NVIDIA CEO Fallout, AI Trade Risks and Retail Earnings Setup

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1:06What was a good week is ending the week weak. Welcome to Power Lunch, everybody. I am Brian Kelly is back. You just saw our last hour. A solid week for most stocks rocked by the sordid ouster of NVIDIA's CEO shares and investors hammered. And now there are even more concerns about what may happen next and who knew what and when. Could Jensen's fall as the godfather of AI also end in P-A-I-N for stock investors? Plus, retail detail. A read into the consumer is coming up next week. Major retailers like Walmart, Home Depot, and Target and more report quarterly results. We'll get some insight into the holiday season.

1:45By the way, the consumer staples are hitting a record high. We have an investor today who will reveal the name she is doubling down on. All right, so we got a big hour. Happy Friday, everybody. Happy Friday the 13th. And we arguably begin with the most important stock in the world before and after the last couple of weeks. That is, of course, NVIDIA. That stock down again right now as controversy around now former CEO Jensen Wong continues to unfold. But let's be clear. NVIDIA stock was falling before any of these sordid headlines came out. NVIDIA now down six weeks in a row. That is the longest streak in 14 years.

2:22And the real fear is not just around NVIDIA, but sort of around the entire EI ecosystem that it helped run and fund. Look at some of these declines right now. Nebius Group, IRIN, IRIN, CoreWeave. They're all down and some are down big. But those are not the only stocks reacting down and up to what is really becoming a trillion-dollar scandal. Let's kick things off there. We'll see Mamadi, the details, what we know, and the trade. Ryan, we are watching Arm Holdings trade down by around 6%. The Financial Times reporting that CEO Rene Haas has been approached by NVIDIA as a potential successor. He's been CEO of that company since 2022.

3:04Here's a new comment here from the board to CNBC. This is NVIDIA's board to CNBC. We are in the process of selecting a search firm for NVIDIA's CEO role. We have not formally engaged any potential candidates, any speculation regarding individual candidates, whether internal or external is premature. So that's a comment there from NVIDIA's board. Beyond Arm Holdings, a down day in general for chip stocks. Down about 5 % for Broadcom and AMD. Down about 9 % as investors sort of count down to NVIDIA earnings next week. In fact, if we zoom out, revelations around Jensen Wong have certainly fueled shares of NVIDIA's competitors, like Advanced Micro Devices that recently reported Blockbuster earnings.

3:43That stock is up about double digits this week. It's best week since May. For NVIDIA, a lot of interest in understanding leadership. As we were just discussing, Morgan Stanley writing that interim CEO Colette Kress can manage the transition, but interim status could complicate customer commitments, financing syndications, and strategic planning. We're looking at the stock down about 2 % at this hour. Kelly and Brian. All right, Seema, thank you very much. We appreciate it. Despite today's slide, the major indexes are still trying to close out the week in the green, and that includes the NASDAQ 100, which has outperformed NVIDIA.

4:17You can see it on your screens there by about 15 points. And its valuation is near a six-year low. In other words, trading at discount. So is now the time to buy. Let's ask Interactive Brokers Chief Strategist Steve Sosnick and Hightower Chief Investment Strategist Stephanie Link, who is also a CNBC contributor. Steve and Stephanie. Steve. Like Steve. Whatever. Steph, let's start us off. NVIDIA, how do you think about it? What I know. I have people emailing me saying they're literally in tears. They bought at the highs. They sold at the lows. This stock was one of the most widely held, most reliable.

4:55It's just such a stunning turn of events. It is a stunning turn of events, especially because the fundamentals are incredible. They're going to blow it away on Tuesday. And the valuation is trading at nine times fiscal 28 numbers. They're going to generate so much cash, almost$50 billion in cash in the quarter alone and$300 billion next year. but throw all of that out the window because the overhang from this whole saga is just going to dominate the headlines for the next many months. And so I sold it. I got a lot of pushback from it. I know I hate to do it, but I was down a little bit and I thought, you know what, this is dead money because you have, you know, leadership changes and questions.

5:34You have distractions. You may have people that actually leave. So there's so many different things to consider. And so I took the money and I put more into Micron because, by the way, they're both down about the same amount from their highs in about the 30, 35 percent. Yet Micron is just a cleaner story. It has good fundamentals. And yet they don't have this overhang. And by the way, it trades at four times earnings and they've got a lot of free cash flow. I think this is, and as always, Link, you nailed it. We've all been doing this a long time. right? And I think this is one of those stories where if we just talk about valuations, it makes a lot of sense, right?

