.S. households have women as the primary financial decision maker. People think women or call women perhaps a bit risk averse. Well, that's what I wanted to ask you. Are women risk averse? Like, give me an idea when they, were you talking about investments?

1:03:40I mean, we've been thinking about the AI trade or private assets. Are they risk averse? So we did a study to make generalizations, but I'm curious if there are. So, okay. So not a monolith, right? Women are very different. All my friends are different than me. We all do different things and need different things. But generally speaking, we did a study with 2 ,500 female investors. When we talked to them about their risk tolerance, the majority of them were actually moderate to aggressive because they saw the power of not just gaining wealth through working or through transition, but actually gaining wealth through the capital markets, right?

1:04:14Investing in items that will, and securities and portfolios that will actually help them grow their portfolio. Private markets is a great example. Again, for a financial advisor to play that role and help and coach and guide a woman in how she thinks about her portfolio across public and private. Last time we were together, we talked about direct indexing and the role of taxes or, you know, women oftentimes want to. You're laughing. Gets me excited, direct indexing. Yeah, I love it. You know what? I anchored the ETF show for a long time. That's a big part of that discussion as well. You know what?

1:04:46It's not just women. Obviously, kids are going to get hold of a lot of this money. And I think I'm not sure about women, but I know with younger people, they want to do more impact investing than their parents did or their grandparents did. So is that also a key to try? Because I'm thinking from the perspective of a wealth manager who wants more business. So what I need to do is say, hey, I can I can set up some direct indexing for you and I can help you make an impact with the money you invest. It's not just to make more money. You're also going to change some part of the world that you want to.

1:05:19Is that the case? It is. And I like to use the word purpose because actually impact has many different meanings. And so if I'm a financial advisor and I'm working with a younger client or a woman, I'm going to be talking to them. by the way, men too, right? It's not just about the impact you're having. You could invest in a way that maybe aligns with your values. Maybe you have certain values that are important to you to hold in that portfolio. I love motorcycles, so I would want to buy Ducati stock. But, you know, I often wonder about that because, you know, if you care about the environment, but if an investment doesn't pay, are people doing that because they believe in it, but it may not return as much as something else?

1:05:59I'm going to give you an answer that will be terribly unfulfilling. It depends. Okay. Right? So there are people, and by the way, let's step away from the portfolio for a moment and say, what about philanthropy? This is where I come back to purpose, right? People are looking to put their money to good cause. And that might be philanthropic. It might be impact in their portfolio. It might be aligning with the values I have. It might also be sending my children to school or helping my elderly parents. Right. Or starting a new business, right? How about that for purpose? Or shielding your money from taxes, right?

1:06:28I mean, I guess I'd be willing to take somewhat of a loss by putting my money into a philanthropic vehicle, especially if it's compared to a much bigger loss by giving it away to Uncle Sam and state and local and federal taxes. And again, that's where you don't look at things in a vacuum. You have to look at them right overall. Holistic wealth planning. And again, the role of a financial advisor is critical there. I've got to ask you just in general, when you look at this environment, and we talk a lot about a bubble right now, I don't know, what is your take on it? What are the conversations you're having with clients about how they feel about it?

1:07:05Are they a little nervous about that trade? We talk to clients, advisors, end clients, institutions globally all the time. Look, the markets are the markets, and there are long-term investors that need to just keep staying with the markets. we talk about it's not timing the markets, it's time in the markets. The other thing, though, is you just have to acknowledge that there's uncertainty out there, right? There is volatility. There are things going on in the markets that, again, everyday people, let's take it to America and Americans, everyday people need professional advice. They need someone they can trust that will help them navigate that through professionally managed solutions or through advice.

1:07:44But there is uncertainty out there. But again, we come back to it's time in the market, not timing the market. 20 seconds, Jamie. I mean, are more people feeling comfortable putting money to work? Are they after kind of a nice bounce from the April lows? Or they're like, I'm good. I'm done. I want to be a little bit more conservative. Just quickly. No, we are seeing flows into portfolios in ways that are across. As I said, BlackRock was up a trillion dollars since the summer we talked. We are having the best conversations we have ever been having with financial advisors, institutions and wealth managers across the world.