6:12To your point, earnings Tuesday, probably going to blow it out of the water. Numbers look good, 17 times earnings, yada, yada, yada. I just worry every night that there could be a story in the New York Times or CNBC.com or Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, wherever it is, that so-and-so did this or so-and-so did that and the stock falls another 10%. Would you own the stock right now? Do you own the stock right now? I do not own the stock right now. I sold it a while ago, actually, but that was because of just taking profits. But this is more of a question of, we've seen our customers buying the dip relentlessly in this stock.

6:47And one of the things that I try to counsel people when they do it, I'm not going to tell somebody not to try to buy a dip. It's worked almost flawlessly, but there are distinctions. If a stock is down, we've seen this a lot, where stocks go down after earnings on decent news. And you know what? They tend to bounce back because that's just more of a quick trading reaction. When they go down because of fundamental news, and this is not just NVIDIA. This was, think about Intel last earnings report. Think about Google's last earnings report, where there was some material change to the company that made institutional investors rethink it.

7:22Traders react. Institutions decide. They ponder. And so when you have institutions leaving a holdings, a big holding, that keeps pressure on the stock for a while. And that's why, to Stephanie's point, I think this becomes dead money. We're going to hear nothing but stuff about Congress. They're going to be all hauled in front of Congress. This is not ending. This is professional liability to own it, potentially. And it's interesting to think through how this is going to work, because anybody who manages money or puts it in a portfolio has to think about kind of the risk management of that. When Vahan Janjigian last hour says, you know, the company could be shut down.

7:56Like, you can't own a stock that people could speculate to that degree about what might happen here. Now, to your point about retail, though, retail could. Retail could say, this is my money. I'm not running someone else's money. This is me. I'm perceiving what I think is a decent number. So I take your point, but I think those two sources of buying and selling kind of have two very different things going on right now. But are you standing in the way of, you know, there's one thing to stand, you know, like to be at the beach and you're sort of, you know, dealing with the small waves. It's another thing to be dealing with a tidal shift.

8:29And in this case, I've never seen numbers from our customers with the level of buying that they've been doing this week. It was the most bought stock on Friday, and I was astounded a week ago. Before this all really hit the fan. That's when my friends of mine were saying we're buying, and then by yesterday they're crying. It was the most bought stock when I saw the numbers as of Friday. Today, it's five times larger than what it was a week ago. So our customers have been buying the whole way down. Yes, retail can do this, but that's where I sort of caution. Are you sort of surfing a little wave or are you standing in front of a tide?

9:09There are people who are watching or listening to CNBC right now, and by the way, we love you. Thank you. That are throwing something at the TV. And they're saying, shut up. The valuation's amazing. I'm getting a stock at a discount. Sales are awesome. Who cares what Wong did in his personal life? I hear those people. I understand those comments. But was I wrong about the headline risk around this stock? Maybe it's gone. Maybe the stock doubles from here. But you could also face a huge loss if more comes out. And we just don't know. Are you willing, Stephanie and Link, it doesn't sound like you are, to take that risk?

9:45No, I mean, look, it's already down 35 % from its highs. That's a bull case, though. I could make that as a bull case. too, but it's opportunity cost as a portfolio manager. Do I want to hold on to this thing where I think there's not really a big catalyst other than if they get a rock star new CEO? But even if they do, it's going to take a long time to understand all of the issues and just even the fundamentals. It takes a long time when a new CEO takes hold. It's at least a year before you can really start to see their input into the company. And I just think - I'm sorry to jump in. Can I ask a really potentially dangerous question.

10:22Yeah. Do you believe the fundamentals? Because if we're using the PE and the price of sales and enterprise value and all that stuff based on the numbers we know. Yeah, I mean. To enhance your interview in the previous hour. Yeah. Do you believe the fundamentals? Yeah, they're locked in. You do? Okay, so you believe the numbers are the numbers. That's why it was such a hard sale for me because the fundamentals are so good. You know me. I usually buy this stuff. I'd love to get into the deep end of the pool when things are kind of really swishing around. Is it Boeing-esque? And I don't know if we can show this price chart for Boeing going back to about 2015 or so.

10:55Maybe that's a 10-year price chart in the back. But once a company is embroiled in a national-level scandal, it is a little hard to find these quick pivots. Maybe, Steve, to your point. So it may be that I think it was 148 was the low yesterday. Fine. You know, again, if you're retailing. But if you look at the overhang for Boeing to get through the issues. Oh, years. And every three months you think, but that's the worst of it. But that's the worst of it. And it takes a while to cleanse all of that. I don't know if you think that's an appropriate analogy here. I think so. And in the case of NVIDIA, there is precedent.

11:31During the whole crypto craze, they kind of overstated how much they sold with crypto. And there was actually a fine that they had to pay. It was a slap on the wrist relative to the size of the company. But there are questions here. On the flip side, what I find fascinating is if I had told you a week ago that we would basically take NVIDIA out and shoot it, that the central bank to the AI trade was going to have to start tightening its monetary policy, so to speak. And would you have said, OK, NASDAQ will be up 3 % on the week. The stocks is going to be higher. So it tells you so much about the market's mentality because we immediately pivoted as a marketplace, not necessarily personally, as a marketplace from what can go wrong with NVIDIA to who benefits from this.

12:15Micron. Micron. So you've got— Micron might—I didn't just randomly bring that up, Stephanie Link. Yes, I know. You're buying more Micron. I am buying more Micron. And Broadcom, quite frankly, is— And AMD. AMD is having the best week maybe ever, at least in years. Yeah. I mean, I own Broadcom, and I would love to make it bigger because I have conviction in their AI transition. 100 % growth in 27 and 28, just on the AI segment alone,$20 of earnings power. So I prefer that one to AMD, but they're both going to benefit for sure. Micron, I just think they are going—I think they're going to announce a buyback program when they report earnings.

12:52I think earnings are going to be really good. They've been restricted on buying back stocks. So now that they can do it, I think they'll announce it, and that will be a positive. But I would just push back a little bit, Kel, on Boeing. Boeing had big, big problems structurally at the company. This company doesn't. This CEO had a problem, which is different from the company. For sure. And they had execution issues. They had product problems and safety concerns, all that stuff. Because I know because I owned it. But if you get a good CEO in there to fix it, which is what Ortberg is doing, and even he's having a hard time, by the way.

13:26It's not an easy business. So in terms of NVIDIA, it's run really well. It was fine until a week ago or whenever these revelations came to light. Is there any aspect of the Chinese business that is analogous there? Or is it maybe it's too soon to know? Or maybe it's just ultimately down to whatever the latest percent of revenues, if that wiggles around a couple of percentage points. Yeah, I mean, as bad as it gets. Yeah, I don't know how much we know, to be honest with you on that. But I think all systems go on their products, on their software and the moat and their customers and everything else.

13:57So that's why it's really hard to sell it. I can see why retail would buy it. I just think, again, opportunity cost. And maybe in six months, a year, maybe I buy it back if you get a good CEO in there and things kind of settle down. Maybe a Tim Cook. Who knows? We're going to pivot. This is called the bond report. NVIDIA, not the only one having a rough week. Treasury bonds actually on pace for their biggest weekly sell-off in a year and a half. Stephanie, what's your read on that move? On the bond market, my goodness. I mean, I haven't talked about bonds this much in my lifetime. Let me just say.

14:36Yes, I know. I mean, even I was saying, like, you could probably start to allocate when the 10 years above five, you do get some switchers. There is opportunity. But the volatility this year has been just remarkable. But Kelly loves the iBond. No, I hate the iBond. I thought you loved the iBond, 5.5%. No, you can't bring up iBonds around me. It's too soon. I've got money sitting in I-bonds while the NASDAQ 100 is up, you know, 40%. You like the I-bonds. I like, you know what? Because Kelly apparently hates them. I thought she loved them. She hates them. I maxed out at$10 ,000 for an I-bond. Yeah.

15:08And I actually did buy some 30-year tips at like a 3 % real yield. But the problem here is. Why? Okay, why? Because 3%, you don't get 3 % real yields that are inflation protected. That's kind of why I just didn't. It's not my main thing. But to me, another just in terms of things I would not have been able to throw out at you. If I said a week ago, two-year notes were going to go up by more than 30 basis points, and the stock market was going to react. And when you have a market that can't price low-risk assets, how are we pricing high-risk assets? They're up 30 basis points in a week? Yes. Wow.

15:43Sorry. Now you've got our attention. Yeah. The two years are up, I think, more than 30 basis points, and the 10 years are up about 28 when I last looked. Wow. Yeah. That's, now I understand why. I mean, it's felt like a lot to your point, Steph, but that's a lot. Well, the 10-year had fallen like 60 basis points too, right, from the peak to the recent low. So that's why I say the volatility is insane for fixed income, right? For things that are not supposed to be volatile. That's right. But I guess quick last word is, do you stick with 60-40 portfolio allocation or not? And I suppose that's the bigger question a lot of people are thinking about.