1:08:17People are very interested. That was Jamie Magiera, head of U.S. Wealth Advisory and head of retirement over at BlackRock. Bloomberg's Matt Miller joining us as well there too. Still ahead on Bloomberg Business Week, a recipe for success when it comes to storytelling. We've got the chef and culinary producer of the Emmy Award winning FX hit, The Bear. There is so much camaraderie, chemistry, teamwork in kitchens that gets you coming back every day. I learn so much about who I am as an individual by the challenge of running restaurants, line cooking. Not only do I develop my skills as an actual chef, but I think as a person, I've learned so much from every single person that I've been in a kitchen with.

1:09:00And exclusive access to influencers without the nudity. It's the latest venture from the youngest female self-made billionaire in the world. Anyone can make money. It's more so like the amount of people that are willing to put in the time to make the content, right? It's kind of just like how many people are willing to work hard to make that income. And when you just look like really every career on this planet, there's a limited amount of people willing to put in the effort. And we see that the people that are willing to put in the effort to like churn out content are the ones succeeding. More of our favorite conversations at this month's Screen Time event, they're coming up next when Bloomberg Business Week continues.

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1:13:21the business. Let's create smarter business. IBM. You're listening to the Bloomberg Business Week Daily Podcast. Catch us live weekday afternoons from 2 to 5 p.m. Eastern. Listen on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app or watch us live on YouTube. So we wanted to wrap up this hour by bringing back some of our favorite conversations from this month's Bloomberg Screentime event held recently in Hollywood, California. And that brings us to a chef and a culinary producer of the Emmy Award-winning hit FX show, The Bear. She is on Bloomberg Business Week's Screentime Ones to Watch list.

1:13:58She is Courtney Storer, and she sat down with Tim and me to talk about her world. Culinary producer deals with kind of macro and micro issues of the show. So I work very closely with Christopher, who is the creator of The Bear, also my brother, and then, you know, the writing team. And I kind of help inform some of the character development based on my own personal experience. And then every day on the show, I'm there. I do work hand-in-hand with my culinary team, and we do all the food. We cook it. We don't have food stylists, so everything you see on the show, we run it like an actual restaurant, so we have a full team.

1:14:37But I'm also there to help sort of work with, you know, the film department, set decoration, props, to make sure we are as accurate as possible. And it kind of, I wear a lot of different hats. So wherever they need me, I go. But I definitely use the script to inform the direction of the food. And then I'm responsible to work with the cast to kind of bring those things to life. And as you see on the show, these actors are actually cooking. So we don't use hand doubles. Like, they're doing it. There are such a thing as hand doubles in cooking. Of course, yes. All right. So, okay. First of all, it's like the food is, I mean, I don't want to say it because the actors on the show are incredible.

1:15:16But it's like the main actor. So how hard is it to do what you do? It's actually, it's challenging, but it's very fun because I'm coming from the real restaurant world. I'm a chef. You know, I've been a chef here in Los Angeles for many years. I've been in the restaurant world forever. And I think bringing these things to life takes a lot of, like, information of all the restaurants that I've been in. And then doing it on camera and then having it not only look great, but time and temperature sensitive wise, we shoot very, very fast. So it really is a team effort to be like, this is the end dish and getting everybody in the loop of how and when to shoot it.

1:15:54When it looks perfect. You don't want things melting or mushing or like, right? Yeah. So you have this background as a chef. You have a background in culinary training. Yes. Maddie Matheson, of course, is an actual chef. Jeremy Allen White did go to a couple of weeks of culinary school. Yeah, Io did too. Yes. Io went. Liza went. They all spent time with me directly here in Los Angeles in my kitchen, my catering kitchen, where we trained to work on some specifics for the show that would be done on camera. As you see, you know, Tina's character, she's, you know, filleting Bronzino in culinary school and she's left handed.

1:16:31So how we filmed that scene and how she had to practice that scene. It's like we have to actually apply these skills so that they read on camera. and it's been so helpful for their own journey to actually experience culinary school, working with chefs, staging in restaurants, and then actually doing it on camera really helps them get it right. What were they like in the beginning? Was it like... I think everyone... Was it a little crazy? I mean, Io is very... She loves food. So I feel like Jeremy, Io, Lionel, Liza, they all have passion for food. So that helps. And they were eager to get it right.