16:17You know, is that 40 in bonds? Is it 20 in commodity? We've heard different formulations. I think it's never wrong to be diversified. The problem is there are situations where sort of everything hits you at once. But in those situations, other than cash in the bank of Sealy Posturepedic, there's not really much you can do. And you've got gold down today and Bitcoin down today. So maybe that's looking more attractive. I don't think that stock did well. Remember that? Sealy was a stock. Herb Greenberg talked about that. Thank you both. It's not usually a good sign, by the way. Stephanie and Steve, thank you.

16:52We appreciate it. We're just getting started here. We've still got a bunch coming at you. Still ahead, why is Silicon Valley rallying around Jensen Wong? And how could his exit shift? Tech's power dynamics plus Grand Theft Auto 6 launches in less than a week. You might have heard. First week sales projections, pretty wild. We're talking multiple billions of dollars. Could it be the biggest game launch in history? And what if it's not? But after the break, tech investor Gene Munster weighs in on NVIDIA, Anthropic, and what's ahead for these big AI teams. That's coming up next.

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19:00We got a news alert out of Washington, D.C. Let's go down to Eamon Javers. Eamon, what is going on? Yeah, Brian, that's right. We've got a news report. This is from Semaphore, the online publication. They are reporting that their sources tell them that National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett is expected to depart his role at the White House in coming weeks. Now, we can't confirm this one, Brian. Wanted to bring it to you because it's in the market and people are talking about it. We're working to check this in real time right now. I'm literally looking at my phone because I'm texting some people to see if we can confirm that this is in fact the case.

19:34But clearly, it's a very fluid situation after the election. This is a natural time when you'd see a number of people departing the administration, a number of new faces coming in. Is Kevin Hassett one of those who's headed for the exits? We can't say for sure. Semaphore says that's what they're hearing. As soon as we're able to pin this down, though, we'll bring you more detail on it, Brian. Eamon, thank you very much. I'll pick it up, Eamon Javers. Let's get back to the markets you just heard from our opening panel on why they got out of NVIDIA and how retail investors are getting in. Our next guest just bought more NVIDIA shares as well.

20:05Despite all the uncertainty following Jensen Wang's departure, here to discuss and look at the future of the AI trade with Anthropic. Also on deck next week is Gene Munster. He's a managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management. Gene, you would be considered a retail investor, wouldn't you? You know, are you buying? Is the institution buying? Who's buying NVIDIA? Well, I think a lot of retail people, as you mentioned, I bought more. I bought some after the blue wave, and then I bought about four times as much after Jensen lost his job. And I think back to the previous segment, and the conversation was really academic.

20:43It was most compelling about why not to own NVIDIA. Now, I describe that as kind of what we're seeing at the surface. All these things about they're probably going to pull guidance next week. They usually give a quarter guidance. And of course, the question about them financing their growth, is the new CEO going to continue that? We have Jensen on Capitol Hill. All of these are things at the surface. But the reason why you should own NVIDIA here, and I'm not calling the bottom, but I am saying that this stock will likely outperform the rest of the AI trade over the next year. The reason is that what is below the surface is an undeniable demand for AI.

21:23This whole thing started because China went after Jensen. And I don't have privy to this, but my suspicion is that they have similar types of programs that go and target and observe other tech executives. I don't think China does this for Coca-Cola, Clorox, Procter & Gamble. And the reason why that matters here is silly. Is that the term now, Gene? Program? It's a program. Yeah, the program. The program in this case was named Alice. I think that's kind of what you're getting at, right? I mean, that he got trapped. And let me ask you this. On the numbers, I agree with you. On the valuation metrics, I agree.

22:05I put a question on X. Everybody agrees generational buying opportunity. I get it. Is Gene Munster convinced, A, that the worst of the headlines are out, and B, that that entire board and maybe some of his own executives didn't know anything? Because if you can answer those questions affirmatively, I hear what you're saying. My question is, CFO, we don't know what anybody else knew. We don't know any of that. I'm not saying, again, this is the bottom. I'm saying you should buy it if you have a one-year perspective. What we do know is that these concerns are front and center. We are just pounding this conversation about what could go wrong.

22:45I mean, this is like, if I rewind to my conversations on what was in the market a month ago, this was never like nothing, the blue wave. there wasn't any, of course, none of this was out there. This is really healthy for a stock to have all this uncertainty. As a shareholder, the biggest opportunities are when something just pulls at you. There's always hair on things. And this is, there's justification here. So yes, we're going to have, there's a lot that goes on. And I can just, I want to put this frame, some rails around this. I'm not saying that you should own NVIDIA for the next 10 years.

23:17I'm not saying this is still a generational company. What I am saying is over the next year to two years, The strength of what's going on AI, the build out is going to be, even with what's going on in Washington, is going to be at the local governorships, is going to be much stronger than people expect. And NVIDIA is going to benefit from that. The central issue that I have, so that's why I own it. The central issue is that to replace a founder that has urgency, and Jensen is one of them, is next to impossible. And so there is a question about long term, how do they instill that urgency? I can't think of one company.

23:50Just ask Microsoft and Google what happens when your founders leave. So that's the negative. But that doesn't come up in the conversation. Because I just want to make sure if people miss part of what you're saying that I boil it down for them. You're saying that you think NVIDIA will outperform the rest of the AI trade over the next 12 months. But you just said you no longer think that you can say that, that this is one of the great companies and compounders for the next 10 years. So you're saying both things at once. Because I want to see what happens. I'm drawing a distinction between what's priced into the stock and the conversations that we're having about all this negative stuff that's coming out and recognizing that I think that that is meaning we're close to a floor here.

24:31Second is I want to acknowledge too that we don't know who the CEO is going to be. And there's a big problem around trying to build for urgency, hire for urgency. Very difficult to do that. So I'm open to whoever comes in and looking at what happens to culture after this kind of plays itself out. And by the way, whoever comes in, there's a chance that Jensen is the next CEO of NVIDIA. Now, the odds markets don't have that on there, but crazier things have happened. Just to have Sam Altman ask Donald Trump, like this is not over by any measure. And that's not why I bought it, just to be clear. But my point is my long-term view is going to be based on who does that new leadership have urgency.

25:16So if he came back, you'd say, okay, maybe you can own it for the next decade. But if it's someone else... Or maybe they do hire somebody who instills confidence around urgency, whoever that might be. There are people out there who can do that. I'm just pointing out that by definition, the formula for generational tech companies is founder-led with a wartime mentality against competition and urgency. That's the formula. And by definition, unless Jensen comes back, which I'd put the odds at 10%, But they got to find that person. Yeah, and that's why sometimes, even though it's kind of a weird thing, you think, well, maybe the family would understand, you know, they sort of have seen and witnessed that urgency.

25:57Gene, for now, thanks. Appreciate it today. Thank you. Gene Munster of Deepwater Asset Management. All right. Speaking of, we have another news alert on NVIDIA's CEO search. Let's go to Seema Modi with that. Seema. Brian, we just want to go back to what we learned from NVIDIA's board with that statement to CNBC, just pulling it up here, where they basically said that this search is premature. And any speculation regarding individual candidates, whether internal or external, again, is premature. They are in the process of selecting a search form for NVIDIA's CEO role and who will take Jensen Wong's spot.

26:34Of course, they have interim CEO Colette Kress, who is the chief financial officer, stepping in for now. But they're saying that any idea that they've already picked someone, that they're interviewing someone is premature. It follows the Financial Times reporting that NVIDIA had approached arm-holding CEO Renee Haas. Again, this comment from NVIDIA's board suggests they haven't done so. You know, that perhaps tells us that this timeline may not be moving as quickly as expected, Kelly, but something that we will continue to watch very closely. Separately, we did report yesterday, Brian, you and I had this conversation about one of the internal candidates potentially being looked at, Ian Buck, who's been at the company for many years now and invented CUDA.

27:15So it says formally engaged. I do wonder if that means informally they've poked around. I don't know. Good point. What you're reporting is that they're still interviewing search firms. So they're not interviewing candidates. They're interviewing search firms to find a candidate. Is anybody you're talking with, Seema, maybe not, saying that you can't go with an internal candidate because the CEO just got, well, he resigned. I'm doing air quotes. But those people, you know, you got to call in a question, their judgment as well. You know, there was a Morgan Stanley note just this morning from Joe Moore, well-respected analyst on the street.

27:51He said of all the candidates being reviewed internally, it's Ian Buck. Unclear whether they go internal or external, Brian. That's something we want clarity on. Seema Modi, thank you very much. All right, folks, so maybe you made a lot of money on NVIDIA. You sold it. What are you going to buy right now? Jeff Kilburg has two ideas for you and your market navigator.

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29:53And welcome back to Power Lunch. Time now for your Market Navigator. Commodities have been selling off for a range of reasons. Some related, some related not to what's happening with the overall risk aversion. But if you're bargain hunting right now in this market downturn, there could be some solid buys in energy. Joining us now for that is Jeff Kilberg. He's the founder and CEO of KKM Financial. He's also a CNBC contributor. So, Jeff, let's talk about, first of all, the energy complex. and why maybe oil and gas in the price action may be leading to some opportunities in oil and gas stocks. Well, Dom, it's been a heck of a year for commodities.