1:17:06I don't want you to diss on that. Yes, no. They've come a long way. It's a different skill. Yes, they've come a long way, and I see the effort that they've put in each season. And remember, now we're going into our fifth season, so we practice before we go to film each year. So they're building their skills as we go. So my wife worked in kitchens, so we would watch the show together, and she'd be like, this is what it's actually like. The masking tape on labeling things, and we actually drank out of those to-go containers. We call them delis. Okay, that's what it's like. I worked at Taco Bell, so I have no idea what it's like.

1:17:35It's important. But it's not like this at all. But I got to tell you, after watching a few episodes of the first season, I'm like, who wants to do this? The pressure is crazy. You're getting paid a fraction. It's like the pressure of being a brain surgeon without any of the pay. Yeah. And the hours are worse. Yeah. I think that's a really good question. And I think what the show does kind of do a really good job at is show some of the difficulties and some of the wonderful things. There is so much camaraderie, chemistry, teamwork in kitchens that gets you coming back every day. I learn so much about who I am as an individual by the challenge of running restaurants, line cooking.

1:18:17Not only do I develop my skills as an actual chef, but I think as a person, I've learned so much from every single person that I've been in a kitchen with. And that's from the porters to the dishwashers to the front of house host to the head chef. There is always something to learn in kitchens. And it's fun. It's actually quite fun. It's stressful, yes. But there is a reason that people come back every day. All right. So tell us something where something got burned or went wrong. Does that happen a lot? On the show? Yeah. Well, when you're like going through because timing is so important. Of course.

1:18:51Of course. There's a lot of setting each other up for success. And I have to say, without my culinary team, we are very diligently working to make the best of everyone's time that is working alongside us. And there's a huge, incredible camera department that we're being mindful of them holding these heavy cameras and getting it right. So we practice a lot before we actually shoot. There is a lot of work on the pre-production side before we have cameras rolling. It's really important that we come and bring our A-game because we don't want things to burn. Of course, like we have to redo dishes if ice cream melts or something like that.

1:19:26But we make sure we're prepared to set up everybody for success. So it's like anything else in terms. Like you just make sure everybody's on their A game. We treat it like service. We treat it like a dinner service. Do you want to change your job? Yeah, no. I don't think it's in my DNA. Yeah. Yeah, I can't do it. I think you'd be surprised though. I think some of my best cooks never cooked a day in their life. Really? Yeah. That's Courtney Storer, chef and culinary producer of The Bear. And on the Bloomberg Businessweek screen time, ones to watch list. Also included in that group is the youngest female self-made billionaire in the world.

1:19:57She is the co-founder of Scale AI, which, after a multi-billion dollar investment from Meta Platforms, valued the company at more than$29 billion. That's not all that she's doing, though, right now. She is also the founder and CEO of Passes, which helps social media influencers diversify their income streams. Think exclusive photos, DMs, video calls, live streams, and more. She checked in with Tim and me, all from Bloomberg Screen Time. Anyone can join the platform as long as they're not creating new content. So that's it. That's the dividing line. That's the dividing line. So talk to us about your growth that you're seeing on the platform in terms of people wanting to be on it, staying on it.

1:20:33Talk to us about some of the velocity that you're seeing. Yeah, definitely. Well, with creators that make over$5 ,000 a month, we have near 100 % retention, which is really exciting. We've seen 4x growth from 2024 to 2025, and hopefully we'll see more of that, which is exciting. And then we have crossed nine figures in earnings for creators, which is also very exciting. So those are just like high level numbers I can share with you guys today. Well, some of the reporting around OnlyFans, for example, has shown that like there's a small number of people who make the vast majority of the money on the platform.

1:21:07Is it more evenly distributed on passes? I would definitely say it's more evenly distributed. But I would also say that like our top like let's say 30 % of creators make the majority of the GMV. So that's a challenge for people who are trying to get in. I mean, I would say that anyone can make money. It's more so like the amount of people that are willing to put in the time to make the content, right? It's just like how many people are willing to work hard to make that income. And when you just look like really every career on this planet, there's a limited amount of people willing to put in the effort.