30:27To your point, you're seeing the dollar index above 103. I think the opportunity is to own best and breed. So I look at Marathon Petroleum and Exxon Mobil. Exxon Mobil is not quite at a trillion dollars in market cap, but it is the biggest of the bigs. But I think it's really interesting as we see crude oil. Yes, it's down about$15,$20 in the month of November, trained about$88 in the front month crude oil WTI future. But I think there's opportunity. These are essential names, and we're going to continue to see them make money and grow and provide that to their shareholders. So I get excited about owner energy.

30:58If you look at the S &P 500, it is the best sector energy. Look at XLE. XLE is an interesting ETF, has about 24 holdings down, but it's very, very weighted. The top three holdings, which are Exxon, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips, make up about 50%. So I'd rather be a stock picker here, And that's why InterEssential 40 ETF, we own Marathon Petroleum, which is the largest weighting at the moment. And ExxonMobil is the other pick there. You mentioned other commodities. It's not just oil and gas. What about the metal side of things? Are there other opportunities that are presenting themselves right now given the price action?

31:30Well, Dom, quickly, let's look at gold and silver. It has been a rough year. Gold down about 10%. Look at GLD or silver down about 30 % in SLV, both ETFs. But that's coming after the year that we had in 2025 when gold was up 60%. And silver was up 150%. So it's taking a bit of a breather. Obviously, interest rate expectations of more rate hikes, which I don't believe, by the way, have weighed on the metals. But I still think there's a reason to buy here. There's support here at 310 in GLD and also in the low 40s in SLV. And last but not least, look at Dr. Copper. Dr. Copper is back above$6, staying above$6, revealing that there is health in this economy.

32:07So I think you can dip back into the precious metals. All right. All right. Oil and gas stocks and precious and base metals. The trades there from Jeff Kilburg. Kelly, I'll send things back over to you. Crazy how gold has round tripped. Dom, thank you. Jeff, thank you as well. Steelhead, how was Jensen Wong's exit from NVIDIA? Shifting power dynamics in Silicon Valley. We'll talk to business reporter Tim Higgins about that next.

32:35Welcome back. A new piece in the Wall Street Journal saying there's a shift underway in Silicon Valley, writing that Jensen Wong's downfall is a sign of Silicon Valley's power drain. He's arguing the tech elite's chorus of support for the NVIDIA co-founder reflects a deeper shift in power. And as Wong exits the board and the board searches for a successor, the question is whether their founder-led era is giving way to greater institutional oversight. Tim Higgins is a business columnist at The Wall Street Journal. Tim, what are you hearing? Well, for the past couple of years here in San Francisco, where I'm based, the idea of founder mode, that ability that a founder has some unique property to run the company that they created in a way that could create and generate value was so much more powerful than some professional manager that was brought in to run the company like you see across the world.

33:27Founders had special powers. Jensen Wang clearly was given a lot of leeway as a founder at NVIDIA. And now some of that leeway probably is coming back to bite them. I think about how he structured the company internally with all of his direct reports, the idea that there wasn't a natural successor lined up. These are kinds of things that a traditional company probably wouldn't have done under a professional manager. Do we want traditional companies with professional management to be at the forefront of innovation and new technology? I mean, I watch Silicon Valley. Like we all know that like there's two sides to this culture.

34:04You get brilliance, you get innovation, you get dynamism. And yeah, you get a whole lot of problems that can go with that. So it's hard to know at what point you step in and kind of restrain the magic. I think that's probably the central question that is very difficult to grapple with. That's the tension we are dealing with, right? It's hard to imagine some of these companies, some of these empires that have been created out of Silicon Valley, if they had done things the same old way, if they had been created in the structures of 100-year-old companies, right? They had to be out there doing their thing uniquely, having very dynamic and hard-headed founders with a vision for the world that was very much different than the one before them.

34:47Right. That's key. The question, the tension becomes is how much power do they have once they become an adult company, once they become a publicly traded company? Sure. So what do we do about Elon Musk, right? Do we want to restrain the power that these individuals have over their company? So the point Gene Munster made a little while ago, any rack your brain and try to come up with an example where the urgency that the founder has, the almost psychotic dedication, right? These people could just go off and have a nice life and go to brunch. And instead, they're throwing themselves into this company, supporting thousands of jobs at the forefront of American innovation that we can all benefit from, even while we try to restrain it.

35:28What then should be done? I would argue that if you're an investor in SpaceX, you're an investor in Tesla, you know about the good and the bad of Elon Musk. And you are making a gamble, a bet that he has a pathway to a brighter future that you're going to benefit from. And if the company loses, if you as an investor lose, well, that is somewhat on you, right? Now, that's kind of the world we're in. But kind of what I'm getting to at the point in the column is that idea of the power of the founder being really out there is now being questioned, right? Clearly, with the issues here with NVIDIA, but it's a broader kind of sea change in the power of tech leaders that we're seeing go back less, almost a week ago to the election results.

36:15Democrats taking control of Congress. No longer are tech leaders going to have the same sort of grasp on political power in this country as they did with Republicans. That a shift is afoot. And does that mean that we're going back to the Sheryl Sandberg era, where the major tech companies realize their public face needs to be something that's not a tech bro, so to speak? And I guess for investors, they just have to think through the implications of that. Does that restrain the return on investment over time or not? I mean, you could argue it doesn't, or you could argue that even more cynically, these companies will go through eras depending on the way the winds are blowing in Washington and elsewhere.

36:56I think one of the things that's going to be sure is that the next two years are going to be very confusing if you're a tech leader and going to be incredibly distracting, potentially, as Congress sticks its fingers, gets in deep, starts looking more closely at how some of these companies have operated for the past two years. All right, Tim, thank you. Really appreciate it. Thanks for joining us today. Can I just add one quick thing, by the way, with Sheryl Sandberg? Did you read the book about her? No. From the assistant? No. Yeah. Don't. Okay. I mean, the book totally changes what— The interesting— Her public persona and what the book says, and the book could be garbage, I have no idea, is totally different.

37:37The only thing I will say about that is that it's a very difficult question sometimes to know when to step in and intervene with whomever that person, whether it's a gents. Yeah. These are difficult questions to answer. They are. Meantime, we got a news update right now on the news update that we got earlier about Kevin Hassett, Eamon Jaffer. Yeah, Brian, that's right. Some intrigue for you this afternoon. We just told you about that semaphore report, which suggested that Kevin Hassett, the National Economic Counselor, would be leaving the White House in coming weeks. Well, I've just been texting with Kevin Hassett and he says not true.

38:15So Kevin Hassett is pouring cold water directly on the record on the report that suggested that he would be leaving the White House in coming weeks. So not clear if there's some other thing going on behind the scenes here or how this may have gotten garbled. But what Hassett is saying to us right now on the record is that he's not leaving anytime soon. Guys, back over to you. Wow. Excellent reporting, Eamon, as always. I mean, he literally just said, no. Well, he said, not true. Can't get more direct than that. Right. Oh, good stuff. Eamon Javers, thank you very much. You bet. All right. Right from the source.

38:54Let's get out of Contessa Brewer with a CNBC News update. Brian, the Supreme Court today agreed to consider whether President Trump's policy of restricting asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border is legal. The high courts taking the case after a lower court found the president exceeded his authority by denying immigrants the opportunity to apply for asylum if they had crossed the border illegally. About 700 Amazon warehouse workers in Western Canada reportedly just became the company's first union of logistics workers in North America. The first to be covered by a contract here. Bloomberg reports the union won the right to organize after an independent arbiter imposed terms between the workers and one of the largest private sector unions in Canada.

39:36A key win here for the union organizers who've been targeting Amazon facilities for years. And ABC has its next bachelor, Washington Commanders practice squad quarterback Sam Hartman. Hartman becomes the fifth athlete looking for love on this long-running reality show, but the first one who's actively playing and taking on the role. According to ABC, he's, quote, ready to find his forever teammate. I guess if you get to a final rose, it's called a touchdown. I don't know. I mean, people do. Look at Krista and Ryan. They were married in 2002. Tristan, you know about them, right? Yeah. Oh, they were the best.

40:16the dubious look. Good win by the Commanders last night. Anyway, still ahead. Grand Theft Auto 6. Kelly, you got it, right? I do. You're ready to play tonight. I do. What we're going to be watching with the stock coming up.

40:35Jason and Lucia have always known the deck is stacked against them, but when easy score goes wrong, they find themselves on the darkest side to the sunniest place in America. So says the back of GTA Grand Theft Auto 6, which one of our will somehow is a... I'm going to give you back your game. Julia Boorstin has no idea where I'm going with this. Julia, we are giving an introduction to Grand Theft Auto 6. I am not a player, but I understand this is a big, big, big deal game. It's a big deal game, and I don't know how you got your hands on it, Brian. I did and will did. The game does not come out until next Thursday.