1:21:42And we see that the people that are willing to put in the effort to churn out content are the ones succeeding. Lucy, how do you bring or attract people to the platform? What do you guys have to do? So a lot of it is organic, so word of mouth. A lot of creators just talk about how much they love the platform and how much they've made, and people hear about it, so they end up joining. Other than that, we do a lot of social media. We do a lot of events because we think that's a relationships-driven business where I think there's platform retention, but there's also emotional retention, and that emotional retention comes from people-to-people connections, and the creator economy, emotional retention is a very real thing.

1:22:14I would say is potentially stronger than platform retention. So we work on a lot of face-to-face interactions with creators as well. You dropped out of Carnegie Mellon for a Teal Fellowship. Obviously, in hindsight, it was the right move. You went on to co-create Scale AI. Incredible success there. I'm just curious, though, about your view of higher education, having participated in it for a short time and then left. How do you think higher education has to change to prepare the next generation of leaders, to prepare the next generation of entrepreneurs? Yeah, so I think that with higher education, well, first my view on higher education is that I actually encourage everyone to do college for one to two years.

1:22:52Not because I think you're going to be learning a lot in your classes, but because I think there's no period of time in your life that you're going to be thrown into where you're going to be in a high density of intellectual individuals that all have no friends. Like if you think about it, even when you graduate college and you go enter the job force, most of the people at the company that you're about to work for already have friends. So it's harder to break into a social scene versus college is the only period in your life where literally everyone in a freshman class knows nobody. Right. A grand social experiment.

1:23:23Exactly. Yeah. And it's a high density network of people that are just as intellectually intelligent as you. And I think college is really where you find your future co-founders, your future hires, etc. Because when you're starting a company, for example, who is going to turn down a multimillion dollar offer to join you? and the most talented people, like the most talented engineers are getting those straight out of college right now. Only people that like really believe in you because they have that emotional connection. So I really encourage everyone to go to college and meet as many talented people as they can the first one to two years.

1:23:55In terms of how I see college moving on towards the future, I think from my own personal experience, I do think that we could be learning a lot more practical skills that we can actually use in the job force. So for example, when I was studying computer science at Carnegie Mellon, A lot of it was very theoretical math. And I felt like I learned the most about product sense, about actually making apps, et cetera, through hackathons that I was attending every few weeks. It's almost like the concept of trade schools somewhere with higher education. There's something there. What's your 20 seconds on AI in terms of the impact it's going to have on our world?

1:24:31For sure. Good, bad, or indifferent? I'm excited. I think that with every technological innovation, things have improved in the world for everybody. I think that we should view AI as our co-pilot and not something that's going to replace us. It's going to help us be better at our jobs. You're not scared? No. Should we be scared? No. All right. Our thanks to Lucy Guo, founder and CEO of Passes and co-founder of Scale AI. And that wraps up the weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio. Thank you so much for joining us. Be sure to tune into Bloomberg Business Week Daily Monday through Friday starting at 2 p.m.

1:25:04Wall Street time on Bloomberg TV, Bloomberg Radio and on Sirius XM Channel 121. You can listen to us also on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It's free in the Apple App Store or on Google Play. You can also watch our daily broadcast on YouTube. Just search Bloomberg Podcasts. We're simulcast on Bloomberg Originals, available at Bloomberg.com slash Originals, and streaming platforms, including Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung TV Plus, and more. Find our Bloomberg Business Week daily podcast at Bloomberg.com, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. And always check out the latest edition of the magazine.

1:25:38It is available on newsstands at Bloomberg.com and always on the Bloomberg Terminal. I'm Carol Masser. Tim will be back next week. Have a good and safe weekend, everyone. This is the Bloomberg Business Week Daily Podcast. Available on Apple, Spotify, and anywhere else you get your podcasts. Listen live weekday afternoons from 2 to 5 p.m. Eastern on Bloomberg.com, the iHeartRadio app, TuneIn, and the Bloomberg Business app. You can also watch us live every weekday on YouTube and always on the Bloomberg Terminal.

1:26:18Healthcare doesn't always work great. If you've ever waited on a refill or couldn't schedule an appointment, you get it. That's the kind of stuff Optum is changing. They're using data and technology to integrate patient care, pharmacy, and everything else. So healthcare is connected, not complicated. What's that look like? Cheaper prescriptions that are easier to get and care that looks at the whole person how you need it. Optum is helping make healthcare work as one for everyone. Learn more at business.optum.com.

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