41:15Everyone is awaiting this massive launch after a decade plus in development and over a$1 billion budget. The game officially launches on the 19th, and NewZoo projects the game could gross more than$5 billion in its first week alone, with Morgan Stanley projecting 40 million copies will be sold by the first quarter of next year. Now, Rockstar, which produced the game and its parent company, Take-Two, Take-Two has seen its stock double since the beginning of 2023, despite multiple delays of the game's launch. And now the game's impact is expected to be far-reaching beyond just the video game industry.

41:59PWC recently came out with a report forecasting that gameplay could pull viewing hours away from other entertainment, including streaming shows and sports. Now, on the flip side, the game could drive an increase in Spotify streams of in-game music. It could drive engagement on social media, along with a spike in food delivery for those gamers hunkering down to play. We spoke to a range of content creators across the streaming landscape who stream their gameplay. They told us that this game offers a massive opportunity to increase their subscription and ad revenue across Amazon's Twitch, YouTube, TikTok, as well as Instagram.

42:41Guys, back to you. And this is a real copy that we are told from our friend Will over here. You can get it in your hands, but Julia, the game won't work until next Thursday if you try to play it. Isn't that wild? Is that right? You got to have a download code? because everyone is waiting to see if this game lives up to the hype and the billion-dollar-plus investment. It's like watching a movie. When can we start playing it? Thursday. Thursday? Yeah. Next Thursday. We'll get a report. We're going to get an on-the-ground report here, Julia. I think a lot of people would be willing to do that. I look forward to hearing it.

43:16Julia, thanks. Don't throw it. A big week for retail earnings next week as well. We'll talk about that after the break.

43:28Home Depot, Target, Walmart, and more. You can see on the screen there, all these companies, these retailers, are set to report next week. As we move into the retail phase of earnings season, Stephanie Link is back. She owns Target. And did you double your position? No, no. In Dick's, you doubled your position. Yeah. Okay. What is the state of play with retail? Set us up for this a little bit going in. Are we expecting to see cracks? Are we expecting to see kind of overall surprising strength? Well, I think the consumer is choosy and they've had to deal with higher oil prices, price increases, higher interest rates.

44:03But I think you want to have you have there are names out there that are kind of special stories, turnaround stories or where really bad news is in them already. Interesting for the retailers back to school was really strong, but October was really weak. So we want to hear November. What are the trends so far in November? And I think it's going to be okay. I mean, the consumer, as long as they have jobs and they have wage growth, they are spending. I mean, retail sales are running up 5.1 % ex-gasoline. So they are spending. They keep spending on services versus goods. So that's why you want to be kind of choosy on some turnaround stories and company-specific stories.

44:43And maybe we can keep NVIDIA in mind as we talk about these turnaround stories. Because there's other analogies you could pull like Target. I don't know. But also to be super actionable for the remaining 90 seconds here. What are your—you like Target. You think that still has room to go. You like Dix. What else? Why those? What about Walmart? What about—who else do you want to say? Walmart's too expensive. Home Depot and Lowe's. Until rates come down, you don't want to own them, although I think the quarters are going to be fine. Target is the turnaround story. $6 billion. The next chapter program that he has put in place is leading to better sales, better comps.

45:13Better comps than Walmart, by the way. Walmart's too expensive. And then I would just say Dix. My goodness, the stock is down 30 % for one of the top-rated company management teams out there. The Dick's core business is fine. It's comps of 4 % to 5%. It's Foot Locker that has the problem. And I think they're getting through the clearance. They have new product launches. And I think they're slowly making progress. And then we also saw a record amount of buybacks since August from insiders. So that's kind of comforting, I would imagine. We can still make money in retail stocks, sounds like. I mean, you know.

45:46I hope so. I thought it was all about like five tech stocks. I hope we can. I mean, this thing is down 70%. Sorry, four tech stocks. Four, right. See what I did there? Yes. Well, I mean, this, Dick's trades at 12 times earnings. It almost yields 4%. Maybe it can be, maybe there's an easier thing to choose right now for people who are frustrated by elsewhere. Hey, Stephanie. Thank you. And have a great weekend. You too. Stephanie Link of Hightower. Thanks for watching PowerLinge, everybody. Closing bell starts now. A lot can happen between now and November, 2028. Two more summers, two more holiday seasons, and plenty of time to enjoy your new renewal by Anderson windows.

46:25Because right now you can buy new windows and pay nothing until November, 2028 new windows. Now paying for them that can wait by now and pay nothing until November, 2028. Get started at renewal by Anderson home.com. Hurry. Offer ends November 30th. Only valid on initial visit.